Girl on the Rocks

Stitches West is overload March 9, 2009

Stitches west proved to be overwhelming as always. Helping out in booths was a great way to prevent me from doing too much shopping. And it allowed me to surround myself with lovely Pigeonroof goodies on Friday, and all kinds of crafty goodies at Urban Fauna on Saturday. I did a miniature loom demo in an area that was not conducive to the audience seeing a tiny loom (and the chairs were bolted together so they couldn’t scooch in). But I think several people were able to ask questions and take a closer look. Several of them ended up getting looms, so I was able to get the work out that tiny looms are rad!

I peeked in on my fiber at the UFS booth, trying its hardest to jump into the hands of passing customers.

While I was helping at the UFS booth, I tried needle felting. Jamie always has a little needle felting demo area set up, and usually I resist. I am not that into making things tangled, but she had these neat-o cookie cutter like forms so you could make shapes (see the center of the photo below), so I gave in.

Photo from maryjanesattic

It was pretty fun! Much funner than anticipated. I am blown away at what a small amount of fiber it takes to embellish something with felt. Spinners, save your scraps and you could make a felter have a stash that will set them for life. I am also impressed that Jamie’s needle felting kits include everything you need to get started – fiber, needles, and a natural foam pad.

I took off on Saturday to do some shopping with friends. I spotted an infamous and highly controversial rolling cart on its own in the wild:

So what did I buy? I already knew that I wanted a Tiger Cascade spindle from Carolina Homespun, so I made that purchase as soon as I arrived. On Friday, I got some CPH buttons from “Buttons!” (*jazz hands*). On Saturday I got two bags (6oz each) of Border Leicester/mohair from Toots LeBlanc. That’s it! Major restraint!

Coaster shopping November 3, 2008

Bottle cap coasters
Rettocamme
$24.

Super Mario Perle beads
lostmitten
$22.

Screenprinted
summersville
$24.95

Recycled skateboards
2revert
$40

Felt floppy disks
thegeekery
$28

Block printed bingo
1girl1boy
$22.

Socktober – Self striping yarns Part II October 22, 2008

A continuation from Part I – some of my favorite self striping sock yarns

The last two of my favorite self-stripers hold their own with creative color combos that always look good to me.

Sknitches

Photo courtesy of flickr user Wannabeknittin’

Take sknitches for example. Yes, I am clearly a fan of blue and brown, but don’t these socks look so good? Sknitches also has a wide array of non-striping yarn in beautiful colorways, so if you order from her site, you can get a great mix of sock yarns in fabulous colors.

Ravelry Yarn page

Knitterly things

Photo by Flickr user Wooly interlude

Some of the first handmade self-striping yarn that I ever heard about was Vesper sock yarn. As a spinner, the shop’s curator also has a beautiful assortment of hand-dyed roving. It can still be kind of a challenge to snag the sock yarn, but it seems like there are shop updates many Wednesdays, and the Ravelry Group can a be a useful guide to shop stalking.

Ravelry Yarn page

Speaking of ravelry groups…. a long time ago I started a Ravelry group for those that love stripes – Better with stripes. Pop on over and say ‘Hi’ if self-striping yarn is your sort of thing.

Something creepy for every day this month… October 2, 2008

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, hands down. With the arrival of October, I can’t stop looking forward the last day of the month. I have hopes to finish up a long-standing and halloween-appropriate Secret Project but I can’t make any promises. In the mean time, I can remind you that almost everyone you know is in need of a Monster Finger Chapstick cozy.

I am pretty sure that Moon’s Creations is a big fan of Halloween, too. Just like last year, each day in October will mark the debut of a one-of-a-kind halooween-themed amigurumi bunny.



Freddy Kreuger MoonBun Photo from flickr user Moons_creations

And the best part… they are available for purchase from her Etsy shop. I am the proud owner of the Bride of Frankenstein from last year’s series, and I have my eye out for a friend for her this year.

Octopus Revolution September 10, 2007

I didn’t know that an octopus revolution was underway…

Visit the Octopus Revolution Flickr group for a free crochet pattern for a basic little octopus. The group will showcase many variations on the same pattern. So make a little Octo and then dress him/her up!

Found on Craftster.

Saturday Shopping August 11, 2007

I had a plan to get a lot of work done today, but I couldn’t start until after a visit to my favorite thrift store. Carmen and I walked the few blocks that separates our apartment building from an adorable little thrift store. I had two great finds today – a set of 4 woven placemats, and a pyrex bowl. edit: How could I forget to mention… the bowl was only $1

And they happen to match! How cute!

Speaking of cute, I noticed that Superbuzzy is having a sale on some of their items. If you haven’t shopped there before, Superbuzzy carries a TON of cute Japanese import fabric. Be warned – it is too adorable to resist. Here is a selection from one of my previous purchases.

I noticed that there are some cute cross-stitch tape kits on sale too. Tempting…..

Hopefully next time I post I will have finished a pair of handknit socks for myself.

Where’d you get that? April 20, 2007

I sometimes have a tendency to be a bit selfish. Sometimes I find something wonderful online, and I don’t tell you because I don’t want to share. I am trying to get better about that, because let’s face it, behavior like that is just plain mean. Since I shop on etsy a lot, I have been meaning to give you some etsy shop recommendations, and I am finally getting around to it. (so is aija if you can’t get enough).

I don’t wear necklaces too often, usually because the clasp on the back rats my hair. Now, when I am feeling fancy I have a selection of lovely glass pendants, all from etsy. I discovered that I really like small, squarish pendants made with just a few colors. Here is most of my collection

The top left is one of my favorites. It is from swivelglass and has the most unique addition…. The flower shape you see is a small copper flower in the glass. It has a nice iridescence yet still kinda matches the pink part of the glass. I finally got around to buying the other pendant at Swivelglass that I had my eye on, which is why I finally finished this post.

In the top right is a pendant from iFuse Solutions. It is pretty obvious why I like this one so much (look around at my color scheme). this is the necklace that I used to tie myself visually to my adult science fair presentation.

Both of the pendants on the bottom are from Pollyfusia. I am so happy to be a repeat customer there. The service is excellent, and the pendant is shipped in a lovely metal tin (bonus!). I have always been sad that he/she has not made anymore red and turquoise pendants because the ones listed in the ’sold items’ are stunning. Looks like something happens right on the edge where the turquoise reacts with the red and it is just gorgeous.

I know I don’t need any more pendants, but I might not be able to stop. Have you purchased any pendants lie these on etsy? Leave a comment and let us know what you thought!

Two quick tidbits April 11, 2007

First tidbit:
I am so happy that I stopped by hello yarn the other day. I discovered these cute little numbers.

Photo from helloyarn’s flickr stream

The pattern is available on her free pattern page. These have given me a great idea for making cute tiny things…. but more on that later.

Second tidbit:

A sneak preview of my work in progress for this month’s whiplash challenge. the theme: Cozies. Oh, I can make a cozy that’s for sure. I am pretty excited about this one and it is almost done.

Tis the season for receiving? December 7, 2006

I posted this in the things i like category so I can feel free to randomly blather on about cool things I’ve found. Bear with me, you might find something that you like.

Pincushions

I was lucky enough to have Monique send me a package for this month’s pincushion challenge swap.

The pincushion has an elastic strap so it can be worn on my wrist. I love the pink and white matching pins! I put the pincushion to work immediately.

I was trying to not spoil the surprise in case my package has not reached its destination, but I can’t resist. I used the swap as an opportunity to try out an idea that i have had for a while. I put a fluffy top on an altoids tin so pins can go in the top and notions can be stored in the tin. I also added some fishy shrinky pins.

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Hair clips
I hit the SF Craft Mafia sale at Craft Gym last month. Wow were there some good looking goodies there. I got a T-bone steak from Sweetmeats and some hair clips from Sprout Studio. The steak is at its new home, and I am loving the barrettes.

Yarn
Did you know you can get cones of dishcloth cotton yarn from Elmore-Pisgah (Peaches and Cream) for a really great price? Abby found this out and made a big order for all of us. then we divided it up. It is a lot of cotton yarn, and the colors are beautiful.

photo from abmatic

Things I like October 25, 2006

I started this category for myself as a repository for.. well… things that i like. Now i will have a way to look up links and random crap that i found that i like. It will probably clutter up the ol’ blog, but hey, it’s my blog. and hopefully you will find some of the stuff interesting. And to make it a little exciting, I will do a countdown of three things I like.

#3 Free pattern that I have been waiting for

I Dream of Africa Socks from Chickswithsticks is just the perfect pattern for busily patterned sock yarn. She has been taunting us by flaunting her socks all over blog, and now, finally, we can make them at last.

#2 Super-cute free pattern

I just discovered Warm fuzzies… She has a really cute blog, and the thing that caught my eye – a super-cute free pattern. As an embellishment to go with her crocheted mushroom (from crochetme) she designed a tiny little
hedgehog. Both of these look like fun projects for giving amigurumi a try.

#1 Etsy shopping
From the hallowed virtual halls of etsy I bought a fantastic “keychain cardholder” from Quiet Doing.

She has them seriously underpriced, so shop while the getting is good!