Sweat Shoppe Swap... the goods!

I received some awesome stuff in round 2 of Craftster's Sweat Shoppe Swap!

Unfortunately, there were a few flakers, but I think it turned out ok! From Bitibis there was 2 skeins of handspun, hand-dyed yarn in two gorgeous colorways! The one on top is soft blues and purples, the photo really doesn't do the colors justice, it reminds me of a Monet! The lower one is beautiful too! It has aqua, coral & pink, and it's amazing! She said it was a mystery skein, but I love it!

From Devilninny I received a set of wonderful cherry blossom cards. They're all different, and so pretty!

I also received a set of amigurumi patterns from RubyTuesday, they're not pictured, but it was almost 20 pages worth!

From Night_Owl there was a set of mini cards, and they're really mini! they're so much fun, and they're all different!

From Blueblyth I received a mini-shrine. It's small and so cute!

From Madchandler (who wasn't my partner, and just sent me extra incense - what a sweetie!), I received awesome incense in Bright Eyes, Lemon Pucker, and Banana Nut Bread! It was such a nice suprise - Thank you so much!

From Cinderly I received a wonderful gingko leaf coaster - sorry, no pics though - it's a suprise gift for a special person in my life! Can't say who quite yet, though!

I'm still waiting for a few items, but I'll update this post when they show up! I hope everybody liked they're kanzashi flower snap wristlets!

::Red Friday::

The last installment of neutral colorweek - I decided to use a pic I had - Ginger!

::Blue Thursday::

So I must admit, when I saw the colorweek theme, and saw Thursday was blue, I had no idea what I was going to do. Then, it dawned on me - my "nuetral" blue just happens to be Robin's Egg!!! I hope you like it - this was my first project post on Craftster!

::belated Grey Wednesday::

I had kind of a bad day yesterday, and didn't finish Pointy Kitty, or post my Grey colorweek photo. Better late than never though, eh?

...an introduction to Crafty Ginger

A lot of crafters have a specific craft that they do on a consistent basis. I've always felt a little different from most people, as I love trying new methods/materials. I knit, but don't consider myself a knitter. I design, but have never thought of myself as a designer. I sew, but as I haven't managed to sew anything I can actually wear, I don't think of myself as a seamstress. I find this basic concept very interesting, as I have spent some time recently trying to define what kind of crafter I am.

What I came up with, actually surprised me; I believe I am a Craft Theorist. That is to say, I'm never satisfied doing the same thing over again, or the same way as everybody else. I HAVE to change up some detail, or add my "spin", or I become disinterested quite quickly and lose heart. It's those crafts that I have no idea how they'll turn out that I enjoy the most. Even through the failures, it's those projects that didn't have a targeted finish point (an aesthetic I'm working towards, or any visual constraints), that I've been most pleased with. I was really struggling trying to decide what one craft to define myself by, but I really can't. So here's my favorites!

Serendipity pendant:
This is one of the last pieces I made while I had access to a jewelry lab. It's one of my MOST favorite pieces my hands have ever created. I am more proud of this piece, than the one I designed the Mokume Gane billets for, funnily enough - and that's why I named it Serendipity. It was really hard to get a good picture, it's got a high polish to it, but it's beautiful in person! The rectangle rotates on the copper ring, it's not soldered onto it.

Kool-Aid dyed shoes for Craftster Challenge #11

I saw the challenge and immediately knew I wanted to participate, but struggled with what I'd do for it. Late one night, I was reading the Kool-Aid dyed yarn tutorial at Knitty, and had the EUREKA moment I was hoping for. I had a pair of dyable silk mules in my closet. They cost me 9$ - so if my experiment failed, I wouldn't be terribly upset. I knew they had to be aqua - it's my color of the season (only 5 or 6 seasons running now! LOL) and I thought it would compliment the white beading on the shoes (that I knew wouldn't take the dye.) I had no idea how my theory would progress, but I think they turned out fabulously! (I'd love to hear what anyone else might think!)

Bias Racing Stripe dropped-stitch scarf:
This was the first pattern I made for myself. I mostly winged it, but knew I wanted to try knitting on the bias, and not just a plain ol' garter stitch scarf (it's my favorite stitch though!) It's made with Classic Elite Premiere yarn (3 skeins) in color #5226 (I think it's called bluegrass?), on size 6's. The racing stripe repeats on both ends, although I wasn't really counting rows, just eyeballing the second end compared to the first. I'm really an "eyeball it" kind of woman, even though I'm somewhat a perfectionist LOL!

I hope you like my favorite projects, I certainly enjoyed making them! I'd LOVE some outside feedback, this craft blog-o-sphere is quite a new universe to me!

::Brown Tuesday::

For the second installment of Neutral Colorweek, I give you Brown. Not those silly package people LOL! This is an old cashmere sweater I'm planning on recycling - someday! :) I just love how soft it is!

::White Monday::

Here's my first foray into colorweek themes! I hope you like it, it's my favorite mid-century modern chair (in miniature!).

Port2Port & little birds worked on a Neutral theme this week, and I'm so excited I get to participate! It was so fun looking at what everyone did for the last themed colorweek!

The rest of the week will look like this -
Monday: White
Tuesday: Brown
Wednesday: Black/Grey (not a b/w shot)
Thursday: Blue
Friday: Red

Now, I'm not sure that I'd personally consider blue & red neutrals, although I'd probably put navy in that category; but I'm still excited to be part of the fun this time around!

June is Finish What You Have Month!

How terribly appropriate for me! I have so many unfinished projects, it will be good to clear some of them out of the craft room & my brain! I'm normally so behind the curve on these themed months, April was Use What You Have month, and while I did do some stashbusting, my stash just isn't that big yet! My Mom donated some awesome small-scaled prints for my tsumami kanzashi flowers, though! Thanks Mom!

My list of unfinished projects looks like this so far -

1. Pointy Kitty - needs eyes & nose
2. Jaeger dropped-stitch scarf - needs blocking, & ends woven in
3. Sushi knitting needle roll for Jenn - finish outside, seam to inside & add ties - this is what I'm working on now
4. Tiffany & Co themed kitting needle roll for me! - everything except design!
5. Aqua silk dupioni curtains - silk is cut, that's it...
6. Line aqua wool pinched pleat drape w/ muslin - the drape is installed, but sun-damaged & some water staining! seam hem, add to drape & stab in place w/ hooks
7. Denim boucle knitting tote - lining is sewn together, needs inner pockets, outer fabric & handle straps attached
8. Wine corkboard - find backing material, glue on?
9. Large ironing board - 48"x52" needs cotton batting & muslin
10. 2 Upholstered memo boards - finish ribbons, add tufted buttons & finish backs

I've also been thinking about making a quilted sewing machine cover, a leather yoga mat bag, and a blanket to match the sofa in my living room! It sounds a little much when I read through it all, though!

Sweat Shoppe Swap round 2

Here's a few sneak peeks of the items I'm making for the Sweat Shoppe Swap (rnd2) on Craftster! I'm so excited, it's basically a sampler swap - and I signed up to craft 10 items, which means I'll be recieving 10 packages back! If you happen to be one of my partners - please let me know if you really like anything pictured here, or have anything you wouldn't like; I'd REALLY appreciate it! And if you leave me a comment here, I'll LOVE you forever! I often feel like I'm the only one reading this silly little blog!

Anyhoo here are the pics I mentioned earlier! Tsumami kanzashi flower wristlets. The flowers snap on & off, so you can change them whenever you want! I'm really happy with the way these have turned out, & I can't wait to get them up on Etsy!

Swap partners - the flowers pictured here don't have buttons or snaps yet (with two exceptions, the top 2 far left are sewn to snaps already), if anyone is allergic to nickel, or other base metals, PLEASE let me know so I can use plastic snaps for you! The colors are just a jumping off point, what I have the most of, white, fuschia & turquoise. For the wristlets I just picked up the cutest hip cat felt, as well as some solids, so let me know what you like, and I'll see what I can do!