beautiful use swap

Warning: If you are my Beautiful Use swap partner reading this blog, don’t scroll down! I’m going to show off the stuff I made for you.

Here’s a pic of Opal to divert you…

So, now, I have been working on working on items for a Glitter version of the Beautiful Use swap, and I wrapped all the last bits up and sent it yesterday.

In these little packages are the following:

made from thrifted and gifted fabrics entirely. I am not happy with the way the bottom sags, I boxed those corners but still. It’s a nice bag.

after reading this post on soph’s blog, I decided to improve the way I go about lining bags.

and because I like taking those macro shots like the big girls:

fabric from Suomi.

also in there was the finished product, the results of the first of my french knot studies, on knit and fulled fabric (yarn from Grand View Farm).

I decided to go with the natural shape of the fulled piece rather than cut it. It’s a cozy, I guess. (It’s really a vehicle for the knotting practice…)
and:

notecards with fashion illustrations by Opal.
Pluis some buttons for good measure.

It was a good swap for me; very instructive, and I am getting better about working through projects, trying to train myself out of procrastination. I was still late on the send-out, though.

so there’s some craft content for ya.

new yarn

So, Sunday morning. And the last day of 2006. I am passing up an invitation to a party; Mark and I are going clam digging instead. I can taste the bouillabaisse already….

Yesterday was fragmented by many phone calls. (Sorry about my phone hanging up on you, Stan! We talked so long the battery died, and when I called you back, it was busy…) I did manage to get some crafting done- I spun this roving up into yarn!

I plyed it with a commercial yarn, some slubby blue wool novelty yarn called Commotion. (I have never been able to figure out what to do with all that stuff. It so thin.) Some of the green is barely spun. I am just figuring this out. I actually had stalled out on spinning altogether because of my aversion to spinning dry wool, but after having a conversation with cosyknitsliterally about spinning dry vs. in the grease, I figured I had better just get to it. I actually misted the roving with a water/olive oil emulsion and let it sit for awhile, which gave it a bit of lubrication.
anyhow, I am happy with the result, and ready to spin more. I sorted through my stash of fiber, and threw some nasty old fleece onto the compost, and have the next bit lined up to go. Mostly I have greasy, colored wool, so I will be using that for now, but I plan on ordering some washed fiber form Homestead Wool and Gift Farm. Thanks to miss hawklet for the link to that animal friendly farm!
Speaking of animal friendly farms, I bought this skein of yarn from woolhandcrafts.etsy.com last night, and look at the picture Kim sent me! It is Ina, the sheep whose wool made the yarn I ordered!

The folks at Grand View Farm are also homeschoolers, hurray! When I get the yarn, which I plan on dyeing pink, I will let you all know how I like it. It is supposed to be Super Soft.

Oh, and one more thing. Mark sent me this link to a hilarious TV spot for the L.A. County Fair. Illustrating exactly why it (and fiber education for the population at large) is needed. Go watch it for a chuckle, unless Blonde jokes bother you. “Duh, Ashley, all wool comes from a cow.”