tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28264364285052370012024-03-05T02:45:49.612-05:00Piscina Mea: My Fishpond"There is an art, it says, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in <br>learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Clearly, it is <br>this second part, the missing, that provides the difficulties."<br> (Douglas Adams, <i>Life, the Universe and Everything</i>)Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-43287292428496528322013-09-30T08:00:00.000-04:002013-09-30T08:00:07.938-04:00Nerd Wars PlanningThe next round of Nerd Wars starts tomorrow. I have a mind full of ideas of what I would like to accomplish. Too many of my ideas are rather grand so I predict failure or over-worked frustration. Yay?<br />
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1. Dissertation: Last round's spinning dissertation was freaking awesome (I totally ought to write it about in fact). I don't think I can top it this round. But I do have far too much fiber that is piling up in the craft room. One of the things I really want to do is to turn one of the fleeces purchased at th MD Sheep and Wool Fest into a sweaters worth of yarn. I'm leaning in that direction. This however being me things aren't quite that easy.<br />
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2. While in Peru I purchased 3 skeins of this incredibly soft amazing baby alpaca. Shortly thereafter I found that I could have purchased the same thing back at home and actually the price is fairly similar. But it was from a particular shop that happens to be doing good so I'm still ok with it. Plus the yarn is still awesome and wants to become something awesome. Particularly it wants to <a href="http://ysolda.com/patterns/marin" target="_blank">be a Marin</a>. Except my yardage is more or less right on the edge of what I need. I'm still going to try it. My neck needs this softness ASAP!<br />
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3. I have had a beautiful skein of reddish/orangeish yarn for around a year now having recieved it in a swap. I always thought it would be perfect for something beautiful for fall. Well it's fall now and I may have impulse skeined it up. I'm thinking<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brandywine-shawl" target="_blank"> Brandywine</a> but know that with my other plans it is totally impractical.<br />
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4. Created by Carlin is still happening. Trying to be at least somewhat smarter this year I've been attempting to stockpile things to sell all year. But even with that intent I never get through as much as planned so now that we're getting down to the wire more things must happen! This year I want to mostly just sell what I've already created. Then possibly I'll also offer a higher (significantly?) price for things made-to-order.<br />
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5. My "shop" actually already has 2 (well 1 for certain, the other possible) orders currently in the queue. The first I need to finish right away so it may or may not wait for NW to begin. It depends upon how speedy I am. But the second, provided it still is on the table (I'm guessing yes), is perfect challenge fodder.<br />
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6. Christmas gifts need to be thought about and planned. In fact as holiday gifting goes if I still have any intent of making gifts I am way far behind. Best get in gear with this.<br />
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7. UFO's (un-finished objects): I've made good progress but the pink-coopworth spinning project has been typing up some of my trindles for approximately 2 years now (some skeins have already been finished and come off the spindles, but ineveitably new ones replace them). Perhaps I should finish that someday. Also I started another felted alpaca before the last round of NW with the intent being that I could finish it in the Flexi-challenge. This never happened. This needs to happen.<br />
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Well that's epic...Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-19881939061122925412013-09-29T10:10:00.001-04:002013-09-29T10:10:45.895-04:00I'm back (for now)Well hello there blog-land. Long time no type.<br />
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Since last we met I feel like I have done approximately a million and a half things but when I try to put things down here only a few are coming to mind.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Work was freaking insane. Many additional hours where spent both in office and at home. Including at least one night of staying up working until at least 2 am. New things did not work property. Tears shed and I slowly started cursing in public more and more. It really wasn't so great.</li>
<li>But then I got a new job! It was a bit crazy. I prepared my materials, talked to people, interviewed. They liked me. They wanted to hire me but couldn't now but maybe later. Then things changed. (All while the biggest teary-est part of the old job was happening of course.) I asked for more money. I got more money. I've officially worked 2 weeks. Win.</li>
<li>I went with my parents to Peru. While i freely confess that there where moments when I was ready to come home before the trip was over, it was totally freaking awesome and I would do it again in a heart beat.</li>
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New goal: short sweet posts about whatever happens to be up at the moment. I can totally do this!<br /><br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-63074482953279527822013-04-12T12:30:00.000-04:002013-09-29T09:58:42.674-04:00Something new (ish)My spinning is all self taught largely using a combination of You Tube and just doing whatever works. Every so often I might try something slightly new or different or think about getting creative but most all of the time I go back to my standard short draw worsted spinning. Hey if it ain't broke....right?<br />
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But recently I decided to be daring and try something different and try my hand at spinning woolen.<br />
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In my stash I found a bag of fiber from Zeke the alpaca that had been washed (although while spinning I was getting dirt/dust so it wasn't washed that well I guess) and looked even to have the locks flicked open. I used my old beat up purchased on ebay hand carders to work the fiber into rollags. And then I spun it up.<br />
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Random interesting observation: The rollags, logically but still amusingly, take up so much more volume than the raw or the spun fiber. In this picture the pile of fiber on the top left represents about half of the total the rollags on the carders is a quarter and on the bobbin is a quarter. <br />
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Spinning woolen/from the rollag was rather different, but enjoyable. It always fascinates me to see just how the fiber really does stick to itself and enable me to pull out foot long strands without breaking the yarn. As I was trying to do this however I did find myself often lacking in consistency. I'm not sure if this is because it is a new technique and I'm not yet skilled enough with it or if its the nature of the long draw back or whatever exactly my hands where doing.<br />
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Once spun up the singles did indeed seem to be rather fuzzier although not so much fluffier. Although its worth noting that my regularly spun worsted alpaca yarn also often seems rather fuzzy. While plying the single definately struck me as been more fluffy. It was exciting.<br />
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And I was in a bit of a rush so I've not compared it side by side to anything yet but I'd say the final skein now washed and dried does indeed appear to be different than my normal. I'll definitely need to try this again. <br />
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Now I don't want to do anything too crazy and I am still cheap so there's no way I'll be spending much $$ to improve my casual wardrobe. So the logical thing to do I decided was to make myself some comfy sweaters.<br />
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Thanks to the magic of Ravelry I fond two super awesome patterns:<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ease-2" target="_blank">Ease by Alicia Plummer</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweatshirt-sweater-2" target="_blank">Sweatshirt Sweater by Purl Soho</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This sweater used to have 2 arms.</td></tr>
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Next up was the yarn. Owing to the aforementioned fact that I am cheap I didn't want to buy yarn for this project. When one is talking sweater quantities and especially if you want good yarn it ain't cheap. So it was off to check the thrift stores for sweaters that I could unravel. Trying to do this in the spring when things are finally starting to warm up and sweaters are not so popular was likely a poor decision. But I did find one sweater deemed appropriate.<br />
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Now I was doing all of this shopping just before the next round of Nerd Wars was about to start. Now I am getting to be a rather productive crafter (largely thanks to NW) but a sweater in a month is still pretty crazy. Especially when you consider that this round/month I was already planning to finish another lace weight sweater that has been on the needles plus do a bunch of spinning from raw fiber and at least one other NW project. Oh and finish making a whole blanket for my NW Dissertation.<br />
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But I decided to be crazy and go for it anyways (I opted for the Purl Soho pattern, it was free and requires less yarn):<br />
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Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-81043072852209453562013-03-20T18:00:00.000-04:002013-03-20T18:00:04.089-04:00A perfect moment.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Every so often there are moments when it seems the planets
have aligned such that everything just feels wonderful and I am content with my
place on this earth. It doesn’t happen all that often but always seems magical
when it does.</div>
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I had one of those moments a few weeks ago back in February...<br />
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It was fairly late at night and I was watching a documentary from netflix about
Bella Fleck. Fleck is probably the worlds foremost living Banjo player. I first experienced his brand of awesomeness when a DVD of a Bella Fleck and the Flecktones concert was one of my HS band teacher's go to time fillers. His music is incredibly virtuosic entirely eclectic and very weird, I also refer to it as being awesome. The documentary is about a trip he took to Africa to record music with traditional folk musicians. I also happen to love folk music (its actually a bit difficult to find music I don't like). If you have a netflix subscription and don't mind thinking outside of the musical box I would highly recommend it (<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70095166?strkid=442202200_0_0&trkid=222336&movieid=70095166" target="_blank">linkage</a>).<br />
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While watching I was doing some spinning. The fiber I was working with had been carefully prepared by myself over the few weeks prior. It was from the batch of alpaca I received a few years ago from a friend who has pet alpacas. She gave me five bags full and have been slowly working through it all since. The alpaca whose fiber I was working with that day is Lance. His fleece is a beautiful and varied fawn color made extra special since Lance has since passed away. I had lined up and washed the batch of locks, then flicked each of them open and hackled them into a wonderful ball of fluffy soft roving. It practically spun itself down into a single small enough to become a 2-ply fingering weight yarn.<br />
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Being February it was quite cold but I had the awesome space heater that Bran got me and a blanket. And the cherry on top is my crazy cat who takes no mind to my peddling and is perfectly happy to sleep draped across my legs.</div>
Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-85380935808991658682012-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:002012-11-09T12:00:09.202-05:00Animals for your headIt all started when I was thinking about things that I could make to sell, give as gifts, and/or donate. I wanted fun and cute and good looking without being too time intensive.<br />
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Meeting all of these criteria I found anthropomorphic crochet hats with ear flaps. I'm kinda loving them right now. I've been working almost but not really off of patterns as I take the inspiration but then just crochet away (this is the awesome part of crochet, for some reason I'm not comfortable doing this with knitting).<br />
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It all started with this Birdy hat that was donated and destined to be for a kid with cancer:<br />
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Naturally it only seemed appropriate to move on to a Penguinal hat:<br />
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Emboldened by my success I upped the anti with the more involved Sock Monkey Hat. The project was completely addicting and largely completed in one day:<br />
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The next weekend I churned out another hat, this time a puppy in just 2 days. Although the speed on that occasion was more because I was with Bran and he mocks the fact that I never seem to complete anything as I am constantly switching between projects (truth, but also largely because I tend to only work on simpler things when I'm with him so more juggling and less FO [finished object(s)] makes sense):<br />
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Up next I am totally making an <a href="http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html" target="_blank">Owl hat</a>, which is actually the idea/pattern that started it all before I wandered off in my own directions. I am rather lacking the the crafting time/focus lately however so progress is slow (and sad). The new goal is to knock it out this weekend.<br />
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Also coming soon....an Etsy shop! I decided to branch out this year and along with having stuff at the gift shop have an actual shop online. The challenge is going to be what/how much to keep to ship if needed and what should stay with me to ship if needed.<br />
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Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-48318684209896588022012-10-01T18:00:00.000-04:002012-10-01T18:00:06.316-04:00Nerd Wars Tournament 5What have I been up to? Well, lots of things. One of those rather time consuming and just as awesome things is Nerd Wars.<br />
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The basic premise of Nerd Wars is that you are on a team that centers around some kind of specific Nerdy-subject (sci-fi, science, books, all kinds of things). And over a period of 3 months you craft things to meet challenges which earn your team points.<br />
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I joined up with Club 33 which is the Disney team because Disney is awesome, it worked perfectly to build excitement for my trip, and it has so many great ways to connect projects back to the team (bonus points).<br />
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Here's what I made:<br />
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And one scarf particularly awesome lace scarf that I can't show here because its a gift for someone who may read this.<br />
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Today the next tournament started!Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-79875991781048651202012-05-04T06:00:00.000-04:002012-05-04T06:00:05.521-04:00Shawl x3I've been on a bit of a random Shawl kick lately.<br />
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I cast on my first ever Shawl on June 20 2011(thank you Ravelry project page). I liked the project but I am far from a monogamous crafter so the Shawl was lost in the bustle of many other projects. It probably didn't help that I was using basically the thinnest yarn ever. By the end each row was incredibly long. However I decided to bring it to the fore and finish the sucker sometime in February or March.<br />
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It may be the magic of blocking lace that makes me fall in love with it every time. Overnight my project went from this:<br />
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To this:<br />
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After a bit of concern about looking too matronly wearing it I've gotten over that as well and have quite enjoyed it on some of these cool spring days.<br />
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So fueled by that success I couldn't help but jump on the bandwagon for the Reddit Knit-Along of the Age of Brass and Steele. The pattern was super simple but delightful so I knew it should be a fast project. I found yarn that I was quite happy with at Michaels. It's a cashmere blend so super soft, but from Michaels so still affordable (particularly because I always use at least a 40% off coupon and have gift certificates). The color was was crocuses so I figured that was perfect as well and called the project April Showers.<br />
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Unfortunately it came out very much more stripey that I was hoping for which was disappointing. But lo and behold when I wear it everything blends together and gives me the look I was hoping for. Yay.<br />
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Now before starting the KAL I was unsure of what yarn to use and considered spinning up Kiwi's fleece as I thought it would be perfect for the pattern. However common sense prevailed when I figured given the month timeline maybe starting from raw wool was not the smartest.<br />
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But when I found that it was only a week into April and I had finished half of the knitting already. Plus it was a long Easter weekend made awesome by the fact that I opted not to drive home to my parents but instead enjoy some free time in my own home. So I figured I'd give the spinning a try.<br />
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<a href="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/P1030647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/P1030647.jpg" width="200" /></a>After prepping it into roving on my hackle Kiwi's fleece spun so easily and perfectly into a wonderful DKish single it felt nearly like a miracle. Being a single it was of course twisty but I washed it "thwacked it" as I'd seen suggested. And hung it to dry under the tension of a spray bottle. The resulting yarn did have a bit of twist to it but for the most part seemed to be pretty stable.<br />
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So I quickly knit up a little sample and lo and behold there were some places where I could see the stitches starting to lean but for the most part it was smooth sailing. And the color and texture were just wonderful.<br />
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I proceed with much sorting, washing, flicking, hackling, spinning, winding, washing, drying, winding, and knitting. And in the end had this wonderful shawl.<br />
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Its impossible to really capture the colors of it as they seem to change even every time I look at it. But I'd say they speak mostly as gray to me with hints of brown at times. The single adds so much character to the knitting that I am now certain I'll be doing a good bit more of this type of spinning.<br />
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Hooray for new things!Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-59998747440454176742012-05-03T18:00:00.000-04:002012-05-03T18:00:00.197-04:00I think I have too many things to do.As is too often the case I have one again neglected to post anything here for quite some time. Fail. The past few months have felt just insanely busy. Tis the season!<br />
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First and foremost work really really gets in the way of all of the things I really want to do. And to make matters worse my work doesn't stop at 40 hours a week. Every time we have a concert or special event there goes any "free time". The spring is definitely the worst. And just looking at the calendar May is the most ridiculous month. Between April 30 and May 25 the only non-work day is the 12th. Ouch. Although I do plan on taking a few other days off. Now if I could just get someone to do my job when I'm not in the office things would be rather more dandy.<br />
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So it whatever time is left to me I have all of the following things to do:<br />
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<li>House work: The cat is not pulling his weight around the house and I have to do it all. The little jerk.</li>
<li>Yard work: I think I had to start mowing a full month earlier with the weather so warm. And I've expanded my veggie garden. Here's hoping I keep more than just cucumbers alive this time.</li>
<li>Friends: After years of being largely, but not entirely, anti-social it seems that I've recently managed to re-connect much more with some old friends. And I've even found new ones - whoa. </li>
<li>Band: The music is kinda bad all too often, but I could never give up playing so i'm glad for the outlet.</li>
<li>Video games: Bran got me hooked on World of Warcraft and now he's dragging me into Diablo as well. I try not to admit it but they can be fun. I just wish they took less time and or I could knit and play!</li>
<li>Biking: Exercise is healthy and can even be fun, I should do more of it.</li>
<li>Photography: My photos really are getting better I think. But as with all learning/improvement more time is always a sure way to better results.</li>
<li>Reading: I really don't know how I did it but as a youth I would fly through books sometimes to the tune of multiple books in a week. I've been doing a bit more lately but sometimes it feels like I'm just slogging through them. And the library deadlines come up so quickly!</li>
<li>Knitting/Crochet: Aside from the perpetual desire to be working on dozens of projects of my own I even have the opportunity right now to work on growing a bit of my own crafty business. Maybe I should learn lever knitting or whatever the supposed current fastest knitting method may be.</li>
<li>Spinning: I am totally getting better at spinning. Latest discover is an awesome DKish single. Knit up so wonderfully. </li>
<li>Other Crafts: My awesome sewing machine is practically begging me to use it more often. And wouldn't it be wonderful to work at sketching/doodling/zentangling. Oh and what about the sweatshirt that I've wanted to paint for myself for over a year.</li>
<li>Relax: Eh, overrated!</li>
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<br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-30961593647298272082012-02-10T11:48:00.003-05:002012-02-10T11:48:54.224-05:00Valentines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have this idea for a super cute Valentines postcard with a fiber twist. And I thought it would be a perfect project to share with you all as a little diy project. But then I got distracted by life (happens quite a bit I'm afraid) and I've not yet actually made any myself yet. So today I'll figure I can still share with you my ideas and what I intend to create, and well maybe it will spur some ideas of your own!<br />
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My fascination with fiber post cards started<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2826436428505237001#editor/target=post;postID=330174116416672781" target="_blank"> two years ago when I participated in a post card swap</a>. My fun knitted post cards are still one of my favorite crazy bits of crafting. And as a bonus they were wonderful valentines as well. When I participated in the same swap last year I wanted to be sure and once again include fiber. And I came up with my <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2826436428505237001#editor/target=post;postID=5377913287695691813" target="_blank">little crochet flower postcards</a>. Another successful bit of mail-art.<br />
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So putting these past experiences together when I thought about making valentines this year I quickly came up with the idea of putting crochet hearts onto a postcard.<br />
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To start I needed a crochet heart. Alas I have yet to try any kind of patterning on my own so it was off to the interwebs. Happy I came across <a href="http://cornflowerbluestudio.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-crochet-heart-photo-tutorial.html" target="_blank">this perfect tutorial</a> for a simple little heart on <a href="http://pinterest.com/carlini/" target="_blank">pinterest</a> (which by the way is highly addicting and highly recommended). I made probably 20 of these little guys quite quickly one evening. The only modification that I made to the tutorial was to use the <a href="http://carinascraftblog.wardi.dk/2010/07/crochet-magic-ring-tutorial.html" target="_blank">magic ring</a> as my center instead of the first chain. This kept the heart neat and tidy with a solid center. My first attempt following the directions exactly was a bit wonky as that first chain stretched way too much.<br />
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This is as far as I've gotten thus far so bear with me and make a picture in your head.<br />
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My plan is to sew them onto a piece of card stock. Now sewing into the heavyish stock really isn't so easy, in fact I found it to be pretty darn painful/ineffective when last I tried. The solution is to poke holes wherever you'll be brining the thread up. I plan to hold the heart on the cardstock on a piece of corkboard and then poke holes just inside of the shape. This way I can invisibly stitch the heart securely down onto the postcard. I will also tie off the thread in a number of different places so that if the thread breaks in any one location the damage will be localized and the heart will stay securely on the card.<br />
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Now unfortunately all of the card stock that I've managed to find and purchase really isn't a particularly heavyweight. And so in order to give my postcards a better chance of surviving the mail I add a second piece. This also serves to hide the backside of the sewing. Last year when I was doing this with the flowers I was thinking glue but knew that glue would probably not survive the journey still completely glued. I then had the brainchild of sewing the cards together! <br />
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It really is amazing how one can take tools that seem so geared towards a specific craft and morph them into the perfect tool for something a bit less obvious. Stitching around the edges of the cards fastens them securely together quickly, simply and cleanly. <br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5310/5601270930_d51a00a799_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5310/5601270930_d51a00a799_m.jpg" width="119" /></a>Now if you don't have a sewing machine there is also the option to do something more like my first knitted post card. In that instance I placed (well I poked, but a hole punch would be easier) holes around the outside of the cards and then just sewed loops around the outside. This method adds its own decorative element as well.<br />
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Once everything is together you really can mail them just like a regular post card. Albeit at a higher rate. The postcard is too thick to fit in the postcard rate so you can use a regular letter stamp $0.45 now and then you need to add a $0.20 non-machinable charge.<br />
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I can only hope that the friends and family who will be receiving these Valentines enjoy them as much as I think I would. Snail mail really is so much fun!Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-44872092466346829232012-02-01T18:00:00.000-05:002012-02-01T18:00:00.492-05:00366 ProjectSince receiving my new camera for Christmas (many thanks and much love to Bran) I challenged myself to take a photo every day.<br />
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So far so good!Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-17362384209652642322012-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:002012-02-01T12:00:06.269-05:00Weekly Goal Wrapup, 1/29<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Ooops never clicked publish.... </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I must confess that alot of this was powered out on Sunday evening, but I accomplished everything. Go me!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">1. <b>Finish 1.5 Special Olympics scarve</b>s -This was the perfect project to have along with me while working the concerts this weekend. Even so I barely managed to pick it up given the ridiculousness that is two sold out concerts. Still, I am so fast with these now that it was a breeze.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">2. <b>Prep all fiber for Marled Yarn</b> -Much of the work was already done. And when I went to hackle the colored fiber it just didn't hold together as it was actually too light and airy. So the plan is to spin all the colored fiber from the lock. I would really like to get good at lock spinning anyways and this project for myself is perfectly suited I think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">3. <b>Knit 2nd "Quick and Easy" Sock</b> - Thank goodness this project really is super quick and easy because I just wasn't feeling it and put it off until late Sunday. But I finished and lo and behold they actually fit way better than I thought. Now I want to make more!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">4. <b>Sew convertible wallet to tote bag</b> -Went from start (well a few pieces were already cut) to finish in one night. I'm getting better at these as well, thank goodness. I actually sewed the zipper without using pins. I was nervous but it totally worked. Yay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">5. <b>Finish flower chart repeats on shawl</b> - Before I could actually 'finish' I had to figure out where 'finish' would be located (how many repeats). I did many maths and I'm still not quite certain of the outcome. Crazy lace and its ability to grow. But I'm calling it good and managed to finish 2 full pattern repeats and now its on to the boarder charts. And even more excitedly I really got into a groove with the knitting. So much so that I'm rather anxious to work on the boarder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So hooray for sucess. There is a bit of a downside however. Getting this stuff done felt rather overwhelming again, even with my 5 item limit. Next week is my birthday week so I think I may just do whatever :-)</span></div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-47111095800178283042012-01-27T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-27T08:49:01.424-05:00Box of HappinessYesterday I posted a very long-winded post about using a $50 Knitpicks gift card. Well that post took me a while to write. Long enough in fact that I placed the order last Friday, the 20th, and well my package was delivered on Wednesday the 25th! Ok, so I suppose its not just that my blog writing and posting is slow but also that Knitpicks is super fast - hooray for that.<br />
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Here is my box off happiness:<br />
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Thanks to the holiday generosity of my Aunt and Uncle it cost me $1.13. That rocks. The split ring stitch markers there were a $2 addition that got me the free shipping. And really one can never have enough stitch markers, right?<br />
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This book and skeins are destined to be Christmas presents for next year. I am all kinds of ahead of schedule...it's pretty doubtful that the trend will continue. I spent a bit of time paging through the book and read most of the intro. I am way more excited than I even realized I would be. The history that Nancy Bush includes has just completely drawn me in and makes me so much more excited for the patterns and techniques. And now I'm even second guessing my original pattern choice. There is a good possibility that I'll choose two different patterns. But then I would have to decide who gets what and well how on earth could I manage to decide? Maybe I'll gift them but say they should share :-)<br />
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And well the yarn of course. Oh my is this wonderful yarn. It was hard to capture the colors, but then even in real life colors will change depending on the light. In person they are much darker but still have a beautiful sheen. The alpaca is super amazing soft and lends a very light halo. And holy moly is the stuff thin. I thought that my cone from colourmart was particularly thin, but this Alpaca Cloud is only maybe a hair thicker. It's hard to believe that I'll be able to knit up a whole scarf from skeins that really are quite petite. But that's the magic of lightweight yarn and lace patterns I suppose. I suspect that the hardest part of working with these yarns is going to be not plastering these projects all over the place and spoiling the surprise for my giftees.<br />
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Lastly we have my wonderful happy-inducing splurge on self yarn. Yup, it's colorful. But I knew that, what most took me by surprise was how amazing soft this yarn is. I think during the ordering process I was do distracted obsessing about which color(s) to choose that I lost sight of fiber content. Luckily early on in the process I had narrowed in on the 25% alpaca in the Imagination sock yarn. It is soft and squishy and colorful and as such quite wonderful. I immediately (well after the photo-shoot and eating dinner) had to wind one of the skeins into a ball and start working up a little swatch. As I suspected the project is going to be quite super saturated. And the stretches of color are all shorter than might be my ideal, but I am still going to love this project.<br />
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And rather off topic, but many many thanks to all who commented and encouraged me <a href="http://piscinamea.blogspot.com/2012/01/marled-yarn.html" target="_blank">last week</a>. On a wave of enthusiasm from your input one of my <a href="http://piscinamea.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-goals-123.html" target="_blank">goals this week</a> is to finish processing the rest of the fiber to prepare for the marled yarn with Max fiber.<br />
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Thanks for visiting! Be sure and check out the rest of the <a href="http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2012/01/fiber-arts-friday-wine-and-wool.html" target="_blank">Fiber Arts Friday blogs</a>.</div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-76773207503101645602012-01-26T18:00:00.000-05:002012-01-26T18:00:05.444-05:00What to getFor Christmas my Aunt and Uncle gave me a $50 Gift Certificate to Knitpicks. It turns out that my Aunt asked my Mother what I wanted. And Mother, having found and read by blog had seen the wishlist I posted about when I was plugging the Knitpicks contest. But anyways it is totally like an amazing awesome gift and I have been thinking about it since the evening I received the code in my inbox.<br />
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My first solid plan was to buy the yarn to knit up these amazing Penguin Socks. These suckers are actually what first drew me to knitpicks. It was a few years ago and for some reason my parents had received a knitpicks catalog in the mail. I think it had these super cute guys on the cover, or maybe they just decided to keep it and give it to me when I came home/visited. They had a whole little kit you could buy of the yarns needed for the project if memory serves. I drooled over everything but at the time sock knitting still seemed way out of my league, plus I'm totally cheap. So I just tucked it away in my memory. And at some point along the line when I was on ravelry I found it and added it to my (large) project queue to make sure I would remember it. This winter I actually came *this* close to offering these socks as a gift to my friends, but the weird IOU-ness of having custom socks when I didn't know the recipient (we were doing a Pollyanna) made me decide against the idea in the end. However before it was rejected I had already purchased the book. So now all I needed was the yarn. I spent a good bit of time debating over which yarn/colors to choose. Palette had more colors available but I liked that the Stroll Sock Yarn was super-wash and so I added the yarns to my online shopping cart.<br />
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In browsing I had completely fallen in love with pretty much all of the luxury yarns Knitpicks carries: Alpaca, Angora, Cashmere, no matter the flavor if it sounds soft I will drool over it. I wasn't quite sure what to make however. But then I feel in love with a beautiful delicate lace pattern on ravelry that I thought would be perfect for my Mother and or Aunt. Now over the holiday's I learned that they've both read the blog so I don't want to spoil the surprise but I found a perfect lace alpaca blend that seemed just divine. Plus I was being super good and thinking about and planning to start my Christmas knitting super early.<br />
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Knitpicks has free shipping at $50 so, of course, I must hit something just above that value. My cart needed more stuff.<br />
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After seeing it on someone else's blog I had absolutely fallen in love with the Peerie Flooers Hat. And having somewhat recently become comfortable (and dare I say good) at stranded knitting I thought it would be a super fun project. Plus I had some left over palette finger colors from the tiny Christmas ornament knitting I had been doing. So I set about choosing the other colors I needed for the project. But in doing so I was perusing all of the other projects on Ravelry and completely fell in love with the idea of using a different color palate. So I went about drooling over all of those possibilities and spent lots of time excruciating (did you know that excrutiated is not a word? well at least not one I can manage to spell. weird) over finding the perfect colors. As much as I love online shopping this is where it really let me down. There was really no way to know how perfectly the colors would work together firstly because my monitor could be showing something different and then secondly because it's yarn and the dye lot could be different.<br />
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In the midst of all that color planning I realized that since the pattern I needed for the lace alpaca scarves was from a book, Knitted Lace of Estonia, so well maybe I could use a Barnes & Noble gift certificate (also a gift) to purchase that. They had the book but before I ordered I realized that so did Knitpicks! Plus the Knitpicks version included a DVD and was a few dollars cheaper.<br />
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Well adding that to my shopping cart just messed up my whole plan entirely. After much deliberation I realized that I just wasn't nearly so enthralled with knitting the Penguin socks as I had once been. Many other projects seemed more appealing. So out of the cart they came.<br />
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And then to really shake things up instead of Peerie Flooers I had the brilliant (crazy) idea to make a different hat from the same designer. Originally made from all different shades of sheep I could blend up my own shades of alpaca! And possibly even come up with my own alpaca charts. Crazy, but awesome. And it requires no more purchasing. Out of the cart came all of the yarns for the hat.<br />
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Now I was left with another $20 burning a hole in my pocket. So I ended up thinking about more of my linen stitch scarves. On numerous occasions I had contemplated how some of their sock yarns would look knit up in one of those marvelously colored scarves. But I was already planning <a href="http://piscinamea.blogspot.com/2011/10/inspiration.html" target="_blank">two spinning project ideas</a> to be knit up in the same pattern so it seemed like over kill.<br />
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But the more I thought about it the more I convinced myself that it was ok. This was my Christmas Present after all. Why not go ahead and splurge (ok ignore the fact that all of this is splurging really) and just do whatever I want. After a good bit more excruciating over color options I settled upon the crazy wild and bright Over the Rainbow which was in a luscious sounding <span class="prodDesc">50% Merino Wool 25% Superfine Alpaca, 25% Nylon blend. The colors are super wild and I'm worried that the whole scarf will just be too super saturated and not look that great. But then when its cold and I'm bundling up in a scarf I really will need something bright and festive to warm me inside and out. So it'll be good.</span><br />
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<span class="prodDesc">All very very good.</span>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-51332133713193570572012-01-24T18:00:00.000-05:002012-01-24T18:00:04.853-05:00Weekly Goals, 1/23Having taken a bunch of "down-time" around Christmas I've started to actually miss all of my assigned tasks that were ever-present this fall/early spring. I am the type of person who is most fulfilled when I can see results and accomplish things. But at the same time I don't want to completely overwhelm myself. So I think I'm going to try and set myself 5 objectives for each week. The number may ebb or flow depending on the projects, my time, and deadlines but it seems like 5 should be a reasonable accomplishment with out being overbearing. Plus there's always sure to be side projects that maybe I'll count towards bonus points :-)<br />
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1. Finish 1.5 Special Olympics scarves - I've established a deadline for my knitting group of February 7th (our first February meeting) and I'll want to get them all out in the mail ASAP after that. When I last checked I think I had 1.5 or so balls of each color remaining and I want to use the stuff up!<br />
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2. Prep all fiber for Marled Yarn - All of the encouraging comments on Friday helped solidify my love of the project and even gave me enough faith to go ahead with the colors as is. There is actually not that much prep that needs to be done. I finished flicking out the last of the colored locks yesterday and started washing up already pulled Max roving. So I just need to finish washing the Max (and flick and hackle more if needed) and then use the hackle to pull the colored locks into roving as well.<br />
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3. Knit 2nd "Quick and Easy" Sock - These suckers really are super quick and super easy, got the <a href="http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2011/12/19/thats_rushing.html" target="_blank">idea/pattern</a> from the Yarn Harlot, but I'm not very happy with the fit of #1 so I've been slow to knit #2. There's really no reason that I actually need to force this project except to say that it's done and make my piece with it all.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's the knitting that goes on and on and on and on...</td></tr>
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4. Sew convertible wallet to tote bag - I made a bunch of these around Christmas. It was pretty crazy challenging (the highlight was literally pinning the thing to my finger) but I loved the product so much that I managed to suffer through 5. They were all given as gifts however which means that when my co-worker thinks she has someone who would like to buy some I need to make myself a sample to show off.<br />
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5. Finish flower chart repeats on shawl - Well, actually, only if there are less than 2 repeats to go. This thing is epic at this point and it takes like an hour to complete a front row (maybe 30 for purling down the back). But I would really love to see this sucker finished by March maybe?Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-71542657970330393962012-01-20T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-20T08:58:51.802-05:00Marled Yarn<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/IMAG0620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/IMAG0620.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All four colors after some prep (flicking).</td></tr>
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Way back in September I purchased a pile of raw dyed alpaca from <a href="http://www.alpacasofyork.com/" target="_blank">Alpacas of York</a> at <a href="http://www.knittersdayout.org/" target="_blank">Knitters Day Out</a>. I purchased without intention just because I loved the colors, and the price was good. But I really like to have fiber/yarn with intention so I quickly, I think I was still at KDO, came up with the perfect idea for the fiber.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtgdr7P0rhn6uoUN3z3Q8N64V6BIffKCfDKyAhlCy99WE42gy94GQFEjWHI3kIlMWZ5ZVZgkENvyf-GU6GAj4vo5YLhlU8PD4UE3oooY1dspk1v61HbqEZmWBlxOQ9BJdHo6toG9sOEhyphenhyphen/s1600/P1010668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtgdr7P0rhn6uoUN3z3Q8N64V6BIffKCfDKyAhlCy99WE42gy94GQFEjWHI3kIlMWZ5ZVZgkENvyf-GU6GAj4vo5YLhlU8PD4UE3oooY1dspk1v61HbqEZmWBlxOQ9BJdHo6toG9sOEhyphenhyphen/s320/P1010668.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The doomed swatch. I had already started frogging when I <br />
remembered to take a picture.</td></tr>
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I wanted to spin it up so that each of the 4 colors was still distinct but knit it up into a linen stitch scarf where all of the colors would blend together (like the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/koigu-linen-stitch-scarf" target="_blank">Koigu Linen Stitch Scarves on Ravelry</a>). I even went so far as to spin and knit up a swatch. Two swatches actually as sometime late fall or early winter I made some adjustments and spin and half knit myself up a second swatch.<br />
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Now coming off of the holiday maddness I am thinking about the project again. So I, finally, finished swatch #2. I was happy with it and weighed it to see approximately what gauge I was getting vs. the amount of fiber. DOOM. My not terribly large swatch was nearly half an ounce and I only have around 5 ounces of fiber. The maths would not work.<br />
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So I spent a few days rather sadly contemplating the state of things and unsure of quite what to do. And then at some point it came to me....a while back I remembered reading an article about <a href="http://knittyblog.com/?p=582" target="_blank">creating marled yarns as a way to stretch dyed roving on the knitty blo</a>g. Perfect!<br />
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Now in the blog she talks a good bit about which color to choose. Being as I don't have that much of a fiber stash I just went with my good ol' Max fiber which is virtually never-ending around here. Plus the chocolate brown worked well with the rich muted colors.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJuVlEqvBjpbw1c8XPDjYGmsGlAsBnQFtHtYP5rBq-1Te3N1u3cEeHB1eCEw1gVUseJgGU2IRR37xOSfmuQmQ7JQkjrtOQEBj3vYmwzn1TKQf99ykPGvK0egPkjJrXY3l5HxWXfX-fKa8/s1600/P1010778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJuVlEqvBjpbw1c8XPDjYGmsGlAsBnQFtHtYP5rBq-1Te3N1u3cEeHB1eCEw1gVUseJgGU2IRR37xOSfmuQmQ7JQkjrtOQEBj3vYmwzn1TKQf99ykPGvK0egPkjJrXY3l5HxWXfX-fKa8/s320/P1010778.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marled Yarn, pre-wash.</td></tr>
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Unwilling to sacrifice any more of the fiber to swatching I rather crazily managed to un-spin the last swatch back into a single. I then re-spun the single to make sure the twist was still ok. This resulted in some rather funky yarn but for testing purposes I decided that was acceptable. Once I had enough Max spun up I plied the two together.<br />
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Almost all of my crafting these days is done at night while it is dark out by the lamps of my living room. In that relatively poor light I was rather worried about the yarn. Everything just seemed overly dark and muddied together, except of course the yellow which was high contrast. But I finished up the sample washed it and hung it to dry over night. [I've taken to hanging/laying things out over the top of the furnace in the basement, best drying method ever.]<br />
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The next morning I found that I was much happier with the yarn in the daylight. I had to be out of the office over lunch to sell tickets and whenever those days come I like to take a good craft project. My swatch was perfect for this. So over the next two days I knit up the new swatch in between selling tickets and answering questions.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57yfLxg4H995i-GyIkq_NzpMlHj_a5YSbjcmVpqM0XGnhlvE71BPfaE0geELYYw3xHV0_0ubKyEITFYWQe3KM4WZYZh8CnsVzKElh8oOOn8fuQqiTRwaC7ARWkTCjKDmltnS_o57oirNb/s1600/P1010835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57yfLxg4H995i-GyIkq_NzpMlHj_a5YSbjcmVpqM0XGnhlvE71BPfaE0geELYYw3xHV0_0ubKyEITFYWQe3KM4WZYZh8CnsVzKElh8oOOn8fuQqiTRwaC7ARWkTCjKDmltnS_o57oirNb/s320/P1010835.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swatch - take 3.</td></tr>
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I really am surprised how much I love the next fabric. The way the colors pop on the solid brown background just seems like such fun. Although I'm a bit worried that some of the colors, especially the green, fade into the brown a bit too much.<br />
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Now, as I finish prepping the rest of the fiber, I'm a bit on the fence. I could run with the "Max Brown" color for the entire scarf. I'm pretty sure I would love it. But I could also try spinning up some of the Fawn fleece that I have (Lance), rip out, un-spin (again), and re-spin with the alternate color. It's a tricky choice...<br />
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I'll probably go ahead and continue the ridiculousness and try me some Lance sampling just to be sure. Boy am I crazy sometimes....<br />
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Thanks for visiting! Be sure and check out the rest of the <a href="http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2012/01/fiber-arts-friday-turning-my-wheels.html" target="_blank">Fiber Arts Friday blogs</a>.</div>
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<br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-43618087929417127062012-01-19T18:00:00.000-05:002012-01-19T18:17:58.886-05:00VeiledWhat feels now like ages ago, October maybe, I had my friend, C, over to visit on a weekend. She was getting married on New Years and when we stopped by Jo-Ann's she mentioned the possibility of sewing a wedding veil. Apparently the suckers sell for a couple hundred bucks.<br />
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Being the knowledgeable crafter that I can pretend to be I stated that sometimes fabric costs are just ridiculous, but suggested we look into it. So we found a pattern that was, thank-goodness, on sale. (Seriously why do they price patterns so high and then have the rotating sales available constantly, anyone who knows what they are about just waits for the brand they're looking for to be on sale.) And then we investigated the fabrics.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/384749_558918296807_71600329_31577880_1521081399_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/384749_558918296807_71600329_31577880_1521081399_n.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Embellishing the test veil.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
C found this beautiful tulle with detailed lace and beading on it. It too could be yours for only $25 (ish) a yard. And at 4 yards needed for the veil holy-moly that's a bit of a gamble for a project where success was not guaranteed. Then it occurred to me that we could just buy the cheap tulle at $3 (ish) a yard and practice! We proceeded to do just that.<br />
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At home I couldn't believe how easy it was. The most involved step was cutting out the giant swath of tulle with rounded edges (admittedly a good bit of time was saved in our test as we just left the edges raw). From there you baste a line across the top and then gather it all up into just a few inches. Secure the gather, attach some kind of fastener, and Huston we had a veil.<br />
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A bit later we went back to Jo-Ann's and C purchased the fancy fabric and left it in my care to be transformed.<br />
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Now of course things couldn't continue to be so easy. The 'good-fabric' had a nice lace/bead trim edging on each side of the fabric. Obviously this worked wonderfully for the hem on the bottom of the veil. The tricky bit is the fact that at its edges the fabric curves gently upward and only ends at the top of the veil.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7965.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pinning the trimmed edging along the curve.</td></tr>
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So to make things nice first, using the pattern, cut of the top un-used portion of fabric. Then I set about very carefully cutting along the scalloped lace edge, following a particular strand of thread/beads. There was only a bit of length left as it stretched past the curves on the left and right hand corners so I also cut off the same strip from the unused 'top' portion of the original fabric panel.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7967.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close up of how the cut piece was moved.</td></tr>
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I then carefully pinned the cut bit of lace along the curve of the pattern all the way up to the top, Being careful to overlap the top and bottom pieces to follow the scallop curve. And after pinning it was on to sewing. Using a matching thread I basically couched the edge of the lace piece to the full panel. If you're not familiar with embroidery that is simply bringing the thread up on one side of the piece you are attaching and immediately down on the other side. It forms a little loop over top of it. I wanted it to be secure so I tried to do this at least every quarter inch. The beads, small and long, made for good targets and were secured on both sides.<br />
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It certainly wasn't difficult or incredibly painstaking, but it wasn't very fast either. So after a couple of evenings of work the sucker wasn't going anywhere.<br />
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Super-super carefully I cut the fabric panel following just to the outside of my hand stitched line. I needed to hide the edge but certainly didn't want anything coming loose.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7974.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af185/Luz_uploads/Fiber/100_7974.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is not easy to get like 4 feet of this stuff gathered into like 7 inches.</td></tr>
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Then it was, finally, time for some machine sewing. Once again it was a simple baste across the top. Except complicated a bit by beads and embroidery getting in the way. I quickly learned that removing any beads in the path of the machine feet was a very smart plan. The heavier tulle plus embroidery and beads was rather heavier that the original tulle experiment. So it was rather more difficult to get everything gathered up in just a few inches. That was some fun pinning.<br />
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But I persisted. And while it may not have been the best sewing as the machine struggled with the density of it all, in the end I had a beautiful veil.<br />
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And C, of course, was a beautiful bride! <br />
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<br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-48588770929658366782012-01-06T12:00:00.000-05:002012-01-06T12:09:16.039-05:00Crafted in 2011So I'm a good bit behind, but the holidays managed to knock me out rather well and I'm still only just recovering but I still wanted to take at least a bit of a look back on 2011.<br />
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Now I don't want to sound too conceited but I made a lot of awesome things last year. Hooray for Ravelry keeping tabs on all of the craftiness (although there are probably non yarn crafts that are missed). Not sure if this is a good or bad thing but I'm pretty proud of myself looking back on it all:<br />
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I started the year knitting a hat for myself from some special hand-spun fiber. It was my self indulgent project after holiday that was filled with crafting for others. The knitting came out well but it didn't quite fit, and I never managed to take a picture. I really ought to rectify that. <br />
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Probably at the same time I was working on three scarves for the Special Olympics Project (awesome) that I never photographed before mailing. Oops.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5024/5599081146_39bf687cfc_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5024/5599081146_39bf687cfc_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soon it was February and I was feeling the weight of the dreary cold
yuckiness that is winter. So I decided to run with the project I had
seen from Alice at Futurecraftgirl. My colorful and much loved hex tote
was born.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5440214766_dd10d51d84_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5440214766_dd10d51d84_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next I wanted to once again attempt socks. I decided that two at a time
would be a much smarter idea to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome.
Unfortunately I ended up really not caring much for the color and the
fit wasn't particular good. Plus these suckers took forever. Oops.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5270/5601292888_ae78750780_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5270/5601292888_ae78750780_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Participating once again in iHanna's postcard swap I needed a way to top
the previous years amazing knitting post cards. So I opted for crochet
post cards :-) Well plus a bit of painting cutting gluing sewing and
taping.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5227/5601293350_cbaf5d89ae_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5227/5601293350_cbaf5d89ae_z.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was still on a bit of a color phase so when I bought a spiffy phone it certainly needed a colorful spiffy phone case.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2730/5804343431_636a5da831_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2730/5804343431_636a5da831_z.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being fascinated by the idea of using reclaimed yarn I ended up purchasing 5 or so sweaters from the thrift store. This pink yarn was sheep with some angora and I wanted to try my hand at knitting a full adult sweater from it. It took a while but things went really well. I love the pattern but the arm holes really are way too huge on me, live and learn once again. Also I probably should have taken a photo after attaching both sleeves.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/76565115/imag0623_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/76565115/imag0623_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By late spring early summer I had been bitten quite hard by the spinning bug (in preparation for the TDF) but I still wanted to have some kind of awesome knitting in process. So I made another attempt at socks. These suckers were once again ungodly slow. I think I only just finished in November. Plus the toes are really funky, the heels a bit odd (I think I lost count) and the amazing owls on the top of the socks make them way too tight. Actually I have in mind to rip back the owls and add in some increases before the owls this time. Ideally after this I'll actually wear them.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/77788809/044-1_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/77788809/044-1_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The years Pierre De Resistance however is easily this sweater. First I prepped Max's raw fiber. Then during the TDF I spun over a mile of laceweight yarn on my spindles. And after all that work the actual knitting wasn't even terribly daunting. I loves it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83686578/282_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83686578/282_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was off to the races when I decided to start crafting items to sell at the museum's Christmas Market. These little ornaments actually sold a few even. And really they were so cute and the tiny socks quickly became a favorite item of mine to knit.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83687853/243_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83687853/243_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These little critters were just so stinking cute I couldn't help but love them. Except that while the pattern was absolutely well written I still didn't enjoy the knitting. In the end while expected to do the best these little guys did not sell well at all. But they still made great gifts for a number of my friends and family.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83687108/298_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83687108/298_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The idea to recreate my hex totebag, except simpler, was actually the first idea of selling things. Working with lots of colors is always fun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83686402/287_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83686402/287_medium.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I fell headfirst into the awesome that is knitting with super-bulky yarn. I could churn out a whole scarf in what felt like no time flat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83685996/307_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/83685996/307_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am constantly sharing my projects with my coworkers. And when one of them brought in a knitted headband from super-bulky yarn (commercially knit) I couldn't help but do some legwork and come up with a pattern that helped me create what was virtually an exact copy. Plus it was still a fast knit - one night wonders.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84176982/2011-12-01_16-54-22_hdr_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84176982/2011-12-01_16-54-22_hdr_medium2.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A friend requested hats to be donated to go to kids with cancer. First I churned out this pretty although maybe not my most favorite hat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84176942/2011-12-01_22-47-09_hdr_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84176942/2011-12-01_22-47-09_hdr_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then it was back to the super bulky for some quick and easy hats that are awesomely warm and squishy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/87016281/p1010329_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/87016281/p1010329_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bran needed a hat for a Christmas present as well and the love affair with super bulky continued. He is becoming quite good at appreciating the things I make him, even if he'll never pick it up again - haha.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/87015868/p1010200_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/87015868/p1010200_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While home for the holiday's I knew I'd be seeing the friend who got me started with spinning and alpacas. She has 5 pet alpacas and loaded me up with like 15 pounds of raw alpaca 3 years ago which was when I learned to spin. I still have yet to work through all of that fiber, although I am finally starting to make a dent. But anyways I do try to make at least one gift for her each year to repay her generosity. This little guy was surprisingly quick and easy. And un-surprisingly amazingly cute and awesome. He totally needs his own blog post.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
Ok so I do believe it is safe to say that my crafting output absolutely explodes in the fall/early winter. Kinda should have known that already...<br />
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Also in 2011 we have a few projects that didn't quite make it onto the Finished Object list, but have enough progress that I think they deserve shout-outs as well.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/79486211/2011-10-27235432_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/79486211/2011-10-27235432_medium2.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The
newly learned skill of 2011 was definately stranded colorwork. These
mittens currently stand at one finished and the second still only needs
the decreasing top and thumb (so about where this picture is at). The
yarn is super super soft alpaca purchased at Knitters Day Out 2010 from
Dunn Spun Alpacas. I am super anxious for these guys to be finished.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84572277/100_7996_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Carlini/84572277/100_7996_medium2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I discovered the wonder that is coulormart.com amazing yarns and very good prices. I couldn't resist ordering a sample card and managed to justify buying a cone of yarn at the same time. It's this crazy thin laceweight cashmere blend and I have like a zillion yards. So I decided to attempt my first shawl. Despite being a simple pattern (so far) this is not simple knitting. It requires gobs of attention and as it grows each row is taking longer and longer. But I'm pretty determined so I'll finish it in 2012 and it'll be amazing!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Here's to continued crafting awesomeness in 2012!!!<br />
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Thanks for visiting! Be sure and check out the rest of the <a href="http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2012/01/fiber-arts-friday-what-would-jacey-do.htmll" target="_blank">Fiber Arts Friday blogs</a>. </div>
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<br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-13303099036402345352011-12-25T23:36:00.003-05:002011-12-25T23:36:25.622-05:00And to all a good night.<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Someone please remind me that I absolutely stink at posting daily and should not do such things. Seriously it just leads to situations kinda like <a href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/procrastinator.html" target="_blank">this</a> or <a href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html" target="_blank">this</a> awesome comic.</div>
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But anyways this December I have in fact made a number of pretty awesome things and also listened to much good music. </div>
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And so in the spirit of making up for the lack of 19 promised posts I give you a bunch of Christmas music I highly reccomend:</div>
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Straight No Chaser - They have 2 Christmas albums out I believe. Tons and tons of fun as they interject their beautiful A'capella sound with lots of humor. I recommend the 12 days of Christmas, which does in fact get radio air play and is how I first discovered the group as well as The Christmas Can-Can.</div>
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Glee Cast - The TV show is so popular they can even have holiday albums. And I still love them. Start with let It Snow.</div>
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Take 6 - Another A'capella group, there is a pretty serious theme going on for me so far. But always fun. I especially recommend The Sugarplum Dance.</div>
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David Crowder Band - Another Christian Rock group, I think the spiritual side always helps give these groups a leg up on other Rock bands trying to rock the genre. Start with Joy to the World or O Holy Night.</div>
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She & Him's Christmas album A very She & Him Christmas was a new discovery curtsey of Amazon.com she has a very unique sound and its quirky but works well for a different twist on the holiday classics. The whole album is great but try The Christmas Waltz as a good introduction.</div>
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Hayley Westerna's Winter Magic is a more traditionalish type album. She is a classical cross over artist that I discovered back in college. Sometimes she can sound rather young but its the glass-like quality of her voice that gets me every time. My favorites of hers are Silent Night and Coventry Carol, they just work so well with her voice but I also quite like her Carol Of The Bells and Sleigh Ride was a strange mix that I enjoyed.</div>
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Sarah McLauchlan's Wintersong is likely an album that you already know about but I strongly reccomend checking out some of the tracks that may not get so much air time. What Child Is This? and O Little Town Of Bethlehem are wonderful arrangements that do stand out as being rather unique but my favorite is easy The First Noel/Mary Mary.</div>
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Bethan Marshall's O Come O Come Emmanual is a welcome change to so many overproduced overdone songs out there. Her simple and heart felt rendition stands out for its soul and quality.</div>
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Diana Krall's Christmas Songs are perfect for jazz lovers or well anyone at all. My favorites are Jingle Bells and The Christmas Song</div>
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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy got in on the Christmas market with their album Everything You Want For Christmas. Their swinging big band sound is perfect happy mood music and Merry Christmas Baby with its blusey feel is not to be missed.</div>
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Ultra-lounge Christmas Cocktails manage to put together weird yet awesome renditions of Christmas songs. I highly recommend Cha-Cha All The Way which manages to add a mambo beat to Jingle Bells and another favorite of mine is their The Nutcracker Suite which is swung.</div>
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The collection album titled Alternative Rock X-mas hit a few wins including Santa Baby by Everclear, Little Drummer Boy by The Dandy Warhols, and Silent Night by Sinead O'Conner.</div>
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Christmas Remixed 2 has some great stuff if you're down with adding some beats to your holiday tunes. They pretty much had me with their Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies. Along the same lines Merry Mixmas: Christmas Classics Remixed puts fun twists on some old favorites.</div>
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David Lantz, The Christmas Album is beautiful piano arrangements of Christmas favorites. His stuff would be perfect when you're looking for unobtrusive background music.</div>
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BarlowGirl, Home For Christmas is another Christian 'rock' group. I like their Carol Of The Bells/ Sing We Now of Christmas.</div>
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This Warm December - A Brushfire Holiday Vol. 2 is a compilation holiday album (with a really long name) which seems to have a bunch of indie artists. Alot of it is original, which after some listening can be fun but I really fell in love with Zee Avi's Frosty The Snowman. Seriously Frosty done in a weird slavic sounding mode and a good touch of melancholy - I am in love. If nothing else you must take the time to listen, the song starts around 1 minute into the video.</div>
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Hey, if nothing else now you've got some good music to bookmark and check out again next December!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b>Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!</b></span></div>
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<br />Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-44832617613565638702011-12-06T18:00:00.000-05:002011-12-06T18:00:05.095-05:0025 Days of Christmas: Days 4, 5 & 6...oopsUgh, I should have known me slacking was destined to happen if I tried to post daily...ah well. Life got in the way of Sunday and Monday so I present to you 3 awesome songs today:<br />
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To
celebrate Christmas I decided to highlight 25 days of awesome Christmas
music!</div>
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Day 4: Stufjan Steven's: O Come O Come Emanuel<br />
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For Sunday's song we have an advent appropriate hymn! Stufjan Stevens is a pretty cool folky singer. I think I first discovered his music through a free iTunes download, but I've greatly enjoyed his music since then. He has a huge album of Christmas songs which is quirky and fun. It is also huge, 4 or 5 disks huge. If memory serves he set out to make a disk of Christmas music for friends and family and the project just grew. How fun!<br />
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Day 5: Jethro Tull: Holly Herald<br />
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At college my primary instrument was flute and as a Music Business major I had this crazy half rocker-ish adviser (he could talk knowledgeably about Classical music but you always knew his loyalties were to the Beatles) who I distinctly remember talking a good bit about flute and Jethro Tull. I had never listened to any of his stuff and I'm pretty sure I didn't until I found this Christmas album. It's rather odd, but the flute playing is different and laudable. And in the end the music is quite fun with a different flair.<br />
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Day 6: Angels We Have Heard On High: Relient K<br />
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Rock versions of classic Christmas music can be quite fun, but all too often they end up being terribly. But I should have known that Relient K, a Christian rock band, would have no problem nailing it.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Carlin's 25 Days of <span style="color: #990000;">Christmas</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">Music</span></span></b></div>
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<td><div style="color: #990000;">
<b>Day 1</b>: A Christmas Festival</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #990000;">Leroy Anderson</span></div>
</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 10: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 19: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #38761d;"><b>Day 2</b>: How the Grinch Stole <br />
Christmas Soundtrack </td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 11: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 20: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #990000;"><b>Day 3</b>: Christmas Time is<br />
Here, Bela Fleck and the<br />
Flecktones</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 12: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 21: ???????</td>
</tr>
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<td style="color: #999999;"><div style="color: #38761d;">
<b>Day 4</b>: O Come O Come</div>
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Emmanuel</div>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Stufjan Stevens</span> </td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 13: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 22: ???????</td>
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<td style="color: #999999;"><div style="color: #990000;">
<b>Day 5</b>: Holly Herald</div>
<span style="color: #990000;">Jethro Tull</span></td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 14: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 23: ???????</td>
</tr>
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<td style="color: #999999;"><div style="color: #38761d;">
<b>Day 6</b>: Angels We Have</div>
<div style="color: #38761d;">
Heard On High</div>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Relient K</span></td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 15: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 24: ???????</td>
</tr>
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<td style="color: #999999;">Day 7: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 16: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 25: ???????</td>
</tr>
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<td style="color: #999999;">Day 8: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 17: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 9: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 18: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;"><br /></td>
</tr>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep coming back each day as I celebrate the season with new songs each day!</span></div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-17190423407392316292011-12-03T21:03:00.001-05:002011-12-03T21:21:35.201-05:0025 Day's of Christmas: Day 3, Christmas Time is Here<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
To
celebrate Christmas I decided to highlight 25 days of awesome Christmas
music!</div>
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Day 3: Christmas Time is Here, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones (plus A Charlie Brown Christmas!)<br />
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I was first introduced to Bela Fleck & The Flecktones by my high school band director. It was one of the 3 videos that he would show us on those school days where for whatever reason we were watching videos instead of having regular class (or rehearsal as would be the case with the band teacher). He really was an amazing teacher and can be credited for quite a bit of my musicality And the Flecktones are just one of the many many awesome things he exposed us to.<br />
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All of the musicians in that group are phenomenal and listening to them take a simple tune like Christmas Time is Here and play with it is just a treat. As a bonus I also have a video of A Charlie Brown Christmas (which I don't actually think is a Christmas song, more of their theme song but always gets playtime around the holidays so I'll take it). It's thematically appropriate and just as fun!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #999999;">As always these recordings are sketchy, although acoustic does add some merit. If you like what you hear there is always Spotify, iTunes, or any other of the zillions of online music options available. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Carlin's 25 Days of <span style="color: #990000;">Christmas</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">Music</span></span></b></div>
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<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td><div style="color: #990000;">
<b>Day 1</b>: A Christmas Festival</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #990000;">Leroy Anderson</span></div>
</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 10: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 19: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #38761d;"><b>Day 2</b>: How the Grinch Stole <br />
Christmas Soundtrack </td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 11: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 20: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #990000;">Day 3: Christmas Time is<br />
Here, Bela Fleck & the<br />
Flecktones</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 12: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 21: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 4: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 13: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 22: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 5: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 14: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 23: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 6: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 15: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 24: ???????</td>
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<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 7: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 16: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 25: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 8: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 17: ???????</td>
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</tr>
<tr>
<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 9: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 18: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep coming back each day as I celebrate the season with new songs each day!</span></div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-64741403681496883592011-12-02T12:00:00.000-05:002011-12-02T12:04:14.543-05:0025 Days of Christmas: Day 2, How the Grinch Stole Christmas<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
To
celebrate Christmas I decided to highlight 25 days of awesome Christmas
music!</div>
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Day 2:How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Original Motion Picture Sound Track<br />
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I have always loved Dr. Seuss's the Grinch. We had a whole pile of Christmas books and it was always one of my favorites. Plus there was always the old animated movie to watch on TV as well. So I was quite excited for the Jim Carey live action version when it was released. I quite enjoyed it and now have it on my must watch during the holiday season list. But something not everyone knows about is the absolutely stunning soundtrack!<br />
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Almost all of the tracks are favorites of mine so I'll try to limit myself today.<br />
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First Jim Horner's amazing symphonic compositions are absolutely stunning. Maybe it is because I love the story so much but I could listen to them all day. This album will certainly be making some encore performances, although I do also suggest acquiring the music for yourself as well (Spotify is a great way to listen to free and legal music).<br />
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First I have here "The Shape of Things to Come" featuring beautiful backgrounds, hinting and some later melodies, and introducing us to the fun world of the Who's this track is a great winner and really does give quite the overview of the whole movie in my opinion!<br />
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Along with the awesome symphonic tracks the album also features fun holiday themed pop songs. A lot of them are actually rather melancholy, to go along with the Grinch's feelings of the holiday, but I am really a fan of this alternate vibe for the holidays so I love it.<br />
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Green Christmas by Barenaked Ladies is completely catchy and fun to sing along with but when you actually listen to what you're saying it can be a bit sad.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Green, cause of everything I miss<br />
All this mistletoe, no kiss<br />
And with every Christmas wish<br />
There would be no greater gift<br />
Than to have this envy lift."</blockquote>
Still a super great song and something different to add to your holiday mix. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #999999;">This is a bad recording, although acoustic does add some merits, but its the best I could slurp here on the website. An upload with the original from the soundtrack with rather unrelated anime images <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZCua6Qcjs" target="_blank">can be found here</a>, or there's always Spotify, iTunes, or any other of the zillions of online music options available. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Carlin's 25 Days of <span style="color: #990000;">Christmas</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">Music</span></span></b></div>
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</div>
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<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" border="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td><div style="color: #990000;">
<b>Day 1</b>: A Christmas Festival</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #990000;">Leroy Anderson</span></div>
</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 10: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 19: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #38761d;"><b>Day 2</b>: How the Grinch Stole <br />Christmas Soundtrack </td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 11: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 20: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 3: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 12: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 21: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 4: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 13: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 22: ???????</td>
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<td style="color: #999999;">Day 5: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 14: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 23: ???????</td>
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<td style="color: #999999;">Day 6: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 15: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 24: ???????</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 7: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 16: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 25: ???????</td>
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<td style="color: #999999;">Day 8: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;">Day 17: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999;"><br /></td>
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<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 9: ???????</td>
<td style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">Day 18: ???????</td>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep coming back each day as I celebrate the season with new songs each day!</span></div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-55229814920851865912011-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:002012-01-20T08:57:57.621-05:00Fiber Arts Friday: Created by Carlin<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
I've been hinting at it here but this coming weekend marks the 'real' start of my own little crafting business.</div>
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The idea started in late October. I was asked to come teach <a href="http://highhopes.com/3dstar.html" target="_blank">Moravian Star folding</a> at the library (more of an archive really) and museum where my dad is the executive director. They expand out their little gift shop to have a little Christmas Market of their very own. So it seemed like a good way to see if I could sell some things.</div>
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I then experianced quite the frenzy of ideas and options. And then a crazy frenzy to get a bunch of things created and ready to sell by Thanksgiving when I would be able to deliver my goods.</div>
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It was pretty crazy and nearly burnt me out (link) but here's what I put together for the opening of <a href="http://createdbycarlin.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Created by Carlin</a>...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNF4oyoKKRY4BMywbjtBfNfesAwpKIyUjCRScRM0Gf0AdSwY5Q56g7KNLHwvbHj6UoWc_WBAHjFGsvfWxisbIDnL106zA96emXPBtLmWBQrtfRZyybmbbJJ3gXoCpHI8SPMTqN3b4/s1600/237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNF4oyoKKRY4BMywbjtBfNfesAwpKIyUjCRScRM0Gf0AdSwY5Q56g7KNLHwvbHj6UoWc_WBAHjFGsvfWxisbIDnL106zA96emXPBtLmWBQrtfRZyybmbbJJ3gXoCpHI8SPMTqN3b4/s200/237.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam8SseAkEorLpuSIAD21CIC8N3DZYosbIDDI6zn3_s9noqru0u88HLohXBboSWzyPydZ0JayIrGyDBuy32PXDt8PtPR1wuf7c1p_Ca138ge78SZNtHQrpkblYAnQRTjW3eNgm2eLy/s1600/243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam8SseAkEorLpuSIAD21CIC8N3DZYosbIDDI6zn3_s9noqru0u88HLohXBboSWzyPydZ0JayIrGyDBuy32PXDt8PtPR1wuf7c1p_Ca138ge78SZNtHQrpkblYAnQRTjW3eNgm2eLy/s320/243.JPG" width="320" /></a>First we have Carlin's Critters. These incredibly cute little guys were also surprisingly simple, although like many things the devil is very much in the details. The pattern is from fuzzymitten.com and I can't reccomend it enough. Although while I love the final products, as does everyone I show them to, they did get rather tedious to make.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7exkLll08Ie25EToqnmwRekln_vs29zxeC-5V6EHS7SMN2B7AD1wI8a1aWFEKAU_bpQAjYvAgkFmUCZXMOvCbzhRk5pawZ6_ShpvkU0Pb1TJtq1c42g36wlNzyuGbGDHhJigQWl-M/s1600/258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7exkLll08Ie25EToqnmwRekln_vs29zxeC-5V6EHS7SMN2B7AD1wI8a1aWFEKAU_bpQAjYvAgkFmUCZXMOvCbzhRk5pawZ6_ShpvkU0Pb1TJtq1c42g36wlNzyuGbGDHhJigQWl-M/s200/258.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOeJ7SAMnn4EoI7PV_pYZbZxbxvXh7ewIrxYh2GhewDiqtEJL9PYbZv4gEWnMHzY077IKE-8oP7e0Qm3ROaA2GPx-IIg6s0MPdAtMAAPU53y6mxfbwVjytR2MwkHIEmItTGBBB77l/s1600/282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOeJ7SAMnn4EoI7PV_pYZbZxbxvXh7ewIrxYh2GhewDiqtEJL9PYbZv4gEWnMHzY077IKE-8oP7e0Qm3ROaA2GPx-IIg6s0MPdAtMAAPU53y6mxfbwVjytR2MwkHIEmItTGBBB77l/s320/282.JPG" width="320" /></a>Next are a bunch of little ornaments. They are all constructed just like their regular knitted object would be but with sock yarn on tiny needles and only a few stitches. Although my mittens were a bit wonky. The stockings ended up being my favorite by far. I started with a pattern to knit them flat but modified it so that I could do everything in the round. Hooray for no seams. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNMV7-k2h4KXnjjz4GaGNDc7DcBie85xCE8Twwv0sXh5czWYMNSHDsBKU82uM06zOK2x5AIXdDdl_Uvx2b5deUP_irOq_kjnoU54tF21UttFq_VNoFN9QVKUNcdT8D0MUgMbo8B8R/s1600/303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNMV7-k2h4KXnjjz4GaGNDc7DcBie85xCE8Twwv0sXh5czWYMNSHDsBKU82uM06zOK2x5AIXdDdl_Uvx2b5deUP_irOq_kjnoU54tF21UttFq_VNoFN9QVKUNcdT8D0MUgMbo8B8R/s200/303.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmYBFdnDcHLH8YhqXfAFk3SPccNIonOAb-m8vuQ2MGdvhHnbJtuEeh9ezPYc7ecwMkCulS5uk9S2V2iB9Ani8m0omg9jTqyAWUjPyCGb54tFIVZi7Q6TGDJYsJadGuM0C98Df-zKA/s1600/298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmYBFdnDcHLH8YhqXfAFk3SPccNIonOAb-m8vuQ2MGdvhHnbJtuEeh9ezPYc7ecwMkCulS5uk9S2V2iB9Ani8m0omg9jTqyAWUjPyCGb54tFIVZi7Q6TGDJYsJadGuM0C98Df-zKA/s320/298.JPG" width="320" /></a>After that we have the tote bags. Colorful circles were crochet into white hexagons and pieced together for these fun guys. I also added matching sewn linings (with a pocket!) for each. It's lots of fun to get to play with so many colors although as all things the repetition can get tedious. The green family bag was a ton of trouble because I just ran short of 3 of the colors when I was I believe 3 circles shy of my regular construction. So I improvised and adjusted a bit and the bag came out a bit thinner and maybe a bit taller, but hopefully it's still fun.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRrTTMSQQSgQ0_LRBd1lW7To_rEYU5K64iQt9w8xPVhqUoMBA1GqhfIGpyJJdnffhHWeNeVejozDpAWrAOTr94eSOEL6TuzQnIUuV7YZic6RrSD0b0oyf5k6Vcg3FW22X66Fjst40t/s1600/294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRrTTMSQQSgQ0_LRBd1lW7To_rEYU5K64iQt9w8xPVhqUoMBA1GqhfIGpyJJdnffhHWeNeVejozDpAWrAOTr94eSOEL6TuzQnIUuV7YZic6RrSD0b0oyf5k6Vcg3FW22X66Fjst40t/s200/294.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsV5ILsSNrvTxOQEcigkqpD9J1k7d41qO6SURBRMhvUSB6jOqwZFBt0HATULvMNzWuSxMhz8phEzehmftw_m2OoTtNItb8VGsbB8kch2Txr7gMpkrPmaao_JzuMk8oZ0W4fJXm2T69/s1600/287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsV5ILsSNrvTxOQEcigkqpD9J1k7d41qO6SURBRMhvUSB6jOqwZFBt0HATULvMNzWuSxMhz8phEzehmftw_m2OoTtNItb8VGsbB8kch2Txr7gMpkrPmaao_JzuMk8oZ0W4fJXm2T69/s320/287.JPG" width="240" /></a>Somewhat randomly I decided I ought to get some 'fun' yarn and whip up a few scarves. It was then that I met my newest favorite yarn. Lion brand Wool Ease Thick N' Quick. I am so used to using lace-weight or maybe sport and the somewhat rare worsted that this stuff felt practically like it was crafting itself. Plus the resulting scarves are soft, plus, and machine washable! I also went against everything that I've heard from fellow crafters in recent memory and couldn't resist the lure of the pretty colors (and price) of the Lion brand homespun. And yes the stuff was quite splitty and not at all my favorite but it gave my 'collection' some nice variety I think.</div>
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And lastly while in the midst of all of this I had been taking items in to show or bouncing ideas off of my coworkers. One day as I was talking about the scarves one coworker had a thought, went out to her car, and came back with a knit headband/ear warmer that had a crochet flower on it. It was super cute and I found what was virtually a replica of the same thing on Ravelry. So with the rav instructions and borrowing her object I used the left over yarn from the Thick N' Quick scarves and made my own, pretty dead on, copy. It's just as cute as the original and now I need to make one for myself.</div>
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The Christmas Market opens this weekend, and I'll be home on Sunday to teach star folding (and see the family again, see/house a friend, and play my flute in church....going home is dangerous). Here's hoping that I sell some thing and that I can teach the complex folding without loosing or frustrating too many folks!</div>
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Thanks for visiting! Be sure and check out the rest of the <a href="http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2011/12/fiber-arts-friday-buy-local.html" target="_blank">Fiber Arts Friday blogs</a>. And I have started a series of posts to celebrate the <a href="http://piscinamea.blogspot.com/2011/12/25-days-of-christmas-day-1-christmas.html">25 days of Christmas in Music</a>. Click the link to listen to day 1 or keep an eye here on the blog daily for the rest of the series!</div>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-38525414976509243572011-12-01T19:00:00.000-05:002011-12-01T19:00:04.923-05:0025 Days of Christmas: Day 1, A Christmas Festival<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
To celebrate Christmas I decided to highlight 25 days of awesome Christmas music. I seem to hear from alot of folks that Christmas music is overplayed and they are tired of it. But personally I can never get enough. This year I started listening a bit towards late October (while working on Christmas crafts of course), which is actually fairly late for me. </div>
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Now if I listened just to radio stations for the entirety of the 2 or 3 months I might agree that the stuff gets old, but I happen to have a ginormous collection of Christmas music. I think my itunes tells me that I am somewhere between 2 and 3 days worth of Christmas music if I were to listen to it all in one shot. I've also found Spotify to be a great way to discover even more new music. Check the bottom of this post for more information.</div>
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In these next 25 days I'm hoping that I'll be able to introduce you to some new seasonal listening options. Enjoy!</div>
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Day 1: A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson.</div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Click play to listen. I choose this video for the audio quality not the images, so don't feel obliged to sit and watch this all, it's a long piece. See the bottom of this post for another listening option. </span></div>
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This piece is a medley of 9 Christmas carols arranged by Leroy Anderson during his time with the Boston Pops and their conductor Arthur Fiedler. The recording I've posted I think may be Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops, but it's youtube so I make no guarantees.</div>
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I picked it because I thought it was a great rousing start to Christmas music (and I love Leroy Anderson). The joyful fanfare opens with gusto and leads us across so many different soundscapes and carols it's hard not to smile the whole time. </div>
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Personally I know the piece from playing it (last night) as a band arrangement with my community band. So if you've ever played with a middle of the road to decent group you may very well already know the piece. Or it's also performed often by professional orchestras on holiday concerts. The arrangements are tons of fun. My personal favorite moment, likely tied to being a flute player, is probably minute 7. It makes me think of all the little moving parts that you would find in a holiday toy display :-)</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Carlin's 25 Day's of <span style="color: #990000;">Christmas</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">Music</span></span></b></div>
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<b>Day 1</b>: A Christmas Festival</div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">Leroy Anderson</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep coming back each day as I celebrate the season with new songs each day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Spotify is an awesome new free way to experience music. <a href="http://www.spotify.com/us/start/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=start" target="_blank">Visit their website</a> to sign up and download the needed software. Once you are set up you can search for songs or artists and stream them on your computer. There are a number of more advanced features available and also some "premium" options that require payment. But I enjoy sticking with the zero dollar option that still allows me to listen to tons of my favorite music plus find and discover tons more music!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is not an ad, just my opinion about a great little music freebie that would make listening to any of my Christmas music, or any of your own a breeze.</span>Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2826436428505237001.post-76151130558580085082011-12-01T18:00:00.000-05:002011-12-01T18:00:03.956-05:00Burned OutIt happens every year. I have all of these grandeous crafting plans but then reality hits and I realize that there is just not enough free time in the day. It's sad.<br />
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This year I thought I was being smart. Initially I wasn't going to do much of any holiday specific crafting. I was actually going to buy (or maybe cook) gifts instead. Instead I would get to work on whatever I wanted, mostly projects for myself even.<br />
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Before too long this plan morphed so that I would make small things for most people. Then I committed to the charity crafting. I got involved with a spin a bag get a bag commitment. And suddenly the awesome idea of crafting and selling things and even establishing my own little business was firmly in place. Plus a bunch of those items would be perfect for my regular giftees.<br />
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And next thing I knew I just spent all of November frantically crafting in every spare moment. The sell/business idea was definitely the bulk of the crazy. I'll be posting tomorrow with all that I did for that. It's pretty awesome and I do hope I succeed. But holy moly I don't know that I want to feel so rushed again in the near future.<br />
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Since delivering all of the items to sell on Friday I've been in a bit of a craft coma. I dabbled a bit in a few projects that had been on the back-burner when the business stuff took priority.<br />
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Yesterday I finally managed to start looking ahead at the next few weeks and take stock of all of the things that now must be accomplished. I'm trying to keep it lighter now, but alas I think I'm going to need to get my butt back in gear pretty quickly if I'm too accomplish all that needs to be crafted.<br />
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First up is sewing my friends wedding veil. I rather stupidly underestimated the time required to hand sew the lace edge. But I think I can still be on track to have it ready to go when we get together this weekend. Now you must excuse me while I go get to work!Carlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10778671976876545066noreply@blogger.com1