Oh hey. It's January 1.

Well. Time sure flies when you're having fun?  Or something along those lines.  I've tried to get myself to fall into a schedule, because flying by the seat of my pants is obviously not leaving me as productive as it once had been.  This hasn't worked out so far.   So, yeah, boo to resolutions and all that jazz, but I might actually make a few and try extremely hard to stick to them.  Maybe I'll get sticky notes and stick them up every where to remind myself of what I've promised myself.   Sit down and write a proper schedule of daily activities, and add in things that need to be done as they need them and start to prioritise.
My firm but flexible list of things that need to be done:
1) Finish up my homework.  This one needs to be done by the 20th of February, because I plan on taking an online course through Olds college at this point.  (The same college that I do my Master Spinners course)
2) Make time to spin for stock. The more things I have, the more likely I'll be able to fill a shop to the point I think is a reasonable level (I can't stand visiting an online hand made shop and there are 5 things...)
3) Take time to blog at least twice a week.
4) Sort and finish organizing my craft studio.
5) Take more classes through Olds College online.  There are 3 or 4 classes I could truly benefit from.

Of course, there are more personal goals, but I've been trying to keep the whole personal life stuff off the blog.  I'm not sure if that's a fabulous thing, or a bad thing...  But suffice to say, I'm human and I have human struggles!  Go figure ;)

What I do wish for everyone is that you all have a wonderful 2013, full of love, laughter, and enough.

~Kara

Handspun Christmas Wreath and Trees

There are monthly challenges on Craftster.org, and this month the challenge was 'Just Thread It!'  You could use any kind of thread and any methods you wanted.  I've been wanting to try out Jacey Boggs Tornado yarn method in Spin Art for a while, and this was the perfect excuse to do it!  I took a white pencil roving and 3 different crochet threads (one green, one variegated white/green/red, and one white with silver sparkle, but that sparkle doesn't show up in the picture) and went at it.  It wasn't as 'plodding' as she said it would be.  However I did find that if I worked with shorter chunks of the roving and joined them more often I could let out some of the extra twist that was accumulated before joining.  And it's not quite as densely tornado as the one in her book, but I think it's a great try!  I'll be doing this again in many colors, and hope to not run out of crochet cotton! Here it is on the bobbin.  I forgot to take a skein picture, and can't find the left overs to take a picture of what it looks laid out.

I took the yarn and wrapped and wrapped a 14'' foam wreath form, and when that was done I added the bobbles with some straight pins and hot glue for security.  I did the same with the foam tree forms as well.



I do believe they are going to look lovely together some where.  I was at a Christmas Bazaar on Saturday and got a lot of positive feed back on these, and someone who wanted to think about taking it home, and she knows where to find me if she decides she definitely does want them.



Making these makes me excited for Christmas, I'm almost swelling with excitement this year and I'm not sure why!

~Kara

More Plank Weaving Fun!

I love woven fabrics, but that little free loom I scored would never be able to handle the yarn I've been weaving lately.  At least as long as it's the warp yarn.  I've just pulled this beauty off the plank loom today and I love it soooo much.  The yarn is one I'd done a while ago, which is 100% bamboo.  So this thing is so super duper soft.  And it flows and drapes so nicely. 

And one  more, because I love the on the loom picture.  You can really see the whole scarf here.

It was a quick weave, and fun to boot...  Now, do I keep it for me, or sell it at the Christmas Bazaar on Saturday?

~Kara

Just keep knitting

I'm currently working on a Blanket for seriously cold people for my sister. There will be 5 colors in total. It's taking forever and a day. So my mantra right now is just keep knitting. Maybe it'll be done by Christmas. Or maybe even sooner. I can hope anyway. Each row is taking 10+ minutes. So my conclusion is that blankets take to long!

~Kara

Free loom? Yes please!

 I was asked "Do you want a 'Weaving Thing'?  They are just going to throw it out anyway."  I wondered, was it a triangle loom?  A tapestry loom?  A board with nails in it?  Or a proper full sized floor loom?  A table loom?  There are just so many 'Weaving Things' that I couldn't be sure.
I honestly didn't know what to expect,  but I said yes anyway.  And then I was presented with this:

I've not set it up, or tried it out yet.  It's some filthy.  My hands were black after trying to open it up.  And it needs oil.  I couldn't get it to stand.  But it's definitely a table loom.  1 reed, 2 shafts, and it appears to have all the pieces, but I wont be sure until I get it standing.

But how sweet is that?  I'll get scarves off it, once I get it going.  Now I need to borrow Mom's books!

~Kara

Color Blending Fun!

One of the Level 2 Master Spinners assignments is to blend all the colours on the colour wheel from the three primary colors.  These are my results:

Just the yarns.  Reds all the way through to the purples.

Part way to being finished.  Note that crochet hook.  It's 1.5mm.  So this stuff is t h i n.



And the final piece.  I think I'll be leaving the yarn ends out.  I kind of like the way you can see them, as the whole point of this class is the yarn, not so much the crocheting or knitting of it.


And yes, the lighting is terrible.  And no, none of these pictures give the true colours.  Hopefully there will be sun tomorrow, and I'll be able to get much better pictures of these gorgeous yarns.

~Kara

Thankful, 2012

Today is the day we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada.  While we aren't doing the turkey and stuffing and cranberries etc. today (honestly, we did it yesterday!),  I still have things to be thankful for.


I'm thankful for my ability to make beautiful yarn.
I'm thankful for my health.
I'm thankful for my newest endeavour with Steeped Tea.
I'm thankful for this house we bought because it's all there was available in this town at the time.  It's now our home, where many memories are being made and will continue to be made.
I'm thankful for the dirty dishes, piles of laundry, toys strewn across every inch of the floor, and the general chaos that this home is in every day, because it means I'm surrounded by love, and we have so much more then a lot of people in this world.
I'm thankful for my family.  My lovely children who simultaneously drive me nuts and bring me untold joy.  My wonderful husband, who is a plumber, and as I type this is gone to get his drain snake, because the afore-mentioned children have flushed something down a toilet, and now the main line is plugged.  I'm also thankful that he is a kind, caring, and patient man who works hard and 'brings home the bacon'.  In other words 'money for fibre' (among other things of course ;) )
I'm thankful for my extended family - Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, and Grandparents (of which I'm lucky to still have all 4 of.).  And even my In-Laws.  I'm thankful for them too.


I am thankful.  I am blessed.  What are you thankful for today?

~Kara