Almost over...

So Christmas has come and gone. This is the part that makes it a little better that my partner is half-way across the country- we get to celebrate again when he gets home :)

Anyways- here are some pix, mostly of my projects, and one of Christmas.Katie helping open presents.

Mom made dad orange socks:)My alpaca scarf- view of warp.
My alpaca scarf again- first few inches of weaving.

The sweater I made to wear Christmas.

I put a few more up on Flickr- Ladiekae is the id over there as well. I'm pretty consistent when it comes to names. And with that all posted- I'm going to bed. Well... maybe I'll knit a little more first ;)

Holiday Musings

I find myself feeling rather lonely tonight. I have been trying to see a few friends of mine for a few days. However, I have been up at my parents' home in the county and not within walking distance or 10 minutes from most people for the past few weeks. It's brought about a rather extreme shift in the people I talk to regularly. I'm not pleased with it, but let's face it: it's easier to be close to people you can see easily. I, as a human and friend, am lazy. I love the woman I lived with my freshman year of college dearly, we keep up via Facebook, and I do not think I have heard her voice for at least 4 years. I still miss her and think of her often though.

It seems this year I am realizing how many relationships I've let fall apart. There's a couple I know that I really miss. I'm not sure when we stopped being close, but I think it's about the same time I started breaking out in cold sweats whenever I walk into a church or christian bookstore. I have been feeling very compelled to reconcile some of these relationships, but am worried about many things. I feel like very little has changed in my life. I know that I've earned a degree, learned to knit and weave, but these do not feel like major life accomplishments. I feel like after not talking to people for a year or so, I should have something to show for it. When in reality, I know that's part of the reason I've been so uncommunicative. Since I feel like I'm not doing anything exciting, I don't call people to tell them I'm not doing anything exciting. A horrid vicious cycle really.

Happily, I reconnected with the only local grad school friend I have this past weekend. We had dinner, bought yarn and have made noise about me teaching her how to knit socks. I think it could be great fun. I'm always looking for new knitting buddies.

I got a fun warm fuzzy today: one of my partner's best friends added me on facebook. I know it's silly, but I hesitated adding his friends after I had met them. After all, they are *his* friends. But this guy and his wife (both of whom I enjoyed greatly and hope to see again soon!) just had a baby. I'm hoping to see fun baby pix up on their site.

Tonight feels like it could very well be an exceptionally long, rambling entry without much substance and very disconnected thoughts. That's been my thought patterns at least. I've apparently been verbalizing a lot of it too.

I watched "Made of Honor" tonight. It made me sad. I think that all the actors themselves did a good job. But the story was just excruciating to watch. It really never started moving. And it was the same old story that's been done so very many times. After the movie finally finished, we turned on "White Christmas" and laughed at a few stupid things. I remember saying it felt good to laugh after the first movie...

Anyways... I finished the sweater I want to wear Christmas today. I'll post a picture of it on once I've woven in the ends. I hate doing that part- it's like tying the fringe on a woven scarf. It's a necessary part of the process that is just so fantastically tedious...
I'm happy I started it late Saturday night and finished it this afternoon. I also started work on a woven scarf for my sister. It's not at all what we had planned to do. The original idea was to weave it on itself. But we did a few picks and quickly saw that the colors that were so very interesting and called us to this skein, washed out when put next to each other. Now this winey purple that I love (and seems to go with everything I've woven so far, was originally going to be the "crappy scrap yarn" that is used to weave a header and footer to hold the piece until fringe can be tied on. Turns out it matched so well that I'm using it as my weft.

As far as projects go I'm in a strange place. I only have one project on my needles and one work on the loom. I have another project for the loom warped (need new heddles) and another one that needs to be warped. But there is very little to keep this ADD girl happy. I guess it's time to weed through my stash again and see what happens. I have 4 skeins of Arucania Nature Cotton (2 magenta, 2 natural) that need to be used, and a few skeins of sock yarn (but I'm already working on a pair of socks). It's very odd for me. I like having 3-4 things to rotate around. Now that I love socks, there should always be a pair of socks on my needles- it's just such a great transportable project. I suppose most of me is waiting for Christmas to see if I get any yarn or gadgets or gift cards and see what happens with that :) I'm very optimistic. Supposedly, my dad (who is extremely handy and crafty himself) has been spending a lot of time in the basement making all kinds of noice. My mother and I are not allowed on his side under penalty of death, but my sister is. I can only hope that my request for help making a warping board was taken to heart! He did make me a new shuttle in a total of 5 minutes and I did ask for more for Christmas though... It could be a mountain of shuttles for all I know :)

And with that happy thought, I'm going to read a bit about the "Druid of Shannara" and go to sleep!

It's the holidays... what more do you want?

I've been running around like crazy this last week. Mostly, I've been realizing how inappropriate a lot of gifts I have for my family are. With the limited cash flow issues I've had of late, I made a lot of things. However, I do not believe making things is a cheap way of doing things- but I think I can turn out a nicer product for the same money as a store would charge. For example, I made a scarf out of silk and wool for under $20, couldn't get a cheap polyester/acrylic one for that. But that's besides the point. It's really scary that I know one person in my family can expect to receive 3 scarves this year. And I made a scarf for somebody else and even though it's really pretty- I have a feeling it will never be worn.

I'm also getting mildly frustrated with a few aspects of life. This is a very terrible thing to be annoyed with- but my mother is not computer savvy. At all. Thus it has fallen on me to maintain the Etsy store, create our logo, contact local craft guilds and everything else. Usually, it doesn't bother me. Today I was just kinda mad at the world- everybody has those days. I'm also mad that we went to a wonderful yarn shop a week ago and she bought yarn for me to knit into a sweater for her. I did the math wrong and she didn't buy enough. the scary part about this is that the yarn shop is going out of business. We're going back tomorrow and praying that there is more- she only needs another 2 skeins (3 would make me feel safer though). And my partner was sent completely across the country to LA for a week on business, then is spending Christmas in Denver and I won't see him til the 28th, longest we'll have gone without seeing each other.

So with him gone, you'd think I'd be really uber-productive. I suppose I have been to an extent. I've almost finished another pair of socks for me :) after I had finished a pair of slipper socks I had been commisioned to make. I only have one more present left to knit up- I've been dragging me feet with it because I had a hard time starting it... I better get going!

Anyways... I just washed the last scarf I had woven to put up on Etsy, along with one I had woven for myself and one that I helped my sister weave for a present. Now the loom holds a scarf for my sister. It's the last one I have yarn for until I get new heddles (Christmas is next week *crosses fingers*!). I had a few requests for non-wool scarves though- and have my eye on this faux suede that's wonderfully fat. I think it would be really interesting...


I'll be posting a bunch of gift pix after the holidays. But now it's time to sleep- and fuss with the Etsy page some more :)

Shop started!

Well, the Holiday bazaar was a bit of a success. It wasn't really an appropriate venue for my things, or my mother's. We both had hand-crafted things to sell, and the other 5 tables were White Elephant type sellers. Obviously we had to charge a bit more for a hand-woven scarf than a scented candle no one wanted. Even so, I sold one scarf and passed out lots of cards with my Ravelry.com and Etsy.com information.

Now I'm posting links to my Etsy store as many places as possible. I'm so excited that people liked my scarves. The one that sold was a lovely blue variegated that I wove in twill. It got enough attention that I may go get more of that colorway and work up another, maybe in plain weave this time so it will be different. I also had a pleasant discovery when listing these items: one of the yarns I used was 100% merino superwash wool! I had thought it was like many sock yarns (since I had found it in that section) and contained a small amount of nylon. It's very exciting to know that this yarn is not only 100% natural fiber, but merino- my favorite kind of wool!

So my store is: http://ladiekae.etsy.com

Last weekend my partner asked me if I thought I could actually make my passion for crafting profitable- or at least sustainable, meaning that I could sell enough to cover the cost of making things. Before the end of the day, I had filled out all the information on Etsy (not yet posted anything pictures though), created business cards and a logo (which is just Word clipart). He just shook his head, laughed with me and is excited at the potential here.

So go look! There's only 5 scarves there now. I'm sharing the store with my sister and mother, and I'll be posting their creations soon.

New Endeavor

Next Sunday (12/5) I have the opportunity to be a seller at a craft fair. My sister has made dozens upon dozens of crocheted hats and scarves, I will be offering some of my woven scarves. I've been scouring Etsy.com to see if there will be any kind of market for this kind of thing if I want to keep going. It seems there is :) This is extremely exciting. I'm hoping to sell enough to cover my costs plus a little extra to purchase yarn for the next round.

I'll be setting up my Etsy store after the fair. Whatever I don't sell there will either be put up on Etsy or given away as gifts... or kept for myself ;) I made sure I liked and could wear all of the colors of yarn I bought- just in case I get stuck with them.

Right now my camera is in Maine, so it'll take a few days for me to upload pictures of my latest creations. I think I need to name them. I have one that's all various shades of gray. I think I'm going to call it "Colorblind". That's how my dad describes seeing blue and green next to each other. The next one I've got planned is shade of red and maroon. I can't name it til it's been made and shown me what it wants to be. My friend thinks that all handmade objects have their own personality and identity that is hidden until the object is completed. I must say I've come to agree :)

Finished Objects (henceforth "FO's")

So I've finished two more Christmas presents (the two scarves in my last post that were still on the loom). They've both been washed, dried and dressed with pretty fringe. I'm not sure the photos will do justice, and certainly cannot express how soft they are. I cannot wait to weave with my alpaca. The last scarf I turned out was silk and wool and it's lovely, so the alpaca can only be softer!

I have lots of stuff on my mind, but am not in a particularly chatty mood. So this post will be of little substance- but have some pretty pictures! :)

Number two... (I suck at titles)

So I'm going to be fumbling for a bit trying to figure out how often to update this. I imagine it will be very erratic and much the same in each entry. But what can I say- I miss rambling across the screen. I'm sure I'm not alone in this thought: that seeing things in print helps me reason my way through things.

Anywho...

Today is going to be a yarn post. I've recently delved into weaving. Subsequently, the majority of Christmas gifts this year will be woven. I'm actually only weaving for one member of my family, the rest of this stuff is for my partner's family. (as an aside- I have a tendency to refer to my boyfriend as my partner. I feel kinda funny calling him a "boyfriend" since he's 29, and "partner" just sums up our relationship so nicely.)

But back to the yarn... In addition to weaving, I just learned how to knit socks. Almost all of the fiber I've purchased this month has been sock yarn, which turns out is excellent for weaving. Here's a picture of what just came off the loom.
This is plain weave, using Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock, Mixed Berries. The yarn stripes, and when I wove it together we get this lovely pseudo-plaid that is expected, but unplanned. I love how it turned out.

The next one is a bit more intricate. I'm using Malabrigo Silky Merino. It's wonderful stuff. The colors are Spring Water and Teal Feather (but I think the colors have much more green than the swatches on Malabrigo's site). I'm told this is broken twill, I wanted it to look like water. I can't wait to use this yarn again. It's just decadent.

This picture really doesn't do the yarn justice. But what's a girl to do?

Next in the queue is a charcoal tonal varigated. It was supposed to be a spinach green varigated, but once again the picture on the site completely misrepresented the color. I was so excited to find this green, it looked like exactly what I wanted... when it arrived today I was crushed. There's not even a hint of spinach in this colorway, it's a fairly obnoxious yellow green and brown. Not to say the yarn is ugly, just not at all what I was expecting- it's very sad.

On that note, I believe it's time to start playing Rock Band for the evening (I know- what a wild life- spending Friday night at home playing video games)... I truly am becoming a hermit!!

First things first...

So I've decided to start a new blog here. This way we can all pretend that I'm going to update it regularly, every entry will be exciting and there will be no pictures at all...




Yeah... right. What fun would that be?

I was going to do a poll before starting this and ask if there are enough stalker people out there that would get a kick out of reading anything I had to say. But I realized that asking stalkers to confess is just a bit silly. I am so guilty of looking up people I haven't seen or talked to in over 5 years (and yes- that makes me feel Really old!)... but that's beside the point.

Let's begin with some basic stats:
Presently,
I have finished grad school.
I am employed, but not full time and not at all in my field.
I have been seeing the same guy for 3 years.
I have been driving the same car for 6 years.

In the past year, I...:
earned my masters in Deaf Education.
learned to knit.
learned to weave.
picked up my guitar again.
played the piano a few times.
toyed with the idea of writing music again.

Now that the basics have been covered, we'll be free to move forward. I'm sure I'll use this as a place to consolidate all the pictures I've been wanting to share with people and stories that I don't tire of telling, but my partner has to hear at least 50 times. In truth, I'm only starting this to post on Ravelry (if you don't know- find out- I lose hours to this site everyday). I wish I had more substance to post here, but in truth, it's past midnight and I'm tired.