Photo process

I wanted you to see the ear warmer I knitted, so I took some quick Photo Booth pics. These cream colored ones are made with 100% Peruvian wool, and lined with white fleece for extra soft, cozy and warm. The third one is made with a soft brown acrylic/wool blend yarn...that has gold sparkles in it.

Peruvian wool, short rib knit on edges 

(I took it off and my hair didn't look too jacked!)

Ear warmer #2: Peruvian wool, longer rib border than v.1

Then I wanted to show you this bad daddy, made with an acrylic/wool blend... that sparkles. But the Photo Booth shots didn't show the sparkles very well.

... sparkles? hello?

okay, seriously. You can kind of see them here, but not much

So I grabbed the Nikon.

Please note The Office art in the background.

Some sparklies?

It seemed like the Nikon got a slightly better view of the shimmer in the yarn. Of course, I could've just taken the band off my head to photograph, but .. where's the fun in that?* Nowhere.

Back to Photo Booth to document the semi-success of the lazy self-Nikon-shoot.

Nailed it.. enough to warrant a 1-thumb-up, and considering it's midnight.

These look like a series of maxi pads waiting to have mystery blue liquid poured on them to demonstrate which one has superior absorbency. For the sake of clarification, .. they are not pads.

End photo trail!

Don't forget to Like the Facebook Page for important updates and sale coupons for fans! AND don't forget that through December 5, ten percent of sales from The Shop are donated to my friends Abby & Daniel and their adoption of a sweet little angel from Eastern Europe. If you're in need of a solid feel-good cry, go read their story. They're currently overseas going through the process of finalizing the adoption, and getting to spend time with Eva Claire!

*Relax, I'll get to a solid shoot at some point. I want it to be outdoors, in the daylight, hopefully with temperatures in more naturalNovember weather... as opposed to the current ArkansasNovember weather.

Adoption

I met my friends Abby & Daniel a great many years ago in college. Abby is an OT, and her company travels to Ukraine to work with orphans and their caregivers. Abby met a sweet toddler one one of her trips there, and, long story short- -they're adopting that sweet girl. They've waited for what feels like a hundred months to get so many different steps in the process completed, and they just found out that they finally have a court date! They get to go get their bebe! Abby has detailed the process on her blog. I'm excited to meet this sweet girl; I can't imagine what Abby & Daniel are feeling.

To help support my friends and their bringing home Eva Claire, 10% of all sales this month will go toward her adoption. Head over to the Cogworthy's Etsy shop (check out the thumbnails to the right of this post!), get yourself something nice, like this long cotton cowl, and help this sweet family in their start together. And there's a deal for Facebook fans this week, too!

Yarn

I've often heard people describe yarn as "yummy" and "delicious". I never liked for those food words to be applied to yarn, partly because I have texture issues, and partly because I have -at times- word accuracy issues. Yummy = food.. not yarn.

Last week I began a part time job at The Yarn Mart in Little Rock. I get paid on the weekends to stare at/touch/reorganize/help people find yarn. Ermahgerd. Looking at yarns with a coworker today, she described one as "yummy," and for the first time, it clicked. I got it. I think the word-categorization part of my brain loosened a little, and let yummy fall into two categories instead of just the one. I forget which yarn we were looking at, it might've been a silk/alpaca or merino/silk blend. It was a soft one.

In any event, I came home with a beautiful Rosa skein by Tahki Yarns. Here's a shot of it... the photo looks very grayscale; the yarn itself has a pale blue hue to it (though we have a nice pewter gray color in stock, as well as other neutral colors). I'd recommend coming in to the Yarn Mart yourself to check it out, if you're in Little Rock.

Now that my item-association terminology is expanding, I have much more appreciation for The Twisted Purl's yarn. She hand dyes and spins alpaca and other materials into the most beauuutifulll yarn. I'm afraid to buy any at this point, from a financial standpoint, because I think I would just stare at it, rather than actually do anything with it. Go to her shop and look at her Christmas colored yarn - magic in a handspun skein!

For now, I've gone back to knitting with this Tahki Rosa. It's going to be a cowl, or maybe a scarflette depending on how the length comes out.

Look Like Luna :)

This is the post to read, if you want to know how to win a scarf like Luna Lovegood's. Someone else developed the pattern, so I'd like to make sure no one gives any credit to me. Some lovely folks at uh... The Leaky Cauldron, or Craftster.. came up with it. I'm not sure who did it first. Maybe Craftster. Anyway. The link is here, in case you're interested in making one yourself.

If you're just interested in owning one someone else made, look no further than Cogworthy's.

Halfway there!

Because I'm halfway finished with making one.  To give to one of you lovely people. Here's what to do:

1. Visit the Cogworthy's Facebook Page.

2. Write on the Cogworthy's wall to let me know that you want the Luna scarf.

That's about it. The other steps which involve little work on your part include:

3. Wait for the drawing.

4. If you win, I'll shoot you a message on Facebook! And we'll arrange the best way to get it to you.

Last day to enter the drawing is September 2. The drawing will be September 3, and I'll let you know that evening if you win! 

Easy peasy. 

A Luna and a Tie Me Up! Scarflette

In case you've been living under a rock for the past couple weeks, I'm giving away a Luna Lovegood-style scarf. I found the pattern for it here - it's not my pattern, just my yarn choice. The thing is beautiful. I'm using a chilly blue cotton yarn, Ultra Pima, from The Yarn Mart, which happens to be one of my favorite places to spaz out. So many colors and textures!! Anyway, here are some progress shots of the frosty blue Luna Lovegood, which is currently halfway to completion:

383 chains, swirling in a catlady-made vortex

row 2

row 3

row 3 repeated twice, and photographed under a shoddy lamp so the color of the yarn looks weird.

 This completes the first half; the second half is the exact same process, mirroring across from row 1 outward. I'm excited for it.

If you want to win this magical magic, send Cogworthy's a message or write on the wall, or on one of the photos (most of these have been uploaded to the page). You don't have to post or comment or share or get Likes to be entered -- just let me know somehow, via the Cogworthy's page.


The past few days, I've set Luna aside to crochet through a quick project I had in mind. I've been seeing fall colors everywhere (they're really everywhere if you spend three seconds on Pinterest. What, you don't have a Pinterest account? I'll assume you're actually out living your life, then - good for you. No, seriously. Help! Ack!) ...... ..... I've been seeing fall colors everywhere, and it was making me itch to get into the yellow Soft Linen I got at The Yarn Mart a few weeks ago.

 I finished it last night, and - what do you know - the flax and acrylic blend is a little on the itchy side.

So I'm soaking it in some diluted fabric softener. That's a thing, right? Scratchy yarn, just throw some fabric softener at it? I'll keep you posted.










In completely unrelated news, I have a major shoe-crush on these flats. >>>










Until next time...

The Yarn Harlot (with links!)

The Yarn Harlot is a lady who knits. Kind of like the lady who hilps but this one knits. And she knits well. It's impressive. Anyway, she's recently undertaken the task of riding in one of those charitable bike rides, where people pledge money for her riding a bike, and it's donated to help people with HIV/AIDS. She became the top fundraiser for the rally, thanks to the knitters who follow her blog.

She has an interesting take on knitters and how they view the world. I like it. She says it better than I could try to relay it, so I'll just link you on over to her. I recommend reading it.

In other news, I'd love it if you'd like my Facebook page! Once we get to 50 Likes, I'm giving away a Luna Lovegood scarf, in a color that has yet to be determined! This is the first one I made >>

I gave this one to my dear friend from college who is about to travel to a faraway country to adopt a sweet toddler with special needs. The giveaway scarf will be brand new and specifically for the winner.







Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I have to clean my room today. Don't you love imposing rules on yourself as an adult? That's a conversation for another day.

In the works...

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the most organized person on earth. I have plenty of organizational materials, but somehow, organization seems to escape them. I don't know why. *side note - as I sat here typing this, I suddenly wanted to put some backs on some earrings and started to: "OOH, I'm gonna put --- No. I'm going to focus and finish this, and then finish those." Amanda laughed. She's helping me organize today.

To get back to the update -- Amanda is helping me organize, and sort out some earrings. We're making sets, deciding what colors and shapes and patterns go together. I love it.


So that's what is in the works. This is what's coming up in the shop. More organization, more patterns and sets and designs and colors and, if you ask me, magic.

sneak peek

Tomorrow I plan to try spinning again. We'll see how that goes.