Oh, snap!

(Boring technical spinning post. feel free to skip.)
Okay- at the Fest, I was seduced by some silk waste at a vendor's site, which spun up into a rope of gems.
For her.
I wasn't happy with the texture of mine when I spun some up. It was much too stiff- a problem of silk- and had little give. Researching on the Net, many suggested combining it with a 1: 2 ratio of wool, so I decided to dye up some merino that was in the bin, using my new "greener" dyes, also from the Fest.
All was going well until I took my eyes off the pot for a few minutes and it boiled. OVER, actually, but only onto the stove, not the floor. Whew!
After the pot cooled and I was rinsing the roving, it began to look as if the whole mess had felted. Which makes sense, because that's how you make those Austrian boiled-wool jackets.
Damn.
Because I don't have any use for five six-foot long lengths of amethyst felt, however lovely and brilliant their color.
Still, some of the shorter pieces that have dried all the way through are pulling apart, so perhaps all is not lost.
Note to me: PAY ATTENTION!
UPDATE: False alarm. Once the roving dried, it was fairly easy to card it out and re-card with the silk. Next up, spinning two batches to see how they do.

Christmas 2009
The Holiday Store

The back stock in my domain
Just a fraction of the prepared food boxes

The site, in prep mode. Please note the lovely electric blue walls.

Cap knitters. The lady in the middle is our long-time volunteer Maxine.

Who just retired, at 84, to knit more caps.

Infants and Under-3's Table

Adult and Family Table

All set up and ready for shoppers

Anatomy of an Enchanted Forest

The table

The trees, ready to be unfurled.

The fixin's

Bare trees

More fixin's

Add one granddaughter, several 'discussions', lots of mind-changing and

The finished result!

With an added improvement by V.

Kitteh-approved.

The Nativity scene, waiting

White Christmas.

On Christmas Eve morning, Target and I were in the sewing room, finishing up one of her presents. She had just flown in the previous evening from Michigan.

I looked out the window and said "Oh, look- it's snowing."

"No, it's not," she said.

Um, yes- it was.

She was furious.

In spite of our worries about the Yarb's air trip to Florida, we enjoyed this unexpected Christmas treat.

Christmas Eve

In a big departure from tradition and to accomodate the Yarb's plans- we had a family dinner on Christmas Eve, then went to their house for the kids' presents. After that, we returned home to open our presents. Contrary to someone's predictions, the world continued to spin on its axis. Plus, she got some great presents, like a DVD/video player and a vacuum and a mixer from her Nanna.

Target, in spite of the snow

Morgan and her G-daddy. The children wore their pj's to dinner.

I don't know how to cut this. Ignore.

A little confused.

O and Bubs with their Santa gifts. He had come and gone when we were having dinner

as a special favor, because of the trip.

Romo in his present from Mimi- fat man in a little coat.

O: He must like it, Mimi- he's not biting at it.

Me: Darling, I don't think he can move his head.

Sarah, in her work shirt, and Bubs

Mass at the monastery

When celibates decorate...

The founding monks were escapees from Hungary. This lovely cloth was the table cover for the Nativity scene.

A lovely rest of Christmas and a Happy New Year!

CS update
Finished the Flying Monkey, except for the hat elastic. It is great- of course I stole from the best.
Found a leather ladies's jacket and some brown pants at the GW, so Ralphie's Soldier of Fortune costume will be Indiana Jones. One of the theater mainstays brought in a spare overcoat for The Old Man and a canvas fedora. We'll use the hat, add a white school uniform shirt, properly distressed, and - Instant Costume!

Scut Farkas is mostly done- I altered a fleece lumberjack shirt for his jacket and we have a coonskin cap. He'll get some thrift store jeans for himself. I found an ugly plaid fleece remnant at JA, which I might use for his muffler. We'll see- I might find something better.

Took up a coat that was left over from "Steel Magnolias" for an overcoat for Helen. So, she's complete, except for eyeglasses and a decision on her hair.

I'm using a lot of felt this show, in the fantasy sequences and the department store Santa scene- it has the right cheesy Depression-era feel to it.

Esther Jane, our ingenue character, was a challenge. I was resigned to making her a dress, and was making myself nuts searching for the right print, until I looked into the closet in the sewing room, of all places, where hung the perfect pale blue hand-knit pullover with a navy, white and pink Fair Isle yoke. I think it might have been a thrift purchase of Target's. It's a little large for her, but so what I wanted that we'll cope. She will have a blue flannel skirt to match, a dickey with a ruffled collar and a pink beret and scarf. A pastel heartbreaker.
I'm considering ringlets, but that may be more trouble than it's worth.

Today's goals- JA for fleece, flannel, corduroy, broadcloth, silky solid. Storage for mobcap and Sike's coat and any other useful shirts. Party City for glasses (?) and a white Cowboy hat.
Does Ralph need a western vest? Yes, for his big scene, as Red Ryder, I think.

Time to get cracking

on the H'ween costumes!

Umm, Sal, you say, it's not even the end of September yet.

Yeah. So?

As you may remember, last year we did an Animal Planet theme: flamingo, elephant and bumblebee.

This year, we're being more eclectic: Ni is an angel, Bubs is Luigi, the Mario brother and Morgie is a pumpkin, which is just an excuse for her to wear a big fluffy orange net and organza tutu with a green ruffled Empire bodice and an enormous-ass green bow in her hair. Which her mama has already finished, by the way. Because our otherwise most sensible daughter is a Halloween Crazy Lady.

and I'm her enabler.

I'm making Ni's costume, using this pattern, the bottom left view:

out of white satin, organza and tulle. The vest is a silver net backed with organza and she will have purchased wings and a halo.

And I'm also responsible for Luigi's cap. That should be fun- I love a challenge!

Doll Photos
Retreived the camera and took a few photos:

She looks a trifle snippy here, but her face is much more appealing in the top photo

Soft Dolls and Animals have a feature with photos of people's interpretation of patterns they've published, so I thought I'd send her picture in.

You May Be A Winner,
if you're me and you entered the Texas State Fair Arts and Crafts competition.
Got the official notice that my Handspun, Any Item entry had won First Place. Which is very gratifying, indeed. Unless- and this is just a little niggling thought- I was the only entrant.
We shall see, at the Fair.
My character doll placed 10th in that class, so it will not be displayed. But O has her eye on it and it will join our large family of dolls at Mimi's and have a happy, useful life. Beautiful as they are to look at, and as absorbing as they must be as an art form, I admit I don't much see the point of dolls that you can't play with. We, OTOH, have gone a little crazy with the Waldorf dolls. They are so very appealing and come in so many sizes, skin tone and hair variations that the temptation to make 'just one more' is very compelling.

Our State Fair


is a great State Fair and it is coming up soon. I have less than three weeks to get my entries finished before delivery day at Fair Park. This year I'm entering three categories:

• Infant Sweater Set, 2 or more pieces. This will be a sweater and hat in burgundy with a tan border embroidered with flowers (or appliqued knit flowers, haven't quite decided yet) and ruffled trim.


• Character Doll which can either be a dressed purchased doll or made from scratch. I'm doing the latter and chose Anne of Green Gables as my subject. She will have hair of handspun yarn and fyi, the Kool-Aid recipe for 'decidedly red' is half a package of Orange with a teaspoon of Black Cherry. The pattern I'm using is one from Soft Dolls and Toys magazine- a re-working of an old Betsy McCall doll by Aletha Ike Putney.
  
• Handspun, any item will be the Diva Scarf from Lion Brand in a pink, green, yellow, lavender blended colorway called "English Garden". I bought the wool from Jehovah Jireh Farm on eBay- they have some beautiful dyelots.

I'll try to post some photos once I get them finished.

A Few Christmas Photos


Birds feeding in front of a woodland cottage

The larger cottage.

A view of the trees
The butterfly tree (sorry, don't know how to edit!)

The two new members of the doll family, au naturel.

The Engleberger animals in the forest.

Woodland Santa and his helper

John, as Ni decided to name him, with his crazy mohair hair.

These people have waaay
too much time on their hands. But do you even need to ask if I am going to make several of these?
Just for stash deletion, of course.
I'm puzzled that these folks seem to think that they've stumbled upon something unknown to generations of crocheters-have they never seen a ruffled doily before?- but find their mathematical enthusiasm endearing, except for the Global Warming hoo-hah.

I blame Living Crafts magazine, which introduced me to this. I just finished mine, and I must say that once I felted it in the washer, it was cute as puddin' pie in an organic fiber Waldorf kind of way. Just exactly the spot for these figures to play. I even improvised a forest floor for the woodland creatures.

And then I thought: why not a whole forest? Oh, I don't mean it would be as large as the farm, maybe two feet square after felting. Many greens and browns mixed, with a lighter leafy glad in the center of moss and gold. There might be a stream in one corner (the pond was the worst of the blocks for the farm, as I am allergic to color stranding, so it will be a little stream). And a cave of grey/green Koigu, left over from the rocks for the sheep pasture. And more rocks. And a hollow log, large enough for hedgehogs and rabbits. Shrubs, ferns, embroidered forest flowers and needle-felted mushrooms. But that's enough detail- have to leave something to the imagination.

It was obvious to me that this could get entirely out of hand- see the Coral Reef people- so I enlisted Marge as my accountability person. "Once I get the forest done- that's it, okay? No swamps, no rainforests, no beaches- understand?"
"Rainforest?"
"Oh, they have a wonderful set of animals- a snake and a crocodile and a parrot and palm trees..."
"Okay- stop."
"- and a monkey-"
"Mom."

It's good to have a kid around who speaks your language and understands the Siren Song of Fibre. At least she won't be crocheting- knitting? could you knit them?- corals, as acrylics do not sully her hand. Ever.
We spent an hour in the Cascade section, laying out different color combos of skeins on the floor for her own blanket, completely engrossed, happy as only afficianados of something can be.