Changes Around Here

I'm changing up the look of the blog. I think most of you who read it do so through a feed, but just in case you actually come here to the page I figured I'd make an announcement.

Like I said in the last post, this has become more of a general crafty type blog than a strictly knitting/spinning/weaving blog, and what with me getting into the pottery now I figured I needed a place to document that too so here we are since I don't want to maintain a different site for each crafty thing I do. From here on out things will get tagged for easy searching, but I'm not going to go back and tag the old stuff so you're on your own there.

I'm paying my friend Michelle at Mockingbird Creative to redesign the yarn store's website so that I can have a shopping section with which to expand my yarn pushing empire. It's pretty ugly right now, but Michelle is great at adding polish to wordpress templates and making things super search-friendly, so I'm sure she'll have it looking dandy in no time. I'll let you know when it's finished so you can check it out.

That's about all the news I have right this minute. Happy Halloween!

Freeform Mobius

Freeform Mobius
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Look, I finished something not for the store! This thing was started at TNNA back in June in a class I took from Cat Bhordi. Pretty much you cast on like you're gonna do a regular Mobius then start doing random short rows all over the place till it's however big you want it. This one is hella long cause I wanted it to loop around twice and be floofy, but you can do the same thing with something smaller if you want. I'm thinking it'd look great with a long color change yarn like Mini Mochi or something. I may try that theory out soon. I gave this one to my Mom. She likes it :)

I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog since it started as a knitting blog but has turned into a multi-crafting type crazy thing. I need a name for it because just listing out all the crafty goings on would be too long. We have knitting, crochet, spinning, felting, weaving, and now pottery stuff going on here. Eventually there may even be some quilting, painting, screen printing, and jewelry making going on here so it has to be something general. Let me know if you can think up something appropriate :)

Two Cups And A Bowl

Two Cups And A Bowl
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

I finally remembered to snap a picture of freshly thrown pottery stuff last night after class. 3 out of my 4 attempts survived, and the 1 bowl I did last week got trimmed without incident. Whoo!

The thing that failed was going to be a vase. It got tall enough in about 4 "throws" (pulling up type passes) but then I kept messing around with the shape and as usual I don't know when to quit so it fell over. I think if I could just learn to stop fucking with things that would be a big improvement, but that has been my problem with all the art I've ever done and is sort of a theme with my life so that is probably not happening any time soon.

I'm still really enjoying the class mostly because it is so not organized and class-like. I just go in, do my thing, and the teacher girl is there if I have any questions or need her to show me how to do something or other. I like that.

On the knitting side of things, I'm working on finishing some sweaters I've started over the last year or so that have never been completed because they got boring and finishing up the recently started sweaters and some hats I've promised to various people. The sweaters in no particular order are:
- Neck Down Pullover Tunic (Knitting Pure & Simple #9726) in Cascade Yarns Lana D'oro Tweed that I started last year.
- Zephyr Style 28Thirty in Noro Kureyon that I started this year after listening to Lime & Violet go on and on about the pattern.
- A boring raglan I started as a shop sample in Classic Elite Sprout. That thing is a snoozefest, but it'll be nice to have next spring.
- Kertzer's Weekend Jacket in Marble Chunky that I started when I got the yarn at the shop. All I have left are the sleeves. zzzzzz

I'm also sort of halfway working on a baby blanket because I'm gonna be a Grandma in November (surprise!) but it's still small and easy to flip around. We'll see if I keep that up once it gets bigger and more annoying to work on. You know how I am.

I Mixed Clay Tonight...

I Mixed Clay Tonight...
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

& these are my shoes. They'll never be the same.

I now have about 100 pounds of clay to play with, but I'm telling you I will NOT be doing that again. No thanks, I'll just buy pre-mixed from now on.

Here's how it goes:
-Put on your heavy duty dust mask
-Drag out five or six super heavy sacks of dust
-Measure 20lbs of this one, 25 of that one, 25 of another one, etc. and put it in the mixer with 26lbs of water.
-Turn on the mixer and wait for it all to be wet
-NOW, slowly pour a whole bag of another dust into the mixture like if you're making bread adding the flour. This takes a while so your arm is going to hurt before you're done.
- Let it mix for 10 minutes
- Take the fresh clay out of the mixer in 10-15lb chunks and roll it up in plastic bags
- Scrape the insides of the mixer forfuckingever, then scrub it with a brush, rinse it with water, and sponge the water out of there because the UofA never heard of buying a damn shopvac. Repeat this step 5 times.
- When your arm falls off you're almost done!
- Wipe it out again and tell the kids in the other room they can use it to make their clay now.

Miss Kitty Is Not Amused

Miss Kitty Is Not Amused
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

She totally got under that throw herself. I guess she was cold. That box in the background is from Ian's new goldfish aquarium. He put a blanket in it for the cats and they LOVE it so it has to stay in the living room until they lose interest. haha

My ceramics class started up this week. So far, I'm the only one showing up on Monday/Wednesday who is a total noob. The first class I didn't get to do anything because we didn't have any clay, but last night I got to make some buttons and learn how to use the wheel to throw pots. My buttons are gonna be OK, but I will need some more practice on the wheel unless I only want bowls with super short walls and espresso cups or shot glasses.

I did a good job on getting the clay centered, making the volcano shape thing, then smushing it into a hamburger patty shape and opening up the center, but when I try to drag the walls up it all goes to hell as soon as it gets taller than about 3 inches.

I figure this is like when I learned to spin yarn and made all that lumpy bumpy crap that wouldn't hold together. At least the clay is re-usable so I can practice on the same blob a bunch of times without wasting too much. That's a good thing.

There's a Loom In My Living Room

There's a Loom In My Living Room
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.
I spent all day Sunday cleaning up this used Leclerc Artisat. It needs new heddles and a part that attaches the treadles to the front bottom beam, then it'll be ready to rock. Right now it's all folded up there behind the loveseat waiting....like Chuck Norris.

Oh, and I finished the table runner/scarf thing that has been on the loom down at the yarn store for a whole dang YEAR. Here it is in action:

Here is a closer look

I'm pretty proud of it since it is the same width the whole way down. It was totally worth all those rows I ripped out and re-did a million times.

TNNA, Summer Stuff, & A New Crafty Thing

TNNA was crazy, fun, and exhausting. I placed a bunch of orders for the store (maybe too much) and had fun meeting people and seeing things. I didn't really end up taking many pictures so I never made a big post about it. The classes were the best part for me. I got to get new display ideas from other store owners, see how other people do things, etc. Everything was pretty much great till I tried to get home and ended up stuck in airport hell. Oh well. I'll for sure be going back next year.

July and so far August have been full of a whole lot of not much. There was the Fiber Xmas In July event in Kellyville, OK. That was one fun thing. I taught a novelty yarn spinning class, but only ended up having two students so it was nice and relaxed. I've been spinning a lot and have actually finished some yarn so I guess I'll take pics of that for you guys to stare at tonight :) The weaving is still slow going, but I scored a huge haul of rayon chenille and cottons and some cones of metalic goodness that are great for plying handspun with at Fiber Xmas.

I have a new to me used Leclerc Artisat loom at the house that needs cleaning up, and then I'm going to warp it for a baby blanket or something to try it out. That has to wait for the rest of the patio room cleaning to take place though because for some reason the cats think that thing is a jungle gym if I drag it out into their part of the house and it's too big to drag in and out so meh.

I seem to never finish a knitting project that isn't store related, but I've been working on two store sweaters and two non-store sweaters so hopefully one of them will eventually get finished and I won't freeze this winter. haha

Oh, and I'm starting a new crafty thing. (like I need another one) I signed up for a beginning ceramics class at U of A in Fayetteville starting August 24th. I'm really excited because I've always wanted to learn to make those hand thrown kind of bowls and mugs and things, and I have all this basement space down at the yarn store that isn't being used. If I like it and get good at it I might get a kiln and a wheel for the basement. There is already the wiring down there for it because the salon that used to be here had tanning beds in that space. We'll see.

I promise pictures next time and more frequent posting. I know you don't believe me. haha