Leaf Tess

Leaf Tess
Originally uploaded by cedison

Amazing paper folding; Illuminated from behind. Simply gorgeous!

Visit form the Yarn Fairy!

I have been playing with the latest booty from the yarn fairy, really fun stuff.
He brought some Lantern Moon knitting bags which are gorgeous and clever, one even has a pin cushion hidden inside the basket. There are also a couple of messenger bags which look to be made of some recycled material from Cambodia, really fun with fish prints on them.
Also got lots of fabulous yarns and needles most of which are on sale now, and some cute knitting themed mugs. Lots of fun stuff. I made a hat with some of the samples he brought...I am very pleased. We are still sorting things out now.
Also have some boucle on the way. Oh an d more interesting yarns, I will post again soon and describe in detail...:)

Did I mention...Colinette, Prism, Blue Heron, et al

As I am sorting through the new yarn, I thought I might just share...there are three Colinette Vintage Kits. These retail for $140, but we are going to offer them for much less since we got a price break on them, everyone wins! Also found lots of Blue Heron which is hand dyed (various textures of that, have not yet sorted or inspected what they all are) Also some Claudia's, which I recognized.

I am thinking I may want a Colinette kit for myself.
I had that same thought about the Prism. I have 4 half skeins of Cool Stuff in Tea Rose colorway. It is very pretty and I may just have to keep one for moi.
Each fabulous yarn that I have never tried yet calls to me...saying "How can you sell me if you never tried me yourself. Don't you want to knit me NOW?

I know at most of the novelty and onsie balls are going in our sale bin, which should be fun for those that peruse them on a regular basis...basically new balls are finding there way in there every day. If I didn't have this store, I would be customer here for sure. :)
I am starting to sound like one of those car salesmen on TV commercials. "We must be CRAZEE to sell this stuff so CHEAP." Ok Maybe I feel more like Tom Waits singing "Step Right Up."
Always wanted to feel like Waits, er, maybe that was I always wanted to feel Tom Waits. Close enough.

Amazing Abundance of Yarn

It is almost unbelievable the abundance of gorgeous yarn that has come into life of late.
I have been fortunate enough to purchase the contents of two, not one, but TWO closing yarn shops.
Well, not the entire contents but you can be sure I got the best, most yummiest, most fantastic yarns they had. Not only that, but the lovely women with whom I was trading were quite generous. I use the term trading loosely. I was trading cash for yarn, which is pretty much how that works for me. I have cash, you have yarn; we trade; I am happy.
Anyway, I got lots of hand painted goodness, lots of silk and silky things, lots of gorgeous bulky wool and super bulky winter time fun stuff and of course novelties, needles, and notions, scarf pins and more. It is too much to believe.
After the first round with the Jenkintown ladies, Nicole, my assistant, and I were kind of rolling around the floor in all the hand painted Great Adirondack and Schaefer yarns, when Carolyn called, so she came in and proceeded to lay on the floor...with the yarn. It was a nice afternoon.
By mid-week we had everything sorted, tagged and entered into inventory and onto the shelves and racks.
Then it started all over again; just last night I went visited another woman with the contents of her shop spread between her beautiful finished knitting room/basement and her garage, all the boxes in the garage were labeled with the intricate contents of each box marked with quantities of each and the circles and the arrows and a full color glossy photo of....sorry, no, I digress...anyway, we got some amazing things there and I look forward to sorting thru it all to see what we actually purchased. :) I know we will be pleased in the long run. Getting it all into inventory as 'assorted' or as what it actually is...is another feat all together. Oy.
Well, by the time we got out of there, we were drenched with sweat, it had begun to rain, and my Tupperware bins were nearing capacity with yarn and the cardboard box was getting wet in the back of my truck, but we pressed on...we had another stop in Jenkintown with the original and first yarn-store-going-out-of-business-whose-inventory-I-must-obtain.
We were late but I knew the yarn was patient, it always is.
Just as expected, it was waiting shelved and bagged politely with its people and pets occupying themselves amongst the books and notions. Good yarn. No wait, bad yarn, all vying for my affections and wooing me like that.
Damn it, I want you all. OK Focus, Focus. (That was heard quite a bit last night)
Now the fun will really begin, as we do the sort, catalog, enter data and tag portion of this adventure. We got through the first round so this shouldn't be too bad--although this latest haul is twice as big.
I am happy to report that I spent less than 5K. If your SO ever gives you a hard time about your yarn shopping, or yarn acquisition addiction, you can him/her about me.

Love and blessings,
Nancy

Sari Silk Solids--Most Gorgeous Thing Ever!

I just got in an order from one of my most favorite yarn vendors, Frabjous Fibers and I was unpacking and labeling the yummy yarns. There was a bright yellow Banana Silk and some Red Banana Silk, and more Kathmandu, the traditional multi colored silk spun from the weaving waste of the sari looms. Now bear in mind, these are all spun by a fair trade women's collective in Nepal, a cottage industry, and imported by this wonderful woman in Vermont who runs Frabjous Fibers. Well, all was going well until I unpacked the silk solids which I ordered for the first time, these are softer than the regular sari silk, and the colors are intense and they are subtle shades within a shade of luscious goodness. I was just drooling all over them, I so very much wanted to eat them. [I refrained.]

In lieu of eating them, I collected a fuchsia, cobalt and a dark green, and escorted them around town for the evening in my bag, checking in with them periodically and showing them off at every opportunity.

Pictured above are the Sari Silk Solids encircling a couple hanks of Kathmandu. Radiant, isn't it?

For knitters, crocheters and yarn collectors, these lovely hanks are 100 grams for the solids and they sell for $12.00, the Kathmandu Original is 200 grams and sells for $15.00. please call for availability 215-413-5001 and we can send them out to you straightaway.

Flaming Sweeater Dress

Yes, I have been busy. Trying to quit hats cold turkey is not working but creating larger work is a good distraction. I still manage to squeek a hat in here and there...


This is a more recent [almost] completion for me.


It was a fun endeavor.



I still have a few ends to weave in here and there, but it is virtually done.
I am also thinking about knitting the top of something like this and crocheting the skirt. I had intended that with this flame dress, but wound up picking up stitches and knitting and increasing and feather-and-fan-ing the skirt.
These projects evolve like that so what I initially intend is usually not what I get in the end.

Blessings, joy and inspiration!

New Sweater Dress

I decided it was time to work on some larger projects for a change, I have been addicted to hats for long enough, time to move on, so I made a little tank top from some hand painted Cherry Tree Hill ribbon called Baby Sachet in the colorway Champlaign Sunset, and then I moved on to this sweater dress using a whole bunch of different rosey tones of wool, a wee bit of ribbon and some novelty yarns.


I was looking for interesting designs to incorporate into it and wanted a Greek key patten of some kind that would repeat around the sweater and connect one repeat to another, so I designed one myself, the lower fishy design is from a stitch bible book, and so is the flower motif just below the bust. The trim on the neck and sleeves is crocheted and I am still not sure I want longer sleeves but for now, I like it as it is.

The red wool is a 3 ply hand spun wool from someone at the Phiadelphia Guild of Handweavers. It was wonderful stuff to work with. I am going to work on more sweaters and larger pieces, they really don't take all that long, and I have a lot to learn about techniques so it keeps it interesting and engaging.

I basically work in the round until it feels big enough and then bind off a few stitches for the arm holes and then work the back and front separately and when I am ready for the neck (in this case, a v-neck) I split the stitches of the front and start to decrease each side. What I discovered with this piece is that I could work the front and the back simultaneously using two balls of yarn and keeping all the stitches on the same circular needles I wan using. THen when I split the front into the right and left sides, I still kept them all on the circs and introduced a new ball if the same yarn. I knot one piece, then the next, then the back, each from their respective balls, then turn and purl back each piece, each from his own ball. Kind of like kntiting two socks at once, each from its own ball. It makes the piece grow more slowly but consistently.

Blessings , love and peace,

Nancy