Saturday, February 7, 2009

Hello, world!

It's totally my turn to update the blog-- I've been quite remiss! To make up for it, I finally have some pictures.

I've been on a bookmaking kick for a while now (although knitting is creeping back in with the rain and the cold), so here are some book images. The one to the left is actually a bit greener than the image makes you think it is.

This was a really fun book to make-- it's multiple signatures, sewn on tapes. I'd do a tutorial on how to make them, but there are many, many tutorials on the web that would be better than mine. Unfortunately, the spine on this book has started wearing through, so I'm thinking about breaking the book down and re-doing the spine. I might use leather, but am unsure how well that would work, since I've never done it and don't quite have the right tools. Ah well, we'll see how it turns out.

Hmmmm.... more pictures!


The above is a Very Useful Book. I am a rabid paper-buyer; I am entirely addicted to PaperSource, that place of Vilest Temptation with their awesome paper. This book is where I keep small samples of almost every sheet of cover paper I buy-- book cloth goes on one side of the accordion, and patterned paper on the other. This book is small enough that I can stick it in a pocket or in my bag when I go shopping, to compare colours and weights, etc. I also really need to update it-- I'm sort of afraid that my paper collection will soon be larger than the book!

Okay, one more project-- this one was *really* fun, and it took me a hellishly long time. You'll see why:

This is the project when it's all put together. There are actually five different components to this piece: the tie, the wrap, the top book, the box, and the interior book.

You can take everything apart into separate pieces, and it's fairly easy to put everything back together. This is essentially a mock-up of the toolbox that I'm working on; I only have the bottom half of that box completed, as it's 9"x12", and has multiple compartments. This box was an exercise, essentially. I wanted to see if I could make a top-and-bottom box that fit together well-- these really, really do. I am incredibly pleased. :)

This is what the components of the box look like when everything's been taken apart. To give you an idea of scale, the small green book (on the lower left) is about half an inch tall. Interestingly, both of the books that go with the box were accidental. I had made the box and the wrap when I realize that I had about half an inch extra vertically built into the wrap. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make a book, I decided to make a small perfect-bound book to go on top of the book. The image on the cover I did with watercolors; the interior of the book is blank. The small green book actually comes from the trimmings of the larger book-- it was originally one long strip that I cut down and covered with book cloth.

So, there you have it! That's what I've been up to in the last... while. Feel free to ask me any questions that you have.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

In the works

There is a major update to the etsy store in the works. I've got several new skeins to post and am standardizing the weights of the other ones. Hedgerose also made really pretty hanging tags. We are also considering expanding the stuff we offer. Hedgerose has been offered a place in town to sell her books. We are also working on preparing for a craft fair in town. There will be more updates as all of this comes to fruition.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Freaky Friday

Ok. Today's Freaky Friday is not freaky in the scary way, but freaky in the how cool is that way. It is a knit heart. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATTheart.php. It was the Knitty surprise this issue. How cool is that? You could even put little cocktail swords in it and make an immaculate heart!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hump day

I'm sorry that I spaced on last Freaky Friday. I've got some stuff saved for the upcoming one. However, today is Hump day. Here is today's yarn porn. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6157442.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

So today I did something amazing-- I knit from a pattern!

I did, in fact, make these gloves! Those of you who know me know that I'm pretty good at looking at a finished product and figuring out how it's made, but am absolute crap at following patterns.

These gloves turned out really really well-- I knit them using one and a half balls of this gorgeous merino/microfiber/cashmere blend. I also learned how to cable; yay me! It's something I've been meaning to learn to do for a while. The pattern was mostly clear on how to cable; I think it's more my lack of knowledge of knitting pattern terminology than their lack of clarity.

The gloves took all afternoon and evening to finish-- I started them around 4:30 and finished them around 2 a.m. (they're a good project for working on while re-watching a T.V. show), with dinner happening somewhere during that time.

In OTHER EXCITING NEWS, one of our Local Yarn Stores, The Golden Fleece is going to participate in a Sheep-to-Sweater competition at some point soon, and I've volunteered to be one of the spinners. It should be really interesting, because there's no time to wash the fleece, and carders are not allowed, which is really bizarre. At any rate, it'll be lots of fun!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Hump Day

The craft day went well. We managed to craft for 12 hours straight! Anyways, on to our first Hump Day. This etsy store is by Tipofilato. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5731577. The vast majority of what he sells is hand dyed sock yarn. Besides the gorgeous colors, is that all of the colors are named after Harry Potter! Check it out, it is awesome!