Turquoise Love

I love the way yarn inspires design. Love, love, love, love love. I bought this curly mohair bouclé from Elvincraft a few months after I got the fingering weight turquoise Desert Dreams there and knew before the curly even got here what a perfect match they would be. Bouclé is my least favorite yarn to knit with, because I'm always snagging the wrong loop, but this stuff was worth the extra effort, and thankfully, a little goes a long way. (Hint: use turbos, not lace needles on it!) It's still wet in the picture, and so a little limp looking, but it perks up into a full Harlequin ruff when dry. Love.

Junk, Revealed

Two hours of sorting and chaos prevails.

I found this spirally thing in the parking lot of an auto body shop.

Faery Orchid yarn from Elvincraft

I drank two cups of Jet Brew coffee this morning and so had the nerve to start sorting all of my fabric. All's I can say is, yes, I belong on Hoarders. Not shown are 3 sorted bins of my best stuff, back in the Dungeon. Tropical Barkcloth and 40s Feathers & Florals, it soothes my soul just to look at their loveliness. And now that it's all on the easiest to reach shelf, I can look anytime the urge strikes. Still have hours more to go, and the coffee is wearing off into the jitters, hopefully this blog break will refresh and fortify! Most of what's left will go to Upcycle Exchange. Share the love. The middle photo is of a necklace I made out of a weird twist of metal. It's pretty groovy, but I'll be shocked if it sells. You never know unless you try! Then we have some wonderful bedjacket yarn custom dyed for me by Kate Duncan of Elvincraft in Scotland, inspired by the Missouri Botanical Garden Orchid Show. Okay, back to the bins!

Uh-Oh

This morning I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed to the computer as per usual to check my etsy sales. Overnight I sold all the yarn in the destash section, which was as it should be, because I was virtually giving it away. But I know I'm never going to knit with Kauni: even though I love the colors, it's too dang scratchy, and sweaters are so freaking boring to knit I vowed never again after the last one. I only want to knit frothy old-fashioned things, capelets and cloaks and fichus and mitts and shawls, stuff you can't buy anywhere. I'm starting to like socks, but not in the standard commercial sock yarns. It's taken me three years of knitting, but I've definitely become a yarn snob. So all my regular old yarn, except for some of the Noro, must go! The Super8 faux bois film can was another overnight sale. And here's the embarrassing part: I couldn't find it! The Junk Dungeon was holding on to its secrets this morning, and it took me over 2 hours to tear apart enough stuff to unearth the missing piece. (It was hiding in plain sight by the shipping materials, must've known it was heading out soon!) The thought of having to tell a customer I was too big a slob to keep track of my own stuff was so mortifying that I actually started a real organizational process. All etsy items in a bin with a check-marked list. Other bins of "to be listed" organized according to type: fabric, craft, crapola, etc. So two good things came of this morning's scare: a plan, and this old picture of my cranky cat Igneous (now deceased, God love her.)

The Junk Dungeon Stirreth

Dang, I have a lot of junk! Depending on my mood, that makes me either gloat or droop. It takes about 5 minutes to pull this much treasure out of the troves, and then another 55 minutes to snap, describe, and upload it onto etsy. I could easily list about 500 hundred items, but I don't think shoppers ever go much beyond the second page of merchandise, so I think I'll keep the shelves stocked with a mere 42 choices. I wish my handmade things would sell, then I could actually think of myself as an artist instead of a curator. I made the pillows in the last photo with fabric found at the bottom of a box bought at the Belleville Flea Market, some old zippers I had stashed, and feathers from a dead pillow. Anyway, this online selling is probably too slow and energy-consuming a way to destash. The whole point of getting rid of junk is to free my soul from the hoarding disease, but so far the selling process seems to be making me even more grasping. I'll give it another few months and then reevaluate...

Aurora Borealis Socks

Just finished my third ever pair of socks, this time in Strong Arm Sock yarn from Dyeabolical. I made these from the toe up, 2-at-a-time-on-1-Magic-Loop, and that method was a zillion times easier this time. I used a 9" Hiya Hiya circular needle for the provisional cast-on "waste yarn" and so saved a ton of time and headache. I love short row toes and heels! The stitch pattern is from my Ziggly Zag hat. I would never have finished the second of the pair of these, had I not knit them 2-at-a-time-on-1-Magic-Loop, because for some reason I find socks incredibly boring to knit! I don't know why, because technically they're a lot less of the same thing than shawls, but there it is. I do like the final result. Working from the toe up with socks is like working from the top down with sweaters: perfect fit guaranteed!

Snow Lovely

I hate snow until it gets here. It's a control thing. Who can control the unknown, or the weather? Only a much mightier sorceress than I! Once it's here, the power is still on, and the road has been plowed, it's beautiful. I'm even looking forward to seeing more of it at the Winter Olympics! The first image is of my favorite picture, found ages ago at the Gardenville Senior Center in South St. Louis. (I'm not going to miss actual new junk, now that I've decided to Sell It All, but I am going to miss the fun little adventures the hunt for junk led into!) The next one is of my "backyard." The final image here is one that makes great snow day reading: The Ticklemouse, by Roy Rutherford Bailey. Seriously the weirdest story ever written!

Damn That Groundhog, Anyway

I'm sorry for the eye pain the new blog colors may be causing any of you, but I need to see green right now. Because I Hate Winter. Every winter makes me wonder about why any of us end up where we are: for me, that's at the top of a hill that is a pain in the nasty mess to navigate in bad weather. Why didn't I end up in a Paris Apartment with a door man, a haute wardrobe, and a canary, the place I dreamed of in 7th grade French class? Too many turnings and reality checks led to a wardrobe of flannel shirts here on the outskirts of civilization. Above are some Kraft Kits I think may not even be worth the 20¢ cost of listing them on etsy. Super, duper ugly, but you never know what people will buy. I'll probably keep them, because they come with good canvas and an embroidery needle, and I really want to start embroidering again.

15 Minutes of the Dog's Life

In the last shot she's saying, "Please, no more pictures today!"

Orchid Time

Today we went to the Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden for a shot of mid-winter frivolity and verve. Orchids are like false eyelashes and satin opera gloves: gorgeous, but not for everyday! I guess that's why I go to this show at least six times in the course of its two month run — the everyday plus winter is just not a winning combo.
The last photo is of one of my prize possessions, which will never be sold on etsy: a Nettie's Flower Garden ashtray. Nettie's was the place to buy corsages in the neighborhood I lived in as a small fry. It's not there anymore. Everything changes, but the Orchid Show will always be back next year!