These are a few of my faaaaavorite things... Part 3

Okay so today I am going to feature some of my favorite items that I have either bought or traded for on Etsy... almost all of them have been re-listed, so if you like any of them you can purchase them as well! Enjoy!!! :D


Kyle the Raccoon Wool Felt Applique Plush Doll Pillow by Cuore


Large Knit Project Tote with Pockets


The Lonely Tiger - Handcarved Stamp


Sweetheart Apron in Pink Marilyn by prettylittlepearl

Bijou Print


White Knitter's Brooch - Yarn and Needles


1AEON Natural tote with 3 blue Owls (I got mine with black owls)

The Nervous Knitter

I am, what some people would call, a "nervous knitter". Certain things about knitting that I haven't tried yet scare me and make me feel anticipatory anxiety. It's silly, I realize, to be afraid of a pair of not-so-pointy needles and a ball of wool, yet I am. Yet at the same time I truly desire to try new things and expand my knitting boundaries. So far I have mastered the following (with great mental anguish ahead of time):

cables
changing colors
entrelac
lacework ("easy"-level)
increasing
decreasing
using markers
making something in 3D
fulling (felting)


Sage Green Braided Cable Scarflette Neckwarmer

Things I still need to master and that continue to give me the chills every time I think about it:

double-pointed needles
fair isle/intarsia
making a sweater
making socks
making gloves
making a hat
following a chart


Knitted and Needle Felted Violet Rose Clutch

And some of these are combined: like, I need to be able to use double-pointed needles to make the hat and the gloves I want to make. And the silly thing is, once I try it, I am fine. It is all anticipatory anxiety. I guess what I'm afraid of is that I will fail, and that I will waste time and energy on something that turns out to be no good. Never mind the fact that all of the other things I have tried have turned out fine...


Knitted and Felted Scoop Bag

So do any of you get nervous with certain crafts or trying new things? Would love to hear from you!

7/9/10 UPDATE!

I have now become much less of a nervous knitter, and have attempted and conquered most of the items on my "scary list": double-pointed needles, fair isle, making a sweater, making socks, making a hat, and following a chart! The only one that I have tried and NOT conquered now is the intarsia -- that still kicks me butt! Oh well... I'm just glad I've gained so much more confidence! :D

My First Craft Fair!!!

I just had my first craft fair this past Sunday, October 25th, 2009. I was a nervous wreck the week leading up to it, missing a couple nights of sleep and agonizing over countless details. I thought my nervousness would dissipate once I was there for a while, but in fact it did not... lol. It was a great experience, however, and I look forward to doing it again! I walked away with a nice profit as well as the contact info of some very nice local crafters that I met. The items of mine that did best were my needle felted items (sold some appliques, my ladybug, and my spooky cat mini-play-set) and my earrings. I also sold my first bracelet, a ring, some fabric-covered buttons, and some hair clips.

Some of the wonderful people I met included my "neighbor" Cathy Nichols of cathynichols.etsy.com. She does beautiful paintings including painting with wax! My other "neighbor" was Lisa Dalton of lmdalton.etsy.com. She makes adorable sewed kitty cats called "Travel Kitties" -- you can take photos of your Travel Kitty and write up stories and send them in to her to be published on her site! Fun! I also met a woman who knits with size FIFTY knitting needles -- she uses up to 10 strands of yarn at a time! Her husband makes the wooden needles and they sell them at a shop in Huntington, NY called "Knitting on the Lamb".

The craft show occurred alongside a screening of the movie "Handmade Nation", followed up by a Q&A session with producer and director Faythe Levine. The movie explores how young people have taken up crafting and the various reasons they do it, from helping the environment to fighting the take-over of the corporate world. As a vendor I got to see it for free!

All in all it was a very successful day, and I am so glad that I was invited to be a part of it. A great big thank you goes out to the show's organizer, Gabi Moisan of Sought.etsy.com!


Me at my table

Table shot #1


Table shot #2

Faythe Levine and Cathy Nichols

Lisa Dalton and one of her Travel Kitties


Size 50 knitting needles!!!


The room

Evening Clutch!

Hi all!

Oh it feels so good to finish things!!! I just finished yet another clutch, this one made out of a lovely new (to me) yarn that a customer told me about: Lion Brand's Sasha yarn. It is 96% wool and 4% nylon and is incredibly soft and not itchy at all. It has a remarkable property to it: once you knit it up, the purl side resembles fleece! I thought this was so cool!

So the first one I made is in the first two photos below, and that one I'm going to keep -- it has a beautiful sparkly vintage button with black rhinestones on it:





And the photo below shows the version I am offering in my shop -- it has a beautiful Swarovski bead adorning it instead of the vintage button (I only had two of those and I'm keeping the other one for something else):



If you're interested in buying it you can find it here. I also can make it in off-white!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Kitteh Loves the Yarns

Just wanted to share a few pics showing how one of my cats shares the same love of yarn that I do! He makes little yarn "nests" and will then sleep in them for upwards of five hours at a time!

Knitted and Felted Clutch Purse!

So I just finished adding the final touches onto a clutch purse that I knit and then felted using some yarn that I didn't like. I was planning all along on selling the thing because I hated the colors of the yarn. Well after being very pleased with the felted result of a purse knit entirely in a simple garter stitch, I have to say my heart was warming up towards the little piece of fabric. I just now added some snaps and also a gorgeous sparkly vintage crystal button to the front of it. Once it all came together, I realized something: I love it. And I cannot bear to part with it. Here it is in all its glory:









Want one like it? Contact me through my shop!

New Knitted Toy Duckie!

Here's introducing my second knitted toy ever, a little duckling hatching out of an eggshell!

I Finished my First Shawl!!!

...and my first garment, as well!!! The shawl has taken me a couple of months to knit, row after painstaking row, stitch after painstaking stitch, mistake after painstaking mistake (haha just kidding... well actually, no I'm not), and ended up reaching 57 inches in width!!!

Here it is in all its finished glory (unfortunately the top edge rolled up, hiding the border, but you'll get the idea):



I've also found it makes a great lap blanket too!! :)

Kitty Loves Patons SWS Yarn!!!

I just had to post this pic even though it's blurry...

I had brought my knitting with me when I did laundry at a friend's house the other day, and when I brought everything home I stuck the knitting in the laundry bag (green and white striped bag in upper-right corner). Well once I was home, one of my cats actually went INTO the bag and pulled the whole thing out onto the floor so that he could lay on it!!! Here is the crime scene photo:



:D

Painting and Needle Felting! :)

Here's a preview of some of the wood products that I am currently working on to put up for sale in my shop (link in upper right corner):

This mess of stuff includes future plant stakes, bookmarks, magnets, ornaments, dollhouse decorations, and a gift box. Coming soon!

And here's some paper mache/decoupage projects that I just finished up and have for sale in my shop (with the exception of the photo frame on the bottom in the middle -- after looking at the photo, I realized the trim wasn't aligned right.... which sucks...):

For some reason, I love to paint on wood and paper mache and ceramic and resin. I love painting objects . I just can't paint pictures; my hands are too shaky! :(

And here's an update on some of the needle felting projects I posted a couple of weeks back (and also an unfinished knitted and needle felted clutch purse):

There are now two ducks, both with faces, and the bear has a face now as well... although I am not happy with it. The eyes just seem too vacuous to me... and therefore, scary. The pic also shows all of the needle felted flowers I made and have for sale in my shop. I also have been obsessed with knitting lately, and in the upper-right you can see an almost-finished purse that I came up with on a whim. It just needs another tie, and perhaps a strap. The yarn I used is "SWS" yarn -- I LOVE it! It is 70% wool and 30% soy, and it is SOOO soft and the colors are so gorgeous!!! The needle felted flowers aren't attached, I just put them there to see what they looked like.

So what do you all think? See anything you like? See anything you DON'T like (be honest!)? See anything that you'd like to see more of??

Mah First Blog... well, not really

But this is my first blog on here, and I intend on taking this blog a bit more seriously than the other one I have. My mission here is to document my progress (or lack thereof) through the world of handmade arts & crafts. I am in the process of making items that I have made for a long time for my etsy shop -- www.notsoshabbychic.etsy.com -- , but I am also in the more interesting process of learning some new crafts (needle felting) and re-learning some old ones (knitting). I wanted someplace to post notes and photos as to my progress so that I can [hopefully] see that with time and practice that I am improving.

I am also an avid birdwatcher, gardener, and lover of all things nature, so I also wanted someplace in which I could share with the world (or just the one or two of you who will be following this) what it is that fills me with joy and what inspires me. :)