silver teardrop necklace with manually engraved butterfly and clear glass bead
This is a revamped product that I used to offer. The original engraved butterfly teardrop necklace is now available with your choice of eight different bead colors: light blue, grey blue, smoke blue, light pink, citrine yellow, clear, ruby red & gold.
Gold butterfly teardrop necklace with light pink faceted bead
Available in these silver or gold plated brass teardrop pendants. They have a fabulous weight to them & wear very well.
I love these glass beads and use them often. They are weighted and thus have a sparkle similar to crystal. My photos don’t really capture just how pretty they truly are.
The butterfly is a symbol or transformation. These necklaces would be lovely for anyone who has made a major positive change in their life and need to signify it in a tangible way. Or maybe, you just like butterflies… 😉
core wrapped banana fiber yarn still on the bobbin
I made this yarn this past winter & it occurred to me that this upcycled handspun yarn is vegan friendly. Most of the yarns I spin are with animal fibers, but this was made using sari silk remnants (banana fibers that are similar to rayon – so not exactly “natural” as the name would suggest). I can’t always get these from the company in Vermont but when I see them I nab them. They are colorful and silky & usually I add them to my batts. This is my first time making a complete yarn out of them. I love the idea of up-cycling a discarded product.
big honkin’ spool of dacron
After thinking it over, I decided the best way to showcase these fibers as well as keep it an even diameter was to core wrap spin it. Core wrapping is a technique where you wrap fibers – usually from a batt – around a finished yarn, the core. Many people use commercial yarns for the core. The banana fibers come in a bag in one big mass, so I found it easy to tease out a bit at a time and let it wrap around the core. I used this dacron yarn (polyester) as the core. I found this huge cone of it at a second-hand store for only $3.50! Score!
To add a little more glitz, I added a commercial sequined thread at the same time I was wrapping the fibers. Another bargain find from the clearance section of the craft store. I am a bit of a magpie (or squirrel? Mouse?) when it comes to shiny and cheap things. 🙂
I made a really cool scarf with this yarn, I really wish the pictures would capture the texture better. It’s very organic in feel yet glitzy all at the same time, and naturally 100% unique. I love rocking this!
upcycled sari silk banana fiber yarn made into a continuous scarf – doubled over
This is a continuous scarf knitted in the round using an elongated stitch. I made it really long (it’s approximately 36″ from top to bottom) because I wanted to be able to fold it over more than once for different looks.
lopped once at same length
I used size 11 circular needles. As I harp and preach about handspun yarn: go big or go home! 😉 Always go with a larger needle to allow the fibers to open up and have room for any larger sections.
twice folded over and fanned out – cowl like
I love elongated stitches and use several methods when knitting my handspun. I love that airy, webby effect and I think it showcases the handspun so well. Not to mention it’s super simple and works up fast. I’ll have instructions for this stitch at the bottom of this post…
cowl-style not fanned out
Because of the ease with these kind of stitches, I threw this project in my bag and worked on it when I had a passing minute while out on errands. You never have to remember where you left off because it’s all the same until binding off.
Elongated Stitch for continuous scarf
CO desired number of stitches (I CO 110 with size 11 circular needles)
Be sure all stitches are facing the same way, and are not twisted then:
K1;
Insert your left needle into the front of the ST you just created and make a stitch within this stitch: just like a continental purl stitch only using your left needle instead of your right.
Insert left needle into the front of the knit stitch you just created, and essentially purl into this stitchthe elongated stitch
Continue until scarf is desired length & CO. It doesn’t get more easy than that!
Posing with the adorable babies from Skyeview Alpacas
We had yet another wonderful Mother’s Day weekend attending the 2015 New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. The show has become a yearly family tradition of ours. One of our favorite stops is the Alpaca barn which was showcasing many babies & adolescents this year. I swear I dropped an ovary or two looking at these cuties! Special shout out to Skyeview Alpacas. Always a pleasure stopping by their booth.
this year’s haul: sadly (accidentally) in monochrome.
I didn’t take near enough pictures, of course. How could I when there was always a bag of something in my hands?? I took a pic of this year’s take in the back of our Jeep but the camera setting was bumped to monochrome & I didn’t realize it. I guess it doesn’t matter too much since the theme this year was definitely white. Besides the angora rabbit fur and white alpaca fleece from Skyeview, I also came away with 2 bags of merino wool from Joe & Judy Miller to process; 1 lb. of to DIE for (or should I say, to DYE for – har har) white BFL top – I just couldn’t say no; and 3 4oz balls of coopworth top. The only thing of color was 3 hand-dyed 4oz balls of a wool/silk blend to play around with. I normally don’t buy roving anymore. But sometimes it just calls my name. I look forward to doing some experimental dyeing this season. I definitely had some restraint this year, but my studio is over flowing. I really could use a bigger space for processing fleece. I would probably get through it faster if I did. Someday…
The May 2015 monthly newsletter was unleashed earlier this week with the 3 winners from last month’s giveaway announced, new products, my latest blog challenge and of course, this month’s giveaway – for an “apple of my eye” necklace! Click here to read.
Don’t forget to sign up in order to enter the giveaways.
I recently found these sweet epoxy apple charms. I love the pop of red color and they were just begging to be made into a necklace. I present you: The Apple of My Eye Keepsake Necklace – or Teacher’s Gift.
I couldn’t decide which way to go with this when I first set out to do the engraving. I ended up liking both ideas so much I just kept it that way. I love the script letter paired with the apple. I also thought an engraved “TEACH” along with a heart was a nice touch.
These would make wonderful, affordable teacher’s gifts as well as a sweet message to a loved one: “You are the apple of my eye”.
I currently have a limited number of charms as at the time my supplier only had a few available. I’ll see how popular this item is before ordering more (in order to get the best possible price I need to order several hundred dollars worth of goods from my supplier. So I don’t like to do that too many times in the run of a year).
