sleep training hell

well, i started back nap training my mighty one today, he's VERY unhappy about the whole thing, probably got a total of five minutes sleep within the hour, we'll see how next nap time goes as it's been an hour since i first put him down, and they say to stop it, get him up, reset his senses and try again later. no time for anything else for this week...hopefully this wont take too long. wish me luck, and fingers crossed!

christmas day :5:32 am

i am up right now, i just spent the last half hour or so getting the captain's present put under the tree and tidying up  the house for christmas morning. now i'm up and dont forsee getting back to sleep any time soon...sigh...oh well, merry christmas to all! hope i can get the rest of the captain's gift in the morning before he gets out of bed! check out my two sleepers

while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads...i loves my boys.

MUST BE SANTA

so, sadly my camera is at my sisters house, otherwise i would be posting a few pics of the most recent yarn i have done and the beginnings of the scarf i'm working on for a customer! also, a few friends have suggested i make a spinning video, and i'm TOTALLY going to. i had a hard time finding too many tailspinning videos and corespinning vids, the ones that are up on youtube are few and there's only one or two really quality ones that really show what to do!
yesterday i got my holiday shopping done and we got the mighty ones santa picture done, he was delighted with santa and we got the most beautiful smile for the picture we chose! what a little angel. today, we're working on getting back on track as far as sleeping schedule goes, cause it's been a bit of a nightmare lately.  i think teeth are on their way. i'll be posting pictures tomorrow, i SWEAR!

lots to do!

so, i've got about four or five projects on the go right now....this is some superwash that was supposed to come out grey/black, but looks more navy, and i burned it a little on the stove, so it's got a bit of brown, but it was a happy accident, cause it looks great, i loves blue and brown, and since it's superwash, i was able to warsh all the burnt hair stink out of it so it smells great too!

 this is the pink mohair, it turned out awesome, perfect, exactly what i wanted, i've got some other grey fiber that i'm going to use for the pairing with this. it is for two dear friends hats, they're going to be great!

 i was recently at a house party, and my dear friend put out some smoked salmon, i was instantly colour inspired....i decided to add some pumpkin orange and bright yellow and it made this firey fibery goodness!

 this is the yarn for my buddy from toronto times's scarf, we were just discussing some needlefelted accents....it's gonna be good, think i'll go get some commercial thick n quick in grey though, just to make up the bulk...want it to be nice and long!

finally, this is the "to be spun" box, i try to stay on track with projects, as i tend to get distracted. in here is the most luxurious stuff i've got, thinking about spinning a gift yarn, and i just got the colourful batts today, the first installment of my batt of the month subcription! it's called wintergreen dream, and it's from pancake and lulu on etsy. it's wool, angora, mulberry silk, seacell, soysilk, mohair, angelina and firestar, it's so SUPER sparkly! think i'll use it FOR MYSELF! i gotta make something for mama to wear, its gettin cold out there!

 tried something new to corespin this roving i dyed for my friend josh's scarf...the colours turned out different than i intended, but i'm very pleased with it all the same. especially since i tried out this new technique for corespinning...

 it means i use less fiber...

 and make a semi uniform width. my biggest problem is letting it get too thin in places, i HATE that. when you're trying to stitch up something warm and squishy for someone and you're faced with these teesny, laceweight spots in your yarn, it's very frustrating! but this stuff is beauty and it's just drying now, hopefully will be done by tomorrow and i can get started on his scarf!

even though i'm SO sick, i got some roving and locks soaking so i can get the colourways ready for natasha and michelle's hats! must try and re-create from memory a hat and cowl i did for a friend using commercial yarn last year! she's been wearing it lately and it's been a big hit with the fans, two orders to re-create it! fingers crossed!

week off with the captain

so, i know i was a naughty blogger and didn't post all week, but my baby daddy was off for the week and we capitalized on that time that we don't usually get to share with the baby and the two of us. it was a nice week, i still managed to get some stuff done...like this hat! how amazing! it's a custom order for a friend and it's not quite done yet but i can't get over how awesome it is! the main yarn is handpainted roving that i've shown pictures of before...superfine merino/cashmere blend. and the white is blue faced liecester/silk blend that i wrapped with a metallic pink thread....it's gorgeous, and so warm and squishy and soft.

 then i spun this amazing cashmere for my fella!

i dyed it with chestnut, and gunmetal and jet black...it looks incredible! gonna make a nice cowl for him!.

 thentheres this little beauty! same as above, cashmere/superfine merinoblend. handpainted. using a biit of experimentation and with the muses whispering in my ear, i wasnt sure how this would turn out.

 these surprise tones of purple and blue came through. believe me i used not either of those shades of dye.

it was so fab, i felt it deserved no less than something fab when i spun it. so i added in some sections of some yellow cashmere yarn i spun awhile ago, and some cocoons of hot pink silk/mohair, and two colours of metallic thread. it really is awesome,

 this is some polwarth roving i bought at the fiber garden. it felt like cheating using this cause i didn't dye it myself, but it was just too pretty not  to get!

 i spun an extreme thick and thin single then thread plied it almost supercoil

great big fat sections are way too squishy!

and amidst all that, i managed to get a cold, learn to knit (BARELY) and get the tree done. i like being busy~

corespinning is the bomb yo!

so today i'm off to the fiber garden in jordan for the first time! hope i find some loveliness, i'm hoping to get my hands on some superfine merino, cause it seems to be my new fave to spin. especially to corespin! i have also been experimenting with handpainting roving, pre-spinning and i'm LOVING the outcome. though corespinning is a little more labour intensive, it really creates a beautiful effect. i just have to work on my consistency, though i like the variations in size, i'm not a big fan of super super thin laceweight then almost super bulky...i'm gettin there, it's a step by step journey, and one that i think i'll always be on.


i spent a few hours the other day rearranging my craft area, getting my sewing machine set up and my wheel area cleaned out! now all my crafty fiber stuff is over here in the "dining room" and my wheel stands alone next to the rocking chair. this way, i'll only work on one yarn at a time, and i'll stick to my original plan. i'm VERY happy with the current state of affairs. also, it's more roomy for baby stuff.

yarns for sale

so, i've decided that i'm not ever going to use the small amount of yardage of the awesome art yarns i've spun, so i'm going to share them with the world and put them up for sale at my etsy shop! www.oscarandsophia.etsy.com

i took the handmade pledge.

busy day today....got that roving all spun up, i'll post a pic tomorrow of the finished yarn. gonna do some more handpainting but with some chartreuse and some sunny yellow and some shocks of bright turquoise! gonna use merino cashmere this time! it's gonna be awesome.
havE you taken the handmade pledge yet?

i was a woman posessed yesterday, rather than take pictures of yarn,  i CREATED! i handpainted some merino roving using a new technique i learned from good ole youtube school of fiber art!

then i spun up the yarns in the top picture

this is some silk/mohair/sparkle pinkie pink from a batt i got from one of my fave sellers on etsy, www.atomicblue.etsy.com, she does up custom batts for me that are WONDERFUL. i used my makeshift blending hackle to blend the batt with some silver mohair locks and turquoise merino. i then spun it up thin thin thin, then plied it with a thin single of periwinkle superwash. it's PURDY.

this is some supersoft blonde alpaca, just spun it up as is, i'll use it as a base in some beautiful creation, it's just such a dream to spin, no predrafting needed, i can actually pull off the continuous long draw with this!

this is that same alpaca with some misc yarn add ins, silver beads, satin ribbon, sequins....it's super pretty.

and finally some natural merino, spun kinda thick with pink metallic thread autowrapped around it. the original plan was to dye it, but i might not...i haven't decided yet.
all in all, a VERY productive day as i also managed to get two loads of laundry done AND the dishes, AND make dinner AND clean up the cats restroom area! the life of a creative mother.

no banana thursday

it has come to my attention that i am sorely lacking in photos of my yarns. i have spent the last while more focused on learning and honing my spinning skills than on creating items WITH said yarns. they sit in the corner, unloved, unappreciated.

because of this i have decided today will be a yarn photoshoot! photos to follow.

sparkle sparkle

my mighty is five months old today! big boy! to celebrate, i'm going to the movies without him! haha.
my friend leslies hat is complete but for the embellishment, and it's FABULOUS! and i'm slowly getting through the scarf, pretty sure i'm gonna secure the loops with a panel of that checkerboard funfur i got...so excited to get my first handspun set done that somebody's gonna pay for! ha!
christmas is coming and i need some dough!

bugger

so, i just wrote a whole great big posting, describing my new yarn, how it came to be, what i'm doing with my day...and for some reason, MY FIREFOX KLUNKED OUT!
needless to say, i'm a bit reluctant to write the whole thing out again. lets just say, i nixed my original yarn idea to finish the hat and scarf for my bud leslie, and went with a thread plied single of natural merino/cashmere that i popped a single violet curl into every yard or so...the effect is gonna be pretty cool i think. i'll highlight the hat with it, and i think make one of the loops of the scarf with it.
so today, it's a visit with jstyxx, then off to michaels and the dollar store for supplies, then to darling P's house for eat, pray, love.

the last post was FULL of wit and charm. i swear.

yarn blog begin!

so, here i am, i've been meaning to get around to making a blog to chronicle my yarn spinning, and keeping track of crocheted items, the whole creative process. i think this will be a part of my morning routine, like, as i sit down with my coffee, banana, yogurt and toast with peanutbutter, i shall let the world in on the innerworkings of my mind! and i'm sure my almost five month old boy Mighty Felix will get a mention or two here and there, as he's the major part of my day! so...

i've been working on getting a hat and scarf done for my friend leslie. i've sort of been all over the map trying to figure out what colour combination is going to work out best for her. i decided to make some SUPER thick and thin merino yarn, and dye it violet...i spun, THEN dyed, which i've not done before, and i think i prefer it, the fiber is much easier to work with before it gets wet and you get a truer representation of what the colour will be. also, especially with this yarn, getting it wet a second time REALLY sets the twist.
so i spun up about 100 yards of this beauty of a yarn, was SUPER proud of it, then, after the colour came out, i just  couldn't believe how much i loved it! so soft and lofty and springy and SUCH a pretty colour. then, the crocheting began. leslie wanted a version of the bucket hat i did for my friend deanna, so i set to working it. this yarn is so light, and the thick thin looks amazing, but, i had the first version almost complete when i realized i TOTALLY HATED IT, and it was nothing like what she wanted. so...much to my displeasure, i frogged the whole thing. attempt number two is turning out much more like what i want, though i realize now, that the bucket hat does much better with a heavy yarn. i wish i had more of that two ply cashmere i spun awhile ago, but, i'll make do with what i've got.

as far as her scarf goes, i've dyed some of the AMAZING award winning cotswold locks a darker version of the purple in the hat, which i think i will tailspin and ply with a thin single of undyed natural cashmere/merino blend. and i may go pick up some thick n quick at michaels in black and oatmeal to finish it off. i'm pretty excited to finish this set, then i can move on to the next exciting project! i'm also super pleased that i made myself start this blog, i'm gonna stick to it for sure!