Thursday, January 31, 2013

New Bangle Designs for Spring 2013

During the past two weeks I've been spinning yarn, working on design ideas for next winter, and producing some of my new bead crochet bangles for this coming Spring. Here are some that will soon be in the shop.

A pretty pair in glowing antique gold, bronze, and opal:




Sparkling bangles in rose and white, celery and blue-gray, lavender and lilac:



Muted opal colors of smoky grey, pale peach, and pale lilac, all accented with bronze:


Monday, January 14, 2013

A New Year's Task


Inventory: You invest in it. You care for it. You look at it. Even fondle it. And once a year you have to count it all. (That's the bad part.)

This year, I am happy to report that I am finished early! Every single skein, ball, cone and hank of yarn has been organized. Fiber rovings are aligned and ready to spin. Every single whole or partial tube of beads is accounted for and organized by color.

Worksheets containing all the data have been balanced and reconciled. Go ahead: touch any raw material in my studio, and I can tell you when it was purchased, from whom, on what date, at what cost, and how much of it remains.

So now it's time move on to 2013 production. A lot of design ideas are lurking about the studio and some eager fiber and beads are waiting to be selected.



Monday, December 10, 2012

Christmas with Jana's Stuff

If you haven't already discovered the most adorable vintage shop on Etsy, you are in for a treat.

Janastuff is a perfect place to go shopping for a unique gift for your vintage-loving friends. It is a small shop that offers great customer service, quality products, sensational photo styling, and excellent product descriptions.



KK (Kara Kitsch), who is seen above auditioning for Vanna's job, is the model and spokesperson. She is the glamorous one who appears in all the product photos. She is tireless and good-natured, loves bubble baths, gets in a little trouble when she "sleeps" in the Italian bread basket, and takes too many breaks with her new boyfriend.

Jana is the collector and shop owner. She takes the photos and writes brilliant copy for each item. I swear, when you go to the shop you must read the description of every item--including the already sold ones. It is delightfully entertaining.


Janastuff is no cookie cutter vintage store (although they do sell some). Great care has been taken to offer shoppers a unique experience. Once you have visited, you will want to return frequently to see whether there is anything new in the shop and to catch up on KK's exploits.



Valerie, my head model, would love to meet KK and get to know her. She thinks they would be the best of friends. Valerie has lots of stories about her days on the road with the gypsies and her later running with the circus midgets, and she bets that KK has a lot of good stories to share as well.





In this last photo, which is the one taken for KK's Christmas card this year, she is posing with Mac, her latest flame. I can't help but wonder if Mac is Mr. Right and what he will get KK for Xmas. If you have suggestions for him, leave them in the comments.

Janastuff has been offering an 11% discount. Maybe if you hurry over there you can still get in on the deal. Tell her I sent you.

Oh, and be sure to check out KK's Facebook page!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Shopping at Your Computer Today?

A lot of the Etsy shop owners from Portland, Oregon, have gotten together to offer Cyber Monday specials today and during the week. All of us are using the same Etsy coupon code, "PDXETSY2012".

It's a great way to take advantage of some timely discounts from Portland makers, including my shop, which is offering 10% off anything in the store through November 29.

The complete list of participating shops and their discount offers can be found at the Cozy Project Blog. So grab your coffee cup and check it out!

CYBER MONDAY: Mustache coffee cup cozy Gray made by The Cozy Project on Etsy

Monday, November 19, 2012

Yearning to Spin

My fingers have been itching to do some spinning, but there is that big production schedule on my desk of accessories to finish knitting, crocheting, and beading for this fall and winter season on Etsy.

To compensate for having no time to spin, I sometimes just pet the handspun yarn that I already have made this year. Fondling yarn is very relaxing. Just go into any yarn store and observe the shoppers. You'll possibly get hooked on it, too.

On an stop in Moab, Utah, on that great summer vacation, I visited a wonderful yarn shop called Desert Thread. Imagine that there are people in the desert who knit, crochet, and spin! That's just about the coolest thing. Or the hottest, perhaps.

It was apparent just from the color palette of the selection of rovings that we were no longer in the Pacific Northwest. Up here there is a huge range of hand-dyed rovings in greens, browns, blues, and violets. In the heart of the desert there were glorious hues from the surrounding landscape. Deep ochres, brilliant oranges and brick reds. It was hard to choose only a few.

These are the three that came along home:


Here is what they became. Mostly worsted to heavy-worsted weight two ply color-twist yarn:


In a tropical palette earlier in the year, these two super bulky skeins were made:


The skein on the right is 100% Blue-faced Leiceister and the right one is baby llama fiber.

Heaven to touch, all of them! Can't wait to power up the spinning wheel again.