The frozen lands of the North

I am headed up to Seattle at o-dark-30 tommorow morning. Greyhound...wish me luck.
In the meantime, I have pictures of stuffs sent for swaps. I have been crafting, honest! Here is a lace sample of singles spun from some tussah silk I dyed with one shot (Rasberry). The pattern is out of Victorian Lace Today.

The second is a felted bag (minus the strap) I made for the Hogwarts' House Swap through Craftster. The confirmation thingee through USPS said that it has gotten to its destination, but my partner has not yet posted pictures. Grr...I hope she will soon! 'cause I forgot to take pictures before I sent.

In other words I still have a couple of projects going:

• Starting a tank out of the new Cotton Frappe from Elspeth Lavold. It's working out okay, despite being 95% cotton. Don't have more than 3 rows yet though. It's going to be a project for this weekend.
• Self-designed tank. Not sure of the name yet. It's 100% linen (I think) that I got at Goodwill. It's a light greyish blue, and I dyed some of it brown as an accent colour with Rit. Note to self, next time don't try one shot (I thought at first that it might have some silk in it, but no). I only have a couple of swatches made at this point, so more later.
• Leg warmers from knitpicks. I am almost done with the first of them. Yay! They are not going with me to Seattle though, as dealing with two yarns at once on the bus would be a major pain. Anywho...

Ciao

Days Since last purchased fibre:16 days
Fabric: 22 days
Yarn: 16 days

Swap Package

Well, I received my package for the Harry Potter Houses Swap on Craftster...Here they are:
A Mudblood T-Shirt. Perfect for a Ravenclaw?

A Ravenclaw blanket. I think I have some navy bias tape that will compliment it around the edges nicely.

A bag will my initials. Maybe I can find some nice silver bias tape for it. And the seams on the inside in the second photo.

Lastly I was sent a headband and candies, represented by the white chocolate rat. Anyone want some candy. I have lots now.

I got this from A's site. It looked like fun. I'm skipping songs I did not put on this thing for the sake of my sanity (Especially considering there are Sailor Moon songs on there...I swear I didn't put them on, although I have to admit I own them.) I will put those in a subscript or something for amusements sake though considering how often the stupid things came up.

Opening Credits: "Tehcno Dance/Bu Yao Lai (sp?)" China Dolls
Waking Up: "The Coventry Carol" Medieval Babes
-"Rainy Day Man" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
-"My Only Love" Sailor Moon Soundtrack (creepy)
First Day at School: "The Nightengale" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
Falling in Love: "Hangover Song" Michael Longcor
Fight Song: "Kung Foo Fighting" Foo Fighters
Breaking Up: "Army" No idea-anonomous SCA song
Prom: "Tokyo Girl" Ace of Base
-"Call My Name (and I'll be There)" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Life: "Gypsy Rover" Clancy Brothers
Mental Breakdown: "Last Unicorn Theme" Kenny Loggins
Driving: "Charlie's Sweet" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
-"La Isla Bonita" Madona
Flashback: "Someone (Thai version)" China Dolls
Getting Back Together: "Wooden Toy Sword" Heather Alexander
Losing Your Virginity: "Help" Beatles
Wedding: "You wanna Dance?" China Dolls
Birth of a Child: "Igraynes Dance" -Unknown
-"Larger than Life" Backstreet Boys
Final Battle: "Two Maidens" in Bawdy Songs by Oscar Brand
-"It's a New Day" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Death Scene: "Bedlam Boys" Heather Alexander
Ending Credits: "Butterfly" DDR

I have to say that I have great End Credits. Though some other things are a little wonky. Like my Final Battle song, and my getting back together song. I was sort of hoping March of Cambreath would come up...Anyways, L put some very interesting stuff on here, I couldn't believe how many times I had to skip past Sailor Moon songs. Gag me with a spoon please.

Days since last purchase fibre: 1 week
Days Since Last Purchased Yarn: 1 week
Days Since last purchased fabric: 2 weeks

A Cornucopia of Yarn

I looked at my stash this afternoon, and I thought that A's yarn diet might be a good idea...Maybe not as strict a yarn diet, but maybe "Yarn Watchers". So, I think that I shall keep track of how many days it has been since I last bought yarn/fiber/fabric. So, not a diet per se, but something of the sort. That should, hopefully, help. But I can't stop cold turkey. I don't have that much will power when it comes to fabric.

• I bought fabric. Again. This is a pale peach silk in a herringbone twill from 27th street Fabrics on Willamette. Sigh. There were 3.25 yards and 30% off. Okay, so I spent $10 a yrd, but its really pretty. I doesn't seem to want to photograph (bad colour), so I will just have to show peoples in person. I also found some buttons that I am dyeing to have that are .90 each. They are little metal shank buttons with a stylized knight on them. Are they worth it?
• I made the mistake of stepping into Soft Horizons on Tuesday. I had the afternoon off, and I was in the area, so...My pain wasn't so great though. I managed to get away with a skein of Inca Alpaca (on sale) and a bit of camel/silk roving. Did I mention that Soft Horizons is now carrying more fiber? They now have some mohair, some merino/silk, camel, and camel/silk roving. Thankfully it is not nearly so bad as stepping into Dye Lots.
• I made a panta based on A's pattern. It's hard to see because the lighting in the picture isn't so great (need to photograph outside next time) but I did it in Alpaca Silk DK from Debbie Bliss on size US 4s with my own cable pattern. I love the yarn by the way. It is much better to work on than the Alpaca Silk Aran weight. It seems a little less pilly and is harder to split. I also have two caliometry pantas ready for me to sew buttons on, no pictures yet, as one is going to a swap partner (Thankfully she's in Canada because it is quite warm). The other is going to the daughter of one of the other choir members in my church choir.

• I finished the snow drop shawl. I will try to take pictures where it is nice and sunny (ha!) tomorrow. More on that later.
• Hogwart's House Swap is just about ready to send. I don't think that I will be able to send till Saturday, just because that's my day off. Here's a preview:

Ta for now!

Days since last purchased fibre: 2 Days
Days since last purchased yarn: 2 Days
Days since last purchased fabric: 1 Week

Duck Socks

Not much to post right now. Maybe later. But I thought that I would post now that I have finally figured out to get into blogger with google. Gah. Remind me to write theese things down next time. In any case my life is as follows:

• I still have weaving for 3 more weeks and have 2 feet on my shawl. It is huck lace in the simple "Huck Lace" pattern (original ne?) alternating with stripes of plain weave. It's a 6 WPI warp and a 10 WPI weft that is my own handspun merino bought at the Puyallup fair several years ago. The picture of the cone is to illustrate just how little yarn I ended up with after warping.

• Work Work Work. Life is going to get interesting, J's leaving for Thailand the 21st.
• A pair of socks for housemate B. They're fun, but a little bit ducky. I didn't intentionally do so, really. As I told our Pastor's wife: "It wasn't intelligent design, but more of evolution..." Will that get me excommunicated? Probably not from a Lutheran Church. Too much to hope.

• Craft Swap 1: I need to finish up a project for the Hogwart's House Swap. I'm making stuff for a Gryffindor. Send out date was yesterday, but I lost a skein of yarn and had to order more... Can't wait to see what I'll get.
• Craft Swap 2: I just dyed the roving yesterday, and I am not entirely satisfied with the results. Hmmm...I'll try to get some advice from A. I recieved my yarn from Tristitia though. Lovely roving in a neutral and a wine colourway. Plus a skein of yarn from Knit Picks for dyeing.

• Craft Swap 3: I just got my partner info (though it sounds like it may change...) and I need to make a panta in like a black/blue colour scheme. This should be a fun/easy/quick swap. Which I need after signing up for three consequtively. Sigh.

Coming soon: My new panta! Death by yarn? How much is too much to spend on fabric?