It's the Little Things

This has been a very busy week, for me, the kids and Mike. Tuesday was Seth's end-of-season volleyball party that he volunteered me to bring cupcakes to. Wednesday is his final game, Thursday is a Girl Scout meeting that I'm set to bring snack to, and Friday is Hannah's Halloween class party and Kitty's Birthday party. It's not a ridiculous schedule, but it just seems like a lot of baking this week.

And to top it all off, I'm trying to get my Phat Fiber samples out the door. The batts are made and the samples assembled; all I have to do is tie them up and box them. But I just can't find an hour to do that. Well, actually I should be doing that right now! So this will be a quick post and I'm off to tie and curl ribbon.

The nice little things that have made the week more manageable are: Kitty is walking (not so little!!!), and I got the nicest message from a customer about some hand-spun yarn she bought. Her name is Autumn Summerfield, which I think is one of the best names ever, and she has a beautiful blog dedicated to her passions as an artist (she does EVERYTHING!). She blogged about some hats she made for an upcoming art show, and she used my yarn! I'm so honored.

Here's the hat:

Follow the link to her blog!The top is my handspun, the ear flaps are three strands of commercial yarn held together. Just lovely! Thank you so much Autumn for letting me know about this.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Adventures in Yarn Design

I decided to make Hannah a vest for her school picture day. Of course, being me, I decided this two weeks before the big day AND felt I needed to design it from scratch with a coordinating hand spun yarn for the edging. Oh, and take pictures along the way for the blog and a publish-able pattern.

So . . . Hannah looked very cute this past Wednesday in her dress from Tea and leggings (sans vest!). Oh well. Sometimes life forces me to be realistic (see this post from Wednesday). And she wasn't too disappointed, in fact, I think she was a little relieved.

But she will get a vest soon, designed from scratch, with a handspun yarn accent, that I will make her wear at least once to school.

Here's what I've been up to:

These are the colors I chose to stripe for her yarn. The gold will be a thin layer over the other colors to create continuity through the stripes.

This is the final batt, ready for pulling.

Some of the pulled roving and the last batt to go.

The vest, part-way finished, laying on the pulled roving.

I plan to have a tutorial on creating the batts and pulling the roving up next week. There's a tricky little catch in the way I pulled the roving!!

And the pattern will be written up and for sale soon.

As of today, the yarn is half-spun, the vest is separated for front and back and my laundry room is almost finished!

Gotta keep all those plates spinning!!

Have a fantastic Fiber Arts Friday, Creative Friday and Crafty Friday! Follow the links to get a full-dose of artsy goodness!