5.23.2009

adventures in plying

It's about time I posted up pics of my apartment! I still need a few touches here and there, and it's just a little basement apartment, so it's not super impressive....but I put a lot of work into it! So, here it be:

My entry room/craft room. Isn't the yarn storage great? Desk is a bit cluttery, but I've been a spinning machine lately, so yeah.
Another view of the craft desk....along with Blake and I's bookcases. We're big readers. And the painting up above featuring Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor was painted by me, btw. I know, I know. How does someone with so much talent even exist? I ask myself that question every day, my friends. sigh.
I hung those hooks myself! And the Japanese print calendar was a Xmas gift from my mom....I love it. Eventually I want to frame some of the art in it, it's so pretty.
Weird showing you the bathroom, but I think it's so cute. Mind the ugly plunger/tissue box combo. I'm in the process of pretty-ing up some basic around-the-house stuff.
View of my kitchen from the living room. Very small, but it does the trick for Blake and I. The table expands to seat 6, so that's nice. I hung the chrome shelves on the right side myself for more storage...I love them! Again, excuse the dish drainer....just got done washing le dishes.
Living room. I love my white couch (and the little Myoshi sleeping on top of it). I'm still really needing a big piece of art for above the couch. I might get some graphic sort of wall decal from Blik, but who knows. And the chair on the left will eventually not be there, I want the coordiating white loveseat to be there instead. But who knows when that will happen. Side note: check out the sweet new Macbook to the right. Oh yes.

The bedroom is really cute too, but Blake is asleep in there currently, and I don't think he'd like me taking pictures this late at night. Ah well. Once again, it's small, but it stays clean, and it feels like me and Blake. And the colors make me happy. That's all I really care about.

In other news, I'm experimenting with plying my handspun yarn. I made a makeshift lazy kate and now I'm working on a really nice 3-ply with some wool and mohair. We'll see!

The grayish white already spun up on the lazy kate is mohair, and the black and brown is wool. I made the lazy kate with a photo storage box that I have a couple too many of, a hole punch, and some needles I never use (I'm anti-DPN). The little wooden thing is my drop spindle, by the way, which I've begun to spin up the brown wool. I'm determined to get the word out on my Etsy shop and make sure my very best is for sale, dawwwwgs.

Time for bed.

5.19.2009

bigger, better, faster, stronger

So! I finally tossed (and by tossed I mean gave to Blake as a 2nd comp) my USB challenged PC laptop and got a Macbook! It's pretty much the coolest thing I own. So now, I can upload music and photos even better than I did before, so I set up my Etsy shop!!! Here's a little preview of my handspun yarn that I'm selling:
This skein of superfine merino is currently on sale at my Etsy shop! Here's the link, folks: frankenskein.etsy.com. I've only got 5-6 skeins up right now, but I'm spinning more and posting it up every day, and I accept custom requests as well, so be sure to let me know what you're looking for, and I'll do my best!

Now that I've plugged my shop, I'm finally going to share my pics from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! Blake and I really loved it.



This is from a fascinating sheep-shearing demonstronstation....it was interesting to see how chilled out the sheep are when they get sheared...I guess most have been through it quite a bit, and this shearer in particular was really good at what he did.


Alpaca!
I was surprised to see how gentle and nice all the animals were...I thought I'd get snapped at atleast once, but nope! They're all so sweet.

An Angora bunny...yeah, there was a whole lot of cute at this fest.

These sheep (they're called Jacob sheep and I snagged some of their wool to spin up for my store) were Blake and I's favorites. The adult rams had 4 horns! They looked like some kind of crazy fantasy creature. Me likes.

I would highly recommend it to those who haven't been yet. There was an insane abundance of fiber there as well, obviously.

Lots more to come. In the meantime, visit my Etsy shop!

5.08.2009

Now Accepting Donations

My blog posts have been pretty sparse, no? Well, there's a good reason! I've actually accomplished A LOT in the craft department, but my computer is M.I.A. when it comes to uploading things. And after taking it to multiple places, it's official, I need a new laptop.

So, I'm saving to buy a MacBook. Finally. The only problem is, I've got this possible thing happening in August where I might be in Japan for a year, and I need a little startup money. So, in addition to my regular income savings, I was thinking, maybe I should get a second job for all these extra things I have to save for pretty quickly...?

Rewind to last weekend, where I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (amazing!) and bought a drop spindle. Yes. FINALLY. I also got about 8 oz of some beautiful roving, went home, and starting spinning away.

Well, my first skein turned out not too good, as I only got 25 yds out of 4 oz....about an 8th of what it should be at worsted weight. Nevertheless, I was proud and determined to master it. So, I kept spinning, and even went back to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest on Sunday to purchase more roving. Then, on Sunday night, after watching and reading countless tutorials, I got it. It finally clicked what I was doing wrong and how to pre-draft properly and the whole nine yards (pun intended).

So, I've spun up a few VERY nice skeins since then, set the spin in them, and thought; "I have enough yarn, what am I going to do with this?" So, in the next week or two, I'm opening up shop on Etsy and selling my spun items. And, everything I spin will either be from local farms or recycled mill-end rovings (which are still top quality and perfect for handspinners, they just aren't suitable for machine spinning. So, they throw it out unless nice people like me buy it)! So as soon as I get my shop going, I'll let you know and put a little shop widget on here. If you mention my blog, I may even give you a little discount.

So, project "Cil needs extra money to buy a new computer and go to Japan" is solved! I figure, why go back to waitressing part time in addition to my full job when I can sell high-quality spun yarn? Especially since I love it so much. Seriously. If you don't spin already, you should start. It's wonderful.

Well, there's my future business plug for the day. In other news, work has been super slow lately. It's only noon and I feel like I've been here for 19 hours. I bought "Twilight Princess" for the Wii recently, and it's really good. Although I feel like it rips off Okami just a bit (best game EVER). Lately I've been feeling like playing some Final Fantasy. It's been a while.

More to come. Lots of pending excitement that I hope pans out. Stay classy guys.