Felted Scarf

My very first post on this blog was about knitting my scarf in San Juan. Well I'm home now and it's taken me eons to knit that thing. The yarn, which is TINY mohair and silk, just doesn't knit up at a pace that made me feel like I was ever getting anywhere. But I did finally finish it today--even knitted in a few little glass beads at the end--and have already felted it, which was what I've been waiting for all this time. The thing about that tiny yarn is that when it's felted, it is very light and soft, unlike the thick fabric resulting from using regular wool yarn. It's definitely more expensive at over $14.00 a pop, and like I said It takes forever!
Hours and hours of knitting at every moment I could grab.

Well enough about that. Here's the thing after knitting and before felting:

When I was finished knitting, I scrubbed it in a sink full of hot soapy (baby shampoo) water, agitating (something John thinks I'm good at, by the way) and then dipping the knitted material into icy water, back and forth, until I was satisfied with the amount of felting. I did want to see some of the stitching so I didn't keep going until it was all even. I kind of like the texture when there's a little of the knit left, but it's still felted.

So now it needs to finish drying and then gone over lightly with an iron to make it so it doesn't "roll," and it's done.

It's always easier to just read the book...

I'm finally getting acquainted with my camera after several years--I actually sat down and read the little book it comes with. If you are trying hard to get photos of your stuff and it's small and the outcome is blurry and less than impressive, read your book. In my case I fixed the problem by learning how to shut off the flash when I want, and was ecstatic to learn there IS a special setting to use by touching the little flower icon that means "macro" setting. I can get close up without blur and in natural light, too. It still takes a little experimentation but it's much more fun to know I'm doing it right. Any decent photographer could have told me that but I'm doing all this on my own which is the case with a lot of non-photographer folks trying to just trying to sell their stuff. Look Ma, the moon isn't blurry anymore!

Little Puppy Girl

Took Sweet Jules to the vet this morning to check on her runny eye. Luckily it's nothing serious, just dog conjunctivitis (spelling??) that can be cured with a little antibiotic salve over a few days. She's such a good dog at the vet and is very brave. John and I are so glad to have her.

Losin' One's Gall and the Haunted Doll House.

My daughter had gall bladder surgery this morning, and I'm so glad everything went smoothly. It's amazing to me that it is an outpatient surgery done through a few tiny incisions instead of one long huge one. And soon she'll be able to eat anything she wants again. Love her so much.


I was happy to get the haunted dollhouse down from the attic and clean it up a little, using it as a photo backdrop  for some items I posted on Etsy. Then I took a few photos of it. They turned out a little blurry. We've had rain off and on for days now and hardly any sunshine, so the lighting is off. I liked how the shadows turned out, but not the blur. Taking the photos in somewhat natural light is much better than a stark flash. I 'm learning. I made a lot of the stuff you see because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted and polymer is such a versatile medium. The bedside table in the first photo I covered with odd scraps of fabric, used a clear marble for the crystal ball, made the hat out of thin black material, and printed out tiny versions of vintage Halloween cards I found on the internet. The "Magic For Dummies" book I did the same way and added blank pages. The two pictures on the wall I framed with black polymer oval frames. There's a tiny black kitten on the bed that I made.

 The rubber ducky is polymer, sitting on a polymer stool.

The spider cake I made from polymer as well as the skull mug and the piece of cake on the plate. I wove an I -cord and coiled it to make the chair seat cover.

I didn't post the living room picture because it was too blurry, but I sculpted the bust on the mantle and made the big coffee table book. There's a polymer witch stirring brew from her sculpted black pot and a polymer "enamel" coffee pot on the stove.

First Thing on Etsy

So I just put moons on Etsy, limited but at least they're out there now. Other things will come along soon as I get decent photos and descriptions. It just takes time to do it.

Haunted House

This is the front door of the little haunted doll house I made last year. The running trick-or-treater is made of polymer with a tiny bought candy bag. I had bought a simple dollhouse kit and put it together, painted it, and then furnished it with a lot of stuff I made plus some found stuff, and I liked the way it turned out.

Man Oh Man...

I used to think that to sell things on Etsy I would make things and put them on there and that would be that. Oh no, that's not how it works. At all. Yes, you do that, but there's the legalities to go through, the paperwork and government fees and numbers and figuring postage and taking photos and getting your packaging together and cards and labels made and on and on. But it's all worth it, of course, if you really want to do it.
So I've got most everything done except for a few details and then--oh yeah, I've got to make the things to sell. I almost forgot about that. Lucky for me I already have some goodies made to start up with. All these things I visualize, all the ideas I have, are on a growing list. And making them is the part where I have the fun. The gravy over all the heap of things to be done.
And next week I'll be ready--stay tuned.

new moons

I made three little moons today, two white and one orange. It takes a few days to finish each one, so I'm trying to get some ready for Oct. 1. Each one looks a little different, and I have so many varieties planned--the list grows as an idea comes into my head. When I'm ready to open the store I'll take a picture of a bunch of them together. They look cute from every angle! It's fun to make something I like.

Going Home...

I'm so ready to go home. This has been a great little vacation, but I keep thinking of all I need/want to do at home--get Jules from Puptown, get a business license, do a mountain of laundry (ugh) and make a variety of my little moons for the Etsy store when it opens. I'll also be getting my haunted dollhouse down from the attic to act as a spooky backdrop for the little Halloween ornaments I made. So I'll put up some photos here on my blog when I do.

Water Spout

I'm not going to make it a habit to post something here that I just posted on Facebook, but this time is an exception, just because.
This afternoon we saw a water spout moving to the north over the Atlantic, thin and graceful. We could easily see the water being tossed up at the surface and watched it for a long long time before it faded. Earlier before the rain we spotted little sand crabs emerging from the dark, porous rocks of the sea wall and stuff their strange faces with little dirt things.
I might have gotten a picture of these things if my batteries weren't used up from yesterday. Darn!

Island Muse

Love this place. We'll be returning home to Charlotte on Tuesday, and I'm missing our dog Jules and our little old house and eager to continue with getting my online store ready, but I do love this place. The last two days we've toured the historical part of Old San Juan, met some great people, eaten some yummy food (the mufongo at Barrachina for example!) and caught up on a few naps. Today while John is at a meeting, I'm knitting on what will be one of my felted scarves that will be included in my Etsy shop. While I was holding it up I noticed that the green color of yarn matched the palm trees off the hotel balcony exactly.
So I'm going to call this particular color Palm Green. The yarn is tiny and light--mohair and silk--knitted in fairly large stitches so that when it's long enough I can hand felt it and it will still be long enough to wrap cozily around the neck. The thing that will be really nice about these scarves is that because of this particular combination of natural fibers, they will be so light and soft that they will not weigh you down but will still be warm. I can't wait to wear one myself! I'll have other colors too. They take awhile to knit because of the tiny yarn, but I think it's worth it.
That's the thing about the items I'm going to sell--they will all be things I make myself, all things I would want myself, so I'll put a lot of thought and love into each one.
Hope to open My Etsy ShopOctober 1--stay tuned!
Thanks for visiting~

Leann