I've Been Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy. I think I have ADHD project syndrome. I can't be happy with just one project in the works. I need to have several going at once. I currently have a rug project in the works. I'm using some dark brown alpaca roving that is far too coarse to be used for next to the skin wear and I think even too coarse for outerwear so I am hand spinning it and crocheting it into a large round rug. I'm also hand processing some dark brown Icelandic wool and spinning that to incorporate into the rug.

I did finish some other projects recently though.

Here is a large wrap/shawl that I made using some novelty commercial yarns along with my handspun yarns. I love the colors and textures to this wrap/shawl! I called this piece "Autumn Splendor"

 

Autumn Splendor is available for sale in my ArtFire store.

I have also been doing a lot of spinning. I finally finished spinning the suri alpaca and Polwarth rovings from the Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along (I know...I'm way behind!)

Here are those yarns along with some lockspun yarns that consist of suri alpaca locks and yearling mohair locks, plied with metallic yarns.

I haven't listed all of these yarns yet because I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to sell them or use them in another project. I might just list everything and then whatever is still available in the store when I'm ready to start a new project, I'll pull from inventory and use. I think these yarns coordinate beautifully!

I also completed a custom dye order for someone but I'll do a new post later for those.

Thank you for stopping by!

Wildflower Shawl - My newest handmade creation!

I recently purchased some beautiful hand painted yarn that is a textural delight of 50% silk and 50% rayon spun into a textured boucle-type yarn and dyed in rose, cornflower blue, deep lavender and sage green; the colors remind me of a field of wildflowers blooming in a summer mountain meadow. The yarn is very soft and silky with a beautiful drape to it and incredible luster and shine.

I hand crocheted this shawl using the silk/rayon yarn. I used a butterfly wing shawl pattern so the resulting shawl resembles butterfly wings!

I am including a gorgeous silver toned scarf ring that you can slip the tips of the wings through to secure the shawl around your shoulders.

Here is a close-up of the scarf ring

And here is the back of the shawl

Or, you can wear the shawl "backwards" with the wings crossed behind the neck and secured back in the front, the tip of the shawl is pulled up and looped through the center top part of the shawl and then the wings are secured with the scarf ring to form a cozy cowl.

Or, wear the shawl turned 90 degrees so that the back is worn on one shoulder and the wings are secured at the other shoulder with a scarf ring or shawl pin.

Use your imagination to create lots of different looks with one gorgeous shawl!

The Wildflower Shawl is available for sale in our ArtFire store. Valentine's Day is next month and this shawl would be the perfect spring wrap for that special someone in your life!

Or, check out our Handmade Accessories section in the ArtFire store to see what else we have available.

I used the same yarn (50/50 silk/rayon) hand painted in shades of rose, mauve, orchid and tan to make this Old Rose ruffled spiral scarf.

Rocky Mountain Sunrise Shawl

I have had a small pile of yarns sitting here on my desk for weeks now, waiting for me to decide what to do with them. I was drawn to yarns in pinks, fuchsias and oranges for awhile and I collected quite a stash of them from Etsy stores, ebay and other sources. I have them in plastic storage drawers, just waiting for the perfect projects. I rarely find a pattern and then buy yarn for it; I buy yarn I love and then let it tell me what it wants to become.

In this stash was a skein of Be Sweet Magic Ball yarn in the Hot Sundae colorway

The Be Sweet Magic Ball yarn is a collection of yarns tied together (commonly called a component yarn) and is described by Be Sweet this way:

A divine arrangement of hand dyed boucle and brushed mohair yarns tied with knobby, ribbon, and metallic goodies.

I intended to make a long skinny scarf with this skein of yarn. I crocheted a long chain and started crocheting rows. I loved watching the scarf take shape as I went through each section of the magic ball of yarn, enjoying the colors and textures of each different section of yarn. After the skein was all crocheted up, I looked over at my pile of coordinating yarns and decided to just grab a skein of yarn, tie it to the end of the Be Sweet skein and keep on crocheting. I ended up using 13 different skeins of yarn with so many different fibers, colors and textures.

What I created was this incredible shawl that I named "Rocky Mountain Sunrise because the vibrant colors remind me of the vibrant sunrises (and sunsets) that we enjoy here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

This shawl can be worn many different ways. If it hadn't been so cold outside when I did the photo shoot I would have created more looks but I needed to get finished before my fingers froze!

I love the colors and the textures in this shawl!

 

The yarns I used include boucle, brushed, ladder, ribbon, beaded, flag, two-ply and eyelash yarns. The fibers include mohair, baby mohair, merino, wool, silk, rayon, poly and nylon. This shawl is warm, soft and snuggly.

I have listed this shawl in the ArtFire store for sale. I am including free Priority Mail shipping along with delivery confirmation and insurance (to the US only). If you order by Monday, December 19th, you should have this shawl in time for gift giving at Christmas. Here is the listing in the store: Rocky Mountain Sunrise Shawl

And, of course, I want to share with you some photos of the Rocky Mountain Sunrises that inspired the creation of this shawl.

All of these photos were taken from either our front or our back deck without the use of filters or enhancements.

Wordless Wednesday