Holiday Sale in the ArtFire store - and Store closing for the holiday season

I will be closing the Artfire store on November 24th and will reopen some time in January 2015. I will be spending December recovering from surgery and enjoying time with family and friends.

So, if there is something in the store that you've had your eye on, now is the time to snap it up! And, to sweeten the deal, I'm offering a 20% discount off everything in the store if you use coupon code HAPPY HOLIDAY20off!!!

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 20% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

HAPPYHOLIDAY20OFF

during checkout.

Childrens Products

Some of the recently added items are:

Deep Sea Hand Crocheted Cardigan Sweater Vest

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10588923

A Fabulous Fall Fiber Combo

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10589187

Pastel Rainbow Hand Knitted Capelet in uber soft Optim Merino

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10547011

And a matching cowl in the same uber soft Optim Merino yarn

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10547004

How about an Outlander inspired cowl? Hand knitted

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10429858

Or, for spinning, felting or other fiber art, how about some incredibly luxurious fiber?

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10489515

All sales will help to pay for my upcoming medical bills.

Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!

Another Original Design/Creation!

While looking for some yarns and threads in the stash in my office recently, I discovered a box of Interlacement's Big Loop Mohair Boucle yarns. The skeins are about 8 oz and the yarn is so soft and lustrous. I immediately grabbed a skein of the "Blues" colorway yarn and started casting on stitches. I was going to make a knitted scarf with it but I decided that this yarn would make a fabulous shawl because of the color, texture, softness and luster. Plus, knitting on big needles makes the fabric very stretchy. I knitted about a foot and then started increasing until I had triple the number of stitches on the needles. I knitted enough so that this wide section would completely hug your shoulders. Then I decreased at the other end, duplicating the other side. These narrower ends can then be tied together, looped over one another or fastened with a shawl pin as shown in one of the photos.

This shawl/wrap is my own design, created without the use of a pattern, making it a Split Rock Ranch Original Design One-of-a-Kind Creation!

Here is the shawl worn draped over the shoulders with the front flaps overlapped and secured with a shawl pin (not included - shown for demonstration only.)

 

Here is the back of the shawl when worn in this fashion.

 

You could also fold one side of the shawl over to form a "collar" and then loop the end flaps over one another.

Here is how the back looks when worn in this fashion. You can't see it very well, but the folded down portion forms a cute little "collar" and really helps to keep your neck warm!

Or pull the end flaps through a shawl or scarf ring to secure them at the front.

This could even be worn as a cowl/scarf by folding the center section in half and securing it around your neck. Or, wear it as a hood/scarf/neckwarmer by folding over a portion of the center section and then place it on your head and wrap the ends around your neck.Use your imagination with this versatile piece!

Here is a close up of the stitch and yarn detail - I just love the colors, luster and textures!

This scarf is available in my ArtFire store here.

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.

Autumn Splendor Long Skiny Boa Scarf Finished and Listed!

Remember my Somewhere Over The Rainbow long skinny scarf from a couple of months ago? That scarf sold right away after I listed it (actually it was spoken for even before I had a chance to list it - I shared photos of it on our Facebook page.) After making that scarf I started a search for more extreme tailspun yarns and finally located someone who makes these fabulous yarns. I bought several more skeins of tailspun yarn and started going through my fiber stash in search of the perfect coordinating fibers to handspin yarn to make the scarf "canvas" to showcase the tailspun yarns.

Yesterday I finally finished the second scarf in this series - called "Autumn Splendor". I almost didn't buy this skein of tailspun yarn but am really glad I did because I found the perfect coordinating merino roving in my fiber stash.

This long skinny boa type scarf is hand crocheted out of handspun wool. Then the tailspun yarn was painstakingly crocheted along one edge to create the gorgeous fringe of the scarf. The tailspun yarn is fiber art at its finest and is the highlight of this stunning piece of fiber art.

Sure to garner lots of positive comments and compliments when worn!

8 feet 3 inches (99 inches) long
1-1/2 inches wide
fringe is from 4 to 7 inches in length with the average being 5 inches long.

Extremely versatile, you can wear this piece so many different ways. Simply drape it around your neck or wrap it around a couple of times to create a full cowl with trailing ends. Or use it as a belt. Your imagination can provide many ways to wear this fine piece of fiber art.

Available for sale in our ArtFire store!  Here is the direct link to Autumn Splendor.

Herb Garden Shawl is DONE!

I finished the Herb Garden shawl yesterday. It was snowy off and on all day yesterday so I didn't get good photos taken until this morning. The photos still aren't that great but they'll work. It was windy out this morning so I took the photos on the back deck where it is a little better protected from the wind. I didn't want those lovely locks getting blown around! I'm so happy with how this shawl turned out.

While waiting for the tailspun yarns to arrive, I found a batt in my stash that I thought would coordinate perfectly with the Herb Garden tailspun yarn so I started spinning it. I ended up with enough yardage to make the shawl, with some left over. I hand knitted the shawl using a pattern from Namaste Farms on yarnmarket.com. I had envisioned a triangle shawl/scarf to use as a "canvas" to showcase the tailspun yarns and was so thrilled when Natalie posted the pattern on Yarnmarket. I then crocheted the tailspun yarn along two sides of the shawl and along the back of the shawl, just below the neckline. I had just enough yarn left over to do a small tassel in the center back of the shawl.

This shawl is now available for sale in my ArtFire store! I will also take payments or do a layaway plan if you want the scarf but don't have the funds right now.

I need to get some nice shawl pins or picks. The bamboo chopstick doesn't quite cut it!

Hand Crocheted Wool and Silk Capelet - Fireside

This beautiful little capelet, shoulder warmer, collar, mini-shawl is hand crocheted using a gorgous high luster, ultra-soft hand-dyed wool and silk singles yarn. It fastens with a wooden button and can be fastened in a variety of different places along the capelet to fit many different sizes.

The capelet is 9 inches from the neckline to the tip of the scalloped edges. It would be gorgeous worn over a turtleneck shirt or sweater or use as a little shawl over that little black dress. The colors are gorgeous - golds, burgundy, bronze, orange, rust and brown. It would be beautiful worn with cream, gold, burgundy, deep forest green, rust, brown, black or gray.

Dry clean or hand wash in cool water, lay flat to dry. Do not twist or wring.

For sale in my etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21133801