Peacock SRR OOAK Original Design Hand Knitted Long Scarf w/ Fringe

Recently I saw a new yarn listed in Cool Climates shop on Etsy and fell in love with it. It is a component yarn, which consists of several commercial yarns tied together. Here is how Rachel describes the yarn in her listing:

Made from many commercial yarns tied together. The yarns contain all kinds of fibers including wool, mohair, cotton, synthetics, tencel and more. Some are handspun and hand dyed. Some top name brand yarns including Colinette "Fandango" and another Colinette hand dyed wool (can't remember the line). There is also some Noro "Kureyon." A dramatic colorway of deep emerald, spruce, green, teal, turquoise, violet, and some lighter blues and greens.

This yarn is very similar to Prism's "Wild Stuff" and "Cool Stuff" yarns. 


I grabbed a set of size 19 knitting needles (they're HUGE) and started knitting. I didn't use a pattern, I just went with my intuition and cast on a certain number of stitches and then just used a simple stockinette stitch until the scarf was the length I wanted. I then found some yarns in similar colors in my yarn stash and used those to make the fringe.

I debated on whether or not to bling this scarf up a bit more by attaching fringe all along the scarf but decided the yarn was so spectacular that it didn't need any special stitches or special bling to make it look incredible.

The scarf ended up being 6 feet 4 inches in length with 9 inches of fringe on each end for a total of 7 feet 10 inches in length.

Here is the finished Peacock scarf.

You can wear this scarf so many different ways. Put the scarf on "backwards" against the front of your neck and flip each end over the opposite shoulder and bring back around to the front.

Or

Or, simply drape the scarf around your shoulders. You need to be really tall for this one because it will probably be halfway down your legs if you aren't!

Or, fold the scarf in half, drape it around your neck and pull the ends through the loop.

There are so many different ways to wear this scarf. Use your imagination and your fashion savvy to come up with all kinds of different ways of wearing this incredible piece of fiber art. 

Proud as a Peacock, that's how you'll feel when wearing this gorgeous fashion accessory!

For sale in our ArtFire store.

Valentine Sale in the ArtFire Store

To celebrate Valentine's Day I am offering 14% off selected sections of the ArtFire store. Basically it is everything except spinning, knitting and felting supplies. Handmade scarves, yarns, fibers, etc. are all fair game.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 14.00 % On Select Studio Categories

Use Coupon Code:

BEMINE

during checkout.

Handmade Dolls

Wordless Wednesday - At least somebody enjoys the snow

Modified & Improved Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer

A couple of months ago I created a long skinny extreme fringe scarf using some wool and silk yarn and a skein of tailspun yarn for the fringe. Normally these scarves sell very quickly but this one has sat in the store with lots of views but no buyer. I didn't know if it was the color of the scarf or the design that was the problem. This was the only scarf with this particular design so I thought perhaps that was the issue.

The scarf portion was "limper" than I wanted it to be. I wanted the scarf to be fluid and drape well but it was too fluid for my taste, at least for these scarves. Last weekend we went shopping in Colorado Springs and ended up at Hobby Lobby since it is next door to Office Depot. Ribbon just happened to be 50% off so of course I couldn't pass up a SALE, especially on something that I use all the time. I selected a variety of ribbons in rust/copper/maroon/burgundy in a couple of widths. I chose a couple of the colors that best matched my Spiced Curry scarf and wove ribbons through three rows of the scarf. While I was doing this, I didn't pull the ribbon all the way through the scarf at first. When I looked down on the table and saw the scarf bunched up I realized it would look awesome ruched into a neck warmer!

Here is how the scarf looked originally

And here is how the scarf looks after putting the ribbon in it

A huge improvement, in my opinion.

And here is how the scarf looks ruched into a neck warmer

Now I absolutely adore this scarf/neck warmer! I'm still playing with ideas on what to do with all that ribbon when the scarf is ruched into a neck warmer. But overall I think the change is so much nicer than the original design, and so much more versatile, too! You can wear it ruched into a neck warmer, long and straight, wrapped around your neck a couple of times, folded in half and the ends pulled through the fold; your imagination is the limit to the number of ways you can wear this gorgeous scarf. And I love the rich colors, too. Let me know what you think of the modified and improved Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer!

This scarf is available in my ArtFire store: Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer

Foster Kittens Update - Mickey was Adopted!!

Good news! Mickey, one of our last foster kittens, got adopted yesterday! I don't know who adopted him but I'm hoping it was a family with a couple of kids who will play and play and play with him. Way to go Mickey! I really wanted to adopt Mickey but DH said we didn't "need" another cat. Then when the time came to take Mickey back to the shelter, DH had also fallen in love with him so he said if Mick wasn't adopted in two weeks we'd go get him and adopt him. The two weeks was up today. Just in the nick of time...

Reflecting on a Llama Legend

Okay, so Midnight Hour probably isn't a legend in the rest of the world but in our world he was quite the man! I have been thinking over the past few days since Midnight passed away, trying to remember all of his offspring and who has them now. We only used him as a stud 9 times and got 6 females and 3 males. Only one of those males is still intact, the other two have been gelded. All of his daughters have been sold - leaving us with only one male out of Midnight Hour, Kemui Yama. Kemui has already started following in his sire's footsteps in the show ring. He took first place in his class, Grand Champion in his Division and Reserve Best in Show the first time we showed him.

So, a walk down memory lane - Midnight Hour's offspring:

Midnight Kachina

Mustang Sally

Midnight Rhapsody

 

Caballero Rojo (Red)

 

Gypsy Rose

Midnight's Amazing Grace

Midnight Moonbeam

 

Midnight's Kemui Yama

RIP Stage Stop Midnight Hour - A True Champion

I just received news that one of our former llamas, Stage Stop Midnight Hour, lost his battle today with cancer. We sold Midnight Hour about a year and a half ago to some very wonderful new llama owners who fell in love with Midnight. It was a really tough decision to sell him but we had retained several of his daughters and one of his sons so we felt like we could let him go to a good home since we still had those bloodlines in our herd.

We purchased Midnight Hour from Stage Stop Llamas when he was only a couple of weeks old in July 1997. We had decided we didn't "need" any more male llamas (we already had two) but Jim fell in love with Midnight Hour and we made the decision to purchase him. We have never regretted our decision. He was an amazing animal.

During his show ring career, Midnight did very well:

• ALSA Recognition of Merit at Halter
• 2000 & 1999 Grand National Top Ten Finish
• Grand Champion 1999 NWSS & 
• Grand Champion 1999 LOCC Spring Show
• Reserve Grand Champion 2000 NWSS
• 1st place 2000 LOCC Spring Show
• 1st place 2000 Laramie County Fair
• 1st place 2000 LOCC Fall Show

We made the decision to retire Midnight Hour from the show ring after the 2000 show season and he sired some beautiful crias for us and other llama owners. He only sired a couple of males and we own the only intact male from Midnight Hour, Kemui Yama. Kemui is following in his sire's footsteps in the show ring.

Rest In Peace Midnight Hour - you will be missed.

Catching Up

I haven't done much blogging lately, mainly because I have been so busy with so many other things I just haven't had time!

Update on our latest foster kittens - Mack and Mickey - Mack went to the vet for his neuter surgery last Thursday and was adopted on Friday! GO Mack! Mickey was schedule to go to the vet for his surgery on the same day but a few days before the surgery was scheduled he started vomiting at night, had loose stools, was sneezing and his left eye was watering. We made the decision to hold off on his surgery to allow him to get better first. On Monday the shelter called and asked if he was good to go and wanted a current weight on him. I weighed him and discovered he had lost 1.5 ounces in a week! I know that doesn't seem like much but when we're talking about a kitten under 3 pounds, that's a lot of weight - it worked out to over 3% of his body weight. I thought back to any changes we had made recently and remembered that I had started to add the kitten food that they feed at the shelter and thought that perhaps he was allergic to it. So, we removed that food from his diet and he hasn't vomited since then, his stool has firmed up and he is no longer sneezing. His eye is still runny but we're treating it now with eye drops. He also gained back all the weight he had lost and is far more active than he was when he wasn't feeling well.

I have been very busy crocheting new creations. I revised my Mermaid extreme fringe scarf and added additional tailspun yarn fringe on the ends to "beef" it up a bit. It then sold right away.

I also sold the Wild Flowers scarf that I recently created - this scarf was a variation of the basic extreme fringe scarf that I've been making. I was able to get two skeins of the tailspun yarn and was able to make a long (over 6 feet) scarf and put the fringe on all of both sides, creating a very full and very vibrant look! This scarf sold immediately.

I had yarn left over after making the Wild Flowers extreme fringe scarf so I decided to make a cowl out of these same yarns. Here is Wild Flowers Cowl - available in my ArtFire store.

And, I also finished a work in progress - Cottage Rose - a hand knitted triangle shawl/scarf made from hand painted wool yarns. Cottage Rose is also available in the ArtFire store.

So, you can see that I really haven't been slacking off, I truly have been extremely busy lately! Now it is time to take a break from creating and start working on getting all my paperwork organized to prepare our taxes. I always dread this time of year because I am usually so disorganized but this past year I did a much better job of sorting, logging and filing my paperwork so it shouldn't take me nearly as long to get it all done this year. I might even actually have our taxes prepared before April 15th for a change!

Wordless Wednesday - Wild Flowers

Start the new year right with a holiday sale!

One of the things I started doing more in 2010 was knitting and crocheting. I bought numerous skeins of handspun art yarn from other fiber artists for my yarn stash and the designed scarves, etc. to showcase those yarns. I've posted most of the already in this blog but I'm going to share a few photos of my favorite pieces from this year.

I found a skein of handspun tailspun yarn from JazzTurtle on Etsy and immediately envisioned a long skinny boa type scarf using that yarn as fringe. I handspun merino wool roving into yarn to create the "canvas" for the fringe and created "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". This scarf sold immediately.

I created several more scarves similar to this one. Two have sold and two are still available in my ArtFire store. Still available are "Spiced Curry" if you like warm colors.

And if you prefer cool colors, there's "Mermaid" - also in the ArtFire Store.

I bought a fabulous skein of handspun art yarn called "Chinese Lantern" from Cool Climates on Etsy, then designed and created this gorgeous long scarf called "Chinese Lantern". This scarf is available in the ArtFire store.

And another hand knitted scarf designed and created using handspun art yarn from Cool Climates - "Mums The Word" - also available in the ArtFire Store.

So, to start the new year out right, I'm offering a 10% discount to the first 5 purchases from my ArtFire store of any of these scarves or any other scarve or handmade accessories in the "Handmade Accessories" section of the ArtFire store. Use coupon code HOLIDAY10OFF at checkout.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 10.00 % On Select Studio Categories

Use Coupon Code:

HOLIDAY10OFF

during checkout.

Steampunk

Happy New Year everyone!

I didn't get a chance to do another post today looking back on 2010. I'll try to get to that in the next day or two. Today was a busy day that flew by. I cannot believe 2010 is over already!

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year filled with many blessings!

Happy New Year - Reflecting on 2010 - Foster Kittens

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..... ll . .`•.¸¸ HAPPƔ ƝƐW YEAR
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...._ll_♥ .¸¸★2011

 Where has 2010 gone to? It seems we just celebrated Christmas 2009 not that long ago.

Looking back on 2010:

We fostered 15 kittens from the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter - that is a record for us! We were blessed with some adorable kittens this year. First (in February) were Thelma & Louise (rescued from the helipad in Victor) who had new homes even before we took them back to the shelter in late April, followed shortly thereafter by the nekked as a jay bird bottle fed kitten, Jellybean (found in a trash can at a gas station). Then came Barbie and Kenny and a week later their sister Krissy (all rescued from a trailer park in Woodland Park - Krissy was found almost dead in a trash can). Immediately after Jellybean, Barbie, Ken & Krissy went back to the shelter in July we got Magpie & Raven (found outside at the Children's ARK in Ute Pass - Magpie was a "special needs" kitten). In August we got Black Jack, Blackberry, Inky (who we called Blueberry or "Boo") and Soot (who we called Ace of Spaced or "Ace") all slender little short haired black Oriental kittens. When I picked Ace and Boo up from the vet's office, it turns out Ace had been switched with Espresso (another black kitten who had been at the vet's for neutering that same day - also from the shelter). We kept Espresso because he needed some socialization work. He went back to the shelter in mid December and I was bereft without kittens in the house! Two days later the shelter called and asked if I could take in two more kittens - of course I could!! So we picked up Mickey and Mack and they are still here. I am in love with Mickey but hubby says we already have enough cats and don't "need" another one. Sigh...it is so hard sometimes to foster these little love bugs and then take them back to the shelter when the time comes!

Tomorrow I'll reflect more on what we did in 2010.

 

Christmas Carolling

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas Filled with Peace, Joy and Love

This is an old photo - it looks like we won't have a white Christmas this year. At least we'll be able to make it over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house!!

Stay warm and safe - enjoy the holiday with family and friends. I'm so happy we have a wood stove to keep us warm!

Etsy Featured on ABC Nightline!