so...what do you think???

Here they are...pictures of the purse I made. So far so good.

This first one is the purse on the couch (Obviously :) )

This one is a picture of the straps...

This one is up close. ...

and.....

This one is a lame attempt at using my hand as relative size :)

Let me know what you think....should I sell them on etsy???

I just made a purse out of almost completely up-cycled materials. Trash to treasure. I love that.

There are a few things I enjoy doing so much that they easily land in the top ten in my never-ending list of hobbies. One is bargain shopping. To me it is a sport. I'm not talking just any bargain shopping here. No. Anything less than 75% off doesn't even get a glance. I have it down to a science, and while I don't do it all the time, I really enjoy doing it when given the opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I will certainly buy something if it is 25% off, and I've been known to pay full price on occasion, but for me the thrill of finding something perfectly usable for 95% off just blows my mind. Also, I have worked at retail stores where the product which has been marked down that far has to be destroyed and throw away if it doesn't sell. It feels good to rescue something from the landfill.

Now, I have honed down the process and given a few rules to myself over the years:

1. The item in question has to be something I will use or can give to a friend. If I won't use it, it's a waste anyway.

2. The quantity of the item(s) purchased can't create a SELE (pronounced seal). Seals are great animals, but they don't belong in the house. And, if you haven't already guessed, this seal (SELE) is an acronym for Stash Exceeds Life Expectancy. I have noticed this phenomena creeping away from my yarn stash and into other stashes around my house, and it is incredibly important that bargain shopping does not create more!

3. The price of the items purchased must be as low as possible, especially if I'm on a bargain shopping only expedition. We're talking pennies here...lower than a dollar is good, lower than fifty cents even better.

There are more, but I have a feeling this is going to be a lengthy post so I will end here for the sake of brevity. Using the above rules, I recently purchased several satin shirts in a women's XXL at JC Penney's.

Now, another hobby that rates in the top ten is obviously fiber arts. I love anything that involves yarn. Knitting, Crochet and most recently weaving, tablet-weaving specifically are among my loves. With tablet-weaving come some pretty spectacular lengths of very strong material that are perfect for purse straps. I made two in the past few days (See where I'm going with this).

Ok, satin shirts, handwoven purse straps....what else huh?

Well, you can probably gather from my love of bargains and crafting that I love to shop at Goodwill...really, it is a gold mine!

Yep, you got it...several 100% wool sweaters. Yes, they got a good ride in the washing machine. With soap. and agitation. and wool. comes....gorgeous felted fabric that's perfect for a purse! So, I dusted off the sewing machine (it has been too long!) and started in. Ta-dah!

The only problem is, every time I get into a craft project like this, especially one that blends a lot of my interests together, I want to keep doing it and I don't want to go to work the next day! What do you think? Etsy them? Or no? Let me know. :)

warp. weft. weave.

Well, apparently it has been a month since I sat down to write. A whole month. This is getting a bit ridiculous. I have found that part of the reason I'm not writing more often is I have been telling myself that a photo in every post is necessary prior to posting. From now on, I will write the post and then add a pic later if the mood strikes me...that means more content and less procrastinating (I hope :) ).

My fiber project du jour is....tablet weaving. I have always wanted to make and sell purses, but haven't been able to create a design I really like. In other words, would carry myself. It is really important to me to looooove what I'm creating, and I feel that's a great way to show it. I had experimented a bit with tablet weaving in high school, but had long since abandoned it for other pursuits. I had recently been thinking about how I could create the straps for my bags and voila! What better strap could there be than one woven out of 36 strands or more of yarn! Talk about strength! My father put together a freestanding loom last night for me to create the tension...tying the warp threads around my waist was killing my back. At the moment I have quite a pile of warp threads ready to be threaded onto cards, and soon I will be weaving! Can't wait to show you the results!

Hope everyone is doing well - more to come...
wonderful = warp. weft. weave. - jj

waterfalls. cameras. socks

I've decided my bf doesn't like knitting. It is a little depressing. Ok, it's a lot depressing.

I was hoping it would be a happily ever after, he will love to watch me knit, hear about my knitting, want to learn how to knit, knit his own items, lovingly wear the gorgeous handmade socks I made him, and totally understand why our house is insulated with yarn. Um, no. He doesn't really watch me knit, in fact doesn't seem to notice that I am managing to wrestle a porcupine and produce fabric from it. He tunes out the knitting talk, only occasionally noticing that I have somehow managed to change the subject from world politics to merino, or cricket to alpaca. He refuses to learn how to knit, saying (and I quote) "I already know how to knit, I just haven't done it before". I am afraid that he will not be knitting his own items anytime soon and absolutely refuses to wear handmade socks on the grounds that he wouldn't want to hurt them and would prob want to frame them instead (that was a stab to the heart I have to say!). To really clinch the deal, he says, "Well it is 36-40 degrees C outside most of them time where we will live so we don't need insulation!" Alas, my poor heart! My bf doesn't appreciate wool!

Now, there is a happy ending to all of this, and I still feel that I could easily marry and be very happy with this man despite his apparent dislike of all things fiber. The main reason for this is that he is a Photographer. With a capital P. He is intensely interested in all things camera, just as I am interested in all things fiber. We have - ta-dah - found common ground here. During our recent trip, while hiking, we discovered quite quickly in fact, that while he was out running off the track to take amazing photos of all things nature (he really is quite good) I could take my low resolution snapshots, and then quite contentedly, hang out working a few rounds on a sock. Brilliant! I had quite a few comments from fellow hikers that ran the lines of "is the rainforest so boring that you have to bring your knitting?" and my quick response was to say, no I can look at the rainforest, knit at the same time, and yes I have been in this one spot for a while"...calmly pointing at my bf (I will call him D from now on) who happened to be about 5 metres off the track taking pictures like they were going out of style. "Ohhhhhh a photographer" they would say, once more admiring the socks, then admiring his camera and then heading on their way.

In this manner I managed to finish just one pair of socks during the trip (they were only worked a few rounds at a time and I have to admit that the rainforest was quite beautiful and yes I did spend quite a bit of time enjoying it on its own). The socks have been given to D's grandmother who declared them a perfect fit and who can really enjoy them, given that she is a crocheter herself.

That said, here is one of the many "socks pics" I took during the trip (a la Stephanie). There are many cool pics to come over the next few weeks...stay tuned!

I believe this is Dangar Falls in NSW (but don't quote me yet), I will double check and get back to you... (Isn't it gorgeous...the whole country is like this!!!!! Just breathtaking...

There is a really good reason that I haven't blogged for nearly 2 months. I'm in Australia. Yes, Australia. As in 11,000+ miles from home. I haven't mentioned the trip before now because I wasn't sure if it was going to work out, but it has and I've been here for over 3 weeks. My boyfriend lives near Perth on the west coast and we have been travelling all over the place. I left at the end of January and I will be back the beginning of March. Now, that said, I think it is about time that I post a few pictures.This is me outside my house in NH, USA pre-trip. Note the winter jacket, and tons of snow...granted it is a snow bank, but still...lots of snow.
This is me a couple weeks ago in the Daintree rainforest north of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia...note the tanktop, and lack of a winter jacket. The cool looking plants behind me are mangroves...if you haven't heard of them I highly suggest checking Wikipedia for them...they are really fascinating. They rely on the tide for survival and there is an entire salt water ecosystem in their roots. We have done a ton of travelling since and I will be putting up a whole bunch of stuff when I get back to the US next week...while I get over jetlag. See you then!

PS - Yes, I have been knitting. Not much, but I have made a pair of socks that I was supposed to finish for my bf's grandmother about, oh, last October (see previous post). I was trying to find the perfect yarn (I'm sure you understand) and I restarted them about six times (slight exageration, but close to it). I finally settled on a gorgeous colorway from Lorna's Laces...I have pics and will post them soon :) She has tried them on and announced them to be a perfect fit (phew!).

Looking Back. Looking Forward. Oh, and 27 forever.

Whew! Christmas is over, and the year is coming to an end. It seems like this year has passed in the blink of an eye. I've moved, changed jobs, started a blog, and fallen in love (more on that later perhaps). I turned 27 in November, and while it is not one of those big milestone birthdays...it is significant because from now on every birthday is going to be 27 (with experience of course)...for example...30 will be 27 with 3 years experience...35 will be 27 with 8 years experience, etc. I have always been ok with turning a new year older and I have full intentions of keeping it that way :D .

As for the new year, I of course have some resolutions. I have been sitting on the whole idea of blossoming my etsy store...I've put on an item here and there, but haven't been completely serious. I am considering this post to be my public announcement of seriousness about selling some of the things I design. Which means more time spent designing, which I love. You heard it here first!

I also have plans for this blog. I would like to post at least twice a week in 2008 (with a little break in Feb., more on that later perhaps). I have really missed working on creative pursuits recently and I think it is high time I buckle down and begin pursuing.

On an FO note - My So-Called Scarf was finished so long ago that is almost so-called Worn-Out! (Hehe not really, but I had someone take a picture of me wearing it almost a month ago and it has been so crazy around here I still haven't posted it.) Yes, I am posting a picture of myself!!! Yikes! :D . Note how long ago it was...no winter jacket!!!, just a fleece!

On the needles: A tank top in bamboo, and mittens, lots of mittens...yes, that's right, I have not finished Christmas knitting! Hmmm, next year, I think I will give everyone needles, yarn and a few hours of my time.

Happy New Year everyone! Stay safe, and I hope all of your resolutions come true - especially the fibery ones :D .

PS - NH knitting mama - I have promised myself that I would budget enough to get one of your lovely skeins from etsy in January - I have been eyeing them and I can't wait to order one!

wonderful = looking back. looking forward. oh, and 27 forever. - jj

snow. mittens. and so-called scarves.

Hi everyone! Well, it has happened. The snow that is. Yes, it was only enough to make the ground white and only slippery enough for my car to end up facing the wrong way in the wrong lane (thank goodness it was in the parking lot and not on the road!!!) on the way to work the other morning, but it is here.

So - in honor of the cold weather I've been doing a little knitting to keep myself warm. I'm still working on dishcloths and only have a couple more pair of children's mittens to knit...so I felt good about doing something to keep my own hands warm :) First, I have had six balls of Australian alpaca sitting in my studio - screaming that they wanted to be mittens -. I needed them to be extra thick, extra warm soooo....I googled chunky weight mittens (The yarn is 8 ply - dk weight), I held one strand of grey and one strand of burgundy together and ta-dah! new mittens.





I have been wearing them every day and I love them! Only problem, though my hands are cozy, my neck is always cold! So, even though I had sworn off scarf knitting about two years ago, I decided that it was high time I got a warm neck! I began surfing immediately , determined to find the perfect scarf! I settled on "My So-Called Scarf" because the pattern was something completely different to me - you know - one of those things that you see on people on the street and go up to them to have a chat to see if they might possibly be able to help you figure out how their garment was made. It is pretty slow going as each stitch takes almost twice as much time as a regular stitch, but the pattern is completely worth it! Check it out, I started it yesterday and am about a foot into it...it is made out of two strands of light worsted held together in a dark plum and a color that is halfway through tan and grey. PS - note to Bells - I had the link to the dishcloth pattern saved in my favorites and now I can't find it! I'm going to do a little searching and put it in my next post - I don't want to just type it out without the permission of the designer - Thanks :) - Jenn

wonderful = snow. mittens. and so-called scarves.