The Ginko Shawl

I showed you the beautiful yarn I got from the Yarn Chef.  Now, I'd like to show you what I made from it.

The Ginko Shoulderette Shawl.

It was a project of many firsts, for me.  First shawl, first time blocking, first time working with wool.  And this was 100% wool.  I was surprised at how soft and springy it was.  It's just beautiful to use!

I don't have finished photos, but these are from the blocking process.  Oh yeah, it was the first time I tried that, too!

It's amazing how much control you have over the shape of the object.  If I had realized that, I might have started blocking much sooner!  Then again, I haven't exactly knitted much that required it. I might just block everything now!

There are a few flaws where I lost track of where I was in the pattern.  I think I'll keep this one, for that reason.  Mostly.  I'll definitely be giving it another shot in the future.  Keep an eye out for it!

Smart Packaging

I recently - and by recently I mean a month or two ago - purchased some yarn from a local seller on Etsy.  Her shop is called Yarn Chef, and here theme is fantastic!

First of all, she sells exactly what you'd expect: yarn. Katy, the chef herself, has a slogan too - Cooking up beautiful color.  Why the odd mixture of food and yarn?  For that, you should really read her bio, but I'll sum it up:  She loved food, went to culinary school, worked in the culinary arts.  Then she had a kid, and needed to change her career.  She learned to knit, and now combines the two in this most clever way!

Not only is the product beautiful and fun to work with, I can't get over her packaging! Here's what I found when I opened the little tyvek (waterproof!) envelope:

The yarn was wrapped in tissue paper, and slipped inside a clear plastic bag.

She included the packing slip, a sample of some other yarn, with instructions for a knitting stitch printed on the back, and a hand-written thank you.  This is something I like to do as well.  I think that real-person contact is important to people buying goods on Etsy, home of the handmade!





Look at how beautiful the label on the yarn is!  Everything has her logo on it - including the sticker used to hold the tissue paper closed.

Here's the sample and thank you.

And what's on the back?  Instructions for a grafting stitch!

Now, check this out.  I love this.  How does she pull her theme together and bring the Yarn Chef full circle?  She includes a recipe card!

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds delicious.  The card is so elegant and beautiful!  And every bit of it could be done at home, with clearly professional results.

Thanks for the inspiration, Katy!  I've got some work to do.  :)

Check out Katy's shop on Etsy.
Read more of her story here.

Free Pattern Month!

So, I'm sorry I've been MIA for a while.  I'll have something fun for you in just a minute.  Well, this is fun too, it's just not mine.

Grossgrain is doing free pattern month!  I just found out about it today, and it's already day 4.  Anyway, go here, and enjoy!

Excitement!

I have only a brief update for you:

The house buying thing is going well so far.
So is the wedding planning.
The arting, gardening, etc, has all kind of been put on hold.  But once we get in the house and I have a space where I can leave my stuff out, watch out!

I'm so excitement!  Yes, excitement, not just excited!

So it's off to the south for the weekend to relax, and take care of business.  Who knew you could do both?

Mascara Love

The solution to the natural makeup problem: tarte - high performance naturals.

Their mascara was recommended to me by my makeup guru friend Val, and I finally broke down and bought it.  I didn't even realize that they used natural ingredients, were cruelty free, and were everything I was looking for.

I got the Clinically-Proven Natural mascara. Granted, I've only worn it twice, but so far, it

• Doesn't crumble
• Doesn't make my eyes itchy, even with contacts.
• Doesn't clump
• Makes my lashes look long
• Curls lashes!  Amazing!

This one isn't waterproof, but I don't really care for that anyway.  

Needless to say, this is one I'm going to stick with.

Keep On Moving!

Well, it's official.  We're moving out of our apartment in about a month, likely into my parents' house.

You're absolutely right.  I would prefer to move into a newly purchased home.  But this may be a great opportunity to save up a little extra money, and to pay down some debt.  And there's still that silly matter of a wedding to attend to.

How did this happen, you ask?  Well you see, we have some friends who were planning to move into our apartment complex at the end of April, but they could only get a one-bedroom apartment.  Obviously not their first choice.  We called about getting out of our lease, should we find a home.  Turns out that if we found someone to move in, things go much more smoothly for us.  So we asked our friends how they liked it, thinking we'd be making our offer on a house today.   And well, that didn't work out.  So rather than leave our friends as disappointed as we are, we're ending the cycle.  And well, it may very well work out better for us in the end anyway.

I'll be so glad when this is all over and I don't have to move for a while!!!!

Things My Sweetie Says (In Her Sleep)

"That's gonna take a lot of giraffes."

Now what on earth do you think she was dreaming about?!