Silk

As if I don't have enough project keeping me busy, I have to have an Esty item peek my interest in raising silkmoths for silk.

So inbetween calls at work I have been searching google for info on it. Just how hard would it be to raise my own and then process the cocoons? I've found a couple interesting sites that look like the owners have taken a lot of time to put their sites together with a ton of resources.

I'm interested in learning to spin yarn but it would be cool if I could use silk with the other yarns or pure silk yarns. I'm having visions of beautifully woven silk scarves from my loom. Dying to my own specific colors.

I'll probably be consumed by this till the weekend and then lose interest. Well maybe in just the raising part. I can only imagine my furball trying to eat the moths and finding the food/leaves to feed them would probably be a pain too. I need to research if I can buy bulk cocoons somewhere on the net.

http://www.kiva.net/~daylight/moth.html
http://www.wormspit.com/index.htm

My Mini Helper

It's easiest to give her her own piece of fabric and pattern piece. Otherwise, she'll sit on the one with the pins and sharp scissors cutting it out! (I was cutting out the pieces for my Civil War corset that I almost completed at the Ivy Thimble All Sew Weekend)

Happy 4 month Esty-versary!!

Wow it's been 4 months already since I opened my shop with the inital 10 bags! Of those 10, only 3 are still for sale. Today has been a banner day. Not only has it been 4 months but I've sold 5 bags today! That is the most I've sold in a single day so far!! All of these bags can be relisted as I have enough for at least 1 bag of each :) So those will be doled out in 2's for the rest of the week to give me more opportunities at promoting my "new" items in the forums! I've learned so much since I've begun that when my friends express interested in opening their own shop I'm bursting with tid-bits on how to get up to speed much faster then I did. I don't think I'd be where I am today if I didn't discover the forums and the chats. Oh! I sold 2 bags to Austria today! That brings my foreign countries to 3! I would have never specified UK and a couple other countries if I hadn't been in a chat room with a couple UK people who advised they wouldn't bother asking for a quote for shipping. They want it listed or else they don't even think twice about buying. Since then 3 UK and 1 Austria buyer! Yeah me! 57 down and 63 to go till my Bernina sewing machine is paid off!!

Launched my shop

Today I finally launched my Etsy shop with the first 10 project bags!

My etsy shop

Since I'm determined to make my new used sewing machine pay for itself, I've turned my ideas for cool things into real items to put in an Etsy shop. I have the inital 10 medium sized project bags finished with 3 more almost done and 8 linings for future bags done. I'm cropping the photos for the initial 10 now and will be creating all the "terms and conditions" for my shop and listings afterward. Hopefully within the next day or 2 my shop will launch. I just need to sell 100 bags to pay for my machine :) which I think is totally doable!

excited

My friend asked if I wanted to buy her Bernina Artista 180 off her so she could buy her friends even more advanced Bernina so her friend can buy the top of the line model...of course I said yes :) Excuse me while I surf for embroidry patterns :)

ravelry

I GOT MY RAVELRY INVITE!!!! Look for me as MissFiberFox (duh hehee). I'm finishing up some renovations on my condo but once I've got my computer/art, er I mean guest room all setup I'll have all my stuff logged!

as if I don't have many other projects to work on already!!

I've lived in my new condo for a little over 3 weeks. I'm very behind rereading HP so that I can finally read the newest and final book (currently starting HP5). But I find myself itching to knit something new. Something I haven't done before. I'm thinking about knitting my first sweater and a tiny one at that.

I saw the Child's Placket Neck Sweater (from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, by Joelle Hoverson) knit by Knit & Pieces and ear marked it as one I'd like to do. So as I was at work trying to figure out a project to scratch my knit itch I was reminded of that sweater. However, the link that she included in her picture blurb led to a page not found error. Almost 2 days of eating lunch at work searching the web, I finally found the pattern online and then spent most of the rest of my lunch today figuring out what yarn I might want to buy to knit it with. I'm still not sure if I want to knit it in a cotton blend or one with wool in it. I do know I want it to be soft, warm and with as little acrylic as possible. Natural fibers please!!

My first hat!

Pattern: Simple Hat
Source: Cables Untangled
Material: 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran #?? Pink
Needles: US8 16" Clover Bamboo circular
March 2007



I decided to bipass a simple plain hat and went straight for a complex braided cable rib one instead. I used beautiful yarn that I can't wait to use again for a second one for me mom. There are a couple oops that I can hide easily enough with how I wear it but when my mom said she wanted my first one I couldn't part with it and insist I make a perfect one for her. Pattern was straight forward. Oops were just the product of half paying attention while I was listening to my soap and knitting at the same time. Would definitely recommend.

Ravelry

So in an effort to join more of the online fiber community I signed up for a ravelry invite today. I just checked my position in the line...

• You signed up on Today
• You are #23791 on the list.
• 15363 people are ahead of you in line.
• 70 people are behind you in line.
• 34% of the list has been invited so far

Needless to say it's gonna be awhile.

I've been MIA from all things fiber for the 6 weeks as I became a home owner for the first time this week and was all wrapped up in packing, closing and moving. On the plus side my LOOM IS HERE!! My parents brought all the boxes I've been storing at their place when they came to help me move. Now I just need to paint out my computer/art room (aka guest room) and I'm going to clean up my loom and weave a scarf to get me back in the game.

I spent most of April and May knitting the Wool Peddler's Shawl in a teal peacock color. It turned out fabulous! I love it and finished it in time to wear to the first reenactment of the season! People were ohh-ing and ahh-ing left and right! I'm contemplating making it again only this time adding a bunch more repeats. However, if I go to the 145th anniversary of Gettysburg next summer I won't be knitting much of anything this winter as I'll need a new wardrobe complete with a stunning ball gown to reenact with!

The new Interweave Knits comes out in less then a week :) I love the sweater on the cover! The tilted duster in that shade of purple is soo me!! I can also see myself wearing the Bryant's Slipover to work.

Summer Knitty

So I have finally become a true blog knitter and have been anticipating the latest Knitty publication for the summer. While on lunch today I became gitty when I saw the new photo on the front page signally Summer 2007 was finally up! I wasn't all that impressed with the patterns though. A bunch seemed so much alike. The only pattern I loved was Chapeau Marnier. I could see myself doing it in a light dusty blue.

I'm loving the new issue of Interweave knits but then again I always do. So far I'm loving the Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke sweater and the Syncopated Caps the best.

I just finished my first lace, shawl, large project. I'll post all about my Wool Peddler's shawl soon.

Beginning of my knitting journey

In late summer, early fall of 2006 I became interest in knitting again when I realized there were so many accessories I could make for my Civil War wardrobe to make my appearance seem even more authentic. I already had a set of metal 13" US8 needles and after lurking through many many knitting and fiber blogs, I finally decided on my first project.

Knowing that as a beginner it wasn't the best idea to jump into the extreme deep end with trying to knit a huge beautiful lace shawl, I decided on smaller yet still complex project or so I thought. I have always loved cable knits. The intricate and complex cables always left me in aw. I always imagined the patterns itself would be something I would really need to figure out and work at to grasp the way to do it.

I had been lurking around the Irish Hiking Scarf KAL for a few weeks. I took a look at the pattern and was in a little disbelief that the pattern would work. Remember, barely above beginner at this point. I was in Wal-Mart running an errand when I decided to check out the clearance bins and came across the yarn for the project. At $2/ball you can't go wrong.

So home I went and immediately after all my groceries were put away, I started my Irish Hiking scarf!




Day 1 left me with 2 repeats and a sense of "That was it? It was that easy?!"



By the end of the first week, working a little after work each night left me a third of the way done. Come picture time, Sophie (the fur baby) couldn't resist helping me setup the shot for that weeks accomplishment. Though I think she was just waiting for me to turn my back so she could get up close and person with my scarf!




Finally bought a set of shorter bamboo needles that I absolutely love. I have since invested in other sets of bamboo needles in other sizes.



Spent most of the Thanksgiving holiday with my knitting in my hands. This chic can multi task!

Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf
Source: Hello Yarn
Material: 2.5 balls of Lion Brand Lion Wool #147 Purple
Needles: US8
Mid October 2006 - Beginning of December 2006

First Dishcloth

Being a slightly above beginner knitter at the time, reading the pattern for MD's Ballband Dishcloth confused me royally! When I read "slip stitch" I was like what you want me to slip one off and let it go but won't that make things unravel and eventually be a messy tangle?? Then I planted myself in front of the knitting section at Barnes and Noble and dug through all the book until I found one with amazing pictures and descriptions of all the terms in the pattern. It was like a light bulb went off in my head and the "AH HA!" hit me! From there I went home, grabbed my needles and yarn, then created this lovely dishcloth in less then a weekend watching about a weeks worth of All My Children! This will definitely not be the last one I make!



Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth
Source: Mason Dixon Knitting
Materials: Sugar 'n Cream 02741 Playtime
Needles: US8 straight Clover Bamboo
February 10-12 2007

A little personal fiber history!!

I learned to sew when I was 4 making little pillows for my dolls. Sometime in elementary school my mom's friend taught me the basic knit and purl stitches but I grew bored of the striped scarf which I think is still unfinished and gave up knitting. Then in 4th grade we did a lesson where we created very basic lapbelt looms to weave a little project. My mom saw my interest in it, as I created more at home and when our local PBS station had there auction she asked if I would be interested in taking a childrens weaving class at the local art gallery. That lead to 3.5 years of saturday classes and my parents even bought me my own Harrisville floor loom (I'm dying to bring it to my apt but I have no room so for now it's in my mom's attic). Unfortunately, my fiber history goes on hiatus for about 7 years when finally after college I worked at JoAnn Fabrics for some extra money and fell in love with fabrics again! My supervisor helped me modify 3 patterns into one so I could create the perfect Renaissance gown, which ironically is, yes you guessed it - not finished either! LOL, It's close. I only need to finish the hem and serge the armholes. But it was set aside for a Civil War warrobe! My friend was putting together a beautiful Civil War gown to wear at a reenactment while I was working on my dress for the faire and I couldn't resist creating my own. 5 outfits and 20 bolts of fabric on my shelf later, I look at movie customs in a whole new light!! How can I recreate that outfit? Why did they use that period incorrect fabric? Look at the detail! Anyway, oh yes. This brings me back to knitting. I'm always looking for something new to add to my Civil War warrobe and I'm servely lacking warm accessories! Gloves, bonnets, shawls. The weather can go from below freezing at 1 event to so hot if you were even wearing a tiny tank and short shorts that would be to much let alone a long sleeved multi layered dress! Last fall I took up knitting again. The basics were easy to remember and while I surfed from one knit blog to another, I couldn't help but want to create amazing things. So my blog with be a hodge podge of all things fiber. Whatever I'm obsessing about at the time of my post. Now that I have a functioning new digital camera, I'm sure I'll be posting all sorts of posts!

Finally created my fiber blog!

Now that I feel I have all the necessary tools to create the posts that I want (aka I finally got my new digital camera!) I thought it was about time to put this thing together! I'll need to back track to the beginning with my FO's and then finally get to my WIP with even more ideas on the horizon!!

Anyway. My name is Shelley. Nice to meet you!