I have been admonished by my daughter.

My daughter seems to think it's high time I posted again so, in the interest of household peace, I bring you:

A pair of handmade earrings

design credit: Wishuponafarm. photo credit: Caraline Frost.

An afghan in the making


A snugly cat


Some of my houseplants in for the winter


A colorful spider


And the result of a bored teenager, a bag of skittles, and one contented kitty.

I’m a bad crafter.

Have you ever let life get in the way of the things you love doing? When things are going well I always find, or make, the time to create something. When life gets stressful I set ‘less important’ things aside in order to deal with what needs dealing with.

In the back of my mind I knew that I hadn’t sat at the spinning wheel for some time, but it wasn’t until I finally logged back into Ravelry that I realized just how long it’s been. Eight months. That’s a very long time for me to go without creating. Oh I’ve done some crochet since then. I may have even tried some knitting, and I’ve picked up my inkle loom once or twice, but since spinning is where it’s at for me I think I need to treat myself, take a deep breath, and sit at the wheel and just BE. I may even sign up for TDF again this year. The rules are much more relaxed now, and while I’ve always enjoyed the challenge, I think I really need a more relaxed tour this time around.

I’ve also decided to make jewelry to sell. Yikes that’s a scary decision! I’ve been a homemaker for the past 20 odd years and as I get less employable, times get harder in the job market for my husband. Something’s got to give and I think this is something that I can manage and still be a stay-at-home-mom. Jewelry making was something I tried many years ago and loved doing. Now I’m getting into metal smithing as well. We’ll see how it goes and whether I can sell anything.

Aside from that, this post is a pledge to myself. Once I’m done selling my life away on ebay, I will dig out my spinning wheel (that’s been hiding behind a mound of boxes from the attic), dust it off, and become one with the wool again.

In progress

Tablet woven curtain tie backs.







Photo credits: Caraline

At the risk of turning this blog into a blog about a rescue catterie

Nimue on my dismantled floor loom. Boy has she grown.

Photo cred goes to my daughter Caraline.

Fluff of a different kind.

This little monster helped me update my fiber stash today.



He was so helpful in fact, that he's worn himself out and demanded I stop what I'm doing and let him take a nap.

A craft post - finally

Well, sort of a craft post. I haven't been doing much in the way of crafts lately. Mainly because of this little hellion, Razzie.

I can't spin because he's a fluff stealer/attacker/wheel demolisher. I also can't do much with finished yarns because, well, he's a cat and cats love to attack yarn. He carries off balls of yarn three times his size and kills them in dark corners. About the only thing I've been working on lately is my "I love scraps" afghan.

A non craft moment

If you've read this blog for any length of time then you know that we are huge Tolkien geeks in this house. With the theatrical release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug coming out this month, of course it was a time to celebrate.

When I asked my daughter to take pictures of the room, I didn't realize that she couldn't find her camera and used my crappy phone camera instead.

This is the food table.


I'll walk you through it since you can't really tell from the picture. The table cloth is burlap, there are baskets of nuts and apples. Cheese, crackers, bread, and raw veggies are laid out on slabs of wood. Ranch and French dressing as well as hummus are in little wooden bowls with tiny wooden spoons. Shredded cheese and onions are in little crocks. There's a crock of chili with clay bowls, and a wooden planter used for silverware and napkins. Scattered on the table are acorns, pine cones, and orange flowers made from wood. Bottles of root beer with cork stoppers, Sauron Cider, and Brandybuck punch along with pint sized jars with handles. Also on the table, in a basket, were the gift bags. This party was also to celebrate my daughters birthday (Oct) and mine (5 days prior)and since Hobbits give gifts instead of receiving them on their birthdays, we created gift bags for our guests. My daughter made necklaces with charms in which she placed Fairy Berries. She printed out maps and placed those along with polished stones and wizard dice into burlap bags. Along side this where tiny little flower pots planted with a seed. Something from the races of Elves, men, Dwarves, wizards, and Hobbits of middle earth.



In one corner of the room was Smaug on his horde. Smaug is a dragon nut cracker from Russia (thank you ebay) and he's sitting on a pile of gold coins (chocolate coins) and some of my jewelry.



On the mantle were set groupings of pillar candles as well as on the steamer trunk we use as a coffee table. On the walls were my daughters posters. One of the hobbit map, one of Thorin and Company, and another of the elves of Mirkwood. On the tv was a youtube video of a fire burning in a fire place.

We had planned on playing a Hobbit board game before dinner, eating dinner, and then watching the first movie while eating desert but our guests had to work the party into their work schedules so we ate while watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (extended edition), said good bye to our guests, and went to the theater for the midnight premier of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

By the end we had had a great, if not exhausting, day.

eta:
Since I'm slow to get things put away I snapped some more crappy but better lite pictures.
Smaug. Thieves have been here and took his gold coins.


I'm keeping the mantle like this. I just need to find someplace to put my baskets now.


Posters
Over the couch


Over the food table


Elves in the corner. Look at the lower corner. The kitten tried to kill them.


Wooden flowers scattered around the table.


Kitty aftermath