For Those That Have It...Treasure It!

Hello,

I just love it when I get feedback from my followers.  Today I got a great tip from Carrol about a blade for my rotary cutter that will be very helpful...so "Thanks Carrol!".

I am still working on fingerless gloves, cuffs and scarves for Christmas gifts...but I get sidetracked a bit here and there (always!) as ideas hit me in mid-stride and so tonight I am finally getting a few photos posted of my knitted scarf and fingerless gloves that I have been referring to for a bit. 

What is so funny (or maybe not) is that I bought a huge stash of this yarn in all the colors one day when I stumbled on it at Michael's.  Everyone has admired my scarf as I was knitting it and so I began to sell off my stash to friends...No problemo, right!  Wrong!!!

I ran out of some colors and some of the ladies of my knitting group want more so I went to get some and found - none - in any store in the area... still not a problem...I'll order it online...wrong again!  It is GONE!  Word on the street is that it was a limited production for the holidays and Red Heart is not going to be replenishing stores...so... 

So those that did get some and kept it are selling the balls at auction on eBay and Amazon.  Today I found numerous balls that still had a day or more to go at auction and already the bid was up to $15.50!!!  We are talking about Red Heart Sashay yarn...normally $4.99 that I got on sale once at $1.19 and once at $3.99...Incredible is all I have to say.  If you want a scarf made of this yarn and do not already have your yarn, you can buy finished scarves online from $15 to $30.  One YouTube video says the scarves were selling in stores for $30-$38.  Expect that and the price on balls of yarn to keep climbing.

So I will treasure each and every ball I have left all the more...

Enjoy it if you have it!

Janet

Death and Creation

Hello Again,

We have another funeral to attend...this time it's a Tuesday. Three people I knew have died in the last five weeks.  Something like this can leave a person wondering what it's all about.  Wondering how it is that a person's life is over just like that... "poof" and they are no more.  But are they really gone?  My mind has begun to spin...thinking...thinking...thinking.

I am finding that my art is what keeps me going...helps me to feel grounded again...to remember without pain...  The joy of taking my silk and fiber...carefully placing one on the other and working them together in one with my own hands...working until I have created something beautiful is somehow soothing and uplifting.  Knowing that someone is going to find pleasure in what I have created...knowing that I am capable of creating this!  Knowing I am alive.  It is all part of the cycle of life, right?

I hope you enjoy seeing my creations...I sure like making them.

Take care,
Janet

Charge!

Good Evening!

I have been doing some personal projects today to try and get some Christmas gifts taken care of...I have knitted up a couple scarves and made some gloves...other ideas are perking in my brain...but as I was knitting this wonderful alpaca scarf today I found that I had inadvertently changed my pattern.  Do I (sucking in of breath here) go back?!  Take it out and fix that part?!?  Never!  In the words of great (and maybe not so great) military leaders the world over, I say "Charge!"  I will not retreat!  I am going forward and try to adapt my pattern as I go so that it remains beautiful and eye pleasing.  Will it work?  We shall see... 

Speaking if Alpaca...it is my wish to someday own some.  For some quick basic facts about them read this:

http://www.ilovealpacas.com/facts.shtml

and here are a few great pictures of some Alpaca...

Enjoy!
Janet

Great Shot!

Hello,

The other day while out walking the dog (sometimes it seems like I always am...) I captured this awesome picture of the full moon.  Unusual because it was so bright and during daylight hours.  Also there was to be a full lunar eclipse only I didn't know about that until Sunday...two days after I took this.  I had been having a bad week as you may have noticed by my intermittent posts here...and I was blaming all sorts of things...the full moon being one of them...others I talked to noticed it too.  Is it possible that it was especially bad because there was to be an eclipse?  I don't know...but I sure am glad that the doom and gloom has fled with the waining moon and things are getting back to normal!  Still it was a beautiful view of the moon.



Since things are on the upswing around here I was busy felting yesterday.  I have finished two sets of fingerless gloves.  The black pair is already sold and is heading to California for Christmas.  The other is a gift I am giving. 

I also received some very soft and unusual Alpaca yarn at my fiber group get together.  This Alpaca comes from some animals that are living just south of Spokane in Washington state.  The yarn was my payment for some knitting I had done several months ago.  I love the twining brown and black - the natural color of the two Alpacas!  I am combining that with a golden ribbon yarn in a scarf.  Hopefully it will be masculine enough when I am done!

Have a great day everyone!
Janet

Christmas Sale

Hi!

I'm not a runner and I can only imagine what it must be like to run a marathon...but I feel like that is what we just got done doing!  There is so much involved in getting through a show!!!

We started months ago by purchasing more grid wall for a larger booth; ordered more mannequins and sign holders from Phoenix, Arizona; and I got busy creating new treasures...  Then there was set-up day...lifting all those grid wall panels into our van and back out again...ugh!...next they all need to be held in place and fastened together...and now we have so much 'stuff' we can't make it all fit in one load...Yikes!!!...so all of that was followed by and extra early morning to bring the second load which was all of the fun stuff we had for sale...so after a very late night finishing last minute pricing and inventory duties, 6 am found us crawling through the dark for food and clothes and heading to the fairgrounds with our van of goodies which we hung or placed somewhere in our booth for viewing...and a day of meeting and greeting all of our followers and potential clients...and finally the end of day two is take-down load and unload (again!) Whew!!!  So that is why I say that it felt like we had just run a marathon!  We crashed and slept for over 12 hours which is what I hear marathoner's say they do too.

For those of you that were not able to make it personally to say hello, here are a couple of quick snaps of our booth.  New items not yet on our website for sale are table runners, drapes (the ones pictured are samples...I make these all custom to specifications), pillows, felpture (table lamp) and several scarves.  Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture of the other wall which had lots of new scarves on it... look for all of the new goodies to show up on the website in the coming week. http://www.sapphire-art.com/

This is a holiday scarf that I made for this past Saturday's Market. It wraps around several times and ties at the shoulder. There are two points in front and two points in back. Black silk with red merino wool and sparkle yarn. $78 Can also be draped over each shoulder and allowed to twirl down the front...great look both ways!



Have a great Monday everyone!  I am off to work on the custom orders I took and need to fill.  Thanks everyone!!!
Janet

Triple Wrap Nuno Scarf

Time is up!  Gone...I have none left...well maybe I can squeeze a few more hours out of tomorrow before set-up...I have been fairly productive though these past few days which is making me excited to get set up and see what people think of my newest creations.  Saturday will tell as they say.

And so it is now very late on Thursday (actually it is almost two hours into Friday) and in the past two days I have finished four new scarves!  Yippee!!!  Long hours though so my blog is suffering for it.  Anyway these scarves are all in a fashion I call a Triple Wrap Around.  They were very big sellers this summer at the Market.  I start with an double dyed, iridescent silk scarf and add merino.  When it is finished I cut it up so that it is very long and wraps around and around...  Very fun, light and flirty.  Sorry to say that none of the double dyed, iridescence shows in my quick pics...a little of the sparkle I add in with the merino shows...for the rest it's left to your imagination.

Enjoy! 

The other day I got all bundled up in my wonderful Alpaca scarf and hat, boots, winter coat and mittens and headed out with the dog for a walk.  On returning I noticed how the snow on our roof had been sculpted by the winds from the night before and marveled at my luck on not having it all drop on me as I went out.  It was a lovely morning and the snow was beginning to fall again so I ran in to get my husband to take a snap or two of me in the snow!

But, oh how quickly the snow can go!  We have had a Chinook wind for the past couple of days and all the lovely white blissful snow has now been melted away.  On the positive side of things though, we might be able to squeeze in a bit more yard clean-up and some holiday decorating before the next snowfall begins!

I remember a year long ago when a Chinook wind came in February and caused great damage to things because of the super fast snow melt.  Rivers and streams flooded all over the area.  And of course we hadn't seen the last of Mr. Winter so after all the snow melted - of course confusing the plants and animals of which season it was - why here came a giant of a snowstorm to blast us back into the reality of winters in Montana.  Weird what things you remember sometimes! 

Anyway...thinking of those long ago days and my family seems appropriate with the biggest 'family gathering' day just a few hours away.  We will be joining my older sister, her husband and his family, plus our Mom for dinner tomorrow...more memories to make...and here's hoping you and your loved ones have happy memories from tomorrow as well!

Janet

Well Good Evening Everyone!

I have been busy nuno felting scarves yesterday and today.  They aren't ready for their pictures to be taken though so instead I have a couple of other items that I have finished to show you.

I love the Photo Bucket slide shows - when they work!  Hope you get to see all six photos.  I stitched on the felted fabric using the free stitching method (darning foot) on a machine.  I used different colored threads depending on the accent I needed - in some cases I used gold metallic thread.  Difficult stuff to work with!

Both these pillows will be sold through Blue Flag Handweaving Studio in Sandpoint, Idaho.  You can click the like below to contact Kristie about them.
http://www.blueflagweaving.com/

As a teaser here is a preview of a new scarf - before felting.



Well I am off to get my scarves out of their acid water bath.  Night All!

Janet

Gourd Crafts and Silk Painting

Good Evening!

You might ask yourself what gourds and silk painting have in common so let me tell you.  My mother recently gave me a book from her collection of arts and crafts resources called Gourd Crafts by Marilynn Host.

On pages 104-106 there is a series of photos of gourd bowls done in southwest designs.  Now, I lived in the southwest for nearly 17 years and still miss it. When I saw these designs it brought back a lot of my memories of my time there.  And as I sat admiring the book, I got an idea for a scarf and proceeded to paint the one below.  I used a gold gutta which you can just barely detect in this photo...in person it has a wonderful look!  And as you can see this is a contemporary - almost abstract - design with just a hint of southwest in it.



I also have a small silk bag that I painted in a bit more traditional southwest design.



Another design I would like to try is something like this gourd.

If you would like to research gourd crafts and carving for yourself  Google Books has this book and many others like it for sale.  http://books.google.com/ebooks

Marilynn Host's Book is ISBN 0-8069-4423-4

Enjoy!

Janet

Summer Memories as I Clean Up for Winter

Hello!

Today was a day made for working outside.  The sun was shining and though it was brisk (ice on the pails of water) I worked hard enough to take two layers of clothing off...which put me down to two left on!  I trimmed, pulled, bagged and relocated.  Generally just tried to get everything in ship shape for Mr. Winter.

There were still flowers on some stalks of poppy and a few marigold...quite a few Pansy and violets, but up they came regardless.  Still looking at the colors in the blossoms brought back memories of my garden in its glory this summer...

I painted this scarf during summer while daydreaming about all the bright colorful blossoms, butterflies and hummingbirds.  It is 100% silk with gutta and silk dye.  I do all my drawing free hand and then hand paint it in using small brushes.



If you should be interested in silk painting you can check with a local art store or online you can take a look at Dharma.  They are helpful and have everything you need to get started. 

http://www.dharmatrading.com/

Goodnight all,
Janet

Clematis in Bloom

Mother Nature always surprises me and keeps me smiling.  The temperatures are getting colder and colder here now, yet when I walked out of the house the other day there was the Clematis vine blooming!  During the summer it had been absolutely covered in blossoms which had inspired me to paint this silk scarf.  It only had three blooms this time around, but I had to admired its tenaciousness to be blooming when temps are topping out at 50!  And the deep, intense purple and pink-purple was just as breathtaking as it was earlier during summer.

I draw free-hand on the silk with gutta after preparing the silk.  Then I use special dyes designed just for silk to paint it all.  After that it sits for 2 days and then gets wrapped up in paper and stuffed into my homemade steamer for three hours.  Then another day resting.  Next it gets a rinse in a special soap, hung until damp dry and then ironed.  Whew!  And most of that I actually enjoy! :)

Hope you enjoyed seeing this...and now I wait until next year to see the Clematis in bloom again,
Janet