Merry Christmas!

Just finished wrapping gifts, found a cool last minute gift to make for a teenage boy and went
outside to get some fresh air and experience this beautiful sunset. Happy holidays!

New Loom!

A new addition to the studio! This little lady is about half the size as my tried and true herald loom. I am hoping I love this one even more and can then downsize (for space) and sell my original. Come January I will start weaving on the new one and see how it goes. Either way, I only have space for one- I am thinking of including a lesson with the sale..
It's nearly 60 degrees here and it doesn't feel like Christmas except for the living room mess of wrapping paper and half finished projects (conveniently cropped out of the above photo. Pics of these projects after the holidays!

Baby Pidge Bjorn

Off to NYC to visit the family.. Couldn't resist stuffing Pidge in my vest and making Albert snap a photo. She didn't actually protest until the camera came out. Is this gross? Probably. I'm sorry.

Will be away from my scarves this weekend which means any orders placed today, Saturday and Sunday won't be mailed until Monday. But that's ok because you are finished with your holiday shopping, right? 

Bonus Scarf

One last scarf is going up in the shop before the holidays...


I worked on Christmas projects for the past few days. It has been nice to work on something other than weaving simply because I am on my comfy sofa instead of at the loom. I can't wait to post photos of this year's gifts after the holidays!

Holiday Scarves...

You may be noticing a new model for these new scarves... I had big plans of weaving lots this week and getting them online before it was too late for last minute online holiday shopping. Finished my goal and forgot that my trusty dressform is currently residing at my new local bank. I've been hating my current bank for YEARS and have had nothing but issues. Customer service is on my speed dial. So... we've opened accounts at our neighborhood bank and pidge pidge is small business of the month there :)

So... you will have to excuse these photos as substitutes..

Ooo! One last thing- a coupon code for my blog and newsletter readers: HOLIDAYS100 for free shipping at my etsy shop anywhere in the US from now through Friday, Dec 16th. Enter the code at checkout!

Craft Show #2 this weekend :)

It's raining this morning and therefore the perfect day for hunkering down with netflix and weaving all day! I had planned on focusing on other projects today but cyber Monday gave me a shot of motivation.. and the need to restock for the holiday show weekend! If you miss out on Holiday Heap or just can't get enough- say hi at Merry Mart this Sunday! Too many exclamations- sorry.

Craft Show #1 this weekend :)

Holiday season is upon us! I can't believe I was outside without a coat on today. Cyber Monday was a success! Thanks to anyone who helped spread the word or purchased a scarf this weekend :) If you're in the Baltimore area this weekend, come and say hi! Lots of awesome crafters and gift ideas...

New Scarves for Cyber Monday

17 new scarves are being added to the shop today in anticipation of cyber Monday! I have started my Christmas list and ordered some materials for my family presents- excited to start and will of course post photos after the holidays.

Here are several scarves going up in the shop now.. To take advantage of my Thanksgiving weekend sale (free shipping in the U.S on any order) use coupon code TURKEYDAY100 at checkout.

Black Friday Cyber Monday!

99 sales on etsy! To hopefully celebrate the 100th sale in my shop and celebrate Thanksgiving weekend, I'll be taking part in etsy's free shipping sale this weekend :)

Free shipping from Friday, Nov 25th through Monday, Nov 28th!

Consider it a virtual craft show experience! Though I'm sad we won't be making the trip up to Rochester this Thanksgiving for the second storie holiday show (it isn't being held this year), I am super psyched we don't have to travel out of town for a holiday.

New Clutches!

Wow- 3 posts in one day! I realized I had forgotten to share my new collection of purses last month. Here is a selection of clutches I made this September to premiere at the Crafty Bastards show.
This was my first time sewing my woven fabric and I'm happy with how they turned out. Each clutch has a different contrasting fabric lining.

the yarn lottery.

I have won the yarn lottery. Check out this huge and beautiful pile of yarn- over 100 skeins! Most of it is handspun by various etsy crafters and other fiber artisans along with a healthy dose of Japanese, Italian and Swedish yarn. This selection might be an entire wall at a yarn store.

At the last second I decided to accompany Albert into the goodwill while he searched for a music video prop today. I couldn't risk missing out on some fabulous kitchen find. As I walked to the back of the store, an employee dropped a waist tall bag of yarn onto the floor, mentioning to another customer that it contained alpaca yarn. I bee-lined to it, watching a lady glance at the bag and move on. Yarn is almost never for sale at goodwill (and when it is, it's almost always itchy acrylic). Immediately I had a death grip on the bag, repeating in my head to stay calm as I noticed the Noro tag on one of the skeins. I brought the bag to Albert and whispered to him that I was trying desperately not to freak out. I paid for the yarn hiding my excitement and walked quickly outside- afraid someone was going to notice the amazing steal this was. At less than 25 cents each, I was dizzy upon opening the bag in the parking lot and pulling out a skein with the original tag: $48. For one skein. I paid $25 for the entire bag.

Unfortunately, I have wasted most of my daylight weaving time today pawing through my new palette and calling my mom to share my exciting news. This was worth it though.

Here's a pic of my booth at Handmade Arcade on Saturday. Pleased to say the new clutches were a big hit!

Thank you Pittsburgh!

Handwoven Paprika Scarf

Handwoven Rebecca Scarf

Handwoven Keila Scarf

Handwoven Skylar Scarf

Handmade Arcade was a wonderful show. I was so impressed with the convention center- lots of room for lots of people. We were able to spread out a bit, creating 8ft x 8ft booths instead of just the usual simple table. Here are some photos from new scarves up in the shop today!

I have a busy 2 weeks ahead of me getting ready for Holiday Heap and Merry Mart in Baltimore Dec 3 and 4. I will be weaving like crazy while streaming netflix. Any great movie recommendations?

Handmade Arcade

Winding down after a busy few weeks getting ready for this weekend's craft show- Handmade Arcade.. excited to be there and even more excited to visit with friends! Here is a sneak peak of new scarves I'll be bringing to Pittsburgh and adding to etsy next week.

Extrava-can-za

The blogging hiatus has been longer than anticipated.. but I have been busy busy. I have pushed my weaving productivity to its limits these past few months! Netflix has ironically made me much more productive- allowing me to weave for much longer stretches without a need for life's other distractions (mainly finding Pidge to annoy, fixing a snack or needing to clean/organize something I've been putting off for months).

Also- while winding bobbins last night, I glanced over at the loom and suddenly realized my warp wasn't on the loom correctly! The warp wasn't stretched over the back beam and hadn't been since I put the loom back together when we moved in May. Realizing this solved the tension problem I had been having this whole time.

I have also been working at a fruit and veggie stand (right next door to our place) part time and been allowed to take home any produce deemed unsellable and headed for the compost heap. Wasting food is perhaps my biggest pet peeve and has proved to make me more resourceful in the kitchen, more creative with recipes and created a time struggle between cooking and everything else! When I first started working and got permission to take home the "compost" I had several 5 gallon buckets of food every day- mostly tomatoes but also: lemons and limes (mmm lemon curd), extra ripe avocados (guacamole), eggplant, zucchini, peppers (veggie parmesan and ratatouille), cheese and bread past its sell by date (pizzas, bread crumbs and great sandwiches), beans, greens, broccoli (stirfries galore), bruised apples, peaches, pumpkin (apple butter, peach butter and pumpkin butter all make the house smell like a bakery) and CORN (tons of the sweetest corn for freezing, snacking, everything).

Here are the results of 2 months of my canning extravaganza! Crushed tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce, tomato jam, hot pepper jelly and applesauce. 68 jars of free food! (minus the apples- we picked those at Highland Orchard) I still have a case of quart jars to can if I can figure out what to make. Perhaps veggie stock? Any ideas? Next year I think I will experiment with pickled green tomatoes, carrots and beans.

The stand is open until Halloween and then we will survive on the frozen peppers, corn, sauce, lemon/lime juice and bread as well all the cans I put up. I will definitely miss all the fresh stuff. Not to mention the relief from our grocery store budget!

Hello again!

Hi there, long lost pals! It's been a long while since I've written here- weaving

busily for next week's Crafty Bastard craft show. Hope to post more about this later..

just wanted to share this link today :) pidge pidge got a mention on one of my favorite blogs!

New Summer Scarves

I've finally gotten a break from peony season to add a whole slew of summer scarves to the shop! It will hit 90 this week which baffles my former upstate New York mind. I didn't think summer started until mid-June! If I had an office job right now, I'm sure the air conditioning would be pumping and one of these bad boys would warm my chilly shoulders.

Happy Memorial Day!

Handmade Mart

Just got back from this past Sunday's Handmade Mart in Silver Spring. What a whirlwind weekend! Saturday night was a beautiful Fleet Foxes show near Philly with our friend Elanor, visiting from Rochester. We got home super late and left super early Sunday morning for a lovely show in Maryland. Albert's first Jubadaba show- we shared a tent. A huge success and smiles all around.

Now that I'm officially finished shows until the fall I can focus on weaving and filling the shop with goodies- about 35 new scarves to add in the next few weeks :)

The peony fields last week, just starting to bloom. I've been enjoying the outdoors the past few weeks working with new and old friends for our neighbor, Richard picking peonies and getting them ready for shipment all over the world. What a dream job... I agreed with my friend Jon that 100 million people wish they could be out in the fields all day instead of an office. Even when we enduring rolling thunderstorms and heavy rain all day on Friday- 70 million people still wish they could be outside with us. I haven't been to the field since Saturday afternoon, but I saw the cooler waist high with flowers from the weekend so I know everything will be exploding with color tomorrow morning when I head out to pick again.

Art Star Philly this weekend!

It's been the most busy few weeks. We've moved our caravan of three to the green countryside of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania to live in an old stone train station near friends and family (our wonderful friends, Jon and Nogeeshik (and chickens, Badger the pup and Maebe the kitten), live across the street). Amidst all the boxes, we are finally starting to see an end in sight and will have pictures to post soon. Last step are the 6 boxes of framed art and photos to put up (icing on the cake!) Next step is to finish unpacking the kitchen, tackle the ant and stink bug dilemma (peppermint oil seems to be helping with the ants.. stink bugs are spraying their cilantro stink to no avail), and finish unpacking period.

I'm really excited to have a big table for my sewing/business area in our office and lots of room to make a mess. The weaving studio resides in the living room and was assembled yesterday. We've also been working some hours debudding and picking peonies for our downstairs neighbor's business- a great way to breathe in some fresh air and nab what hopefully will be gorgeous photos.

Here's what I've been working on for this weekend's craft show and next weekend's craft show (where I'll be sharing a tent with Albert!) Excited for Art Star's two day show- fingers crossed for big crowds and only enough rain (if there must be rain) to desire a cozy scarf around the neck or head!

Testing a window for light.. still working on the studio setup but have a few ideas yet to try...

That's 34 new scarves (half summer, half winter) to paw through if you're in Philadelphia this weekend!

Pet Portrait SALE!

Doing some more spring cleaning and have decided to put all of the embroidered pet portraits on mega sale! That's 40% off! There are a few other sales hiding in the shop- check them out here :)

Spring Cleaning

What a treat to not be freezing in my apartment! The sun is even almost out. I have a window defiantly open. I'm trying to weave an unprecedented amount of scarves in a short amount of time.. all for Art Star- the Philly art bazaar coming up in May! I'm also trying to do a clean sweep of the apartment in anticipation for our big move to Pennsylvania at the end of this month.. I'm getting overwhelming just typing that.

I've uncovered a few weaving related gems that I need to part with in order to move into a smaller apartment.. got the craigslist ad up here if you know anyone in the area that would love to add to their crafting collection.

More on the craft show later! Took a quick break from weaving to rest my hands/wrists and need to get back.

New Display!

It was great to be in Buffalo for the weekend with Albert. We spent time with family, had a successful show at the Small Press Expo and had sunny weather to run around on the front lawn and play frisbee. Also happily (a fun surprise Saturday morning) shared a table with my friend Amy and old coworker from greengirlpress (she helped design/mentored/everythinged my letterpress business cards).

Last week I spent 2 hours at Home Depot trying to design a new table display. I imagined a swing set I could hang the scarves on and got the necessary dowels and wood plus a chain to keep the legs from kicking out too far. Thursday night Albert and I assembled the thing only to have it immediately tip over. Luckily, Bill came to the rescue at home in Buffalo and rebuilt my mess. Not satisfied with my (shoddy) design, he made a second stand (pictured above) which worked great!

I'm happy shoppers can now paw through the scarves and see them entirely (as opposed to folded neatly on the tabletop)...

In the corner of this photo.. Albert and Jon's Beast Pageant DVD to promote the screening at the Market Arcade in Buffalo, April 8th. It will be playing at the Buffalo Niagara Film Fest!