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!