Handmade Holiday Gift Guide -Gifts for Mom

I've been wanting to do a gift guide for a while.  I'm starting out with handmade gift suggestions for mom.  I'm sure that my guides will get better as they come along.  It'll be a learning experience that you're welcome to join me on =-)

ePersonalizee

l Two Custom Hand Stamped Sterling Silver Personalized Disc Necklace and Birthstone 

l Love Personalized Stamped Copper Pendant Teal Apatite Gemstone

l Personalized Terry Velour Spa Shower Wrap with Matching Slippers 

eHolde

                                                                                   

l Hand Dyed Patchwork Purse

l Your Personal Pouch 

l Maven's Boho Hobo Purse

eDresse

 

l Sandmaiden Wool Dolman Sleeve Wrap Top or Jacket

l Caramel Relish Winter Corduroy Jacket

l Bokja022...Coconut cream

eAccessorizee

                                                                                                     

l Fingerless Gloves in Gray 

l White Star Flower Neck Warmer / Cowl  

l Royal Emerald Kanzashi Style Silk Flower Brooch

The purpose of this collection of 12 items is to give you some ideas on what and where to look for handmade gifts for mom this holiday season.  These are things that I would by for my mother if I had all the money in the world (or even just a little lol).  I hope you'll join me here next week for guide 2 of 5 =-)

Artisans Featured:

CandiceKane

CanadianRockiesArt

ShopMomento

YourSewSweet 

Antieuclid's Random Emporium

MavenStudio

Sandmaiden

RelishedArtistry

GiftByWish

HomeLab 

Ayca 

PetalMix

To Dye

I think that in my last post, I mentioned that I would be researching inexpensive dyeing methods and reporting back here in the next post.

This is that post.
(It's been a while, I know, but what can I say- this whole blogging world seems foreign after a few days away)

The browsing of blogs about dyeing turned into my browsing about spinning and eventually, my interest in plying yarn.

I did do so.With fibers that I found here on Etsy

Because I was overly cautious about spinning the single plies, my first yarn of this type has a few breaks in it. I read that there is such a thing has having too much twist, so I relaxed a bit on it and wound up with less than enough.

In this picture, you can see the single ply yarn before I took it off the spindle. I layed that gray worsted weight yarn across it to give an idea of how thin i spun it.Forgetting that this worsted weight yarn is 4-ply, I was expecting to come out with a nice weight, but instead came out with around a sport/DK kinda thick thin yarn.

It's totally fine! I'm still going to dye it using my chosen method of FOOD COLORING!

While kool-aide appears to be the least expensive, at about $.25 a pack, it's not quite what I'm looking for. I'd like to do a hand painted type of deal, but from what I've read, Kool-aide has to have water added to it, left to sit and osmos (heck yeah, that's a word!), and yadda yadda too much.

This blog, Pea Soup of the Day, which is about life, yarn things and a whole bunch of other stuff made my mind up. I've fallen in love with the knitted strawberries! and the cute kid totally helpd too. (not to mention the clear pictures, viberant colors, and easy to follow tutorial offered there)

I love hand spun, don't you?

The amount of support one can receive from the handmade community is just awesome!

I missed my "It's All Good" entry for yesterday, so to make up for it, i want to share with you a few shops whose love I am definitely feeling.

To start, Shady Fibers on Etsy-
along with a few jewelry items, stitch markers, and knit and crochet, Monet offers some pretty nice roving along with some pizzazz


Another Etsian who offers some roving, as well as some wonderful hand dyed yarns is
Froggy Fibers

My favorite handspun yarn in her shop is called Clown College

Blue, yellow and red come together in this 2-ply Domestic/Merino/Corriedale Wool for a fun effect. It reminds me of Superman Ice cream- perhaps you could knit or crochet the 2.7 ounces offered here into a small bag to make a bold, fun,reminiscent of the good old days statement.

A few more things from Froggy Fibers

☺

These are the Breaks!

The other day, i decided that i was going to draft the wool that i received and was excited. i've figured out how thin i have to draft in order to get a worsted weight. but before i did, i was getting way too many breaks in the wool.
very frustrating.

after watching this tutorial once, about a week ago in the wee hours, i figured, hey! i got it!


this video is SO helpful.

but, when you're a bit too cocky about what you're trying to do, stuff tends to umm. get jacked up. So, i was finding myself with lots of broken off pieces that were about 8 inches long.
growl.

i'm over it now tho =-)

for some reason, i was expecting to get a really - sort of- ugly yarn out of the roving which kind of looked like a camouflage with white in it. orange, brown, green, black, and white.

This is what i got. - i still have lots left to draft and spin. i got about 30 yards out of this practice round
This is what it looked like while it was wrapped around a chair. of course, it got fuzzier and a little less sheeny when i put it in the hot water, but i'm hoping that the dullness was because of the water.

Here Are a few pics of it dried. i love it!

=-)

It's not too terrible

It's not too bad, i guess. the little blue violet thing that's there is the second one i tried, and the green is the 3rd. the first is just too terrible.

i didn't find it hard at all working with the silk caps. they seemed pretty easy to get fairly even draftings from, but when it came time to spin, there were a few really thin spots and more than plenty thick ones. but it's all good.
i'm not sure if i'll use the yarn i've made because i'm pretty much used to using acrylic and cotton. silk seems so exotic and with it being only one ply i'm like, umm, i dunno...

i'm already looking forward to being able to make plied yarns (probably because of the whole acrylic/cotton thing) and i have a lot of wool to practice with. Thanks to my buddy Monet of Shady Fibers.

so far, spinning has been wonderful, and i'm so excited to be learning a new craft =-)

Guess what i Got!

well, i haven't gotten it yet, but i did order it and so, i've got something to look forward to receiving.

a couple months ago, i did swear off buying anything ever again on etsy.
but it's full of such wonderful stuff that i just couldn't resist.

for a little while now, i've been wanting to learn to spin. i need to feel productive in some sort of way and i'm sure that this will help me out.
I've been very hesitant to buy one of these doo-dads from etsy because i've always found that shipping them was too high.

totaling about $10.75, i think it is, this thing is just perfect!

i had some funds in my paypal and so i got it!

it's been a while since i purchased something just for me, so i think i deserve it. and if i don't well, whatcha gonna do about it? lol

an old buddy from CFL, who now has her own shop full of greatness helped me find this wonderful spindle.

You can find her here on Etsy or simply click on the picture- it's one of my favorites in her shop.
Although she's named the colorway of this yarn "all that and a bag of chips", it reminds me of the sky. it's like a whole day full of sky in one roving.

My son and i were at the park yesterday evening and i swear the sky was that shade of blue- my favorite if there ever could be for the sky..
the street lights were on, birds were heading home, and stars began to twinkle. i love it!

anyway- check out her shop, she sells a bit of this and that and she's pretty cool too.