Fiber Fool

‘Tis the season for last minute and inexpensive gifts! This past Sunday one of my knitting groups hat a holiday gathering at the mountain home of one of the founding members. We were asked to bring a handmade gift with materials adding up to $10 or less. We did not *have* to make the gift, though that of course was highly encouraged. We drew numbers and each person could steal an already open gift or open a wrapped gift. Each gift could only be stolen twice. After that it was at its permanent home.

My plan was to make a handbound knitting journal with a hand felted cover. Nothing was going quite right in terms of the handbound book and was working on it at the very last minute (of course), so I went with plan B and bought a blank journal at the bookstore. Despite the store bought journal it was one of the gifts to get stolen the maximum number of times.

The cover used dyed corriedale roving in several different colors which I hand felted using bubble wrap to aid in the agitation. Because it wasn’t a large piece I skipped the stabilizing sheer fabric. Once the felt was dry I wrapped it around the journal, folding the front edge to form a pocket that hooked on the front cover of the book. I used needle felting to close the pocket seamlessly and also to attach a length of handspun mohair yarn for the closure. Three different buttons before sewing them to the cover to wrap the yarn around. I chose to not make a back pocket because the edges of handmade felt are so interesting.

It was a really economical project in both time and funds and is one of my favorite things I’ve made this year. Go figure! LOL!

It has been nuts around here. Recuperating and reacting poorly to the meds (nausea) while also trying to put together a last minute design on a tight schedule. Taking on two more commissions - yes the book was well received. Received so well they want a second like it for the interior designer as well as two books for the next house too!

Needless to say, it might be a bit before I get caught up on all my blog reading and replies to comments… Or make progress on Sahara… *sigh*

I don’t think there is anything much scarier than to have someone order something of worth from you but demanding nothing specific. Giving you 100% creative freedom. Sure, it sounds great. You jump in and do what the photos and fabrics say to you. But, during the entire process there is that niggling voice asking questions and planting seeds of doubt. This is nothing like the original book that prompted them to contact me for these commissions at first glance. In reality the very start of this book is almost identical, but it looks so drastically different because of the difference in materials. There is also the reality that the book they liked would not fit with the decor of the house this book is to serve as a warming gift for.

Yikes! This book is going to be in a $3.3 million dollar house! What did I charge for it? Probably not enough…

It has been carefully wrapped and packaged. It has been dropped into the FedEx box. Can I pull it back out and come up with a reason for a further delay and give it another shot? Even if I could open the drop box and retrieve it, you do hit a point where you just have to say your prayers and put it out there. Not to mention, if I made another I wouldn’t make a profit!

Do commissions ever get easier? *sigh* I’m not sure I can handle the stress…

Dimensions: 6 X 8 X 1.5 inches
Pages: 64, white 98 lb pastel paper
Binding: Exposed Spine Herringbone and Chain, Lay-flat
Extras: Eyelet Reinforcement, Binding Spacers (allows for the addition of photos etc. without the book yawning open)

Photographs provided by customer, taken by Jonathan Allain.

Wow, did switching from US10s to US4s make a BIG difference in my progress on the Ribs and Lace Tank! Okay, that makes me sounds like I’m an idiot and did not realize that it would take many more stitches per inch to create the same amount of fabric. Yes, I know that. What I wasn’t counting on was having to be very diligent about pacing myself once I got to the 4s. The worsted weight, mostly cotton yarn on US4s is a bit of a strain on my hands. I’m still moving forward and the end is in sight. I had originally thought it would be washed and blocking overnight and ready for FO Friday shots this afternoon. Well, it isn’t going to happen. I’m 4 rows from starting the neckline. Then there is the remainder of the back to do once the front is done.

I will certainly have an FO next Friday, but again it may not be the tank. It seems I’m in a bit of feast cycle here right now. There was a project for pay just a few weeks ago and I have another similar thing on my plate with an April 2 drop dead date. Then I’m in a wholesale deal with a company about a few of my sock patterns. That doesn’t take a lot of work, but there will be some slight reformatting for them. Then yesterday I was contacted by a development company out of Florida who commissioned two collaged blank books. I’m excited about the project, though a little intimidated as the homes these are being made for are in the multi-million dollar category! Yikes! And, if they like the books there could be more in my future…

The first book has a 14 day rush (don’t worry, I made them pay for the rush) on it so at the least that book needs to be done by next Friday. This also means that the Ribs and Lace tank is going to be pushed aside to only getting attention during drying times, at least for the next week so I may not yet get that wrapped. I’m kind of bummed. I was looking forward to saying that I completed a garment in my size in a week! Oh well, you got take your pay where you can get it!

Of course, with the addition of sewing and more serious photography to my plate combined with the increasing interest in knitting and spinning, some older crafty pursuits have kind of fallen to the wayside. At the same time, some crafty skills from long, long ago were also put to use this year.

In miscellaneous crafty output I have included the binding of two books (I think I may have also bound 2 knitting journals that went out before photographing), the making of one collage, the making of one digitally manipulated image (I need to do more of this as it is something doable when pain levels are higher, though I lost all of my “goodies” in the hard drive crash), designing freezer paper stencils for a ton of baby onesies and painting five of them myself, making teeth out of polymer clay and beading into jewelry, and weaving many weavette squares that were then sewn into lavendar sachets.

I remember feeling quite pleased with the books I bound as well as the collage, but somehow I’m just not finding much time to do these things. The culprit may be more due to the state of my “studio” than finding time. It is more finding the time/energy/low pain levels to clean out said studio so that it is quicker and easier to sit down and create things like collages and make prints. Definitely something to go on the list of 2007 goals…

It was also a blast to return to some crafting I hadn’t really done since I was in junior high or high school. I remember sculpting a whale for my sister to use in a diorama for school and being heart broken when one of the kids broke it on the bus. I was so proud of it. I went on to make some rose pendants and such for friends as gifts one Christmas. After that I didn’t do much. Of course this was all before the widespread use of pasta machines to condition the clay and before they came out with some formulas that are a bit easier to work with. I was pretty proud of my teeth beads and the jewelry never fails to get a comment. It’ll be fun to pull it out each Halloween season.

As many of you have pointed out, indeed I have accomplished a fair bit in 2006. It is just that it is scattered all over the board in terms of skills and supplies used. Tomorrow, for ECF I’ll take a look back at my photography (though all original photos before mid March of 2006 were lost in the hard drive crash) over 2006.