Page 128 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitty SP9

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

The swap gods must be smiling upon me. On the heels of the fabulously successful Harry Potter Swap on Knitty, I signed up for SP9. I received a box in the mail from my swap partner on Thursday. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it is, so let me just show you.

Isn’t that incredible? I don’t know how she knew I spoke German (the Rebecca magazine) or that my second child’s favorite candy is airheads (I broke down and served it as his "side dish" with hamburgers for dinner that night). Everything is perfect! The note card with the sheep is gorgeous — I think I’m going to frame it. The YO-YO is the perfect stress reliever at work. The big bag of chocolate is was yummy.

Here are my two favorites.

Vesper Sock Yarn. How did she know I have been DYING to get my hands of some of this yarn forever? And the green color suits me perfectly. I am so excited to have this yarn! Right now it has trophy yarn status and I just keep it by me and fondle it, but soon I will be thinking about a pattern.

And this,

This is a sheep figurine that comes with six outfits. Ellie, whose love of kitsch is at least as strong as my own, immediately seized on her and we had to spend the next hour trying on all of her outfits. She is currently on the mantle piece, in a lovely purple hat with rhinestone stars. Ellie has decided we will make a diorama for each outfit and make a scrapbook with photos. It’s always the simple pleasures….

Thanks Swap Partner, whoever you are. I have no clues (heck, I’m still trying to figure out who my HP buddy was) and the Judge threw away the box it came in before I can check it out for postmark type clues. But I am so excited about my box, and hoping my buddy enjoys the box I’ve sent her as much as I am enjoying mine!

Oh Ravelry, Where Art Thou?

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I am waiting patiently to receive my invitation to Ravelry. I have been waiting patiently for what seems like forever now.

Recently, I tried bribing Jess into letting me jump in line. I offered her hand-dyed yarn. She graciously declined my offer, leading me to believe that she has both integrity and a sense of humor.

She also explained:

We are just as eager to get everyone in! Looks like you have about

2700 people ahead of you- which sounds worse than it is. We have

about 4000 people in the site and over 10,000 on the waiting list and

are inviting about 150 per day. We’ll be upping that rate throughout

July.

*Sigh*

Such a long time to wait!

I did follow her advice and start uploading photos into Flickr. So far, I’ve loaded most of my stash and some of my works in progress and finished items. My Flickr ID is rorysgirl1 in case anyone wants to check the pictures out.

For today, I’m going to leave you with this thought — Blue Faced Leicester and Alpaca blended together in a lightweight yarn suitable for either lace (think shawls) or socks. It’s soft and cuddly like Alpaca and has the incredible silky shimmer that BFL always has. I’m in love! If this yarn was a man, you would marry it!

Here are a couple of my first colorways in this yarn. They will both be available, in very limited quantities, at my new Elliebelly at Hyena Cart shop on Thursday at noon. I adore this yarn, and it’s going to be a mainstay around here, if I can just keep myself from hoarding it all for me!

This is Lullaby.

And this is Sacajawea, with a swatch below.

Art For Kara

Posted on July 7, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

This is a collaborative piece of art, made by all the girls from The Altered Workshop, who were at Art & Soul in Virginia in May. It’s made on a full sheet of cold pressed watercolor paper. I started by taping off the margins and painting and texturizing the background with acrylics. A number of different artists worked on it during the retreat, including Lou McCulloch, who graciously offered this beautiful image of a warrior princess.

The piece was made for one of our friends who is currently going through treatment for breast cancer (some of the girls who couldn’t join us in Virginia sent separate pieces of art to go along with the big collage). The collage embodies our friend’s tough, fighting spirit, and we all hope the image helps lift her up while she is undergoing medical treatment. We never titled this piece while we were together, but I came to think of it as "A Pox on the House of Cancer" while I was carrying it home.

Here’s to Kara! May she overcome and go on to a beautiful season of art and creativity in her life.

Getting My Art Muse On

Posted on July 6, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

My art muse has been, well, lost. It happens every time I clean up my studio (you would think I would learn the lesson in that, wouldn’t you?) I’m happy that the muse seems to have returned, and although I’ve got a yucky virus (see picture of cute kids who gave me said virus below) I spent some time tonight in the studio, happily painting and layering my background for the piece I want to work on this weekend.

These are the sick babies who gave me the pesky virus. They always look awfully sweet when they’re not feeling well.

Since being sick makes me sort of random, I’ll progress on and tell you my happy skein-winder story. Several months ago I purchased a Mama Bear skein-winder. It was love at first sight and made winding so much more enjoyable. But, over time, my winder got a little bit of a bounce to it and didn’t seem to work as easily. I still loved it, but it just wasn’t the same way it was at first.

So here’s the amazing part. I emailed Tom, the really nice guy who makes the Mama Bear. He spent a whole lot of time emailing me to help me figure out what the problem was. It turned out that a big part of the problem was trying to wind from my umbrella swift, which was at a much higher level, onto the Mama Bear. Tom’s solution was to send me a second winder to experiment with, to see if it would help. You just don’t get that kind of customer service anywhere these days!

Here it is — winding side to side on two Mama Bear skein winders.

I’m in love! Thank you Tom. And in case you’re wondering, this is how the skein (buttery soft bamboo) turned out.

Next up? A brand new yarn for me. It’s a 50/50 blend of Suri Alpaca and Blue Faced Leicester. It’s incredibly soft.

I can’t wait to start dyeing it. I think I’m going to use the same colors I want to use in the collage piece this weekend and see if I can’t get a jumpstart on the muse.

Happy Fourth Of July!

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

My little chickadees came down with some kind of nasty viral bug yesterday, so we’re having a low-key Fourth, without the usual family BBQ. We’ve been enjoying a visit from Grandma all week, however, and even when under the weather, the kids enjoy her company.

Ellie dressed her up like a queen.

Ollie was very amused by the whole thing. Teddy, with typical teenage disdain, wasn’t. He refused to come any closer than the stairs.

In the midst of it all, I’m also gearing up for the opening of my new online venue for hand-dyed yarn, Elliebelly at Hyena Cart. The store has some great new colorways and yarns, and also features my new "Knit Kits" with yarns paired up to work with different patterns.

Here are a few of my favorites. Blue Faced Leicester in Clever (named by the always perky Miss Ellie).

Then there’s a cute little hand-dyed and handpainted tee, with matching superwash Merino sock yarn.

And sock yarn, in Mr. Potter.

The store opens on Thursday, July 5 at noon. Please come by for a visit! I’ve got a few goodies like stitch markers that you can enter a raffle to win. (can I do that with my husband too?) I hope everyone will like the new store, as much as Queen Grandma and Ellie seem to.

Knitty’s Harry Potter SP

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

My first knitting secret pal swap ever was the Harry Potter swap at Knitty. The box my pal sent me came yesterday, and it’s just stunning. And I do mean stunning!

The sock yarn is absolutely to die for! The colors are even more beautiful than in the picture. But the little owl is just the bees knees! It’s just perfect because I have had a big thing about owls lately and just bought these sweet little handsewn owls for myself. And strangely, I’ve been wanting a Moleskine journal for ages, but haven’t indulged myself. I still can’t figure out who my partner is (even though she has given me a lot of clues), so whoever you are, THANK YOU so very much! I’m going to enjoy everything in my lovely surprise box.

If only everything in life was that nice. This morning, while watching the littles play in the frontyard, my Mom, who is visiting, and I sat on the front steps. I was doing more work on the Giotto tank that is part of my ten week plan. The get health/loose weight part is going great, and I thought my knitting was ahead of schedule.

I’ve got to knit 11" in moss stitch and then do the edging and straps and put the tank together. I figured I could knit an inch plus a little bit each week and be done at the end of my ten week plan, and hopefully, be back to a size that would fit into the tank, since fast living and steroids had made me a bit pudgy since I started it. It looks good, right? I’m just finishing week three and that’s well ahead of three inches, probably more like five. It looked good until I found this.

How did I get a big freaking hole in the middle of my tank? It’s inches back. And, I’m a little bit nervous about laddering back and fixing it, since this is in Moss Stitch. I’ll have to wait until I’m feeling particularly confident to attempt it. If anyone has advice or suggestions for doing this and having it turn out just right, I’m all ears!

I can’t remember if I’ve told y’all, but I getting ready to open a new online yarn shop. It will open this Thursday, July 5th, at noon. the url is http://hyenacart.com/elliebelly. Hyena Cart is a cool place where moms, especially cloth diapering moms, hang out. The Elliebelly shop will have lots of fun yarn, including kits with yarn and patterns for childrens’ sweaters and vests, as well as Blue Faced Leicester and Organic Merino for diaper covers. And I’ll add in some sock yarn too. Please come and visit the store when it opens this Thursday. There will be a few *special* promotions for the store’s grand opening. Here’s a little taste of one of the new yarn colorways.

A Quiet Night

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

We’re having a quiet night here. The cats are all exhausted from chasing yarn. My Mom is visiting from California. It’s perfect.

To get caught up, I need to show you a few things. First off, the ten week plan is going so well (8 lbs and 3" of the Giotto tank in the first three weeks) that I decided to cast on another project to avoid finishing the tank too soon. After a trip to my local yarn store, Knit Nouveau, I decided to snag their idea and knit up a skein of Sea Silk my wonderful friend gave me for Christmas, using a feather and fan lace pattern. This is two stitches on either side for a garter border and two repeats in the middle.

Lace never looks particularly good on the needles, but I think this is going to be fabulous when it’s done!

I’m working on two round robin books right now. The first is Lorena’s Lutrador book on animal totems.

Very cool book, with a wonderful prompt.

Finally, a quick look at my yard sale score from last weekend.

The woodcut book offers endless ideas and inspiration. I love old lace, so the doilies are sure to find a little niche for themselves.

All in all, it’s been a very good week! I hope y’all have a fabulous weekend and a wonderful 4th of July to those in the US.