Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!


The following is from History.com:


Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).


The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.


To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.


During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.


By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.


The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.


By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.


Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More socks!!!

A very sweet person saw my previous posts in regards to the socks I make for my father. This person liked the socks so much, that they contacted me to order a pair.


Here's the custom pair, in process:

The true color is not quite as bright as it appears on my screen. It's called Winter Eclipse. It's a Super Fine wool yarn in varigated grey, deep blue and violet.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Big Project: Update #3


Only had a little time to work on this lately. We now stand at 13.5 hours of work. In this pic, you can really start to see the shape of the raven on the right. The raven on the left is just starting to come into play.

Sorry sorry sorry

It's been really hectic, strange, but wonderful around here for the past 10 days or so. Lots of changes and happenings.

Including several custom orders!

Regular posting will continue shortly.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Small stuff


It's been a busy couple of days. Craft time had been at the minimum, so I worked up some small items...

Made with Sugar'n Cream 100% USA grown cotton, these face scrubbies are excellent for your skin. Crochet in the round, one side is very soft and smooth, and the other textured to help ex foliate. Each scrubbie has a loop so it can easily hand dry after you are done. Approximately 4 1/2" across, not counting hanging loop.

Currently, we have Green Twist and Oriental Ochre for sale, with Natural Twist (a pinkish coloring) in process.
Come take a look!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Wristlet



My daughter bought a pair of wristlets that she loves to wear. I never liked them - not what they are, or the design on them, but that they were cheaply made. Within 2 weeks, they started to fall apart.




So I set out to make her a couple of different pairs in a knit version that would last longer.
I figured I could whip them up quickly - they are small, and the thumb area is just a slit.
But of course she picked out fingering weight yarn. meaning size 3 needles. So each pair is taking a bit longer than I wanted.
I'm going to keep playing with the pattern in different yarns and see how they look.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Busy week

It's been pretty busy around here the last couple of days. We have had company, lots of cleaning, and working on many new ideas. I have a Holiday Bazaar coming up in 6 weeks that I need to make items for.

Should have some new pictures to post soon...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Big Project ahead: Update #2




12 hours total, 3 hours intot he colorworks area. The black part on the red is the very bottom of the right side of the image...









This is closer to the correct colors. The afghan is being done in black and cherry red. But at this darkness, you cannot see the knotwork pattern without straining your eyes.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Big project ahead: update #1


Here is the pattern on the bottom border of the afghan. The yarn is a deep black, but I upped the brightness and contrast so that the pattern could be seen easier in the photo.
Tomorrow I will start on the center panel.
Time so far: 9 hours

A story of silliness

I was chatting on Etsy yesterday, like I often do. I needed a break from time consuming projects, and wanted to do something relatively quick, but still different and fun. Enya (http://www.enyaeire.etsy.com/) showed me some lovely hanging TP holders, and suggested I do something like that, but with yarn instead of sewn.






So, I set out to make a crochet toilet paper roll cover. Kinda like the type grandma used to make - the ones that sit on the toilet tank or counter, but nothing that old fasioned. Knowing that Halloween is approaching, I decided to do a witch's hat.




So I made it up and took pics - as shown here hiding a double roll, but also with a single roll.








Then I sat it down, and saw that it stood up just fine with nothing under it - making it also a good holiday decoration.



And I listed it. Enya and a few others were all chatting, and noticed that because of the size, it would also work as a toddler costume hat. Heck, you could dress up your dog in it, too.













Soon after, my teen daughter came home from school. I showed her what I had made, and before I could tell her what it's purpose was, she put it on her head! It stretched enought to fit her, so we added THAT to the listing.

Just goes to show what a little creativity, combined with boredom and a dash of silliness, can create!


See the full listing at: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15856688

Friday, October 3, 2008

Big project ahead



I'm working on one of my large projects. Large, as in 60+ hours to complete. These projects I work on over time, instead of one sitting.




I've started on the knotwork border. The border is 33 rows. There are 120 sts in each row. I am on row 10 in these pics.



Not much to look at yet.


Will do updates as more of the knotwork pattern begins to really show.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Design #3 - Complete

Here is the completed Arm Warmer Fingerless Glove In Camo.







And here is a close up detail on how it fits on the hand...






Now available for purchase: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15800298

Design #3




Here's some in-process pics of design #3 of our arm warmer gloves. These are working up quite quickly, and should be finished soon. We changed the rib from a k2, p2 rib to a k1, p1 rib to see if that helps the stretching issue. Different yarns stretch differently, even when using the same stitch. We found that with they grey heather, they have to be washed frequently because that yarn stretches easily. (Frequently meaning after 2-3 wearings) The yarn shown here seems to stretch about the same, so we are trying a tighter rib to increase the length of time that the gloves can be worn before washing.