Paradise Fibers Yarn Club: October

I finished the October yarn club project way back before Thanksgiving.  However, it was a Christmas present for my sister-in-law so I didn't want to post about it and ruin the surprise.  Now that Christmas is over, I can post about it all I want!

The project for the month was a boot-toppers kit using three colors of 4/8's Wool in "Just One Ounce" skeins.  Since neither of us wear boots, I decided to make a Reindeer Headband project from the Norwegian Handknits book I've had an eye on since last year.  It was a quick little colorwork project, and my sister-in-law loves it!

Books 323-328

Saturday was my very last craft show of the year!  The night before the show I finished up one more case bound book, and one more envelope book.  The envelope book is actually one that I started for the book demonstration during the Morgan Conservatory's annual benefit, but didn't have time to finish.

I also finished up a small coptic book made with leftover mohawk superfine paper from a book class.  This is another one that I started a long time ago but never got around to finishing.

I also made three additional coptic books using mohawk superfine for the pages instead of the heavier paper I normally use.  One is a pretty yellow paper with blue dots (the same paper from these minibooks.)

I made covers for the blue one earlier this year when I was making books for the Women of Achievement Awards.  I cut extra boards while working on that project and I'm finally getting around to using them up.

The third coptic is probably my favorite!  The paper has tea kettles and says "where there's tea, there's hope."  At this point I've got 37 more books to go for my 365 challenge.  I'm out of town this week visiting family, so I am hoping to make a few pairs of book earrings while I'm here.  There are still a few more half finished journals at home I can complete on the 30th and 31st...

Minibooks 311-322

I'm still working away on my 365 books for the year.  Yesterday I finished up two more minibook necklace and earring sets, and three pairs of minibook earrings.  The yellow and blue paper is a new one I bought this fall.  I think the necklace turned out really well.  I've got a journal in the works using the same paper for a cover.  I'm sure you will be seeing that here soon!

Coptic Books 309-310

This weekend I had a two day craft show. (In fact, I'm sitting and blogging while at the show. Hooray multitasking!) To help pass the time I finished up two of the coptic books I started last week.

The first book has irises on the cover, and the second has an Italian print. If I keep finishing up books at this rate, I just might get those last 55 done before the New Year!

Case Bound Books 306-308

This week I got to work on books for my next two holiday shows.  At my show over the weekend, I sold all but one of my case bound books!  So I cut boards, tore paper for pages, and matched paper with bookcloth for a bunch more case bound books.

One of the three I finished this week has really cute cork bookcloth with an alphabet block paper.  The combination reminds me of vintage school books and classrooms.  The second book uses a super sparkly bookcloth that matches the copper colored pattern on the paper.  The third book is more simple with a gray and green patterned paper with gray bookcloth.

Overall I spent a lot of time this week doing prep work for books.  Even though I only finished three, I have another 7 or 8 large journals in various stages of completion and another 6 minibooks for jewelry.  Hopefully in the next 18 days I'll be able to finish everything up and complete the rest of my 365.

Paradise Fibers Yarn Club: September

I am woefully behind on posting about my monthly yarn club projects.  For the month of September the yarn was Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in the color Poppy Trail.  The yarn is a fingering weight Merino with a little bit of nylon.  The color was a blend of orange, pink, red, and green- great fall colors!  (It was still actually fall when I was received the yarn and started knitting...)

The suggested project for the month was a pair of socks.  Since I had done a pair of socks last month, I decided to make a lace shawl/scarf.  I chose the Ashton Shawlette because of the pointy scallops on the edges.

The pattern was easy to follow and worked up pretty quickly.  I managed to finish knitting within minutes of the October 20th deadline.  And then it sat unblocked in my room for over a month... oops!

Last week I used my Paradise Fibers store credit to get a set of foam blocking mats.  They are squares that fit together in different shapes, and then you can pin items to them for blocking.  I finally blocked the shawl and it looks great!  I'm always amazed at how much bigger a project like this turns out after blocking.

And here's a bonus photo of Frankie helping me with my knitting!

Pamphlet Books 288-305

Yesterday I finished up some pamphlet stitch books for my next show.  Some have the state of Ohio, and some just have patterned paper for the covers.  After my last show I only had a handful of non-Ohio pamphlet books left... And most of them were Fall themed.  So I picked four nice patterned papers and made 3 books of each.

This brings me up over 300 books for the year!  Now I have 30 days to finish 60 books.  That's not so bad considering I am preparing for 3 more Christmas shows this month.