The Letter to the Committee of Energy and Commerce

Congressmaen Joe Barton and George Randanovich have sent a letter to their fellow members of the Committee of Energy and Commerce. The letter is recommending that the CSPIA be reviewed and revised so that cottage industry will not be harmed. They're pressing them to act before Feb. 10, 2009.

Let's hope the Committee does act in a favorable way and quick!

Socks!

My friend gave me this lovely yarn for Christmas a couple years ago. I've started socks with this before back when I was first learning...then tore it out. A few days ago I decided to knock out a pair of socks for Charlotte. It's going to be COLD when we get to Virginia, and she's going to need them. I'll be starting a pair for Peter soon.

Again, I made these up as I went along, using a generic toe up method, on double points, and then added a gull wing stitch on the side, ending with ten rows of ribbing. Absolutely seamless!

chemo Caps

This is the third chemo cap I've made...ever. I wish it were going to be the last I ever make, but I think it's probably not. Last year I made one for a Great Aunt with Colon Cancer. Then I made another for a skating friend with Colon Cancer.

This year it seems to be Breast Cancer, and this cap is for a friend's Aunt who has breast Cancer. I have another Skating friend who also needs a cap for Breast Cancer...so if only I could knit a little faster...I might be making another soon.

One of my goofiest creations

(Models with candy in their mouths don't smile very well...but don't she look contemporary!)

This could be one of my weirdest sweaters ever. I made it up as I went along, but I had in mind to make a sweater that would go nicely over a dress. Well, it does go over a dress well enough, but my husband said, "are you going to sewing some elastic into the bottom of that?" Okay, it's a bit different. I'm going to focus on the parts I am proud of.

The light brown part on the top and sleeves is knit in a texture pattern that slowed this completion down and make the painstakingly arduous to complete...just so you know.

Perhaps I should have skipped the dark strip on the arm, it's just not wide enough and leaves me thinking, "why?" But I hate to rip things out, and so that's why it remained.

Then I decided to add some laced stitchery...or whatever you'd like to call that. Initially I had this idea of having it go all the way around the skirt, and then two contrasting laces going up the sleeves too...but I got tired of this project and stopped with the first 6 laces. Sigh... But she does like it, she's wearing it now, so I guess I should be happy with the end results.

Peter's Beanies

Oh I don't know what to call them, but I contribute the inspiration for these snow hats to Peter. Why not, his sisters each have their own dress line, lol. Peter gets the hats. And he's a happy model for them.

More of my hats

So funny story: I gave this brown raglan to my youngest for Christmas. Well...she open up her present, and her dear brother declared, "it's an itchy sweater!"

Then said child proceeded to carry on and on about how "itchy" and "scratchy" the sweater was. His little sister, of course, wanted nothing to do with the sweater (that I slaved over for countless hours). I had to bribe her with candy to get this photo....UGH!

Some of my favorite peoples wearing my hats.

Snow hats

I've been doing a bit of knitting during our vacation. I've made five snow hats, or you could call them beanies, I'm sure they could have several names...

...and I thought I wouldn't mind making some for my shop. Everywhere I went folks asked where we got our hats. Then when I said, "I made them," folks would say something to the effect of, "you should sell them!"

They're not very hard, and not terribly labor intensive...well at least not as time consuming as one of my dresses anyway!

But, there's this new law from the CPSIA coming into affect Feb. 2009 that will require all items intended for children under the age of 12 to be subjected to lead testing and such. Now, I didn't think this pertained to clothes, but now I'm told that the law is so nonspecific, that it most likely includes things such as my dresses...and just about anything else I could think of to make. Wow!

There's no way I could afford to spend several thousand dollars per item...and since all of my creations are one of a kinds (for the most part), would I be required to submit them all for testing...or face a very, very high fine?

Several of my fellow crafter friends are very confused and concerned. And yet, nobody can ease their fears. Now, if you want to read a bit on this you can visit a few different sites. Then contact your Representative and ask him or her to push for a change or clause that would exempt cottage industry inside the USA. Americans make great products...it's time to stop regulating ourselves out of business!

Save Handmade Toys From the CPSIA

Handmade Portraits WoodMouse

Etsy CPSIA Updates and Call to Action

It fits!

And Angel seems to appreciate her new jacket, and it couldn't have come a day too soon.

Yes, it does fit a Cocker Spaniel. Of course, only a girl dog, a boy dog would need a different pattern for the under belly strap.

Dog Jacket

My mom was telling me about the dog sweater she bought, and how her dog hated it. She wanted something for the dog for walks in the winter time. It rains a lot where she's at.

So...super me to the rescue...

* The outer shell is a Polyester laminate (water proof)

* The lining is a very thick impervious fleece by polar tech (malden mills...made in the U.S.A.) and also virtually water proof.

* And for safety, some reflective stripes (I found for 50% off at Joann's a couple weeks ago, thought it would come in handy...and it has)

* Velcro closures for under the belly and around the neck, with a fold over Velcro tab for the wash (like you see on Velcro diapers and covers...to keep the lint out).

I think this should do the trick. Now let's hope I got the dimensions correct. I take it as a good sign that it does not fit my collie. Hopefully, that means it will fit my mom's cocker spaniel just fine.

Maybe next year for Christmas I'll make her a rain hat too...goodness, I don't know if I can't think around those dimensions at this late hour.

Electra Repurposed

Yes, you can take a beat up boys bike and turn it into something a 5 year old girl would love to ride. A little simple green, black spray paint, new white wall tires, new seat, and new basket cover, and it's almost better then the girls' version of this bike. Seriously, we're thinking of writing Electra and telling them our bike is better then theirs.

I made the basket liner, but Daddy Saint Nick did the rest.

Big Toddler Longies

Yeah, she still needs longies. Accidents are just a chronic affliction around here, but we're too far into this to revert back to full time diapers. She does use the potty some times. A good pair of cotton training pant (or side snap fitted diaper that can be pulled up and down...like the toddler-ease), and some wool pants, and we're sitting pretty.

These were knit in the round, no seams! I hate sewing up seams...all I had to do was tuck in the tails.

You know I think Mother Mary was a knitter. Well, because I can think of no other way to make a seamless garment. So I believe she knit it...in the round. :)

I won

Isn't this quilt petty! Well, if you want one too... you'll have to go ask Dana to make you one...but she also makes some yummy looking soaps too. So Go check her out, cause she's obviously very sweet...and aren't those litte goats so cute!

Thank you Dana @ Old Red Barn Co.!

On the needles

I cast this on this past Tuesday. Charlotte has grown out of all the sweaters I made her. And her older brother isn't always nice enough to keep his sweaters nice enough to pass down. So I've got to make her a little something special for Christmas.

Working towards Christmas

I'm glad to have this done...so many gifts to knit, so little time....

A reglan tweed knit sweater

I bought this yarn over a year ago, and started several projects with, but was never happy with anything. This was something I had to push through, and finally it's done.

Win 1 of 3 Quilts

I don't quilt very well. I've made a couple things. I even have one of my quilts on the wall, but seriously, it's nothing special, and it's not on a prominent wall. Mostly, the walls in my current set of quarters are so tall, I'd put anything on the wall to make the place not look so plain and the space so empty. Though, this place is void of decor sense, lol. It's just not my home, and we're leaving soon, so it's not like I'm going to go all out to decorate this house. I don't own it.

Anyhow, I've added a button to the sidebar, because I'd love to win a pretty quilt for one of the kids. Any one of the quilts made by Old Red Barn Co. would look fabulous on Felicity's bed.

Treasury

I've been in a couple treasuries over the last couple of years. But this one is special because it's been so long and SewMelody, who made this treasury has wanted to add me to one for a long time. I'm so honored, thanks so much! Here's her treasury; Surf and Snow

Finally finished!

Thanks to a generous lady who sold me some of her left over yarn, (thank you, thank you, thank you) I am now finished with the first Felicity Mock Turtle Neck, long sleeve dress. It feels so good to be done with this project. Whew!

Voila, yarn!

So here's my first 350 yards (give or take), double ply, loosely spun, variegated weight, Merino/Cormo cross lamb and English Angora wool yarn.

The yarn is twisted into two hanks. The first hank is really large, and the second one is smaller, but the yarn is all about the same.

Carding and Spinning

Once I was able to find some of the wool was dry (not all of it is dry, but some of the locks on the top of the bag were dry) I didn't hesitate to start carding the wool.

This is my first experience carding sheep's wool, as well as trying my hand at blending wool fibers. So I would estimate that this blend is 70% lambs wool 30% angora...maybe? I'm just sort of putting two to three fist full of wool to each fist full of angora fiber. I know that's perhaps a bit haphazard. It's turning into a very fluffy batting.
And thus far it's spinning up nice enough. Now, I've got to decide what to knit with this. I wonder if this is soft enough for my son's sensitivities. (He doesn't like itchy wool). I might make a sweater for him. If this doesn't do the trick I don't know what would. This is angel soft!