Well this past week has just slipped past me! I suppose that's what happens when you fill your days with book-writing and book-making and book-reading. Whew, that's a lot of bookish things! So my weekly fancy is going to be not bookish at all, really. I hope you don't mind. ;)

In fact, I'm going to be revisiting one of my favoritish, things quite a bit, and you all know that's fiber. ;)


Take this superwash Merino from KnitFitKnitter. Is that gorgeous, or what? It's called Twinkle, 220 yards worsted weight, and I just love it. Maybe it's just my old AP art history class (which was longer ago than I've realized!), but I look at this and all I see is Van Gogh. It's perfect, isn't it? Gorgeous stuff!

And talking about gorgeous...


I can't help but be stunned by this. It's wall art by box64studio, more specifically an 18x18 inch Paper Collage Floral Burst. I am amazed that people can make such gorgeous things out of paper. It seems like such a delicate thing, which I suppose is part of the very beauty of it. These floral bursts remind me of my mother's Hawaiian appliqué, which is something that I've always wanted to do myself. Beautiful stuff!

And then we have this:


Hee. Oh my goodness if this isn't one of the cutest little monster(pair!)s that I've ever seen. This is Daphne and Delilah the Mommy and Baby Monster. It's a pattern, to make your very own little set of monsters, and I can't get over how darling these little gals are. The listing shows the pattern done up in a few different colorways, so you can get an idea of what your monsters might turn out like, and all of them are adorable! This is from dangercraft's shop, and really all of her patterns and creatures are just fabulous.

My next pick for this week is from SunshineMaker, who is brand new to Etsy!


She's got lots of lovely fibery things, but this right here is her Purple Rain batt. 50 grams of gorgeous purple wooly goodness with just a hint of white viscose to make it pop! This makes me wish (not that I hadn't already!) that there had been room in the car for my spindle and fiber when I made the move... They'll get to me eventually, they're tucked up safely down in San Diego... but I see stuff like this and I want to spin NOW. Sigh.

And lastly...


YES PLEASE. As you can see, this is the Buy Handmade shirt from phippsart. What a great way to tell the world your opinion on hand-crafted, high-quality items, versus the dross that we see in department stores? I love everything about this shirt. The color, the style, all the detail!

It's in conjunction with The Handmade Movement, which, if you haven't checked them out, you really should! It's a fabulous blog that coordinates sneak attacks on various Etsy shops... meaning a shop can be "sponsored" by someone, and announced to at a specific time, and as many people as are willing go and purchase something from that shop! It's such a great way to promote Etsy artists, and I tip my hat to them!

It's been a while since I've been able to do a Wednesday Wants post, so I thought I'd get an extra long one ready for you today!

Firstly...


Can you say yum? These are Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies from DeepSouthBakery. Looking at this picture I can almost smell these cookies. They just look amazing, don't they? Classic, rich chocolate chips, and then that hint of citrus? And I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but I'm all about the citrus. You want to find your way into my heart it's through that fabulous fruit family right there. These look simply divine!

And now for something slightly less edible, though no less yummy:


Here's playatlifefiberarts' Peck of Peppers Kettle-dyed yarn, recycled from a 100% Ecuadorian wool sweater. Such pretty colors! I think the title is just perfect, too, this does certainly look like a zesty little skein of yarn! Looks awfully soft, too, doesn't it? You bet it does.

Next we have something from joojoo, who has one of the cutest shops on Etsy.


This listing is entitled Darlings for your Terrarium. ! How adorable is that? These little polymer clay dears are ready to liven up anything you want to put them in, a terrarium, a water bowl, or as shown, a lovely little jar of salt. Look at those little grass spriglets! And the little green coconuts waiting to ripen on the palm. I love it. I just love it.

I can't quite let this go without one more cute item:


This Octopus Crochet Pattern from trulyoutrageous is just the cutest thing! It includes all three sizes, so you could make a whole little octopus family all for yourself! She has lots of other fun patterns too, so be sure to check them all out!

And lastly, a new little find of mine that is just darling:


This is the Green Weeds Blank Book from Sprouting Oxygen, and she has some other really beautiful books as well. (Actually, her whole shop is lovely!) The look of the wood is appealing on its own, but then the stamp she uses is just the perfect touch. She'll even add a button-enclosure to it for an extra fee, which I think is kinda neat. :)

So that's one more week of Wants. Why oh why must my eyes be so much bigger than my wallet? Well, to entertain all of you, of course. ;)

I know, a bit late (like really late!)... but I still wanted to get a post up this week. I'll keep it sort of short. Just oogling and fawning, you know. ;)

Firstly... sigh.


Isn't she pretty? It's not likely to happen anytime soon, but this Pods n Posies laptop case by janinekingdesigns is just to die for. And it would fit my baby, my 17" widescreen laptop. And somehow it looks a tad more professional than the Hello Kitty case I was previously looking for. (Not that I probably wouldn't still settle for Hello Kitty, if I could ever find one big enough, but that's another story.) All of Janine King's bags are gorgeous, her fabrics are impeccable, and of course all of that is reflected in her sales. She probably doesn't need this spotlight at all. But a want is a want. ;)

Secondly... hand dyed sock yarn. YUM.


This colorway is called Heirloom Tomatoes, which I love—I love fantastic colorway names. It's from lightbrownhare's shop, a fairly new seller on Etsy, but a perfect yarn dyer—I had a lot of trouble picking just one item from her shop that I wanted to spotlight, because all her colorways are really lovely and vibrant. In the end I picked this one because... well, maybe I shouldn't own to this, but I picked it because it reminded me of the Gryffindor Common Room in the Harry Potter films! hahaha And I've always wanted to be a Gryffindor, I admit.

My last find this week... well, "Heavenly" seems pretty apt.


These are haveitconfections' Heavenly Vanilla Marshmallows and Heavenly Vanilla Caramels. Again, it was hard picking something from her shop because everything looks so delicious. So I picked a mix of caramels and marshmallows! They really do look amazing. And, from the shop profile, you can see that this is a pretty awesome shop to patron! Not only do they support Kiva.org, a website supporting entrepreneurs in developing countries, but they're also super-green and use a portion of their sales to pay for trees to be planted! Very cool and very much what the handmade movement is and should be about! Not like you need an incentive like that, when they're goodies look as yummy as they do, but still. Awesome.

In the hectic world that is my life at the moment, crafting has been an escape to simplicity for me. So don't be expecting cables and lace here, darlings.

What's on my spindles:



The orange is merino, my first time spinning straight merino, and I'm loving it! Have to work this one off of the spindle so that I can get to the other half! The grey/beige is... well I'm not entirely sure what it is. A stickier stuff, part of a package RAK'ed to me by myrtili over at Ravelry. It makes for a very interesting yarn, and I'm finding that if I spin it, I sort of fall in love, no matter what it is - unless it makes my hands itch, which thankfully hasn't happened with anything yet!

I can't tell you how happy I am to know that I'm not flat-out allergic to all wool, just one or two little kinds. Lamb's Pride, for example. Definitely allergic to that one, unfortunately.

On the needles, I'm continuing on with my sock-yarn clap. Two skeins of Heritage Sock and I love it to bits.


Maybe I should have gone with something a little more neutral-ish, but this picture doesn't really do justice to the colors in this yarn, pinks and pinks, and a few peaches and a bright orange, and even a deep, nearly purplish maroon. I'm onto my second skein and haven't gotten sick of the yarn yet, so boo-yah! This project is perfect for any downtime - reading, watching TV or a movie, whatever. And, since the Clap is such a simple pattern, it's something I can easily pick up for a few stitches, then throw to the side if necessary. Because you'd better believe life has been cutting into my crafting time lately.

Speaking of... have to go get some stuff done! Happy Tuesday, all.

Just a quick little post! That there are the first four attempts I've made at handspinning yarn, in order. The first is mega bulky and not very even at all. The second is thinner but still fairly bulky and a little uneven. The third I think is fairly even and fairly thin, making it to some 41 yards (yay!). The fourth is fairly the same, though the fiber is different—BFL, I believe, I've lost my little card with the notes on it!

I've finally gotten even spinning down—so of course then I wanted to see if I could do thick/thin! haha And so this was the result of that little inclination:


That's some true experimentation on my part... this was just a little tiny bit of fiber I had from my bag from DeeAnn a while back, and it only ended up as seven some yards, and while it's not quite what I was evisioning, I do kind of like how it turned out:


Now I just need to get brave and set some of these babies. And I suppose I should play with plying, too, though I really do like the look of singles. But I have lots of thread, too, so... Maybe I'll ply this yellow, see how it looks. I don't think this particular little skein could get worse. :-P