Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Swap

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I was totally about to finally write all about guild retreat and I realized I have no idea where half of my stuff was donated from and most of the point about that post is being able to link to places.  So you get a post about my most recent swap!

The point of the swap is to prepare a package to help your swap partner survive the upcoming zombie apocalypse.  My package came from Karyn and had loads of awesome stuff in it.

 Look at all the stuff.

 This is the food half of the package.  Well, actually not all of it there is more in the next picture.  She sent a lot of noms.  I am eagerly looking foward to making the cock flavored soup.  The jerky is from various non-beef animals.  Kangaroo, alligator, etc.  The Luna bars have been consumed while working out.

Other half of the package.  Lovely yarns.  The shortbread is still in this picture.  I've almost managed to eat all of it.  So good.  I'm going to take a minute to talk about those shrimp snacks.  I have loved these chips for years.  I used to get them in England all the time.  The prawn cocktail ones are amazing.  Well, Karyn bought the shrimp snacks on a whim.  They are actually chips made out of shrimp but they are sour cream and onion flavored.  But they have the right texture and are more like a lighter prawn cocktail flavor.  They are amazing.  And she bought them because they were weird.  Story of my life.  lol.

 

And I'll mention the box I made for my swapee.  We both have pretty low chances of survival according to an internet test.  So I made her a box with which she could relax and enjoy her last days.  No sense running around trying to survive.  Just lock yourself in the house, make a cuppa tea and relax with an herbal bath soak and a good book.  :)

Belly Dance Crafting

So a lot of my crafting time has been taken up by one particular project recently.  As I've gotten a bit deeper into belly dance and been performing more, I need more costumes.  Well, a nicely made and well embelished costume averages around 200-400 dollars.  As I'm a bit more shapely, we are talking more in the 500-800 dollar range.  Yeah, I'm cheap and crafty.  You can see where this is going.  I need to scavenge some pictures from facebook for our last performance.  I made all of my costumes.  I even dyed our silk veils.  But that needs its own post. 

 

So I have been spending time at Goodwill looking for velvet dresses and housecoats.  A good and cheap source of nice velvet material.  The good, stretchy, non-crushed (I always thing the crushed velvet at Joanns looks cheap) velvet can run around 10 dollars a yard.  Even with a coupon it can get pricy.  So I recently found a few housecoats that fit the bill.  For the purpose of this post, pretend it is red.  This green one did get turned into another costume, but I don't have a picture of the finished product.  But it started pretty identical looking to the red one. 

 

 I did some slicing, dicing, and nipping.  Cut it off right under the bust.  Cut off one of the sleeves. And fitted it around the top and bottom and cut it off around my knees.  I replaced the mid-section and the now missing sleeve with lovely old gold lace. 

 Beading time.  I added some sequin swirls and rosettes.  And added beaded fringe to give the dress movement.

 And I've added more lace onto the bottom for a mermaid fit.  I am still working on the top beading.  It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do.  I plan on carrying the swirl motif up.  And there will be little swirls along the neckline that get bigger and multiply as they head towards the shoulder of the red sleeve where they will eventually spill down the top of the sleeve.  I am really loving how it is turning out.  The gold sleeve is going to get some red trim and I think I'm going to try to find something to trim the bottom as well.  It feels a little short to me and I think it would help my feet not just sort of blend in.  Give my twirl some definition.

 This is my other dance project.  I used that ribbon yarn that is so popular right now and crocheted myself a circle skirt.  It took forever.  A little voice in my head keeps telling me it needs one more round.  But apparently a lot of people in this area are making the ruffle scarves for sale because none of the stores around here can keep it in stock.  It is ridiculous.  I was trying to find more in this color and I got to AC Moore right after they had restocked and I watched two ladies clean out pretty much the entire rack. 

ERMAGERD GUYS!!!

Wow!  This is a post 4 years in the making.  Not too long after I started spinning, I got to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool show.  I fell down a bit hard in the fleece judging area and snagged myself my very first fleece.  Keep in mind that I had never processed raw fleece, didn't have a drum carder and still had my Babe spinning wheel.  We've come a long way baby.  Well, I think the fleece was around 7 pounds.  Romney wool. A lovely brown with a bit of blonde at the tips.  I'm sure you've seen me post about it over the years.  It is always my goal for the Tour de Fleece to finish spinning it.  Please take a moment here to laugh.

 

Well, I can no longer use that as my goal, for it is finished.  Completely everything spun, plied and washed.  Ta Da!!!  (This post is a bit pic spammy, but it is kind of a big deal)

 

 Yup 1392 yards today. 

 It is a lovely 3-ply, somewhere in between 8-7 wraps per inch.  So the lighter side of a bulky weight.  Just what I wanted. 

 I love how tweedy it finished up.

What have I been up to?

I finally finished my poor, long-suffering brother's hat.  He picked out the yarn himself (handspun alpaca from a local fam, he is a very good boy).  And it was to be his Christmas present.  He got it in March.  

 Fingerless mitts for my mom's friend.

 A beard for a viking without a beard

 I made myself a Pinkie Pie hat.  I feel silly as a 30-year-old running around in a My Little Pony Hat.  But what can you do.

 I'm doing a year long, cross-stitch-along sampler with Haley.  I actually have February and March finished on there now.  Just waiting for April.  It should be a big one.

 And a crocheted shawl.  It is the Snowdrop Shawl pattern done in Lion Brand Amazing.  Love this pattern.  Super quick in worsted weight.  I am currently digging the worsted weight shawl trend.  Fast.  Makes me feel like I've accomplished something quickly

That is about it.  Getting ready for guild retreat.  I can't wait

Guild Olympics

For the miscellaneous event, I thought I would show off my wire jewelry skills.

 I'm still not sure if I find this shawl pin super creepy or super awesome.  Maybe a bit of both

 I told you I learned how to shuttle tatt this summer.  So for the event where we had to try something new, I present my first and second completed shuttle tatting projects

Went a bit more ambitious on the second one.

 We also had a recycling event.  I entered two items.  First I turned this super schmexy night gown into a belly dance costume.  Of which I do not have a picture of me in.  I am actually going to sell this to someone.  It fits her pretty well. 

And I turned these two, much too small for me skirts...

into this super cute wrap skirt that totally fits.

I ended up winning something with each entry.  Not a lot of people entered.  But it was a lot of fun to get things finished.

Guild Christmas Sheep to Shawl Swap

So we did a really awesome gift swap for Christmas in our fiber guild.  In October (or November) everyone who was participating brought in fiber.  Then we wrote down what we would like made out of it.  I didn't particularly care what happened to my fiber.  And the fiber I got wasn't too particular except she didn't want gloves or socks.  I also couldn't dye the fiber. 

This was my fiber.  8 oz of a lovely Cotswald wool

 Debbie turned it into a lovely shawl/capelet.  It is very warm and fuzzy.  It is amazing that the pink and green turned into a finished product that is almost completely purple.

 I got some lovely brown fiber from Judy and I turned it into a scarf/shawl.  With beads.

 I think this pictures sums up how it all went

Update

So I think the general rule of thumb for New Year's resolutions is about a week before you fail miserably.  Apparently tomorrow is statistically the day that people are more likely to stop working on their New Year's resolutions.  Let's see how I'm doing. 

1. Stop spending money on things I don't really need- you know, I'm actually doing pretty good.  I've only bought 3 bottles of nail polish.  2 of them were ones I had been planning to buy since the set was announced, I just hadn't found them until now.  The 3rd was a bit impulsy, but a very, very good deal.  And really, the main point of this wasn't to never buy things again, but to be more mindful of my spending.  So these were all planned.  Not really impulse buys.  I've bought a few costume things, but I have a show coming up and they were things I need.
2. Organize the craft room and the living room- We haven't started yet
3. Step up my belly dance. Practice at least one extra day outside of class- With the show coming up, this has been easy (I danced for 5 hours yesterday).  The challenge is to keep this up afterward.
4. Get my ass back in the gym- my 5 k class starts tomorrow. 
5. Decide if I really want to make this jewelry thing happen-  I got my jewelry tumbler for Christmas.  I took it for a test run Monday.  It is so on.  Now I just need to figure out a gameplan.  It will probably start right here on my blog.  Maybe a giveaway.  I need to figure out how to break into the craft show biz.  Any suggestions would be great?  And what are people's opinions on asking other jewelry sellers?  Not to sound like a pompus ass, but my designs are very different than what I've seen around here and in particular, very, very different from the person I had thought about asking (just a different design asthetic, not better, in fact I have a few of her pieces).  Pretty much I just want to get into one craft show.  I've noticed that once you do one, you start hearing about all the other ones.  I just don't know where to start.   When I try to use the internet, I end up with all the big craft shows.  I need to start small.