It's De-Stash Time!

Here's how it works:
- Lots cannot be broken up. These are all packed up already.
- Shipping & Handling is $5 for anywhere in the US, more for international. I can combine shipping.
- First come, first served. I'll mark lots as sold as they go.

If you are interested in a particular lot, please email me at njstacie(at)gmail(dot)com with the Lot# you are interested in as the subject line. If it's available, I'll send you an invoice via Paypal and mark the item as "pending" until I receive payment. If I do not receive payment within 24 hours, it will become available for purchase again. If it's NOT available, I'll email you and let you know. I'll be marking things as SOLD as they go.

Ready?


Lot #10: 2 Painted Skeins, 2 YoYo, 1 madtosh, 1 mystery. $70


Lot #11: 8 oz. Bella, 1 Yarn Love, 1 Kersti, 1 mystery. $50


Lot #12: 1 Kersti, 1 FoF, 1 Sunshine Yarns, 1 Mtn. Colors $50


Lot #13: 1 Donegal Tweed, 2 Noro CashIroha, 2 Rowan YTA, 1 mystery $50


Lot #14: 2 BlueSky, 1 handspun, 1 mystery, 1 STR $60


Lot #15: 1 DB Maya, 1 Manos, 1 CAC, 1 Terra $40


Lot #16: 2 Whatnot, 1 Schaeffer, 1 handspun, 1 mystery $50


Lot #17: 2 DIC Classy, 1 Mal Twist, 1 Mystery $50


Lot #18: 1 Corn Snake, 2 STR, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 Whatnot $70


SOLD


Lot #20: 1 Cherry Tree, 1 Shivaya, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 STR, 1 mystery $70


Lot #21: 1 CE Princess, 5 mystery $40


Lot #22: 1 ATH, 3 Koigu, 1 Sunchine, 1 Handmaiden, 1 mystery $70


SOLD


Lot #24: 1 Syncopation, 1 Big Tryst, 1 Zen, 1 Nature's Palette, 3 mystery $60


SOLD


Lot #26: 1 YoYo, 1 JulieSpins, 1 WhatNot, 1 BlackBunny, 1 mystery $70


Lot #27: 1 Shivaya, 1 Rowan, 1 SariSilk, 5 mystery $50


Lot #28: 1 STR, 1 MiddleEarth, 1 Schaeffer, 1 FoF, 1 Sunshine $70


Lot #29: 1 Fleece Artist, 1 YoYo, 1 Spritely Goods, 2 mystery $70


Lot #30: 1 Ocean Winds, 1 Syncopation, 2 Yarn Love, 1 Schaeffer $80


Lot #31: 1 EKF, 1 STR, 1 madtosh, 1 Kersti, 1 Nature's Palette $70


Lot #32: 1 YoYo, 1 Tofutsies, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 Kersti, 1 JulieSpins, 1 mystery $70


Lot #33: 1 Lambs Pride, 1 Patons, 2 Gigante, 4 mystery $40


Lot #34: 2 NatureSpun, 1 Comfort Chunky, 1 Rowan, 3 mystery $25


Lot #35: 1 Alpaca, 1 handspun, 5 mystery $40


Lot #36: 5 Cotton/Bamboo, 4 mystery $40


Lot #37: 5 (or so) Manos Stria $30


Lot #38: 6 Colourmart Cashmere $40


Lot #39: 6 Auracania $60


SOLD


SOLD


SOLD


SOLD


Lot #44: 6 Malabrigo Gruesa $50


SOLD


SOLD


Lot #47: 7 Douceur et Soie $50


Lot #48: 7 Knitpicks Gloss DK $20


Lot #49: 10 Silky Tweed $50


Lot #50: 5 Tweeds $20


Lot #51: Miscellaneous Cascade $60


Lot #52: Silky Wool $25


SOLD


SOLD


Lot #55: 2 Mal Silky Merino, Alchemy Bamboo $30


Lot #56: 2 Pink variegated $10


SOLD

Whirlwind

Holy crap. I've been absent the blog for some time, but with GOOD REASON! It's been bananas around here.

I made this shawl:


This Nature invaded my house:


I finished knitting my wedding dress!


And then I went and got married!


And then I had this BABY!

(HA HA! Just Kidding!)














Instead, I went to Bar Harbor:


...and Wild Blueberry Land:


I made some other stuff too:




I'm currently recovering from all of that, and a killer cold! Off to Rhinebeckistan this weekend. I'll get back to more serious posting soon enough, kids. Promise.

Oh, Procrastination.

Dress knitting is complete, and I've moved on to the sewing portion of this extravaganza:


First, the petticoats. I made these with all new stuff, though I had Kathy's petticoats to work from and utilize, as well as 2 other wedding dresses that people offered up for me to use or cut up. All keeping in line with my last post :)

The next step is the under-dress. I'm using some green taffeta, which is a beast to work with, and I've been doing a Very Good Job of procrastinating:



I made this bag, which has been in my queue for quite awhile, and I even had the straps for it! My main issue with the pattern is that it called for large grommets, but I couldn't find any grommets large enough to accommodate the width of the leather straps. I ended up getting some plastic rings and buttonhole stitching all around the holes and the rings. Seems to be working out alright so far.



In my excitement to be knitting anything that was not 1. linen, 2. a dress, 3. white, I cast on for the Druid mittens with some madtosh Vintage in "Maple Leaf". I originally knit the first mitten with the cuff (as written) but it turned out to be too gauntlet-y, and no one needs that. I ripped it out - I'll be adding a ribbed cuff and lining to each of these.



I've also been working on a few random crafty jobs - this is a paper-cut I made for a friend's massage business (I'll link once this is approved and all okayed). We're toying with type to go with it, which *may* be cut out as well - NO PAPYRUS, I promise! (Why do so many massage places use that?!?!?!)
There's also a full-leather memorial binding that's in the works, 2 guestbooks, and a couple of albums - pictures to come later once they reach their intended recipients (and I complete them).

On Heirlooms

I'm getting married in 2 months. I am so over talking about the wedding - no one wants to hear that shit, and I super-duper don't want to talk about it. It's tedious! But one thing I have learned in the wedding process is how huge a scam the wedding industry is. Oh, you want that for your wedding? Let me just add a zero to the price.



One thing that I've been encountering a lot of is the blatant abuse of the word "heirloom". I've been seeing a lot of "heirloom quality" and "future heirloom" bandied about, and it's pretty bullshit. The QUALITY of an item does not make it an heirloom, and I'm not even going to get started on the shoddy quality of the mass-produced items in question. Most of the keepsakes that my family holds on to are handmade, and not necessarily of any superior quality. In fact, many are falling apart. They are just nice things that I like. There is no specific sentiment behind them, and if there was, that sentiment belonged to SOMEONE ELSE.

As for "future heirloom" - well, I can't control what future generations are going to find precious and sweet. I've had to deal with a lot of my family's crap over the years, and I'm not holding on to things just because so-and-so loved it. My Aunt Virginia collected little porcelain bunny rabbits (her last name was Hare) - I have ZERO interest in little porcelain bunny rabbits, so I didn't take them. I don't want to impose what I find lovely and sentimental on anyone else. "Future Heirloom" - let's talk about that lovely macrame wall-hanging that your mother made in 1972 - I bet she thought THAT was a "future heirloom"! And guess what, I picked it up at a yard sale for 5 cents. One man's treasure and all that.

You can't impose an "heirloom" on anybody, nor should you be purchasing things for their potential heirloom-ability. It's the wedding equivalent of purchasing "Collector's Edition!" items. Which is bullshit.

Tour & More

My July was spent watching the Tour de France, and spinning for the Tour de Fleece. I really enjoy watching the TdF - it's a lovely snapshot of France, and I find the logistics and endurance of the cycling to be fascinating. And with the Tour de FLEECE, I actually get a ton of spinning done:



This year's goal was to tackle a lot of the long wools that have been piling up. I managed to get a few sweater lots of Romney and Wensleydale spun up, with some breaks for shorter wools and smaller quantities. I'm pleased as punch with my progress this year: 8 pounds, 1.5 ounces - 7889 yards total.

I've also been working on getting these things printed up and out of the house:



I picked up an L Letterpress for invitation printing. I don't have the floor space, money, or structural beams to have a true letterpress here, but this seemed to be just the right size for making up these invitations. I had some plates made through Boxcar Press (from paper cuts that I made) and read some of their reviews and hints for using the L Letterpress. The printing went fairly well - that little machine is pretty cool and I do see myself making more things with it. The plates from Boxcar were crisp and easy to clean. Registration was easy and smooth, and the imprint was fine on the 160gsm cotton rag I used.

Envelopes are addressed and these are heading out the door!

Busy-ness, assorted.

Things have been a hodge-podge of busy over here. We got a new couch, which involved getting rid of the old couch (and chairs), taking down a ton of shelves, and basically re-configuring the entire living room. Behold, comfort:

...and excessive shelf space:


It totally opens up the room and makes everything fabulous.

Of course, this was just one stage of numerous home-repair projects. A month or two ago we helped a friend move, and managed to score 6 new-to-us dining room chairs. They're comfortable, and fit wonderfully in our dining room, but the seats were a blase beige (and dirty!) microsuede. Not so much. Off to IKEA! A staple gun, some fabric, and a half hour later, and we've got stellar new chairs:



I love that they are each a little bit different from one another but all play well together.

There was also some smaller crafting going on (the quilt is on hold for a bit as it's been a bit too warm to work on the hand-quilting) - these shoes:



Someone pinned these a few months ago and I haven't stopped thinking about them. The originals were Marc Jacobs for Vans, but they seemed easy enough to replicate, no? Air-erase marker, fabric marker, and a half hour later.....I have awesome new summer shoes! Hooray!

There's also been some paper-cutting:


These were sent out to have plates made in order to letterpress invitations and miscellany. The plates came out WONDERFULLY and I can't wait to get printing. Oh! Also in paper-cutting news, the Ignite presentation I gave a few months ago is now up online. It's all those 80s papercuts.....

There's been some knitting too:

Saartje's Booties, HelloYarn Fat Sock leftovers.


Damask, handspun HY "Winter Storage" singles spun by the most delightful Sparkcrafted. I'm knitting this up for her.

And thinking about knitting a Stripe Study with these:

That's Malabrigo Lace on the left, and Spunky Eclectic "Orchard" Romney handspun singles on the right. The mal lace is....felty and pilly. ALREADY! Grumble.