Teapots & Teasers

So, I've been finishing up my projects rather late at night this week and so I've been too sleepy to blog about them. Therefore, I'm going to do a mega project blog tonight before bedtime. Sunday I made another hair clip.
Monday and Tuesday were devoted to finishing the green fingerless gloves for Dylan. I ended up not making a third glove. He didn't seem to mind the wonky one, but he's got an open invitation to swap it out for a new one anytime he likes. Apparently, he has bigger fingers than I do, which came as a shock to me. I always think that I've got pretty big fingers. The thumb and the pinkey were especially tight, but he squeezed into them. If I make more I'll have to remember to add an extra stitch on all the fingers.
Tuesday I made this month's project for Kitchen Sink Dyeworks' Badass Women's Yarn Club. This month's Badass is Lane Turbeville who works with Pathways, a United Way organization that focuses on homeless women and children. This is a super awesome program. If you want to know more about Lane and the work she does you can read about her on the KSD site or go to the Pathways site.
I love this month's yarn color! Seafoam greens and blues are some of my favorites. I'm also excited because I got to use the awesome buttons I got at the Bottletree Holiday Craft Fair. Luckily, Mercedes kept up with the name of the craftsman who made the buttons because I've lost his card. Bad Sara! I also got one of his super awesome hair clips at the fair. I really love it because I've got a mess of hair and I'm always looking for something to put in it!

Today I decided to return to my first love - jewelry. I made these simple, but adorable teapot earrings. The teapot charms are hollow stamped brass so they're very light. I've been getting more and more interested in the steampunk movement especially the costuming and the literature. Gail Carriger and George Mann are two of my favorite steampunk authors. Gail posts lots of fabulous steampunk links on her twitter feed. Especially those relating to tea and parasols. Back in November I made this hair piece inspired by the Order of the Brass Octopus from Gail's Parasol Protectorate series.
Threadbanger helped me a bunch with my first attempt at a steampunk costume, which I wore to DragonCon 2010. Flickr and Livejournal both have some great steampunk fashion ideas too. My bustle was a little out of control, but it was the first one I'd ever made. I'm debating making another actual bustle for next year or just going with a ruffled bustle on a new skirt. The skirts I made for this year were taken from deconstructed prom dresses I got at the thrift store. I'm pretty proud of all the gathering I did. this was my first project on my new sewing machine too!

The Owls Are Not What They Seem

Sometimes, they're jewelry!
My iPhone doesn't like taking pictures in my house very much, but here's the necklace I made today. It's a commission for a friend. The blurry pendant is a small owl. All the stones are howlite and the small spacers are silver Swarovski findings. The stones & spacers are on black organza and the pendant is hanging from sterling silver chain. It's a sweet simple little necklace.
I had been planning to make an embroidered scarf with coins, but my technique needs some work first.

I've joined a knitting swap over on Ravelry. I'm excited; my partner's name is Sarah and she lives in the UK. The swap I joined is the Happy Blue Year Swap so all of our projects are going to be blue. I picked Kitchen Sink Dyeworks' Snakehandler Mitts as the pattern for the first kit I'm going to send off. I especially love these fingerless gloves because I got to help beta test the pattern. That makes me feel special! I haven't decided on my yarn yet, but I don't have tons of money left to spend on it. (We're supposed to try to keep it under $20-$25, which is a shame because I've got a beautiful skein of a merino/silk blend that would be beautiful. Oh well. I'll think of something.
Now I've got to start another set of KSD's Best Friend Mitts from the Badass Women's Yarnclub. I've got another friend who needs some warm accessories. I've got tomorrow's project ready to go!

Make Something Every Day

So, yesterday on the etsy blog julieincharge suggested that artists to try to make something every day. So, I'm going to try to make at least 1 accessory every day from 1/8/11 to 1/8/12. So, the first thing I made was a little hair clip out of a rhinestone skull brooch with feathers.

And, lucky for me, I posted it on Twitter & one of my friends bought it already!

Today I'm working on fingerless gloves from Knitpicks. My friend Benji got the pattern & the yarn earlier in the winter and asked me to make them for me. I don't think I can finish the pair today, but maybe I can at least get 1 of them done. Of course, if the snowpocolypse happens then I could probably get quite a bit done.