… when we dance I mess with your RSS feeds! The HaldeCraft blog (hereby known as The HaldeBlog) is now here. Update your RSS feeds if you follow, and hopefully soon I’ll figure out how to automagic crosspost to Facebook/Twitter/G+.
You love yarn. Yarn is probably on your wish list (doesn’t the Yarn Harlot tell non-yarnies that even though we all seem to have enough yarn, yarn is always a good gift?). Or maybe you’re shopping for that yarn lover in your life…? Maybe your yarn lover even sent you this link to give you some gift ideas. Here; let me help you with that! Here are six things HaldeCraft carries that the yarn lover is sure to appreciate.
1. Yarn Club – the gift that gives for three months! Yarn club has a lot of appeal; you can get fingering or worsted weight, the colors are exclusive to club, and as a bonus the clubs are themed (usually around literature). This coming club runs from January – March and is inspired by Game of Thrones.
2. Pencil roving – Even if your yarn lover isn’t also a handspinner, pencil roving can make a great gift – especially for cold-weather crafting! Pencil rovings such as Athena and Neith come in long thin put-ups and can be crocheted or knitted as-is; this is great for thrummed hats and mittens!
3. Yarn bowls – Perfect for keeping that pesky yarn ball from rolling all over the floor; yarn bowls keep your yarn contained in one place. They’re also look beautiful – much more photogenic than a pile of yarn sitting near the couch.
4. Soap, decorated with yarn and knitting needles – No matter what sort of fragrance your yarn lover loves (floral, woodsy, herbal, earthy), any one of these twenty-four fragrances of soap is sure to be appreciated!
5. Yarn – Yarn lovers love yarn. You generally can’t go wrong with this standard! Different crocheters and knitters like to work on different things – if you don’t know yarn very well but know what your crafty loved one works on, drop me a line with the sorts of projects you see them working on and I’ll be happy to make base yarn recommendations!
6. Hand-built ceramic bowls decorated by a hand-crocheted doily – These bowls are great for everything from holding loose supplies, to jewelry on a dresser, to guest soaps and handtowels in a bathroom… they’re even hand-glazed in food-safe glazes so they’re perfect as serving dishes at the table!
Want to see more? I have an entire section on HaldeCraft devoted to Gifts for the Yarn Lover! After that, if you still don’t know which is the perfect gift, Gift Cards are always appreciated — and that way they can choose something themselves!
Last week was a soapy blur of soap making and wrapping, and scrambling for paperwork, scanning, signing, etc. (I don’t remember, when I bought this house I live in now, 20 years ago, that the process was as time consuming as this house we’re trying to buy now).
I finally got the last shelf in the kiln glazed and loaded…
… which meant I could finally fire the kiln! Most of this will show up again soon – there are some things I want to do with most of those mugs, decal work, that I’m planning for GLAM.
I had three or four small soap updates over the last week (you can find all my soap here), and that might be all that shows up until I put in any of the soap that doesn’t sell at GLAM. Maybe. I might have a few more bars — I still have about 80 bars to wrap, and my notes are in the other room (and I have a cat on my lap, causing what we call “cat paralysis” so I can’t just go get my notes).
I’m madly glazing a few more things for GLAM, some hat and mitten Christmas ornaments. I’m thinking red and green, for sure, but… what other colors? I have enough to do three each of four different colors….
… and we wound the week up with an annual Chili-and-Bonfire party out at the property of some good friends. It’s always good times, and I’m reminded every year how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.
That was my week! How was yours?
Whoooo is always looking for cute owl things? Whooooo do you know that collects owls? Whoooo — ok, I can’t keep doing that with a straight face. Owls. From the majestic photos of owls in flight to the cutesy owls on the latest WOOT t-shirt… we either love them, or know someone who does love them. If you’re looking for a unique owl gift to give to someone you like, I’ve got you covered! HaldeCraft has an entire section on owls, but here are five of my favorites.
1. Owl tumbler and toothbrush holder set. Sets off that nature or owl themed bathroom! In stock in three different colors, $25/set.
2. Retro owl soap dish. If the bathroom in your house is a little on the retro side, this soap dish is the perfect thing to tie into that! In stock in three different colors, $10.
3. Owl bookends. These little guys just look more and more wise the more books they hold up. In stock, $55.
4. Owl Christmas ornament with red, orange, and yellow hat. An owl hangs on your tree in THAT hat, you know he’s not afraid of anyone. (Nerd points if you get that reference). Not sure if you want a tri-color hat? I also have them in orange and blue stripes, dark brown speckles, light tweed, and a miscellaneous hodgepodge that includes red, white, and green. Lots in stock, $12-$15 depending on how many colors are in the hat.
5. Sleepy owl mug. Do you feel that way before you’ve had your coffee? Yep, thought so. So does he, you can tell by his sleepy eyes! In stock, $24.
What are you working on this week? This week I’m all about prepping for GLAM (Sunday, December 7th!)
This week in ceramics I fired the kiln for the first time since September. I wanted to hug my kiln and tell it that I had not forsaken her, I’ve just been keeping too many plates in the air and it’s been hard to find consistent time to glaze bisque. But now I’m in that pre-GLAM excitement phase where I’m trying to finish up a few things I started in hopes I’d be accepted… so I need to fire the kiln at least once a week for the next three weeks. Hoooray, ceramics!
In soap, I’m also madly Making. I’m doing restocks for sold-out soaps (thanks, y’all!) as fast as I can, but my main focus is GLAM. Of course anything that doesn’t sell out there will get put up on the site, and it will get up there in time to be sent out for Christmas gifts! About half the soap I’m bringing this year are sample fragrances; either samples sent to me by distributors that I’ve been meaning to try out, or ones that I’m thinking of bringing in next year as limited or regular fragrances. Would anyone be interested in getting a sneak peek at the fragrance list of soaps going to GLAM?
In yarn, I’m not doing much; GLAM is not really a yarn event, so I’m not trying to make anything just to bring with me, like I do for Fiber-In. Yarn lovers have really been showing their appreciation for my upcoming club (thanks, y’all!) and I just placed an order for the luxury yarn I’ll be using in that round. Mmmmm, yaaaaaaaaaaaarn.
In knitting, I’m slogging away on the never-ending stockinette portion of a hat… I need to go to a movie so I can knock out the last couple of inches without continually looking at it thinking, “this may be the most boring knit ever”. What? You don’t take your boring knitting to the movies with you? How do you sit STILL for two hours?
And in reading, I finally caught up on my RSS feeds enough to feel I could start a book; Tana French’s new novel, The Secret Place. If you’re not familiar with her and you like well-crafted mysteries with multifaceted and layered characters, get thee to a bookstore! She has well edged out my other favorite mystery writers (Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr, Patricia Cornwell) to jump to the top of my list. Her mysteries are set in the fictional Dublin Homicide Department, and while a few of the same characters pop up from book to book, her main characters are always different — with the exception of her first book, the main character is always someone who had a small walk-on roll in the book before. I love that!
Anyway. That’s my week. What are you working on, working through, doing?
I wouldn’t necessarily call this book my favorite book – after all, how many times have I reread Alas, Babylon and Watership Down? But The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron did change my life.
The year was… hmm. I don’t even remember the year. Maybe 1996? 1997? The Reader’s Digest Condensed Version is that I had been married for a couple of years and knew I wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t sure why. I knew I wanted more creativity in my life, and as writing runs in my family, the more I thought and reflected, the more I wanted to see my name on that bookshelf in the store next to my father and uncle.
So I picked up The Artist’s Way, which I had heard was good for breaking through blockage, good for prompts and inspiration and getting you into a new mental stride. And I loved it! Daily journaling to clear my head? Wonderful! Helped me both brain-dump and focus. Weekly artist dates? Fabulous! My inner creative loved having times to pop out, as she had been stuffed down and put away for quite some time as I took on more and more responsibility at work and forgot about play-time. Daily and weekly prompts and activities? Perfect! A wide selection every week, and you didn’t have to choose all of them. Do the ones that call to you the most, for there’s a reason they call to you… and do the ones that repel you the most, because there’s probably a reason for that, too.
But the more I did those artist’s dates, and the more I found myself with a free day here and there… the more I found myself coming back to ceramics.
Ceramics had been my hobby most of my life, taught to me by my grandmother when at four years old, I failed at knitting and crochet but could get my fat little toddler fingers around a paintbrush. It’s something I would do every summer with her – my parents would send me off the Friday after school let out for the summer and it was reading and ceramics and fishing and sitting by the pool and watching her and my grandfather play cribbage until the Sunday before school started again in the Fall. After she had her stroke and moved in with us, one of the first things that she struggled to say, through her frozen throat and tongue that wouldn’t let her say much beyond “shit” and “Oh, Daddy” for the rest of her life (two phrases which she put to good use over the next six years)… was that under no circumstances were her kiln and molds and ceramic paints and supplies to be thrown out. They were go to go me. And they did; for the next six years I would sit next to her on weekends and whenever I would come home after leaving to go to school, letting her watch me clean greenware, paint, glaze, and open the kiln. It’s a hobby I continued after her death in 1991, although I was working long hours in retail and as I moved up the chain of command I had less and less time off… and the time off I did have became filled with things like shopping and laundry and dating and all those things that being an adult brings.
After about 1994 I didn’t really have time. Or room — around 1995 or so I was living in a small apartment and getting married, and the kiln and my ceramic supplies had gone into storage late 1994, when my father had to suddenly sell the farm where he’d been living.
Then I spent a year or two not doing ceramics… and then I did The Artist’s Way. Soon I was buying greenware again at my local ceramic shop, and getting my things fired there. Then I was getting my kiln out of storage and asking my dad to rewire the back porch for 220. Then I was playing in clay on my scant days off. Now playing in clay is what I do all the time.
That’s the book that changed my life.
This topic inspired by Lisa Jacobs; 27 Blog Topics You Can’t Wait to Write About.
I was just telling a friend on the phone yesterday that I don’t remember, when buying a house 20 years ago, it being quite this time consuming. As such, I don’t really have a lot to show for this last week, work-wise!
I finished a pattern I’ve had in my head for a while for a new pair of socks. Of course I don’t have time to type up the pattern, but you can expect this (and the fingerless gloves pattern I worked up earlier this year) to be released some time in 2015. Ideally early 2015, as I have hopes to be able to chart these up while we’re packing and moving, and I might have two weeks or so in there were I can’t make anything but will still be itching to be creative. Charting cables and typing up pattern instructions will be perfect to scratch that itch.
I made a little bit of soap, so had a small restock yesterday (soaps are here). I’ll have another small update late next week, too.
I got the second coat of paint on the mugs, and think I’m going to risk not putting a third on there. I’ve already got one coat of glaze on them as I write this, will get a second on tonight, a third tomorrow, and this should fill up the kiln. I should fire on Tuesday — first kiln firing since SEPTEMBER. ouch.
And twice last week we went out for half a day to look at the property we’ve put an offer on. Once to meet with the Realtor, look over the property more, and get dimensions of the rooms in the house (because we’re just nerdy enough to want to pre-block out where we want furniture)… and once to meet with the Inspector, so he could tell us if the roof was about to fall in or anything. Nothing was brought up that we didn’t expect… the house isn’t in great shape but That Poor Man and I are both pretty handy, so between us and our handy friends and family, there’s nothing that can’t be fixed.
Happy Sunday, all!
Maybe you work with that person. Maybe you live with that person. You definitely know that person. That quirky, offbeat, fun person who is sometimes hard to buy for… but sometimes really easy to buy for, when you see that Perfect Thing. Here are five quirky and unique HaldeCraft mugs that are in stock (as I write this) and ready to ship out to you today. I can even ship it directly to your friend or loved one!
1. Day of the Dead mugs. Perfect for the folklore-loving, skull-adoring person who loves one-of-a-kind items. $22 in stock in four different unique designs – I won’t be making any more in these shapes!
2. Baby Head mugs. Perfect for that dark-humored, Walking Dead loving, always-dresses-up-for-Halloween friend. $23, and going fast – currently in stock, green and pink.
3. Could Be Whiskey mugs. Perfect for that co-worker (or spouse) who likes to keep everyone guessing. “Sure, you can talk to me after my cup of whiskey– er, coffee!” $25, and all in stock – both tea and coffee, both right- and left-handed!
4. Tri-footed Flower mugs. Perfect for the nature lover, gardener, flower-appreciator! These little mugs sit sturdily on three feet, and have a large handle. $25 and one each in stock in four different colors!
5. Frog-Inside Surprise mugs. Pour your guest some coffee or tea and sit back and wait for the screams (of laughter) when they get to the bottom and see this little green frog staring back at them! $25 and in stock in both right- and left-handed design in my new taller mugs in Spiced Cream!
This week….!
In ceramics… I need to paint and glaze so I can fire the kiln soon (I was hoping to get these skull mugs painted and glazed over the weekend but the detail work is taking longer than I expected). And I need to take stock of all my current unglazed bisque and see what would be a good fit for GLAM; I’m not going to have time to start making anything new from scratch, just because of time constraints… so it’s a good thing I have a lot of bisque I never got around to glazing earlier this Fall! I’ll have some really cool things for GLAM.
In soap… I was thinking I would pull from stock for GLAM, but after a few orders over the weekend (thanks, y’all!) I’m going to have to go ahead and order supplies to make more soap (you may remember that I mentioned being out of supplies and thinking I wouldn’t order until after we move — being the boss means being able to change my mind!). However, I am still keeping the 10-for-$50 custom soap listing marked as temporarily out of stock, because of time constraints. (“Time Constraints” should be the title of this blog post, hahahah!) I’ll reopen that listing after the holidays. And don’t worry — any soap that doesn’t sell at GLAM will be put up on the website!
In yarn… I got the last installment in this round of yarn club out the door on Monday. Whew! What a learning experience this round of club has been for me… which lead me to a small change about limiting the number of swag spots available going forward. The next round of club, Winter 2015, has spots open now — you can read about the theme here.
In other works-in-progress(es), I’m pretty much just working on my 12-in-14 project (I’m at the neverending stockinette portion of the hat) and working on buying a house… which is a lot more time-consuming than you’d think! Can’t we just say “we want it” and they say “sure” and it’s done? Yesterday we spent over two hours out there measuring rooms for furniture placement, and walking the property looking for gopher tortoise homes.
Nature sure is pretty when it’s been left alone.
In case I’ve not really said over here: the property was 18 acres, three of which was part of a former clay pit (the rest of the clay pit is the rest of the original 35 acres; the seller bought the property at auction and is splitting it). We asked for a significant dollar amount off and to not have those three acres of the clay pit — in other words, “keep your clay pit, even though I’m a potter, because we don’t want the EPA knocking on our door in ten years with problems if there are any.” The seller said sure, is getting a survey now and doing the property split. We still need to get the place inspected and since we’re kind of DIYers we can tell there are going to be a few house issues — mostly involving the electrical work, which seems very “hold my beer while I split this line!”. The seller will have to bring everything up to code before we can close (if it’s not up to code for us, it’s not going to be up to code for another buyer either — it’s nothing personal!). So barring any “this place should be condemned” issues (which I doubt, but you never know, there could be a sinkhole about to open… it is Florida, after all) or any loan application issues or any insurance issues (it is a mobile home)… it’ll be ours in a couple of months. Cross your fingers/toes/eyes/whatever!
So, that’s my week right now. How about y’all? What are you working on/through this week?
This product listing is for the Winter 2015 yarn club, a club that runs from January – March 2015 and is for three skeins of yarn in the weight of your choosing. This listing will be active until December 31st, 2014.
For the theme this round, I am falling head-first into a series of fantasy novels that, while begun almost twenty years ago, are becoming more and more popular due to a certain cable company having begun a wildly popular TV series. Last yarn club had one colorway inspired by this series of books; the colorway called Kissed by Fire. While I was dyeing that, and listening to the audio books at the same time, I thought up three times as many colorways inspired by the Land of Ice and Fire as I could use in one round of club. So, if you know that the night is dark and full of terrors, if you know that dark wings bring dark words, if you know that a certain family always pays their debts (or, even if you know nothing!), this is the yarn club for you.
Curious about past rounds, or what style of colorways I tend to gravitate towards when I’m dyeing yarn? If you’re on Ravelry, you can see the last two rounds of club colors here. Barring any mishaps, what I have in mind for this round is similar in style to what I’ve been doing so far this year with the tonal yarns like Kissed by Fire or Yggdrasil (one color this round may have a two-color variation, but nothing will be as multi-colored as last year’s Mad Tea Party). Two of the three yarns are of my standard base selection, and one is a luxury base (occasionally if I am intrigued by a luxury base I’ve never used, two of the three months might wind up being luxury – there will never be less than one luxury base yarn in club).
***PLEASE NOTE*** There are four different options of club; this is a little different from the last two years of club. I’ve had to limit the number of swag options and that means a couple of changes. While I have an unlimited number of spots available for both sock and worsted weight yarn ($60), there are now a very limited number of spots available in both those weights with swag ($75). Each option gets you three skeins of yarn in the weight of your choice; one each sent in January, February, and March (club ships on approximately the 15th of the month, although I do try to get International packages in the mail a week before that, so that hopefully all yarn arrives at close to the same time). If you are opting for swag, and have sensitivities or allergies, please note those in the comment section when completing your purchase (IE, “I would like unscented if the swag is soap or hand lotion” or “I am allergic to peppermint”).
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