Hodgepodge

I’m having one of those ADD kind of days, flitting from one thing to the next.  I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea about the next things I wanted to do with my collage for Lesley’s Pock-et-ful book.  So at 0’dark thirty, I found myself cutting and sewing.  I did some more work on my background, then I put together a little pocket, layering a Paper Whimsy transparency image over an old telegram,  and sewed it to the page.

Then I prepared some tags — aging them and giving them some paint.  The larger ones on the left are new, the two smaller ones on the right that are more difficult to see are actually vintage tags that I used some Moonshadow Inks on.  I’m going to journal about inspiration on the tags, and include them inside the pocket.  Look at how cool it is that the words "next time" from the telegraph are highlighted underneath the transparency at the bottom of the girl’s skirt.  So much of collage art is serendipity and drawing inspiration from what develops if you just let go.

While my tags were drying, I examined my find from yesterday’s thrifting trip after the farmer’s market.  Ellie found some adorable miniature nutcrackers, which I neglected to photograph, but really beautiful ones, that she got for .50 each.  And I scored this strange little light fixture for .50.

The metal box closes with a little latch and seemed to be begging me to alter it.  I’m torn between that and turning it into a vase for the little posies the children like to bring me from the garden.  I’ll detach the cord and the light attachment and see what it seems to be wanting to turn into.

After that, I got a little help from my oldest son winding yarn.  He is a wonderful skein winder (if you buy yarn from me, he is probably the one who rewinds your skeins for you) and seems to like it because it keeps him in Starbucks money and he gets first shot at naming the colorways (hence blocking his younger sister’s increasing requests to dye "I live in New York, my brother’s a dork").  I’ve been dyeing cashmere this week and we decided to reskein it.

This first one is Wicked.

And this is Eire.

I love cashmere.  I’m dreaming about a Mobius wrap.  And maybe a pair of gloves.  It feels so good.  If I ever leave the judge, it will be for some cashmere.

I liked Eire so much I repeated it on Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn.  It will go first to Elliebelly Club Sock members, and if there is any left, I’ll offer it at my Hyena Cart store.  This colorway is definitely a keeper.

The last thing I did this morning was getting birthday presents ready.  We’re having a nine-year old birthday tomorrow, but are celebrating today as one of her brothers is leaving for school in the morning.  I hope she’s going to have as much fun with them as we had getting them!