Hey lovelies! Soooo...I decided to have a play with spinning, and of COURSE I love it to bits Oh I just adore it, I am kicking myself for waiting this long to try it! I have been an avid Fiber Fridays reader forever and ever and I'm so glad that now I can play

Here's a little 'first spinning' showoff...


So here's my wee collection of spindles, all from Etsy, a lightweight top whorl, a bottom whorl (I think this one is my favourite) and a convertible (which I prefer as a top whorl). And the little white thang is my first yarn! It's so strange looking but I was tres proud

Theennnn, on the right are the yarns I've done so far, from top to bottom in the order that I spun them in. I'm allowing myself to call the last one yarn, I'm not sure if any of the others 'count', tehe, they are lumpy and bumpy but I still love them. I find my favourite part is setting the twist, so fun!


So these three are the first three I did after the little white one, the top is tencel/merino, the middle is merino that I tried to keep thick and the bottom is some of the practice roving that came with one of the spindles (I think that was go number 2).

Then I had a play with some more of my white merino which I was really quite happy with, it was lush to spin too, and looks much nicer than the first time I used it


Then some green something, which is quite slubby and bumpy because I mixed a few rovings together as well as some silk (eep, hard! ), it's not got a name yet. I am getting better at joining as I do more though.

And the one on the right is my fave, I called it Fern Gully. This one is merino too and the most even one of the lot


And the seventh go went to the lovely catpants in the choose your partner swap, and she received today so I can include it in this post, yay! This is 130 yards of Merino, 'The Royal Jewels'. It was hard to photograph, it's darker than it shows up here. I'm really happy with this one, real yarn, yay!


And this is what I'm playing with at the moment, some Bluefaced Leicester, trying to keep it thin and even on the new light spindle.

Thanks for letting me share, I love looking at all your work so much! We're looking at getting a wheel in the near future too, so very excited about that!

Next stop...plying *ack!*

[What kind of things do you bake before christmas?Have you any favourite recipes for christmas foods/cookies/drinks or other traditional things that you make during December that you would like to share here?]

Hey gals and guys After some very interesting conversation with nix kisses over the past couple weeks we have come to the conclusion that the whole 'Christmas baking' tradition is a lot more prominent in the US than it is here in Australia!

I'm in Australia, and of course I'm only speaking from personal experience here, but it seems like on Craftster and around the place there is a humungus show of christmas cookies, gingerbread, eggnog, yadda yadda and all that jazz, BEFORE the day. I haven't found this to be the case here, I'm thinking it's because Christmas is in the middle of our summer and it's too hot for lots of oven use. I mean, food on actual Christmas day is a HUGE part of our traditions and being of British heritage myself we have the full on roast dinner with all the trimmings even in 40c heat, lol. But all this baking in the lead-up to Christmas is intruiging to me and I would love to try it!

ANYHOO, enough of my rambling, what I'd really love to know is...
What kind of things do you bake before christmas?
Have you any favourite recipes for christmas foods/cookies/drinks or other traditional things that you make during December that you would like to share here?.

I want to bake up a storm this christmas! and I'll pretend that it's snowing outside at the same time

Post 'em when you get 'em!

I think we should stick to posting the outside of the cards only, as there will obviously be addresses and personal info on the written sides (as cool as they are!). People also may write things that they wish not to be seen by everyone.

Feel free to crop and post cool stamps though!

Can't wait to see these, there are going to be 150 cards through the mail!

[NO!]

Swap name: Easy postcard Swap!
Craftster member who is organizing this swap: MissMeshell
Sign-up date range: October 1st 2006 - October 12th 2006
Date to send items by: October 20th 2006

Limited to a certain number of people? (optional): Edited - YES, there is a limit of 24 people in this swap, and signups will end either on the 12th of October, or after we have 24 people in the swap, whichever comes first (sendout date will NOT change). This is four groups of six Edit again! - This swap ended up with 25 swappers, 5 of which are sending within two groups, making 5 groups of six!

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? YES/NO!

All ages allowed? Or 18+? All ages

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES/NO
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES/NO
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES/NO
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES/NO

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES/NO
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES/NO
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES/NO
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES/NO
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES/NO

Details of swap:
...It's postcard swapping time! The Easy Postcard Swap is a STOREBOUGHT postcard swap...and as the name implies, this means it is easy. If you love postcards and finding out about other cultures and people then this is the swap for you.

Participants will be divided into groups of six. This means that you will be sending FIVE postcards in total, to five different people, and receiving five postcards back from those same five people. (If need be I or anyone else who would like to volunteer can serve as an additional person in a group, if by the end of signups the numbers don't add up).

Postcards need to be written on and sent through the mail without an envelope. I know some people collect cards in mint condition (ie. no writing and sent in an envelope) but part of this swap is to learn a little about another country, culture, state and Craftster member!

If you want to participate, information to send to organizer:

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Name of swap: Easy Postcard Swap!
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address:
Would you be willing to ship to an address outside of your own country? The answer to this question must be yes!

What kind of postcards are you able to send? (ie. Your country, landscape, animals, vintage cards, art cards etc.):

What kind of postcards would you like to receive? (ie. Senders country, city views, native animals, design cards) Please note that there is no way to receive exactly what you want, although I will try my best to match the groups up according to these answers! (and also so we get a variety of places to send to/receive from):

If need be, would you be willing to be a member of more than one 'group' - ie. you will send and receive 10 postcards instead of 5?:

Have you read all this info and agree to be a lovely swapper so MissMeshell doesn't have a nervous breakdown in her first time organising?

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.


Also remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find out how to ship your item and other details about participating in a swap.

AFTER PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED UP AND BEEN APPROVED, LIST THE PARTICIPANTS HERE AND WHO IS SENDING TO WHOM:

1. MissMeshell (Australia)
2. princessandthebead (USA)
3. j_en (Australia)
4. Eccles2003 (Australia)
5. nix kisses (USA)
6. trillian (Finland)
7. flora (Germany)
8. novastarlet (USA)
9. tenrec (USA)
10. aloneinlife13 (USA)
11. janeausten (USA)
12. knuckstermom (USA)
13. stellato_escuro (USA)
14. trisarahtop (USA)
15. gumshoegal (USA)
16. KatJones (USA)
17. esmerelda (UK)
18. Listener15 (USA)
19. yamwam (CAN)
20. cassafrass (USA)
21. stopitgetdown (UK)
22. Sindy (USA)
23. shelikesstars (USA)
24. Malina (USA)
25. aura_reincarnation (USA)

Swappers swapping within two groups (sending and receiving 10 cards rather than 5) -
1. MissMeshell (AU)
2. Eccles2003 (AU)
3. Listener15 (USA)
4. stopitgetdown (UK)
5. esmerelda (UK)

GROUPS -

Group One -
Eccles2003 (Australia)
stopitgetdown (UK)
KatJones (USA)
Trisarahtop (USA)
Aura_reincarnation (USA)
Stellato_escuro (USA)

Group Two -
J_en (Australia)
stopitgetdown (UK)
Listener15 (USA)
novastarlet (USA)
aloneinlife13 (USA)
Sindy (USA)

Group Three -
MissMeshell (Australia)
yamwam (Canada)
esmerelda (UK)
tenrec (USA)
janeausten (USA)
Gumshoegal (USA)

Group Four -
Eccles2003 (Australia)
esmerelda (UK)
flora (Germany)
princessandthebead (USA)
nix kisses (USA)
Malina (USA)

Group Five -
MissMeshell (Australia)
Trillian (Finland)
Listener15 (USA)
Shelikesstars (USA)
Cassafrass (USA)
Knuckstermom (USA)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GALLERY THREAD!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=125048.0
 

Would anyone be interested in a simple, storebought postcard swap? I don't know if anyone is as obsessed with postcards from around the world like I am, lol, I hope so!

We've already had plenty of handmade postcard/card swaps so I just thought I'd see if anyone else collected normal everyday postcards. I'm talking one's from your city/town, vintage look ones, ones with artwork and designs on them, landscape, monuments, native animals etc. etc.

Possibly we could make up little groups and send and receive a certain amount of postcards and include a little about ourselves/where we live and our craftster usernames and blog addys or whatever on the backs, send them singuarily to get stamps and yummy postmarks and all that good stuff...any interest?

Hey chickens! I just know this has to be a question with the most obvious of answers but I need your help

Where in Oz can I find some blocks of lino for printing with? Should I be looking for a crafty type store or like a kitchen store or something? lol (told you!) Online is fine if not preferred, and in Australia would be great because I'm all international-shipped out at the moment.

Please help Meshell through this bout of stupidity and tell her the answer

Hey all my Aussie lovelies!

Just letting you know that there is another 'My Country Doesn't Have That' swap in the works over in swap-land, and we have already encountered the millions of USAers interested and one Aussie (me!) all on her lonesome problem! LOL. So if you're interested go check out the little discussion...

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=89918.0

This swap has a twist, lamamarco is organising are we are thinking of making it a 3 month swap with themed packages, i.e. maybe 3 sendouts in total, one per month...

Ideas so far are:
Candy/Lolly/Foodstuffs package.
Craft supply package.
Partner's life and 'favourites' package (so you won't know what youre going to get, and you'll learn more about your partner)
and other possibilities like crafted or colour themed are being discussed!

Just thought I'd give the heads up

Okay, after my first foray into knitted lace with Knitty's 'Branching Out' I've found out that knitting lace is not as hard as I thought it would be! (We'll just forget the fact that I had to rip the damn thing out at least 4 times to start with ).

Anyway, I digress, I have this very pretty knitted shrug that I got off Ebay and I am in LOVE with its knitted lace pattern, I am looking for a lovely, kind, smarter-than-me knitter or knitters who would have any idea about how to replicate said pattern!

Here are some piccies, I tried to get close for the last one so that you can see the stitches...


Here's the big pattern...


A little closer...


and again...

Does this pattern have a name or title? Have you seen instructions for a similar one online anywhere? Do you *gasp* know how to do it?
I would be so, so grateful for some help, I would love to replicate it somehow, it doesn't have to be exactly the same or anything, just the basic diamond pattern with pretty holes (I never thought I would actually be happy to see holes in my knitting )

Thanks gals

I don't know about any of you but I ADORE vintage advertisments...
I found these two big, plastic-like pears' soap printed 'things' in our old laundry cupboard, they are made from a canvas type backing fabric with a plastic coating type thing (Like a place mat or a tablecloth has.)
Needless to say I was very, very excited

I made a simple, lined, knitting bag for my UFO's as I have a good bag for my yarn, but these things are always spread all over my house being played with by animals so I needed to get them in order...

The lining...


This is my favourite part, each of the side edges have this printed on them.


and the goodies inside just waiting to be knit up...eventually

Ta for looking!
Next project is a matching needle roll, I still don't have one of these!

So, is anyone from Oz studying anything creative at Uni or TAFE or any other place? (Art, fashion, filmmaking, journalism, writing, design etc. etc!)

What are you studying and where? And does your institution rock? or not...?

As for me, well I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts in fine art at Curtin University in Perth, and it definitely rocks I'm majoring in textiles with a bit of photography on the side. I love my course so much, we basically get shown all the traditional textiles practices and each convert and warp them to our liking and use them within a more contemporary context. The lecturers are fantastic and really inspiring, and their work is great. We are really encouraged to go off on all kinds of tangents and do mega amounts of research as well as testing and applied research. We each have a studio space at uni as well as access to all the textiles studios, dye rooms, photography labs as well as the other art areas like woodwork, jewellery and sculpture etc....Love it

So, what are we all doing? Anyone already have their crafty dream career?