Jananas

People have asked several times what our colours are/theme is.  One of the things we’ve tried to be aware of is that just because you’re told you need to do something/include something/buy something, doesn’t mean that you need to buy into the idea and do it. I didn’t want to have to make a decision and then stick to it, so I just said no. No specific colours. No specific theme.

However, the photo below will give you an idea of what colours you might come across the day of. These lovely flowers were handmade by Trinkets Handmade Flowers (etsy shop here) and will be heading our way shortly.

I guess that you could say that our theme is bright, riots of colour. Although to anyone familiar with my eyeshadow choices, it shouldn’t be too surprising.

p.s. we just finished redoing our wedding website so go check it out (accommodation, things to do, registry, etc!).

One of the amazing things about adopting animals is getting to see their personalities blossom when they start to feel safe. Gucci has turned into quite the little character and cuddle monster. He’s even good with the cats, even if sometimes they sneak up behind him when he’s not looking.

I think that we’ll find them in a pile of dog and cat cuteness one of these days.

I’d seen a whole bunch of really awesome holiday wreaths on assorted diy/craft blogs lately. Some Etsy searches convinced me that I had to give making one a shot. These two took roughly a movie’s length of time to make and I think that they’d be a great craft project for kids.

First up is a Halloween wreath, currently hanging on the front door. I wrapped the straw wreath with some orange roving I had – this was amazingly simply and fast way to cover the straw. Then I did an overall wrapping with some dark gray yarn to keep the roving down. Lastly, we cut some cats and bats from black felt and glued them on. Ta da – done!

Second is our new Christmas wreath. I’ve been using a store bought wreath for the last nine years. This year feels like it needs a change, so I made my own! This time, I wrapped the straw with two shades of yarn. I didn’t wrap the straw first, so it took longer to wrap the form/cover the straw completely. After that was done, I cut some strips out of felt and then used the glue gun to glue the ends together to form a felt version of a paper chain. I tried white craft glue, but it didn’t stick well enough. After I had a long enough chain, I draped it across the wreath until I was happy with how it looked and then I glued it into position.

I had a blast making these.

Sometime earlier this year a friend of mine told me about Yarn School. There aren’t a lot of spinning workshops/classes around, so I knew that I was going to have to travel in order to learn more.  Yarn School sounded awesome and came highly recommended, so I signed up as soon as registrations opened.

I was pretty proud of myself – I spent 15 hours traveling to get there (mostly killing time in airports, stupid lack of direct flights!) and went on my own trusting that a mutual love of spinning and all things fiber would help me make friends quickly.

The entire experience was awesome. It was like sleepover camp for adult ladies (with a glass of wine with dinner!). Nikol is a fabulous cook (even if lunch/dinner are a little late). The school is awesome – getting to set up a giant circle of wheels in the gym and getting to co-opt the science lab for dying fiber. We got to eat fresh eggs from Nikol’s chickens, visit with her sheep, see alpacas and even angora bunnies!

I dyed 2lbs of fiber – BFL, Wool, Merino, and a Superwash (not sure what the order is above). I love the first two, I’m not totally sold on the brown/yellow in the third, and the fourth is just… NEON. It was meant to be a colour study of gradients using Chartreuse… but, it obviously just came out looking like a neon safety sign. I’m planning on overdying it, but I’m still waiting for some inspiration.

The gym was awesome with all of our fiber hung up above the balcony to dry. Each dye lab had 15 people x 4 braids of 8 oz. each (or 2lbs). That’s a lot of fiber. What’s sort of scary is that we all came home with way more than that! I bought 6oz of alpaca, 2 x 4oz of a colour way dyed by Adrian from Hello Yarn, some angora, lots of firestar/angelina in bright colours, and several batts that I carded myself. In fact, I had so much fiber that I had trouble closing my suitcase on the way home and Jason couldn’t even hold it all. Even though, I showed restraint.

I learned how to Navajo Ply – my lovely neighbour Ashley taught me. I normally don’t like plying, but this method overcomes all of the reasons why I dislike plying, is fun, and looks cool to boot. In fact I love it so much that I haven’t been able to stop.

The top skein is 4oz of a special Yarn School Hello Yarn colour way spun up as a worsted single. The bottom row is all Navajo Ply. The far left is 4oz of Sweet Georgio rovings. Next is a mix of Hello Yarn scraps and a special Yarn School colour way. After that is a batt I carded while there that is a crazy mix of: wool, mohair, bamboo, silk, angelino, nylon, and merino – it is sparkly! Next is 2oz of tricolour alpaca. After that is a lofty 3-ply that I dyed myself in pinks, blues, lilac, and purples. And hiding up in the corner is a tiny skein that I practiced on when I was learning to Navajo Ply.

In all, I had an amazing time hanging out with a group of women who love spinning as much as I do. I missed it from the moment I walked out the front door and am already scheming how to go back next year (fingers crossed!).

Over the weekend Jason & I went to Belleville for my cousin Julie’s wedding. There was lots of talk of current and future weddings – especially since my cousin Lauren & I are getting married within weeks of each other next summer.

Lauren had told me that she was bringing me a gift that was “delicate”. I was totally confused about what it could possibly be, until I opened it up and realized that it was absolutely perfect. Squeeee!

They are Clover knitting needles with handmade “Mrs Shaw” hearts on top. Super cute and totally perfect.

Thanks Lauren!