Wool play food!

For the past few weeks I've been working on customs so haven't been able to stock my store. The fact that I'm not stocking my store makes me feel unproductive, even though I knit and crochet every day. So here are some of the things I've been working on lately.

I finished up this fruit and veggie basket as a custom for a little girl's birthday gift. I'm really pleased with how they all came out. My favorite is the little eggplant.



I made some more playfood for another project I'm working on. For some reason, I really wanted to make a head of lettuce. I think it came out very well for my first one! I enjoy the challenge of coming up with the patterns for the fruits and veggies as I crochet them.



I've also been working on more shorties and these are a recent custom knit with Purewool's "Blue Warrior" colorway. The colors worked up very nicely.

A new custom and donation for a raffle

These are my two newest finished woolies. The first is a custom pair of small longies knit with "Emory" by ...a time to dye on BFL. I thought I was going to be able to finish the whole pair with 1 skein, but I had just 1 leg cuff left when I ran out of yarn. Luckily my local yarn store came through with a coordinating blue.



I made this pair of shorties for a fundraising raffle. It's a medium pair of shorties knit with Crema and Chocolate on Purewool. This was my first time knitting with 3 ply purewool. I know how everyone talks about how soft it is, and it's definitely soft, but I actually liked most how neat and clean the stitches look. You can find the fundraising raffles here. So many talented mamas!



Now if only we could have universal healthcare. That would really be something.

Spotlighting Tush Cloth Diapers and Blue Goose Designs

I have been lax in spotlighting other WAHMs on Hyena Cart, so today I'm doing two to try to catch up: Tush Cloth Diapers and Blue Goose Designs.

I noticed this beautiful diaper this week:

This is a Tush Nocturne hand dyed diaper called "The Sleepy Aubergine." I noticed this diaper because I love eggplants and the deep purple color of eggplants. It was stocked at the Venus Vanguard congo on Hyena Cart this week. Tush Nocturnes are fitted overnight diapers that look lush and comfortable. If you look at her blog, you'll also see how beautifully she dyes her diapers. Tush stocks at both her own site and at Venus Vanguard.

My other spotlight this week is on Blue Goose Designs. Formerly Baa Baby Naturals, Blue Goose Designs offers organic and hand dyed knit longies, soakers and shorties as well as other knit baby clothing. Andrea, the WAHM behing Blue Goose Designs, has been in business since 2005. Her extensive gallery is filled with beautiful items.

I also love her informative page on wool. I've referenced her chart several times in my process of learning about all of the different kinds of wool and their properties.

Her sister site is Wild Child Yarn, where she offers hand dyed yarns. Check out this beautiful colorway on 2 ply merino, and it's still in stock:

Two finished gifts

One of my husband's closest friends is having a baby next month and we're both invited to the baby shower. I made this sweater and hat for the baby to wear next winter. I used Beemer Knits' Bananafish colorway on BFL.





And about a year ago, my sister mentioned to me that she wanted some kind of ear warmer. I made this one for her from the Calorimetry pattern on Knitty and, while I finished knitting a year ago, I just yesterday sewed on the button. It's almost April, so I don't know how much wear she'll get out of it this year, but it's going to be 32 degrees on Easter so maybe she can wear it then.



And just a note about the wool I used for this. I bought this yarn at City Knitting in Grand Rapids, MI, and it was dyed by Yarn Hollow. It's a wool/mohair blend. Typically I don't like mohair, but this is very nice and not scratchy at all.

Two New Customs Finished!

I just finished up 2 customs and I'm really happy about how they turned out.

This first pair of capris was knit with the "Mermaid" colorway by Ky Baby Knits. These colors are so vibrant in person and the colors striped very nicely throughout. The mama I made these for wanted a ruffle and after three tries, I finally found a ruffle I like!



These shorties were knit in a variation on the Peppermint Chocolate Chip colorway dyed by Beemer Knits. The colorway is a blend of pink, grey and beige. I would never think to put grey and beige together, but it's beautiful and soothing on this yarn.



So I've got several more customs to work on and some personal knitting to do before I'm able to stock my store again. In fact, I'm working on Crumpets for my daughter's Easter dress and I'm worrying that I won't get it done in time. That's not my only worry about this dress. My daughter is also very picky about what she'll wear, and I'm afraid she'll refuse to wear it come Easter. But she likes girly dresses, so I'm crossing my fingers. I'll post pictures of it when I'm finished.

Charity Raffle

This is my third and last post for today!

I've donated this pair of newborn/small shorties to a charity raffle to benefit the family of a three year old girl recently diagnosed with leukemia. You can read all about it here and purchase tickets for many great items donated by WAHMs.

Spotlighting Beneath the Rowan Tree

I've been a little lazy getting these spotlights done lately, but I'm hoping to get myself back on track.

Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree dyes and hand paints all of her clothing items. While she carries mainly clothing for children--T shirts, dresses, hoodies, pants, and shorts--she also carried items for women. One of my favorite T shirts she's created is this Birds on a Wire, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why it's still in stock!



In reading her blog today, I saw that she's been working on a series of items featuring characters from Alice in Wonderland. She's been using the works of John Tenniel as inspiration. I love 19th century children's illustrations, and I love the illustrations Tenniel did for Alice in Wonderland. Here's an example of what Lori created. She's a talented woman to take those illustrations and render them beautifully on fabric!



Lori also carries Square Roots--wooden play tiles that she's painted, and Art Pops-- molded crayons on a lollipop stick!

Check out Beneath the Rowan Tree on her blog or her main website . Lori stocks on her own Hyena Cart, on the congos In Their Hands and Take Off Your Shoes, and on Etsy.