Friday, July 31, 2009

Dear Santa...


I've come to the realization that I am totally obsessed with fiber. I love flipping through knitting magazines and looking at all the yarns. I go to my LYS just to touch every skein they have. I spend hours online browsing spun creations. During one of my internet endeavors I discovered a fiber I hadn't heard of before. At least not by this name: qiviut. I've heard a knitter chat about the wonder of musk ox fiber but I still didn't know much about it. So I did a little research on qiviut and this is what I found. Qiviut is said to be even better than cashmere if you can believe that. It is softer and stronger and even warmer. It is not the jumbled, raggedy hair you usually see on a musk ox but the "downy" fur undercoat that is shed every year. The hair is either taken off in one large piece when it has pulled away from the body or collected when patches of the fluffy fiber fall off. It isn't usually bleached and dyed because the process compromises the strength and softness of the ox wool. It's then cleaned, carded, and spun into yarn. So this year, instead of a pony I think I'll ask Santa for a musk ox.
Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Thursday, July 30, 2009

My New Obsession

Biking around the streets of Corvallis, looking at houses for my parents to rent, Dale and I stumbled across a free sewing machine. My dream come true. And even better, it is a Wheeler and Wilson D-9, late 1800s treadle machine in a cabinet. It is absolutely amazing. It's not in great condition but I love it anyway. We took the car back and loaded it in the back seat (we really need a truck, that thing was heavy and awkward).
When we got it home and put it on the deck we pulled out the laptops and started searching for information about the old machine. During my search I found out that Allen B. Wilson was a sewing machines pioneer and all of us sewers have him to thank for the wonders of our modern machines. He created the rotary hook and bobbin combination and four-motion feed that moves the fabric through the machine automatically. In 1905, Singer bought out Wheeler and Wilson and continued some of their lines as late as the 1960s. Wilson never got much money from his patents, definitely no where near what Singer is making on their franchise, but he will go down in history with die-hard sewers and machine hunters.

The other thing I discovered in my online searches was a Singer Featherweight 222K. Of course I know about Featherweights. After all, I learned to sew on my mom's brilliant 1950s machine before getting my own. But I didn't know about the Featherweight 222K. And know that I do know about them, I really want one. The problem is, only 100,000 were ever made (compare that over 1,000,000 Featherweight 221s made between 1948 and 1959) and their scarcity means they are pricey. Especially since they are still very useful machines.
The free arm cousin of the Featherweight 221s were made in Killbowie, Scotland and not only is it a convertible machine that has a tubular bed that is perfect for shirt cuffs, but the feed-dog can be lowered for free form sewing, a huge plus to quilters. So for now, since I am broke, I will keep my eye out on these wonderful little machines in hopes of one day using my own.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Om Mamma & Krafty Katina on Facebook!

We've been on Facebook for a while but we want more fans. That means you! So become a fan and get updates and see more pictures of the craftappenings of Om Mamma and Krafty Katina. Plus, you can write on the wall; share ideas, links, and photos; and never miss what's going on with the girls. Hope to see you on Facebook!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Corvallis Ravelers


Before I moved to Oregon I joined the Corvallis Ravelers group on Ravelry. I went to a Tuesday night knit meet at the Enoteca Wine Bar downtown and it was great! I'm glad there is a nice group of ladies to go knitting with. I'm looking forward to knitting with them again tonight and Wednesday night as well. I'll be working on my Basket Weave Socks again since I haven't worked on it since last Tuesday (I was making my first lace scarf, which is now Mum's). My LYS, Fiber Nooks and Crannys, also has a knit night every other week. I missed that one last week but am looking forward to it next week. If I ever get into spinning I can join ladies at my LYS the weeks they don't knit. The fiber scene here is great so far and I'm lucky to be in a community that will help me grow as a knitter.
Happy Crafting!
-Cerise : )

P.S. If you are a knitter/crochetter and you aren't on Ravelry, sign up!!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Crafting in Oregon


Well, it's been a long few months and I'm finally getting a long awaited blog up. Hopefully my life has settled down enough that I will be posting blogs more regularly. I have so so many things to blog about! I've been pretty crafty my first three weeks in Oregon and much of that is attributed to my newest addition to my craft life. Upon our arrival in Corvallis, Oregon, we scrambled to find a better living situation than we had originally secured and fortunately for us we got a beautiful two bedroom house that has a separate little house in the back. And guess where I've set up my crafts? In the craft hut! My parents came up for a visit three days after moving to Oregon and I had a lot of help getting my craft hut pretty and ready for crafting. My mom and I sponge painted the floor and my dad and Dale set up the extension cord from the main house to the craft hut so I could have electricity. I now have everything but my knitting out there and it's wonderful! I have my sewing table and a desk set up so I can leave out projects. There is plenty of storage space, including an old dorm dresser/cabinet from OSU, and plenty of space to spread out. I've already begun many sewing adventures but need to get some curtains up to keep out the sun and heat. I'm so happy I finally have some great space for doing all my projects and glad to have had helpers to get it set up!
Happy Crafting, Cerise : )

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Cleaning up

First, let me say that Cerise's craft house in Corvallis is super awesome. She will post pictures soon (please, please!). Imagine having a whole small building to yourself to create, to craft and sew and imagine having all that space to keep things for future projects... Hey, a lot of that stuff is here at my house!
My husband and I are purging and sorting for an impending move. It is hard to toss things (actually, I mean recycle) that might turn into cool, incredible things to sell. I have a box of baby food jars (Cerise's) paint and print supplies (Cerise's) empty jewelry boxes (umhhhmm... Cerise's) along with my own baggage: cool pieces of driftwood I fantasize turning into jewelry, old sweaters that could be cat toys, worn blue jeans... I guess at some point some of it has to go. I just hate putting things into land fill so instead I lug it around, and maybe someday it will be the next great thing. Cerise has promised to get her baby food jars. She has room for them!
Theresa, OmMama