Vintage and New Etsy Fresh Summer Outfit

I love knitting shrugs and ballet wraps. This little green cotton wrap is for my daughter.  The pattern is here: Yogini.  Finishing this wrap got me thinking about what I could easily find on Etsy.com to pair with it. Let's build an outfit around it.

I hope it fits her and wouldn't it look cute with this pin on it?

This pretty pin is available on Etsy at my friend Amy's shop Dottie DigsVintage

This outfit is taking shape with the addition of this vintage dress found at

CT Mercantile another great vintage etsy shop.

How about some shoes and a clutch?
Easily done shopping online Etsy.

This adorable little purse would do the trick the color block in vivid yellow brings out the yellow center of the daisy pin. Found in this shop 
CarolineHanna

Add a classic vintage shoe the espadrille as the finishing touch to this casual classy outfit. 

You can purchase this great wedge espadrille at VintageEdition on Etsy.
How easy was that!
Get shopping on Etsy!
Anne

Spring Baby Blooms

It's knit all done...where is that baby?

little stay on booties the pattern is free on Ravelry here I went down needle sizes to  sz 6 and sz 4.  with worsted weight.

The hat is also a free pattern. One that I love and have made many times.  Also on Ravelry here
My adaptation for the hat is to use size 6 needles to make it more of a newborn size.  
I like to add the leaf also instead of just having the perky little top knot.  The leaf...yup you guessed it free on Ravelry here It is the best leaf EVER. It is double sided and you knit it all up at once on 3 dp's.  The booties and the hat are all worsted weight.  The little blankets are bulky knit. I used this pattern free on Ravelry here with bulky yarn and size 15 needles.  Approx 220 yds.
All set baby! You can come out now!
Gramma Anne

My First Socks

Progress is being made!

Last night I turned the heel.

Tonight I am heading for the toe!  I love how squishy this sock feels.  It is even getting cold here on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Florida cold 66 degrees at the moment.  Hot tea with honey, pj's cold and knit socks cold.
Lambie

Frogging Sox

Not what I had in mind for my beautiful socks.  The directions were for using circular needles.  I used 4 dp needles.  I didn't think I would have a problem, but alas my brain doesn't know how to compute the necessary calculations when it gets down to the KNITTY GRITTY heal turn.... I feel so stupid.  I had my lovely ribbing and my 7" leg and all that brilliant heal flap.   The flap was calculated incorrectly and was too long by 5 stitches.  I just could not figure out where to go next.  I finally combined the directions from another dp sock and bravely went ahead and turned the heal.  I picked up 21 stitches from each side when WHAMMO I had to try and do something called SHAPE THE INSTEP???  Maybe because I have flat feet this was a foreign concept.  I tried really.  Then I frogged and this is what I am back to.

The sad unraveling of the sock.  Mile after mile of lovely knitting and getting ready to start again.  I have now found a pattern from Susan B. Anderson called "How I Make My Socks" link It is made on dp's and I have already cast on.  I will keep you posted.  My 'right brain' thinking has to do it this way.  I have to start over. 
I am going to knit for a very long time tonight in an attempt to get caught back up even though I know that is not possible.
Lambie
 

Infinity Scarf Etsy Trends

Etsy is always ahead of me or so it seems.  This am they sent an email with current Etsy Trends and what is "Hot this Season".  One of which is the popular Infinity Scarf or Moebius.  Of course their link directs you immediately  to hundreds of scarfs. link  Mine is not there as it is still on the needles, but I had the right idea to make one.
Amazing!
I am making mine out of Lion Brand's Amazing in wildflowers.   When I was up in Boston I spent some restful moments shopping on line and found Amazing on sale.  I went a little wild.  I love the color ways.  I bought lots of them and wish I had bought more.  I love this one it is called Mesa.

 

I have knit a cowl out of it.  It is so pretty and has some gold glass beads knit into it.  I need to buy more satin ribbon to weave into the eyelet on the top and bottom.  My pattern for this is here. link  I really need to update the pattern. I have learned how to knit the beads in by watching a video on Youtube. link  it is so easy to do and using the wire from the twist tie is great as the narrowness of it fits almost any beads.

 

Here is my Wildflower infinity scarf in progress.

 

 

 

I do not know how to die yarn or make colorways.  It is an endless mystery to me.  One that likely I will not venture to solve.  I know knitters who do this, from yarn they have washed, carded and spun.  Their kitchen sinks full of dazzling glass jars of color as they experiment with their colorfilled dreams. When their colors are set they start spinning these amazing fibers pulling spinning mixing color with color.  Just this skein of Amazing by Lion Brand has me in awe.  I have knit a good five inches of this scarf and have still not come up with a repeat of color.  It started with dusky, dusty browns, shadowy colors and has moved into soft greens and hints of rust.  Look at the inside of that skein up there.  I cannot wait to get to that rich ripe plumb color and that deep rich purple.  It is brilliant.  Appropriate to be making an infinity scarf out of these endless streams of color. 

 

Here are some more beautiful Infinity designs on Etsy.

Eva Miller made this lovely bracelet in her shop KapKa Design. You can find it here.  link

 

And here is a crochet infinity scarf in pumpkin chunky yarn

 

Mandy handcrafted this and you can find it in her shop here.  link

 

 

Infinity

 

My tattoo is healing and getting smooth and soft.  I love it.  So I say to Etsy, "Yes I get it. What is Hot Right Now is Infinity"

 

To infinity and beyond!!

Lambie/Anne

 

 

 

Picking Up the Needles

As if arthritis wasn't enough to make me slow down knitting this summer...the colonoscopy socks were. link  I didn't read ahead into the pattern. They are tube socks. No heal to turn = NO FUN just 16" of tube and then a toe.  Well those are nicely stashed in their bag until another trip to the Dr's or hospital brings them back out.
I saw this on Facebook the other day and I had to steal it.

Doesn't my Skip look cute with those needles in his head.

 

Etsy knitting and weelambieknits are taking a new direction this year.  I am in the process of combining my two shops. I will just have Weelambievintage and in it there is a Knits by Wee Lambie  section. link
I have some items that are being moved over from Weelambieknits.  The majority of this little shop will be devoted to fingerless gloves and cowls.  I love making these.  No Wee will not be having a 'sock' section anytime soon.
Here are some of what is being offered.

Garnet Cowl for Fall here a deep rich garnet color is super squishy bulky soft yarn. 

Blue Fingerless gloves for fall. Agate Blue! link

 

All my favorite Etsians are busy getting ready for the Fall and Holiday Season.
Big topics for conversation are packaging tips, where to get the best value for tape.  Finding good sources for recycling boxes and packaging.  My garage is starting to look like a warehouse as carboard piles up in ready.
What ever you're working on I hope you're enjoying it.  

And if you need to get the perfect Christmas Dress for your little girl look no further than my friend's NannaJustbananas. Take a look at her creations.

Girls Christmas Dress from NanaJustbananas

Teri is a Master seamstress and all her creations are perfection and made from the highest quality fabrics and notions.  Get your orders in early.
you can find her shop here: link  Teri also has an amazing line of wedding flower girl fashions....even the cutest shoes you ever dreamed of.

Weelambie/Anne

Colonoscopy Socks

Had to bring hubby to the colonoscopy place today...
Haven't knit anything in several weeks as my arthritis in my hands has been a real PITA.
I thought this would be a good time to get started on socks. I have started them before and they are off in a project bag someplace.  I quickly threw some Patton's and a pattern into a bag and off we went.  Here is about as far as I got.

What is much more important than socks is gettin your colon searched.  This is the best link I know of describing the ordeal.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/02/11/427603/dave-barry-a-journey-into-my-colon.html

Enjoy the read Dave Barry is one funny man.

weelambie/anne

Shabby Cottage Chic Picture Frame

I enjoyed my yard sale hunt this am. It was very hot and I melted quickly, but I did get some good finds.
It was picture frame day as that is what I found the most of.

This vintage metal frame was in amazing condition. It must be from the 1950's.

  I love the silver metal peaking out from the white finish.

Easel frames are very graceful.  This one also has the old picture wire attached so that it can also be hung from the wall.  Faded black velvet in good condition still covers the back of the frame.  I didn't change the frame a bit.  It was perfect just the way it was.

I didn't like the frame to be empty so I had some fun making a mixed media collage.

Pretty lilac paper, some pearls, a vintage ecru crochet doily and a black and white vintage snap shot were all tucked together.  I added lace and ribbon and stamped a key design on it.  I think it is the key to the hearts of this loving elderly couple.

Weelambie/ Anne

Tea Staining Hang Tags DIY

I was very lucky to come home from an estate sale yesterday with a box full of mailing supplies. Included in this $1.00 score were dozens of brand new hang tags.
I decided to find out how to antique the tags with tea stain.  There are lots of ways to do this I discovered on google.  I like to simplify things.
Here is what I came up with.
Tea Staining 101

• boil 1 cup water. Steep 3 black tea bags about ten mins. More or less steeping and water depending on the color you want.
• Pour the tea into a glass baking dish. Dunk all the labels into the tea. Let them soak in there while you slosh them about a bit.  This lasted about five minutes for me to get the color I wanted.
• Take the labels out and lay them on a table in the sun to dry.

Voila labels drying in the sun on my lanai work table.
To make them more appealing as they dry and time permits I will dab more stain on them directly with the wrung out tea bags.  Dabbing along the edges and here and there to make them a bit more shabby. 
The tags should be dry and ready for decorating by the time we get our late afternoon rain showers. 
They can be decorated with ribbons, stamps, anything your creative mind and supply cache allows.
Enjoy.
Anne

Simple Knitting Day

All my gears ground to a halt yesterday and I had myself a wonderful knitting day. You know the kind. Picking up an UFO and happily greeting it like the long lost friend it is.  Coming to terms with it.  Picking up where you left off and making what had turned into an "I don't love you any more" relationship into an " I love you so so much" reality.
I finished my second pink Camo cap for girls.

Pink Camo

Love the web it makes on the top

Rockabilly Chic Camo for Girls

sniffing the air after the rain

the garden after the rain

early morning sun

Upcycling Shabby Chic / Vintage

Works in progress upcycling vintage to Shabby Chic with paint, bees wax and elbow grease. 

VINTAGE SHELF BEING MADE INTO HANDMADE SHELF??

Etsy Vintage vs Etsy Handmade
When I tried to list my first upcycled vintage jewerly box on Etsy I ran into the problem of classifying items correctly.  I thought if something was vintage when I started repairing, sanding, painting it that it would still be vintage when I was done.  I was wrong... apparently. " Vintage is vintage and handmade is handmade"  or so I have been told.  This still mystifies me.  Many old vintage and even antique items have been repaired, painted, fixed up, given new life over the decades.  We still call them antiques and vintage.  If you do it on etsy you have somehow falsified the 'vintage' aspect and made something else, something new, something handmade.  I might even be brave enough or foolish enough to call it OOAK... an Etsy anagram for One Of A Kind. 
Now I have to come to terms with this as Etsy is inflexible on some points while it flexes wildly on others. 
I don't plan to rock the boat.
I just do. I step in a new boat...this time the boat of 'upcycling vintage' and the boat tips.
My survival will depend on how I manouver in this new boat.  The boat will not change it will still  float.  I will be the one tossed about and possibly drown.  Well isn't that a little melodramatic, but that is me always with the drama. 
I still call it upcycled Vintage. After all that is exactly what it is.  I will list it under handmade and tag it with both.  I just can't add my favorite teams tag to it as that has too much Integrity in it to go on something once vintag(still vintage) and now handmade.  I was told this today.   Remove the team's tag.  It stung like a slap in the face.  I have never been good at following rules.  It is in my nature to see things from many aspects, many angles, in many lights.  I am terrible at black and white, right and wrong, I always find other ways.  I am tolerent of others.  I am forgiving to a fault.  Something my mother told me could bite me in the butt. 
I probably should have been sent to a military school...gotten the rules drilled into me.  Instead I grew up Unitarian with some Quaker tossed in here and there.   So I give in and bend allow them to have their views of what is vintage and I will live with mine. 
This is my latest finished piece of Upcycled Shabby Chic

Upcycled Shabby Chic Vintage Jewelry Box

My recipe.
lightly sand
paint,
sand,
x 2
lovingly rub in bees wax and polish to a rich patina. 
Add TLC
decorate with pearls
photograph

be true to your God and your own compass it is probably pointing you in the right direction as God guides you on your way.
Anne

all hung with pearls and jewels