The Beebas' Bottoms

Mixing Family and Business the Mommy Way.

Archive for category Crafting

Been Busy!

Jul 19

Posted by Theresa in Crafting, Family | No Comments

Boy, Have I Ever been busy! Of course, with a 2 month old, I am busy anyway.  Add now to that a wedding we had to attend out of state a few weeks back, and a week at Lake Waneta with family last week, plus several customs to work on, and I have just not stopped doing something.

Speaking of customs, since I have had so many lately, I decided to start a customs list, so if you are waiting on a custom from me, you can check out where you stand and the progress on your project on the sidebar of the blog here.  I will try to update at least once a week, or as I complete projects.

Now the fun part… you know you have been waiting… Pictures!

I took the opportunity of the week at the lake to practice my photography skills, and got lots of great shots of the kids, the lake, and even a bit of knitting.

Beeba 1 watching "boy scout tv" with his uncle.

Who needs toys?

2 months old already!

A gorgeous sunset over Lake Waneta

The end of the sunset

The current project on the needles

With that, I’ll try to post again soon!

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What’s New…; More pics

Jun 9

Posted by Theresa in CCFibers, Crafting, Family | No Comments

So, since Beeba 3 was born a few weeks ago, I have slowly been working on getting back into gear.  With that, I decided to open up at a new venue.  New, at least, for Crystal City Fibers.  I am opening a HyenaCart Shop.  I am planning (maybe too ambitiously, but we shall see) for a grand Opening on June 23.

Now, I say maybe too ambitiously, because after all, I have a newborn here.  Not only that, but I have an out of state wedding to be at on the 19th, and 2 older kids who want constant attention.  But darn it, I am going to try.

The new shop is located here.  Don’t worry, The Etsy Shop is not going anywhere.  But this way, I will be able to offer giveaways easier, as well as being able to take advantage of the HC stocking calendar.

I am making batts, dyeing fibers, and creating in general as productively as I can to be ready for the big Grand Opening, at which you can expect to find at least one giveaway.

~~~

Now, I know everyone loves baby pictures, right?  So here are a few more of Beeba 3.

Big Brother wants to hold Beeba 3 all the time...

and Beeba 3 is starting to make little smiles... is it gas? is it happy? maybe both?

He does love his hands...

And last, a picture that is not Beeba 3, OR one of my products… This is a Temari ball that my mom made for my little Beeba 3.  Temari is an ancient art form, the balls are made from nothing, starting with a core of some sort, either yarn, a smaller ball, or sometimes jingle bells or rattlers… wrapped in first more yarn, then thread… and after the ball is complete in form (which takes some time in itself) then the design is added.  In this case, the design is made using some commercial yarns and threads, and a bit of my handspun as well.  A truly unique toy for my little one.  Mom is thinking of opening a shop selling these and her OOAK beaded jewelry… what do you think?

Pretty, isn't it?

And now, till later, I bid you fare well, and I am off to work on some oceana batts of merino and silk.

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What’s on the wheel; Whats happeing around here

Apr 21

Posted by Theresa in CCFibers, Crafting, Family, Personal, business | No Comments

Well, this week, I have been working hard, AND hardly working.

I have gotten a fair bit of spinning done, and have no less than 5 skeins of yarn all spun up and in some stage of the process of being skeined, washed, and ready for photos.  I’ll show off a few-

This one is Polwarth wool, and it is scrumptious soft. this one is only a bit over 2 ounces, but it is over 150 yards, and very pretty.

Merino wool in pastel colors... this was at least 4 ounces, and there is a fair bit of length here... its probably somewhere between sport and DK weight...

This one is a finer yarn, about a light fingering weight, 2 plied with a lower plying twist than usual. It is superwash BFL and was meant to be lace, but I feel like it is thicker than a typical lace, though I have not measured the WPI yet. There is over 400 yards here, but there IS one knot in the yarn where there was apparently a weakness in both plies that I did not account for. Boy, that hasn't happened in a LONG time. It will go in the shop, but as a slight second because of the knot.

One of the yarns I spun up in the last few days is a Jacob wool batt that I had dyed pink while it was still locks.  I took video of the spinning, meaning to create a series of videos on spinning batts using different methods, but sadly, the video camera did not want to pic up the images (too low light) and just shows a big (fat from pregnancy) sillohette.  bah humbug on that.  I guess I need a better camera… but how to afford that?

On another note, whats going on here is a bit of chaos.  We spent a chunk of money a few weekends ago on 2 new appliances, a stand up freezer that we meant to put in our pantry, and a water softener.

We realized right away AFTER it arrived, that the freezer was no way no how getting into that pantry.  the room was plenty large (its a huge pantry) but the door?  far to small.  by inches.  even with the doors off both the pantry AND the freezer.

Oh well.  the freezer is now running in the cellar (up on cinder blocks) and is being steadily filled with good things.  I have been cooking giant batches of food and stockpiling for after baby is born.  so far, there is a meal of stuffed peppers down there, 2 sheperd’s pies, and 2 pans of baked mac and cheese.  Yum.  next will be baked ziti, and after that possibly lasagna.  we’ll see how industrius I am feeling.

The water softener, we needed so badly.  Our water is a 14 on the hardness scale.  If you don’t know what that means… well, my understanding is that 7 is considered hard.  10 is VERY hard, and 14?  we might as well be just eating sand.

Sadly, the water softener, while it DID get hooked up last weekend, is still not running and softening our hard water.  My wonderful husband was trying to save us some money and him some work, and figured that he would just let the water softener recharge itelf into a big tub… since we have no drainage down there.  well.  the tub was too small, and we wound up with an inch deep of water across the whole cellar floor.  thank goodness that freezer is on cinder blocks.

SO, this weekend, he will be installing a utility sink down there, and connecting the water softener directly to the sewage pipe.  (for the drainage).  He figures, if he is gonna have to cut into the pipe to connect for drainage, he might as well get a sink out of the process too.  he is working very hard to turn the cellar into a usable work space, and this will also allow the de-humidifier to drain directly into the sink too, eliminating his every few days trip to empty the basin for that.

We are getting closer to baby time too.  As of this coming sunday, I will be 36 weeks along… further if you go by the date my dear husband is using (somehow he keeps marking wednesday as the week turner) but I will happily keep thinking it will be May 23 for a due date.  I know, you see, that the baby is more likely to be late than early, and I would rather not be thinking that baby is late before I have to.

Now, after having typed far too long, I am sure I have lost the interest of all but the staunchest readers, so I will end for today, and say, may you have happy spinning, knitting, or just browsing the web time, until you join me again!

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Photo Friday

Apr 16

Posted by Theresa in Crafting, Family, Photo Friday | No Comments

Hello Photo lovers!

Straight to the photos-

My newest WIP- A pair of footed Longies for the new baby. Obviously not finished yet, but I figure it will only take another couple days to finish, if I get some good knitting time in.

And my Newest FO- The baby blanket I spent the last many months working on. Boy, am I glad it is done!

This is a "Magic Fiber Ball" for a swap on facebook. The Idea comes form magic yarn balls- where you take a ball of yarn and wrap it around a bunch of small surprises for your swap partner. It is fun. In this case, this is Australian Merino dizzed off my drum carder in "Easter Parade".

And just because she is cute (although this is right after a session of Painting herself, and I'm not sure I got all the paint off her)... my little Beeba 2, who will turn 2 in a few weeks.

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What a week!

Apr 14

Posted by Theresa in CCFibers, Crafting, Family, Personal | No Comments

Well, folks, I missed a week, you may have noticed.  It has been a monster of a week.

Last Monday, my dad came out for a well awaited visit.  All was going fine, until, Dun dun dun… Wednesday morning, he wound up in the hospital, due to a complication from his surgery weeks prior.  So instead of blogging last Wednesday as I usually do, I spent the afternoon trying to find out what was going on with him at the hospital… I could not bring the kids there, and I had nobody to watch them that day.  Thursday, I spent the entire day there with him, and Friday, he came home, and we were all a little distracted…

Leave it to say, I am behind on my production stuff by several days.  BUT, on the positive side, while he was here, with him in the hospital, I was finally able to finish the baby blanket I was knitting for the newest Beeba.  And yesterday I started on a pair of footed wool pants for the new beeba too.  They are over half done already, being such a small and simple knit, and I will be posting pics on Friday if not sooner.  if I can get my craft room cleaned up this afternoon a bit, then I will be taking pics of several items, including the blanket and the in-progress woolies to update my projects queue, and also some things to get ready for sale.  I have several skeins of yarn that need photos taken and WPIs measured so I can list them too.  I did get a fair bit of spinning done this past week as well.

Also, no new pics of the CPW yet this week… but I finally got the flyer and bobbin sent in for repair.  The hooks are to be replaced, and the bobbin replicated.  Then, I’ll be putting the original bobbin away to be kept safe, and my wheel will be much nicer to spin on… I hope.  no more weird places where the fiber has huge valleys from missing hooks, no more fighting with the rough, rusted hooks to get good uptake, and no more fighting with hooks that have, simply from itting in a pile for ages, somehow wound up bent too far closed… all the hooks should be nice and even when it comes back to me.

Of course, the bobbin will make a difference too.  The original bobbin has a large split in on part of it, and chips out of the pulley (that’s the bobbin’s whorl, for those who don’t know).  It also had one bearing that had come out, but I was able to pressure fit back in. Of course, the origianl bearings, I am pretty sure, were lead.  I am not sure what Mr. Hatton (the gentleman doing the work) will use in the new bobbin… but since lead is not that easy to find anymore, I would bet it won’t be that, and I am kind of glad, since lead is not something I am fond of finding in my already old and lead-ridden house.

On a separate note- I have been asked to make a video of how to spin from a batt.  That having been said, there are so many different ways to spin from a batt, I thought maybe it would better to be a series of short videos. If anyone has a particular batt-spinning method you’d like to see covered, please feel free to leave a comment.  I know I will be covering at least these: 1, stripping the batt; 2, pulling off chunks to spin from the fold; and 3, pulling the batt into thick roving.  Any other things you would particularly like to see?  Just let me know.  the videos may take some time to come, as I need to wait till the kids are quiet, but I have no problem making as many as needed.

Now I just wish I had a better video camera, though, since my cheapy one does not make the best quality films.  But, I will make due for now, as I simply do not have the funds to buy anything new right now.

Oh!  And don’t forget, I am now 34.5 weeks pregnant.  During the month of April, Join my ravelry group and make a guess when you think my baby will be born and will the baby be a boy or girl for your chance to win a surprise gift custom made for you!

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