New September Challenge!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments » Needle Felting Tips and TricksI don’t know a lot about needle-felting, I admit. There is a needle (or two or four or even more) and there is some fiber. A lot of poking ensues and “viola!” a really awesome creation is made. Such is the case with this blog post by betz white that I found while browsing late last night. I read through the tutorial and she makes it seem so easy. I for one have never been real sure how long to poke the fiber in the first place. (That didn’t stop me from buying the still unopened Clover needle punch tool several months ago.) What’s really neat to me though is that this particular technique satisfies both the lust for sharp, pointy objects and the need for cute appliqué to dress up that old sweater. I’d love to see other examples of needle felting techniques so feel free to post them in the comments! Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment » EtsyFAST’s flickr pool turns 1,000The Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team has a flickr.com group where team members upload pictures of their beautiful creations. If you go here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsyfast/ , you’ll notice the pool just turned 1,000, as in there’s more than a thousand photos of our gorgeous yarns, fiber, crochet, knitting and other fiber arts! Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » Celestial Crochet of EtsyFastEtsyFAST is looking toward the heavens for this month’s ending challenge. Each month the EtsyFAST team picks a theme, and we tag items fitting that theme. The members have displayed items that are truly “celestial” – the theme for the month. Stars, moons, night skies, and comets! The crochet facet of EtsyFAST has tagged some lovely items for that theme. Won’t you please take a look? This hat from Sandandskycreations.etsy.com is one example. Emblazoned with a bright white star amid cherry red, but also sporting a listing title from a hit Moby song
A second example shows how crochet can be used to make plushies. C is for Celestial is a monogram in pastel made by tantalizingstitches.esty.com. It’s part pillow, part baby toy, all the letter C and all crochet.
A third example of how some crocheters saw inspiration in ‘celestial’ is in Dreamwoven.etsy.com’s shop. This creation’s curves and spirals are like the revolving galaxies.
Check out the other items and shops participating in the August challenge by searching http://etsy.com/ for the tags EtsyFast or Augustchallenge!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments » San Francisco Shop Review – ArtFibersMy husband and I recently had a week long trip to San Francisco (without the kids!). He was there for a conference and I was there for yarn. No. Really. 5 days, 5 different yarn stores! Is that heaven, or what? As an ex-city dweller, I love to visit all the different neighborhoods, which is where most of SF’s yarn stores are located. This trip, however, was our first staying downtown near Union Square, which made ArtFibers a logical first stop. Located at 124 Sutter Street, it’s very near BART, Union Square, Chinatown, and many other sites. I went into the store expecting your typical yarn shop. My expectations were way off – it’s more like walking into a candy shop. The folks at Artfibers design, dye and package their own yarns, including a variety of plant, animal, silk and synthetic fibers. Walking through the shop is a feast for the eyes and the hands. Virtually every yarn they offer has been knit up in swatches that are easily fondled (and hard to let go!) The colors and textures offered are a truly tasty variety. In the animal fibers, I was immediately drawn to Valparaiso, a mix of 50% baby alpaca and 50% merino wool. I’ve been on a sock kick lately, and can easily see this yarn knit up into some wonderfully soft booties for my feet. Andromeda, 70% silk/30% angora is an incredibly soft lace weight yarn that is absolutely to die for. I bought a 50 gram ball and quickly worked my way through a pair of wrist warmers, with more than enough left over for another pair. One of the best things about Artfibers is their openness to trying their yarns. They have a “yarntasting” area at the front of the store, where you can sit in comfortable chairs, knitting any of the yarns they offer. You don’t have to guess how the yarn will look in a given stitch pattern or paired with another yarn – just sit down and give it a taste. Once you’ve decided on your yarn, the staff will help you design your project. When you buy in the store, the patterns you come up with (using a design software) are included in the cost of the yarn. I found the prices at ArtFibers to be very easy to digest. (And I’m an admitted cheapskate.) The ball of Andromeda (which I wound myself) put me back about $12 in the store, and balls of other animal and silk yarns I purchased ranged between $9 and $13 per 50 grams. They also sell sample packs of yarn for about $2.50, making at home yarn tasting an easy thing.
ArtFibers should definitely be on the list of things to do for anyone visiting the San Francisco Bay Area. For those who are unable to visit the store, make sure to stop by their website. ArtFibers Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » Crafting for a CauseHey there all you fiber fiends! I caught this link off craftzine.com today. This is a collaborative of artists crafting for a cause. If you are concerned with your countries extreme dependency on oil for energy and you are a fiber artist, then this may be the of interest to you. http://www.internationalfibercollaborative.com/ The goal is to collect enough 3×3 fiber patches to sew together and cover an abandoned gas station. Anyone interested in joining the cause can find links on the right hand side of the page. Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments » Changes Coming Soon!Thanks for dropping by. We are in the process of renovating this blog. We hope to share lots of stories of fiber, fiber artists, and Etsy.
Please come visit again! Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » New August ChallengeStarting tomorrow there will be a new EtsyFAST challenge underway. The new theme is “Celestial.” Be sure to check out the listings with “EtsyFAST” and “AugustChallenge” in the tags. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » July Challenge for EtsyFASTThe votes were taken and the end result is a new challenge involving garden and flowers. Each EtsyFAST member who chooses to participate creates an item using the theme “Garden and Flowers.” Once the member is finished they list thier creations on Etsy using the tags “EtsyFAST” and “JulyChallenge.” Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » ACEO’s and Goody BagsEtsyFAST has been working on the June Challenge in which members had to create an ACEO. For a sample visit this treasury created by glorioushats.etsy.com or once it expires go to Etsy and search for etsyfast aceo to see the selection. Also, for those fiber art lovers or even those who just want to try it out there are more goody bag listings in the EtsyFAST store. See whats available at etsyfast.etsy.com. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments » |
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