Belated Blogiversary Celebration

Whoops! I missed the actual date by a few weeks. Needless to say, the beginning of the month was a blur but things are finally starting to settle down. So June 6, 2004 was the first time I posted in Bloglandia and that first post brought me headlong into the wonderful world of knitting, spinning and the people who inhabit it. I've made some wonderful "real" world friends, learned advance techniques, gotten tips for practically everything and tripped into spinning, dyeing and most recently weaving.

Speaking of weaving, here are a few pics of my first "real" planned project - a wrap - off the loom. Twas a success!









So how am I celebrating my blogiversary? With a little happy dance and another first - I'm PUBLISHED!!! I've been waiting and waiting for my copy of Feltique to arrive from the publisher and it finally arrived.



It just didn't feel real until I had it in my hot little hands. Guess what's on the first page of the book? One of my little felted fortune cookies - SQUEEEE!



The fortune cookie pattern is on page 99.



I also wrote a pattern for a felted floppy flyer (pretty much a felted frisbee but because of copyright issues, we couldn't call it that) that's on page 105.



Feltique is FABULOUS! I love the variety of felting techniques that you can find in this one book and how visually appealing it is. I love books that not only show you the finished product but also shows you how to construct the project. This book is one that I will carefully study and toy with for years to come. I'm so very honored to have been asked to be a part of this beautiful book.

I can't begin to tell you how many hours Nikola and Brookelynn worked with me to tweek the pattern, mailing samples back and forth and fine tuning the technical info. Now multiply that times 18 different fiber artists. That takes dedication. The entire process took nearly two years from start to finish. I must say that I'll never pick up a knitting/craft book and look at it the same way again, knowing now how much time, blood, sweat and tears goes into every picture and project.

If you want to see more of Feltique, please visit the website or check out the Craftzine feature that Brookelynn did on several of the contributors (I'm featured HERE).

Thanks for letting me have a little virtual party here on my blog. My family and non-knitting friends don't "get" it. I'd kinda hoped that being published might validate my craft but they still think I'm on the nutty side with regards to fiber arts. Oh well, guess I'm in good company :)

A bummer of a month

That's how Thing 2 summed up the past several weeks in our household. I couldn't agree more. King Thing's grandmother passed away unexpectedly last Saturday. She was making good progress in her recovery from surgery but I guess her body was just done with the entire process. Its a sad time for his family and I just hope that some serious healing can begin for those left behind. Thanks for all who offered prayers for our family - they're always appreciated.

A more lively post is coming ...