Ruth Cross

Ruth Cross is a knitwear designer in the UK. I found her through the Selvedge website, which always has lovely products in gorgeous photos! I like the neutrals in her design, it's so soothing. Her stitches are luxurious and textural. I really wish I could touch everything in her collection. Please go visit her site, it's amazing! Here's a link to Selvedge, too. I'm really lucky in that the CCS library gets subscriptions to magazines, including this one, so that we students don't have to. She makes me want to knit!

I think I must have one of these for my french press! It will encourage me to use it a bit more... I've been slacking.

I like the idea and the texture of this necklace. I think I would be more inclined to make one that was larger so it was more like a necklace/scarf/cowl.

I love that stitch on the top. I would like to know what it is. Anyone know??

I've always liked mug and to-go cup cozies, but here's some new, sophisticated inspiration. I've always thought that texture and yarn quality is crucial. At least with me, I would be tempted to use my cozy (instead of the paper ones) more often if it feels amazing. It's a little reward for doing well.

A neutral, grown-up monster case! Love it!

This sachet has inspired me to become expert at cables! I did the ring cable last night. It's a really simple cable, but doing it gives me the rhythm and I don't need a pattern to do it now. Yay.

Oh yeah.

My jewelry won't be in Bohemian Home. I'm sad, but oh well I guess. Keep calm and carry on, right?

The 2008 Michigan Fiber Festival

This past weekend I went to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, MI. I've gone the past two years with Eric, but this year I went it alone. Sad. But, it was still a fun trip!

This guy was selling his beautiful handmade spinning wheels. Want one!

This is Oscar the lovely angora rabbit. He is a grand champion.

Mama alpaca with her two babies. Little one is from this July, big brown one is from last year. They're both from the same papa. Love mama's hairdo :)

Love this llama's hair! She was nice and soft. And nervous.

This guy was selling raw llama fiber. I bought some brown. Yum.

Can't remember what kind of sheep this was... I like this picture a lot, though.

This lady's name was Carol. I don't know the sheepie's name... She's was nervous, though.

This guy has bangs! Love it!

Cute little Shetland sheep. These are the kind that I want. Look at the beautiful multi-colored fleeces! I didn't see any Shetland wool for sale. Shame...

Lincoln sheep have the coolest fleece. Dense and curly. It's hard. Weird. But such a cool texture!

This angora goat is so hardcore.

This one was really curious. He liked my camera.

Second place angora goat fleece. It was soft and curly.

Sheep contest! I think this was for the winner of all the breeds, because these are all different breeds. I was sad that there were no Romneys this year. They're so big. You just don't know until you see one in real life. They're huge.


Enjoy!

Reunited Again

I've been busy... More than that, I got out of the habit of posting. Shame on me. Not again. Though, my posts will probably be more infrequent than normal in a couple weeks, with school. I'm doing work study for the Fiber Dept. at school. Last time I was there, a took a couple pictures so you guys could see where I will be all the time!

The oval. I like the circles the trees are in.

Looms everywhere! I love them in their rows. The light is so nice in that room.

In progress. I will be weaving this fall. Can't wait.

The girls. They all stand in a row. During critiques, we shove them to the side.

The basic silkscreens. I like the repetition of them all stacked there.

The Future

I think I'll start a couple of themes for some posts... I would like to showcase some local Plymouth shops, and probably some from other cities as they come up also. I would also like to talk a little about my customers at Starbucks. We get some interesting people (in a good way) and the relationship that you develop with them is pretty unique. And once school starts, I'll be talking about that a lot, of course!

What do you think? What would be interesting? Huh?

Happy News

A wonderful new shop called Bohemian Home in downtown Plymouth is going to be carrying my jewelry starting in September! I'm so excited. I feel like the owners and the shop and their style and everything couldn't be a better fit! Every time I go in there, I get so excited that my jewelry is going to be in there. People are going to be seeing it in person and (hopefully) falling in love enough to buy it and (hopefully) at least be taking a business card. Of all the shops in dt Plymouth, Bohemian Home is best fit. It's new, there are always people in there, and they have a Newfie! I heart big dogs. I'll be designing this week so that when I go home this weekend, I can make lots of jewelry for them. Hooray!

Oh, unfortunately they don't have a nice website (i.e. it doesn't have photos), so I'll be taking some pictures on Tuesday so you guys can see what a nice shop it is. Why Tuesday? Because, like an idiot, I left my camera at school on Friday still plugged into the wall. So sad. It's ok though, security has it :)

For the sake of some visual stimulation, here are a few things I've really loved from my favorite blogs this week. Enjoy!

Suann at SimpleSong has made her current love/lust for wire baskets a contagious one. When she takes such nice pictures, who can help but want a few (hundred!) of them?

I absolutely love this pillow! The colors, the graphic quality, the fact that it's woven, love it all! I can't find where I saw it, though. If anyone recognizes it, please tell me. I hate to not credit such a lively find.

This linen bootie is awesome. I want a kid just so I can buy them a different pair for every day of the week! Not for a long time, though. Patricia over at A Little Hut designed and made it herself. Plus, linen is my favorite. If it's linen, I'll probably like it.

These lovely linen lined baskets are from the ever impressive Martha. She has a little tutorial on how to line them yourself, and I've been wanting to do just that with some of my new produce crates! I'll show you guys the finished product sometime :)

These gorgeous curtains (yes, they're a curtain!) are from Ravi Design Company. I didn't like much of their other stuff (it's a bit too dark grey for me) but these curtains are beautiful!

I love wood. I really do. Especially when it's showcased to nicely. Often, I find all white or off-white rooms a bit too cold. Not this one. The mix of tones and richness of all the texture makes this space so relaxing. I would love to have a room like that. Plus, the wood bowl is lovely. From Marie Claire Idees via the wonderful Poppytalk.

Hope you enjoyed these! I'll keep you updated with Bohemiam Home!

Brittany

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Maybe my Sunday isn't bloody, but my morning has been pretty unpleasant so far. To make it short: our cat hairballed ON my shoe and I didn't see it, so I tracked hairball all over the apartment and then all over my car and into Starbucks when I went in there. Ew.

Then, we're going to the air show "Thunder Over Michigan" with E's parents and they were supposed to be here at 8:45. I know you could look at the post time, but I'll tell you that right now it's 9:05. Whatevs. They're always late. I'm not really upset over that.

I am drinking a yummy caramel cappuccino.

I've been slacking/actually busy still the past couple days, but today I will post my new stuff on Etsy. I also have an announcement to make later that I'm really excited about! Hint: I'm not engaged... yet.