What's in a name?

While I'm still busy racking my brain for a good name to reflect my new sock pattern (see previous post), I started thinking about how I come up with names for my photographs, yarns etc.

With photographs, I usually am inspired while just looking at the picture. Either something in the photograph, or a memory of how I felt taking it cause a title to come to mind. While spinning yarns, I am inspired by the colors and how they are working together. Sometimes I get stuck though and I feel like I am being utterly uncreative.

The most recent yarn that I posted in my Etsy store I named Zodiac. This one gave me a lot of trouble while I was spinning it, and even after I was done, it sat for a while as a lonely nameless creation. I'm hoping it didn't get too much of a complex during that time! I tried thinking of all the things that were black and gold and what it reminded me of and finally I found an image popping into my head of the sky at night with golden zodiac symbols glowing with in it.

An online dictionary provided this definition, and now I know that I gave it the right name, even though it may have taken a while for me to find it!

zo - di - ac (noun) ...an imaginary belt of the heavens, extending about 8° on each side of the ecliptic, within which are the apparent paths of the sun, moon, and principal planets.

If you leaf me now

Since music is my day job, it's not surprising that I will listen to pretty much anything. I've been a fan of Chicago for years and worked on pretty much every Chicago CD that's been put on the market since 2002, so it's not surprising that "If you leaf me now" is the first thing that popped into my head when attempting to come up with a name for my new sock design. (It reminds me of the story of two co-workers at a Chicago concert crank calling one of the VPs at work and singing "You're The Inspiration" on his voicemail...not that I know anybody that's done that.)

I can't release the pattern yet, but thought I'd give you a quick preview of what's to come. I'm also excited that there may be a collaboration with an independent yarn dyer, who will be working with me to showcase their yarn with my pattern design. This sock pattern will be available both here, on Etsy, and through Ravelry.

P.S. If you have an idea for a better name, I really want to hear it!!

Project Runway...it's back!

I have been an avid viewer of Project Runway since the first season and am very excited that it's back again. While the majority of summer TV leaves me luke warm, this show keeps me inspired and wondering what I would do if I were participating in the challenges that the designers are doing.

Last week, the challenge was to use items purchased at a grocery store. While it wasn't the winning entry, my favorite design was the one pictured here, which involved the ironing down of plastic cups into what is really quite an amazing dress considering the materials used! I was a little disappointed that more people didn't use produce and so many of them went the table cloth route. I think the judges might have been with me on that.

So, what would I have used? I'm thinking that a nice corset involving a rack of ribs and a skirt made from asparagus spears would have done the trick.

This week, Natalie Portman is a guest judge - which is intriguing to me as I think she has a really classy personal style and of course shares the name Natalie with me (hence she rocks!)

Look like I could have bought it!

Sewing is the most recent craft that I started and still have felt somewhat like a novice doing. Although, I feel that my ability status has just gone up after the truly successful venture into wearable clothing for myself! Recently, Joann's had a Firefly Frenzy sale, including 50% off all their red tag clearance fabrics. This led to a minor fabric binge and some pretty apparel fabrics made their way home with me for a very reasonable price.

I would say that it took about 4 hours, half of which was cutting and pinning, to make this top - from a Simplicity pattern (I don't recall the number right now but will include that later). Not only is it cute, it fits and I've received a variety of compliments from my co-workers who didn't realize I made it. My proudest moment has still been realizing that I managed to get the stripes to match up where they're supposed to. Therefore, I feel that this novice has perhaps moved on to intermediate in her sewing skills!

I also made a skirt in the last week which doesn't look anything like the skirt the pattern was originally supposed to create, but I enjoy it all the same. Pictures of that to come soon as well. =)

New things to come

In the last year or so, since joining Etsy, I've managed to sell a few photography prints here and there, made some enjoyable trades and definitely learned a lot about an online business. While I certainly enjoy the Etsy community and what it represents, I don't feel like I'm getting everything I can from selling photography in my store there. Some of you may have noticed that I've been working to feature other items in my store, particularly my handspun yarns right now, and then knit, crochet and other fiber related artst shortly.

That led me to the question of what other venues would I be able to use for showcasing my photographic work, especially finding more art based sites where art is the focus and therefore the traffic directed to those sites is more specific. I would definitely like to build up my own website again. It's been neglected for entirely too long and if possible, I will do what I can to make it an e-commerce site where all of you can purchase my work directly.

I will continue to provide updates here as I make them and hopefully I can make this a smooth transition into new and exciting things!

And now for something completely different

After we dismantled the centerpieces from our wedding reception, the husband and I realized that we had bought 27 lbs of glass marbles that we didn't know what to do with. Once they were all cleaned and dried (after the heavy duty usage of sitting in some water for 12 hours during the reception) we put them in a box and he told me that he was sure I could "find something crafty" to do with them eventually.

Sure enough, one day I'm sitting on the couch looking at a plain glass pillar candle base and realized that it would look so much prettier if I could glue some of the decorative marbles to it. After the success of the one I did at home, I went out and bought a bunch more of the plain glass bases and I present to you the newest addition to my Etsy store!

These are available in regular green or frosted green and I really think they're adorable so I hope you agree!