YARN!

I just had to take a break from the grant I'm working on for Cares4Pets to create a quick post about the awesome yarn I just received from Heidi of Quo Vadis Handspun. She sells both her own handspun yarns and commercially spun yarns, naturally dying them all herself using plant material. Most of the yarns are organic too.

If you're a knitter like me, I'm sure you'll appreciate this shop. Compared to other stores I've been too, Heidi's prices are very reasonable. (In total, including shipping from BC, Canada, I spent $124.25 for 14 skeins.) You also get the lovely colors that only come from hand-dyed yarn. With yarns made from soy, organic cotton, and other natural (non-animal) fibers, (or at least recycled acrylics, etc.) it's also great to know that you're not supporting the creation of a patroleum-based product.

Hayao Miyazaki fans will get a kick out of the yarn names in this great Etsy shop.

In my excitement, I accidentally left out a yarn from the photo, so I'm uploading one of Heidi's.

PS- Shhh this yarn is for a secret "Vegan Thanksgiving" project. New post when project is finished in November.

Etsy, where have you been all my life?

As DocDufresne can attest, lately I've had two obsessions. One is the forum on Post Punk Kitchen. The second is Etsy, which I actually learned about on PPK.

Etsy is "your place to buy and sell all things handmade." If you appreciate art and homemade crafts like me, you could easily wind up spending hours each day exploring this innovative site. Eventually when I've settled somewhere and can have my art room, equipped with lovely things like a kiln, paper cutting tools, and every color acrylic possible, I'll open my own Etsy shop. For now I'm content buying gifts (some for me) and ordering custom projects like my uber secret recipe project that JoanTheMad is helping me with, and a t-shirt project that WhiskeyDogPrintShop is working on, featuring my ubiquitous mascot, the one and only Anderson Dufresne. I can't wait!

Etsy is such a gem. This website provides you with the ability to purchase one-of-a-kind art directly from the (sometimes "starving") artists, supporting their craft at reasonable prices.

You can find a gift for anyone on Etsy, from cookies to pottery, handmade clothing to paintings.

So far I have purchased a cute piggy planter from FruiteFlyPie,

flannel menstrual pads from strangeandviolent (vegan seller),

chocolate chip cookies, maple candied walnuts, and coconut almond truffles from SweetFritsy, (vegan seller),


designed t-shirts (on thrift store shirts: awesome!) from WhiskeyDogPrintShop,

and jewelry (a birthday gift) from LillyQueen.

Seriously. Go check it out!

(Mostly) Recent Art

Magnolia

Tulips from the 2009 PHS Flower Show

Poppies

Pears

Mangoes

Lemons