A place for me to blabbler on and on about spinning, wheels, fibers, yarns, crocheting, and such, and to offer various crochet/fiber/spinning related items for sale.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

I decided to sell/trade more and keep less so here are more hats. And I swear I am going to get the ponchos up soon!

And the Gray Rolled Brim hat is spoken for. It's new owner is the lovely lady from Mystic Spiral. The link to here blog is going to be in the links in a matter of minutes.

Here's some of today's offerings:
This hat is very small, like kid sized, and is made from black acrylic yarn. It has a granny square pattern to it. The little fluff sticking up is long since taken care of, it sticks up no longer. $15










Crystal- a 100% cotton hat with a great girly girl look. Adult sized. This hat will include a free button flower or butterfly pin, in my choice of color/style. $20


















More to come!

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

I just wanted to make a quick post to say the Puff N Stuff hat is spoken for.Once it's matching scarf is made it will go home to the lovely owner of Mia's Treasures. Check out her incredible jewelry on here website in the links section!

Hopefully the poncho pictures will be coming tonight.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Here's some picture of my new wheel which I love!!
Here's the yarn I am spinning right now on it. When I first got my wheel I did about a yard worth of roving on the one bobbin to get use to my wheel. It's the purpleish blueish bobbin on the lazy kate in the wheel picture. This yarn is my first attempt to make actual yarn with the wheel.

And 1 more picture. The last week (!!) I've been making this one hat. I LOVE this hat. I LOVE the yarn it was made out of. I'm just to used to finished a project the same day I started it. This hat is one of my longest running projects. And it is finally finished!! Even done shaping, and came of the mannaquin head today! The debut of my new hat, and it's has to be mine because there is no way I am going to sell it:


I used "Marble" yarn, which was a marl yarn where two colors are plyed together, then the gentle color changes in the yarn made the stripes of the hat. $5 a skien and worth every penny. One skien made this whole hat (which is very tight sc) and has enough left over to make atleast a choker or flower pin.

I just quit my job Saturday, so there will be more spinning, crocheting, and fiber stuff in my future for a few weeks.

Nick is going to help me take pictures of my ponchos and shawls tonight, then I hope to get them uploaded on here tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to model them to show how they drape, and he's going to snap a photo which will conveinently cut my head out. I have atleast 3 ponchos, and atleast 1 shawl for sale, then I have 1 shawl that isn't for sale.

And this is completely off the subject but last night I made roasted chicken for dinner, and for the first time ever in life I made gravy. And that a gravy it was!!! It was the best gravy I ever had. I guess I'm just a natural. Now I have to go try not to think about what I am doing while I pull all the remaining meat of the bones fo the chicken in the fridge to make stew. If you know me you know I can't stand even looking at meat that is on the bone.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

In all my excitement I forgot to say my wheel came!!!!!!!! I am now the proud owner of a Loeut S10 wheel. Now if only I can figure out how to work it right.

Okay get ready for photo overload- Here is everything I have made that is now for sale (or trade):


Above is the Puff N Stuff Hat. Made in Black acrylic yarn. Accented with rows of the Puff Stitch. The brim can be kept down (like shown) to fit like a bucket hat, or folded up. The shadows in the picture make it look like it is shaped funny, but I promise you it isn't. SOLD!

Below is just a plain Rolled Brim hat. Made from Super Soft gray acrylic yarn. It's shapeable so you can roll it up, smoosh it around, or whatever you feel like doing to get a different look. $15

The Black hat below is made from Black acyrlic yarn. It's somewhat of a girly hat. It's a little on the small side, but I have a big head and thick hair and it isn't uncomfortably tight or anything. $15


The scarf below is made out of 100% cotton yarn. It's nice and long and somewhat thin. (exact measurements to come) It has irregular stripes of Lime Green and a bright Turqouise. $15


This is a loose fitting head cover for adding a super feminine flair to your outfit. It's made of a groovy creamy colored yarn. It's a two shades of creamy white together. This is very loose and needs to be held on with hair pins. $15

And here again is the Silk Amulet bag, I am just relisting it so it is with the others. It is exactly the same bag as before. Made of yarn that is made from recycled silk sari's in the Himalyas. Each skien of the yarn is different so no two bags will ever be exactly alike. This bag is about 4x5" and the strap is long enough to carry it over your shoulder or around your neck like and amulet bag. The second picture is a close-up to show the great colors in this yarn. $15

Those are all for now. I still have some ponchos and such to photograph. If you are interested in buying anything or bartering just email me using the link on the right of the screen. Oh and on a different note, the Cloud Hat is no longer available. Okay honestly, I decided I wanted to keep it for myself. lol. All prices listed include shipping.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Well I came up with a name for my business. Odd Little Duck. I've been called that most of my life so why not? My wheel is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait!!

And on a completely different note, I wonder if anyone reads my blog??

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Okay, so I think I am going to do the contest because I really need to start building a website, making business cards, and such, but I can't do anything until I have a name. So here's the deal, I am going to describe my business as it is now and what it will be, and I want everyone to try to come up with a cool name for it. If I pick the name you come up with then you can pick any item for free. I'll be posting more pictures in the meantime of available products. You can list more then one idea, list as many as you want, just post it in the comments section.

So here's all the details:
My name is Alicia Simon if you want to work that in somehow. I want the name to be sassy, bold, fun, funky, etc. Right now I crochet items (purses, hats, ponchos, capelets, scarves, etc) and am going to shortly start sewing items as well (all sorts of things like shirts, pants, skirts, purses, etc.) About 99% of the stuff I make is from my own patterns and in fancy yarn, so it isn't just regular, old, basic, acrylic yarn, stuff. Eventually I am getting a weaving loom and will be selling woven items as well. I also make jewelry. So I pretty much make all things wearable. If you can wear it (or carry it in the case of a purse) then I make it, and if you can't wear it I don't. The main problem I am having is finding a name that isn't specific to a craft, like I can easily come up with names for a crochet business or sewing business, but I do both. If you need more info or have a question just let me know.

So any ideas?

Still no good mail, which is starting to piss me off because I have been waiting almost a month for my roving from Canada, but the excitement is kicking in that my Louet will be here Weds.

So my packages expected are:
2 Crochet Books, which really should be here any day
My Louet- coming by UPS and tracked coming Weds
Tons of roving from Canada- which includes mulberry silk, silk noil, south african top, and some wool

And for no good reason (other then the fact that I LOVE them) here are pictures of my animals:

The Dog is "Sunshine." The Cat who fell asleep watching TV is "Nomie." And the elegant cat is "Stampy"

Friday, August 19, 2005

The last two or so days have sucked mail wise. I haven't gotten anything good since my roving and hooks came. I have already made one skien of funky chunky yarn with my new roving. I used "City Lights," the red, orange, and purple one, to make a funky thick and thin yarn. I really like it. I want to make some more. I might make a purse, scarf, hat, or belt out of it. I still need to get a picture of it to put up. Maybe later or tomorrow.

My spinning wheel has shipped, but isn't expected to arrive until Wednesday, according to the tracking info.

I have an almost finished shawl. It's made out of Divine yarn, and it ended up somewhat small, so I am going to add a button and such and make it where you button it on. I'll be adding pictures of that soon to.

I'm also thinking of having a contest. To make a long complicated story short: I can't think fo a name for my new business and was thinking of having a naming contest, with the winner getting any 1 product they want for free. I still haven't decided yet.

Here's hoping for better mail tomorrow! (for everyone)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005


I haven't put an item up for sale yet today so here is my one of a kind Cloud Hat. I made this up as I went along, and didn't write down the pattern so there will never be another one like it. It is made out of an acrylic yarn that is super soft and as fluffy as a cloud. It is shaped like a regular bucket hat, but for some reason it look funny shaped in the picture. You can also fold the brim up and such. It's $15 which includes shipping in the US.

I just did my first plyed skein last night. I had a bit of a hard time with breakage and it ended up as a somewhat small skien. It's about sport weight at 14 wpi. This is only my third whole skien. Before this skien I did two skiens of single plys, and a few tiny skien with sample rovings.
I'm pretty proud of it. It's about enough for a skinny scarf if I do it very loosely, or maybe a small bag.


Here is a skien of single ply left over after I plyed what I could together.


Here are my first two skiens, the solid green was my first skein and I was going for a loopy funky novelty yarn, the multi-color is my second skien.

Monday, August 15, 2005



Today was a great mail day. I got 2 pounds worth of various fibers that I won on ebay. Aren't they beautiful?!?! They are from Jehovah Jireh Farm, who I will be adding to my links section. The blue blue one is Summer Sky. The pale green and pink combo is "Dinner Mints" and is part golden retriever! The purple, red, and pink combo is City Lights. The tealish combo is Mountain Stream. The red and yellow combo is a sample they sent of Ketchup and Mustard. I can't wait to spin all of these.

I also got a batch of hooks. 21 various hooks in different sizes from an eBay auction. The hooks aren't anything special or fancy, just regular old metal hooks.

I also took pictures of my various completed items that are for sale. I'm going to try to add 1 or 2 items a day until they are all up. Here's the first one:

This is an enlarged amulet bag, or small purse. It's about 3-4"x4-5" and is made out of recycled silk. The yarn is made in the Himilayas from the mill ends of silk saris. The sari pieces are spun together to make a unique yarn. No two of the yarns are ever the same. The strap on the bag is long enough to carry it as a purse. The bag itself is big enough to hold maybe some keys, some cash, and a few other small items for a day out. It's $15 which includes shipping to anywhere in the US.

Hi! My name is Alicia, but in my creative endeavors I've always been Cheerio. I love to crochet and have a love affair with yarn. When the yarn at the store just wasn't enough I started spinning my own. I've only been spinning a few weeks, but you would never guess that. I am so into it. I've been using spindles, my third spindle came Friday, but have a Louet S10 coming my way any day now.

In my crochet I tend to only make things you can wear. I love to make hats and scarves, but I also make capelets, ponchos, purses, etc. I'm trying to slowly start my own design company. I am trying to start selling my crocheted items, then eventually add sewn items, and even eventually handwoven items. I also might sell handspun yarn and handdyed roving/batts once I get my own supply built up enough.

So the point of this blog is to:
a) talk about my wheel, spindles, spinning, crocheting, etc
b) offer various items for sale
c) show current projects and finished projects
d) show off my handspun yarn
e) share an occasional pattern

Thanks for visiting!