Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Good Karma

What a karma-riffic day I had yesterday. It started with getting weekend orders in the mail, which despite the effort involved, is a wonderful way to start the week. Then I started working like a madwoman to get a Portrait necklace done before the mailman came because I was crossing my fingers that he would be bringing me my bamboo yarn for my custom scarf. Just a half an hour after I finished the necklace, the yarn arrived along with an etsy purchase. Then right before I turned off my computer for the night, I got informed that I had won some hand dyed silk thread from Ladyshuttlemaker. So Huzzah for things going just as I hoped and then some.

Let me now back up for a minute to that bamboo yarn. I had initially ordered from another store which had said it was in stock, then it wasn't and it was going to take another week to get. Annoyed, I ordered from another store on Friday and that is what arrived yesterday afternoon. The yarn was for a Grand Daisy scarf that was ordered during my anniversary sale, so I was extra anxious to get working on it. In my listing I state that I will make the scarf in any appropriately sized yarn the customer wants, she chose this specific bamboo yarn. I had never worked with it before and since I live in a town with no real yarn shop, I'd never even held the yarn before. I had no idea what I was in for, tatting with this stuff. To say that it has a light twist would be a severe understatement. Really it is more like a dozen or so threads held together through the sheer will of the manufacturer. It has a lovely sheen and it is very soft, but my needle keeps separating the yarn and it my tension is just a bit too tight pulling the yarn through is quite difficult.

I am so used to tatting the same designs with the same thread that I barely have to pay attention and I still get the same consistent work, but not with this stuff. I need to work very deliberately to get good results with the bamboo. I am about halfway through the core flower strip of the scarf and I should at the very least get flowers done today. Of course my other issue it that I literally have no idea how much yardage I need for this design, so I am crossing my fingers that I bought enough yarn to finish it as well. At least I know where to get it quickly now if I need more and I can add bamboo tatting to my list of achievements.

6 comments:

Adrienne said...

The scarf looks beautiful and I love the colour. It looks almost like hemp in the photo. I recently ordered in some bamboo fabric and was really surprised at the softness too, I was expecting it to be like canvas but instead it was like silk. I can sew with my eye closed too so it's good to have a crafty challenge now and then. :)

Artsnark said...

Maybe all those lovely giveaways boosted your Karmic credit ;D

Marilee Rockley said...

Congratulations on winning LadyShuttleMaker's beautiful hand dyed silk!
BTW, I've given your etsy shop a little promo on my blog today - hope it sends you some more traffic and sales.

Anonymous said...

the bamboo yarn reminds me of the embroidery thread that I used my first time tatting with how loosely it's wound, it drove me insane with how often I seperated the strands heh heh.

Valerie said...

the scarf looks nice in the bamboo yarn. all the better if since it feels soft. i'm sure your client would love your beautiful work. it'll be a treasure to keep and wear.

Waterrose said...

I will have to look at the bamboo yarn at the local yarn shop. I haven't picked it up to examine...looks interesting. Good luck with that project.