RibbonWands - Featured Etsy Shop

I recently ordered a ribbon wand from Etsy seller ribbonwands. I got it for my two-year-old daughter, blatantly ignoring the seller's reccommendations that they are for kids five and up. Um, yeah, after about the first year or so, and especially once you have a second child you start ignoring things like that.

Can she twirl it on her own? Kind of. But the real fun is having Mom or Dad twirl it around her. She's been enjoying it immensely, and I love toys that she can grow into. Because it really will be more fun when she's about five. Wait, isn't that the reccommended age? Oh yeah.

Anyway, I've realized in the meantime that I didn't really buy it for her but for me. Yes, I saw it and thought, "Of course my child would love that, I always wanted one when I was a kid." I had major dreams of being a rhythmic gymnast. But then I realized that you have to be somewhat flexible for that.

So when the ribbon wand came in the mail, we played with it all afternoon, but I was secretly looking forward to her bedtime so I could play with it all by myself. But then I had to share it with my husband who possibly had dreams of being a rhythmic gymnast as a boy because he was really enjoying it too.

Maybe tomorrow while she's napping and he's at work I can put on a leotard and some music and prance around with my ribbon wand. I mean her ribbon wand. OK, my ribbon wand.

By the way, I absolutely adore the idea of having flower girls at a wedding walking the aisle with twirling white damask ribbon wands in place of flowers. Think about it. The girls will thank you.

Knot Knit Scarf

Here's another craft from Martha - she seems to have so many uses for yarn beyond knitting (or crochet). I love finding alternate uses for my stash!





Straight from Martha's website: Here's a cozy yet speedy project. Cut 12 pieces of bulky-weight yarn to about 1 1/2 times the desired length of the final scarf. (We used 140-inch pieces to make an 86-inch scarf.) Divide yarn into 4 bunches of 3 strands each. Tie 2 bunches together with a square knot, leaving 6 inches of fringe at end; repeat with remaining bunches. Pin the knots to a piece of foam board. Knot inner 2 bunches of yarn together, spacing knot about 1 inch from existing knots, then knot left and right bunches together. Alternate knotting the inner bunches and the left and right ones, spacing knots evenly apart, until about 6 inches of yarn remain on the end. Finish so that final knots mirror opposite end, and trim to even the ends.







I think it would look great with some bulky thick and thin handspun. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely on my list and will make for a great last minute gift that's a little different from my normal knits.

Ravelry Group

Hey Ravelers! Come join the Sock Yarn Cinema group on Ravelry.

The Hills Are Alive...

... with the Sound of Music - Ahh ahh ahh ahhh.





I took a little break from blogging since the craziness of the etsyversary sale, but now I'm back and the first month's Sock Yarn Cinema selections are in the mail.

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks as I had the best time putting these packages together. You'll soon see brown paper packages tied up will strings and filled with other favorite things.



It was amazing to watch this classic film with an entirely new perspective. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen it since my teen years. I was surprised by how many of the lyrics I remembered as the characters sang them, and how many things I noticed now that I never noticed before. Like this time, I really saw an underlying theme to the film - the loss of innocence. But I loved how it wasn't in a tawdry way like you see in many movies today. I think there are turning points in the movie for several of the characters. In Maria, I saw it when she comes back from the convent and realizes that the Baroness wasn't encouraging her to leave as a friend, but as a rival. In Liesel, it's when she sees Rolf in the town square and he's very cold to her. She starts to realize that maybe her crush wasn't true love after all. For Rolf it is when he decides to blow that dang whistle and turn in the VonTrapp family. Oh Rolf! How could you do that?

The colors in the film are absolutely stunning! It is so true that if you're looking for inspiration, you're bound to find it. So when I watched, I actually found too much for one skein. I'll be listing other Sound of Music inspired colorways in my shop soon - think of them as a Sock Yarn Cinema expansion set!



Anyway, I could go on forever about this movie, really! But I think for me, the thing that brought about an unexpected emotional thrill was watching my little girl falling in love with something close to my heart. Later that day when we were shopping at the grocery store and she started singing "Do, Re, Mi...." I was absolutely beaming.



OK, now on to some club business. I've heard from a few of you that you'd be interested in a Ravelry group for the club. There we could show eachother FO's knit with each month's yarn, or inspired by the movies; we could discuss the films - I would love to hear what you're thinking about each one; and just general ravelry goodness. If you're interested, just leave a comment with your Ravelry username and I'll add you to the invite list for the group. If you want to join later, you can always do that by looking for us in the groups section. I just need at least 3 people interested now in order to start one.



For those of you who are not familiar with Ravelry - it is really too amazing for words, but I'll try.

1. It is totally free.


2. You do have to wait for an invite to sign up, but the wait is less than a week.


3. If you don't know what to knit with your yarn, you can look it up and see what other people have made with that specific yarn.


4. If you want to knit a particular pattern, look it up and see what others have done - changes they made to the pattern, yarn substitutions, etc.


5. Join groups of other knitters with similar interests, no matter where you are!


6. Can't remember what is in your stash? On Ravelry, you can keep a record of your stash so you can plan projects without having to dig around your tubs or closet full of yarn. There is also a library feature so you can keep track of all your knitting books too.


7. You can dink around for hours finding new projects to create, adding them to your Ravelry queue or favorites, so you'll always be able to find them.


8. You can go to your library, click on a book and see all the patterns available from it, click on a pattern and see what others have done, etc.

There's much more, but let's just say I love it, it is fantastic, and it has totally opened me up to an entirely new knitting world. It is great for finding patterns you want to work on and getting ideas from other knitters.

I'll end my blurb there, but feel free to email me if you want more information about it - as you can see I'm a total convert!

Next month is the Field of Dreams and I'm already planning something special.