#mirrorstone

[skoomajuicepeasant]

An oldie but a goodie.

[socratesofthesocketset]

I am specifically trying to avoid sugar and other sweeteners with a high glycemic index. I had been drinking Bigelow Vanilla Chai mostly (along with other varieties of theirs) and checked their website FAQ and they said they don’t use artificial sweeteners but there is stevia in some varieties, which is fine for me. Something felt off with me though after my tea intake skyrocketed with the cool weather, so I dug through their FAQ again, and found buried almost at the bottom of the page that they use maltodextrin in many varieties, which has a GI equal to or greater than sugar, and thus is something I cannot have. They say trace amounts, but then again Tic Tacs can say no sugar because it’s less than a gram so who really knows how much there is. Really, I’m more frustrated that this wasn’t honestly listed on the package.

I loved Republic of Tea back in my days as a barista, so I emailed them about sugar/sweeteners and received the assurance that every ingredient is listed on their label- also none of them are made with sugar and instead are sweetened with stevia leaf, sweet blackberry leaves, or hydrangea leaves. They’re a bit pricier (why I haven’t really bought much over the last few years) but it’s worth it to me for peace of mind.

[socratesofthesocketset]

Thank you!

I have no idea where the ability to reply to comments has vanished off to, but I wanted to thank you all for your lovely comments on my quilt <3 You all inspire me to work at my crafts with your encouragement!

Also, I see a couple new faces- hello! I’m Christa, I make things and reblog a LOT of cats, and whatever else catches my fancy. Stay at home orders, followed by going back to work full time, plus general life stress outside of plague have got me crafting quite a lot, I cycle through my various hobbies as they catch my fancy. Mostly I crochet, spin yarn, fold origami, and as of late a lot of sewing. Quilting is a pretty rare hobby, but it comes up occasionally as does calligraphy, watercolour, and various other small bits of handiwork. I’m reveling in the fact that I finally have a living space that’s fairly adapted to being an organized workspace for the first time in forever. Everything I’ve been making lately has been tagged with #quarantine crafts, and tagged with the individual craft it is, and a name (ex: #quilting and #the birthday quilt)

[socratesofthesocketset]

mirrorstone replied to your photo “So my finger slipped and I bought a full pound of mulberry silk (at a...”

Ooh, I have some mulberry silk thread (that someday I will knit a lace scarf with, really) that I love, it's so smooth and lustrous. I bet your thread will be beautiful! Will you dye it, or leave it as is?

I think I’ll leave it as is. I adore dyed silk, but dying fiber is something I’ve never attempted by myself! I used to have a friend with a fiber business who had the whole set up and I’d help him sometimes, but he had to give it up years ago.

My grandmother always joked about having a “Despair Barrel” (instead of a hope chest) so maybe this silk will go into my despair barrel for if I ever get married again lol. I’ll make my own wedding shawl!

[socratesofthesocketset]

For Mirrorstone, apartment crafting at it’s finest. Don’t mind the mess, lol. I’ve recently re-arranged my furniture (that was a trip, my bed is now literally blocked into a corner with bookshelves because I had no place else to put things. Makes for a cozy nest though!) In the direction the desk chair is facing is the book shelf at the foot of my bed, so my desk is a little blocked in corner as well.

This is half my room. Floor to ceiling book shelves courtesy of IKEA were an enormous help. One shelf for bins of yarn/fiber/craft supplies. The narrow corner shelf is all my art/craft books, other two shelves (and the two half height shelves cornering my bed) are all pleasure reading. I have too many books. Boxes on the floor are mostly fabric that needs sorting and putting away into an under bed bin, also a bag of yarn for the god damn ugly blanket that’s in a heap behind the sewing machine. My dressform Inara is sporting the dress I wore to my cousin’s wedding last year, and both recent shawls thrown over it because I haven’t put them away yet either. I’m getting there, I swear!

The table is from 1830, and is my crafting table now. Under is various crafting supplies, my great grandmother’s loom, and usually my spinning wheel is at the end with it’s foot pedals tucked under so it doesn’t really take too much space to store. The sewing machine is usually tucked in to the left of my desk, instead of the middle of the floor where it is pictured (oops)

When spinning I put my wheel in front of my desk so I can stream netflix or whatever. I pictured it with my kick spindle so you can see the size difference- the kick spindle is marvelous if you want something in between a drop spindle and a wheel. I have 2 drop spindles too, but I really see them as more of an occasional novelty, I prefer wheel spinning by FAR.

I do have the added benefit of rather deep built in shelves on the other wall of my room so that’s where my fine art supplies go (oils, watercolours, acrylics, pastels, paper, canvas, calligraphy things ect.) I am not picturing that wall right now, that is where the least amount of my tidying has happened. I tend to work from one end of my room to the other!

[socratesofthesocketset]

mirrorstone replied to your photo: I’ve found I prefer the tiny crochet hook method...

They look great, but I can’t believe how small those beads are! That must take some patience. I love the little hint of depth and glimmer they add to the complexity of the pattern.

It is actually shockingly easy, I don’t even really think about the size of the beads. They’re so much smaller than my stash beads though (also, hot dang they do not photograph well at all)-

I think what’s helping the most is having made a remarkably similar pattern before, just with thicker yarn. I remember wishing back then I’d done proper picots instead of the chain loops of the pattern, this is almost that but with beads!

[socratesofthesocketset]

mirrorstone replied to your photo: Done and blocked! And my new yarn was waiting in...

Well, if you make four, then you can have a shawl for every season? This one is really beautiful finished! I love the drape of it, combined with that soft color it makes it look ethereal, like something a fae would wear.

Seasonal shawls, a brilliant idea! Though I have a vague fear I might make my way up to Monthly shawls...

Thank you so much :) :) :) I do really love the drape of this and it is lovely soft. Ethereal is a perfect work for it!

[socratesofthesocketset]

mirrorstone replied to your photoset: Help, friends! So with my pink shawl rapidly...

Ooh, ambitious! (My eyes are crossing just thinking of threading in all those tiny beads.) I like the opaque multicolor on the right best, but I’m a sucker for those kind of oilslick iridescent colors. The clear ones on the left would probably look like little dewdrops though, which would be nice with that pattern. Whichever one you pick, I think it will look great!

The upside is this pattern recommends a bead method that puts the bead on your active loop by pre-threading beads onto a wire and bending a hook at the end, then sliding beads from wire to your active loop of yarn when you need one which sounds much easier to me than pre-threading onto yarn! Still ambitious given that it’s around 2k beads. Let’s see if this ever gets finished...

I did go with the iridescent, I am also a sucker for those oil slick type beads! I’m figuring that the colour variations in the beads will help hold my interest more since the yarn is a solid colour this time around and I do get so bored when nothing is changing for umpteen million stitches.