Happy Anniversary!!

It's hard to believe that it's been a year already since I first started Fresh From the Cauldron! April 7th was the official one-year anniversary on Etsy ^_^ A lot has transpired since then; I've seen the successful conclusion of my first two clubs; Socks of the Bard, and Time Machine. I've also calculated that  I've made an average of 150+ colorways in just one year. Craaaaazy! I think the Cauldron's greatest success has been the recent additions of the vampire-inspired colorways for the True Blood and Twilight Series. Now it's time to get ready for the launch of two new clubs; The OZ yarn club and Vamp Sock Club both launch next month. It's going to be exciting and challenging pulling everything together and seeing what everyone thinks of/makes with their new colorways. This picture was taken by a Ravelry friend and client named Ani. She brought two hanks of my Forks colorway to the actual town. How cool is that!! All photo credits belong to her. I'm just borrowing her pic. ^_^

in keeping with progress...

My all time favorite story now is called "Wide Awake" by Angstgoddess003. She.is.a.literary.genius.yo. No really!   Her Twi-inspired fanfic has become quite the cult classic where twilight fanfiction is concerned. The character development is amazing, the story: haunting and gripping--I just can't say enough good things about it. And pst... those in the know could tell you that this story is where all the cookie & unicorn references come from. yes... unicorns are our friends, peeps ;) 

With that being said, I made the Bella Mittens by Subliminal Rabbit with the malabrigo worsted that Maylin sent as a project. I call this project: "Hood up, Head Down Mitts" in keeping with a fave phrase from the fic. And why yes, of course those are white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.... ;D

johnny sex hair hat for the win! ^_^

so yeah, here is one of my latest favoritest FOs. :) This is my "Johnny Sex Hair Hat." I wear it ridiculously often especially for living in a putrid hot climate.... N-E-wayz I digress.... It was inspired by the pretteh pictured here:

 

mmm.... RPattz.... ;) In the Twi-fanfic "I Love L.A." by feathersmmm, her character Grace refers to her character Rob as Johnny Sex Hair... oh the lulz... So when it came time to name this WIP, (and cuz it's a hat too, yo...) I thought this quirky name would so work ;) 

The yarn is the bomb diggidy! This is the single ply merinocean handspun from Gherkin's Bucket in the "Supermassive Black Hole" colorway... SQUEE!  XD My first time working with handspun too, and it was so loverly ^_^ I made the Verity Hat by Ysolda Teague. It's a  slouchy beret pattern that is a fun, fast and easy knit. I found the most adorable pewter filigree button to accent it, as well! 

Cripes! Where Have I been?!

       So yeah, I have been very naughty (busy really) and have neglected my blog... :( Bad Squib!!! >:P But in an effort to recap the last couple months here are some updates. The holidays were very busy with the swappin. Not only did I do a Christmas swap with Skeinqueen7 (see previous post), but I also did Christmas swaps with Dreamsinfiber, Maylin, and Emil. Of course I'm a dunce and did not get pics of all my swaps. ::sigh:: But here are a few that I did. 

   In addition to Xmas swaps, I also helped moderate and participate in the Love Bites Valentines Vampire Swap 2009 on Ravelry. We had over 50 members sign up internationally!! All in all, I think it was a success :) There are also pics listed here of the parcel I sent to my swap recipient, and the one I received in turn. 

This pic is of the amazing package I received from Maylin in France, yo! For our Xmas swap/True Blood  vamp swap. There were so many amazing goodies inside!!! And since we are both hardcore Twilight fans as well, She was sure to include some also Twilight items, too! Here's what I got: 

• 2 hanks of the Opal Harry Potter sock yarn in the Ron (luv ron!!) and Dumbledore colorways,
• two super soft and squooshy hanks of Malabrigo worsted (hooray! My first Malabrigo!)
• Lavender wands that Maylin made herself, that when you rub in your hands, releases the scent (I stuck them in with my stash!)
• audio books
• music
• the pattern for the Bella Mittens by Subliminal Rabbit
• friggin espresso from Italy!! no, srsly!!! (ZOMG!!!!)
• Freesia scented soap and honey/olive scented soap from Greece 
• Russian Earl Grey tea
• dried mango yummies
• and three hanks of her own hand-dyed colorways!! Friggin' gorgeous and luxurious I might add; "Claudine", "Bill", and her amazing lace in her vampire blood colorway.... LOVE
• Dood yo, I so gots spoiledz!!!! ^_^

 

I also got a phat package from Erica that had the most amazing collection of books. I have already used the Creepy Cute Crochet book to make the Nosferatu!! ^_^ She also sent 2 hanks of malabrigo sock yarn in the most gorgeous red that are destined to become the "Hoor Hose" using the "Zum Dirndl" pattern by yarnissima. There was a lavender sachet, as well, and another hank of pretty variegated sock yarn, and some stitch markers. Oh! and she also knitted me a set of the most adorable HP house colors Xmas ornaments!! There was more, but I can't remember right now. Bottom line; she spoiled me too!! :D

And then Emil sent me a lovely package from Finland that included samples of Finnish yarn, a cute little owl purse, the most beautiful pair of fair isle fingerless mitts, and some Finnish candy!!! Oh, and an adorable lil Santa ornament!! ^_^

And here is  pic of all the cool goodies I received from my swap sender in the Love Bites Swap. :) I got a hank of Maylin's gorgeous Merino tencel in the "Forks" colorways!! Yay!!, the most delish whole bean coffee, the most awesomest lip gloss that I LURVE, some rad tunage, some yummies, and necklaces, and other little bits and bobs of cool! 

And Finally, here is a pic of the package I sent to my swap recipient in Finland for the Love Bites swap. I was a doofus and forgot to take pics before sending everything out, so photo  credits go to my recipient!! ^_^ I think it's so cute, too--she named the dragon, "Lars" and the Nosferatu "Bruce" hehe... I also made her some nice thick "Bella Mittens" --and FYI: "Lohikåårme" is Finnish for dragon. ;)

Yay, vampy awesome yarnie goodness!!! :D

So.... Today I got my package from the amazing Miss Chrissy and it was chuck full of awesome! :D She was able to score a luscious custom OOAK skein of The Fabulous Miss Krysten's (aka Gherkin) 2-ply handspun in a sinfully vicious vampy red, called "Velvet Pulse." Srsly you guys, this is some gorgeous stuff, and sooooooo soft!! It's my very first handspun too, so it's that much more special! ^_^ And since it was a joint effort from two buds, I'm beyond squeeness! ;) I also got some sinfully yum lip gloss with a Twilight theme-- Edward! ;) and an adorable handmade bracelet that her sister made for me in Edward colors!!! LOVE! --hasn't left my wrist folks, I plan to be buried with it! ;) I got a vampire stitch marker, and bookmark, some soaks, and a Twilight magnet, too! The magnet and stitch marker were hidden in a mystery ball. I'd never heard of this concept before, and it is frickin adoramous! ^_^ (unwind, unwind, unwind, SURPRISE! ) I'm so excited about all my new goodies, now!! :D Thanks so much, Chrissy! 

coming Soon: New Colorways

 I will be debuting a new limited series, soon: Twilight. Each colorway will be inspired by characters/locales from the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. 

New limited colorways!

I will be releasing a couple hanks of my new Silver Sock base in two True Blood series colorways. Quantities are very limited, and I'm not sure when I'll get more of the base in stock. The two colorways to be released are "Fangtasia" and "Lafayette." I will be releasing these hanks to my Etsy shop over the next couple days. Below are pics of each of the respective colorways:

New limited colorways!

You can find new FFTC colorways at the Sip & Knit! These colorways are exclusive, shop-colorways and are only available in limited quantities at the Sip & Knit LYS. Click on the linked text for shop info. Please feel free to contact Ms. Doni at the shop for further details! :)

true blood funnies!!!

Anyone who watches HBO's series True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris' "Sookie Stackhouse" novels, has got to check out Cleoland. Her recaps of the episodes are complete hilarity! As an avid fan, (more like fan-atic, to be completely honest) these have me ROFL each time I read them! ^_^ Enjoy!: Cleoland

shop update

New True Blood colorways will list tomorrow!!

I will be listing 

2 hanks of "Pam" in the silk sock base (anyone know her last name?)

1 hank of "Alcide Herveaux" in the silk sock base

3 hanks of "Eric Northman" in the silk sock base. (2 have now been reserved; one left until the end of the month!)

1 hank OOAK surprise colorway. ;)

Please convo me/comment here if you would like to have one reserved, would like a custom order in any of the past listed True Blood colorways, and/or would like one or more of these colorways on the 100% merino lace weight. The merino lace is 1000 yds at $22 per skein plus shipping. 

shop update

I will be listing tomorrow these colorways sometime between noon and 2 pm EDT:

• 2 sets of the "Hagrid's Pumpkin Patch" colorway
• 1 hank of "Sookie Stackhouse"
• 1 hank of "Sam Merlotte"
• 1 hank of "Bill Compton"

Shop update: new colorways coming soon

Coming in the next few days to the shop:

• 2 hanks of the "Hagrid's Pumpkin Patch" colorway in the SW Sock base.
• 1 hank custom order of "Hagrid's Pumpkin Patch" for Skeinqueen7.
• 1 hank custom order of "A Little Priest" for Jhankie.
• 1 hank:"The Brazen Bull" colorway from the "Horrors of History..." series.
• 1 hank:"The Judas Pyramid" colorway from the "Horrors of History..." series.

Coming in the next couple weeks:

• 1 hank of "Sookie Stackhouse" in the Merino/silk base
• 1 hank of "Bill Compton" in the Merino/silk base
• 1 hank of "Sam Merlotte" in the Meirno/silk base

New Colorway

The "Cherry Streusel" colorway has been listed to my Etsy shop. :)

New Colorway

One hank of "Cherry Streusel" will debut tomorrow on my shop. :)

shop update

AS POSTED ON RAVELRY:

Ok, hi everybody-- sorry about the product hiatus of late; things have been busy (and continue to be) on both a personal and business level. My DH had been on a business trip since July 18th and has returned home recently for a brief 2-3 weeks. So unfortunately, I do not foresee many shop updates 

in the immediate future. 

I can say with some certainty that it appears that the "All Hallows 

Eve" sock kits were a success. I look forward very much to seeing what everyone makes with them. It was also a treat for me to make the little notion pouches; I had been an avid quilter before starting FFtC, and it was a "warm fuzzy" to revisit my sewing machine. ;) 

Here's a look at the upcoming events for FFtC:

• I have invoiced the "Socks of the Bard" and "Time Machine" club members today for their October shipments. It's time to get the ball rolling on the next set of colorways, already! :)
• I have recently filled all outstanding custom order requests, so if you have made a custom order please check my Etsy shop or convo me with further questions. 
• I have 4 more colorways to release for the limited series: "Horrors of History: Torture Through the Ages." I want to get these out fairly soon in time for October, so keep an eye out if you are interested. Again, these colorways are 1 hank, OOAKs and they'll be listed unannounced, first-come-first-serve. Still to be released are: "Scold's Bridel," "Brazen Bull," Heretic's Fork," and "Judas Pyramid."

• I will be adding two new original colorways to the shop soon. These are "Cherry Streusel" (gearing up for fall yummies!), and "Hagrid's Pumpkin Patch." The latter will be a primary/complimentary combo so that there will be a majority of yardage in the rich pumpkin colors, and a mini hank in the contrasting dark greens used for contrasting heels and toes, or whatever. Please convo me if you are interested in either colorway as I only plan to make one of each as I normally do. :)
• And for the big announcement-- I have TWO NEW ORIGINAL LIMITED SERIES TO DEBUT!!!

1. "The Feminine Mystique" will be a set of nine self-striping colorways based on female traits/wiles. ;) Colorways will be "Flirtatious," "Virtuous," Dignified," "Romantic," etc. Unless I receive requests for theses, I only plan to make one of each, so grab them quick! ;) I will post again when they are ready.
2. "True Blood"--this one I'm over the moon about! :) I've recently started watching the new HBO series based on the "Southern Vampire" series by Charlaine Harris, and reading the "Sookie Stackhouse" books, too, and I am HOOKED! I actually read both of the first two books in a 30 hour marathon read last week!! I will be releasing colorways inspired by the characters from this mythology in the merino/silk base and lace weights. So there will be approximately 440 yds of fingering weight yarn per character in the merino silk. I'm still working on the lace weight stats. I, myself, am planning to make a "Shetland Triangle" shawl in the "Sookie Stackhouse" colorway in the merino/silk as a knit-along with my friend Chrissy, who is also test knitting the colorway. I also want to make an "Icarus Shawl" with the "Bill Compton" colorway in lace weight. Again, I will base yarn production on interest for these colorways. Here's a picture collage of the first colorway, "Sookie Stackhouse":