New Swap pics!

So for a few weeks I was involved in an organized swap on craftster, and since my partner received, I can tell you all about it and share pictures.
The theme was Mabon, which is a witchy/pagan celebration on the autumn equinox, and the requirement was to craft at least one thing for a shrine/altar. My partner was interested in getting something for use outdoors, so I did my best to make portable things.
One of the ideas I had was to make a portable altar surface, originally one that could fold up and be stored easily, like a game board, re-purposed with either nice paper or an embroidered fabric. However at the craft store I began to notice a lot of wood. And a wood burning tool. And a variation of the idea came together.

I'm calling this an "altar board"

This is a box painted and decorated to look like a gypsy caravan. 

Baba Yaga cup

Thor's hammer cup.

I'm still pretty new to wood burning, if you hadn't noticed. Still these things are much nicer than my first tries.

First and second attempts at wood burning.

The left one is the 2nd attempt, a rather complicated and tiny piece of knot-work. I changed the tip I was using, so it began to look better. The one on the right was originally a very easy celtic knot that I didn't transfer well enough. I gave up trying to free hand the parts I couldn't see and couldn't sand it off when it started to look bad. Hence the bizarre cherry or leaf thing.
I knitted a pouch with a saxony braid cable, but forgot to take a picture.
That's all for now, but I do plan on keeping up with the pyrography, as soon as I can get more wood/supplies.

new-ish crafts

I know I was supposed to update a while ago, but I've been too busy doing all sorts of crafts. New skillz include woodburning and soap making (insert "squee!" from me here). Most of those pics aren't available yet, due to making them for a swap, and having yet to mail them.
But I promised pictures from the last swap, and so here they are! These were for a Lammas themed swap last month on craftster.org.:

Lacey altar cloth, knitted in summer/fall-type colors, merino wool.

cute leafy stencil, soy based paint on canvas

Lavender besom-lavender from cool herb shop around the corner

Hoopy! Corn in heart and tree embroidery

Also I have cleaned the kitchen, and used it for baking, crafting, soap and lotion making, and lots of cooking in the last month! Let me dig up pictures...
Clean-ish kitchen (Kay, so the only good pic I had of the clean stove had to be nixed, due to my BF playing guitar in the background in his undies. I nearly left it up, because you could barely see him, but felt considerate to his feelings, and erased it. :P) Look at my neat freshly cleaned kitchen shelf instead!

I love my crappy apartment if only for this old rickety kitchen shelf. The Uhura mug and Ghostbuster car and owl pic are all new finds.

The reason for cleaning: baking bread. 2 of 3 loaves made in one day at the beginning of August.

One of my new passions. Forgot to take a picture of the 3rd special loaf, but it's there wrapped in foil in the back.

My birthday was last weekend and this is one of the best presents ever, outside of craft related presents and cupcakes.

Anyone remember Twin Peaks?

So I'm due to send out my craft items for the Mabon swap at the end of the week, hopefully I'll get the pics of those up as soon as he receives. Any new non-swap related crafting I do in the mean-time I'll put up when I can. I've done some soaps and lotions, and a couple beginner woodburns that I'll end up keeping, so maybe those will be up soon.
On a side note, I had to buy a new set of knitting needles because I lost an entire project, the Noro scarf! WTH! My apartment is eating my stuff! I also bought a ball of special yarn last weekend that is no-where to be found.