Birchbox - February 2014

February's box arrived earlier this month, but I've been busy with sewing, spinning, and knitting, so I'm just getting around to posting about it. 

This month's box included a shampoo and conditioner by Fekkai, effervescent breath crystals, a neutral eyeshadow palette, and perfume. 

The good: As you can see, I've already sampled the shampoo and conditioner, and I LOVE them.  The sample sizes are fairly large (2 oz), and since the full 8 oz size costs $20, the shampoo and conditioner are worth $10 on their own, covering the cost of the Birchbox this month.  I'm also excited about the eyeshadow palette, because I'm big on neutrals, and use eyeshadow rarely enough that this amount will last a long time for me.

The bad: I wasn't all that impressed with the perfume sample, since you can get the exact same size sample for free in retail stores.  And the effervescent breath crystals seem a little weird to me, particularly since one of the flavors is honey mint.  The idea is that you pour the crystals in your mouth, swish them around, and swallow them.  When I get up the courage to try them, I'll post about how they are.

As for last month's samples, I've tried most of them by now.  The leave-in conditioner is nice, but my hair is pretty healthy, so it's fairly unnecessary.  I traded nail polishes with my sister, who got a silver/gold color changing one (she loves pink, so the one I got was destined for her).  She was unimpressed with the silver/gold, but really liked the pink.  The body cream has a nice smell and feels nice, but I have plenty of lotions, so I'm not running out to buy it.  The facial cleanser was a nice novelty, but I probably won't use the cloth with it again.  And I haven't tried the teas, surprisingly enough. 

More samples next month!  And I'm thinking of trying ipsy, which is a similar idea to Birchbox.  A friend has it and loves it, so I'm considering trying it.

Spin the Bin 2014

One of my spinning groups has issued a challenge for 2014.  The idea is that you pick out 12 fibers (weighing 2 oz or more) at the beginning of the year, and over the course of the year, you spin those fibers.  You can spin other things, but you can't take anything out of the bin unless you replace it with twice as much fiber.  It's challenging to decide on what you're going to spin so far in advance! 

This is my bin:

I've finished 8 of the 12 fibers already!  Here's some completed spins:

This last one is a sweater spin, it's a silk wool blend, and is destined to become Ginny's Cardigan.  I can't wait to cast on!

Two Couched Goldwork Designs

Over the weekend, I attended the Athena's Thimble Embroidery Schola, which was an SCA event focused entirely on embroidery.  There were about 15 classes, along with a potluck lunch and an Athena's Thimble panel. 

One of the classes I took was Introduction to Goldwork.  It was a 2 hour class, with a lecture as the first half and hands-on the second.  I learned a lot about Goldwork, and was super excited to actually try it. 

The first hands-on project was a couched design on linen, sewn with DMC Color Infusions Memory Thread.  According to the instructor, this thread, which is a copper wire wrapped with thread and polyamide, acts much like actual gold wire. 

The second project was on velvet (my first time working any embroidery on velvet), and was done with jap gold.  Jap gold is imitation gold, made in Japan.  It is cheaper than real gold, but can be a bit fussy.  This thread was much smaller than the memory wire, and I couched two threads side by side to make it slightly heavier looking and to echo medieval examples.

I paneled the first design, and achieved competency in Metal Thread.  This makes 3 competencies!  I think next up I will tackle counted thread, and I'm thinking that my chosen project will be this German bag.