Recently in Other crafting Category

I have been squeezing in bits of knitting (between the holiday prep, cleaning, super busy at work stuff, etc) but not much to show. We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving however with my parents, grandparents and aunt and cousin coming down to visit.



A few little things I managed to make. The menu design was part of a free T-day stationary download set. I typed up my menu (as my handwriting is wretched), cut and mounted it and put it in a little extra frame I had. It was fun to do and easy to let everyone know what we were having. It also seemed to amuse everyone. :)
Below that, although kinda hard to see, are simple leaf cutouts from felt to serve as trivets. These were cheap, easy, useful and looked really nice- my kind of craft.



My mom and I (and my retro cherry apron I <3) working in the kitchen. Up since 6am, woo!



Mom, me and Grandma + the Turkey! Couldn't have pulled it all off without them- thank you Mom and Grandma!

Steampunk!Mr. PieKnits



Mr. PieKnits went as steampunk, or for you uninitiated, we told people "a time traveler". I love his handlebar mustache! Of all the items I made, this relatively quick one is a favorite. I made it from black wool (roving would be ideal, I "unspun" some single-ply yarn as it's what I had). I then roughly shaped it with wet felting and finished the shaping with needle-felting. It's held on by eyelash glue.

We added the metal plates make-up for the second night for a little something more. I made the arm garter but the other basic clothing he had on hand. The leather cog cuff was made by a local artist we picked up at a past steampunk event.



The goggles are modified welding goggles. I pretty much followed this tutorial.



I also made a thigh gun holster out of some remnant bin vinyl upholstery fabric. I took a $1 store toy gun and painted it silver, black and copper then traced a basic outline onto the fabric. It has two ties that go around the thigh and one to hold it up to tie to a belt. I'm really bummed I didn't get an action shot (also need one of the gun).



We also found this inexpensive top hat which fit great. The hatband on the original was some cheap plastic wrapped around it. So I swirled some grossgrain ribbon (a millinery technique that adds a curve to the ribbon so it lies flush against the slanted hat sides- tutorial) and created a nicer looking hatband.



I love Halloween for the excuse to play with food and be gruesome. For this year, meet Meat Head! It's actually a cheeseball pressed into a craft face mold that's covered in prosciutto with stuffed olive halves for eyes. This got great reactions (and was tasty)!

Now I think I may need to make myself a rocking 'stache - anyone interested in a tutorial?

I really loved our halloween costumes this year and wanted to share despite being well into November now.  (I'm perpetually running behind once holiday season kicks in it seems.)

First up is Medusa!



This dress was about the easiest thing I've ever sewn. A few yards of inexpensive muslin folded in half with the upper section left open for arm holes, the waist sides sewn together and a neck hole cut out. I didn't even bother hemming since a slight ragged look worked for this. I then dip dyed the bottom in RIT dye in a kelly green, then darker green then black. It's simply gathered and belted at the waist with some gold cording.
At my office we have a "blue screen" set up for photoshoots so at our Halloween party everyone takes photos and then we have fun photoshopping in backgrounds. :)



You can see the shoulder gathers here. I found these roman coin earrings at a thrift shop. I cut the post backs off and glued on pin backs to hold the gathers.



Ahh the make up- it was much fun to play with! This is a photo I snapped before the rest of the costume went on. I painted on "snake eyes" on my eyelids so when I closed my eyes they still looked open. This really messed with people, extra creepy hee! The snake skin patterning on the sides was done by pulling a fishnet stocking over my head and applying the makeup over it.



I bought a cheap wig then spent several evenings sewing in assorted plastic snakes. I later bobby pinned a few more around my face (not in these photos) to add a little more. If I wear this costume again (highly likely!) I want to add even more snakes, sticking out every which way.



And one other fun little thing I quick made. Some little $1 plastic skeleton hands, a ribbon bow and a hair clip and viola! festive hair accessory.

Or, Feathered Hair Bow Thingie



Another happy little quick project. I'm discovering a new love for feathers. I have a couple of full sized fascinators now but wanted something a bit smaller for more regular wear. (You know, those times you unfortunately have to dress a little less fabulously.)



I'm wearing it flipped the other way here. I just made a little bow of ribbon, gathered it in the middle with thread and sewed on a button. Next I sandwiched in some feathers between the bow and a small piece of felt.

Then added a large bobby pin to the back with a big ol' glob of glue. Viola!



I'm really behind on stuff right now so my apologies for delays on getting back to anyone!

Maybe I should say "Robots invade PieKnits" for I've definitely had robots on the brain lately. When I found this skirt thrifting I thought it had potential even though as it was it was a bit plain. Loving all things kitschy space related I decided it needed a little robot peaking up from the hem.



Wee Mr. Robot applique here was made from felt that I fabric glued into place then embroidered down the edges with blanket stitch (nice tutorial here). I really like fabric gluing when small pieces are involved. With pins it always seems to warp the pieces enough to be annoying.



Vintage buttons and ric-rac from the stash worked well for his embellishments and also added some colorfulness that was otherwise lacking.

After finding this great Colinette Point 5 look-alike yarn on clearance and using it for individual double-ended fake dreadlocks at Halloween I've been meaning to try my hand at some dread falls. After about 30 minutes I had my first pair, easy!



What are dread falls? Basically they are artificial hair extensions mounted on hair ties/elastics that you wrap around your real hair after it's pulled into buns. A nice step by step instruction sheet on how to wear them located here.



Mine I didn't make super full and put them on really quick before heading out to a show (Voltaire, who was spectacular). Instant hair! It was fun feeling like I had my long hair back for awhile. These were super painless to make too. There a tons of places online the sell really awesome falls made from nearly every kind of material imaginable but these basic yarn ones were a snap. The yarn is so interesting to begin with and I lucked out that it contains all the colors in my real hair too.



If you're interested in making some of your own this video explains the process pretty well. Basically you're just making a lot of Lark's Head knots to attach your folded over yarn lengths to the hair elastics, similar to starting a macrame project.

Also, a reminder the contest ends Thursday!

I have so many little projects going on here and there and many completed and simply waiting for a chance to photograph. Hoping the spring weather will energize me to get some stuff done as I've been feeling a little scattered lately. I'm so thankful for the extra hour of day light now; I might be able to do something other than weekends.



Speaking of spring, or spring cleaning, playing around in my craft room the other day I whipped up a couple of these super simple box bags. I had seen a great idea somewhere for using them to store onions and potatoes in the pantry. Easy, useful and perfect! I made mine from some scraps of muslin I had around, although linen would look really lovely. Our onions are always shedding everywhere when kept in their original large mesh bags but a plastic bag wasn't an option as they need to have air circulation. The open weave of the muslin was a nice solution. Basically it was formed like this tutorial.  You can see I just used the finished selvedge edge at the top to skip hemming too, 10 minutes start to finish.



So I also finished, or thought I had finished, a hat (Seamen's Cap) for my father. I had actually promised him one during Christmas and am only now getting it done. I had sewn in ends and blocked it only to discover this yarn (Knit Picks Swish Worsted) really expanded it's gauge after washing, more than I've ever seen before. Well I chose a superwash wool for ease of care and I don't know if that's what caused it or it's just this yarn. So now it's too big, even for a larger size head.

Do you think I'd have any luck trying to run this superwash through a hot wash and dryer to shrink it a little?? Or do I need to just suck it up, rip it out and redo? *wibble*

Quick and cute, I see many of these in my future.



I've been wanting to make a fascinator for while now. After I was lucky enough to win this great crafting glue package from Future Girl (thanks!) I decided it was time bring on the feathers.


E6000 (always good to have), Quick Hold, Goop Craft, and their new EcoGlue!

I basically followed the method shown here on Marquette. I cut out the tear drop shape in some felt, and then sewed down the felt strip in the back that holds the barrette for extra security. Next I laid out my feathers until I had an arrangement I liked, and then glued them to the front of the felt. I had some vintage buttons I was going to add on the bottom but decided I liked it as is, simple. I plan to make a more flamboyant version next. I made the whole thing while talking on the phone; see what I mean by easy! Probably try using this method next; I think the beads would look pretty.






Front

Back

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Almost forgot- be sure to check out the kick off of the Tops & Toes blog tour tomorrow over at Not a Yarn Snob where I'll be interviewing the talented designer Sarah Wilson! Kara Gott, our editor, from She Knits In The Loop is offering up some cool prizes too. Check out the neat shirt you can win, as well as copies of the book and how to join in the contest on her blog.
Full schedule as follows!

Here's the 11-day Itinerary:
2/21- Sarah Wilson: Not a Yarn Snob
2/22- Jennifer Tallapaneni: PieKnits.com
2/23- Erika Flory: It's About The Knitting
2/24- Erssie Major: ErssieKnits
2/25- Ann Squire: Annie-O
2/26- Faina Goberstein: Faina's Knitting Mode
2/27- Celeste Pinhiero: Two Stix In The Woods
2/28- Kara Gott Warner: sheknitsintheloop with Laura Nelkin
3/1- Joanne Seiff: Yarn Spinner
3/2- Cindy Moore: The Fitter Knitter Catch the interview with me about the making of Tops & Toes!
3/3- Sean Higgins: Kblicious

As I had mentioned before, whilst cleaning up my craft room I came across some project stuffs I had gotten a long time back but had yet to get to. With my double pointed needle collection growing unruly in my sophisticated system of tattered boxes thrown in a plastic bag, this project jumped to the head of the queue.



Inspired by Grumperina's clever case made from a cloth napkin this worked up rather easily. Hurray for no hemming! I even got these napkins from a close-out store so I'm extra pleased with them on thrifty points.



In the center a piece of wide elastic is sewn down in intervals (mine were from 3/4" - 1.5"). Then the top and bottom are folded up and a line is sewn in from the edge to hold them in place.





I added polka dot ribbons to mine for the closure. I should have gotten a lighter colored thread as what I had on hand is too dark to blend in very well. I contemplated either fabric gluing or sewing a strip of cloth to the center on the outside to cover my not so neat sewing but in the end decided I could live with it. :) As for functionality, it works perfect! It's so nice having all my dpns in one easy to get to place. Now I can just toss the whole roll in my knitting bag and no worries not having the right size on the go.

My friend and I decided to be pirates for Halloween this year, figuring we could re-purpose a lot of our costume elements for renaissance outfits as well. My costume is entirely made of up thrifted, dollar store, handmade or already owned items except for the corset (which is boned and reversible to green that I purchased on eBay) and my halloween store sword I upgraded from my dollar store one as I couldn't resist it.



Ok, so here's the rundown! From head to toe, the mini tricorn hat is the one I posted about here. It was knitted, felted and I added the broach I made. I also added a larger feather I found at the thrift store.

Next my dreads - which I love! In fact, I'm still wearing them as I couldn't bear to part with them just yet. Makes me miss my old real ones. The blond/reddish ones are strips of yarn very similar to Colinette Point 5, only an off-brand I found way cheaper at a discount store, score! Strips of yarn are cut twice as long as the intended length then folded over and are essentially braided into sections of my hair. I just put a few in randomly but you can do your whole head as well. Some nice tutorials here and here. The larger red/burgundy dread is made from wool roving felted together.

The other accessories include a victorian locket and skeleton key necklace I put together (thrifted/$ store) and the belt and pouch were also thrift finds. The pouch was originally a purse that had a strap through a loop on the back. I cut off the strap and it worked perfectly to slide onto the belt. I filled it with toy dubloons. The tights and boots I owned.



Now for the pieces I sewed. My first actual garments I've made! I'm quite happy with the chemise shirt, the others fall into that "good enough for me" category. The chemise I made from on sale muslin so it cost about $2.50. I used this pattern somewhat improvising.

The long underskirt I made from a thrifted bed sheet. It's a 3-gore skirt roughly using this as a guide. I was seriously wanting to avoid hemming all 108" of the base so I cut out the pieces using the existing hem for the bottom. To accommodate for the bias stretch of the sides I cut in deeper angles at the draw string top. I should've done more as it's still a little pointy at the bottom seams but when tucked up it's hardly noticeable. Like I said, good enough for me! The black handkerchief skirt was made following this pattern, although I would cut the waist opening smaller next time. The red and white strip fabric I bought and ended up just tying as is for a sash.



Here's a little detail shot of the top gather and shoulder seam of the chemise. I <3 raglan sleeves! Boxes and straight seems I can handle. I made a type of "Bishops cord" twisting together some undyed cotton stash yarn for the draw string.





Some fun dishes I made for our party. Bean dip with sour cream spider web and a guacamole spider. He has pimento olives for eyes and green onions for legs (yes I notice now he only has 6 instead of 8, oops!)



I love an excuse to break out my calligraphy pen. These were "Eyeballs and Guts on Toast". Hehehe, I find it funny anyway. Who says when entertaining you can't entertain yourself. :)
The 'eyeballs' are fresh mozzarella with pimento olive pupils and the 'guts' consist of the tomato bruschetta topping for the toast. I also made Pulled Pork with a sign labeled "Long Pig". Again, I amuse myself whether or not anyone else really gets it, heh.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

While shopping at the halloween store we determined that some swords were a must have for this years costumes. For me, a cutlass to go with my pirate costume, and Mr. PieKnits a fencing foil for his Phantom of the Opera. Now a gentleman of the opera house needed a proper place for his sword. With some craft felt and 15 minutes time I created a holster, or 'Sword Frog' to slide onto his belt, ta-da!



This is loosely modeled off of some images from 19th century military issued sword belts and baldrics but could easily used for about any costume with a sword, or just for that toy sword the little ones are running around with! 

Materials needed:

• 1 piece of craft felt
• Coordinating thread
• Scissors
• Hot glue/fray check/regular glue (optional)

Click here or on the thumbnail image for a printable pattern template. Cut out pattern and trace onto felt. Cut out pattern in felt and the slit in top. This should be the width of the belt it's intended to be worn on (standard belt size shown).

Fold over far right edge and line up with angled bottom left edge, slightly overlapped. Stitch together. Sew reinforcing X stitches at top and bottom of belt slit. You can add a drop of glue on the back at each of these points as well for some additional strength.

Note: This is made for a right handed sword fighter, to be worn on the left. If you are left handed, flip the pattern over.



Next up, my nearly entirely DIY pirate costume!

I have been wanting to make this for forever. While not the only piece I've done in relatively recent history, it has been awhile. This pretty much sums up what I love about so many of modern day crafts. I picked up the wonderfully tacky frame at a thrift store for $.99 and it now proudly displays this piece on my desk in the office. Be gone cold gray cubicalness!

or Do-It-Yourself Upholstery

I do love my staple gun. When shopping for yours go for the Heavy Duty, do not entertain any others.

And so as promised, more escapades in re-upholstery!

While this piece is actually new, I found it at a closeout furniture shop for such a steal that I couldn't pass it up despite the undesired upholstery fabric. I figured even with the cost of new fabric it would still be a deal, and well - it was perfect.

This kind of couch, or settee as I took to calling it, is really more an elongated chair. Which is good - chair upholstery is one of the easiest. If you're not sure about tackling that sofa Grandma donated to you yet I'd recommend trying out a "drop-in" seat style chair first, like the one I did here.

Here's what I did if you're interested in following along to try it yourself.

Conveniently with this piece the "Some Assembly Required" part could wait until after I was done, thus saving a step. Otherwise your first step would to be unscrew the seat and any other parts on the piece.

Starting with the seat cushion, flip it over and the bottom will most likely be covered with some backing material. Using a flat head screwdriver and some pliers I removed all the staples and the fabric. Save this fabric, you will want to put it back when finished.

Now I'm one for using what you have and being thrifty but sometimes the right tools make all the difference - especially if that difference is not cursing out every single one of several hundred staples. After the backing was off I stopped, went out and got myself a Staple/Tack Remover.

I would recommend doing this step first.

Now as I've said many a time, I do love my cables. However it wasn't until knitting on a particularly cramped plane once that I suddenly became self aware enough to realize I was sticking my cable needle (and extra double point for that matter) in my mouth when not in use. Oh.
So what to do with it?

I know many rave about cabling without a cable needle and I do it for 1x1 cables sometimes but generally it's just not for me. (I end up feeling I'm strangling rather than working the cables). I like working fast though and all other methods have fallen short (sticking behind the ear- long hair bad idea / in the knitting - it falls out, split stitches / setting it down- the invisible gnomes abscond with it, etc).

With Mother Necessity nudging me, I set my mind to inventing a solution. I wanted a method that didn't require letting go of the knitting and liked a similar idea to the wrist pin cushion. After a few failed prototypes this is what I came up with and Eureka, it works perfectly!

This cable needle holder is worn like a ring on any finger that's comfortable. The elastic loop performs double duty as a button loop closure and holds the cable needle securely under tension. The cable needle is slipped in and out as needed without having to let go of the working yarn or needles.

What You Need (or what I used anyway):

• 2 1/2" long piece of round cord elastic
• 3" x 7/8" piece of fabric (approximately)
• Matching sewing thread
• One 1/2" button (with a shank strongly preferred)

If you'd like, you can print out this template for the fabric. First fold and press your hems, your final size should be 2" x 5/8". This final size is what matters, not the hem allowance. (Also, does pressing my folds with my hair straightener instead of the huge industrial iron make me a total freak?)

I used the fabric selvedge here as it was a little sturdier for attaching the elastic.

View from the right side. Note: if you have thin fingers (smaller than size 6), or would like to wear this on your pinky I'd recommend making the piece shorter.

Next fold the piece of elastic in half and secure it to the inside hem fabric making sure not to go through both layers. It's pictured here half unfolded on the right side. I found lashing down both ends by wrapping the thread around everything a few times help to initially secure it. Then work up and over each end in a figure 8 fashion being sure to pierce through the elastic a few times until it's nice and secure.

If you have greater finesse with a sewing machine than I, topstitch around all the edges to secure hem. Otherwise hand sew with backstitch.

Finally, sew on your button. If not using the recommended shank type button be sure you make a good strong thread shank. (You will be putting a lot a repeated tension on this closure.)

Now you're ready to zoom through your next cabling project!
I'm really rather fond of mine and happily wear it simply as jewelry. Definitely more stylish if forgotten than a needle behind the ear (or in the other stow-away place I've heard of- the cleavage)!

I've been on a serious DIY kick lately. I present the latest installment, my new chair- my new spinning chair to be exact! What did it look like before?

Ick right? This was snatched up for a whole $4.99. Coincidentally I had just seen the paisley fabric and had thought "Oooh I love that but don't know what I'd use it for." When I saw this chair I knew. It was a really simple reupholster project. Remove old fabric, give thanks that the underneath cushion is still in good condition, lay old fabric on new fabric to cut out pattern, wrap new fabric around seat and tack/staple into place.

The wood was in somewhat shoddy shape so I cleaned, filled in the holes and dings with wood putty, sanded and primed everything while taping off the woven back and metal parts and then applied two coats of white. The metal bars on the seat back were covered in so much gook that I wasn't sure if they were even silver but they luckily cleaned up surprisingly well with some steel wool.

Now to get some actual spinning done! (And knitting, I've been knitting- honestly.)

Yikes, talk about a long "on hold" period. After a nice projects-filled weekend I finally managed to make some headway on my Box Charkha project; specifically the drive wheels.

To catch up- I've been using this excellent article (now available in PDF) from Interweave's 1996 Spin-Off on building a cigar-box charkha with some modifications. After amassing all the supplies and working on a plan I realized I didn't have access to a drill press need to drill perfectly centered and balanced holes for the wheels. I was rather amused at the suggestions that everyone "knows someone with woodworking tools". We're 20 something techies, everyone I know is more likely to fix your computer or network than build you a cabinet.

Thinking it was too bad I didn't live near my parents anymore I finally realized I could just ship the marked up pieces to my Dad to drill for me (thanks Dad!). I got the pieces back and it was promptly put on the back burner again by other projects. So, (somewhat) fast-forwarding to now here's what I did.

The large drive wheel is made of the suggested two "basswood plaques" that are glued together right sides facing. The other larger wheel is a sandwich of three wooden circles with the smallest in the middle to create a grove that holds the drive band. A wooden spool is the smaller underneath wheel.

For the support rods and bearings I deviated from the article. I sawed plastic sewing machine bobbins in half to use as bearings instead metal tubing- easier to cut. Also easier to cut than the suggested metal support rods were bamboo knitting needles. This worked well since knitting needles come in such a variety of sizes, obviously. The bamboo needles were chosen to fit the inner diameter of the bobbins and the wheels drilled to the bobbin's outer diameter. The mounting blocks should be drilled to the exact needle size and the rods tapped in tight. My measuring was off however and my holes were a bit large so I improvised with wrapping an o-ring around one and using another bobbin half as a spacer for the other (and wood glue, lots of glue).

Under the large wheel, not shown, is a "washer" made from cutting out a circle from an empty plastic food container. For the drive band I used jewelry beading hollow tubing (not sure what this is called) since it was easy to cut to size. In the photo above you can see the double wheel is flipped over to show the spool/smallest wheel. I think I'm going to replace that one however with a smaller one, especially after referring to my own calculations (duh) as it'd put me closer to my desired ratio. The other reason I discovered while taking these photos- the box no longer shuts, oops.

I originally sawed one of the spools in half, as it was a bit taller than it needed to be but my hand sawing leaves much to be desired. Even after lots of sanding it was far from level. Well the double wheel assembly comes off the post for storing and I laid it in the box to make sure it'd still fit with the full-size bobbin. It did; so I thought, great I'll just use that. Forgot to take into account the support rod which also includes the height of the mounting block, heh. That's kind of how this project has been going, trial and error. But I'm enjoying the creative challenge-next up, the spindle assembly!

There's nothing like a big shiny new toy (a.k.a. piano) to inspire.

At quick lunch hour browse through the near-by antique mall, I stumbled upon this great bubble glass picture frame. I thought it was such a cool piece but what could I do with it, hmmm. So I left, thinking it over and then an idea hit me and I rushed back the next day. Yes! it was still there. I snapped it up and then began hunting for the right items to put it all together (which honestly is half the fun isn't it?).

To turn this...

into this.

(Click on the image for an xlarge detail shot.)

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out! I've always loved skeleton keys and found these and the picture corners on Etsy. The corner pieces were brass though and I had been hoping to find silverish when I discovered some rub on silver burnishing stuff at the craft store. Dabbed some on there and it worked perfect.

Here's a little detail, keys are hung on tiny cup hooks screwed into the wood back. Love the convex glass but trying to get a decent photo does cause you to perform a rather one-sided waltz for a decent angle.

These were another find at the same antique place. One of the vendors had a booth dedicated to old letterpress printer blocks, love! I had fun searching out the letters I wanted and spreading them out on the floor playing with different arrangements. An interesting looking spectacle I'm sure, but oh well. :D

Just sent out a finished design to DRG Publications for an upcoming book (yeay!) so not much knitting for me to show around here yet. I have been managing a few little things here and there however.

This was one of the quickest easiest projects I've ever made- and they work great! Finger puppets come double-point holders, brilliant I tell you. You can get the whole tutorial by clever Robyn over at Sweet Little Domestic Life. I got a bag of multi-colored monsters at Party City and plan to make a nice set for my most used sizes.

Scored some thrifted things too. As I've mentioned several times on here I love thrifting. How can you not with things like this?

A cute owl painting with neat plaster-over-wood frame that just needs some sprucing up for a whopping $3.99. Flip it over and take a look at the signature.

Robb Wallace
   Xmas
      1895

!! The frame has an inscription too, but a little harder to make out. A woman's name, the artist, and the same date so it looks like the original frame as well. How cool! Some of the plaster was broken off on the corners so I took some wall spackling we had on hand and with a moist paint brush molded it into the holes. It worked surprisingly well. Added a fresh coat of white paint and viola! - new craft room artwork.

Brooches and pins are so great; just slap them on anything plain and instant pow. Following Heather Bailey's excellent little yo-yo tutorial over here, I whipped up one of these with some scrap fabric. Again, it was really all just a pretense to use a favorite vintage button. I winged a loopy ric-rac thing and viola, a new accoutrement.

With the new IK out there's been some talk of the samples being a bit on the monochromatic side. Now one of the things I love about knitting is you can choose nearly Any color there is for your piece but I understand some may find it hard to visualize. So for the heck of it, I did a little playing around in Photoshop with the photo for my design Mirabella.

I think I'm leaning towards a red one, yum.

The transformation is finally complete. I have been anticipating it for so long- at last our new bedroom!

I love it so much, it's amazing what having a space that's yours does for your mood. It makes me happy every time I walk into the room.
It is an astonishing difference, especially if you could have seen the true "before". Dull default beige walls with some smatterings of unmatched dorm-like furniture, an uninspiring room for sure. Of course as usual I was too distracted by starting a new project to get a good before shot, but thought of it in time to snap this just before the first brush stroke went on.

Booooring

The wall color has been finished for a little while now, but the hold-up? My own artwork!

I think it's terribly funny that with all the art classes and design school I have never painted canvas before. In fact, I've barely painted at all as I'm more a drawer. But when I was hit with this idea I figured I could keep it simple enough to take a stab at it. I'm so surprisingly pleased they came out!
I had to do a bit of hunting to find some ready-made canvas that were square and large enough but these fit the bill perfectly (literally too- as they were on sale and really inexpensive). A few tubes of acrylic, a white paint pen (see what I said about keeping it simple) and I was ready to go. I didn't want a flat color and so I happily mixed my paints without too much precision so as to have visible paint strokes. I simply went for a general color in-between the accent shades I already had to tie them together for I dislike everything too matchy-matchy.

The room can be dark and cozy or if we open up the plantation shutters on the wall of windows it becomes bright and airy.

Right, onto the gratuitous photos...

Can I go back to bed now?

Interesting little meme going around. It's amusing to me to note that spinning would've been in the last category previously, but worked it's way up the ranks with surprising speed.

4. Love it! This is my thing.
Knitting, baking, designing/pattern writing, graphic design (blogging, web design/development/multimedia), music, spinning (wheel and spindle- but very new!).

3. I do or have dabbled in it.
Calligraphy, cooking, crochet, cross-stitch, decorating, entertaining, felting, origami, painting or drawing, paper making (did it in college), pattern editing, photography (wish I knew more), sewing, writing.

2. I'll give it a try.
Appliqué, beading, book binding, dyeing, embroidery, flower arranging, gardening (I have high aspirations, but I really suck at it so far), macramé (the kitsch factor amuses me), millinery, mosaics, other crafts, shibori, soap making.

1. I've got absolutely no interest.
Basket weaving, candle making, card making, cartooning (can't do it), collage, balloon animal making, doll house making, etching, glass bead making, glass blowing, jewelry making, lace making (needle lace, cutwork), lucet, paper-mâché, pottery, quilting, rug hooking, scrapbooking, stamping, story telling/acting/stage work, straw marquetry, string art, stuffed toy making, tatting, weaving, wood carving.

So where do your interests lie?

I hacked up a t-shirt!

I forgot to get a Before picture (bad blogger!) but it was your standard large male tee. I've been looking at shirt reconstructions for ages and have several I've wanted to try. I've also been planning on taking a sewing class because my "skill" extends to knowing how to work my sewing machine and that's about it. However, with tickets in hand for the Tool concert* I wanted to make this one now. Laaa, my spectacularly crappy sewing job!

I don't care, I love the shirt! And hey, it's in black, you can't really see the crap sewing too much.

I pretty much completely winged this, no idea what I was doing. I laid a smaller fitted shirt over top as a guide and cut down the sides and sleeves. I just made up a way for sewing in the eyelet tape but I should have cut the armholes deeper width wise. So I fashioned little pieces at the top of the eyelet strips to hold them together, it appears to have worked. I had originally planned on cap sleeves of some sort but then woke up and realized that was way out of my league. Instead I drew on a neckline, cut and tied the front straps with some ribbon, me likey!

*It was awesome btw - they really put on a great show

I do love felt; it's definitely my kind of sewing material. I think coming up with boy embellishments though is a little trickier, at least for me apparently. I went through a few different ideas before deciding on this one and am quite fond of the final result. (Convinced myself I did not need to keep this pair for "future what if".) I used Heather Bailey's great Bitty Booties pattern and got to rummage through my vintage buttons and use some of my vintage ric rack too.

The rest of the weekend was a determined dash to finish the Circum nav cardi- and I did! It's currently blocking and will be ready for the Guild's show and tell and some finished photos soon.

Whilst reading about this great mirror re-do I remembered I too had a gaudy gold freebie mirror that had been lounging in the garage. With a bit of funky green paint I now have my own looking glass for the craft room.

I started with a metallic green paint that I "sponged" on (went ghetto-style and just used paper towels) but it ended up not being enough contrast on its own. So I picked up some bright lime green and did another coat in that, followed by brushing on a few highlights in the metallic.

Another little spot in our home that makes me irrationally happy is our pantry. Oh how I love our new pantry and its space of cavernous proportions. In my ongoing quest to organize all our bags and bags of indian spices I picked up a bunch of these assorted glass jars. The little rows just make me smile and make cooking that much easier and in turn, more enjoyable.

You do have to kind of master a squat waddle to get out the crock pot but hey at least there's a place for it.

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Thanks for all your great comments on the bias hat Version 1.0! I already have the pattern all written up and plan to offer it in child and adult sizes along with Version 2.0.

Ok, I know you're all probably tired of hearing about it, but I finally got some photos of the new craft room. My lack of photographic skill is rather obvious with these, I need more practice with lighting, but anyway- onto the pics!

Walking into the room shot. Now the walls came out more blue than they truly are, it's more a greenish-blue. This is the actual color.

The armoire with the table fully extended. You can also fold it out just half way, it's pretty cool. There's even a built in electrical plug for the sewing machine. (Thanks Mr. Pieknits!)

With everything all organized now it looks like I don't have that much, ha! I've seen some awesome craft rooms; mine looks so bare in comparison. Lots of space to grow though is what I figure. I also have lots more decorating ideas and things to go up on the walls.

Tiki glass o' pens

I <3 my vintage VW van.

My own little "window box" I created for the room. It came out just like I was hoping! I was originally planning on making a real planter box with some wheatgrass but then found these non-expiring plastic types, much more manageable. I have a bit of a black thumb with house plants.

The built in shelves in the closet now houses my yarn stash. The plastic bin on the bottom holds the overflow. Again, not nearly as impressive as some others, but I try to only have yarn that I have specific projects for.

And can't forget Aejaz, he likes the room too - a little too much while we were painting. I was sure we were going to have a half blue dog as he kept trying to lean against the walls. He's posed here in front of the new drawing table/ ball winding station. I plan to put up an inspiration board here too.

And if you're not completly sick of photos yet, there's a few more on my flickr set.

Well I had to break in the new room.

$0.30 thrift tie + $0.20 felt = Cheap crafty accessory - my favorite!

I did a wee bit of backstitching embroidery detail. I wanted to add some green swirly thingies around it too but need to find a bright enough colored thread to stand out against the busy background. So I may still add to it. This is so quick I've already picked up a second tie to do as well.

I may be a little bit retarded. So, not really remembering that I had messed with my spam filter settings recently I was kinda wondering why my comments had seemed to drop off. Now I tend to feel most times when I'm talking that I sound incredibly stupid and yet I seem to keep going on and on despite the chanting of 'Shut up Shut up' in my head. When it translates to writing, the first thing I think is I wrote something stupid, and it totally came off wrong. Then on a little blog housekeeping spell I decided to check my junk folder... yeah- tons of super awesome comments! Thanks everyone and sorry for not replying! I feel like a dolt.

On to making stuff...
As you can see above I did some more super easy crafting - record bowls! I <3 how these came out! And so freaking simple, I did them while putting away the dishes people- talk about fool proof. There are lots of tutorials out there for these, I basically used this one from Roxycraft.

Lounging on one of the bowls is one complete Knucks glove for Mr.Pieknits. Gotta keep those gaming fingers warm, I keep suggesting different gamer tags for the embroidery and he keeps insisting he isn't that dorky. I'm working these in the always lovely Elsepeth Lavold Silky Wool. I had a heck of a time finding a yarn in this gauge locally that wasn't a disgustingly pastel baby color, let alone something for a guy. Then I spotted the Silky Wool, love this blue.

Can't get any easier than this, the 15-minute circular needle holder.

Nothing against sewing, I do have plans to make a placemat dpn holder ala the Grumperina method but I like this one for something a little different. Circular needles are inserted through the center holes in craft supply wooden spools and dangle by their cords.

Stuff you need
Wooden spools (mine were Large Barrel, 3/16" x 7/8"; 1/4" hole, 20 pcs from a craft store)
Approx 1 1/2 - 2 yards floral wire (I believe mine was 28 gauge)
Permanent markers (I used a silver paint pen and a sharpie)
Scraps of yarn or fabric
Glue (hot glue gun was weapon of choice for me)

Note on the spools - mine have 1/4" hole which fits up to a US size 10 needle. This was adequate for me, but if you require ones for larger sizes you can drill or use a needle file to enlarge the opening, or look for a larger diameter spool.

What to do with it

First, label all your spools with the appropriate needle size. For my end spools I wound a piece of scrap yarn around the spool and secured it with a dot of glue. A piece of fabric cut to size would also look nice. You could obviously embellish these however you like. I went with simplicity (also known as "easy"). Next cut a length of wire about 1 1/2 - 2 yards long, I just kinda eyeballed it. Thread wire though first spool and hold in half so both lengths of wire are equal. Following the diagram below, weave the wire in and out of each spool.

Then, once the last spool is wired on, twist the remaining two wire lengths around each other and fold into a hook shape. Trim ends and load up with all those unruly needles.

Into other crafting areas that is.

Look! I do know how to use a sewing machine! Ok, so by "use" I mean I remembered how to set everything up and make it actually go- but hey, that's an accomplishment to me. The table runner itself was purchased after much searching for a decent one, but it ended up being too short. It seems they do make 90" runners but they appear to be hard to come by, and I liked this one damn it. So I figured I could handle sewing on little extensions. A quick trip to the fabric store produced remarkably close matching fabric and trim; I took that as a good sign.
It's not 100% perfect (that sewing a straight line thing is tricky and all) but you would never know if you're not scrutinizing it, therefore I call it a successful project.
The new Craft Room in the works has plans for a little sewing table, as I really do want to sew more. I think it'll be much easier if the machine isn't buried in the bottom of my closet as its only storage place. Next up a needle roll case and these great headbands.

Knitting? Oh yeah, that. The magazine project got delayed and the new deadline is now the end of this month and thus nothing to show really. I hope to be more interesting soon.

I realize I'm squeezing this in on the very last day but of all the many colored saris I possess, the one shade I don't have is purple. Just the purple border and accents on this pink one from March is the closest thing. Although coincidently, next month will be the grand finale for Sari Style. My final and finest wedding sari is conviently a "neutral color" for August. In addition, I have the Boy's traditional outfit- so a little extra something as well.


So I was thinking what more can one do with these besides gazing at them, specifically in a craftier vein. Obviously, the sari's I've been sharing have tremendous sentimental value and I wouldn't dream of cutting them up but there our so many beautiful saris to be had for a pittance for that very purpose.



You can make some great looking pillow covers like these. Or fashion a whole bed set- like this one on Craftster

Even simpler, draping saris as curtains is very effective- like here.

They also make really neat looking fabrics for remaking into western-style clothing. If you possess more sewing talent than I, you can do this yourself or check out this really cool site. Who's sari now? I particularly love this Gypsy Skirt.

So why not go out and find your local asian market and browse through all the textiles? This site - www.eknazar.com has tons of local listings for different areas. In Dallas, there are over 60 apparel yellow page listings. Of course, there's also always eBay, which has lots of inexpensive options too.

With all this sari talk, that of course brings me to the lovely recycled sari yarn.



I was lucky enough to procure this from Cookie's stash sale after much coveting of said yarn. I love this yarn. I love the idea behind it, the ingenuity and good cause, love the randomness and vivid colors. If you haven't seen this yarn in person yet I encourage you to pick up a skein- it's way cooler looking than the photos. I've had to restrain myself with my self-imposed binds of project limiting on this. I have bag idea in a starburst pattern all worked out in my head and rearin' to go.

In another, somewhat, related topic- I finally got to recoloring my henna inspired bleach design shoes.



They're better, at least close enough for me to be happy. Fabric paint pens are what I first checked out but they all seemed to be in really vivid reds that I was wary I wouldn't be able to blend to a more subtler shade. Next I compared some different fabric dyes and ended up with good ol' RIT dye as the most versatile. I just mixed up a little bit and painted it on with a regular paintbrush until it reached the closet shade I could get. Viola!

ETA: I forgot that I uploaded a scan of my dorky doodles for these bleach shoes for anyone who's intrested in making a pair. What I ended up doing is a more simplified version then the sketches but it could serve as a jumping off point. Click the image for the full-size version.

Next Saturday, the 24th, will be our 1st anniversary. A year! I can hardly believe it. We've done and experienced so many things yet it's gone by so fast. I could too easily gush on and on, but no one really needs to hear that. :)

As I've mentioned we're going on a cruise next week to celebrate so I'm posting a little early. Looking over our photos, I came across some of the "crafty" elements I did for the ceremony.

These were our "favors" I made for our wedding in Hawaii. The woven Lauhala boxes are a traditional craft in Hawaii (and I later found out in India too). To carry our "international" theme I filled them half with Jordan Almonds (traditional American wedding sweet - my side) and the other half with a ladoo (traditional Indian wedding sweet - his side). Then I tied them with ribbon in our colors and the little tags I designed.

The menus I did in the matching fonts and colors. These were also carried through into the ceremony programs.

Like all brides, because I love my dress so much- a shot of one of my favorite parts. Those are all real buttons with loooots of tiny button loops. Thankfully I had my crochet hook with me!

Cherry Love



My first completed cross stitch in about 10 years. The pattern is from the little kit I picked up for Project Spectrum. It came with a small frame and mounting board I have yet to attach to it. While working on this I was happy to find everything pretty much came back to me. Not that it was very much in the difficulty department but I enjoyed doing something a little different. I'm thinking it might be keeping me company in my cubicle once it's mounted.

Knitting projects
After a few rippings and recalculations I've made some more progress on the Lace Leaf. 'Fairly confident' is what I'd have to say I am currently feeling about all further calculations being accurate.

The yarn I dyed is holding up to repeated swatching and ripping cycles as I work out the last of my celtic cable charts. Hoping to have something photo worthy here soon, I'm really pleased with the way they're coming out. The design sketches for them are a purse with a worked-in reinforced bottom that I'm eager to test out.

So this is how I spent my Saturday. Following is the method I developed for dyeing my recycled yarn with food paste dye (Wilton's icing dye). What I like about this method is that the yarn is never added to water that is a different temperature, thus minimizing the chances of shocking/felting. Added bonus is not having to handle scalding hot yarn, this is a good thing if you are like my accident prone self.

First soak the yarn in lukewarm water (without vinegar) for 30 minutes. While the yarn is soaking prepare your dyepot.


Icing dye is very concentrated, so 1 bottle of food coloring will dye a lot of fiber. For 4 oz. of yarn I used a little under 1/2 tsp. Wearing gloves, mix your dye into a cup of hot water until it is completely dissolved. Next, fill your dyepot with tepid water and pour the dye mixture in.

*Tip - You can purchase latex gloves in bulk at hardware stores like Northern. Usually 100 gloves for around $6 instead of 3 pairs for the same price elsewhere.

Remove the yarn from the soaking water and gently squeeze out excess water. Now add the yarn into the cool dye.


Bring water up to near boiling (150-160°F) and simmer for 10 minutes. A steady steam should be rising off the top at this point.


You can see here how the water is getting much clearer

Now add a glug or about 1/4 cup of vinegar being careful to not pour it directly on the yarn. The vinegar aids in the uptake and colorfastness of the dye, because of this it is best to add it after the yarn has evenly soaked in the dye to help with a more uniform coloring.
Bring the temperature up to 180°F (170°F for silk) and simmer for 30 minutes or until color is exhausted.


Turn off heat and let cool in dyepot to room temperature.

Rinse thoroughly with same temperature water and hang to dry.


The first batch I dyed is hanging on the right. This was with Leaf Green and it produced a very vivid green. The second batch I wanted a more mossy/earthy tone so I sprinkled in about 1/3 of a packet of Cherry Kool-aid too. The result is hanging on the left, exactly the color I was going for actually. I guess all that color theory in college finally paid off, heh.

The finished skeins
Rollover the smaller images to view enlargement.