I started my new year with a little crochet project. It’s a scarf for a friend’s daughter. The yarn was unraveled from one of her baby sweaters. I tried a few different stitches, but the yarn is so busy, I decided to go with straight double crochet. I’ll be adding a few flowers, too.
How did you start the new year?
I can never seem to find shorts that I like. I’m too old for short shorts and too young for culottes. The perfect length for me is cutoff style, especially when I cut them myself.
I found two pairs of pants at the thrift store for my little experiment. I put them on, marked the length I wanted and cut.
Ok, I did a bit more than that.
I stitched around the bottom of the leg about 1/4 inch to make them look more finished. I had planned to let them fringe on their own, but after the first wash the strings were driving me crazy. I followed the Purl Bee’s instructions for fringing, but only for about halfway up to the stitch line.
I’m loving my new shorts, and giving the jeans in my closet a closer look. Maybe I should make another trip to the thrift store.
Last Saturday night my daughter was in bed by 8 pm. My husband was asleep by 8:30. I was bored. I pulled up some concerts on YouTube and started jammin’ out.
Even though Honey Cowl isn’t finished, I wanted to do something with yarn. Something new. Something with a hook.
I grabbed a bag of yarn balls and just started chaining. I may have gone overboard. Toward the end, I decided to make granny scarf. A very long granny scarf, in fact.
It felt good. I missed my hook. Double crochet clusters make me so happy.
Last night at knitting group, one of our members brought two huge bags of yarn she was destashing. I told her I had a friend who would love it and brought it home with me. I’m pretty sure my friend doesn’t have a ball winder and lot of the yarn was from abandoned projects. So I sat down in front of the tv and started winding balls.
I forgot how fun it is to deconstruct knitted items, especially handmade ones. Everyone weaves ends and sews seams a little differently. It’s interesting to reverse engineer the process.
resources: I’m sure I’ve posted these before. Some of my favorite tutorials for unraveling sweaters are from Neauveau Fiber Art. Photo tutorial here and video tutorial here. Also, here’s a short video on finding the “little v stitches” to unzip a seam super fast.
If you live in Lincoln, this weekend is the Goodwill 99 cent sale. A sweater’s worth of wool for under a dollar? You can’t beat that!
I’ve been going through my crafty stash and the latest supplies subject to decluttering have been fabric and sewing notions. I found quite a few things I had squirreled away for future projects that never happened, one of which was this doll quilt.
I bought this at an antique show years ago with the thought of turning it into a tote bag. It’s definitely seen better days, but there’s something about the fabrics that I really love.
I’m not the only one who loves them. When my daughter saw this she immediately began to campaign why it would be the perfect quilt for her doll Bitty. As you can see, she was quite persuasive. Even Pinkalicious likes it.
I started this cowl just before Christmas. After packing up and sending off gifts for everyone else, I decided to make something for myself. It’s a möbius granny cowl using wool from my stash.
It’s almost finished. My new yarn is calling. I just can’t have one more work in progress. Hope to have final pics soon.
The book in the background is a vegan Indian cookbook. It has lots of slow cooker recipes. Looking forward to trying a few.
UPDATE: The book is Vegan Indian Cooking: 140 Simple and Healthy Vegan Recipes. (amazon link)
I’m at another Get The Craft Out this weekend and working on a basket. It’s made out of recycled magazines and not quite as easy as I thought it would be.
I brought a few knitting and crochet projects that I haven’t even gotten out yet. Hoping I get a little better at this. Finished pic to come soon.
Making another nature bag. Forgot how much fun it is to take things apart.
Also, I’m excited to be sewing again. It’s been way too long.
I’m not one to wear bats or skulls as jewelry during the month of October, but when I spotted this little bead in my daughter’s collection, I knew I had to make it into a necklace. I have been thinking a lot about mixing yarn and beads lately, and this finally convinced me to sit down and get to work. I’ll post a pic when it’s finished.
On the way to school: “Mom, my legs are cold.”
On the way home from school: “Mom, my legs are hot.”
I have a theory. Sometime, way back when, a child uttered those phrases over and over in a whiny voice, until her mother couldn’t take it anymore. The mother grabbed a pair of scissors and jeans with holes in the knees and BAM. Cutoff shorts were invented.
I’d like to thank her for that moment. You see, shorts and skirts are too cold for 50 degree mornings. Jeans and leggings are too hot for 80 degree afternoons. Cutoff shorts are just right. (This is starting to sound like a fairytale.)
My daughter just might wear these everyday until the first frost. Thank goodness I made two pairs.
