Getting Crafty

I recently moved into a new room and was pretty disgusted about trying to dig through a bunch of cd cases to find some music to listen to. SO I made a CD holder. IT is really simple and it looks pretty cool, and it is really convenient.

I took a board of scrap wood, about 2ft square. I covered it with fabric, stapling the fabric to the back side. Then I took some finishing nails and drove them into the fabric covered board at even intervals, about 4 across I think. I didn’t hammer them all the way in , but just a bit so they are still sticking out. Then I hot glued a wall hanger onto the back of the board.

I put the hole in the middle of the CDs through the nails and there they are hanging on my wall in a sort of postmodern decorating frenzy. I’ve organized mine by genre. What do you think?

I don’t know why I am so obsessed with knitted dresses, but I am. It started when I saw a knitted Betsey Johnson Dress at a thrift store that didn’t even come close to fitting me.

Then my friend was wearing a great looking knitted dress last winter. It looked really comfortable and cozy, and had such a nice drape.

Now I am always on the lookout for great dress knitting patterns. Here’s a couple books I have seen lately that have patterns I like for knitted dresses:

In Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne, there is a dress pattern that I like that is supposed to be a nighty dress, but I would do it in a sturdier yarn and wear it out. It is a really simple pattern for a slip dress with either lace trim or seed stitch trim (I haven’t decided which I like best). Very nice!

In The Knitting Experience, Book 2: The Purl Stitch, author and designer Sally Melville has a “Not Your Mother’s Suit Dress” that I really like (it is featured on the cover). Not only is it comfortable looking and stylish, but she also offers it in two different weight yarns, which can really change the style. I am going to make this someday.

And of course I already mentioned in a previous blog about the Gym Slip Dress that I am obsessed with from Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clarke. Everytime I’m in a yarn store I imagine all the yarns made into this dress.

Well, that’s enough about this obsession for now. Let me know if you know any other good dress patterns!

I try to (re)construct my life
from tiny bits of colored paper, scraps of
fabric, ends of yarn, old junk
filled with someone elses memories.
I am a collage, a simple
set of collected shadows
interlocked behind bright colors of
a (un)created world.
I am 400 years of handed down traditions,
lost in a house fire in 1923, drowned in a
flood in 1917, misplaced in a big move in 1958…

I have finally finished my first sweater! Congratulations to me!

I am really excited about it. It came out so beautifully. It is made with Debbie Bliss Merino DK Yarn in a rich burgundy color. The pattern is from Rebbecca magazine #30, the Diagonol Rib Sweater.

Unfortunately my digital camera isn’t working so I can’t post a picture right now. But I wore it to a party as soon as I finished it and it fit me perfectly. The diagonal ribs meet in the center like a chevron and the front, back and sleeves all come to points. It is so beautiful! I can’t believe I made it. I am so excited that I just want to keep knitting over and over again! I can’t stop!

I don’t usually get too wrapped up in designer trends, being more of a down-and-dirty DIY type, but the designer M Missoni has really inspiring Knits in their Fall/Winter collection. Like a wavy-striped grey, purple, and green (it is not at all as gaudy as that sounds like it could possibly be) cowl-necked sweater, that looks slightly felted. And a knitted button-down shirt/sweater/dress with a belt.

I only went to their website because I saw a beautiful long-sleeved knitted dress advertised in San Francisco Magazine. I thought it was so amazing, and I was wondering if I would be able to make something similar. But I didn’t even see it on the website! Oh well.

I want to share with everyone the easiest craft project ever: making legwarmers using a recycled sweater. Basically, you just cut the sleeves off and there you go! The sleeves turn into legwarmers!

It might sound a little crazy for the uniniated, but trust me. I have a friend who wears a pair of these all the time and they look so great on her!

The best way to do it is to find an old sweater that is a little too ugly to wear, but has some kitschy design on the sleeves. It is so much easier to wear those designs as an accent, like legwarmers, than as a focal point like, say, a sweater.

The sleeves can be cut off straight or diagonal (following the shoulder seam). You could finish the edge with a zigzag stitch, and may need to in order to keep it from unravelling. This method will work on pretty much any kind of sweater, but I recommend a heavy material like wool or acrylic.

Try it out! It’s a hip, diy fashion look!

Sew U by Wendy Mullin is a great book for anyone learning to sew and especially budding fashion designers. It is set up to teach the very basics of how to sew, how to use a sewing machine, measuring, understanding patterns and fabrics. I really liked the way that Wendy uses three basic patterns (which are included in the book) as a launching pad for personalizing and designing your wardrobe.

The three patterns are: the skirt, the button-down shirt, and pants. Basically those are all anyone needs to know how to make, because everything can be spun off from there. Wendy walks the reader through how to make subtle changes to the pattern to allow it to become the garment that the reader wants. She covers how to add pockets, embellishments, design changes and fitting.

Also, the book is really well written: not boring or dry or too complicated. I definitely recommend it for beginning sewers, or anyone who wants to learn how to personalize their wardrobe and the basics of clothing construction.

This is what I am making for basically all of my friend right now: Knitted bracelets. They are really easy to make and to personalize, and a great way to use little bits of stash yarn. You can make them really thin or thick like a cuff, and use any knit stitch pattern you know.

You can make them any size you want with any amount of yarn. Some examples of ones I’ve made recently:

3 kinds of variegated yarn - 1 wool in purple, green and blue; 1 mohair in green, brown, and blue; and one metallic in silver, green, blue, and purple

size 6 needles

Cast on 5 stitches. Knit in St st for 5 rows. Then knit in Reverse St st (if you are on a purl side, knit it; if you are on a knit side, purl it). Repeat this pattern until it reaches desired length — my bracelet was about 25 rows. Bind off and sew ends together.

1 worsted weight yarn

size 4 needles.

Cast on 8 sts. Work in seed stitch (knit, purl, knit, purl across the row) until it reaches desired length. Bind off and sew ends together.

Today I learned how to cable knit. I can’t believe how much easier it is than I suspected! I learned how to do it for the Natalya gloves I am knitting from Savanna Chik . I had never cabled before and was prepared for something difficult, but seriously, all you do is hold the stitches back! I am really enjoying this pattern, even though working in such a small round is a little difficult, but it is fun and the yarn I am using, a Takhi Green Tweed, is really beautiful. Yay new knitting project!

I am not too impressed with the new crop of patterns on Knitty.com,but I always enjoy their articles and how-to’s and tips and all that. And today I was really impressed with the Frankenknits section, which is about transforming old knits into something new — right up my alley. The Frankenknits website is a little sparse, but has great ideas and great pictures of those great ideas. Check it out!

how-to’s, knits

Do you ever look at an old sweater or scarf you never wear and think about how beautiful the yarn is? I do, so that is why I learned how to reuse yarn. It takes a little patients and courage, but it is so great.

I spent about an hour or so today unravelling this shrug that I made last year out of this beautiful Takhi Stacey Charles green tweed yarn. I loved the yarn but I had got it on sale and it was the last 3 (or maybe 4, but I haven’t found the last ball yet) balls the store had. That isn’t enough yarn for a lot of things, so I made this shrug. But I’ve just decided to make these beautiful “Natalya Gauntlets” from http://www.savannahchik.com/. I think they will look great for this yarn, but first I had to unravel the shrug.

The first step is just finding a place to cut. The shrug was made flat and then the sleeve sewn together, so I cut the seam. I had to look around for a bit to find the best end — Its easiest to go from bind-off row up, because then you can just pull the yarn and it all comes out. Once you find the right piece to pull, it is actually pretty fun! I just unravelled the whole thing, putting the yarn straight into a big pot of hot water as I went. The yarn needs to sit in the water for a few hours (I’ll be leaving mine overnight).

The next step is to squeeze some of the water out with a towel and roll the yarn into skeins. I am going to wind the yarn around my hand and elbow, like an electrical cord, to keep it from getting tangled, but you can also wind it around a straightback chair.

Once it is wound, it needs to be hung to dry and straighten. I am going to fold it over a hanger and then place another hanger in the loops to weigh it down, and then leave it overnight.

That is basically all there is to recylce yarn. It is a great thing to know how to do, it can save you a ton of money on buying yarn. You could just buy old sweaters from the thrift store and unravel them! It works best with wool, and with hand-knits, not machine, and keep in mind that you are going to loose a little bit of the yarn from cutting it, but not too much. If starting from a sweater, it is easier to disassemble all the pieces first.

I hope this is a helpful tip! Please let me know if you try it, or if you already recycle yarn.

I have been knitting for only about two years. I already knew how to crochet (my mom taught me) and I think it is great for somethings but for clothing, I prefer knitting. So really the reason I learned to knit is so that I could make a sweater. But I put it off until I had some skill. Most of the knitters I know have never made a sweater, and it seemed a bit daunting.

But I am pleased to announce that yesterday, I finished the last sleeve of my first ever sweater! Yes! The pattern is from Rebecca Magazine # 30, and it is this beautiful diagonal ribbed pattern. The pattern was great because it was easy but not so easy that it was boring. I have probably been working on this sweater since March. The yarn was from a gift certificate I got for Christmas last year.

I know, it isn’t actually done yet. I still have to sew it all up and finish the neck. But I am excited to be at that point. I’ll post more about it, and hopefully pictures, when I’m really done.

I feel pretty good about my craftiness today. This morning I started blocking the pieces for my sweater, to be assembled tomorrow hopefully. Then I started undoing this shrug I made last year so that I could undo the yarn (see my post on how to recycle yarn).

THEN after finishing that, I did some mending, taking in this nice little camisole that I really like. I freeboxed it from a friend, and it was a little big. I wore it a couple of times with the straps safety pinned together and the back safety pinned tighter, and then I realized “this is ridiculous! I know how to sew!” So I took in about a half an inch on each side and about one inch in the back. Then I shortened and reattatched the straps.

Yay! now it is ready to wear. I hand sewed the whole thing together, and I didn’t have matching yarn so I used contrasting yarn, but I think it looks pretty good still. It has a little more character than when I got it, and it fits me like a glove!

I just recently learned how to silk-screen in a fun and  easy DIY sort of way.  Silk screening is an awesome  way to decorate bags, clothes or to make patches, if you didn’t know.  Here is one easy, low-tech way of doing it:

Materials:

1 wooden frame

a rectangle of silk-screen a little bigger than the frame

cardboard

paint

white glue (like  elmer’s)

acrylic paint

an image to copy (something simple)

something to print on!

stapler or staple gun

water

paint brush

black marker

How:  Take your silk screen and  staple it on the frame, once on each side to start, (its easier to staple on the flat side of  the frame).  go around  the whole frame pulling the silk and stapling until it is really taunt.  Once it is really tight, draw your image using a marker.  If you  want to copy an image, you can put it  under the silk screen and trace  it.  Remember you will be printing with the flat side of the frame up.

Once  your drawing is done, take a bunch of white glue and mix it with a little water and a littler paint.  It should be the consistency of paint, basically.  The paint is so you can see where you have put the glue already.  Using the paintbrush, paint all around your image — Paint everything EXCEPT where the marker is.  Hold your screen up to the light so you can see if you have filled in all  the holes.  Then let it dry.

When your screen is dry, put it flat down on some fabric or paper or whatever you want to print on.  Take some cardboard and fold it  in half to make  a little squeegee.  Plop some paint down on one end of your screen using a paint brush and then use your squeegee to  pull the paint over the whole screen.   Only squeegee in one direction.  Carefully lift your screen and see your image.  Yeah!  Now let it dry and use the screen to print on a whole bunch of stuff.

Your screen can be reused.  Clean it by soaking it in water

I was sitting in my local bookshop the other day, looking at craft books, and I came across Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clarke. Well, really, it is by Mel Clarke, with commentary by Tracey Ullman, which is fine. Clarke has some great patterns in this book, that look hard but probably aren’t and that is where Ullman comes in. She has been knitting for 3 years under Clarke’s tutelage at a yarn shop in Santa Monica, CA, and has stories of making all sorts of mistakes that she asked Clarke to help her fix. Ullman and Clarke seem like sort of an odd couple: Tracey’s writing is big and boisterous and excited and Clarke seems more reserved and steady — the difference in their personalities is noticeable even in the pictures. But it saves the book from being like other celebrity knitting books, full of patterns few people would actually wear. Ullman is sort of there to be like “If I can make this, anyone can make this,” and also to make sure that patterns she really wants to see get put in — like skirts, which Ullman says there aren’t enough of in knitting books, and I agree. Like all knitting books, there were some patterns I liked and some I thought were horrible ideas.
But my favorite, favorite thing in the book, that I absolutely can’t wait to make (I know, I have a lot of other projects going on) is the Gym Slip Dress and the knicker-style shorts that go with it. I don’t know what hellish New Zealand educational institution Clarke was in where she was forced to wear an uglier version of this, but I am grateful that it inspired this knitting pattern. I hope it was therapeutic for her as well. I definitely want it to be my next big project, even though I am going to have to buy a ton of yarn for it.