Hat

Hiya from a.,

So, back from Christmas, and working on stuff for my own household again. Now I'd love to show you everything that I made for Christmas for the family, but that would imply that I took pictures of everything that I made for the family. I did not. There are photos of the dad hats but everyone who reads this saw those on facebook. Instead I will show you what I made on Christmas day.

I took a mitten pattern and was able to extrapolate it into a hat. I did this because I really wanted to use the celtic knot pattern. See my rather awesome mother in law, as a part of my Christmas gift, gave me yarn that she got me in Ireland - pretty cool, right? So I wanted to do something appropriate with it.

I also totally finished a sweater this week, but I'll show you that another time.
take care.

Merry Christmas

Just want to wish our faithful readers a very Merry Christmas. We haven't posted in the last couple of weeks, because we were working on gifts, and can't really put those up before people see them. So we will be back with regularly schedule craft awesomeness after the holidays. Everyone take care.

r: It's been awhile since I last posted, I know, but I've been busy or--more accurately--highly stressed. I have completed two projects however and thought I'd share them with you. The first image is of a tryptic I painted. It was inspired by b movie Go Go girls like Tura Satana  and, in the case of the quotation, Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. "It's Go Go not Cry Cry" isn't just a pithy line in a fake grindhouse film, it's a life philosophy. The Go Go Girls are done in silhouette because it's an easy stencil and I wanted to see how it would work out. I'm pleased with the result but choosing an image that conveys "Go Go" is harder than your would think. If you try it for yourself make sure to find an image that conveys motion. The figure on the right (green) is Lori Williams from Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! A source of constant inspiration. The two smaller paintings are a lot of acrylic paint on canvas board. A lot of acrylic paint. I purchased a set of loteria cards for the purpose of making something out of them and hadn't really figured out a use (other than as a border on my painting of the Blue Demon, how I love Lucha Libre) and had these Uncle Wiggily game cards and the same problem. So I decided to use them in a painting experiment where I exploit my natural tendency toward impasto along with acrylic paints supposed similarity to glue. Death and the Devil makes the text creepy, eh?
So that's what I've been up to. My next art project may be coming in the mail for some of you and I'm sure we'll put pictures up (bloody B&N selling out of the Edward Gorey Christmas cards I wanted).

It's Time for Some Cozy

Hiya from a.,

Winter seems to have settled in here, and I actually managed to finish a couple of blankets.  Blankets and I have a weird relationship.  It usually takes three, or even four, iterations before I am pleased with how a blanket is turning out (plus it turns out that if you are following a pattern, maybe you do want to in fact check the gauge).  The first I have to show you, though, actually was the first look for this particular yarn.  It is a small lap blanket for r. for when he is sitting on the cube and playing video games:

It's a v stitch which made it fairly soft and moveable, it is an irregular/regular stripe.  It works well for keeping legs warm when sitting somewhere other than the couch.  Now though, I will show you the more common use for this blanket:

This other blanket I have to show you makes me really happy.  I have tried in the past to make a blanket that is one giant granny square but I have never had enough yarn.  I finally though had collected enough Caron simply soft to pull this off.  I also had always tried to use a K hook, but found my N hook, which made it work up much faster.  I was able to get the granny square blanket made during the watching of all the Harry Potter movies:

It's great because I am usually the person sitting in this chair and I can completely curl up underneath and be all cozy.
That's all, enjoy.

All Strung Up

Hiya from a.,

It was Thanksgiving this week, which we enjoy but are still fundamentally confused by.  Apparently by going to the house of a friend, we were at an "orphan" Thanksgiving.  A good time was had by all, and we did some minor shopping the next day.  This has nothing to do with what I am planning to show you today, just thought I would share.

The first thing up is more of what I did, rather than what I made.  As you know, faithful readers (hi to the moms and woolwine!) I have been on a hat kick recently.  The problem is that they can get tossed around and go missing easily.  I am a resourceful person however, and what you can do with a couple nails, smooth wire, and a level is quite nice:

I at first just had the top tier, but then realized how easy it is to lose one glove, so decided to string them up as well.  Now everything is easily accessed, and nicely presented as well.

The other thing that I have to show you is a tote bag that I made for a friend.  I regularly make tote bags for myself, my mom has commissioned a half dozen from me at this point, but they tend to be simple and straightforward.  For this bag, I wanted to do more.  I wanted something interesting, but not over the top, and I did my second patchwork/applique kind of thing.  Here is the broad shot:

It is a simple brown pinstripe base fabric, but I added petal/flower work in the corner to add colour and pop.  here is a close up of the main patch area:

I cut out three different sized petals, and then used fusible webbing stuff to hold it together in the pattern, so that it would be more stable for sewing onto the bag.  Of course because I tend to be a little over ambitious, the bag is capable of being fully reversible so that instead you could have it looking like this:

As you see the fabric that created the petal corner on the one side, became a patchwork pocket on the other side.  This bag was a lot of work, from planning, to cutting, to putting it together, but it was worth it.
That's all I have this week, enjoy.

I Promised you Hats

Hiya from a.,

So I do believe that I promised you hats.  The first up for your viewing pleasure actually has a name - it is called "Many Moons"  This is me wearing the hat:

This is a bulky weight yarn so the hat is going to be super warm and cozy.  This is actually the "wrong side" of the hat, but I thought it looked cute.  The other reason that I flipped the hat inside out, is the reason it is called "Many Moons"

As you see, the thick pink yarn makes the front loop only half double crochet look like a thousand little butts.  Funny, but not what you want to wear on your head.

The second hat I have to show you is one that I made for r.  I made it a little bigger than I might normally, but since he isn't going for regular hair cuts, I wanted to give him some room inside.

It's good old James Brett marble, and for an acrylic it is really soft and pretty.  Hard to tell in the photo but it does have a brim to add extra warmth to the ears and it matches a scarf that I made r. a couple months ago.

Finally we have a hat that I am rather please with.  This is because I made it with handspun.  Now it was an earlier handspun, so there are some lumps and uneven bits, but I think it came out pretty (and it ended up matching a scarf I made a year or so ago).

Handspun when worked always feels soooo squishy and nifty.
Those are the hats.  I thought I'd leave you with a picture of b.b. as well it is an always enjoyable way to close a post.

That's all.

Bunch of Scarves

Hiya from a.,

So if you know me, I am sure that you are just shocked, SHOCKED, that I have a few different scarves to show you today.  In my defense to of these were commissioned by my parents, and one if for myself.

Here is the first:

My mom wanted something simple yet bold.  This is all chunky yarn and what I did was a stable black centre and built a ruffle around it with the chunky white that had a grey/black thread throughout it.  I had enough left over to make a sort of matching broach:

It's nothing fancy but should add a nice punch to a coat of bag.

The next scarf was made for my dad.  Now a year ago he bought purple that just kicked my ass.  What I did was buy a heavier weight alpaca in a similar heathered colour (and he was pleased with the results, which means that my friend woolwine who likes thin yarn gets to reap the benefits of this substitution):

It can be a little hard to see in a photo but there is a v-cable running up the middle to add some depth and character to the scarf.  It came out really pretty, and the yarn is so soft.

Finally we have the scarf that is just for me.  I lucked out and got some Noro Silk Garden (sock weight) on Bella Lana's sale wall.  Now it was still crazy pricey but soooooooo worth it.  I've been working on this for a few weeks and am pleased with the results.

It is a little darker that the photo shows, but not by much.  This is about 1.5 balls of the yarn and the colour variety ranges from a purple/black to a searing orange.  Here is a close up of the stitch work:

I lightly blocked the scarf just to open up the lacework as it was too pretty not to show off.  I just love how this turned out.
That's what I have for today, I am pretty sure that my next post will be all about hats!

In Case You Didn't Know - I Like Pink

Hiya from a.,

So with all those big projects that I've been working on, I decided to whip up a couple of other things and here is one of them.  I did my first cowl.  Though it actually isn't a cowl as per definition, but what is called a cowl on ravelry, which means circular scarf/neck wrap/neck warmer thing.  Anyways it came out super cute and neat looking, in James Brett marble, which is a nice changing colour.

I think that it came out really neat.  I also made a pink hat, but I'll show you that another time.
Take care.

Stupid Big Projects

Hiya from a.,

We're sorry we aren't keeping up with the weekly posts, but r. is busy trying to secure our future and I decided this fall to take on big crochet projects, which means it takes a long time to show you our faithful readers (hi to the moms and woolwine) completed items.  I'm in the middle of two sweaters and three blankets, and I've run out of yarn for the blankets (a standard happenstance) and well sweaters in fingering weight yarn take a really long time.  I know I could show you projects in media res, but I just can't roll like that.  Instead I did take time out to make a couple more spindles.

These are a heavier version, it is a wider dowel and more sculpey.  Also, I'm pleased with the progress on my colour blending.
The other thing I have to show you is a new skirt I sewed:

It's nothing fancy, but I am pleased with how cute it came out.  It is some denim fabric with side panel insets and some circular cutouts.  Here is a close up shot of the pink fabric:

It is fairly cute skull fabric, that I found on the clearance wall at Joanns.  In all I think this skirt cost about 6 dollars to make, so that is a definite win!
I should have another post in the not too distant future (maybe even next Sunday AD [anyone who gets that has a chance to win a toy surprise]) as I decided to take a break and whip up a couple of quick projects to break from the big ones.

That's all.

Never Let Me Loose in a Hardware Store

Hiya from a.,

As you know from previous posts, I have taken to spinning, like a cat to an empty lap.  The problem has been that I really only have two drop spindles (the third really functions best for plying, not spinning).  There are a lot of gorgeous spindles out there, some wood, or resin, funky or classic looking.  The problem is that they can start to run pricey, and I (as you well know dear readers) have a limited crafting budget.  Thus I decided to make my own.  There are a fair number of tutorials out there on how to do this, so I read some basics, but didn't want to use a CD or a toy wheel, and then I realized an inexpensive, but potentially really pretty option - polymer clay (aka Sculpy III).  I was able to get four colours at the local art store for 9 dollars, and then I went to the hardware store to get dowel and hooks.  I actually left the hardware only buying what I needed, but I did get distracted numerous times, by wire, screws, and awls.  So at this point my investment (okay not so much my, as our patron's investment [Hi Mom!] ) is 19 dollars.  The advantage to making your own drop spindles is that you can also kill an afternoon playing with clay.

Here are the results (there were 4 prototypes, 2 were successes and that is what you are seeing):

So here we are: modeling clay, cut up 4 foot dowel, and some ceiling hooks.  The other tools involved were a blade and sand paper, which I already have.  I got the circle shape from the lid of a canning jar.  They have a small bit of wobble, but seem to work.  I also bought a slightly wider dowel, and I'm curious what will happen when I work with that.

I know I have mentioned them both (I think) before, but I have to raise a glass to my dad and grandfather, for passing onto to me, the utter conviction of capability.  I come from a line of people who like to tinker, putter, and figure out how to make things, and I kind of love that.   My grandfather liked to play with finishing furniture (and building outdoor stuff with telephone poles), my dad likes to move walls and build backyards, finances and space have me making spindles (though just wait until those two restrictions are removed).  This leads r. to being a part of an elite group (with my mom and grandmother) who get an eye twitch or just shake their heads as a Dafoe walks by muttering "I wonder if..." or "I bet if I just...."

That's all.

been busy

Hiya from a.,

Sorry we don't have a lot for you this week, as we've been busy.  What I can show you is a roving dye I did.  This was the cvm, one of the sheep the FLBs picked up at the Harvest back in the spring (if you troll through the posts you can see the oatmeal, with dark strands colour it was).  This is what I ended up doing to about 5.5 oz of the stuff.

It is called Algae Sea Foam Shame (this is about 2 of the 5.5oz).  It is spinning up really pretty, you should see the results in a few weeks.
Now because that is all I really have for you, please enjoy a picture of b.b.

He loves this cardboard box more than anything we have ever bought him, so we endure having a big empty box just sitting in the living room.

Spirit of 1986

r: This is my latest creation which admittedly took awhile to get done (layers can be a pain). Its a painting on canvas celebrating old school geekery and will eventually be finding a home over the bed rather than beside the scratching post. 1st layer, titanium white acrylic base coat that was subsequently taped off with blue painter's tape. I covered the whole thing in tape and then removed strips in order create stripes. Then spray paint. Spray paint is so wonderful, I mean just delightful, and I'm not just saying that because lately I've been inhaling a lot of paint and glue fumes lately. After the spray paint came the stenciled pac-men--which was the easiest stencil ever and a silkscreened arcade box you may remember from another post. I'm pleased with how it came out. It's very striking and modern I think.

Spin Cycle

Hiya from a.,

I have been spinning yarn for a few months now, you've seen the posts.  I just thought I would take the time to show you how it has been coming along, in a big picture sort of way.   This is to date the handspun that I have made (with the exception of the moulin rouge, which was made into a nifty scarf):

It may be a little hard to tell from the photo but the handspun is arranged in order of thickness, with the blue colonial top on the left being my thinnest, and also most even to date, and the pink of the far right which is a mix of wools is a fairly chunky yarn.
I have a couple of photos here to show you in better detail the thickness of the yarn (I could discuss wraps per inch, but only one of the three people who read this would know what I'm talking about).

That is my over exposed finger, but it really lets you see how this yarn turned out.  3oz ended up spinning around 270 yards, and I still have another 3 or 4ozs of the colonial to play with.  Now you might be wondering how I know the yardage of the yarn.  I do not have a yard counter as those are expensive.  Instead I have this:

r.  recently purchased a three headed guitar stand (since he is up to three guitars), and I stole one in order to skein out my handspun.  I was able to set it so that one loop around is just a shade under 2 yards, which allows me to know roughly what I have spun (because I am a sad, strange little person I re-skeined all the yarn so that I could know yardage and so that they would all be the same length skeins). 

Now to show you something neat, here are two skeins from the pile.

This was the same fiber, spun on the exact same spindle, I just changed how much I drafted as a I spun, which led to the one hank being twice as thick as the other.  It should make for a fun project to work them together somehow.
Now I am a bit of a fiber floozy, so that when I get new fiber, I want to play with it right away.  Sometimes I am responsible and finish what I have on the go, and other times, I wind off however much or little I have on a spindle.  This leads to the pile of singles that I have floating around on various paper towel and what not rolls.

It ends up looking like the Island of Misfit Toys, but scarier than this is if I open the Mobile Spinning Station (and pull out the bags from the closet)

This would be what I have that still needs to be spun up (there is a maniacal giggle running through my head as I see that photo).

Enjoy.

There is no pattern

Hiya from a.,

So what I thought I would show this week is not yet finished, so something to look forward to for next week. I did however manage to make a couple of other things this week, that I believe you will enjoy. These are two wildly different projects, but what they have in common is that I didn't have a pattern for either, they were both strictly from the let us see what I can come up with.

I'll show you the easier project first. This is an old, sort of bulky sweater that had belong to my dad, but he gave it to me for crafting.


I had a few options for what to do with the sweater, and this is what I came up with:


I sliced the sweater right at the bottom of the zipper, brought in the sides a fair bit, added a waistband and a pocket and now I have a sweater skirt for the fall. I think it turned out kind of cute, and should be fun to wear with a pair of tights.

So, not having a specific pattern for that, no problem, as it was really just elementary sewing. This next project, it was a lot harder for me to not have a pattern. This was made as a birthday gift for one of the FLBs. There is this super awesome cartoon called Invader Zim. He is supposed to be the initial leader of the invader of earth, but he is really bad at it. His sidekick is a robot named GIR. Now on earth, they obviously need to be in disguise, so GIR is hidden as a dog, this is what he looks like in the cartoon.


As you see GIR is super adorable and a little dim looking. Now here is the amigurumi that I made of him (again to remind you, I made this pattern up myself)



I weighted the body with pennies, in order to help it stand upright, and the only red I had for the tongue was some handspun merino. I am pleased with the results of the little guy, and he seemed to go over well.
Enjoy the cuteness.

big projects in the works

Hiya from a.,

So no new stuff to show you this week, as we are in the midst of big projects the both of us. r. is working on a bit of an epic canvas, and I am right in the middle of three things, so usually I would give you a photo of b.b. to tide you over, but instead enjoy a shot of the typewriter I purchased for r. at a fiber shop.

Adoropus

Hiya from a.,

I have a couple things that are a bit different from each other to show you today. I'll lead with the pretty and soft item.



This is a wrap for myself that I made using the Bamboo yarn from the Stitch Nation line they sell at JoAnn. It's a relatively new line of yarn and this was my first time playing with it, and I can tell you that it sure as heck won't be my last. I loved this yarn, soft, workable, and the colours are gorgeous (plus the regular price is 4.99 for a ball that is 250 yards, and being Joann it goes on sale every few weeks). Here is a close up of the stitch work for you, which I find quite pretty.



I like the contrast between the two colours and the two different lace patterns. Also as a bit of a side note, I have come to a personal choice. Shawls are super pretty and I love the patterns, but I look like a massive dork in shawls. Wraps and I get along great, but shawls aren't meant for me (this life decision will also help me avoid lace weight yarn).

Next I have for you a birthday gift I made for one of the Freaky Little Bitches. I tend to dye yarn as a birthday gift, but I wanted to shake it up and I knew that this friend liked monsters. This brought forth the creation of the Adoropus.


This little guy is made from some yarn I had left from gloves I made for r., as well as old ties that once belonged to my father. I pulled out the stitches and cut them into pieces, sewed and stuffed them. I stitched the legs loosely together and then I worked the yarn body in rounds and created holes to poke the legs through. I thought that the Adoropus (so named by r.) would make a cute object, and the legs can also function as pin cushions.

That is what I have this week, hope you enjoy.

p.s. I am sure that you can tell from the state of the work table that r. has started working on his next chapter.

Is this a "Dialectical Image"? No, probably not.

Hey Folks! This is r. I have for you today a little bit of art of the wearable and wall hangable variety. As some of you may be aware, I occasionally get together with a few friends to hang out and rock out. I think we sound pretty good and the fact that we sprung out of a dissertation writing group gives us the kind of music mag friendly back story that should have us signed to SubPop within the week. Anyway, we call ourselves the Zen Arcade Project (google the references) and decided that we needed merch despite the fact that we have absolutely no intention of playing out, at least not yet. So with that in mind I prepped a screen (these are screen printed) with this image. The lightning bolt and the ZAP on the arcade cabinet are a reference to the group's initials and have the added bonus of being really rocking. I've done the t-shirt as a test, along with three proof/prints in green and I'm quite pleased with the results. In all likelihood going to a second non-green print run (I suspect that it would also make a nice holiday gift for my more nostalgically or video game inclined friends), so if you want one or your very own t-shirt so you can be the very first Zappatista in your neck of the woods let me know. The next major screenprint project I'm planning on undertaking will be, I think, one designed for my sister tentatively titled "Jessie's Midnite Runners" or "Hurricane J" and will be based on the classic Saved by the Bell episode where Jessie gets hooked on speed--I mean caffeine pills, not speed, certainly not speed. I have some sketches ready and I think I can make it happen. We'll see.

Sorry for the Delay

Hiya from a.,

Sorry for the week off, we had a life last weekend. I know that is weird, but trust me it is not a common event. I have a couple things to show you today and I would imagine r. will post his stuff on the weekend (his project is very cool). So first off we have some changes to the organization of the sewing nook. I had started with a box for all my sewing notions, but end up never being able to find anything. I changed it to a few smaller containers:



This system works so much better, as I can see what I'm looking for and easily grab it. What I did was glue fabric to pickle jars and add some black ribbon at the top. Easy, pretty, and a much handier system.

What we have next is a skirt. This is just a simple straight skirt, with a little bit of a slit on the side. My zipper abilities are coming along nicely I think:


This fabric was a major indulgence as it is Japanese cotton/linen from Crafty Planet that is not exactly cheap. I was able to get it thanks to it having been my birthday recently, and oh was it an exciting treat to play with.

Finally we have a summer sun hat. The weather has been disgusting here so we were going to have a beach day and I knew I wanted something for my head when we were out of the water, so I broke out some good old lily cotton and made a hat, which I will show you at another time as the camera battery has died and I can't upload photos.

To make up for the delay and lack of a hat photo please enjoy this older picture of b.b, getting in the middle of things, as he is want to do:


Take care.