Bag

Hiya from a.,

Here is a slightly oversized tote bag that I made for an art party that a friend was having (the same party that the joan jett bubblegum yarn was dyed for). Anyways, it's not too exciting, but I am pleased with the final execution.






You can vaguely see in the picture above that the lining has multiple pockets sewn in. I thought that the stripes and the flowers would work together, and I think that they do.

In the next week or so I'll be doing a rather lengthy post about my first attempts at using a drop spindle. Bye.

Sorry, by the way, that there wasn't a more clever title. I promise that the spindle title will amuse.

I Dyed That Day (Part the First)

Hi from a.,

So I Dyed That Day, will be a semi regular feature here at AnarchyCox (points for those of you who know where and what that title is playing off of). One of the things that I love to do is dye yarn. I use only natural dyes. Now this might sound poncy, but it is mainly because we have a small place, with little ventilation, so I'm not going to mess with acids and whatnots. Plus, my natural dyes, are Wiltons icing colours and Kool aid. I use the crock pot, my stock pot, and if I'm looking for really specific placing for colours, the oven (but mostly the pots). I find it really fun to start out with a plain yarn and have something pretty or funky emerge. Plus if you can get a not great colour of yarn for super cheap, you can always overdye it. Here are a couple of examples, using one of my favourite mediums, Patons Classic Wool (it takes colour really, really well):

This was dyed as a gift for a friend. One of the things that we really enjoy doing here at AnarchyCox is giving the yarn amusing/absurd names for the colours we end up with. Thus, this shaded green is entitled "It is, in fact, easy to be green" It was achieved in two stages. I started with two different shades of yellow, let that absorb and then hit is twice with some blue. This led to really nice and varied green shading.






This skein was dyed for an art party that a friend of ours is having. It is again a hank of Patons Classic Wool, now entitled "Joan Jett Bubblegum". I started by dyeing it pink, and it was a bit oversaturated (barbie would have been ashamed of the colour). Once that set a bit, I hit it with a ton of black (I achieved at the light and dark by add ties to various spots in the yarn). Because the pink had been so saturated the black turned into this gorgeous dark colour. Now when I re-skeined it, I discovered there was so much colour that it bled onto my hands a little. Thanks to the dyeing boards on Ravelry I was able to fix the problem, and that darkened the yarn even more, which I kind of love.

That's it, bye.

Wrapped Around

Hiya from a.,

So I feel like I have my first truly successful skirt. I've made a few skirts prior to this, for a Halloween costume, for a party, and they were okay, but the skirt that I made today feels like it hit the spot. I used the guides found in the book sew what skirts, and some gorgeous Japanese fabric from Crafty Planet. I realized when I was cutting it today that it was a little lighter weight (aka see through), so I used the pink to create a half lining, along with the waistband. It is a wrap skirt, which had the added ease of no zippers, snaps, etc, just long enough tails to, well, wrap around and tie a decent knot. In terms of time, it took the entire of Chamber of Secrets, and the opening of Prisoner of Azkaban (however long that dvd time is). Here are some photos, a front and back view and then a close up so that you can see the pretty, pretty fabric:


r. had said that at first he wasn't sure how a fabric of spiderwebs and butterflies would work as a skirt, but then had to agree that I had been right with how pretty/cute it would turn out in the end.

Something to Pass the Time

Hey folks, r. here. a. was mostly right that we are both in between finished products so there is nothing really to show. However, in the interest of keeping you interested and informed (and to forestall dissertation writing for an additional 5 mins) I thought I'd post a couple pages from my sketch book. I read in one of those learn how to paint books (actually in more than one) that the best way to develop your composition skills was to practice drawing. I have since decided that I prefer stenciling to other kind of painting and my one experiment in abstract was such a disaster that I would prefer not to discuss it (MADE OF FAIL does not quite sum it up), but I still sketch occasionally because it's relaxing which is the reason I do anything that isn't literary criticism. So here you have a few studies of the trees outside my living room window and my foot (on advice from a how to draw book) alongside a page of skulls (with a more hardcore re-working of the FLB image from a.'s bag). Enjoy!

You could hear crickets

Hi from a.,

Sorry we don't have a lot to share this week, r. has been tossing around ideas for his next project, and I'm working on big and/or tiny pain in the ass projects, so little results to show all our devoted fans this week (our devoted fans mainly being the awesome secretly rather punk rock moms). So to tide everyone over enjoy a picture of B.B.

Loco for Luch Libre

r says:
One of the subjects that I seem to return to when I'm painting/screening/fidgeting are the luchadors. I think it's the fact that it mixes my boyhood love for wrestling and superheroes with my adult love for Mexican folk art and Dia de los Muertos (forgive my Spanish as I have none). Luchador masks also make for easy things to screen--the first thing I screened and the first thing I painted were both Blue Demon masks. So here are my lucha paintings: The mask is screenprinted in black on a painted acrylic base onto a canvas, the blue demon is mixed media painted on to a canvas panel (your christmas gift at work Keni) using a handcut stencil (all the paint is acrylic since I don't have the patience for oils or the eye for watercolour.... yet) with a border made from a loteria card. Special bonus one of the best wrestling matches I have ever seen!

Robots and Lace

Hello from a.,

Just have a couple projects that were finished in the last week or so. First up is a sewing project. I know that here in the craft ninja universe it might seem like I've been sewing a lot more than I crochet, but it's just that I've been working on bigger crochet projects that take a long time to finish, whereas I've been sewing bits and bobs. Hence this Robot wrist corsage pin cushion.

This is from a book of Zakka sewing projects (which are Japanese household sewing designs, often done with linen based fabric). This is actually made from scraps of Japanese fabric I had gotten at Crafty Planet (the best local fabric/yarn shop in my humble opinion). I figured that centering a robot in the flower was a good way to go (it has a piece of plastic inset so that you don't end up stabbing yourself).

The other thing that I completed recently is a crochet shawl from a pattern in the book Crocheted Fabric. Thanks to some internal screw up Barnes and Noble online had this 23 dollar book, marked at 2 dollars. The crochet boards at Ravelry lit up about this, and a good number of people were able to luck out. Anyways here is the shawl in a broad shot and then a close up so that you can see the changes in the stitch pattern.


This is done with a really pretty cotton that I got in a friend's great de-stashing. I had originally intended this as a spring shawl for myself, but sometimes you know that when you finish something, it was never meant for yourself. When I held it up, both r. and I said that it was meant/perfect for Grandma Cox, so it will be sent out to her in the next week or so. That's it.

ode to freezer paper

Hello from a.,

I know that r. mentioned freezer paper is passing in one of his posts and I feel it important to expand on the glories and wonder of freezer paper. This stuff is a godsend for crafting for a couple reasons. The first that it is pretty cheap, a roll of 75 square feet was under five bucks. It works amazing for stencils/patterns. One with the soft white the tracing onto the freezer paper is smooth and easy (or relatively easy if you can draw a straight line, which we at anarchycox have problems with), the other is that it cuts smoothly with either craft knife or scissors. The key for me though is that the shiny side is a bit tacky, which means that I can iron the paper onto fabric for cutting out pieces for patterns. In patterns, they always say pin your paper to your fabric and cut out, but this isn't stable enough for my liking. With freezer paper I give it a quick iron and it sticks, but after when you pull it off there is no residue. It is a simple and wonderful crafting tool.

By the by, I really, really hate the words "upcycle" and "upstyle". They are stupid and useless words that try to sound fancypants and come across as lame. I do however love the word "snickerdoodle"

For those who like the photos here is a picture of my sewing corner in use: