A Guilt Trip for Halloween

We don't usually get a lot of trick or treaters, but I always like to give those that do come here a nice treat so they won't egg our house because I'm a nice person.

However, this year, we aren't going to be around for Halloween. I felt bad about it because I remember how disappointing it was to see a house where there was no porch light.

My guilt got the best of me Because I'm a nice person, I picked up several giant sized candy bars and made wrappers for them so that I could deliver them early to the neighborhood kids so they won't egg our house so they wouldn't waste a trip to our house.



The wrappers were easy to make - I just downloaded a couple of Halloween clip art images, added our names, printed them on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, trimmed to the right size for the wrapper, and slipped them over the candy bar.

The hard part was not eating the candy before I delivered them.

I'm a Design Star

Okay, so I'm not really a Design Star. I just faked it to get your attention. But I can pretend to be a Design Star in my own house.

We had a difficult wall in our family room. It was long and blank, but because of the narrow path leading to our sun room, it's not a wall that really can have furniture against it.

My original intention was to have a photo wall, but lately, I'm really hating that look. Okay, you caught me. That's another lie. I'm lazy and I don't want to dust all those freaking photo frames.

So the truth (really this time!) is that I stole an idea straight from last season's Design Star winner, Jennifer Bertrand, and decided to paint the wall with a graphic leaf design.

I first drew the design on the wall in chalk so that I could make any adjustments that I wanted before I started painting.


Then I painted the design in the next color down from our wall color so that it is somewhat monochromatic. I also plan on using this color (the color of the leaves) in another adjoining room, so this will tie it all in together.

I'm actually really happy with the way it turned out. It gives some interest to the wall, but doesn't take up any physical space.

And it doesn't have to be dusted.

Up on the Rooftop

No, it wasn't Santa Claus coming for an early trip down the chimney.

It was the chimney sweep.

That's not entirely true either. It was the "Chimney Sweep formerly known as my husband."

He didn't even have to use a level!

The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowing in the Wind

The answer might be blowing in the wind, but I hate it when my hair is.

The air conditioning in my Jeep isn't working right now, so I've been driving with the windows down. Unfortunately, my shoulder length hair whips around making it virtually impossible to drive. Not only is it a hazard, I resemble Phyllis Diller once I arrive to my destination.

Lately I've resorted to wearing a baseball cap while driving, which doesn't do much for my feminine side, even if it is pink.

I love the look of crocheted caps, but since I don't crochet very well (and feel like I'm cheating on knitting when I do crochet), my hope of having a cute, open weave summer cap was slim.

However, I finally found a knitted version that I was able to modify and VOILA! I present to you my "No More Blowing in the Wind" summer cap.




It's made from some leftover Egyptian cotton, but I like it so much that I'm making another one from some pink ribbon.

So now I have to find another excuse when I arrive at my destination looking like a hot mess.

Another Completed Project

Pattern: Waterlily Top by Katy Ryan (Interweave Knits, Spring 2006)
Yarn: Ornaghi Filati Bazar Le Fantasie - Egyptian Cotton


Of all the projects I've finished so far in my (very short) knitting life, this is by far my favorite. It fits perfectly, the yarn was a dream to knit with, and best of all it took less than a week from start to finish.

I'll definitely make this one again next summer, probably in a plain color.

My only complaint is that like most other tops that are in style recently, it treats everyone to a peep show unless I wear a tank top underneath.

Mission Accomplished!

I am proud to report that the desk, filing cabinet, and hutch are fully assembled and ready to be put into use. They don't even wobble a little bit.

Just one question.


Do you think it's bad that I hid the leftover parts?

A Few Finished Projects

Yes, I actually followed through on my goal for July of finishing at least four projects.

Drifters Shawl

Yarn - Eros Drifters (3 skeins)
Pattern: Basic triangular pattern (k1, m1, k to end)

Gosh I hated this project. It was destined to be a cool summer scarf when I purchased the yarn but after frogging it about 15 times (and spending an equal amount of time detangling the f-ing yarn), it ended up as a simple triangular shawl. Surprisingly, I don't hate it now that it's done. I don't exactly have a time or place to wear it, but at least if that time or place ever comes up, I don't hate it.

Bonsai Tunic

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease
Pattern: from Interweave Knitting

My first constructed project. My first chart. My first completed sweater.

For so many firsts, I'm actually very happy with this tunic. The fit is almost perfect. There are some small areas where my knitting could have been improved, but overall, it's a completely wearable project and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Clapotis

Yarn: Southwest Trading Company Soy Silk

Pattern: from Knitty.com

I don't know if there are any knitters out there who haven't made Clapotis or at least plan to make it. It was an interesting knit and one that can be worn a lot of different ways.

Dean Street caps

Yarn: Acrylic (for washability)

Love, love, love this pattern. It looks so much harder than it is. These hats may or may not be Christmas gifts for family members who may or may not read this blog.

Mission accomplished - finished at least four projects during the month of July.

Let's not discuss the progress on the desk though - okay?

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Who doesn't have t-shirts in their closet that they don't wear for one reason or another? This one has a stain, that one is too short, there's a hole in the front of the other one. You know the drill, I'm sure.

I have a few of those shirts, and it occurred to me that I could make one good thing out of two not so good things.

Enter Exhibit A (too short) (By the way, the necklace that JoAnn is wearing isn't my taste, but it was one that I gave my mom when I was much younger. She always thought it was the coolest thing - she was a professional seamstress - so JoAnn wears it proudly in her memory.)



And Exhibit B (what was I thinking - every time I wore this I had to answer questions about what it meant and besides, I don't scrapbook anymore so it was rather irrelevant to my current life.)


I usually layered the two shirts, but the constant pulling and tugging just wasn't working for me since the white t-shirt is REALLY short.

Enter my unlimited imagination and limited sewing skills.

I cut five inches off of the bottom of the black shirt and stitched it to the bottom of the white shirt. There were a couple of ways that I could have done this, but since I am essentially lazy (just keeping it real here), I simply stitched over the double stitching at the hem of the white shirt, catching the top of the cut off section of the black shirt.



Hmmm. Good, but still not quite right. Now it just looks like I added a band of knit fabric around the bottom of a white t-shirt (imagine that!)

On to the neck. I really didn't need any extra neckline since this is actually one of the few shirts I own that don't expose my boobs to the entire world. However, I thought it would add a little bit of continuity to the layered look. I removed the tags on both necklines to reduce the bulk before stitching (again, right over the double stitching of the neckline on the white t-shirt).


Yes, much better.

But it still could be improved.

Wash, rinse, and repeat the above steps with the sleeves. That served two purposes because the sleeves on the white t-shirt were just a little too short to cover up my flabby arms for my taste anyway.

Much, much better.

There you have it - the no cost, low effort way to expanding your wardrobe and making more room in your closet.

Lazy and cheap. It fits me to a tee.

It's Not ALL Illness Around Here

Sometimes I knit.

This hat (and the scarf) is based on a Banana Republic hat. I wasn't satisfied with the grey and plum versions, but I was really happy with how the teal version came out.

However, my 23 year old daughter liked them all.

Oh well, I don't look good in hats anyway (and she looks spectacular in them).

But now I get to brag on his awesomeness

We found this undermount television/radio/weather band unit on clearance and DH got it for my craft area because he remembered that I mentioned I wished I could watch TV while I'm sewing. Not only did he get it for me, but he also installed it, AND got the satellite hooked up. It's some sort of a record that a project gets purchased and completed in the same day!

I wasn't slacking while he did this though. I was reorganizing our bathroom cabinet. This cabinet is sort of a temporary solution to the shortage of storage in our bathroom. Eventually we will remodel this bathroom too and add some sort of a closet, but for now, it's at least easy to find what we need.

And while it does bug me a little that everything isn't stored in cute little matching baskets, I made an effort to repurpose some storage containers that we already had.

Martha's got nothing on me. Well, except for cute little matching baskets, that is.

Excuse Me Ma’am, You dropped a stitch.

Every knitter has bad yarn choices in their stash. It may be something that was on clearance or just attracted their eye in that special way or it may have been just an uninformed choice of a new knitter. I’m a little appalled at how fast my pile of bad yarn choices has grown, but that seems like it might require more self-reflection than I’m willing to give this issue.

My goal this year is to purge my stash from those bad yarn choices – one way or another. And while one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, I am not at the point (yet) where I’m willing to just give them away.

Last night’s stash busting efforts were a little frantic. I’m not sure why, but all of a sudden, this innocent looking yarn began to bug me, and I knew that I had to get it out of my stash quickly.

On the surface, it’s not a bad yarn. However, it’s not a great yarn either. It’s an acrylic/wool mix and super soft, but it’s also one of those yarns that you just know is going to end up in your eyes and up your nose every time you wear it. I also only had two skeins of it, and I wasn’t willing to add to my problem by buying more just so that I could get rid of this. I don’t even know what I had in mind when I bought it. For all I know, it jumped into my basket and I unknowingly brought it home. Sometimes, it’s honestly that random.

I scoured Ravelry (Ravelry, oh how I love you) and several knitting books for ideas. I even resorted to considering crochet, but then I remembered that I only know one crochet stitch. Honestly though, I was that desperate to finish a project with this yarn.

I finally settled on a dropped stitch scarf (I need another scarf like I need a hole in my head). It met all of my needs, and most of all, it went quickly.

Now I’m off to make a matching hat from the other skein. To cover that hole in my head.

Dropped Stitch Scarf
Approx. 120 yards of bulky yarn *
Size 13 needle

Cast on 15 stitches (or any odd number)

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: (K1, YO) to the end, ending in a K1
Row 6: Knit, dropping the YO stitches
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: Knit

Repeat Rows 5-8 until desired length, add two more K rows and bind off.

*Let’s be honest here – this was a stash busting project. Use whatever weight yarn and whatever size needle you want.

You can also do as many yarn overs as you want, although I tried doing three and it scared me a little how long the drops were. I could just see getting snagged by every single thing I walked by. But if using your scarf as a fishing net for small children and electric cars is your idea of a fun night on the town, then go for three!