Project 022: Mom's Basketweave Blanket

From 2012.

I decided to make my mom a blanket for Christmas. Very ambitious, considering I decided at the end of September to do this.

My Pattern: Striped Basketweabe Afghan
The Yarn I Used: Lion Brand Homespun in "Ocean"

This was wildly frustrating. It was the first blanket I ever made, which was part of it. Another part was my short time frame to work on it. I felt that another month would've made my life a bit less stressful.

Either way, it was lovely when it was done. My mom loved it (it lives in her living room now).

It covers my entire love seat. Everytime helped.

A close up of the stitches. It doesn't really look like much, in my opinion, but you can tell that I used big needles

And a fringe!

Project 020: Christmas Gift - Joey's Scarf

Another oldie from last year.

Caroline's husband, Joey, also got a scarf. I wanted something fun, but still masculine. I stumbled on this yarn, Jake thought it would be suitable, so I got it and then went looking for a pattern. I found this on Pinterest: Easy Mistake Stitch Scarf

It knitted up fast, was quite easy, and looks great. If I could get Jake to wear a scarf, I'd make one for him too.

Close up of the stitches

Here's the whole thing. Fun, but still masculine. I like that the yarn self striped.

Project 019: Christmas Gift - Caroline's Scarf

An oldie from last year.

I decided to make some gifts for some of my friends. This scarf was done for Caroline. Her favorite colors are red and black, so when I found this yarn on a discount rack, I knew what I'd do with it. She likes skinnier scarves, so skinny it was. It's just a basic garter stitch, so it whipped up fast.

A close up of the scarf for the colors and I suppose the stitches?

The whole scarf. Lovely!

FRINGE!

Project 011: Fairy Party Garb

So, since I suck at posting, some backlogged items.

Back in the spring, Jake and I were invited to a fairy themed party. Since I had a done a fairy costume for a Mardi Gras party only a couple months prior, I decided to do more of a generic nymph/tree spirit type costume for myself. I made myself some jewelry.

Leafy earrings! I've gotten a lot of use out of these other than just wearing them with the costume. There's a "matching" necklace that I don't have a picture of. The necklace also has wooden beads and bronze bells.

Leafy, flowery ear cuffs. I didn't wear wings with this costume, so I included a wing shape on my ear cuffs instead.

A jingly, jangly anklet. It fit wonderfully without my shoes. With the shoes I wore, I had to add a chainmail ring to make it just a tad longer.

 I also made a shredded bottom shirt decorated with wooden beads. But it needed just something a little more. Since Jake's been puttering with leather working, I asked him if he'd make me a leather bodice. He agreed, if I'd make him a mask.

Challenge accepted.

I started by making a paper mache cast of Jake's face. Then I built the horns with paper cups, wire, newspaper, tape, and more paper mache. Here we're trying to decide which way the horns should face. Up and back... 

  ...or down and forward?

We decided on up and back. I did some more touch up painting and glued everything together.

And then I glued on some leaves, attached several ribbons to hold it on someone's head (the horns are heavy and it wants to fall back), and then took a terrible selfie to send to Jake for his thoughts.

He put it on when he got home that evening. And wanted more leaves.

Here's his finished costume. See more leaves on the mask. Also, I made that leafy tunic/tabbard.

All in all, it was a pretty fun project and I learned a lot about making paper mache masks. I haven't used any of it since then though.

Project 010: Ornamented Leather

I picked up on pre-punched leather bracelets and screw on ornaments from Michaels when I saw them on the clearance rack. I got more bracelets than screw ons, so I still have to figure out what to do with the rest, although I have an idea for at least one.

The Results:

This was actually harder than it looks, because the holes and the screws didn't line up...

It was actually pretty fun to do. I wish there had been more of the bracelets and a better selection of ornaments, but I guess that's what I get for waiting until it's on clearance.

Project 005: Mint Scented Rice Pack

My problem is not so much that I don't craft.

It's that I'm a lazy bitch when it comes to photographing anything.

I hate trying to get a decent photograph in my house. It's an old house and we haven't bothered to update most of the lighting, so much of my lighting has a yellow hue.

It probably didn't help that the room I take most of my photos in is orange.

Either way, I decided to not be lazy, and took some photos (and take photos off my camera, something ELSE I'm notoriously lazy about).

So, this project. A long, long time ago (and not in a galaxy far away; it was in Selinsgrove, at my mom's house), we discovered this lovely project. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for microwaveable heat packs, we'd make our own, with remnant fabric and rice...

I took this (please ignore my messy table)...

And made it into this!

New techniques learned:

• None (I've already made this before, so nothing to learn this time)

Next? I've got some jewelry already photographed, all the photos ready for the companion tutorial for this project, plus I'm working on a tutorial for the I-pom scarf. I'm also working on projects for my Halloween costume, so expect those. I promise to TRY not to be such a lazy ass when it comes to posting (but don't hold me to anything.)

Project 003: the light shines in the darkness

So, I was totally making a Valentine's Wreath and then got really close to the end and didn't finish it. Now that Easter's past, I don't think I'm going to be finishing it anytime soon.


Oh well.


So I made some art work instead!

View "the light shines in the darkness" at my DeviantArt page

To be honest, I didn't try anything new this time. I did use the colored and weighted line art again. I'm still undecided on it; I need to play with it more, I think.

Next project? Ehhh... I've got some old artwork that needs matted and framed, a couple of sketches that can be cleaned up and finished, a few knitting projects that I've been wanting to tackle, some jewelry pieces to mix, upcycle, and make. So I guess it'll be something, and hopefully soon!