A New Hat :)

One can never have enough winter hats and it's just in time for chilly Seattle weather.  I really love this design and am thinking of adding a pom on top.  It's made of 100% wool, the soft kind not the itchy kind so it's warm and cozy.  The pattern can be found for free on Ravelry.  The lattice is made with a Lattice Treble Cluster which is explained in the pattern.  This was a new stitch for me but was super easy to learn and may be a new favorite.  Cheers to winter hats and warm heads!

Pins, Nails, and String

I'm slowly and surely becoming a Pinterest addict.  Though my pins are few I like looking at other people's boards and typing in key words like "crochet" or "cute dresses".  Some times I'm sorely disappointed but other times I find wonderful new things.  I also love that the pin links back to the page of origin.  This means that my long list of bookmarks is being condensed in a visual way and as I'm a visual person that's excellent news!  The biggest and only substantial board I have at the moment is Things to Make.  The plan is quite simply to make some or all of these things.  Then I will create a "Things I've Made" board and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I am proud to announce the warm and fuzzies start now!  I've made something from the list and am going to share it with you!

Here is what I pinned,

It's not so much the phrase but the method I wanted to try out.  Since this was my first attempt I didn't want to be too ambitious so I started small.  There was some scrap wood left over from a shelf we built so I grabbed a 5"x 9" piece, sanded, and stained it.

wet stain

sanded edges

My sanding job was embarrassing and lackluster.  You can especially tell in the second photo where the scratches in the wood really shine through but once dry they're less obvious.

The next task was to decide what to put on it.  I thought I would start with one word and the first thing that came to mind was "VOID" because the word would be spelled out of the void left by the string.  Aaron said this was very 'meta' of me.  I took that as a positive review so I decided how big it would be, sketched it out, marked crucial nail spots, and started hammering away.  For the nails I used wire nails size 3/4 x 18 they are small skinny and still have heads so the string won't be able to slip off.

105 nails later here's what I had.

nail forest

Just rip the paper off and voila!  Can you see the VOID?  It's okay if you can't, it will become clear in about 5 seconds.

Now for the string!  Here I used doily thread for its slender width and muted color.  I tried to connect each nail to every nail within it's range.  I don't think I succeeded at that endeavor but I came close enough and in between.  Most have multiple tethers to the same nail but who cares.  The final product is pretty neat.

It's hanging on our wall now and the coolest thing is walking by and seeing it at different angles.  The nail heads catch light differently depending on where you're standing and the lighting of the day.  This is an aspect I did not foresee but am happy to discover.

Lots of ideas are flowing through my head now of ways to transform this project.  Could I do silhouettes? Colors? Maybe string the letters themselves?  So many possibilities!

Chevrons

        

They've been around forever but apparently chevrons are IN this season.  I've been seeing them everywhere! I think it was first apparent to me when the blogs were all-a-flutter with Missoni for Target where people flooded the stores and emptied Targets across the country of all their chevrons and 70's inspired glory.  Even Heidi Klum was wearing a chevron shirt on the latest episode of Project Runway.  I thought I'd join in the chevron fun and create something new as well as show you an old chevron project of mine.

Lets start with the old.  Coming up on 4 years ago was the first Christmas Aaron and I were seeing each other. I came up with kind of a crazy idea for his Christmas present, a handmade afghan. I say crazy because we hadn't been together that long, I don't think our families even knew about each other yet.  Maybe I knew it was going to last or maybe it's what made him fall in love, the world will never know.  After countless skeins of yarn, movies, and single crochets I produced my first ever finished afghan and sent it off to Gloucester, VA where Aaron lived.  I still love the afghan and we use it almost daily, my only regret is that I didn't make it bigger because I think it would be spectacular covering an entire bed.

For my new project I acquired some discarded vases from the good ol' Goodwill.  The Goodwill closest to our house here in Seattle is the biggest one I've ever been in and has SO MUCH STUFF!  There's always a crowd when we go and always lots of new things.  The turnaround there must be incredible.  So I bought the  vases with the plan of crocheting or knitting around them.  At first I was going to do stripes but chevrons seem like they'd be more fun and since I already know how to crochet chevs it'd be simple to whip some up.  I made two but for the second, and larger vase, I made terrible color choices and crocheted the layers too thick so I won't be posting that failure online.

My original plan was to crochet all the way to the top but I got to this point and thought it looked great with the combo of clean glass and comfy yarn.  I think it's adorable and can't wait to get flowers for it.  The cozy comes off easy enough for when I need to wash the vase after use.  I also used acrylic yarn so it won't felt and will be easy to clean if need be.  I hope to make a little family of these vases but I need to go buy more and come up with a new game plan for the bigger one.

I Wish Totoro was MY Neighbor

I joined the Miyazaki fans of the crochet nation and made an amigurumi Totoro and his little friend from the film My Neighbor Totoro. Everyone and their mom seem to have crocheted a Totoro as there's a million posted pictures online.  A generous soul posted a free crochet pattern  but I decided I wanted to make up my own pattern.   For the most part I really like the way he turned out.  I love that I got the ears to narrow at the base yet still stand up but I'm disappointed that the nose isn't quite right.  I actually started him back in Portland where I finished his body, ears and face. He traveled to CA where I didn't do any work on him and then back up to Seattle where a few months after starting I FINALLY picked him up yesterday and finished him.  I even whipped up his little friend from the movie that perches on his head in the Studio Ghibli logo.  I would also like to make the little blue guy and some of Totoro's accessories like the leaf he puts on his head, his whistle or the umbrella.  All tasks for my never ending list of things I want to do. With all that said here is my Totoro contribution to the infinite abyss that is the internet.

Hooray! For another finished project!

Make tree rings not water rings.

About a week ago I decided to make a coaster that looked like a cross section of a tree, so I did.  I then decided I wanted to make a simple tutorial and post it on the blog, so I am.  You can't imagine my disappointment when I saw THIS a couple days ago. UGH!  The same idea! On Craftzine! And if you go to Pinterest and search coasters it's all over that too with raving reviews of how cute it is!  All I can think is, "That could have been me!"  though probably not since I don't have many readers yet but that's beside the point.  In the end hers are cute but I still prefer mine so I suppose that helps.  It would've disheartened me even more if I liked hers better.  So cheers to two people with a good idea and a slightly different interpretation.

If you would like to make my version you should first start by downloading and printing off the pattern.  This was my first time linking a document so I hope it works, if you try and it doesn't let me know.

Materials:
brown felt
tan felt
brown thread or embroidery thread (I used regular sewing thread)

Step 1.)  If you haven't already printed out the pattern then do that.  Then use the pattern to cut the pieces out of felt.  

         
            Tip 1:  The border of the top piece and the bottom piece ARE THE SAME.  I would recommend cutting them out at the same time and then cutting the center out of one as the pattern shows.  It saves time and guarantees they'll match up.

            Tip 2:  The pattern I posted is a guideline to help you size your coaster.  You could make it bigger, smaller, groovier (as in you cut the grooves deeper and the ridges higher).  It's your coaster and your call.

Step 2.)  Stack the pieces as indicated on the pattern sheet.  Make sure you line up the top piece and bottom piece edges.

            Tip 3.)  If the heartwood (round tan piece) sticks out from between the other 2 trim it down a little but make sure it is still within the inner rim of the top piece.

Step 3.)  Sew the outer edge, you will be sewing the top and bottom piece together here.  The heartwood is not being sewn in yet.  Don't worry, it will be secure soon enough.

Step 4.)  Sew the inner edge of the top piece.

Step 5.)  Sew the rings in!  They don't have to be perfectly circular or evenly spaced.  The width of the tree ring tells you whether it was a good year for the tree or a bad one so give it some of both, it builds character.

    
            Tip 4.)  Sew rings NOT a spiral.  If you sew a spiral your arborist and plant scientist friends may get grumpy.

  VOILA! A coaster for a tasty beverage!

I hope my instructions are clear.  Now I'm going to deliberate whether or not I should pin my coaster on Pinterest to make myself feel better.  Is that wrong?  I haven't decided yet . . .

From Basement to Shop Window

Working in the only vegetarian restaurant in Blacksburg, VA exposed me to a crowd that before that time in my life I probably wouldn't have been cool enough to associate with and probably still am not.  Gillie's was a place for the hipsters and indie kids of Virginia Tech to get away from the typical college students who were too afraid or manly to be caught dead in a vegetarian restaurant that served craft beer and tofu.  Through my friends here I was exposed to basement shows where local bands, the good, the bad and the ugly, would come perform at someones house in a cramped, low ceiling basement.  One of these bands that I was fortunate enough to see multiple times was Facepaint, a group that was composed partially of Gillie's, and our sister bakery Bollo's, employees.  The lead of this band was Jack Tatum and they were one of the best shows you'd see in these primitive venues.  Jack also had a solo project, Wild Nothing, that was signed by Captured Tracks somewhere in the midst of all this.  Wild nothing needed a band for live performances and Facepaint was the obvious choice though some members have changed since. One day we were watching Facepaint in basements and backyards and the next Jack is on the Best New Artist list of Pitchfork and earning a raving review.  Anyone who knows about indie music and Pitchfork knows that they can make a career.  Since then Wild Nothing, has gone on a few tours in the US and Europe and Jack is working on a new album.

I am not great friends with Jack and the band members other than recognizing each other on the street and saying hello.  The point of this parable is how interesting it was to watch an artist grow and one day walk down the street in a new city and see this in a shop window.

Seattleites

Well, our little family has made it up to Seattle and is settling into a small home, 470 sqft. to be exact with a yard and a "greenhouse".  Stress became a close friend in our quest for residence but at the end of the week-long-living-in-a-motel search we lucked out with a place of our own in a good neighborhood that doesn't break the bank.  We have been spending our time dreaming of things to build to maximize our space, hitting up thrift shops for certain necessities and exploring our new city.  Explorations thus far are mostly taking walks through parks or in our neighborhood.  After steadily emptying our wallets throughout the move and buying new goodies for the home we thought this would be an economical way to enjoy the last beautiful days of the season before the famous Seattle weather hits us head on.  Luckily our home is a hop skip and a walk away from two very different but very beautiful parks and if you add a two-wheeled human powered vehicle to the equation the options for picnics and book reading grows exponentially.  I regret to say not many pictures have been taken but here are a few of my favorites from the ones we have.

Golden Gardens Park

The "quintessential" view of the city at the very small Kerry Park.

Gasworks Park

Windswept

Gasworks Park

I don't have any pictures from the park we went to today, Carkeek Park, which is home to trails full of ferns and moss that end at a beach on the other side.  I also kick myself for not having a picture that does Golden Gardens Park justice with a view of the Olympic Mountains on the other side of the Puget Sound.  It doesn't seem to make sense to be on a beach with a mountain range in view on the other side.  Moving has been anything but glamorous but it's nice to have places like these around when I'm 3,000 miles away from the coast I grew up on.

Before I get weepy here's a cool print of Seattle Neighborhoods I found through a blog I frequent and then stumbled upon again in a little shop down in Ballard.  They're designed by Ork Posters and are a lot of fun since we have been stressing over what neighborhoods to live in first in Portland and then Seattle.  Aaron, Sagan and I are residents of the Greenwood neighborhood, it's a pretty easy find.  You can check to see if they have one of your city, they also have prints of the anatomy of the brain and the human heart, pretty nifty.