Fun with Bleach

I made a nifty t-shirt for DH. I gotta get a picture of the finished shirt, though! I used a plain black t-shirt, a Clorox bleach pen and a stencil. I taped the stencil to the shirt, colored it in with the bleach pen and then just waited for a few hours. When it was done, the picture was the burnt-looking brownish orangy color you can see in this picture. I put it in bleach stop for a while to stop the process and then threw it in the washing machine. Gotta try this again -- great fun was had by all. Oh -- this is important -- open a window or work outside!

Alan's Sweater

Another UFO finished! I started this yoke sweater last year for DH but when I got to the neck, I put it down. I picked it up yesterday and finished it. Unfortunately when he tried it on, we both decided it was too "girly", so now it's mine. Back to the drawing board.

I used Lion Brand Wool Ease with 2 strands together on size 13s. It's knitted from the bottom in the round. I used the methods in Knitting in the Old Way. Love that book! This was my first yoke sweater. Next time I'll be more adventurous with the actual yoke . When I was finished I could see why they traditionally have all of those colors! When it's in a solid color, the decreases are pretty visible. Not that I mind that -- I think it adds an interesting texture.

Shauna's Poncho

After three years, I finally finished it. It's been a joke between us -- it was a birthday gift, but it wasn't finished. I gave it to her unfinished and then said, "Okay, give it back so I can finish it." The pattern came from Sally Melville's book The Knit Stitch. I love Sally's books! Anyway, Shauna finally got her poncho. My New Year's resolution is to finish my UFOs! We all know how that goes -- at the end of the year, we'll see how I did! :)

Alan's Scarf

This is the scarf I made my husband for Christmas. Okay, it's not the whole scarf! I need to take some pics of the finished product. The yarn is alpaca and I sort of made up the pattern as I went -- it's just 1x1 rib with a cable down the middle -- 2 p st on each side of the st st cable. Pretty easy and fun to do.

My New Scarf

Okay, I know it's been FOREVER!!! I've just been way too busy to keep up. Anyway, this is my new scarf. I got the pattern from my pal Dana. I think she got it from www.knittingpatterncentral.com. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the pattern. The yarn was part of one of those felted bag kits from JoAnne Fabric. They had a bunch of kits on clearance -- didn't care much for the bag but loved the yarn, so I bought it -- 4 skeins of single ply bulky wool for $8 -- couldn't go wrong. I wear this with a black pea coat and get tons of comments!

Abi's Dress

I just finished this sun dress for my friend's daughter. Again, no pattern -- just some pre-shirred fabric and Abi's measurements. Sew it up the back, hem it and put on the straps.

Reconstructed Jeans -- Into a Skirt

Okay, I don't know why I even had these jeans in
my closet -- they were probably from the 80s -- they had tapered legs with zippers on the bottom! I know, right? EWWW! Anyway, I fixed them.

I cut them off below the zipper. I probably should have cut closer to the zipper but I can always go back and fix that. The fabric I used for the bottom was sort of a mesh with the pattern flocked on it -- (see the out-of-focus close-up) -- so I lined it with burgundy cotton broadcloth. I wish I had made the skirt fuller, too, but I didn't have enough fabric. I used the standard gathering technique -- baste and pull -- I pinned the skirt to the yoke, right sides together -- and pulled the stitches until it fit, and then I stitched it. Then I sewed up the back seam and hemmed it and voila!

Kool Aid Hats from Fiber Space Designs

Hats and bags are two of my favorite things to make with Kool-Aid dyed yarn.

This hat is a really simple, no-pattern thing I made up years ago. It's so easy to make and easily becomes as much a wardrobe staple as your favorite jeans. I've had strangers come up to me and ask where I got mine. It's an opp to hand out a business card!

Anyway, to make the hat, I CO 68 st on 10.5 circs and knit until I find a length I like by trying it on my own head. Then I k2tog once around, switch to dpns, and k2tog 2x until there are about 9 st left. Cut the yarn, leaving about a 6" tail and use a yarn needle to weave the end through the working stitches that are still on the needle. Tie off and weave in ends, and you have a rolled-brim slouchy hat that's nice and warm. There's no shaping on the crown and the fast decrease leaves an interesting star-shape on the top.

As with my yarns, you can find them at The Pen & Thread, local arts and craft shows, or directly from me.

The One-Hour $5 Skirt

I made this skirt last night in about an hour and it really did only cost $5. I got clearance fabric at $2/yd, and as you may have noticed, I'm not exactly petite, so I bought 2 yds. Another $1 for the elastic. No pattern and hardly any measuring or even pinning, thanks to my trusty iron!

Basically, I wrapped the fabric around myself one and a half times and cut. Since it was a plaid, I just marked it and cut along the line in the pattern. I laid it out flat and folded the top over for a casing that was slightly wider than the elastic. I used 3/4" elastic, so the casing was probably about an inch. Again, I used the lines in the fabric instead of measuring. Then I folded it over again. Yes, I know that's not the proper way to make a casing, but i was in a hurry! :) I just sewed it closely to the edge.

Next, I held it up and marked it for length. Again, I just used the lines in the plaid to cut. I folded it over twice, roughly a half-inch each time and sewed it again for the hem.

I pinned the two raw edges together -- the only pinning I did for the entire skirt -- wrong sides facing -- and sewed them together with a standard 5/8" seam. Be sure to stop just short of the casing -- it's important to leave that open so you can put in the elastic!

I attached a safety pin to the elastic and work it through the casing, making sure not to twist it. When it came out the other side, I put the skirt on and adjusted the waistband to suit myself and sewed the elastic accordingly. To ensure that it wouldn't twist later, I sewed vertically through the fabric and the elastic in the waistband in a few random spots. The last step is to close the openings in the casing. You have to sew this by hand.

And today, I have a new skirt to wear to work. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions.

Fun With Preshirred Fabric

Did I mention that I also sew? I only do that for myself, though -- for now! This dress was so easy! I got the preshirred fabric from JoAnne Fabric and just sewed it up the back for the body tube. I didn't have enough fabric left over to make the straps, so I fudged with some scraps I had. I do think I'm going to shorten the dress though, and then I'll have material to redo the straps. I'm going to be on the lookout for more of this fabric!

Mixed Up Scarf

This scarf sparked my love of mixing things up. I bought the wool several years ago from a woman on Ebay who had run a natural dye workshop. She had small amounts of wool leftover from the workshop. There was about a thousand different sheep breeds, plus llama, alpaca, mohair and animal fibers. Each little bit had been dyed with about a thousand natural colors. I loved them all but couldn't begin to think what I would do with them. So I just carded random handfuls together and spun them. I liked the yarn, but I loved the scarf. This one is mine -- not for sale! The pattern is simple -- it's just garter stitch from a point at one end to a point at the other end with a YO eyelet edge all around and a nice fat, fuzzy tassel at each end. I just fell in love with the colors and the texture. The yarn seems to self-stripe all on its own. And it's very soft and warm, too!

Handspun, Handknitted Hats

So I thought you might like to see some of my finished products. These hats are all handspun and handknitted.








This hat above is made from mystery wool.






The gray part of this hat is Jacob wool and the white part is Karakul. They are both primitive breeds and the textures are very different. The combination made for an interesting end product.






This hat is 100% Jacob.

Jacob Lace Scarf

This is one of the first things I made with my handspun yarns. A friend of mine here in central PA who raises Jacob sheep gave me some fleeces. In return I spun and knitted scarves for his wife and sister-in-law. The picture looks like b/w but it really is a color photo. I spun the black and white wool together to get varying shades of gray. I spun it to to something between a lace and a sport weight and knitted the scarves in feather and fan.