a girl and her hammer...it's a beautiful thing

It's that time of year again: the Spring Craft Show put on by the PSU Center for Arts & Crafts is next week! And I've procrastinated, of course. But I'm making progress!

Soon to be 49 pairs of bottlecap earrings.

More pictures next week...I'm taking the weekend off. ;) See ya later!

picture happy, apparently

This is the Waterlily top from Interweave Knits Spring 2006. Mods: I took a few inches off the bottom, and used a row of purling before the cast off to reduce rolling. I'm still not completely happy with the hem, so I think I might rip it out and re-do it.

Other than that, though, I love this tank! This is probably one of my favorite knitted pieces I've ever made. It used 3 skeins of pricey Colinette Giotto, in colorway Rembrandt. It was from a failed attempt at crochet over a year ago, so I was very pleased to finally be able to use it.

Here's the center front eyelet detail. There are eyelets at the center front and neckline, center back, and both underarms. I love the look they give the sweater: feminine, but not fussy. Overall, this pattern gets a big thumbs up.


Here you can see the damage from a recent trip to a newly discovered yarn store in Centre Hall: the Knitter's Underground. This may be the coolest, quirkiest knitting shop I've ever been to. If you're in the area, it's definitely worth a visit. Turns out that it's owned by the mother of an art student I had the hots for in my drawing class sophomore year. Small world!

I made it out with 5 skeins of Lamb's Pride Superwash Worsted in Platinum, one skein of Noro Silkul (color 109, center), and one skein labeled 'Royal Cotton multicolor' (right) that I can't seem to find on the internet. Total cost? $17.75. I love sales! As you can see, the Royal Cotton is already being used for a One Skein Wonder, from Glampyre.

This is a mistake rib scarf I started recently. I'm using two skeins of Noro Kureyon in color #40. I'm already realizing that I"m going to need a lot more to get it as long as I want. For now, the nice weather here has put this on the backburner.




These three pictures are my booty from the 'I Heart My Craft' swap on Craftster. My partner totally rocks! I got a large knitting tote, accessory pouches, and some beautiful stitch markers. Thanks, dharma_rebel!

That's all for now...

Ballet T-Shirt

Teva Durham's Ballet T-shirt. A very quick knit, using yarn recycled from a thrifted Express sweater.

Here's the stack of sweaters/yarn-to-be that I got at the last Trash to Treasure. I purposely felted three of them, to make purses, and the rest are being unraveled and repurposed. The red & black yarn is what's left over from the Ballet T-shirt. The purple is a cotton/acrylic blend that I'm going to make a tank top out of. Total cost? About $10 for the lot.

And finally, a FO from last summer that I never posted. This is a felted Lopi bag, and the pattern (I think) was from Knit.net. I got the yarn and buttons from my mom's stash. I love this purse!

I have a very exciting FO and some yarn porn coming up later this evening. Stay tuned!

Craft swap etc.

I finished a 'Ballet T-Shirt' from Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop over Spring break, but I've been to busy to take a picture yet. It's very pretty...red (which I hardly ever wear), and made from recycled yarn.

In other news, I went to New York City's fabric district over spring break. I have found my sewing mecca! The prices were outrageous on some things, and just looking at the yards and yards of beaded and ornate fabrics made me wish I wasn't still a broke college student. Well, sooner or later, I'll have a big occasion to get really dressed up ;)...and I know exactly where I'm going to get the materials. I <3 NY! I made it out of there with one 3 yard piece of oriental print fabric, for about $10. Not too shabby...

I've been posting a bit recently about the 'I Heart My Craft Swap' over on Craftster.org. Now that my partner Rachel has recieved her gifts, I can post some pics! (Courtesy of her, because I forgot to take pictures before I sent it out. D'oh!)

Here's a knitting bag that incorporates one of Craftster's logos that she likes. The outside is denim, the inside is red and white teeny striped cotton, and the applique is white felt. The inside has long, skinny pockets for knitting needles. It was a relatively easy project, until the very end...when my machine decided that it would not sew through a gazillion layers of fabric and I had to do it all by hand. Fun fun!

This was my brilliant idea for this swap: Rachel makes sock monkeys, so I decided to try to make one, as a portrait of her. Sort of like...a crafting mascot!

Here's a picture of them together, for comparison. I think I did a pretty ok job, seeing as how I was working off of, like, two photos. And it was my first sock monkey ever! Mucho fun. The monkey's shirt, btw, says 'Rachel's sweatshop'...a reference to her craft room! :)

I also included a citrus tea towel for her to use in a knitting needle roll, some wine charms, and one of my trademark bottlecap necklaces. She was very pleased with her package, and I'm so relieved! I always suffer from a bit of craft-worthiness stress during swaps, so I'm glad she liked everything.

Now I need to focus on the craft show coming up in early April. Bottlecaps, bottlecaps, and more bottlecaps...!