My mom sent me this link from Apartment Therapy featuring beautiful glass sculptures of infectious diseases by artist Luke Jerram. I think my favorites are the E. coli
and the T4 bacteriophage sculptures.
Though HIV is pretty cool too…
Read more about Jerram’s sculptures here.
Well kids, they can’t all be winners.
I pinned this pillow a couple weeks ago and thought it was so simple and so cute! “Pffft”, says I, “pfffft! I could make that!”. Famous last words.
I cut out 25 little felt birdies in all different colors, and embroidered the eyes and wings before sewing them to the pillow, which was probably way easier than embroidering them once they’re on there. Mistake #1, though, was making the birds too big and too spaced out on the pillow. My second mistake was using highly contrasting thread, like that used for the wings, to sew the birds to the pillow. Finally, I should have clustered the birds more tightly together in the center of the pillow and left some white space around them to make it look more graphic and modern. Meh. Live and learn, right? Trial and error, the pillar of all great invention….or some such nonsense.
Didn’t quite work, did it? Mine definitely looks more kindergarten than the original. It just lacks in sophistication. I often have a picture in my head and just can’t seem to quite achieve the aesthetic that I’m after. The one thing I added to mine that I did like, was after I stitched the pillow together, I went around and top-sewed all the edges with my machine. I think it helped to give it a more finished look.
Oh well, at least the colors go well with my bedspread and it didn’t cost me a dime! (LOL! I even managed to take the picture with the pillow laying sideways. Hmmm….looks entirely possible that I may never be a stylist…..)
I haven’t been knitting much lately and I’ve been itching to get back into it, but haven’t had the inspiration. Before Christmas I was working on a second sweater for my much anticipated niece/nephew but about halfway through the project I realized it was going to be waaaaaaaaaaay too big for the kid and it has sat untouched since. Maybe I’ll get inspired to take it apart and restart it. Maybe.
Then I started thinking that I’d like to knit something for myself again. Scarf? Cowl? Boring. I knit my mom a really nice beret for Christmas last year and might make one for myself but that’s still not that exciting. I need a big meaty project. And then I thought to myself, what about a sweater?! And then I remembered that I’m halfway through making myself a sweater (I had so thoroughly forgotten about it that it’s not even listed in my “On the Go” post…). But once I finished the back and thought it might end up too big I just kinda gave up on that one too. I WILL finish it though, mark my words.
I thought about it though and don’t really feel like making a sweater. I’ve got lots of ’em. Then it struck me. A sweater dress!!!! As I trolled Ravelry for the perfect pattern it occurred to me that I didn’t want to pick something knit on the world’s lightest weight yarn this time (something I’m prone to doing) and that this might be the perfect project to delve into the world of chunky weight yarn!
Here are some of the patterns I came across that I’m thinking of.
This one is the Diva Tunic. Cute (without the silly sleeves), and a length I’d like but knit on way too small a needle for such a big project I think.
The Roam Tunic has the same problem as the last, with being knit on smaller needles, plus I’m not sure that I like the neckline. It is too much of a classic turtle neck and I prefer a larger cowl if I’m going to do something like that.
The last two options are both from the same knit designer and I’m a little nervous to try either one. The Kangaroo Tunic is cute, but might end up being too bulky with the big pocket in front and large kneck. I’m also not sure why the girl is upside down in the post.
The one I’m leaning toward the most is the Shopping Tunic. It’s simple, stylish and cute and looks like it wouldn’t be too difficult to increase the length and make it a cute little dress to go with some leggings. Or maybe I just think it looks cute on the skinny girl in the picture.
The other thing I’m a little bit worried about, speaking of skinny people, is the comments on Ravelry about this entire book, Twinkle’s Big City Knits. In general it sounds like these patterns are sized very small and contain a lot of errors. For instance, according to the book this pattern requires 10 skeins of yarn (7 in the addendum), but all the knitters have said it only takes 3-4 skeins. I guess I figure the upside of this one is that, on size 16 needles, it would knit so quickly that if it didn’t work out it’s not like I would have wasted much time and I can just use the yarn for something else.
Anyone have experience with altering the sizing on sweaters??????
It was touch-and-go for a while there, but I actually managed to finish all my holiday projects in time for Christmas! The main focus of my attention this year was my niece/nephew, scheduled for arrival in early February. The lucky little guy or gal will the be recipient of the first sweater I’ve ever completed! Turns out they’re much easier to finish when they’re miniature…
I’m so proud of how it turned out! I used the Debbie Bliss Baby Reefer Jacket pattern with a couple changes. I thought it would be easier for both me and the parents to forgo actually button closures on the front in favor of decorative buttons sewn to the front with hidden snap closures on the underside.
Also, I’m not big on counting rows when I knit. I kinda just knit until it looks “long enough”. This cause a problem for me when it came time to add the ribbing that forms the double breasted front of the sweater. The pattern called for me to cast on “x” number of stitches to start the ribbing, but I hadn’t followed the instructions for the length of the stockinette portion. Instead, I just picked up the stitches and knit the ribbing right onto the sweater. This resulted in a slightly different neckline on the sweater, but I think it’s still pretty cute!
Expert knitters may also want to avert their eyes from the mess that is the underarm seam. The seams up the side of the sweater turned out really well but it got awkward once I had to start stitching the arms. It looked like I should do Kitchener stitch, but I only know how to do that off needles (a nice video tutorial, here). So I just sewed it.
I also sewed up a few of my signature hand sewn felt aplique onesies, keep your eyes out for a tutorial soon (sorry for the poor quality of the images, I took them on my phone)!
Finally, I wanted to make a little something for my boyfriend’s family for Christmas this year so I made some spiced candied nuts and knit up a couple Christmas birdie ornaments.
I’m not sure where the nut recipe is from originally, but it’s similar to this one from Martha Stewart. I just left out the egg, allspice and chili powder. Instead of baking them, I tossed them around in a pan with the sugar stirring constantly until they browned (about 15 min), then tossed them with the salt, spices and an extra tablespoon of sugar. Warning, these are like crack.
The birdie ornament is a free pattern download from Ravelry that I posted about earlier. I made two versions of this ornament, one following the pattern and one chicken instead of robin. I actually think the chicken turned out much cuter (and easier, as it didn’t involve any color change)! For the comb I just crocheted a single chain about an inch and a half long then stitched it on scrunched up like an inch worm. Easy peasy!
Crafty Little Secret... 