Saturday, December 13, 2008

Our House.... is a very, very. very fine House....

Here are some pictures of the little house we are renting this year. Today we are having a little family tour of all of the houses everyone moved into this summer! there was a lot of moving going on! So I thought we should share some pictures of our house with those who couldn't be here!   THIS is our Dining area- looking into our kitchen with a print from an MFA grad student at Penn last year.


The other view of our family room- with the painting by my friend Justin.

. This is a detail shot of a display on a dresser in our family room/ area.
Our stairway decorated for Christmas!
The Dresser that belonged to my Grandmother's Cousin- "Cousin Betty"
Our family room with the blue dresser I got for FREE on craigslist! And the Anthro Chair I bought with money I made selling artwork- of course I waited until the chair was on sale! and our very first christmas tree!
Earlier this year- over the summer Cameron all sleepy-faced eating the pancakes he just made.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

GREEN Ornaments


 Going through my old thread collection- I decided they would make the perfect ornaments! I just threaded this one with some left over yarn and added some buttons and a hook- it took all of 5 mins!
I also made this little garland to string around the tree. I added buttons, varied the size of the spools of thread and included a buckle and other discarded items! Then I attached hooks to the green yarn and hung it on the stronger branches- due to the weight of some of the spools.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A Hat for Mia

            Mia picked out the yellow yarn- it looks like a halo!
                       This is another way you can wear it- just fold up the rim of the hat
                              Here it is from the side with the crazy pom-pom

                                      And the very back of the hat!


HOW TO!

I saw a hat like this in a vogue knitting magazine and knew that I wanted to make something similar. As with all of my other hats and with most things- I abandoned a pattern and went solo.

I used a pair of 7 rounds and cast on 82 stitches, which sounds like a lot and I probably could have gotten away with 72- but 82 just worked! the needles were small for the bulky-ish yarn- hence 82 worked out with this wacky ratio.

I knit 2 prl 2 to make a cabled rim and then I went crazy like I did with Ben's hat (see earlier post). After the cable I purled a row and then I dropped stitch a row- dropping three stitches. I mostly did a moss stitch for the majority of the hat- this is where you knt 1 prl 1 for the 1st row then prl 1 knit 1 for the second- and then repeat- it makes a cool pattern, plus its dense and warm!

When the hat was about 2-3 tall I added on a ton of stitches! Since I was knitting it on a train up to NYC and I didn't have a lot of resources- I winged it. I knit 2 then I yarn over at the purl stitch- ie add on, and repeat the entire row. I think I ended up with 150 some stitches!

Then I just kept knitting and eventually I knit a cable that decreased as it went up towards the top of the hat. I knit 2, prl 2 for 3 rows then I knit 2 prl 1- decreasing the prl into the other... make sense?

I finished with another platform type shape as I did with Ben's and topped it off with a MASSIVE pom-pom of yellow, white, pink and a tiny bit of green.

The Fall Wrap up

                                 Cameron and Millie in Northern PA on a camping trip
                                              A walk through the Park
                                                    Tennis in the fall
                                                Cameron as a Grocery shopping ad
                                             fall colors across the street

a Hat for Ben


While out in Portland this October for my Brother's wedding- I hung out with my friends Mia and Ben.  I took my green "swiss Miss" hat along with me- see previous post for pics- and while I was there one of Ben's friends asked if I could make him the Swiss Miss in Red.  I did and I also made a hat for Ben.

THIS is the hat for Ben. It only took me a few hours and according to Mia he wears it all the time! I look forward to posting pictures of my recipients in their hats at some point in the near future!

Ben's Hat was easy to make. I used a bulky green yarn (the same used in my green swiss miss) and cast on about 52 stitches onto a set of large 11s in the round. I then knit 2, prl 2 to create a small cable for the rim of the hat and then I just went crazy for the rest of the hat! It was very sporadic- purl a few rows, moss stitch a few, knit a few, repeat cable etc etc.  I decreased as I neared the top of the hat. BUT I never fully decreased- as you normally would- so the very top of the hat where the pom pom sits- is a little round box. (makes sense?) The COOL thing is when its not on your head it looks like a tiered cake!

Then I topped it off with a yellow pom-pom from the yarn I made Mia's hat with.

I sent Mia's hat yesterday and I will post the pictures of it with a -how to description- after she gets the hat later this week!

My mom already went out and bought me some yarn to make a Mia styled hat for her! I'm turning into a busy knitter!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Spice UP a sweater if you please!




This fall I have been SPICING up some old sweaters- breathing life into them by adding embellishments!

I will be posting these sweaters all through the winter- to give some fresh projects for those long winter months!


This is my first sweater!

I bought it last year on ebay. Its a great vintage bright yellow sweater. It was a little plain and honestly I didn't wear it all that much.

After going through my grandmother's scarves I decided to use one of the shorter ones as an embellishment to this sweater. It was wide so I was able to cut it in half in order to make it go all the way around the sweater. I removed the buttons from the sweater and with my sewing machine I attached the scarf and hemmed its edges. 

THEN I did a little couture hand sew- around the top to form the bow- to make it just right!

I'm going to wear it with a purple dress, some tights and my funky brown leather boots- THAT - coincidentally have purple fabric on the back of them with a yellow stitch! Perfect for Work!

ITS all about reinventing the old and making it new!
Its good for the environment and GREAT for your wallet!


Monday, December 1, 2008

If you Display it - YOU will wear it!



In order to be more "green" we have to cut WAY back on our instinct to CONSUME- to buy anything and everything we like.  Hence its been fun to recycle old jewelry and to find fun ways to display my Jewelry so I will actually wear it!


1st
I made a peg board- out of an old set of stretcher bars from a painting. There wasn't any canvas covering the stretchers so I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the opening and taped it to the back of the stretchers. Then I covered it with an old piece of fabric. I stapled the fabric on the back and then screwed in some screws by hand- to hang my necklaces on! And then I hung it on the back of the door with i-screws and nails.


For my earrings, pins and bracelets- I took my grandmother's old cake plate and one of her pretty dishes and set up a little display on the book shelf opposite the back door and next to my closet.

Since dusting off my jewelry and displaying it all this way- I have been wearing it more thus getting a new use out of something I already own and not needing to buy any new jewelry! 

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