Mother's Day Crafting: Yarn-dyeing Spectacular

For my birthday my mom (and dad) gave me some un-dyed yarn, with the promise that we'd dye it
together since she has all the supplies. On Mother's Day, after getting a bunch of stuff done around the house and yard, and before I had to come back to school, we did a quick dye job. A nice crafternoon activity.

The yarn came from Knit Picks, from their Bare line - a hank (skein) and a sock blank. The neat thing about the sock blank is that it is one long rectangle all knit up in stockinette stitch, and it is actually two strands of yarn. So, if you actually decide to knit a pair of socks (totally your choice - it's your yarn, after all), they'll look relatively the same in terms of the pattern. This is, of course, if you start both socks with the same end of the yarn. Otherwise you may end up with socks that are opposite. Nothing wrong with that. A lot of things in life are opposite and still work well together (like men and women, for instance).

(almost) No-sew Braided T-shirt Collar Revisited

I've been meaning to revisit the "(almost) No-sew Braided T-shirt Collar" from March of last year.  I didn't have another shirt in my closet that I was interested in altering, so I have kept my eye out when hitting the thrift stores. When I was out a few weeks ago, I finally found a couple of inexpensive T's that I decided to try this again.

When we made these the first time, we both found that the neck felt a bit tight. So, I figured that starting with a deeper scooped neck would still give the braided look without as tight a feel. The T's I picked up each have a fairly scooped neck.

round 2 t-shirt
just a bit scoopy, and not really suitable for teaching in

This and that.

Before there was Pinterest

two-ish years of two mags
ready for recycling or repurposing

Since joining Pinterest, I've "pinned" a lot to a bunch of boards - crafting ideas, recipes, cool looking house interiors, and other random non-crafty things. I've followed through on a few of the pins (click on "found.on.pinterest" label under Contents Vary, at right, to see a few), and have plans to continue.

But the internet isn't the only place that I've found great ideas. Over my spring break I sorted through three sets of magazines - Do It Yourself, Martha Stewart Living, and Better Homes and Gardens - that spanned roughly two and a half years. Best spring break activity, ever. Of course, I couldn't remember why I'd saved most of the magazines, although a few dog-eared paged here and there proved to have ideas worthy of being ripped out. I am sure I could find the same ideas online, but I enjoy being able to flip through the magazines several times before setting aside or recycling. 

Sky Blanket, Update. . .

loungin' on the couch

I really do love the sky blanket, but I've found over the past few months that it has spent more time decorating the back of the couch than on my lap.

It is the perfect lap size, and it is the right amount of warmth for one's lap. But it has not been happy to be just a lap blanket that mostly decorates the back of the couch. It certainly was not receiving the appropriate amount of love and attention it deserves (although it did get plenty of attention last year).

I did a quick measure of the dimensions while folded in half, and, of course, it is a funky size that does not exist in the world of regular pillows, or even pillow forms one can by from a craft store. Sigh. I figured I could find something that would work, or at the very least could buy fiberfill stuffing and go that route.

Break.

Our spring break has finally arrived. Two weeks. Considering we haven't had time off since the Christmas/Holiday break, and the kids have been on snow since early November, it feels like it is time for a break.

zoe is enjoying the sunny (albeit chilly) day.

Despite the beautiful sunny day today, it is only in the mid-30s. I had lunch with a friend, and we walked the dog. But I have also spent much of the day puttering around the apartment. A little spring cleaning. Laundry. Sorting. Rearranging.

Make-Something-Monday: DIY "Sea glass" bottles

Update/Disclaimer: I have been getting a lot of views of this post, probably since folks think they might actually get instructions on how to make the very bright and pretty mason jars seen in the image going around the 'net. I never could get the original link to work, and I'm fairly certain that those jars were manufactured, not a D.I.Y. project. Correct me if I'm wrong, and enjoy our project!

A friend had pinned an image with a caption that claimed a how-to for making jars look like "sea glass" using Elmer's Glue and food coloring. As luck would have it, the link didn't work - the server (or whatever fancy website-blocking software) here at school blocked it. I should probably be thankful, since it very well could be a bogus, porn/virus-filled link, despite the really pretty jars. But if you've seen this pin, and the link works, let me know. Maybe it's legit (or possibly even too legit to quit).

 LEFT: the alleged "sea glass" jars        RIGHT: the "sea glass" jars we made

      circulating the world of Pinterest             after reading several how-to's



So I went to the Google and did a little search, and of course came up with a ton of hits. There are a lot of crafty blogs linking this idea. Most of the pics look less like "sea glass" - which I picture as being somewhat frosted in appearance - and more like colored/tinted glass. Creative nonetheless.

Tap to Table.

Creative & Crafted Pay-It-Forward

Around the beginning of the year, a facebook status started making the rounds. Offer to make something for five people who promise to do the same for others. A creative pay-it-forward, if you will. With the end of grad school and the resuming of "free time" in my future, I decided to bite.

want something?

Honeycomb Headband

I have a habit of buying one skein of yarn at a time. Usually it is an orphan skein from a sale basket at a yarn shop I've happened upon. I like supporting small and independent businesses, and I know how sporadically yarn shops can see customers, so I often end up buying one or two skeins of random yarn. I'm nice that way. Other times I'll buy just one or two skeins because I like the color, or the fiber.


assorted sock yarn. .  .
minus a few rogue skeins

This frequently happens when it comes to sock yarn. I have a stash of sock yarn (also called fingering yarn) that has built up over the years. Mostly purchased because I like the colors - fun colored socks are a must. Plenty of the yarn has indeed gone to making socks - I've perfected the one skein pair of sneaker-socks, and number of the skeins have partners which is nice for making calf-high or knee-high socks. But, I still have quite few skeins right now and have been trying to come up with an alternative use for them. I have no patience for knitting a sweater out of sock yarn. Thousands of stitchs on size 2 needles? No thank you.

Go Outside & Play

At some point in the last year or so, this image crossed my path on the internets:

go outside & play
found through this blog

I really like it, because it is something I frequently want and need to do.  Having come across it over the last year, it was particularly something I wanted to do while in the midst of grad school. The message is also quite relevant to my grad school studies, so I was feeling especially attached to it, and felt the need to somehow recreate it.