Well, today we begin our pre-Holiday visits and are headed to Western Mass to see some friends. I will be bringing these two baby hats with me that my friend will be giving as gifts. I made them with the same organic cotton that I made the first one and even used the same pattern for the one on top. The tan and blue hat, sans earflaps, is from the Stitch and Bitch Book, and also very fun to make!
I'm working on an apron for my Grandmother. She wanted one just like her aunt had when she was growing up, so we found an old apron similar which I traced to make a pattern. It's only 5 simple pieces and a cinch to sew together. The trim is done with bias tape. I just read a great tutorial on how to make your own bias tape, which I will be doing. I have never even sewn with bias tape let alone made my own, so you can kind of see why putting this off to the last minute may not have been the best idea. I'll update in the morning to see how the finished piece came out. Here's what I'm expecting it to look somewhat like....
I designed them so that the top part is really wide and can cover your hand for added warmth, or flip back to free up your hands when you need to get something from your purse or god forbid smoke a cigarette. If I were a really good friend I'd make it more difficult for her to smoke!
I didn't use a pattern, just sort of made them up as I went. I am getting better at writing down what I do so that I can a) repeat it, especially in a situation like this where I need to make more than one and b) so that I can share it with you. Let me know if you are interested and I will type it up this week. I also found good pattern tutorials for making things like these on purl bee and knitty, as always.
I'm hoping Rachael likes these. When we lived in Boston she always wore fingerless gloves -- simply chopping the fingers off her mittens or making them out of old socks and tights! I figured she'd like her own, well made pair. It is true, living in the city these are a necessity. Digging out your bus pass with mittens on is nearly impossible. Plus not to mention all the pairs of conventional gloves I took off inside Dunkin' Donuts when I was paying, then, excited about my warm caffeinated beverage, I left them behind. I'd walk outside and when I would realize it, I'd also see the train coming... gloves, train, gloves, train? Usually train would win.
It seems like this could be turning into a book blog. It shouldn't (because this book blogger does it way better) but after listening to Maira Kalman on Studio 360, I decided to add the illustrated Elements of Style to my long list of desired books. I think Rosemary has it, do you Rosemary? I feel like she told me about it once, but it wasn't until Kalman and Kurt Anderson roamed the streets of New York, photographing old mattresses and rabbits and talking about names of donuts, that she got my attention. Plus, the Strunk and White classic is always good to have on hand illustrated or not.
I really miss the Vineyard since I moved from there in October. Somedays more than others. There is just something about being on the Island in winter that is unlike anywhere else. A strange, desolate, beautiful comfort that is nice to wake up to every morning...
Tomorrow is Boston's annual craft-stravaganza - the Bazaar Bizarre! If you're in town come check out the local vendors, do some shopping and enjoy some good live music + DJs. 
So far, I'm not quite as wowed by Bravo's Project Runway this season as I was season's past. That show used to be really amazing; brimming with talented designers and clearly all about fashion. Now I feel like it's suddenly all celebrity appearances and character conflict. Fight fight fight! There's plenty of shows on TV about that. I just want to watch people sew clothes!
I rented two movies from netflix to serve my fix for fashion design. Unzipped, which was my favorite in high school and fun to see all over again, and Seamless (same director, 10 years later). Sure they are both character portraits as well, but seem to document that creative process behind fashion design and couture that people buying and wearing fashion these days sort of forget exists. I just love watching Isaac Mizrahi have little epiphanies while watching old movies and that scene in the end where he reads his review in the newspaper. It reminds me that making clothes, accessories -- anything -- is a an artform just the same as painting, sculpting, music, etc, and not always a contest. Maybe the writers from PR just need to learn how to make it work...
I'm also working on several more shoulder-style bags. This one will be added to etsy soon, so keep posted!
Every year I commit to making all of my holiday cards to send to family and friends by hand. I usually only send out about 20 or 30 cards, so its not a huge deal, just a lot of time sitting and cutting out many of whatever that years theme is decided to be. Last year it was Christmas trees, the year before, mittens on clothes pins (teeny, tiny clothespins) and the year before that, little colorful squares cut from patterned paper and finished with HAND TIED ribbons. Yes, as much as I love doing this tedious Holiday craft, there is always that moment when I find myself sitting at the dining room table late at night srrounded by hundreds of paper trees, mittens or ribbons to tie and thinking "WHAT on EARTH HAVE I GOT Myself into!!??" then I'll talk to a family member and they'll say "we can't wait to get one of your cards this year!" and I realize its all worth it.
This year I've cheated a little bit and instead of free forming my cutouts I decided to use this adorable paper from Paper Source. The bears are being cut out individually and assembled on the cards. I am thinking about maybe using tropical scenes with beaches and palm trees in the background to send a message of global warming, but that might be a little too much like a scene from LOST. I have plenty of time to think it over while I am cutting.
The reason I am cutting out so many is to hopefully make double the amount of cards I need so that I can sell them in packs on my etsy store this week. Just look how cute these little faces are. You know you'll want them too!
I had some trouble when I first felted this bag today. It may have been the result of an overloaded washing machine or the too-small garment bag I was using, but from the look of my poor project, I was fearful to toss it back in, so I decided to try something new. I googled 'felting by hand' and got some great tips on how to do it. As this helpful tutorial points out, felting has been around a lot longer than washing machines, so why not trust felting by hand?
I began by filling the bathroom sink with a few inches of VERY hot water and a drop of detergent, then put on rubber gloves and started swooshing (yes, swooshing is the technical term for this). This is a LOT more time consuming than just throwing the knits in the washing machine, as I've always done before, but the results from hand-felting are just wonderful! I worked away with my hands in the sink and got to shape the bag myself, so that it came out just as I intended. I pressed and squeezed gently, constantly keeping it in motion so I could cover every inch of the bag. Every so often I would drain the water and do a quick cold rinse then back to hot. The process uses a lot less water than the machine, especially since I always wash my things on cold cycle. And it takes hardly any energy... just my own.
I then shaped the bag and lay it out to dry, stuffing it with old plastic shopping bags to give it some shape.
I've tried a bunch of different yarns, but have found that I like working with Paton's classic merino wool, in either a double or a single strand, the best. It has a nice texture and felts well, plus it is common and they sell it everywhere, so if I am traveling and run out of yarn it's not a problem!
The green squares are knit with instarsia technique and the color in the images just looks different because of the light inside verses out.
I am currently finishing up some shoulder bags, since there has been request for those. This is an example of a tote-bag style with two straps was made a few years ago. It still remains one of my favorites.
Again I added a bundle of buttons, like I seem to do to everything. I've got another bag to finish knitting and felt today, along with some Christmas gifts on my to-do list and a few other accessories I want to make for knotty dog. Stay tuned!
My signature lately seems to be adding buttons to things. I have a huge stash of random button from old sweaters, craft projects and generous donations. Recently I was going through some more of my mom's things and found a giant container filled with buttons as well. Tons! All colors, shapes, sizes and purposes. Some match, some don't. I am tempted to sew them on everything, and when I get the chance, I will.
Last week, Stacie and I were talking about how odd it was that Chloe Sevigny had a clothing line when she always seems to look like she got dressed in the dark or from a discarded pile of little boys clothes (did I just say that?) But I do recall a time when she actaully was best-dressed and appeared in Sassy magazine as their 17-year-old intern! Thank god I never threw out my November 1992 issue so that I could scan it now for reference! Just look how cute, fresh-faced and stylish she is!
You can sure see how my 11-year-old scissored-hands took to the pages of this magazine that I was waaay to young to appreciate. Flipping through the vintage issues I still have tucked away in my bookshelf, I am currently fascinated by all the DIY clothing ideas, feminist book reviews and 90210 bashing that I exposed myself to. Oh, Sassy, if only you were still in publication, or if it were 1992 again. Would young girls today even care?
