The fruits of my screen printing - Girl Scout Tote

Remember that screen printing class I took this summer? Last weekend I finally got everything together and sewed up a few tote bags out of the Girl Scout fabric.

There are two colors - mushroom and magenta. I must say I'm kinda partial to the mushroom. 

They are lined with vintage material (sheets, my favorite), with a little patch pocket that matches. And I finally remembered to use my new woven labels!

I really went for an easy construction with these - note the webbed handles. I knew I didn't want to screen print on pre-made bags, but I also didn't want to spend a ton of time sewing. A fine balance. 

I am sooo happy with how these turned out - I want to start using one immediately. However, I will resist - they will be in the shop sometime next week!

I'm addicted

I found another paint-by-number to add to the collection. 

The Provincial Sweater Vest

Oh, this sweater. This dumb, dumb sweater.

I thought this was going to be an easy project to use up two skeins of Cascade 220 I had laying around. I certainly used up the yarn (to the last 3 feet or so), but I cannot give this pattern a shining review. 

The pattern is Provincial Waistcoat (Rav link) from Interweave Knits Winter 2006, and it did not live up to expectations. The fit is kinda terrible, but I probably only have myself to blame for that - I was worried I was going to run out of yarn, so I knit the size medium while following the length for the size small. So, yeah, if it was longer, it might be more flattering on me. It just makes me look a bit chubby as is.

In general, this pattern is not well written. It's vague, and assumes you can magically infer shaping from photos or something. Also, the pattern on the back does not line up for any of the sizes larger than small. I was extremely confused while comparing the magazine photo to what I was knitting. After reading a few reviews on Ravelry, I know I'm not alone. Frustrating.

And I did run out of yarn, hence the edging in a nice grey. Not the worst thing to happen to the sweater. Luckily I had the perfect matching vintage buttons, which pulled the whole thing together nicely.

Check out my snappy photos! Rae - who also lives in the Midwest and suffers from perpetual darkness from September to May - posted these great tips for taking photos, and they have totally changed my life. 

At least it looks nice laid out!

Traverse City - The Gift

Ok, finally a bit of crafting. For wedding gifts in general, I like to do something handmade, especially for my friends. Most of my friends know that I am a crafty lady,  and I think they appreciate the special gifts, like this memento I embroidered for my friend's wedding in January. 

So for Brooke & Michael's wedding, I knew I wanted to make them something, and I decided on washcloths. They're a bit nicer than store bought, but still useful for a new couple. Now, Brooke is primarily Chris' friend from college, although she and I have become good friends. So when I told Chris that I thought knit washcloths would be a good idea, he immediately said "I want to  help!"

Yes, this man is dreamy. A dreamy- knitting - man. So I refreshed his basic knitting skills, and we made four washcloths total. Let me tell you - he is a damn fine knitter. 

My washcloths:

The pattern is this basic feather & fan pattern.

And Chris' washcloths:

Very nice! A basic garter stitch cloth, which I finished and crocheted that little loop at the end. 

For that loop - just take the last loop on the row after casting off, and crochet about 8 chains. Crochet through the row below the cast off row and weave in. 

Check out that motel room carpet!

We supplemented the washcloths with some fancy dish soap, hand soap and surface cleaner from Target. All wrapped up in a bamboo bowl, it makes for a nice presentation. I attached little tags to our washcloths telling Brooke & Mike that we had both knit the washcloths.

The couple that knits together... 

Traverse City - The Adventures

So although it was beautiful in TC - 

It was freeeezing!

But the real story here is this hay:

Check out this trunk full o' hay! 

Ok, so part of the bunny's diet is UNLIMITED HAY. And unfortunately, hay is expensive in the city. Like $7 for 3lbs of hay at Petco. So when we stopped at a diner by the side of the road, right next to a "western store," we asked if the owner knew where to get a bale of hay. I mean it was a rural area - so why not! He pointed us toward a feed store, and we set off. 

When we got to the feed store in a very small town down the road, they sold us this giant bale of hay for $5 total! We were so flabbergasted that it was so cheap - and the guy working at the feed store was not impressed. I tried to explain that we were from "the city" where hay is expensive, but he definitely thought we were crazy. Our trunk looks like a barn, but we won't need to buy hay for months! Huzzah to that!

Oh, yeah, and a case of wine. It's "Witch's Brew," for our Halloween party.

Traverse City - The Apples

After the wedding last weekend, Chris, our friend AJ, and I drove up the Old Mission Peninsula in search of an apple orchard. It was a gorgeous day, and we found apples...

in a front yard! It was pretty adorable - they had a tube for money and bags, but no one was out there. So we left our money and picked some apples. 

A brief struggle over the apples between Chris & AJ

After the apple picking, we drove back down the peninsula and stopped at a winery. A lot of grapes in Northern Michigan! The views were absolutely beautiful - at one point you can see Lake Michigan on both sides. How long til retirement - 2 years? 3 years?

Traverse City - The Wedding

Chris and I had a great weekend in Traverse City, Michigan. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

Brooke & Michael, the lovely couple, put together a really sweet, homegrown wedding. Even though it was a bit cold, and it rained for a minute, it didn't ruin anyone's spirits. 

There was some crazy dancing (talk about sweaty), ending with an hour of 90's hits. Nothing more fun than being surrounded by your friends, belting out songs you loved in middle school.

I wore a vintage 60's dress, and it was almost a huge wardrobe disaster. The night before, I went to iron the dress with steam, and the minute water touched the dress, the fabric puckered up. I maybe freaked out a bit - luckily Chris is the most patient, and came with me while I drove around in a panic, looking for a back up dress.

It all ended well (with a good stiff dry ironing), and was a wonderful night all around!

it's getting dark outside

So I have to tell y'all - it's rough in Chicago right now for picture-taking. I have 3 or 4 projects to show you, but I cannot get enough light to take good pictures. I can feel winter creeping in already. Take this accidental self-portrait, for instance. I took this one a few weeks ago when trying to capture a vintage brooch. Look how dark it is, and that was August!

So on the docket for this weekend: friends' wedding, drive through Michigan, apple orchard & take photos of a few projects.

Second Hand Gift!

We received a package from Chris' family last week, and inside we found this:

Can you tell what it is? How 'bout now:

It's a vintage covered wagon lamp! It is totally amazing. Chris was the one who opened the package, and when he showed it to me later, I could not believe that it was real. You turn it on and off by the stick part in the front, and it's my favorite color! My 8-year-old self would have totally died over something like this. I was crazy for all things Laura Ingalls Wilder and anything prairie. I mean - I had a bonnet.

I wish I had a picture of me in a bonnet to show you right now.

Instead I'll show you the terrible failure that was the photoshoot for this vest:

Yes, the vest is supposed to be for me, and yes, that was the best picture...

Stash Busting :: Knitting Squares (plus an easy pattern)

If you haven't noticed, lately I'm all about knitting my way through my yarn stash. Taking left overs and making something better out of them. But what do you do when your left overs are just kind of... icky? Like when someone gifted you a skein of acrylic yarn in a garish color, or you bought a ball of yarn that you later realized was made out of plastic bag?

Robyn, from Minimalist Knitter, has the answer. Knit squares and donate them!

After reading Robyn's post on knitting for worthwhile charities, I picked up my needles, picked out some garish yarn, and started knitting. My friends - this is the perfect take-along project - simple and small. 

And then something awesome happened: I took my knitting to a rehearsal for the play I'm in, and another actor asked me what I was knitting. When I told her, she told me that her mother gathers squares to make blankets that will go to people here in Chicago! So I switched it up, and told her I would donate all the squares I made to her mom and her group, which is run through St. Edward Parish in Chicago (the little section called "Yarn Works" towards the bottom). If you're located in Chicago and would like to knit squares as well, comment below or send me an email and I'll give you all the info. 

Here's a quick pattern:

Diagonal Knit Square

Skills needed: knit stitch (k1), make 1 (m1), knit 2 together (k2tog), cast on (CO), bind off (BO)

CO 3 stitches, leaving a tail of at least 12"

Row 1: knit across

Row 2: k1, m1, knit to end

Repeat "Row 2" until you have 35 stitches on the needle. It will grow like a little triangle, and look like this:

After your triangle is 35 stitches wide, begin decreasing.
Row 3: k1, k2tog, knit to end
It should look like this now:

Repeat "Row 3" until you only have 3 stitches on the needle

BO the last 3 stitches, leaving a tail of at least 12"

You can then use your tails to sew the squares together into a blanket. I knit this on size 10.5 needles using worsted weight yarn, and it made a 7" square. You can experiment with different needle sizes, yarn weights and total stitches (instead of the 35 stitches) to make bigger or smaller squares.  You could also knit this pattern in a cotton and use it as a washcloth!