Ticking off the boxes

Okay, I am doing it! I am getting items done, no more lazy knitting for me - although I don't feel that bad as most of my knitting over the years was charity knitting or gifts for friends. First on the list is socks for my cold tootsies. I made a pair from an intermediate level book but I didn't like that it left 2 seams along the heel, I can't imagine that being comfortable as the day goes on. So I searched and found a pattern on Ravelry that I liked and went with it. I'm almost done, just need to finish a bit of the ankle and go up the leg a bit and I can see where I may have made mistakes and I can try the fit of it. So far I'm extremely happy with this pattern. This is the heel:

There are no odd seams on the heel and a special stitch is used (I really need to learn the technical names) on the bottom of the heel to strengthen it. PLUS this turn that goes up the back of the foot is gorgeous and surprisingly easy. I have a feeling that I didn't make the foot long enough and I'm thankful that this was a test round with cheap, acrylic yarn. I became a little too impatient and just started the heel :-) The pattern isn't made for all sizes, it was a free pattern and her specific measurements are too her foot which seems to be a few inches larger than mine, which isn't surprising as I'm only a size 6 and 1/2 foot. I just made sure to read the pattern thoroughly as I don't want to bother making ANOTHER practice sock. So that is why the heel starts way too soon, I needed to knit the foot part a little bit further past my arch (no need to show pictures at this point).

I went to Urban Yarns near UBC last week to get some supplies and information on making socks. For someone who has been knitting their whole life I sure sounded like an amateur to them. I'm really happy I'm taking this next step and teaching myself the advanced techniques of a skill that I already kick ass at. Plus my feet are cold, getting older doesn't bother me that much except how easy it is for me to get cold, each year it gets worse. So I need wool socks and why not make them myself. My first real pair will be done with this gorgeous merino wool from Spud and Chloe yarns which probably just looks dark. It's a wonderful brown that has a hint of metallic in it. I'm so excited and I know I'll be working on them this weekend! After that it will be fun, colourful, patterned SOCKS!

Bridesmaid dress done!

I've finished altering my bridesmaid dress!  I just have to finish up the inside stuff that no one will see, a few loose threads, etc. I have to send out a thank you to Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking.  Her posts have taught me how to get back on the sewing machine and to just fix the clothes you already have.  Here is the original post and here is the dress in it's original form :

While working on it, I couldn't see the changes that I made, but now looking back at the pictures it was like a tent on my body!  And here it is now.  I got my friend to take a quick picture before we ran off for more accessories, sorry for the bad lighting:

I shortened the dress by 2.5 inches and I brought in the 3 seams that it has.  It also has a side slit that will be lengthened a tiny bit more, time to show off the gams!  And here is one last shot that was sent to the bride and the other bridesmaids - my strike a pose.  I wasn't planning on posting it here but it has better lighting and really shows how cute the dress turned out! (mind the loose threads)

The wedding is less than a month away, no traditional (Canadian) Thanksgiving for me this year, but it's so exciting now that it's all coming together. 

Tonight is back to school for me, it's been a couple of years since I've taken a course and it's time to upgrade.  In 3 months I'll be ready to work administration in dental offices.  No more ordinary administration jobs for me, and no more competing with thousands of other girls with the same skills.  The next 3 months will have very few crafts, oh so sad, but I'll still have the rest of the winter months to get my fill of knitting and sewing!  So I'll be around, just not as much, as I also have to find a bit of time for a handsome guy I've been dating - who will also be super busy with his 3 month intense course.  He's lucky he's handsome, considerate and polite, or I'd be a goner ;-)

Air Fresheners

I love essential oils and I usually put them in those special candle holders with water. It's great, but the intense smell does go away. I've been scouring the thrift shops lately for the perfect oil burner and after going through a few (thankfully they are only $3 when used as apposed to $18 brand new) you end up realising how poor the designs are. I'm currently cleaning up oily water that has splattered on my desk *grumble*. While reading through Free People's site I saw that they had a DIY air freshener and I decided to give it a try! This way I get the long and softer, lingering effect of the oils without the constant watch over the candle, water level and little bits of splattered oil.

I grabbed my essential oils, some glass jars from the dollar store, baking soda and a glue stick. I used Lavender for under my bed to help me relax during my sleep and peppermint for my closet.

The jars are a bit smaller so I pretty much filled them up with baking soda and poured 10-12 drops of oil on top. I just shook the baking soda around a tiny bit to cover the oil and made sure that most of the oil stayed on the top. This way, when the oils lose their power I will just remove the top part of the baking soda and dispose of it, stir the remaining powder to freshen it up and then add more drops. I kept the safety seal that was included with the jars and punched holes in it with the pencil.  I then glued the safety seal to the top of  the jars.

And there are my air fresheners!  I didn't bother making them too fancy and cute as they won't really be seen.  I made these last week and wanted to test them before posting about them and while looking for something in my closet last night I did get a light lingering peppermint smell, SUCCESS!  I ended up realising that the glue to hold the seals down did nothing and that the holes were much too small, so I cut them larger to be the size of a pencil and I just used an elastic to keep the seal on (for the time being).  I live in an older, wood home that has it's old, wood home smell and I've been trying to figure out how to help keep it fresh during the winter months and I'm sure this will help. 

DIY Bride(smaid)

Countdown is on, October 6th is when I need to be ready for my best friends wedding. I'm having to do a lot of adjustments and diy for my outfit so I thought I'd share the progress. We are all to be in black cocktail dress, lbd, and she wants us to pop with colour. For us to look like a group she suggested blue shoes as the colour will match the groomsmens colours. The major problem is that there aren't a lot of blue shoes out there, the ones that are filling the stores are more of a lighter, turquoise blue and she wants a darker, closer to royal shade (we have paint chips to match the colour). Most of the shoes available in that colour have a gross fake velvet texture, are 6 inches high and strappy and just GROSS. I came across a pair of white shoes while I was shopping with my mom and they fit my thin feet in an incredible way. I have a very hard time finding heels and I end up with a lot of maryjane styles (I still remember my shoe flying across the church when I was a little girl during a song I performed that had a few small dance moves involved). I knew these white shoes were the one but how to make the man made material blue and make it stick. SPRAY PAINT. We ran back across the street to the hardware store and picked out a colour and the results are PERFECT.

As you can see there are some mistakes, I should have put more painters tape on the inside toe and the side seems need to be touched up with a small paint brush. After I had taped the parts of the shoe that I did not want blue (it was a lot of tape to be safe - and TAPE THE INSIDE OF THE SHOE TOO) I did a thin coat on one half of the shoe, let it dry for an hour and a half and did the other side. After it had dried for 3 hours I did another thin coat all over the shoe. Note: while doing the first coat there seemed to be some spots, almost like little bubbles that took no paint. Rest assured, they were completely covered with the 2nd coat. Don't try and completely cover the surface during the first coat as you'll end up with blobs in some spot and it won't be even. I'm very happy with the results and I'm excited to do this for costumes in the future. Although I packed my suitcase well, the paint did chip off a tiny bit in a few corners on my flight home. Don't think of this as a permanent colour change, it's more of a temporary as the paint will crack in a few spots over time.

Next step is the dress. My beautiful friend in Seattle gave me a dress to wear and she is also a childhood friend of the bride. Although her and I are very close in size, her bosom is a little more generous than mine. I've slowly taken in the side and now need to finish the fine details. I'm also going to shorten the dress by a couple of inches. Here is the before and I'm hoping to have the after in a week!

And yes, my head is turned because I'd been up in the bush with the dogs, working in the backyard with my parents and it just didn't match the dress :-)

Shoes from paylesshttp://www.payless.com/store/

Odds and Ends

The last thing I wanted to work on during the summer months were these slippers, but Vancouver gets cold in the evenings and I knew come September I would be regretting the wait. A girlfriend gave me these wool and sheepskin slippers a few years back when she accidentally shrunk them in the wash. They are the best slippers ever, but I haven't been the nicest to them. The bottoms were just black from dirt and I knew it was time to replace them. I found basic sheepskin slipper bottoms at Michaels and removed the old ones. It was a lot of work, but I did it. I strung a bright colour of wool through the stitches that would be attached to the new bottoms. This would stop the tops from fraying and it would be a good eye marker for myself. I matched up where it looked like the half marks would be and then counted to make sure I was correct and then I started stitching the two together.

In this situation you need to pull each stitch as tight as you can each time, there is no chance to go back and pull them. Both the wool and sheepskin are just too thick to deal with.

I did my start and finish at the end so that the closure would be easy to deal with. I also kept the coloured yarn in just in case something happens and I have to go back in and fix it. These puppies should last me another 3-5 years, I just need to be a little more gentle with them so they don't look so worn out.

And there we go, new slippers! They look a little funny at the moment but once I get walking around in them the wool and sheepskin will stretch out together.

Also, here is another picture (a much better representation) of the quilted coasters from last week.

Hehee, I need to stop being lazy by taking pictures with my iphone, the quality shows!

End of season projects

I finished up some more fingerless mittens. Although their days are numbered, they'll be nice and new for next winter. I based these on my favorite mitten pattern and just stopped them where I thought it would be best.

These are some baby booties that I made for family and friends. Unfortunately they are small and the picture doesn't give them justice. They were super easy to make and they fit like a glove.

And thanks to pinterest I found these cute little guys for an easy baby shower game.

What to do next, it's something I've been trying to figure out for a week. Any suggestions?

K-nitting

I've realised that I haven't been producing a lot of knitted products lately. I have spent most of my knitting time making my own patterns for my body by trial and error. I have almost perfected a fingerless mitt for my tiny hands, but there is still room for improvement (and although this yarn is beautiful, it is very stiff and I think I will save it for other projects).

I find most fingerless mitten patterns to have a very long arm and wrist in them. Yes, they look great but if you are already wearing a sweater under your jacket it is just too much fabric. I'm hoping that this experiment period will be over soon and I can have multiple pairs for next winter!