Craft Enabled, Domestically Disabled

Marbling!

Last Sunday, I took a class in marbling. I had no idea how it was done before signing up for the class, and just kind of signed up because (a) it's pretty, (b) it was good timing, and (c) I like the teacher.
I did have some reservations because it was a paper craft and I don't normally do those- making nice cards and the like is just something I never do. I like to wear my art, not stick it on a wall where it can, AHEM, get drowned in a flood- I like to wear it. Marbling can be done on fabric (and indeed, two of these pieces are on silk), but we didn't do much of that.

Yeah, a few of them Had Issues. Namely, if the paper doesn't lie down exactly flat and progressively into the paint, you get bubbles.The papers on the left in particular were of stiffer paper than the rest, and that shit WOULD NOT BEND. Gah.
But most of them came out really very pretty. Especially the rainbow ones, once I figured out one COULD put that much paint on the surface.
While I don't think I'll do this on my own at home- too complicated to set up, plus I live with cats- it was a cool thing to do.
And now I have to figure out what to do with them. Sure, I could do collage... or put them on a wall...but...
Anyone know how to turn paper into jewelry?

Possible next projects

I found these pics in a magazine in the bookstore (which I spared myself from buying), because I really liked the look. I want to try these on the side to side vest sometime.

I also found a magazine talking about REVERSIBLE knitting, which I copied the relevant bit from into my Palm.

Double knitting- makes reversible fabric. Uses stockinette stitch.
1. 2 stranded method: use 2 yarns in 2 colors, hold one strand of each yarn and knit w/ one color in back and purl with the other color in front to get stockinette on each side. Hold both yarn strands in back while knitting and both strands in front while purling.
2. Slip n slide: circular/dpn's. Each row worked twice. W/ one strand in one color, knit all stitches to be knitted! Slipping all stitches to be purled. Slide work back to beginning, and w/ a second strand in the second color, purl all stitches to be purled, slipping all stitches that we previously knitted.

I'd like to try doing THIS sometime too! Definitely will use a lot of yarn, though.

In other news, I am craving another ribbon yarn project again. I went to the yarn store looking for some Crystal Palace Deco, but they didn't have any. Poodoo. I did start flipping through some books and found a nice pattern book by Tahki Yarns, and I liked several of the tops in it. Or I liked a feature of it, such as the ribbing on this tank top (though the top is WAY TOO DAMN SEE THROUGH to make. Aiee. I'm flabbergasted they don't have nipples showing in this. But I have a sweater with ribbing like that that makes me look a lot skinner in the stomach, so I'd love to have more things like that.) I especially like this halter, because I'd like to find tank top-type shirts with something different to do on them. But (a) the yarn store didn't sell this yarn, and (b) it looked like worsted weight, which is kinda hot in summer here anyway. So I thought, "eh, I'll buy this for examples and then make up my own halter with ribbon yarn."

I looked around, trying to find the LEAST expensive ones of the lot (this was hard to do), and stumbled across some yarn that looked dead on like a match for a sarong I have. But there were only three balls of it. Likewise, the next closest yarn to it in another brand also only had three balls. So I got the idea- why not combine the two together? I got all six balls.
Here they are with the sarong (yes, it's wrinkly). I don't have a matching top for it, so making one would be great. And here's my idea for it: make a "half and half halter." Knit half the top (one boob and half the back) in one yarn and the other half in the other. And put ribbing in along the stomach. Oooh, what an exciting idea.

I can't work on it until I finish Dad's present, though, and I promised to show some people next Friday how much I had left of the thing. I really should be working on it instead of typing this...

My Father's Day present.

So, it turns out that I did have to go buy more yarn for the poncho. One large skein of Cascade makes around four 2-inch stripes. I bought one more ball of each, so hopefully if I make the front piece 18 inches long, that'll work out.
For the record, gauge for this is 7 stitches = 1 inch, and the poncho is 168 stitches wide. Since this is for a wheelchair, I only made the back piece of the poncho 8 inches long (it's 24 inches wide). The back's done, and now I'm on the front.

More beading.

I found some goldstone chips that were gorgeous. I already had some goldstone around (particularly that heart pendant) that I wanted to put into something, and it's always cheaper to use a large collection of chips than to spend ten cents per bead to buy tiny little round beads that aren't sold in bulk. So here you go. I like it.
I originally used this geode pendant in this necklace years ago, but decided recently that it was really boring. I had a necklace of chips of snowflake obsidian and some hematite left over from a bracelet who didn't work out, so I dismantled the original necklace and remade it into this one.
I've had this shiny pendant around for a few years, and found matching earrings from the same vendor at Whole Earth this year. So I figured I should try harder to make a necklace to go with it. This one I actually picked out beads for. It came out all right.

New and current projects.

I am currently working on the Side to Side Vest. (No pictures taken yet.) So far it is fun to work on, finding all of the remnanty yarn around and putting it in an inch at a time. Even more fun, I just picked up some free ribbon yarn samples at the yarn store today to put into it too.

I finally decided to make the "wheelchair poncho" I kept talking about for Dad around Christmas, only to make it for Father's Day. (Especially helps since I can't find any redneck merchandise he doesn't already own.) I'm just going to wing it, patternwise. Make about a 6 inch long back piece and then a longer front piece, and do it in red, green, and blue stripes. I got three large balls of yarn today, so hopefully that'll be enough.

Oddly enough, after telling Mom this idea, she wants a poncho too! I don't know what kind she wants, though. Hasn't told me yet.

Wow, I'm flabbergasted.

Here's my display at Whole Earth on Day 1 and Day 2 (the extra blueness being the blue tablecloth, blue velvet displays, and er, blue tent above me).

First day (i.e. Day of Nice Weather), I sold three pieces, about the cheapest stuff I had around. Which was surprising since I really wasn't expecting anything to go at all this year since my stuff's different and a bit weirder, but on the other hand, I was kind of disappointed since I didn't expect I'd do any better on Day 2.

Day 2... was pouring rain. Messy, messy, messy, and we were debating off and on all morning whether or not to pack up and leave early if it got any worse. (Fortunately it wasn't cold or windy.)

But I managed to sell a ton, including another sea necklace and even some of my fused necklaces. YAY! I made $93!

I'm still in shock.

And the shrug is done.

And here's the final ensemble.
A bit tight, huh?
Um, YEAH. Frighteningly so. What you see there is after a fair chunk of yanking down over the Tits O' Doom. "This fits that size chest," my ass. The good news is, it certainly does manage to make sure the nipples don't peek out through the ribbon or something. The bad news is, I suspect the shrug might not be all that wearable. I'm debating if it's possible to say, make some more rows and sew them on to the bottom of this sucker, since I've got 2 1/2 balls of yarn left.
I've been telling people I was going to wear this outfit to Whole Earth  this weekend, but now I'm thinking...maybe not.
*sigh*

How I did the alterations on...

the Knit 1 Tie Front Shrug, which as you might recall, I wanted to make longer sleeves for. Should anyone else ever want to do the same thing, here's what I did:

• Instead of making the sleeves 5 inches long, I went on for 10 inches.
• I then decreased by 1 on each side, knit the next row even, repeated that 2 more times.
• Knitted 4 inches even.
• Decreased by 1 on each side, knit next row even, repeated that 2 more times (again).
• Knitted 8 inches even.

Course, that's what fits my arms and what I figured out via pinning and testing. If your arms are bigger, do what you gotta do to alter it.

The shrug is almost done- I've got about half an arm left to go. Will probably finish it tonight.

And I think I'm spent.

I think after doing these two, I'm going to stop making necklaces out of the pendants. That's all the ones without hangers, and I'm tired and need to do other things.

My tie-dyed shirts from class.

They came out gorgeous! Much better than I expected.
The one on the left is a spiral, which is what I was trying to do here. Obviously, it worked a lot better this time! Whee! Basically, the shirt got wrapped into a circle/spiral, then painted like a pie chart.

The one on the right is a heart, which was easier than you'd think to do. The shirt gets folded in half and pleated, and curved at the top to make the heart shape. The outside is "crinkled"- just scrunched up.

Awesome!