Craft Enabled, Domestically Disabled

Crocheting leggings to cover up my leg wound

Used this pattern.

Doing some cross stitch lately

Mostly because (a) I found a lovely cross stitch store in Placerville, and (b) then proceeded to sprain my pinky and not be able to knit for a few weeks.

Steampunk designing

So I am not getting that much done on this right now. Mostly because:

(a) I have been having some Yarn Shenanigans going on with my current project, the Kate Bustier. I did NOT like knitting with the yarn the top part of it uses, so I started subbing in some yarn I had around the house...then ran out of both colors I was going to use to sub in once I got to the sleeves....then bought a third replacement color that I still don't like...and now I just caved in and re-ordered another yarn to make the top out of in the first place. So the sleeves are taking me Quite Awhile and are being re-started over a lot.

(b) I fell down and skinned the crap out of my hands and knees and sprained my left pinky finger 2 weeks ago today. I could still type (though it hurt) and for obvious reasons, I couldn't completely call out of work "sick" for two weeks due to a sprained pinky, so I've still had to use it for that. But knitting with the sprained pinky...is surprisingly not that doable/kinda painful (apparently you use the left hand a lot more than I thought in continental style), so I've had to switch to crochet and cross stitch for the last two weeks. So Kate is on hold while I make some ah...crocheted leggings to cover up my leg wound. Maybe those count as steampunk? Maybe? I got another pattern and yarn for some lacier knit ones as well.

Anyway.... Thanks to a awesome half off on yarns sale Joann's had the other day, I have ordered yarn to design or make a steampunk skirt. It'll be the exact same yarns as I used in the Margarita sweater, since that yarn actually comes in bold colors for a DK weight. I kind of want to design my own skirt since I am not 100% satisfied with the options I've found. I want to make something ruffled and knee-length to mid-calf-ish. Possible inspiration patterns are:

• Sasha skirt. I own this pattern, but man, does it require tiny-ass needles, which means it will take forever to make, plus I'll have to order custom circulars in size 3 and 4, etc. Ugh. And that pattern is complicated. I'd like to have that kind of ruffled layering though.
• Notes on Ruffles (Ravelry link only). Pretty much plan on doing something like this, though I think the idea of sewing the knitted ruffles to a regular skirt pattern is kind of weird/complicated.
• Intolerable Cruelty. I've already made this, but I was thinking of making this as a base and then attaching ruffles to it.
• Another option is the Agnes (Ravelry link only) idea, which has a ruffled back end only a la this skirt I kept trying to make. I'm not sure if I want to do this in a knit pattern or not, but it's an idea.
• I also think the Ilse is cool with the ruched cords, though I think I am probably not good technically enough to pull off making it. 
• I like the idea of making an Ether Overskirt, though this pattern is no longer available.

Advent calendar, of sorts

In another example of "things I saw on the Internet that I wanted to try," I made a tarot advent calendar. I coincidentally came across a chunk of plastic wrap in the remnants bin at Joann's, so....
Notes on this project:

(a) You can't really iron plastic (all bunched up in the remnant) so well, as it tends to stick to itself. You'd better weigh it down with books. A few times. I ended up cutting maybe 35 or so pockets with an Exacto blade and then using the 30 that came out best. Plus it's easier to flatten the smaller pieces.

(b) Pinning plastic down is difficult. I ended up having to go out and buy fabric glue--I forget what brand, but as the original link points out, the glue will NOT hold the pockets very well for use anyway so it doesn't matter what brand. It basically tacked it down barely enough for me to sew the pockets on. You kind of end up having to drag the project through the feed dogs a lot and start over a lot, as of COURSE a sewing machine hates plastic.

(c) I used this rainbow stripey remnant fabric I had, which worked out great for lining up the squares.I figure I can use it all year round.

(d) I made 30 days worth of pockets and decided that if it was a month of 31 days, I'd just stick two cards in the last one. I could use it as a monthly "card of the day" thing.

(e) Dowels can be bought at the hardware store, not craft stores apparently. However, I don't do wood sawing, so I can't really trim mine down. Oh well.

Yes, these are kind of human saddlebags

 

So this isn't technically of my steampunk knitting (which I am running into trouble with, yet again...grumble....), but I wanted to try doing Gail Carriger's steampunk DIY pocket belt.. I actually found a pair of really short (like, capri?!) men's cargo pants at a thrift store that were suitable for cutting up. Except the pockets were so awesome and huge that I couldn't bear to cut them up so much...so I basically just saved the entire pocket area.

Yup, them's are saddlebags. They are kind of the strap-on equivalent of my Utilikilt, which has big enough pockets to hold a six-pack of beer or so.

I probably should have cut up the pockets more, but maybe I will if I find another suitable pair of semi-disposable cargo pants. Preferably in a better color than muck green. Obviously I haven't bothered to steampunk-bling 'em....maybe later.

May temperature scarves

Continued from here.

Here's Davis. Look at how warm it's getting! It's gone into the 90's (orange) on some days...but there was one freak day (Memorial Day) where it was in the 60's, for fuck's sake.

This is LA--where it did go over 80 for a few days and I put in the red for the 90's. It looks very strange compared to the limey-citrus-y look of the other colors.

Look at how many days it was in the 70's (green). Damn.

I do need to redo this as I apparently grabbed the wrong (bulkier) shade of white on the month divider, and it looks weird.

Bustle (now ruffle) skirt, round two.

I wasn't overly thrilled with how the bustle skirt came out--mostly it's just really tight to the point of "I feel kinda slutty walking out in this." So I still had some leftover fabric and decided to make another one. This one has 3 more inches of flare on the sides so it's less clingy, and I decided to just make six ruffles that go all the way around.

.
It came out a lot cuter, though this skirt is still really hard to photograph in this color (which is why the pics of me in it were kinda useless). I am pleased.

Just a tie-dyed T-shirt.

They had a "make a free shirt" event a few weeks ago. The fading is what happens when you don't use a mordant. Oh well.