The shrug is done!

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

Sleeves in the same spirit as the sweater seen on Top Gear, but a shrug was much easier (and quicker) to complete than a sweater. Now that I have the lace pattern down pat, I might try a sweater version in the future… whenever my head is ready to do the math needed for the right shaped sweater.

Besides, I wear shrugs more often. This works!

Making a Captain Liberty T at SCRAP

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

In demand and happening again! This time with an added bonus: Clothing swap, too!

SCRAP is hosting a Clothing Swap and Modification workshop on Sunday, May 16th, 2010 from 1-4pm. This event is open to all people, all sizes, and all ages. Please bring any clean, gently used clothing that you would like to swap or modify. We will provide all of the tools, materials, and expertise needed to repair or embellish your new finds!

Re-fashion something from your closet into something more fun! There will be multiple DIY stations available to transform your threads from drab to fab! Bows, thread, floss, buttons, decals, studs, trim, patches and other materials are provided. Embroider, knit, applique, sew, or faux screen print your item back to fantastic!

A plethora of project ideas are available if you need a little bit of inspiration for alteration. Everyone is invited! No previous crafting experience necessary.

Suggested items to swap or work on: Shirt, skirt, jacket, hat, pants, shoes (canvas is easiest), gloves, bag, etc.

Only $5 for a new wardrobe! Leftovers at the end of the day will be donated to the West Women’s and Children’s Shelter. Feel free to drop by!

SCRAP Creative Reuse Center

Lime green sweater

Aaron and I have been massively hooked on Top Gear as of late, and watching as many episodes as Netflix has available on demand.  In the episode with the race between a Bugatti Veyron and a Eurofighter Typhoon, there is an audience shot where a gal in a *gorgeous* lime green sweater is standing directly behind the host.  I really want one of these sweaters, and it doesn’t look impossible to make.

[oddball geekiness]

Since all of the clips I reviewed on YouTube left this audience portion out, I queued it up on our Xbox and took a picture of my TV screen with my point and shoot camera.  Not the most technically advanced way to do it, but I’m not sure if the image would have been much better for my purposes if I had done a regular screen shot *if* I could have found the video.

[/oddball geekiness]

Yarn

At first I thought it was a shrug, but at second glace it is looking like a shrug-style short sweater.  The long cuffs are pretty obviously knitted, as is the collar and edging.  I am pretty sure that the collar and edging are folded over for double thickness.  The cuffs might be, too.  It’s the sweater part itself that has me a bit puzzled.  It sort of looks crocheted, but it might be knitted.  Perhaps with really large needles?  My knitting skills are infinitely better than my crochet skills, so it would be better for me if I can figure out a way to knit this.  I dug through my knit stitch pattern books, and didn’t see anything that even remotely resembled this look.  I used to have a sweater sort of like this, and it was definitely crocheted.  This might be the right time to hone my crochet skills.

I’ve thought about subbing in some other lacy patterns, possibly the skull lace pattern I used for my kitchen curtains, but I really like the “hole-y” look of this sweater.  I know how to knit simple lace, but I’ve never tried to make lace with holes this large.

Once I figure out the motif to use, I still need to make some decisions on construction.  The last shrug I knitted was done wrist to wrist, sewed the sleeves together, and then cast on edging for the collar.  This looks more complicated than that.

Someone donated a decent sized stash of beautiful lime green yarn to SCRAP this week, which I am taking as a sign from the deities that I need to at least *try* to re-create this sweater. I started with some gauge swatches last night, but I am going to do some more hunting for patterns I can modify so I don’t I overwork the limited amount of yarn.  This might warrant a trip to the library, which would probably give more direction than the internet.  There are some really terrific knitting sites out there (I *heart* Knitty) but sometimes I just really need to flip through some books for ideas.

Re-Fashion Clothing Mod Night

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

Re-fashion something from your closet into something more fun! There will be multiple DIY stations available to transform your threads from drab to fab! Bows, thread, floss, buttons, decals, studs, trim, patches and other materials are provided. Embroider, knit, applique, sew, or faux screen print your item back to fantastic!

A plethora of project ideas are available if you need a little bit of inspiration for alteration. Everyone is invited! No previous crafting experience necessary.

Please bring one of these items to work on: Shirt, skirt, jacket, hat, pants, shoes (canvas is easiest), gloves, bag, etc.

April 8, 2010 from 6- 8 pm at SCRAP Creative Re-Use Center. 2915 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, Oregon. $7 workshop fee includes DIY materials, wine, and snacks. Cash only – 100% of workshop fee goes to benefit SCRAP. Hosted by Jennifer Alvin.

These were supposed to be the coolest geek gift ever.  They will be, eventually.  The stuff I got that I had to wear gloves to use and claimed to be etching cream was really just glorified translucent paint.  Temporary paint, at that.  Plus, I discovered that the sticky paper I used for masking is nearly impossible to remove after sitting for the ten days the “etching cream” needed to set.

Will pick up some of the Armour etching cream (which is supposed to work in hours, not days) in the near future.  Will test it out on these glasses before buying a new set of glasses and starting this all over again.

I had pinged Aaron’s friends to help me find good image sources for all of the Lantern symbols, agonized over how to get the symbols printed onto the right masking paper, then spent several hours cutting out the stencils with my Xacto knife.  The good news it that I know how to do this now, and have an electronic copy of the stencil patterns I used.  The bad news is that I need to cut all the stencils out again.  I haven’t seen any Cricut Green Lantern cartridges yet.  (Not that I actually own a Cricut…  Not a scrapbooker, either.)

It’s been a busy holiday season.  I baked several batches of the Oatmeal Orange cookies to send to my family, adapted a canvas bag into a laptop sleeve with a  “screenprinted” (read: freezer paper stencil and fabric paint) Marilyn silhouette, made lavender sachets, and sewed a flouncy dress-up skirt for my niece.  Oh, and knitted scarves for three people.  I had brought the scarf project for my MIL with me on our annual coastal Thanksgiving trip to work on because Aaron promised me if I told his Mom that I was making it for someone else, she wouldn’t make the connection that it was for her.  The yarn I used is a gorgeous teal color, and at one point she pointed out, “You know, that is my favorite color.”

At this point I bluffed and told her, “Gosh, I thought it was baby blue.”  This did not go over well.

I was fortunate enough to be with her in person when she opened the gift at Christmas, and just as Aaron promised, she was very surprised!  She told me she had spent the better part of Thanksgiving weekend wistfully looking at the scarf and wishing she had responded when I sent out the email asking for Christmas gift hints.  Apparently very few people sent me hints because they were worried that I was already overwhelmed with hints.

Made the ultimate impulse purchase last week of a gorgeous set of Weeping Angel paintings inspired by the Doctor Who episode, Blink.  Skelekitty rocks! She and I became friends on Flickr recently, bonding over our mutual love of funny signs.  After continually missing out on Erica Moen’s sculptures that are getting snapped up as soon as they are posted, I did not want to miss out on these paintings.  Literally took me several hours to hang them because I measured, put up sticky notes, eyeballed it, and re-measured probably three times before I finally started hammering nails into the wall.  They look fabulous in my living room, and I couldn’t be happier.

Outside of starting the Lantern glasses again, I am also working on socks for Aaron, socks for Nana, and finishing off the projects for Laura and Chris that should have been finished months ago.  One of these days my crafty space needs a serious re-org.  All of this is dependent on me not getting too sucked into Catan or Katamari Forever.  Kingdom of Loathing is also a dangerous potential distraction, but I haven’t been as interested since Crimbo season ended.  Oh yeah, and I am starting up belly dance again in a few weeks, and spending more time with Wii Fit Plus.  Not much free time these days, but in a very good way.

This is my third year participating in the bazaar, and I am consistently amazed with the variety of items for sale.  There are 25 vendors vendors this year. Trilliam Artisans will also have a presence at the bazaar.

All items in the bazaar are made from at least 75% recycled materials.

Shop locally!  Support local artisans!  Pick up unique holiday gifts that you won’t find anywhere else.

SCRAP (School and Community Recycling Action Program)
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2009
Time: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Address: 2915 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97212
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Tattooed bracelets

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

Outside of the varnish, these are 100% recycled materials. I started with paper grocery bags. These were cut into long strips, folded, then looped to the size of a bracelet. The one on the left used cereal box cardboard as a base.

They each got about three layers of paper mache, then had to dry for about a week. In the meantime I cut up a tattoo magazine for decoupage.

Once they were dry, I decorated them with the magazine clippings. Several layers of varnish (and even more drying time!) they are ready to go.

These will be for sale at SCRAP’s holiday bazaar this Saturday December 19th.

Frank’s photo frame

Originally uploaded by illusionary_one

I’ve been clipping pictures out of magazines to put in the picture frames I’ve been putting together for the SCRAP Holiday Bazaar (Saturday December 19th from 11am – 5pm), and this one fits so well I could see someone buying it and not changing out the photo.

Rescued frame was re-painted then embellished with the bottle caps I was selling as magnets at the Halloween bazaar.

Think I should make more of these!