t-shirt yarn knit necklace

its a bird its a plane its a...t-shirt? so if you read the last post about turning t-shirts into yarn I mentioned turning a teal t-shirt into some yarn that I began knitting. It was actually really nice to knit with and I ripped out what I had started and began again to make a thin (only 3 stitches) knit necklace. I'm wearing it know as a matter of fact. actually you will see a picture of me taken ten minutes ago if you scroll down a bit. Yes I am a total dork.... *face palm* sorry the pictures are a bit unfocused, the light is terrible today.. I may get M to take some better photos for me.. then again I may just get grumped at.

I really loved making this little scarflet/knitlace/knit necklace ... the whole process of cutting up an old shirt and turning it into yarn was really cathartic, and fun too. I'm off to dig through a bag of H's old clothes to see what t-shirts I can turn into little bits of yarn to make some potholders and whatever else I can dream up.

*sigh*

making t-shirt yarn

teal t-shirt yarn

In my wanderings on the interwebs a few weeks ago I found some t-shirt yarn on etsy.. .it looked lovely but it cost a small fortune, and as I'm not the best of knitters I put that idea on the back burner for another day in the distant future when my blogging has made me a fortune.....in other words never.

A few days ago I remembered about the t-shirt yarn and googled to see if there were any tutorials and found two great tutorials on Polka Dot Pineapple and Craft Passion (visit both sites because they are brilliant tutorials) to make t-shirt yarn. The t-shirt yarn tutorials used t-shirts with no side seams, I have plenty of old t-shirts I thought it would be a great idea...but on further investigation found that every single old t-shirt we have has side seams.

red and white t-shirt yarn

So I sat and grumped then thought of all the times I have broken yarn while knitting (quite a few times as I'm a bad knitter) so I decided to experiment and cut up an old red t-shirt of H's and tie strips of yarn together.... the strips were thick so the yarn was chunky but it worked and knit rather well while I sat with an iced latte in Starbucks. After the red I cut up one of H's white t-shirts, this time in thinner strips which when pulled out and tied together made a thinner more flexible yarn.

*My last attempt was a teal t-shirt of mine that was from Primark and as such the seams were crooked to begin with.

*I cut all the seams away and folded up the front rectangle of fabric and cut it into narrow strips. (they aren't all together even and my scissors decided to fall apart on me


*I then pulled all the strips out so that the fabric curled back on itself and carefully tied the strips together. I trimmed the loose knots and wound the t-shirt yarn into a ball.


*I started knitting with it, only a skinny scarf of 5 stitches across but I'm pleased with how it looks so far and will update when I finish the scarf.

Red Rock Wasted

this is me knitting at Crich

Today is World Wide Knit In Public Day so I brought some knitting with me on a picnic to Crich Stand, which is not too far down the road from here. Its a lovely day for sitting in the sunshine, and I though it was the perfect chance to do a small bit of knit graffiti. I have wanted to do some form of knit graffiti for awhile now but its hard to do when you don't actually knit that often.

this is a rock on my knitting

So I sat and knit and found a small rock to wrap my knitting around, and there you have it, one small knit rock. I clambered about and took a few pictures leaving the red knit rock on a section of dry stone walling. We were ready to go, when all the sudden H realized we didn't have the rock, I explained it was meant to stay there for someone else to find. Cue tears and drama, and H hugging the rock for dear life. *face palm* maybe next time. knit graffiti = fail

red knit graffiti covered rock and Crich Stand

the light at the top of Crich Stand

Crich Stand

PennyDog Knitting Needles

black glitter knitting needles (the wool is Noro Kureyon)

Look what Mr. Fluffy Haired Postie brought for me on Tuesday! Fantastically fabulous black glitter resin knitting needles handmade by the incredibly talented (and published) Kerry of PennyDog Jewellery . I will admit that I may have badgered her quite a bit that she needed to get black glitter for her resin knitting needles, I won't take all the credit or blame though as Dria and a few others also annoyed her as well.

I wasn't expecting them as a gift, even though she said she would send me something for the balls of yarn I sent her for display purposes. Its the loveliest thing about being a crafty blogger, how lovely everyone is in the blogging/crafting community, its enough to make one cry, or at least make me cry that there are so many like minded and helpful people out there. It is truly a wondrous thing.

Kerry do these knitting needles have a name? Black Glitter or something more emo or goth glam?

I can't wait to start knitting with them, I'm not sure what my knitting is only very simple, but I do need to knit a rock cover for the Knitted Nature knit Graffiti Challenge on Crafteroo.

Knitted Java Jacket Pattern

Owlish Java Jacket (the button was made by Sam)

materials

1 paper coffee cup for measurement
needles: US 8 (5.0mm)
yarn: 10 ply (I used Noro Kureyon I hd left over)
1 (owl or other vintage button)
yarn needle
needle and thread

Instructions

Cast on 15 stitches.

1st row: knit

repeat until the piece of knitting wraps around the cup tightly

bind off leaving a tail of yarn 10 in long.

sew the ends together using the tail end of yarn.

Then sew on your button or beads or any other embellishments you wish.

Take it to the coffee shop and slide it on your coffee cup.

Drink copious amounts of coffee/tea.

------------------------------------------------------

Its a quick, simple, and fun project that uses up any oddments of yarn that are hanging around your knitting stash. It can easily led its self to more complicated knitting methods, cables, lace, or even bobbles.

I'm sure there are plenty of other java jacket/coffee cozy patterns out there, crocheted or knit in the round if you have a good search. I'm a leftie and as such I tend to get muddled when reading any sort of pattern, but if I go my own way and make things up for simple items things seem to work out quite well. I do intend to teach myself to crotchet by making various java jackets and simple items.

Java jackets protect your hands from hot or icy drinks, feels pleasing to the touch and is the perfect environmental alternative to cardboard coffee sleeves.The sleeve will stretch to fit most paper coffee cups and is small enough to carry in your purse or pocket. Or can be worn on your wrist to the coffee shop, although M says they should be gold in colour and wear two of them like Wonder Woman. Maybe next time.

* more pictures can be found here from the first time I posted this tutorial/pattern. I started this java jacket awhile ago and kept forgetting about it until the other day when I dug out the owl button that Sam sent to me, its a perfect match I think.

Java Jacket Tutorial

java jacket

I love coffee and I love having my own little java jacket to put around my drink much to M's amusement so I thought I would write up a simple pattern and share it with you. Please be kind this is my very first pattern/tutorial.

materials

1 paper coffee cup for measurement
needles: US 8 (5.0mm)
yarn: 10 ply (I used Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in purple but any yarn will do)
2 vintage buttons
yarn needle
needle and thread

Instructions

Cast on 15 stitches.

1st row: knit

repeat until the piece of knitting wraps around the cup tightly

bind off leaving a tail of yarn 10 in long.

sew the ends together using the tail end of yarn.

Then sew on vintage buttons or beads or any other embellishments you wish.

Take it to the coffee shop and slide it on your coffee cup.

Drink copious amounts of coffee/tea.

------------------------------------------------------

Its a quick, simple, and fun project that uses up any oddments of yarn that are hanging around your knitting stash. It can easily led its self to more complicated knitting methods, cables, lace, or even bobbles.

I'm sure there are plenty of other java jacket/coffee cozy patterns out there, crocheted or knit in the round if you have a good search. I'm a leftie and as such I tend to get muddled when reading any sort of pattern, but if I go my own way and make things up for simple items things seem to work out quite well. I do intend to teach myself to crotchet by making various java jackets and simple items.

Java jackets protect your hands from hot or icy drinks, feels pleasing to the touch and is the perfect environmental alternative to cardboard coffee sleeves.The sleeve will stretch to fit most paper coffee cups and is small enough to carry in your purse or pocket. Or can be worn on your wrist to the coffee shop, although M says they should be gold in colour and wear two of them like Wonder Woman. Maybe next time.

Gothic Necklace

onyx and garnet necklace with bali silver s clasp

I have not gotten much quality crafting time this week but have managed a few projects here and there. The above necklace I made last night in an attempt to have something to do to calm me after a tiring day of H doing that testing of boundaries that 4 year olds do. In other words he ignores everything I say then ends up in trouble or hurting himself and it all ends in fits of temper, floods of tears or unending whining that drives me up the wall. So last night while M was working on the computer I got my beads out and made this vaguely gothic necklace, it sits right at the bottom of my neck just above my collar bones, I love the s shaped silver clasp, I haven't decided to keep it or put it up in the shop yet when I update it on Friday.

The Java Jacket is for a friend, The colour is this beautiful lavender wool, and I love the huge button, which is semi recycled as I found it in a parking lot and thought I would snaffle it before a car ran over it and it would be an ex button. I tend to find lots of things, its a habit of looking at the ground to find arrowheads and things when walking in the fields with my dad when I was small. We lived in upstate New York and the Iroquois native american people had lived in the area long ago, so whenever the local farmers tilled the fields you could find arrowheads, loosely napped pieces of flint, beads, bits of pipes, and other pieces of the past. It was a game and an adventure to go for walks with my dad and see what new treasures we could discover.

lavender java jacket with wooden button detail

Mother's Day

teal blue candy jade and ice flake quartz bracelet

amethyst, peridot, and silver bracelet

wooden beaded bracelet for Frizbe's DD2

Some how Mother's day, my supposed day of luxury turned out to be incredibly busy. H woke at 6:30 ish as usual. The M and H trooped downstairs, I had hoped to get a lie in but ten minutes later they were looming over me with coffee and cards. It was sweet but I can't help thinking sleeping till 9 would have been the best present. ;o)

M had booked a surprise, he had booked at table at Shottle Hall Country House Hotel
for a beautiful Mother's Day lunch. Gorgeous food but way too much to eat, I had spring pea soup for a starter, my main course was perfectly roasted beef with a red wine gravy and fresh vegetables, and my pudding was raspberry and hazelnut pavlova. M and his mum took H out to run wild around the gardens while I read the paper and enjoyed a coffee. Just before leaving the hotelier ( owner of the hotel) came to talk to us as she knows M as he has done weddings there and taken photos for them. She was very kind and let us have a look round the basement, because that is very exciting when you are 4 or just nosey like us.

After lunch we headed back to attend Frizbe's DD2's second birthday party. We gave her a bag of assorted peppa pig socks, drink bottle, pj's, and the little pink and green beaded bracelet above. Frizbe asked me to get some plastic bangles for her, but for some reason I could not find anything that I though she wouldn't strangle herself with, or wasn't horribly over priced so in the end I bought some wood beads and made an elasticated bracelet myself. With a little help from H, who strung 2 beads before wandering off, then returned to examine the finished bracelet. He proceeded to try it on then marched around the house wearing it for 20 minutes.

The Jewellery Tree

the jewellery tree

Today started out on a rather sour note but I'm in better spirits now, which migth have something to do with the can of coke I just swigged down, or the fact that I can see actual real sunshine for the second day in a row. In any event todays crafting hour could have gone better, I stuck with it till the bitter end but I'm a little frazzled now.

The only bracelet I made that I didn't manage to have some minor disaster with was the amathyst one, its very simple and went together beautifully. The ruby fuschite one has a rogue bead on the end that dosent match the rest, the garnet I measured wrong so its small and will only fit a small wrist. Which is definitly not mine. The coloured jade one was the 4th or 5th attempt at a new jade and amathyst that went horrifically wrong, and now its jade coins instead. They or at least some of them may go up in the shop later. I think I will get some nice safe knitting out and see if I manage to not poke my eye out.

I'm making pizza for dinner, from scratch, I made tomato and red pepper soup yesterday so that will be today's pizza sauce. I have never made pizza dough before but based on todays disasters I have some frozen pizza in the freezer just to be on the safe side. Oh I forgot to say about the little wire jewellery tree, I found it in the lovely little shop at Caudwell's Mill yesterday. Its very sweet displays my bracelets nicely.

oval shaped amathyst bracelet

three colours jade bracelet

ruby fuschite and silver bracelet

garnet and silver bracelet

Guilty Displeasure

java jacket

Not a lot has happened this weekend, I knit two java jackets, with a third half done and I made the blue apatite stone beaded bracelet below. The colour is this gorgeous teal blue, I found the beads at Spellbound Beads in Lichfield on Saturday. It was a lovely bead shop, lots and lots of beads to choose from, and nice to be able to see real stone beads and handle them in person as you don't always know what you are getting when you order online. Which can sometimes be a pleasant surprise. I coveted the apatite beads as soon as i found the string, I just have to have them even though I had already spent my supposed shopping money on a beautiful rutilated quartz pendant from Kizon Jewellery. Its a great little jewellery shop in Lichfield and I always buy more than my husband would like. Normally I just hand over the item and say its for my birthday/mother's day/Valentines/Christmas so he can't complain too much.

As for the bead shop the only complaint I have is that they sold most of the semi-precious beads on strings only which meant that I could not afford most of the more expensive stones because £37.50 is just too far out of my budget, though I could have stretched to buy a half dozen of the beads. Maybe if the Etsy shop does well then I might be able to have a play with the gorgeous beads they had on display.

In other news I had my very first item sold on Etsy, the Madison smoky quartz bracelet in the previous posting! *happy dance* I'm off to the post office next to send it out. And later if I can get any decent photos I will add the java jackets and the apatite bracelet to the shop.

Now as to the post title.. guilty displeasure... last night M and I indulged in the essence of couch potato-dom... we sat and watched American Idol.. the auditions with the weirdos naturally... well he sat and grinned while I hid my face because I can only watch so much cringworthness... much to M's utter amusement on many occasions of watching comedy movies... I can sit through any horror movie just fine (well maybe not those Ring movies as they just not pleasant viewing), but make me watch some embarrassing scene and I'm cowering in the corner.

and to go with our cultural devolution our viewing was accompanied by Ben and Jerry's Half baked ice-cream, if you are going to fall form grace you should do it with style. or chocolate at the very least.

blue apatite bead bracelet

Java Jackets and Garnet Bracelet

three strand garnet bracelet

I've not done much crafting as I have a bit of a cold and am waiting on an order of beads but I will be adding this bracelet to the shop as well as the java jacket that I knit while in Idaho, I hope to try to knit a few more to add to the shop, that have to be more people out there addicted to coffee than just me and M... right? and its environmentally friendly to not take the cardboard one that is offered.

Idaho java jacket

Ooh I have just been distracted by the postman bringing me beads and a package from GingerMonkey!

Two Bracelets and a Toy's Scarf

three strand garnet bracelet

white onyx and chinese painted bracelet

Peanut butter's new scarf

I managed to make the two bracelets this morning while H was comatose curled up on M's lap watching the wonder of "How It's Made" on the discovery channel, it was swords and clocks so it was very very good. M has promised to take some "Proper" pictures of my bracelets with a "proper" camera for my forthcoming Etsy shop. He thinks its a good idea, and is considering doing something with his pictures too.

Chinese Painting Beads

chinese painting semi-precious gemstone bracelet

My creativity has taken a bit of a nosedive today with the weather being so gray and miserably outside, and the onset of a headache that defies all medication. Luckily I made the above bracelet last night with Chinese painting semi-precious gemstone beads that I ordered with my hoarded Christmas returns money. I'd not heard of the stone previously but when I saw them on the bead website I was so intrigued that I had to have them to play with. I think they are gorgeous anyway.

I also finished knitting a small card holder out of a scrap of teal wool that was lurking in the bottom of my knitting box. If this headache recedes I plan to do some sketching for some paintings in the living room, M says the pair that are up that match the red/burgundy rug are too small for the wall so they must go. which is a shame because I like the pair even if they are too small.

knitted card holder

Blue Rose

Its a small knitted rose brooch, well it will be a brooch when i get the backing on. The image is clearly crap the lighting is no good and it defies any attempt on my part to get a decent picture so I have left it for now and am vaguely watching Mary Poppins with H. The rose was made with some left over silk garden that was hiding in the bottom of my yarn stash, its a beautiful yarn but the bottom edge does turn into that bright acid yellow/green that is all the rage now and that I can't wear without looking like a zombie out of a Romero film, that is half dead and not so fresh. I have more knitting to do that I have been all out ignoring in favour of beads, I'm sure I'll get round to it soon. If I can actually make up my mind on what to knit, and what sort of pattern.

Knit Flower Brooch

I knit this little flower brooch yesterday, and attached the backing today, admittedly not very well, I must remember to borrow a proper camera off M as this is the best my phone could do. It looks much better than the image suggests. Honest.

Dragonfly Scarf

Its not much to look at but I just finished knitting this little scarf last night, made with Noro Silk Garden, its a simple knit skinny scarf with obvious tassely bits on the ends. I fell in love with the wool and just had to make something with it and other than the coffee cup warmer! I wore it today but didn't quite have the nerve to take my picture wearing it. On my needles now is a grey and white spiders web scarf, and um that's about it but I do need to work on my stash and I have set myself the goal of learning to knit a simple lace design this week, we shall see how well that goes.

Oh and H wants a red scarf to match his red and black winter coat, and I want to get a bigger set of circular needles and attempt to knit a hat again, perhaps this time it wont go diabolically wrong. and I want to make some wrist warmers, though I'm not sure what wool and who for.

Putting aside the knitting for now I have some canvases that are in desperate need of a repaint, and first paint on a few, and also need homes for some of them so if I get brave enough I might put one up for sale or trade in the next few weeks. *fingers crossed and brave face on*

Odd Shaped Cookie

IF ever there was a way to describe me odd shaped cookie would probably fit quite well depending on what day it is. Today H and I made some chocolate chip cookies, the recipe? Toll House of course the only chocolate chip cookie recipe as far as I'm concerned. Real home comfort food, or it would be if my parents' oven didn't loath me for reasons known only to itsself, The turned out ok, though a little bit malformed as the cookie dough didn't spread out to form nice cookie shapes it just sorta stayed mostly rather lump shaped. They tasted good though so thats really all that mattered, H is happy and flying around the room on a chocolate and sugar induced high.

I have also been learning to knit cables, or one cable or something, i'm not hip to the knitting lingo, but I think I have gotten the hang of it so far, its only a small piece and will probably end up as a cup holder (what are those cardboard things called at Starbuck's?) for M. I hope to attempt something new and craft worthy soon, maybe even try the dreaded knitted pattern, and hopefully do better than the tangled mess I got into last time I attempted such a thing.

Next trip out of the house I hope to go to Boucle's.....yarn ( http://www.bouclesyarn.com/ ) I went there about six moths or so ago on our last trip here and it was lovely, lovely beautiful yarns, though I only got about ten minutes before M and H were getting fed up waiting in the car. five more sleeps and M will be here, so that will make H a very happy boy, and thats means many trips out for coffee and bookshops and music stores and cinnabuns oh mi.

Idaho Cup Warmer

I'm not exactly sure if its right to call it a cup warmer, maybe a cup holder instead but I just finished it and thought I would share. Not bad for being jetlagged and tired. The wool is some Noro Silk Garden that I have been touting around and trying to figure out what to make with it. This is obviously only the beginning of the ball of wool but I wanted a really small project to do and as this goes perfectly with a cup of coffee well then what could be better. H and I are recovering slowly and managed to sleep till 4:30am almost heaven..well its not quite so hellish anyway. I don't know what to do with the rest of the wool, I'm tempted to make another cupholder for M when he gets here in 9 days, though I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want a flower charm on it. I'll have to have a think about that. ITs very foggy and misty this morning, that would probably have to do with being so near to the lake, Hopefully it burns off quickly becuse we have promised to take H to one of the playgrounds today if he is a good boy. and based on how he is acting now thats a big IF.

The Deepest Greys are Grey

Ok I have not been on my laptop for pretty much a week and to be honest I haven't really done very much craftwise, knitting wise or even painting wise, but I did go on a one day novel writing course with frizbe last saturday. It was the first time in a very long time that I have devoted a day to me and myself and I. A day to really look at the process of writing a novel and It was a very good day for me with much praise to Daniel Blythe for presenting such a great 1 day writing course. And I actually talked and participated in group discussion. I didn't just hide behind more gregarious and entertaining people. I would have thought that by age 30 I would be able to speak a bit more freely and not be so shy about things but its still such hard work to speak out and make eye contact. Maybe one day I will be a bright and outgowing person, but for now I'm happy to have gone along on the course and spoke a little bit.

Obviously I haven't had a chance to be on the computer, no mumsnet either thank you very much, but I have managed to make some brownies in a haphazard fashion. Meaning I had only two eggs and every recipe I had called for 4, so i used some melted chocolate and cream and they eventually came out great to eat but rather fugly.

We have had a few family days out to the zoo on tuesday, and to York thursday, had a lovely time both days except for the excruiating hour spent at the National Railway Museum in York, H loved it M took aome video of H running around like a maniac from train to train, It was quite horrifyingly, mind numbingly boring but it was cute to watch H looking at all the train engines, its definitly one of those places for granddads to take grandsons and leave mums at home with a nice cup of coffee and a few magazines.

I started a new scarf type thing last week but it only has a few rows to it but I like the wool and seem to have a grey thing going on recently. I guess grey is the new black. I'm off to go paint I think.. or make a cup of coffee, its a very fine line. meh.

Firefly

Here it is, two months late for Meg's birthday but I have finally finished Firefly scarf. I'm quite happy with how it has turned out, especially the little pocket detail.

The scarf isn't from a pattern I designed it myself, it was really quite simple and I think the noro wool really speaks for itself. Plus I'm totally hopeless at understanding knitting patterns, I just like to sit down and knit while watching CSI, body counts and knitting needles what could be better. I hope Meg likes it, and will use it when it actually gets chilly in Northern California. It was a good little project and I haven't got a clue what I will do next, probably another scarf or something to that extent as I have quite a stash of wool that could do with shrinking down a bit.

Below is a picture of the sketch I drew for my scarf design, If you didn't read the previous post about this scarf then I'll say again that I took inspiration from the show Firefly (Serenity the movie) and wanted to make something that I thought would fit right into the show. Because both Meg and I watched the show and loved it, and besides some of the other tv shows that we have in common might have ended up with something a bit to goth (supernatural, angel, buffy) or too geeky (star trek(s)) ;o) .. could have always done something from one of the god-awful movies that we used to watch over and over again when we were in high school, though I don't think Earth Girls Are Easy lends well to knitting.

a very sketchy sketch

I'll get around to posting it to you later this week Meg!