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I got a Visa and I’m back home in Scotland now. While it was nice to spend extra time with my family, I am relieved to be back to my regulary scheduled life.
After all the waiting I had done in the past two months, I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the airport lounge for three hours with just a book. I took the chance and brought a (metal) crochet hook with me…and it passed through security twice!
Towards the time we were boarding, a woman near me said “Excuse me, are you knitting?” then seeing my project she said “Oh, it’s crochet. Because we’re not allowed to knit on planes”…She was a knitter and found out the hard way when her sweater got dumped from her needles at an airport earlier this year. That’s when I realised the advantage of just losing the hook! I said that I had read about several people who have successfully brought bamboo needles on. I suggested she tries again and to also bring a plastic canvass needle and extra yarn next time to work as a stitch holder if they do end up confiscating the needles.
So, I happily crocheted the hours away, relieved they did not take my hook because I was too anxious to focus on anything and needed my mind to wander into the sunset as I produced stitch after stitch…
Meet my new favourite outfit. I have been searching for a decent pair of khakis for a while- a good cross over pair for anything from picnics, teaching, and going out, to studying- and found them the other week for $4.
(If you pay close attention to this blog, you’ll notice that my “two weeks” in the US has turned into two months. An expired visa has kept me here a bit longer than I expected. It’s strange to know that governments think of our ‘home’ as the place represented by a passport rather than where one’s partner, pets, living room, team mates and studies are.)
The shirt is also a charity shop find- it was on the mannequin and I asked to try it on. It is oh so very soft and I love the colour, but the v-neck was just too low for my standards. Luckily, since I was still at my childhood home, I had plenty of lace to choose from. We have a lot of linen napkins both in our flat in Scotland and waiting here to be transported. There are several lace type napkins, however, that I think are more suited to furniture protection under objects. They have thus far stayed in the US. The napkins are special because they are all from Quaker Lace when my maternal grandmother worked at the factory in Philadelphia. I found one with a badly stained corner and used the opposite corner to update this shirt. I measured where it should fit, made a cut, machine hemmed the top, hand stitched the triangle to the shirt and machine satin stitched the edges of the lace inside the shirt.
Next up, is a necklace I made the other day. I was returning extra yarn at the craft store and something told me to turn back around once the money was in my hand…the same ’something’ guided me down the bead isle and I left with the charm and beads. The clasp was in my mom’s box of crafts so I like to tell myself I ’saved’ money. Still, I have worn this necklace a lot recently- and I like the green flecks in it since I wear a lot of that colour as well!
I’ve avoided blogging this for a while, building up the idea that I needed to say a lot about it.
I started sewing this when it was very warm, finished when it was cold, waited until 9 days of continual rain passed and then photographed it!
This material was once a kitchen curtain at my mom and dad’s. The light weight, almost gauze-y texture spoke to me and said it wanted to be something for warm weather.
This – VERY comfortable- shirt was sketched out and then made entirely by holding pieces of fabric up to myself, changing sizes and sewing it together. I lined the top half, used the factory hem as my bottom hem, and cut out the curtain’s accent stripe as mine.
I’m so crooked in the photos because I’m running back and forth for the self-timer! Click on the image to see it large on flickr.
When I started this blog two years ago, I was unsure about how long I would follow through with it. While I haven’t been the most regular poster I find that I now love this blog. It is my place to save my progress, inspiration and thoughts, not to mention the fact that it’s much easier to pull up the page and share projects without lugging around a book of scattered ideas!
Glancing back at the original post, I was surprised to see that I have basically avoided (excepting the occasional wagon-fall) purchasing new clothing for the past two years when I have second hand or hand made options available. I hadn’t realised that much time has passed, simply because it feels normal for me now. My confidence in my projects has also increased exponentially and I am now excited to give handmade gifts to everyone rather than a select few. Having friends that say No one gives gifts like me, or Everyone always loves my gifts (although of course these friends, being friends, are biased) definitely helps too! To set the scene for this blog-iversary (or whatever all those bloggin’ pros out there call it), here’s a shot of my recent 29th birthday cake!
Meet my new map necklace. It contains some of California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Idaho, Ontario and a smaller map of North America, and is long enough to drape around my neck twice. I love looking down and seeing little trees, the word “park”, an interstate sign, or half of a place name- it amazes me to think of all the locations rolled up into one bead and I think about the places I’ve been and those I’ve yet to discover…
I had a cut up road atlas sitting around in my old room at my mom and dad’s. The atlas originally supplied several special locations for a memory box I made for my partner back in 2004 and a few pages later became mail envelopes.
I’ve thought a few times about trying my hand at paper beads but this colourful and varied paper finally gave me the inspiration to start.
It is a very mindless activity and I constructed this while watching a DVD.
Not wanting to be strict about measurements, I used the half way mark on the map to guide me. I cut strips half way up the page (mine were 13cm), then cut them length-wise up the middle. I then cut each thin strip in half, width-wise at an angle. The beads are between just over a half a centimeter wide and 1cm.
With a paintbrush and some diluted elmers (just thicker than wet-ish, if that makes sense) on hand, I rolled a strip with the point on the outside, tapped the paper with glue solution and then rolled the bead in my fingers to seal.
Once they had dried, I painted them with thicker glue, again rolling between my fingers to ensure an even distribution. I also sealed about half of the beads with clear nail-polish. I didn’t find much difference between the two ’sealants’ but both required a double coat.
Here’s a photo of my mom holding me at 5 months old and sporting the crochet outfit mentioned in the previous post. Also, here are a few shots of my mom’s Mother’s Day shawl. I’ve wanted to make her a shawl for a while and wasn’t sure which weight to make until she said she has been chillier than usual even in warm-ish weather, so I made an early Spring type shawl! I used the increases in the Eva’s Shawl as a guide. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO THE BEST MOM EVER!
For the past week it has been too drizzly and overcast for me to photograph any of my recent crafting (and one will remain secret until Mother’s Day) so here’s a collection of crochet photos gathered from around me.
Going through my belongings while visiting my parents, I came across these Kewpies to realise that they wore crochet clothing. As a child, I don’t think I ever made the connection between the textures of their clothing and the crocheted blankets around the house. It seems there are even books with Kewpie patterns. While I remembered the doll in the second photo having curly yarn legs I also just realised that her entire visible body (there is a very small plastic doll inside with small arms and legs) is crochet. Unfortunately, my mom cannot remember the name of the woman who made these gifts for me. The day after photographing the pink doll, I came across a doll in a crochet dress at a thrift store and snapped a shot.
Kewpies
Here’s a peek at a blanket that matched an entire crochet outfit I had as a baby. It came with a loop-stitch cardigan, bonnet, and booties. I used the cardigan and bonnet on my Cabbage Patch Kids as a child and the booties held potpourri in my dresser drawers. The blanket had been tucked away with our other baby blankets and, I’m excited to report, is in fantastic condition. Here’s a shot of the blanket, but you’ll have to wait for Mother’s day to see the outfit!
Finally, my little sister – also a very crafty lady and the one who taught me to crochet the time it stuck – has started a blog to document her ventures in gardening, DIY and baking. Check her out at Young Wifey!
