Refurbish

I am nearly done with my first dresser and I stopped by the hardware store. The Crafty Beaver (I know I laughed at the name the first time I heard it too) is wonderful! The sales guy knew exactly what I needed and advised me. 

Tomorrow I hope to finish stripping the dresser drawer and put on the finish!!! I am so excited. 

Project madness

I have made some progress on my projects. I went a little picture crazy. 

First up is my refurbishing. The only way to explain how hideous the bed set is would be to walk around my room. The next best thing of course is a picture. I have 3 pieces in this set but since the dresser was the one easiest to photograph I decided to go with it. Please disregard Bonnie the Bunny She begged to be pictured... who could say no to something so cuddly? 

I don't know if the picture properly shows it but the paint is a light peach with some scary peach highlights. This was the best one I could get due to lighting difficulties. Don't worry. You are not imagining things the right drawer is taken out and is currently being stripped.

This is currently my work station. See that beautiful wood underneath the paint!! I know. I was excited too. But that's not the best part. The ornate parts of the dresser are also a beautiful brass.

As you can see the left knob has not been cleaned of grossness but the right one has. OMG this is going to be so beautiful!

I could resist adding this detail from the drawer I am working on. It's different and neat. I can't wait to see what it will look like without all that gunk ahem.. I mean paint on it.

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My next project is taking shape. I felt the need to be creative. I wanted to make a scarf that screamed to the world I AM NOT VANILLA I CAN BE RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE RUM! Ok I realize that would be a nasty combo and it is not the name of my new knitting project. So without further ado.. 

I took this ball and turned it into

I cord. I did some google searching to find out if anyone else had this bright idea and what they came up with. Unfortunately I did not like anything I found. I searched my pattern books tried a few things but I kept thinking how much I wanted something twisty. 

My WIP. I know the picture isn't the clearest but you get the general idea. Don't worry much more updates to come!!! 

Where Did She Go?

Hiya everyone,

I took a little break from knitting because of summer and then well.. I just got lazy. 

I am currently working on three projects that I am pretty excited about. I am breaking my own rule of not doing more than one project at a time. I unfortunately do not have pictures and I am kicking myself in the butt for that. 

Project 1: Knit a hat and scarf combo that will be fashionable and actually cover my ears/ keep me warm. I have been using yarn from my stash. So far the hat is perfect and I am working on the scarf. 

Project 2: Crochet a blanket. I decided to go back to my roots of fiber work and crochet. The blanket is stripped with brown, tope, and forest green. The inspiration for it came from my boyfriend. He seems to have an unnatural obsession with stripes. So I have dubbed this project "The Marty". I plan to make matching pillows and have this be a bed spread.

Project 3: Refurbishing my bedroom furniture. For some crazy ass reason my mom decided a long time ago that she would make her bedroom peach and cover the beautiful wood dresser, night-stand and upright dresser with peach paint and peach accents. It's horrible. I have lived with this furniture since I was about 12 years old. I have always wanted to change it but thought it would be too big of an undertaking. Well it's 6mo until moving in time with the boyfriend and I have decided the peach has got to go! I am about 1/2 way done with one dresser drawer. I've been using nail polish remover and a tooth brush to get the yuck off. It's been working great. I will never understand peoples need to paint wood...

Project 4: Organize and reduce clutter. This is a mini project. It actually is taking a lot more time then I thought it would and I am getting a bit tired of it. My room alone is on day 4 of organizing and I'm ready to pull my hair out. I am dreaming of the day when it's all done and I can just sit in bed and read/ knit...

So those are my three and one mini currently working on projects. I want to update more frequently and post pictures. I love reading blogs and the more I read them the more I want to update my own. Perhaps it will stimulate my creative juices. :)

Some Yarn thoughts

Yarn

Recently I have been thinking over my yarn snob tendencies... I've realized something. One of my all time favorite sweaters that I made a couple of years ago was acrylic. Not only does it hold it's shape well but it has been through the washing machine and hasn't changed size. While I still am batty over the more expensive natural yarns (wool, angora, silk, bamboo, cashmere)... I am starting to see that acrylic may have a new spot in my rotation. As I design I have noticed I have an extra bit of pressure on me to create something fantastic with the expensive stuff. I absolutely cannot mess it up. So I went to Michael's craft store and picked up some cheap wool/nylon, cotton/ acrylic blends and some other acrylic goodness. The yarn is soft and has a great elastic quality that wool has. 

I've also decided to follow from one sweater to the next using the techniques in Sweater Design in Plain English to learn as much as possible. 

Hand Care

I don't know if any of you suffer from dry hands or cuticles but I have found that  the burts bees hand repair kit (with awesome cotton sleeping gloves) really helps make your hands look nice and fresh. I use my hands a lot and they tend to look worn. So with this at my side I look like I get manicures regularly and my hands stay soft and nice.

Tip- Summer Knitting

We all know it's coming. And it's going to get rough keeping your hands dry. My suggestion from poking around the internet and trying different things... use needles that are not metal the wetter your hands the less likely the yarn will slide. I have a set of Denise knitting needles that are plastic and are nice on the hands. Plus I do not run into the problem of the yarn either slipping off the needles or getting stuck. Another trick I've learned is washing your hands frequently then using baby powder after drying to keep your hands dry. It works for a babies bum why not your hands! The only draw back to this is constantly having to get up and wash your hands. I've tried just putting on the powder when my hands get sweaty. It doesn't work. You need fresh clean hands. 

Pictures?

I'll have some pix of finished projects soon. Boyfriend is coming over this weekend so he'll be a big help there. I'll try to be more consistent in my updating.

If you don't like it... frog it!

update on Strife. It is completely finished. It's amazing and beautiful and I love it. This is the first completely Mel designed sweater... no formula just me and my body measurements :D

I have a bad pic that'll have to do for now. 

Kermit is currently back on my to be finished project list. I didn't like how the armpits fit... I kept having to readjust everything so it looked right. I'm so over high maintenance clothing. So here's a vague photo of the surgery... 

I'm super proud of myself. I always wondered how everyone got the perfect fit out of sweaters. I always felt like if I worked this hard I don't want to undo anything and end up working harder. I never understood how they got it to look so perfect. Now I get it... if you are unhappy with it... and you're probably not going to wear it anyway might as well experiment until you get it right. News flash to ME ----> I'm the one wearing it. DUH! anyway enough berating myself. This is what this blog is for. Taking risks... making things that I enjoy wearing. 

Pinking pinkerton may be next on the list of things that will be frogged and redone. In the mean time I'll keep you guys posted and perhaps if my boyfriend is feeling generous he'll take some pix for me to post for you guys of strife. :D

New Sweater

Hello. I drew... I did math... and now I am nearly done with my new V neck sweater with short sleeves. I am naming it Strife because I was knitting it when I was completing finals and it is striped ! Anyway I am leaving for Vegas tomorrow and will not be able to update there. I'll be back on the 20th with more picture goodness!

If I finish Strife by tomorrow I'll try to take a picture... 

Measure, draw, knit!

I now have my measurements. Turns out I am not a square shape as I thought before I'm an hourglass. I am so hot! 

Anyway now that I know my body I'll be able to get everything a bit more fitted. I'm thinking of doing a drawing of myself like large to scale and then going to kinkos and shrinking it down so I have a little Melissa Doll... that way I can see if a design would look good on me and yadda yadda... 

Up next: Happy hands and tools of the trade. :)