{My New Computer!!}

Mr. Pie built me a brand new computer from just parts! They came in little sepatate boxes and he turned it in to a working piece of equipment! It's beautiful!

Not everything loaded yet, of course, but I look forward to nerding out on some MMO's soon!! (If you don't now what an MMO is, then I'm too embarassed to tell you! hehehe!) ;)

My Mr. Pie is the best EVA!

{I did it! I Did It!}

I stenciled cute t-shirts! Both of these were clearance at Walmart for $2 and $3 respectively. Good for practice right? Well it worked! I used the exact same method as the tutorial I posted yesterday, only with my new fabric paint. I had a terrible time finding the NOT puffy paints, or 3D paints, or whatever. I had to go to Michael’s to get the regular looks-like-acrylic-but-doesn’t-wash kind of fabric paint. Takes a ton longer to dry, too!

just after removing the stencil

After 3 hours of drying I tried it on and I love it!

Close Up

Drying with Cardboard

Tried it on!

Close up

These were totally the results I was looking for: cute, cheap, original t-shirts. Which one to wear tomorrow? Hmmmmmmm...

{Another New Craft}

It was by no means my intention to fall in love with yet another craft to suck up all my extra time. but it's happened. I found Stenciling. I didn't mean to, I swear! My knitting projects are going to be so mad! ;)

First I thought of stenciling because I really want cute graphic t-shirts like the ones here or here, but I don't want to pay that much for them. I want them to be like... Walmart cheap. Except cute and original. Which pretty much means I'll be making them myself right?

But first I had to practice. I don't have any fabric paints yet, but I DID have acrylics and I DID have burlap. So of course I dove right in!

First I found a cute graphic and traced it on to this little stencil plastic I bought:

Then, being very careful with a craft knife I slowly (oh so slowly!) cut out the design:

Sprayed the back with spray adhesive (not sure if this'll work for my t-shirt, but it worked fine on the burlap):

Once firmly affixed, I chose my colours, some foam brushes and a plastic lid for paint application. I forgot to put cardboard behind this one! It's not that important since i was on this broken cutting board I use for crafts, but if I had been on my table I would have been mad. lol It bled through like crazy!

I just dabbed dabbed dabbed until when I peeled it off, it looked like this! I layered some colours to get some blending:

I've never been much of a fine artist, but this was so easy! You didn't even have to stay in the lines! To be honest, this particular design required a little bit of touch up with a little brush on the branches, then I put in the little pink centers with another brush. Cute, right??

Then I just swapped them out with the calendar pages that were getting old and tired in my dining room. TA-DA!!

So many possibilities! I'm seeing lamp shades, pillows, backs of bookcases! What do you think??

Entered in:

{Knitting Updates}

For anyone that visits my site often, you've probably noticed that there are a couple of projects that have been hanging out on my "Projects in Progress" bar for a while. Since it's by no means my intention to have a bunch of UFO's sitting around, I have decided I will be accountable to you guys - my friends in the blogosphere - to keep me honest!

This one has been up there the longest. It's my Hey Teach! cardigan that I started the first weekend of January while we were in the cabin. I think I stalled on it because it was cold out and I wouldn't be able to wear it. And oh yeah... I'm totally scared that I'm going to get done and the dang thing's not going to fit. I haven't made a garment yet for myself that worked out! As you can see, though, I'm running out of excuses because spring is here... and I've got both sleeves, the back and most of one front knit already.


This is the Modern Log Cabin Blanket in it's current state. I've been working on this one slowly, but had a few hours in the car over the past week to get a couple of blocks done. It'll be about oh... Christmas probably, by the time it's totally complete. hehe


and this is a new one that I haven't shown you yet. It's just a pretty cotton lace cloth that I threw together in a couple hours last night while watching TV. The problem is that I think it's too pretty to get dirty. lol So I got to thinking... what if I make like 40 more, crochet them together, and then back them with a pretty cotton fabric? I could just make a couple whenever I felt the urge... How big is a typical a typical afghan, anyway?


The reason these have been left unfinished? I think I've fallen in love with another craft. There can be room for two, right? Do I have to be monotonous with one single craft? And I'll have you know I blame it all on you guys! Always with your positive encouragement! I just couldn't leave well enough alone! hehehe

Here's a preview:

{Driving Me Bonkers....}

Okay... like three weeks ago (or maybe it was two...) somewhere in blog-land someone posted a FANTASTIC website for searching a government database of old old images that had no copywrites anymore. It was a HUGE site! The blogger had some cute black and white pictures of women in swimsuits in the 50's in her post.

I didn't bookmark this site! HELP! Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

{An FO As Promised!}

This is my shawlette all finished! I decided in the end not to do the leaf edging and to save that for when I have some great green yarn to use. Instead I tried out some new crochet trim and I think it's perfect! Girly and kinda lacey. What do you think? :)

{Cleaning Con't}

We are both sore but the house feels soooooooo goooooooooooooooood! As you can see, the kittens were even pooped out. ;)

I even got some crafting in! I decided my new clean dining room table needed a new table runner. Since i don't have a sewing machine, these were done with Stitch Witchery. I decided after I took these photos that I didn't really like the birds, so I took them off and left just the ruffle as my "something girly."



So here it is on my table now:
It may need a little ribbon trim or something, but I haven't decided, so for now it's just a little something new. Be sure to come back tomorrow, I have an FO to show you! YAY!

{Cleaning!}

We're taking a short break at the moment before we dive in to the next couple rooms of cleaning. But here's picture evidence of the work we put in yesterday and this morning:

Before: Dingy Cabinets, the top being used for storage, and the kitty litter box down beside (you can just see the top of the litter bag)


After: bright white cabinets, a recycling bin where the kitty litter box was moved from, and no storage on the top of the cabinet because....


... we installed a new shelf in our laundry/pantry closet! This is right in the kitchen too - you can see the folding door closed in the photo above. We always had the wire shelf there but now we have the "stuff we don't need to get to very often" shelf. I also moved all the canned storage in to here too so we can see what we have and what we need to buy. (note to self: need more chicken stock.)

I'm LOVING this!


more updates to come! :)

ps - I have no idea why the washer had to be installed sideways. The dudes who delivered and installed them put it that way. *shrug*? It looks weird in the picture, though. lol

{Stress}

I've been feeling pretty anxious this morning, slightly better now that I've talked it through with Mr. Pie. Sometimes the minutia of big projects can overwhelm me and tomorrow marks the start of our week-long cleaning project. Tomorrow will be mostly a fun day in Roanoke where we'll see a movie, have some lunch and make a stop at the lowe's down there to pick up our supplies then Sunday will start the heavy lifting: painting the kitchen cabinets in (EEK!) oil based paint! Why is oil based paint stressing me out? lol I haven't chosen the perfect shade of white for the cabinets either and that's stressing me out. I think I'm just going to paint it the true white that comes from the can.

I have two fairly large homework projects to do over break, and that's weighing on my mind. I promised a friend I would sew some vintage lace on to recycled-cotton pillows she's sewn(photos to follow), then this morning, as if that wasn't enough, I decided to start trying to plan what I'll be doing this summer. Do I take some courses at Community College to transfer? Should I find paying work? Should I volunteer if it means getting some decent job experience for a resume? The volunteering part sounds great, but I probably won't be able to afford to commute if they aren't paying me at least a little bit, and just regular summer jobs are not abundant in my tiny town where I wouldn't have to commute. Do I really want to work just for the sake of working? As Mr. Pie points out, we don't NEED the money. It would help, but it isn't necessary to live. I just don't want to be bored, ya know? And if I'm just taking two 100 level classes by Independent Study, I'll probably get bored pretty quick.

I have so much twirling around in my mind right now, which is why my anxiety is so high I think. It's too early for a glass of wine.

{New Needles!}

My new needles from Knit Picks arrived! Mr. Pie had actually surprised me for Valentine's Day Waaaaaayyyy back by buying me 4 new little needles! This guy sure knows the way to my heart, doesn't he? hehe

He bought one each of size 0,1,2, and 3 but when I knit socks I use two circulars of the *same* size, so I didn't feel too bad sending them back and purchasing instead two 1's and two 3's! YAY! Sock knitting with tiny sock yarn! I also decided to order metal instead of the pretty Harmony wood because I think I'll benefit from the yarn sliding around a bit more when the yarn is that small. What do you guys think?

Oh, and here's a pretty picture of spring in action - just because these tiny flowers made me smile. :)

Only one more day of school before Spring Break!!! WAHOO!!

{Find a Deal Wednesday!}

Hey guys, over at Overstock.com I found this Yarn Swift for $33.00!!


http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewing/Lacis-Umbrella-Swift-Yarn-Winder/3462955/product.html

Just an FYI! :)

{New Yarn!}

As a student knitter, I'm often left to wonder, "How cool really are all those popular yarns?" You know the ones that everyone talks about like Socks That Rock, Malabrigio, Lorna's Lace, and of course Noro.

All the Noro colours are so gorgeous! But because these beauties are typically one skein for $20 I am usually left with my imagination when I try to think of how they feel and the projects they could be used for... until I was stash surfing on Ravelry and I saw 10 skeins of Noro Kureyon for $20!!


I love the natural colour way! To my delight the lovely woman who sold me all this yarn at such a fantastic price sent an extra skein of Noro sock yarn!


and a Noro book!
I am one happy Student Knitter! :D

{WIP Update}

As the Hey Teach collects dust and the Modern Log Blanket lumbers along slowly, I've been knitting away on the Cedar Leaf Shawlette. Here's the picture I fell in love with:


I'm just about at the point where I need to think about the leaf edging, and here's what I'm looking at:


I am really enjoying this yarn; it's soft and squishy. Problem is, I know that I'm not a fan of the striping kind of yarn like this, but I thought these colours were subtle enough that it wouldn't look too "stripey." Well... I was wrong. So now I'm in a bind. The leaf edging is going to be the most time consuming part of this project, and I'm not sure that I want my leaves to be cream, grey and tan. I'm thinking maybe I just add a cute crochet edging and call it a day? I'll probably still wear it... or if not I'll gift it...

What do you guys think?

{Wow...}

Have you guys heard of the blog called Knock Off Wood? I hadn't until very recently and I'm totally addicted! She not only builds gorgeous furniture, from scratch, but provides complete how-to instructions with shopping lists and cut lists so you can build it yourself! You should check out her blog!

You could build these for just a few hundred dollars in lumber!

Her newest post today cracked me up! Apparently William Sonoma, the owner of the Pottery Barn label, doesn't like that she shows people how to make furniture that looks like what they sell at 1000% markup. I just wanted to show her some HUGE support from me because she's amazing and she needs to keep on doing what she's doing!! :)

{Ahhhh... Much Better}

I've settled on my spring background. Isn't it pretty? :)

{Spring Is Here!}

It's our third day over 60 degrees here in southern Virginia, so I thought it might be safe now to put up my spring time background.

I'm not happy with the choices I've found out there though. My center blog column is actually a bit wider than most so a lot of backgrounds look awkward. I like backgrounds that are clean looking (as opposed to aged looking), and I wanted something fresh, flowery and kinda pastely without looking like it's an Easter theme. Is that too much to ask? Oh, and of course it has to be free. lol

This one will stay up for now because I've run out of time to search this morning. Where do you guys go for your backgrounds?

Have a great Tuesday!

{My First Pattern Purchase}

Believe it or not, up until now I have never paid for a pattern. Well... I've paid for a couple of books from destashes, but I've never found one specific pattern I loved and then paid for it because I wanted to knit it. Until Now.

Enter the Cedar Leaf Shawlette Pattern (rav link).


It's a small crescent moon shaped pattern with this gorgeous leaf trim. It'll wrap around my neck nicely! I've cast on 270 stitches with my new yarn!

As the label saying, the new yarn is called Andina Mix by a company called Filatura Di Crosa. It has 35% Alpaca, 50% Merino Wool and 15% Acrylic. I'm lovin' it! I hope that the colour changes in it don't bother me, because I forsee this one being one being a spring favourite!

I'll show you guys a picture of how mine is coming along soon because right now it just looks like a big garder stitch circle. lol

{First Project: Check!}

I am so excited about our big cleaning plans that I hopped on one project that I could do myself without a trip to the hardware store. I spray painted the chandelier!

Here's a picture of my dining room before:

and of course you saw a picture of it (albeit in the dark) in yesterday's post.

And here it is now!


Doesn't it fit in so much better? I'm very happy with this free transformation. I would have preferred to do something with the little glass covers, like maybe throw them in the garbage, but without something to replace them they'll stay for now. hehe

{Project: Spring Break}

Mr. Pie and I have spring break off together. It's been sooooo long since we've had a whole week off of school and work at the same time! We thought at first that we would try to head out for a few days and grab a hotel in a new city and do some exploring, as we like to do. Or grab a hotel for a night in a city that we know and love. We kept procrastinating on those plans though and couldn't really figure out why. Usually if we're procrastinating it means our hearts aren't in it.

Then today we were talking about our plans again and started listing a key project (or two) around the house that we may also want to get done... and then THAT list started growing. We decided in the end that we would spend the whole week getting all these little projects done instead of going out of town and in the end we would feel a lot better about it.

So, here's the list of all the stuff we want to get done on our spring break.

Bedroom:
-pull out all the furniture to dust baseboards/window sills, clean carpets, wash curtains
-close up this weird vent we have that is actually the back of an old useless fireplace, do the same to the front in the other room. We're thinking silicon
-clean the blinds with bleach in the tub
-clean out closet? (eep!)
-empty out all drawers and find a ton of stuff to donate

weird back of fireplace thingy that blows
dust in to our bedroom

Bathroom:
-scrub it down from the ceiling to the floor
-pull up the weird plastic border stuff we thought we could get away with using instead of baseboards
-remove the peel-and-stick tile that is shifting on the floor and replace with tiles that are the right size so they stay put
-install quarter-round
-block up that weird hole in the closer that the cat uses to go in to the walls. Organize linen closet
-sand off the paint on the cabinet and re-stain it some colour close

this cabinet was going to be painted white at the same time we

painted the walls, but then I decided I liked it as is

oh dear god that's embarrassing

Living/Dining Room:
-move furniture to clean baseboards, rent steamer to clean the rugs and carpets, wash curtains and soaking blinds in the tub with bleach
-buy & install real curtain rods. Burlap window valence? Whatta ya think?
-spray paint the brass coloured chandelier with the bronzey colour. What do you do with those glass pieces? Spray 'em white? Etching spray to get rid of that ugly flower pattern?
-move the bookcase over 3"

Burlap valences to hide the blinds under?

Chandelier Before

Kitchen:
-scrub from the ceiling to the floor
-put a new coat of paint on the kitchen cabinets
-spray paint that weird metal cabinet thing the same shade of white
-install a new faucet to replace the one that's not going to last much longer
-build a little box to lift up the small kitchen cart we're using to extend the counter space so it's the same height as the counter
-organize the shelves beside the laundry.

weird white metal shelves that need to be the same colour white


wheels need to come off and then add a small
box underneath to boost up the height

Backyard:
-build a composting system (the one we have now is just a blue garbage bin and is hard to turn)
-buy some really big planters to start a small garden this spring. Fill with compost and get ready to plant!

an example of a possible compost bin
using wood pallets

I'll need to make a list of all the materials we'll need from the hardware store so we only have to make one trip. The big ones are about an hour away and it would suck to have to keep running back and forth. We've got our work cut out for us but I'm actually really excited to get all this stuff done! Wish us luck!

I'd love to hear your opinions on all the questions I asked in the midst of my list! Is everyone else in the mood for Spring Cleaning too?

{Current Project}

The ongoing "Use the yarn ya got, dammit" Project is continuing on in to this scarf:


Just a feather and fan design in this bulky Alpaca blend yarn. Problem is that this is already about 1/3 of the skein that I was planning on using. I guess I could make it one of those shorter kinds of scarves that I put buttons on? Or make the slit in the middle so you can feed the other end through?

like this one:
Do you think I would have to plan ahead and put the slit in at the time, or would I be able to cut and stitch the slit afterward at the place that fits right? Ack!

{On To Brighter Things}

Thank you to everyone who left me a lovely comment in support. I know it's strange to say, but my friends here through the blog and through the internet mean so much to me. So just... thank you.

And on to brighter things, right? I've told you guys I met a new knitting friend, haven't I?? It seems like every time life closes one door, it opens a door somewhere else. I was feeling awfully sorry for myself on Saturday morning and decided to go and get my hair cut at a real salon (instead of the $10 deals that I have been doing instead) and a lady there heard me talking about my scrappy scarf that I was wearing. She came over and said She's a knitter too! We got to talking and we walked around town a bit together where she showed me a few crafts shops I hadn't been in before, and then she invited me to her house for tea. I have my first real-life knitting friend and her name is Dawn!

She's been knitting for 40 years and said she has more yarn than she'll ever knit in her life! So of course, I didn't leave empty handed.

heavy weight 100% cotton - a summer shawl perhaps?

worsted weight wool/acrylic mix I think.
I'm waiting for it to speak to me.

And she had a TON of buttons! Tins and tins and tins of them. We actually spent a couple of hours playing with her buttons and sorting, and then at the end I was sent home with these!!

Holy Moly, right?? I'm thinking there may need to be some cool button/burlap art happening soon. Some kind of colourful star burst pattern? Flowers? I'm just not sure. Have you guys seen any cool button art anywhere? Dawn has asked me to be part of a craft show coming up so I'm trying to think up some fun stuff that I could take to her table.

I am very excited that I have someone to knit and chat and spend time with over common interests. I foresee many an afternoon spent doing just this. :)