Working my tail off... Back to work tomorrow

I've got to go back to teaching tomorrow, and while I do love my job, I love crafting just a bit more.  I was so worried that creating for my Etsy store would take the joy away from making all these wonderful things, but the feedback I've gotten just adds fuel to the fire.  I've been pushing myself to come up with new designs today, and I pulled out a few stops...

It's really amazing what we can create with the things we have at home.  Upcycling.   I once read that upcycling is "turning useless crap into even more useless crap."  I have to disagree.  All of these items were upcycled from tossed sweaters- cashmere, merino, wool.  Those natural fibers are never worthless.  So, I've been upcycling my butt off all week.  Do any of these look like useless crap?  I hope not.

100% Cashmere Scarf with Ruffle

Wool Cowl with Vintage buttons

Silk Fingerless Gloves

Cashmere Opera Length Fingerless Gloves

I've finished alot more, but I'm waiting for my dearest hubby to get home and take some decent pictures.  I hate taking pics alone.  No fun at all! 

So, what inspires you to create?  I just love natural fibers.  I love color.  I love creating something out of something else. 

What do you love to do?  Share!

Working with Cashmere...and a purse fail.

Good news and bad news.  Let's get the bad news over first.  My orange purse that I dreamed would be perfection, luscious, amazing, superfantabulous, extraordinary? 

None of those adjectives seem to fit the bill.  I'd go with....blech.  The beaded embellishment of my vision looked ridiculous on it.  The construction was mediocre to say the best of it.  I blame the super thick wool, the lack of handbag construction experience, my cruddy old cheap sewing machine.  Whatever.  Here is the vision....  A long rectangular bag with a half moon flap, lined with vintage linen, and embellished with the most beautiful beaded dangly thing I thrifted..  this thing:

The dangly thing-y doesn't really go with the shotty craftmanship of the bag.  I don't know if there is any saving of this orange monstrosity...  give me a fricken' idea already.  I'm fresh out. 

Pointy edges, too short of a flap.  Blah.

Extra thick felted sweater + older cheap machine = crappy construction detail.  Blah.

But on an up note...

The cashmere creativity train has pulled into the station.  With two of the lovliest color of cashmere I have found to date, I made four things:

Cashmere Cowl with coordinating thrifted cotten lining

Cashmere Fingerless gloves in progress...

Cashmere Scarf of gorgeousness...

You want to touch it, don't you...

And this, the crowning achievement of an old Daniel Bishop Cashmere Sweater.  Possibly the thickest I've ever seen...  Cabled and ribbed?  This scarf is 6X thicker than any cashmere object I've ever touched.  And like a cloud.  Soft as butter...  I don't know if I can sell it, other than it is not really my color...

OMG!! 72" of luxury right there.

And one more pair of cashmere fingerless gloves, in a classic combo of linen color and tiny cables....

So, as artists, whether we are knitters, sewers, upcyclers, whatever... We take the good with the bad, right?  And sometimes the bad is very, very bad.  But the good can be very, very soft. 

Off to work!  I have a pile of cashmere and wool that needs work.

And- everyone give a shout out to Rex; he found me some lovely pieces that could become my very first design involving wool suiting... Any ideas?

Hobbling around trying to take a good picture..

So, I posted some new items in my store...  Mostly stuff I've been working on for the last couple of hectic weeks.  I've only made accessories lately, but I've got plans to make an orange blanket, and possibly a green one too this week that I have off.

Here is the latest photo shoot.  You should have seen me hobbling around on my stitched up foot through the snow trying to get a good pose for the pics.  Can you see the pain on my face?  Laugh all you want.  My husband was.  No sympathy over here at the biology household.

There were a couple of major categories- Scarves/Caplet-y things.

Upcycled Capelet with lace and wool ruffle.

The Hug Scarf- Red Upcycled Wool

Hot Pink Jersey Lined Scarflette with vintage buttons.

And Fingerless Gloves:

Italian Merino Cabled Fingerless gloves

Mongolian Cashmere Fingerless

Dusty Rose Italian Merino Fingerless with Ribbon Embellishment

There is more over here in my shop, I plan on putting together a tutorial for the ribbon embellished fingerless gloves later this week.  I also have some plans on making a ruffled mitten, which is possibly a bit more practical than a fingerless glove in some climates...

Enjoy your Monday!

Sneak Peek

Here are a few things I've made for the Grand Opening of my Etsy shop-  I'm trying to take photos inside, which is no good, and without a photographer with me modeling; also not good.  I won't put these in the shop until I get some decent photos...

Upcycled and Embellished Cashmere headbands...

Upcycled and embellished Italian Merino Wristwarmers...

Upcycled wool clutch with cotton lining and button wrap closure...

Cashmere Patchwork Reversible Cowl...

Knitted Infinity Wool Necklace/Mini Cowl

Like I said, the pics suck.  I need to get outside, flat iron my hair, put on some makeup, and look like this:

Oh, who am I kidding.  Ugh.  Any one want to come over and help me with photography?  I suck at it.

Sweating the clock...

The calendar pages fly off the wall like you're living in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  You have to make 10 more gifts by Christmas...

Pulse racing...

Head spinning...

Okay.  Take a deep breath.  Think.  Any old sweaters in the house?

Make some of these for the tween or stylish adult woman on your list.  Give it a whirl- if you have cashmere laying around, even better-

The top one are embellished with some mohair yarn, and the bottom two are leftovers from my cashmere blankies *points down*.

Steps for making armwarmers:

1.  Cut sleeves off of an old sweater.  Tighter fitting arms work best for this; nobody needs baggy arm warmers.

2.  Using a seam ripper, cut a 1" hole in the sleeve seam about 2" from the wrist hem of the sweater arm.  You could leave this, but since we didn't felt the sweater, your safest bet is to bind the thumbhold with some yarn.  Just whipstitch around the hole loosely, covering the cut on both sides.

3.  Hem the top by hand or machine.

Voila!  Too boring?  Embellish away!  I may embellish my next set with buttons, ruffles, or ribbon.  The variations are endless.

Gift to that tween/teen/fashionista in your life.  And feel good that you didn't pay retail.

 

  Lisa Baday Ribbed Armwarmers from Nordstrom- $134

So there you are.  Stop sweating the clock.  Whip up 10 pair of these in about 3 hours, and the calendar pages can fly off the wall all they want.  

Adventures in Cashmere...

Okay, so every girl dreams of a beautiful cashmere sweater to call her own.  I have at least 20.  Jealous?  Don't be.  Get your butt over to your local thrift store and dig.  I've been going through and collecting them for about a year now, and I've gotten enough to make any diva feel pampered.  For around $3 each.

Here's the problem.  As a crafter, a person who knows the joy of gifting wonderful handmade creations, as well as a knitter who knows the warmth natural fibers can give- I want to give them away.  But then you run into size issues.  And the whole sticky issue of gifting something that is used.  People just don't seem to want a used sweater.  So I came up with a solution.  As difficult as it was, I cut them up.

*gasp*  Ruined cashmere?  What are you thinking?  Why would you defile a beautiful orange cashmere tee?


For this:

 

Because what girl wouldn't want a 100% cashmere blanket bound by a beautiful vintage sheet to warm her up in those freezing January days?  

This was my second attempt to make a gift.  The first one, in my favorite color combo of greens, neutrals, and pinks ended up camped out on my recliner.  My excuse is the loose binding job I did on my first attempt at backing a quilt.  Nobody wanted it, I'm sure.  I mean- I didn't ask or anything, but I'm pretty sure this needed to stay out of sight.  And warming up my legs...

I couldn't help it.  It kept me warm while knitting or hand stitching.  My door is drafty.  Forgive me intended giftee, but I needed that cashmere lap blanket.  Sometimes I just sit and pet it.  Real Housewives of Orange County, eat your hearts out. 

ETA:  I got the idea from Betz White's book Sewing Green.