Recontructed T-shirts and Crooked Crochet!

So if you remember I got the Generation T  book and my daughter, Amie, was willing to try some items out. We only really got to one The first thing we did was a bit of dying some things to what we thought was black, but they ended up coming out a sort of purplish gray??? In either case, the results of the new dye jobs that came out were really kewl...I'm sorry. But I don't have any "before" pics only the resulting piece...In this shirt was a bit stained down the front so we dyed it that "black". I cut the neck off and the arms and hemmed all the edges so they were smoother and not jagged. (I've posted picures but if your reading this via Facebook you will need to click the hyperlink that allows you to see the orginal blog to see the photos, i think) So I took a pic of the after project. Front and back. We left the arms the orginal color since they were still rather white.

I rather like how it turned out and Amie even wore it to school. I think we will try some more ideas when we get the chance.

I'm very disapointed in the Crochet CalenderCrochet: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar that I got. Although I'm not able to get the same yarn on some of the projects I am able to fudge most of them. However, some projects required some highly specialized yarn that I was only able to get from Italy, they do not ship to the US, AND its discontinued. How annoying. I did manage to make the first scarf. It wanted me to use a speclized metlic yarn but I was unable to find anything that would subsistute it so I just got something made with similar materials and the same yarn weight.  What came out was a the green keyhole scarf you see. The reason they call it a keyhole scarf is because it criss crosses through the hole in the middle of the scarf. Its suppose to be alot longer, but I'm not a huge fan of overly long scarfs. Plus, if I was to spread this out you could see the hour glass wobbly effect i had from lack of straight lines. SOmething I feared if I kept at doing crochet by hand. What I think I might do then is stick to my looms and convert the projects with the loom. I might redo this same pattern but with the loom this next time. Right now though, I recently received my sock loom and I'm already starting on learning how to do my socks. I'm following the directins from Isela Phelps  Loom Knitting Socks book as I got one of her families EFG Wonderlooms at DaLooms. I will post pics when I'm done.

This will be a busy month for me with school starting and with all the projects I plan to do to keep me busy. At least I should have plenty of "homemade" presents to give out. :)

Until then!

Cheers!

~Gin

Busy times ahead!!!

SOOOOOO....I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I can't seem to keep still. In an effort to keep cost down I've been working on making my own things, right? Upcycling and all that jazz. I recently put all the clothes that are too small for my kids in a massive bags in an effort to "reconstruct" them into something they will wear. So far I've scaled down my oldest son's size 16 pants down to a size 6 for his little brother. I also read Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt got some ideas for my daughter on some things to do. However, some of these wear more skin bearing than I would like my 8yr old punk to have. I found the

undated version Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt was much less skin revealing and would work for my little punk at heart. I've also decided to take a Basic Sewing class at the local community college to help with my so-so sewing skills. I have basic skills now, but I think I want to improve upon them. I saw the school also has clothing construction courses as well. Although I'm not looking to go into fashion design. I figured it wouldn't hurt.

The other think I'm tackling right now is in addition to my classes I need to finish my degree this semester, I've decided to take the gardening class at my school. It's REALLY great because it works with the Arizona's own, Phoenix based, David Owens's books Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts and The Garden Guy: Seasonal Guide to Organic Gardening in the Desert Southwest (Outdoor and Nature). I REALLY recommend his books. STUFF REALLY GROWS!! and I have a brown thumb. I'm looking forward to the class. I'm hoping it will help demystify the whole compost thing and all. Plus, it should help me get my butt back in the backyard.

All this crafty stuff is making me sound like a bored housewife, but there is a method to my madness. I want to eventually get my home to self sufficiency. Growing are own food, making and designing are own clothes from old clothes (you can't beat $1 days at Goodwill plus it shows more our own personality), and lower our overall cost. Once I've mastered the art of needle craft with embroidery, knitting, and crocheting; I plan to move on to growing our own cotton! Arizona is one of the few states in American were we can do this and all in my front yard! I takes a lot of cotton to make a fabric so I figured it would be good for small projects. I'm still trying to work the bugs in my head on that one. I've thought about just getting bunnies for not only their meaty properties but for their fur. I have this book that I'm starting to consider the Bible of Self-sufficiency The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! as it has TONS of ideas. I've added a link on the side if you want to check it out. Although some things are not conducive to my area and my lot size, however, there are SO many things AND info that I keep this thing by my bedside when an idea pops up in my head.

I know this blog has a lot of links and post. I apologize. I didn't get a chance to take any photos of my recent projects. Right now I'm working on the first crochet project of the year from my Crochet: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar. I know its a little early, but some project in there are for baby dolls and we don't own one nor does anyone I know keep baby dolls. Plus, I plan to busy this next year with the garden and the sewing of clothes. It looks like 2011 will be a busy year for me. Maybe its the little bit of old Mayan in me that is subconsciously preparing for 12/20/12 and if we turn into some post-apatoplypic world I'll at least have our home prepared. LOL.....I'll still need to get a gun then and I HATE guns, so the worl will just not have to end. lol.

When I get the pictures, will post soon. Problem is right now I have been just completing the projects and forgetting to take the before, during, and after photos. I only have the after! ARG!! I will get organized!
Until then!
Cheers!
~Gin