New Goodies

So, first week of school is OVER! And we all survived! Yay! We're actually going to hike Old Rag on Monday, so I guess we'll wait and see if we all survive that ;-)

Lazy crafting week though. Been too busy every night! Hopefully as meetings and beginning-of-school shopping slow down, I'll have more time to devote to makin' schtuff :-D Speaking of making stuff... gonna try making an apple pie tonight, and have to make some bread tomorrow... I'm all out!

So, went on an adventure today, of three parts: 1) feed store, not very exciting, except that they didn't have the right feed and I had to buy something else..., 2) NEW YARN STORE IN SPERRYVILLE!!! Very exciting! It's a nice little shop, not nearly as stupendous as ReBelle (but what is!), but they do have quite nice stuff, a lot of it locally made or dyed. And a pretty good selection of Peaches N Creme, which is delightful stuff. They also have a knitting circle on Tuesdays, and I think I'll alternated Knitting with bellydancing, so I don't send too much money in either place. She siad they are also crochet-friendly, which is nice; some knitters are derrogatory towards crocheters, and vice-versa, believe it or not. They also have a ball-winder, which is absolutely the shit. I'm going to look for one on Ebay, RIGHT NOW! ** Damn, ball-winders are expensive. I'm glad she gave me leave to use hers...** I got myself some goodies of course...

First, a lovely Peaches n Creme, in a colorway I've never seen before. Isn't that stuff awesome! Gonna make a washcloth, of course ;-)



Second, and absolutely to-die-for laceweight, hand-dyed (locally!) merino... mmm.... It's name is Goblin Mark. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!?? I have a whole magazine with laceweight patterns, so I'm gonna look for a nice scarf pattern.


Part 3 of my adventure was the dump (of course!) I got some wool sweaters, one of which has little cardinals on it, which I didn't notice until I was throwing it in the dryer. One of them, I'm not quite sure if it's wool or not, but if nothing else it has nice buttons... One is an angora/merino blend (mmmmmmmmmmm) and the cardinal one is Shetland. Yay! I also found this sweet little bag, which will be a project bag here soon.


I'm going to make it a new lining, with places for my hooks, scissors, etc. As you can see, the lining now is pretty... eh... questionable.


Okay, off to make pie! But first, look who decided to help me take pictures!


They're always so helpful! And, look! New bangs! They're pretty short, but I love that they aren't in my face all the time. Style-wise, I'm not sure. But ease-wise, hellz yeah.

GoBama!

Watching the president talk about health care. Mom says I should marry this man. Besides the fact that he is closer to her age, and married already, I totally would. All warm and fuzzy feelings at this point!

So, no new crafting on the horizons... School started Tuesday, and it's been a busy week settling in to the new routine. Waking up at 7am= rude awakening indeed... It's been great though. These kids are amazing, and know what they're doing! Everything is relaxed, if a bit frenetic (always will be with middle schoolers...) I don't feel like I should be watching everyone's each and every step, the schedule is much less complicated, and everyone is having fun. Sometimes, I think the students are having more fun than we are.

So far, we've just done basic reviewing, orientation, etc. I'm actually going to be teaching two classes (pottery, and greek and latin roots), and teaching another student independently (oddly enough, he wants to take Latin instead of Spanish, and since he only has a year left, we're consenting). Scary, but exciting. Susan and David are both so supportive, and don't expect me to be fabulous immediately, which is a huge relief. Susan always worries that she's putting too much on me! I'm always afraid I'm not doing enough! Good combination I think.

I picked up 15 new chickens last week. They're a buff orpington/red comet cross. Very skittish at this point, they also move in a flock still, which is very humorous to a point (except when you try to put them up for the night and they flock the wrong way). We should be getting 6 Jersey Giants this weekend, after several failed attempts at pick-up... Fourth try is the charm??

Tomorrow is the market, and then the parent night. Eek! And actually, I just realized that there are things on the parent calendar that I haven't changed. Arg. Must do before bed.... nooooooooooo....

Confessions

I have been a lazy bum. I don't feel like writing, mostly because I haven't done much of note. I did make a scarflette at the Farmer's Market, but it isn't finished, and I don't have batteries for my camera (where is that thing btw...). I did drive to West Virginia and get chickens today :-) Win.

New Cardigan! And exciting news!

So, it took, what, two hours after joining Wardrobe Refashion before I had my grubby little hands to making something? Must be a record.

The Pledge

I, Sarah Elizabeth Cooper, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed, Sarah Elizabeth Cooper.

Anyway, I had thoughts about trying out stenciling using wax paper (I always read freezer paper, and wanted to see if waxed would do the same. It doesn't) so I was digging around in my "Box 'o Stuff to Use" and found these two lovelies.

This is a plaid men's shirt I had around. First I thought I had chucked it because the sleeves were too small (honestly, that happens...) but I put it on and they were perfect! I considered just taking it out of the scrap bin and reinstating it in the closet when I saw that I had slit the sides to accomodate my, ahem, assets. Oh.

This is a lambswool Gap sweater from Goodwill that was a bit moth-eaten, so I had cut off the sleeves to make legwarmers. Never found a use for the "vest" leftover I guess.

Well, a little music, a few cookies,and viola!

Momma's got a new cardigan! I just cut off the button/buttonhole plackets and sewed them to the center of the wool. Then I set the sleeves.

I say this like it didn't take me a few tries to get the sleeves right... First, I realized that plaid sleeves were of course bigger than the wool sleeve opening. Of course. Easy enough solution: gather the plaid to make little poof sleeves. Just fine, I like the poof. So I set the first one and tried it on. The sleeve sat a bit oddly, but I figured that I shouldn't ask perfection from something cobbled together from bits of discarded clothes... I went to set the second, and, for some reason, the gathering wasn't in the same place as the other. Oh well, I'm not the best at marking. Set that one, tried it on, and, would you believe, it was perfect. Aha! So I must have put the gathers in the wrong place on the wonky sleeve right? I went back to check, and got really confused. Gathers seemed to be in the same place. What is going on here? Looking back at the awesome one, I realized:I had sewed the good one inside out. Which meant: I sewed the sleeves on the wrong sides. Ugh. Well, at least it explained why the sleeve felt stupid; it was on backwards! So, a few seams ripped, and all is well in the world. Sleeves are on, each on its' appropriate side, I used a lock stitch to hold up the cuffs (I love 1/2 length sleeves, not 3/4. The lock stitch means I don't have to mess with rolling them up anymore! Yay!), and I even added a little frippery to the front.

Everyone needs frills in their pockets.

A good day's work, if I do say so myself! Which is good; school starts next week and I have nothing to wear!

Weekend Wrap-up

So, I found some pictures of things I got at the dump that I want to do things with, or felt, or wear. I shall certainly post them. I also have some pictures of a *fabulous secret project* that I shall not reveal... Lindsay requested an apron to cover her grown-up-girl work clothes while painting, printing, etc. I'm working on it, but I'm going to be mean and make it a surprise! HA! There you go Lindsay, right back at ya ;-)


Okay, Dump Finds:

1. Crazy Print. I have no idea what they intended these to be, but there are two. I love them.


2. A lambswool sweater that someone fulled for me... oops for them.

It has lovely buttons though!


3. A men's merino sweater. This one actually fulled to exact me-size! Yay! So I'm not going to cut it up, just gonna wear it! Have to make a patch to cover the logo though...

4. Corduroy womens' skirt. This will be special presents for the parents :-) Maybe Christmas!


5. I have no idea what I'll do with this, but it was so cute and so sad, I had to take it home :-(

6 & 7. Assorted Mens' blazers. I thought the wool would full, but it didn't really. Oh well. Lots of buttons, and I can make patches and fray the edges or something.


8. This will actually be worn! It needs a new lining, but I *JUST* read an article about that, not 3 days ago. So I'm snipping the old lining out, then I'll use it for a pattern for the new lining. Think I'll hit up Jo-Ann's for that one. What color should I get? I'm thinking something deep, a green, red, or navy??


Yes, I know there's a button missing. The folks who threw this away were nice enough to put it in the pocket :-) Thanks guys!

9. You almost can't see it in these pictures, since dark wool says "NO" to being photographed, but this is a bitchen black wool coat. Perfect condition, although I think I'll take it in a little in the back (they never tailor the backs of coats... I'm thinking just a little gathering will do the trick!)

But the collar is the coolest part!

HOW COOL IS THAT!!?? I think it's pretty cool. Velvet and wool= Love.

So that's the Dump Trip Bonanza. I also took a better pic of my frilly new apron.

And now it's off to cooking land! I made some buttermilk waffles to have for breakfast for the next little while. They're to freeze, and pop in the oven in the morning. Easy peasy. The first one I made was a MESS though.


I forgot that there's baking powder and soda in them, so they'll rise as they cook, and I thought that I hadn't put enough batter in... I had. Obviously. The whole batch made 8 ginormous waffles. Yay for easy breakfasts!!!

I also made a batch of biscuits, well, because the buttermilk was out? These are absolutely the easiest to make.

2 c. Self-rising flour
1/2 stick butter
3/4 c. Buttermilk

Thats. It. I swear. You cut the butter in (I use my hands) then mix in the buttermilk, and mix as *little* as possible. Turn it on a board (floured with normal flour, not self-rise), and knead like 3 times (until it makes a lump). Squidge it down into a circle and cut. Then mush all the little bits back together to make the last one. Spread the tops with melted butter. Throw em in a *WAY* preheated 500* oven for 9 minutes. Presto! Thanks White Lilly Flour for such a no-brainer recipe.


And wonderful biscuits!

Off to eat pizza leftovers (and maybe a strawberry shortcake... mmm...)!!!

Meh

Well, it's been a shortish weekend, seeing as how I slept through the majority of it... Just wasn't feeling tip-top. I dunno if I was sick or what, but I feel a bit better now. Maybe it was just the boredsies. Who knows!

Anyhoo, Did some bomb grocery shopping on Friday (thanks Dad!), got all kinds of goodies, which is awesome cause I was pretty much down to boxed rice. I didn't even have any Ramen (!!??). Cooked up some bison to make tacos... and yes. I said bison. Bison is actually really good for you, and much better than beef. With less fat and calories, bison is more nutritionally dense, and bison lead much happier lives; can you imagine feed-lotting a 2,000 lb animal? Bison are free-range, and arent' fed antibiotics and hormones. I'm pretty sold :-) I've had bison burgers, pasta sauce, and, my latest creation, tacos!, and they've all been delicious. Now that I know I can get it at Martin's, for not a whole lot more than beef, I think I'll just cut out the ground beef entirely, not that I buy a whole lot of it anyway.

Also made some croutons with old bread I found ( I am a crouton hog. I love them.) and broiled peaches with brown sugar and cinnamon. Super tasty! Next time I think I'll peel them though, since I don't like the peels (I'm terrible, I know, you don't have to tell me!) and it was uber messy to eat (but delicious!) I'm thinking that I'mma gonna have to make bread tomorrow, cause I'm on the last little bit of mine... But those two loaves lasted almost a month... so yay! I froze one, and all was good in the world. Gonna try some whole wheat this time, still mum's recipe, but I think you can do up to 1/3 she said? Mebbe? I think.

Mmm... let's see... haven't worked on cardigan since Thursday at the market... Moon has the background filled in, but needs details (craters, etc. Can't be a moon without craters!) Don't think I'm going to crochet the front of this one, just going to fold it over and make some button holes. Don't want the frills taking away from the landscape, ya know?

Okay, thinking about some sort of dessert now... gonna go scrounge!

Ambitious?

So, it's 3am. Do you know what your daughter is doing?

Getting really. Freakin. Ambitious.

I was bored, couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd start working on my next tshirt cardigan. I had a big black shirt expressly for this purpose, and a bright blue one to do some applique. Tried the big one on, and realized that it would take a lot of work to ever fit right... But would you imagine, the bright blue, a $2 BigLots kids' shirt that shrank like no tomorrow the first time I washed it, fits perfectly.

Looking pretty nice with that nightgown, eh?

And it's a v-neck, which lays very nicely! Not nearly as choking as a normal neckline!
YAY! problem solved! So of course I spent the next... 2 hours... looking up pictures to applique. My original idea was to have the black shirt, and use the blue to reverse applique a nice, BIG, gnarled tree on the back. Same place my tattoo is, but, well, not tattooed (I have a secret list of things I would like to also tattoo in that same place. Alas, I only have one back! Shirts will have to do!) Since I changed to the blue shirt, I figured I'd stick with the tree, and do it in black. Sounds neat eh? Well, I looked at pictures (and looked up tattoo parlours in DC to get my real one filled in... FOUND ONE!) and started doodling... and dooodling... and doooooooodling. And Oh My God. It's pretty awesome, but HUGE.


I think I've completely abandoned the idea of applique... I think I'm just going to embroider the living SHIT out of this thing... I want the tree to be all grainy and swirly. I'd also like a moon on the other side, and the tree is sitting on a big cliff (I have a thing with floating images... I like them to be grounded somehow.) Tomorrow is market day, and I think I'll get cracking... What have I done!?

Best Part of Crafting:

Helpers.