Saturday 14 June 2014

Random bits {baby booties, a cat cave, wooden shawl pins}

I have been doing quite random things lately... I have officially entered exam period, but for it I have been studying for two months already now. I am in the fever of completing what is left to pass for graduation and although I may not be sure about the outcomes (of this exam period) I know for sure that I am getting tired of studying. xD

Plus, at the same time I spent a lot of time adding mom's stuff on my Etsy shop (check out all this awesome stuff!) (and a few of my own.. he he) and life has been.. hectic. 
Nevertheless, I still manage to find some time to knit. 

I have made what is possibly my first ever baby item - baby booties! Again it's the good old 8 square Finnish slipper pattern, which for another time again, didn't follow to the letter. xD
Wanting so spice things up, I decided to avoid as much seaming as possible, and knit the extra two side squares at the same time as the square after them! And it worked like a charm. :) To be more specific, if you visit the pattern page, you can see blocks with numbers. After completing block #2 I went on to pick up stitches at it's side and then knit blocks #3 and #7 simultaneously and with the direction of stitches as shown in the pic. This trick really speeds up the process.


here you can see how different black Tshirts can be! xD
On other not-for-me-knits, I made my cat a cat cave! I have named it 'Schnewi's Lair'. And even though it's uber-awesome, my cat still totally ignores it! TT
The pictures I have taken are a bit crappy, but show it's essence. Now the 'cave' is installed under our indoor spiral staircase where it hangs from a sturdy string and also features a comfy cushion. Still no reaction from the cat.
I am kind of frustrated with him since he always finds the most unbelievable places to sleep in, but does not like this cave... which is roomier than other spots he sometimes chooses!

And you may have guessed it, the cave is made out of Tshirt yarn! We have had several tshirts which nobody wears anymore, so I taught my mother how to make Tshirt yarn and we got down to work (here it is were I just did two shirts and my mom all the rest! xD).

During this experience I have discovered the following:
- depending on the tightness of the original fabric, knitting with it later can be hard! physically demanding - definitely not a relax knitting project
- variance in the width of the strips does not really affect the outcome - except when strips are so thin that they break easily
- its a fun process to destroy something in order to make something else :D
- the only way to block something so bulky as this, you just need a cat to use it!
- it's better to knit the tshirt yarn if its too bulky rather than crochet it



I practiced a little bit of embroidery: I am in looove with the French knot! (but can't be more than in love with this!)


Lastly, I painted a little bit. I came across a bunch of hand painted wooden brooches, and since the colors had almost completely faded away, I decided to 'restore' them. My first try was very good in terms of artistic restoration but I hadn't chosen the right type of paint and the colors chipped away as soon as they got dry. My second try involved the right paint, but we only had a few colors available, and they turned out like this:


This time I was not very satisfied with the color combination and I was frustrated with all these floral motifs. What's up with the abundance of floral motifs anyway? So I painted two of them black all over and started again. For the 3rd try I went abstract and minimal:


My only idea so far as how to use these pins, is as complimentary present to any shawl gifts I might give away. I don't think I will be using them personally. How would you use them?

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