Laptop Strap: Design a Day- Day 2

Laptop Strap Design a Day- Day 2, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

I made it through Day 2 of Design a Day. This was a design born out of necessity, my laptop latch broke and I needed a way to keep in clsoed in transit. I looked to my two favorite materials-denim (an old pair of jeans) and felted wool and with some velcro came up with this strap that does the trick. Repair would involve returning the laptop to Dell and possibly considerable expense. Besides, I felt inspired by the idea of trying to come up with a design that would work. There is about a 4" strip of industrial strength velcro on the backside of both ends of the strap. I added the belt loop to give a way to pull it tight. I started with the idea of the felted sweater pieces on the inside and denim on the outside, but it was just too slippery, so it seemed like it could slide off too easily.

Also, for Crafting 365, I worked a little on this:

Sorry for the lousy pictures...its winter in Idaho and I only have time for photography in the evenings and on the weekends. I've tried to think of a way I could knit at work, but I'm not THAT creative. By the way, WINTER SUCKS!

Etsy

Cool video about Etsy...check it out. Posted by Mstinchcomb (Vanessa) on U Tube

Oh, the Pressure! New Flickr Group

Today, I got an invite to join a new group on Flickr called "Design a Day" from gemmafactrix. Her challenge: "make something new every day for a month. You can continue on for longer, of course, but the idea is to create a new design, however simple, every day for a month. Often I get so caught up in selling my work - taking photos, packaging, shipping, updating my website - that I forget to just enjoy creating. Hopefully this group will help me - and you - do that. :)"

I accepted almost without thinking.

Am I crazy? Do I not have a full time job away from crafting? Do I not already have to push myself most days to complete and post a photo for my "Crafting 365" challenge? What was I thinking?

Well, Day one wasn't too hard because I came home from work with the idea that I needed to make myself a new case for my Smartphone. I made a cute felted one 6 months ago or so (it was actually a failed IPOD holder for my shop, I think) and I've received lots of nice comments on it, but I was tired of the stylus falling out of my Smartphone (guess it isn't all that smart after all) and getting lost. The other case was open where the stylus went in. Here's the old one:


The photo at the very top of this post, the Teal Blue one, is my finsihed Design a Day --Day 1. And I'm very pleased with it. The braided wool wraps around under the button and then around the case to hold it closed. I used a trick my mother taught me of putting a match stick between the button and the case while I sewed the button on so there would be room for the wrapping. This worked great except for the fact that as I was designing on "the fly", I had to sew the button on when the case was already assembled...not an easy task. That's what I get for being creative, aka poor planning.

Here are a few other photos of the case and a couple of the little heart ornaments I also finished tonight for my Etsy shop and posted as my Day 94 of Crafting 365. I started these months ago but couldn't seem to complete them until now. They are, of course, made from recycled sweaters scraps (what else!).
I'm going to try to keep my creations/posts for the Design a Day and the Crafting 365 separate, but we'll see how long that lasts.




I also recieved a wonderful box of goodies from Knitting warehouse...the ingredients for my Moderne Baby Blanket. I love the colors even more "in person" than when I selected them via the website.

Spelll with Flickr

This is a fun tool though I haven't figured out how to space the letters in the way I would like. Spell with Flickr

Knitting Snow

Knitting Hands Sculpture, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Earlier tonight, I was looking on Flickr for snow or ice sculptures. Seeing a photo that Kalurah had posted of a dinosaur snow sculpture she made with her children inspired me to see what else I could find. I was remember a snow sculpture I helped make in about 1969. Perhaps I'll write more about that one some day. This was the most wonderful example I found and it seemed to be the perfect picture for a blog like mine that is mostly about knitting.

Here's some info. about the sculpture.

It was the entry of the Alberta team and won the People's Choice Award at Winterlude's National Snow Sculpture Competition in Ottawa last year. I was born in Alberta, so I have to say I connected with that detail.

The sculpture was entitled: Knitting Family Poems

"These two great hands knitting are symbolic of an essential activity that was typically passed down by generations of grandmothers, mothers, daughters and friends. This act of love and necessity brought families together for conversation by the fire, kept farmers warm during winter and made outdoor activities enjoyable, as knitted garments offered protection from the cold. The poem that adorns the garment provides lyrical play, describing the pleasures and trials of life during winter in this great country."

The photo is from Kadcat (Marlene) who describes herself as an "amateur photographer" from Ottawa. After looking at some of her photos, I would hardly describe her as an amateur.

Grey sweater bag

Grey sweater bag, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

Here's the bag I've been mentioning. It is "Icelandic design", pure wool and a thrift store find. There is enough of the designed portions left that she can make some Christmas ornaments. I put a drawstring with elastic in the top that can be adjusted. I also made a zippered pocket for the inside. All in all, I'm pleased with this bag. Even though it took me several hours to make, I spent much more time thinking about the design of the bag than I did in the actual construction. I do find it challenging to use cardigan sweaters for bags, which is what this one was. My friend didn't want the straps too long and she is taller than I am, so I hope it works for her.

Cabled neck warmer, Version 2

Day 91 of Crafting 365, I worked on several things, but finished this:

This is a variation on the pattern I've been working on. I used seed stitch on the sides of the cable on this one, also I think I mastered the placement of the buttonholes. I've written up the original version of the pattern as a PDF file and now I'm considering a rewrite. Which version do you like best? This would be a good pattern for a knitter's first cable project.

I finished my third little card holder (the blue one) and listed them in my Etsy shop. These would be great for business cards, credit cards, etc. They were so much fun to make!

I'm making progress on the sweater bag for my friend. I just need to make and attach the handles and do a little finishing. I'll post a photo soon.

Crafting 365 Days 61-90

Crafting 365 Days 61-90, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

Here are the photos of my Crafting 365 project, Days 61-90. Today, I made a couple of card cases made from recycled sweaters.




I've been putting off another project which I need to get started on. My friend gave me a wonderful wool sweater she got at a thrift store. (It's in the mosaic above, right side, third picture down) and she wants me to make a tote bag from it for her. Something about having to create something specific from the sweater instead of just being able to create whatever I want has me postponing this task. I fulled the sweater about a week ago and have figured out the basic design, I just need to make it! Perhaps by posting about here, I'll feel committed to moving forward. First, I'm off to the grocery store and will be using my new recycled jeans grocery tote (fourth column, 5th picture down).

Flickr Photo of the Week-Playing with Icicles

Cold, originally uploaded by katbaro.

This photo, which I chose as my Flickr photo of the week was taken by Katbaro or Kat one of my Flickr contacts. I was first attracted by her wonderful photos of food, knitting projects, and other everyday photos like this extraordinary shot. I discovered her blog about knitting and another one about food, both of which I have really enjoyed reading. She participated in Project 365, taking a photo everyday in 2007 and continuing into 2008. Check her out:


Her knitting blog: http://kat-knits.blogspot.com/
Her food blog: http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/
Her photo-project 365 blog: http://projectthreesixtyfive.blogspot.com/

The photo brings two immediate thoughts to mind. The first is COLD, bone-chilling cold like we have had the last few weeks where the high temperature for the day is in the teens at best and the lows are below zero. Her photo caption says "-1 this morning and today is the warm day of the week".

Then there is the vivid memory this photo provokes of a young 6-year old girl playing outside her house in Trail, British Columbia and eyeing a lovely long shard of ice hanging from the roof overhang much like the one in this photo. Somehow, it was low enough that it was just in reach and in a flash the icicle broke free and fell on her little face. That little girl was me and I still remember running crying in the house. As I recall, I was bleeding profusely and because our family physician lived next door and was at home (plus physicians actually made house calls in those days--this was in the 1950's), he came pretty immediately to check me out. The prognosis: I would be fine, but came very close to losing my eye. Needless to say, I never played with icicles again after that. I like to admire them from a distance!

And speaking of playing, I discovered some fun toys on Dumpr last night and enjoyed making some sketches from photos, like this one:

Here's the original photo it was created from:

Isn't that cool?

Go here if you want to create your own sketch from a photo, I promise it's extremely simple.

Baby Bibs Galore and planned project, Day 88 of Crafting 365

I've continued my Crafting 365 activities, so far I haven't skipped a day. If you want to check out all my Crafting 365 projects you can visit my Crafting 365 set on Flickr. I've now finished four baby bibs. I used the Mason-Dixon Knitting book pattern, Baby Bibs of Love, for the yellow and turquoise ones although I reduced the number of stitches in the turquoise one (I thought the yellow one was just too big--maybe it will fit a 2 year old, they need bibs too, right?)

The orange and red ones were created using the free pattern by Colleen Kadleck that I found here.
I've been planning for a while to knit the Moderne Baby Blanket in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. If you don't have the book it's available on the Amazon website.

I didn't want to knit it with Rowan Calmer which the pattern calls for because of the price and also because I couldn't come up with a four-color combination in that yarn that I wanted to use. My daughter-in-law, who will be the recipient, loves bright colors. After all, she picked the yarn for me to make this for her:



Anyway, after much looking both on line and in local stores and Boise, I decided to purchase Lion Cotton Ease and I ordered it last night from Knitting Warehouse. Now, the hard part, waiting until it arrives. I'll have to start working on something else in the meantime since it's not scheduled to arrive for 5-6 days.

Here's a preview of the colors I selected:
Lime
Lake
Maize
Almond

What do you think? I'll be knitting this for a while, so I hope I like the color combination and the yarn. All the reviews I've read about Cotton Ease were very positive. It's a 50/50 cotton/acrylic yarn, similar to the Red Heart Carefree Cotton Blend I used for the red baby bib. I loved how that worked up.

Recycled Jeans-Grocery Tote--Crafting Day 84

My BF doesn't much like the reusable grocery bags I have, they are too small and are hard to pack at the store, which tends to be his job. So today, I decided to try making one that might be a bit more acceptable. I followed the pattern I found here. My main modification was to add a strap with Velcro which can be used to close the top of the bag. I won't make more until I try this out for next week's grocery shopping.

Favorites January 20, 2008

Made with FD Flickr Toys Mosaic Maker
Since I didn't get around to selecting a posting a Flickr photo of the week on Friday, I thought I'd post all my recent favorites. There are so many wonderful photos and creations on Flickr! Enjoy!

Crafting Days 81-83

Here are a couple of finished objects from the last couple of days. I think I've perfected the cabled neck warmer pattern after knitting it 4 or 5 times now. I loved the colors in this Lion Jiffy Thick and Quick yarn which I picked up at a thrift store.

And here are my second set of fingerless mitts. This was an easy pattern and I liked the fact that I didn't have to do any seaming once I finished knitting. I think I would make them on one size smaller needles next time if I use worsted weight yarn. Both these items are available in my Etsy shop.

Crafting while traveling Days 77-80

Recycled sweater bunny-Day 80, originally uploaded by homemadeoriginals.

It's challenging but I've managed to keep crafting while traveling this week. I go back to my hotel room in the evening and work on my projects, then take a photo and upload it with my laptop-usb drive. The photos leave something to be desired as they are generally taken on the hotel bed or table with inadequate light.

This little bunny was started while I was still at home. It was made from a recycled wool sweater that I fulled (felted) and scraps of fabric I had on hand. I used the Cashmere Bunny pattern from Betz White.

I've been working on a pair of while baby booties using the Christine's booties pattern I used earlier.

I do have some advice for traveling knitters. Don't try to knit using size 2 double pointed needles and fingering yarn while flying in a small plane. I ended up having to redo a large portion of what I finished on the plane. Not fun! Both booties are now finished in spite of this setback. I just need to make a tie and weave in ends once I get back home.

Also, I'm now working on a buttonhole bag which is a custom order for a colleague at work.