Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Hootie Booties!

Being a knitter, I, of course, am obsessing about what I will knit for the babe.  I figured I'd start with something small, something easy.  Booties.  No problem, right?  Well, it turns out I'm really picky about booties, apparently, and it took me 2 months just to find a couple of patterns that I liked, not to mention to try them out.  After three failed attempts... one had an illegible pattern that I just couldn't figure out, one pair were GIANT when they finished, and one pair ended up all twisty and weird... I finally settled on the cutest pattern from Ravelry called "Hooties."  My first attempt needed to be tossed out, because one of the steps was not quite sussed out, but once I figured out what the pattern was asking, they turned out really well.  View the yarn porn:


Can you see the owlies?  I had a bit of a hard time getting a good picture of the cabling where you could really tell they were an owl motif, but here's one where you can see the sides, as well.  I used some really pretty purple beads I found in my bead stash, and the yarn was a ball that came in a bag of yarn my mom found at a garage sale.  Yay for materials on hand!  


I think you can see the owls better in this picture.  I'm really happy with how they came out.  And I still have a ton of the pretty tan yarn left, so if I find another bootie pattern in another 3 months, I can make another pair!  

Monday, May 21, 2012

And Now Announcing...

As I mentioned in the last blog, I have a big announcement to make.  In true Sarah-Style, I decided to craft my way to the big announcement:  

 Yep, I'm gonna be a crafty mama in November!  I found a cheap-o t-shirt at the thrift store (of course) and did a freezer-paper stencil of the words on it.  Considering I hadn't done a freezer-paper stencil in something like a year, I think it turned out really well!  Yay for crafts, yay for babies, yay for crafting babies and baby related items!  


With that thought, we are now in the process of trying to figure out our lives, trying to decide what this all means, and getting ready for a little one to join us on this journey.  So, what does a baby need (besides awesome parents, love, food, and clean diapers, of course)?  


A really awesome bed.  


There are few beds that are more awesome than this one!  And, it was a total steal!  I found it at a garage sale for $10.  I couldn't whip out my cash fast enough when they told me how much they were asking.  I thought I had mis-heard the first time, cause I was ready to shell out $50 at least!  

It was pretty dusty and will need a new coat of paint (non-toxic, of course, to make sure no old flakey paint ends up in baby's sleeping little face), but it's freaking amazing.  



It even came with a mattress that was in perfect condition!  It's a totally wacky size, though, so I'm going to have to flex my sewing muscles and make all the sheets for it.  I raided the stash today to make a sample one.  I figured I'd better figure out how hard it was going to be, so I knew how much time I was going to commit!  

It turned out quite well, actually:  





What, doesn't everyone have random pieces of the world's softest Yellow minky fabric in the exact perfect size just laying around their house?  Not to mention two different sizes of elastic, and snap grommets?  Well, that's what happens when you have a problem with craft supplies. 


Because the mattress is so long and also pretty thick, I was struggling with getting it to fit well around the main body of the mattress.  The solution came in the form of the wider elastic and the snap closure:  


Problem solved, adorable, cozy bedding prepared for baby-boo.  Winner.   

Friday, May 4, 2012

80's flashback

It's been a while since I posted anything, so figure I better play catch-up.  I've done some awesome swap projects lately, which means I've gotten to make awesome things, and haven't had to keep them in my house!  Yay!  So, we'll start with the piece-de-resistance... the Jedi Robe:  

I felt like the world's biggest dork posing as a Jedi, but the robe itself is awesome.  I made it for Rob in Canada for an 80's movie swap... more on the 80's movie (sci-fi nerdiness) later.  

Next though, is my favorite thing I've made in a long time.  I did an Angel package for Liz of 80's cartoon stuff.  I still had lots of supplies left over from making Dani's package, and, frankly, I love 80's cartoons.  So, the best thing in the world today is....

It's a Jem headband!  I did the Jem lettering in shrinky-dink!  It turned out amazingly well.  I then did 2 clear coats of nail polish over the top.  In the future, it would be better to use spray sealant, but I didn't have any, so I was just very careful to try and avoid the sharpie-bleed effect.  I love it and was a little sad to see it go, but I know Liz is going to love it as she had all kinds of fascinator headbands on her Pinterest.  

Next, again, a bit out of my usual comfort zone, was an ice cream cozy.  Liz had mentioned that she wanted one, so I whipped up a quick one using some random orange and black scrap yarn that I had laying around.  I used orange and black because she has a Garfield collection, and I had decided to do a Garfield applique on the front:  

I was totally psyched with how awesome this came out!  

Now, back to the 80's movies.  I did two other things for Rob, besides the awesome Jedi robe.  First, was the silliest crocheted item I've ever made... 

If you've never seen Aliens (as I hadn't, so I needed to do some research), this is a Facehugger.  I put wires in it's legs and tail so that it will cling to things.  Great party trick!  

Finally, probably my favorite thing I made for this swap were the Star Trek magnets:

They are cross-stitched on heavy plastic to give them stability.  I did a ton of research and sketching to get the insignia's correct for The Original Series and I used metallic thread... never again will I use metallic thread.  It's the worst thing in the world.  But, the magnets turned out amazingly well.

Anyway, that's the craftiness I've been up to lately.  I'll be having a big announcement coming and the tone of my posts will likely be taking a turn for the very different, but you'll have to wait another month or so for that!  :)