DinoXcore- Jumping on the dino hoodie bandwagon!

I've been meaning to Dino-fy a hoodie like this for months, but I've been a bit hesitant. I didn't want to mutilate a perfectly good hoodie beyond repair!
I ended up using my red one, which anyone who knows me in real life has probably seen at least a dozen times. It has definitely seen a good amount of wear in its time...






I used splotchy dyed fabric. The other side looks completely different. (Oh, the thrills I'll have wearing this!)






Here's the obligatory 'ZOMG! I'MA DINOSAUR LOLZ!' shot:

Is this thing still on?

Yeeeah... Sorry for not posting anything since last summer, but I moved into a new house and the creative mojo has been lacking ever since.



Check out my latest feat of dorkiness!
The Mighty Boosh shoes, or Booshy shoes as I've been calling them.
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy show. Look it up on Wikipedia if you're curious. It's absolutely amazing and one of my favorite shows.

Anyway... As I was looking at my collection of Converse last week, I noticed the purple pair with dots on them that I wasn't particularly fond of. (They're also a half size small and smoosh my toes if I wear them for too long.)




I decided that they could use a trip through my warped imagination.
They came out looking like this:















Awesome, y/y???

They also glow in the dark, but you'll just have to take my word on that. Apparently taking pictures in the dark doesn't really work. Heh.

All hail the self-timer

My best friend and I went to the Family Values Tour when it came to Orlando last weekend. We had an awesome time and got to see tons of awesome bands perform. By the time we got out to check out the merchandise table, a lot of the bands had come to collect their stuff. I was quite disappointed that I wasn't able to blow $30 on an overpriced Atreyu t-shirt. Atreyu is one of my favorite bands. They rock the hizzle. So what's a cheap, crafty girl to do? Bleach stencil her own shirt, of course!
So here is the result of a $3 black Hanes boys t-shirt, a bottle of bleachy water, a stencil from the stencilry, and a little patience:

With bleach being so touch and go, I think it's a pretty cool result. I'm not crazy about the weird pumpkiny color the bleach unearthed, but for $3, I'll take it.

Bleach stencils FTW.

Up and running again!

My hard drive went boom about a month ago. It was tragic.
I'm up and running on a brand new computer, thanks to my brother who built me a new one. Sometimes, albeit really rarely, he can pretty cool.

But just because my computer died doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything crafty! Oh, no no no... On the contrary, I've been working on quite a lot.

I'm in the midst of painting and redecorating my room! It is totally made of awesome! I'm doing something different on each wall. I have an oddly shaped room with lots of walls, so I have plenty of surfaces to inflict my painty madness on. As you might imagine, it's quite 'busy'looking! But I guess you could say it's a reflection on what goes on inside my head.

I woke up today itching to paint some jeans with my new fabric paint! No more mixing in that stupid fabric medium that obviously didn't work too well. These can't be washed for 72 hours, so we'll see how they turn out. Anyway, here are the back pockets that I painted-




Yes! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pants! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they certainly contain gargantuan amounts of win and awesome. :D


I know I say this every time, but I'm not sure if they're done yet. As you might have noticed, they're conspicuously lacking in the number 42.

And just for kicks, this is what happens when you try to take a picture of your own butt...

What can I say? Sometimes common sense just goes right over my head.

The Sucky Seamstress

I'm trying my hand at sewing my own hoodie using gnacissej's hoodie tutorial because a.) I'm bored b.) one can never have too many hoodies and c.) the tutorial just pwns!
I'm acutally really surprised at how well it's going so far! I'd say less than 10 cursewords have been uttered! (It's no secret around here that the sewing machine aren't the best of friends.)
If it keeps up this well, I'll have a wearable article of clothing on my first try! How awesome is that!?


I'm still knitting the neverending buttonbands on my Ravenclaw cardi and the search for buttons is still on. Boo. The button hunt is more challenging than actually knitting hte sweater!
And because I'm a nutty Harry Potter addict, I'm drawing Luna Lovegood. (as played by Evanna Lynch) As you can see, it's still in the beginning stages. I've only got the eyes done.
Crappy picture for j00-

FAIL >_<

*insert mumbled string of vulgarities and groans here*
I only washed them once for heaven's sake! I even washed them inside out!
I don't get it. It's only the white paint that chipped. I'm pretty sure I used the same amount of fabric medium in the mix as I did with all of the other colors.
It's all very disappointing. I spent all that time on those pants and now they look like crap. Nyah. I really liked them too.

It makes me very nervous about even entertaining the thought of washing my brand spankin' new Nightmare Before Christmas pants. (wrinkles ahoy!)

Because you know that wonderfully spectacular moon is mostly white paint.

Crap.
I guess I'll be looking into using rubberized fabric paint from now on.




I'd also like to report that I have successfully picked up 140 stitches on one of the button bands on Ravenclaw Sesame without chucking my knitting needles out the window and/or dying.

As I get closer and closer to finishing this sexy beast, I'm starting to look for some suitable buttons. Do you know how hard it is to find 38mm dark colored wood buttons? Srsly. It's absolutely ridiculous! I could probably do a Google search for a flaming pile of monkey poop and get more results.

Cheap + Crafty= YAY!

Heck yeah!
I wandered out to my dad's woodshop on Sunday and decided to make these hairsticks. (or instruments of death, as my dad has dubbed them) I've seen lots of pretty ones on online stores, but my cheapass self couldn't stand the thought of forking over 30 bucks when I could probably figure out how to make them on my own for free using my dad's wood scraps.

It was pretty fun! I got to learn how to use the sanding machine and only sanded off skin on ONE of my knuckles! Go me.
The one on the left is some variety of mahogany and the one on the right is oak. I stained the oak one and coated them both in amber tinged captain's varnish. I've been sanding them with fine grit sandpaper and doing coats of varnish all week. Varnishing them without them falling over or getting fingerprints all over them is pretty much impossible. These sticks have been the source of many a frustrated grumble, but I'm still pretty happy with them. Those cheapie plastic ones that you buy at the Winn-Dixie just don't cut the mustard!




I've also put a little more work into the Homestar Runner pants. They now have...

a somewhat sloppy looking TROGDOR the Burninator-


And Marshie-





The Ravenclaw Sesame is still in the works. I've got it all seamed up and it is waiting for button bands. Dreading picking up all of those stitches!

ZOMG Painting!

I've been doing some painting over the past few weeks. It started with the whelping box. My mom asked me to paint a design on it and it's been a work in progress for almost 4 weeks now. I think it's almost done (see how big the puppies are getting? They're 3 weeks old now! How the time flies...)


Then I was really bored over the weekend and got the brilliant idea to mess around with a pair of old jeans I have.
They're not the most flattering pair and they also have a hole in the knee, but their paintjob was just what they needed to make me love them again!
I decided to paint characters from Homestarrunner.com completely on a whim. I LOVE that site! All of the cartoons are so funny and strangely addicting.
First I did The Cheat:


Then the next day I got around to doing Homestar:



Here's the placement on those (sorry about the toe shot. Ew!):


I did The King of Town today:




Here's his placement:


I love them! The Cheat cracked a little bit when I wore them yesterday, so I'm going to have to be extra careful with them. Hopefully it won't happen after I heat set everything.
These are kind of a work in progress. I'm having so much fun with them I want to paint until I don't have any room left!
I sense it becoming another addiction :D

Puppy cuteness!

We have a litter of puppies at our house right now! 3 boys and a girl(pictured above.)Born Monday the 12th.
They have to be supervised constantly to make sure Cosette (mom) doesn't roll over and possibly smother one.I get the night shift.I guess it's a great time to work on those darn Sesame sleeves!(gotta get them done sometime.)
More cuteness-

Thoughts on sleeves.

Why must sleeves be such a PAIN in the ASS?!

It seems like every sweater I attempt never gets done!
Why?
The sleeves.
They piss me off.They're long and usually require lots of increases,therefore starting out relatively harmless and end up a long,endless stockinette mostrosity.
And you have to do two.Talk about boring.

So for my Sesame cardi,I decided to do them both at once.I'm up for any mind tricks to make me think I'm only doing 'half' the work!
I suppose it's working out okay,except for the big tangly messy mass of yarn that I'm trying to work with.Those are always fun.


Who came up with the idea of sleeves anyway?I think they deserve a good kick in the shins.

/end pointless whiny rant

Where are the dang BEANS?!

I've been working on this crochet Amineko kitty since last October.He has been sitting on my desk and keeping me company (with 3 legs,no mouth,and no tail) for quite a while now.(He's a great tapestry needle holder,BTW) A few days ago,I decided to finish him up.
I whipped the remaining foot up in no time.I was all ready to attach it...and lo and behold-the navy beans I had been using to weight the other appendages down with were either
a.)Used for something else,
or,
b.)Have been thrown away.

Don't you just HATE when stuff like that happens?You are INCHES away from finishing something and BAM!The plans are foiled until you can get to the grocery store.
Agh.

Sore Fingers

It's chainmaille!How cool is that?I came across some chainmaille making tutorials and had to try it out (and got some really weird looks from my mom when I told her what I was doing).Just to see if I actually could.It took me 2 days to actually get the hang of it!It's harder than it looks.It's also murder on your fingertips.The end result is really cool though.



I've also been working on my Ravenclaw Sesame.The back is almost done.I just finished the armhole decreases.

Woo hoo.

Strange Cravings...

Yeah,lately I've been having strange cravings for some of that Trekking XXL Sock yarn.
You may not think this is odd,but I friggn HATE knitting socks on anything smaller than size 10 needles to be felted.I don't really even wear socks all that much!
It was that darn iPod cozy that got me hooked on teeny tiny needles.And who can resist the call of a pretty color changing yarn?
Sooo...Any suggestions on which colorway to order up? :D

Erm,in other news,I swatched and cast on for MagKnits's (MagKnits'?MagKnit's? Whatever.) Sesame in Ravenclaw colors.
You know it had to be done! Especially since I went to that Harry and the Potters concert last week (which totally rocked the hizzy,BTW.) and saw the masses of people with House Scarves wrapped around their necks.It totally made me want my Ravenclaw Cardi.Now.
I feel so naughty.As all of my other projects sit unfinished,I cast on for more and more.I feel like a cheater.My Rogue,for instance,has the majority of a sleeve done.So close to finishing and yet I start a new project!

Awesome-ified shoes

So I was really bored last night.As I was browsing Craftster,I got this brilliant idea to paint penguins (WTF?) on my shoes.
Don't ask.That's just how my inspiration works.

So I sketched out a design,put it on my shoes,whipped out my trusty paints,and....

Ta-da!Cute,huh?

My first FOs in a REALLY long time!

Here is my Nano sock!So cute.

I added black into the color scheme,therefore nullifying the whole 'coordinated to my wallet' thing,but that's okay!Because I made a new wallet yesterday anyway.




And look! It even has a change pocket! Which is why I wanted to make another wallet in the first place.

(Apologies on the mediocre pictures.Ran out of daylight!)

Happy New year!

In the works...

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IMG_2923
Originally uploaded by newfienut5749.

Now that the Christmas business has dissipated,I get to work on fun stuff again!
This is a sock for my iPod Nano.
Yes.I enjoy torturing myself,if you were wondering.I'm working this on size US 0 (Or is it 00??) with EMBROIDERY FLOSS.Yeah.
It was the only thing I could think of that I had in my crafty stash that would knit up at a small enough gauge for such a project.
I'm coordinating the colors to my wallet


Can't wait to finish.I'm still brainstorming about what kind of closure I want it to have on top.I thought of a snap but I'm afraid that would scratch the iPod..

P.S..Grandma's golf club covers are going to be next year's Christmas gift.I'm so bad. :(

Christmas Panic

So it's December 22nd...
Remember those golf club covers I'm making for grandma?I've got to have them done by the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
So far I have about 5 inches of ribbing done on cover #1 of 3...Crapcrapcrap..Freaking out here.

Hope noone else is as screwed as I am right now!Get your presents done early!
Have a Merry Christmas.

Patience prevails

We have a grafted Rogue hood!But be careful not to look too close lest you find that the stitches are twisted and uneven.Shhh!
It looks good from far away though.As long as noone comes within a couple inches of the back of my neck (or top of my head) it should be okay.

I grafted this last..Wednesday,I think.I've been gone on a boat trip ever since then.The marina we stayed at didn't have any internet connection.

The trip was great though!We had a whole newfie weekend.We were in St. Augustine's annual Christmas parade with the Newfoundland Club of Florida and went to a fund raising dinner/fine arts auction for for the newf rescue afterwards.
On the trip there I worked on my first Rogue sleeve:

We were quite busy for most of the weekend with club meetings and stuff,so I didn't get to work on it much but I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting somewhat close to finishing this sweater.It's so gratifying.I'll probably knit another.

Want to know what else is gratifying?

See all those gray t-shirts?There were about 80 people wearing them on Saturday.What's so special about them?I drew the picture that's on the front.It was pretty awesome to see something that I worked so hard on being enjoyed by lots of people!

Meme

I've never actually done a meme on a blog before.
Suppose I'll try one while I'm fuming about grafting the dang hood of my Rogue.I sense it will become a 'tomorrow when I'm not irritated and tired' project.

One
Word
Meme
No
Exceptions
and
No
Cheating

1. Yourself: Irritated
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Nonexistent
3. Your hair: Messy
4. Your mother: Talented
5. Your Father: Hardworking
6. Your Favorite Item: Books
7. Your dream last night: Forgotten
8. Your Favorite drink: Water
9. Your Dream Car: Undecided
10. The room you are in: Bedroom
11. Your Ex: Nonexisistent
12. Your fear: Cockroaches
13. What you want to be in 10 years? Happy
14. Who you hung out with last night? Parents
15. What You're Not: Organized
16. Muffins: Yum!
17. One of Your Wish List Items: Yarn
18. Time: Late
19. The Last Thing You Did: Frogged
20. What You Are Wearing: Clothing
21. Your Favorite Weather: Autumnal
22. Your Favorite Book: Decrepit
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Eggs
24. Your Life: Random
25. Your Mood: Procrastinartory
26. Your best friend: Sleep
27. What are you thinking about right now? Knitting
28. Your car: Nonexistent
29. What are you doing at the moment? Typing
30. Your summer: Boring
31. Your relationship status: Single
32. What is on your TV? Blackness
33. What is the weather like? Florida-y
34. When is the last time you laughed? Today
35. Who do you tag? You

Christmas goodies

I went to the craft store yesterday to pick out some things for Christmas gifts.I decided to make bracelets.They're quick,easy (except for determining which beads to use!),and fairly professional looking.



I had sort of a hard time determining what size I should make them.They're for an 8 year old and a 10 year old (somewhere around there).I ended up making them so they just barely fit my wrist.They might be a bit big,but they'll grow,right?



And here's that tea dyed yarn in its last few minutes as a nice butterscotch colored yarn (not bad,eh?)

Here's the yarn after a dunk in the Kool-aid.

It turns out that the grocery store didn't have any blue kool-aid.Sux0r.I really wanted blue.
I think I like the purple..In hindsight,the 2 packets I used is probably a bit too much.I would have liked the color to be a little more muted.It's a cool look though.
Swatch: