Skirt of Epic Win
I picked up some cords from the op shop* aaaaaages ago with the idea of making a gored skirt out of them. I put it off for a long time because I couldn’t decide what to do about the waist line. I’m happy with a draw string on cotton, but cord doesn’t sit right and I can’t be bothered making fitted waists. I was browsing a jeans related craft book at work and they had this idea in it - use a pair of old jeans for the top bit, brilliant. I didn’t use their pattern because it was for tiny little skinny people. 
Very simple to do, lots of straight lines (I did double seams + zigzag because I’m paranoid and also don’t own an overlocker). Came out WAY better than I thought it would, might actually wear this one!
*Thrift store for those who aren’t Aussie.
Crafty Book of Deliciousness.
This book is apparently just out, but it’s divine and you need a copy. Why? Well because it’s chock full of fun things to make with your own fair hands, and because any book that advises mugs of tea, marshmallows and lamingtons as essential crafty gear very much gets my vote.
The book is called “Meet Me At Mikes” which is the name of a crafty little shop in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. You can hit the shop website here. (I just tested it and accidently bought something, so please move all credit cards out of reach.. unless you’d like to accidently buy something too). If you’d like a peek at the projects before you buy, you can check the Flickr Group and you do need this book.
Full of sewing, crochet, knitting and all sorts of fun things to make and do, the book is also full of divine little pictures of vintage bits and bobs. All the directions are super clear and easy to follow, so it’s good if you’re a newbie to crafting too. The patterns are tucked into their own little pocket, so you don’t have to destroy your lovely book to make things. It also contains the BEST directions for granny squares I have ever seen - mostly because I actually understood them. Go me!
Now go YOU and buy a copy already (or check your library. If they don’t have it, ask them to buy it.)
It’s ONLY a year?
I was just thinking a moment ago about how long I’ve been crocheting. I realised it’s about a year, as I made my first crochet hat to cover my head when I’d had my hair shaved off for the World’s Greatest Shave last year:
Yet… in that year I seem to have acquired a fairly large stash of wool. Some might say a MASSIVE stash, but they’d be exaggerating.
My current project is a pressie for someone, so it’s super secret for now, but all will be revealed when he’s opened his parcel. Until then, I will give you this clue: Uh, I had to buy more wool for it.
Oooh, slack much?
I really am the worlds laziest blogger. Also I haven’t been doing much in the way of crafty of recent, with the exception of Terrirums which I can never spell without looking up (I bet that’s wrong).
Why did I get bit by the terrariums bug? (CORRECT SPELLING PEOPLE) Well, I had a 2 foot fishtank that was originally filled with cockroaches. Pet ones that is. Sadly, they all died (I think due to sand contamination) and so I was left with a huge tank and nothing to do with it. After pondering fish (which I have the worst luck with) a friend suggested a terrarium, so that’s what I did:
(you can see embiggened images via the flickr link if you’re a terrarium perve). So once the bug chomped me, it was off to the wonderland that is Savers to hunt up some more glass ware to plant stuff in, which resulted in:
This isn’t all of them, I just haven’t uploaded everything yet coz.. well as we established earlier - I’m kinda lazy. Will post pics when I get around to em!
Nummy nummy wool
So on one of my now a little too frequent trips to Spotlight, I found a rack of $2 yarn. So I bought a ton in a verigated orangy/reddish/pinkish. The next trip, oh glory, the rack had been restocked, so clearly I had to stock up on more colours. The colour above came out waaaay dark, it’s a lot less black.
So on my receipt is “No Refund On Clearence Wool”. I can think of only one reason to return wool, and that is insanity. Okay, sure, if you’ve spent $100 on wool that you decide is the wrong colour or you bought the wrong kind then MAYBE i can understand returning it.
Personally, my stash bulges with impulse buys, oddments and colours I decided wouldn’t work after all but I’m sure I’ll use them. I suppose since i tend to buy on sale and cheap in general, it’s less of a drama for me if I say “oops, this isn’t going to work”. I’ll hang on to what I bought because someday I might use it.
So I have I think 10 balls of cleckheaton (pure wool for 2 bucks? Huzzah!) and 6 each of the one above and the greeny one behind it and of course being summer it’s too hot to even contemplate crochet. The cleckheaton is destined to be a neckwarmer and handwarmers if there’s any left over.
Mmmm. Cheap wool.
Hello and stuff
As an indicator of the sort of crafter I am, let me tell you this story. I spent most of this afternoon sitting on the floor cutting circle skirts from old sheets and sorting them for dying. Any fabric I wasn’t currently dealing with was stacked on the chair behind me. Which happens to be my dogs’ favourite chair.
Since his special skill is soft furnishings and the arrangement of same, a pile of sheets and skirts on his spot wasn’t about to upset him. So then I spent the next two hours hauling fabric out from under a hound.
Welcome to my crafting style!