There's Always Time for an Easy Project

Basically this quarter killed me. Or really it just took up loads of any extra time that I had. But there is always time to slowly slowly slowly work on something and I think if I hadn't done this I would have lost my mind. An incredibly simple pattern from Lion found here. You need to be a member to sign in and view it which is annoying, but besides the few minutes of your life devoted to registration, the pattern is free! It's basically just a big rectangle that you fold in half & stitch a short bit of each end so it has sleeves. Did that make sense? I'm guessing not, but once you see the pattern you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway this thing is really nice to have around. It's kind of like a crocheted snuggie. It is not quite as embarrassing as wearing a snuggie around may be in public, but mostly I leave it at home and wear it when I return from school or work because there are few things as pleasant as coming home and wearing a blanket for the rest of the evening.

Refusing to be Merely "Inspired"

So remember when I got a Pinterest account & was like, "oh, I hope this doesn't ruin my productivity"? Well, nothing can! Unfortunately there is this thing about bookmarking things where sometimes those links turn bad after a while. However, the image using abilities of Pinterest meant that I was able to stare at a picture still.

There was a little picture of these cute crocheted pillows & I thought maybe I would use a pattern, but since the link died, I remembered that inventing a square-like pattern is not hard. Expect this to be attached to a pillow soon!

Slightly Less Than a Pound of Yarn

A while back I got a really gross cold that left me tired & delusional much of the time for about a week or so. Anyway, once I started feeling a bit better, my hands were itching to move & I kind of just started spider webbing out. I didn't intend to make anything really, I just wanted to crochet so I made a large motif & was happy that some parts kind of looked like pretzels.

I didn't know what to do with it though, I figured I could make a bunch of them & do another afghan & maybe I will. But first I decided to use it to make a photogram.

One Pound of Yarn!

Every time I see these huge one pound balls of yarn in the craft store, I always stop & look at them & wonder how often people get them & what they make.

I also get really hung up on numbers at the end of things (years, semesters, etc.) which I think a lot of people do. Online, I see people posting lists of all the movies they saw or all the books they read that year. I love looking at these things, but I don't think I would ever keep track of things like that myself. So instead I just have several questions. What on earth did I do? How many tubes of paint did I run through, how many silly doodles were created on a whim & then forgotten? How many pages of my notebooks did I fill?

So I bought one pound of yarn. I will work away at this monster until I have the answer to one question at least.

What would you make with a pound of yarn?

Same but Different

Everyone knows that when it comes to clothes, I prefer classic styles. With these crocheted collars I was thinking way way way classic, possibly because I made them while reading, "Pride & Prejudice". I really like things that are impermanent too: adjustable, removable, able to be worn in different ways. So I decided to make something that would allow me to add a bit of ruffles & feminine detail to plainer outfits. After making one collar, I liked it so much that I decided to make another! There is even a third! Not pictured here, but it is cream colored like the first, but longer/looser like the second. I will probably keep just one as I have too much clothes & accessories to begin with. This means there could be another giveaway in the future, keep your eyes out!

On another note, a new year is approaching! Are you excited? I really am! I suppose if I had to sum 2010 up in one word, it would be, "Challenging". This is definitely not a bad thing, I love a good challenge & this year presented me with plenty! Towards the end of the academic quarter, I was feeling so stressed & inept at life in general, but now that things have calmed down, I can get a better perspective on everything. When I think about where I was at this time last year (in all facets) & compare it to this year, I feel like I've come really far & that I like where things are going. This year was so much about big choices: where to live for the next two years, which school to go to, who to keep contact with and which relationships have really become unhealthy & must be dropped. Since this is my blog for projects & because Ugly Bird is almost a year old (end of January!) now, I'll talk about just those things.

Starting this blog has been one of the better choices I've made. I started this blog a few months after the end of a serious relationship & upon being freshly enrolled in two art courses. With all the manic emotional nonsense, dedicated time to work, & instructors who were actually amazing at providing guidance & motivation, I produced more work than ever. More importantly, because of those teachers & because of the fact that I somehow have an audience here, I began to take it more seriously. I began to view my little projects as a way to say something & to communicate. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to make things, but I never saw much beyond, "I enjoy the feeling I have from creating, I like how it helps to clear my thoughts".

So this year, I had a few things up in an art show, I had a ceramics piece on display at my old school for the whole summer even though these are the kinds of things that ordinarily make me nauseous. In class, I realized that learning how to talk or write about your work is also incredibly important. Suddenly being asked, "why did you take these photos?", "why did you choose to create this piece", "why did you choose to execute this sketch & not the others?" was so confusing at first, but now I feel like being able to explain a bit just gives each piece more significance. It was so embarrassing to have photos projected for a class critique, but at the same time, I loved hearing other interpretations on them, even if it was hard to hear because I was usually trying to disappear into my scarf at the same time. I realize now that when I make these things & especially when I share them with others, it isn't about being seen, it's about being understood. I think feeling like others get what you mean is incredibly important. It's what stops us from being lonely & feeling crazy.

I hope that in 2011, I continue to create. That regardless of how long it takes me to finish one thing (school eats time), that thing is important to me. My goal is to tell stories, I would never call myself an artist, but I would definitely call myself a storyteller. I hope that you will understand & I hope you fill in the blanks with your own story & becomes something new & different.

& if you happened to catch the Vashti Bunyan reference in my title, ultimate kudos to you! If not, please enjoy this song:

A Kind of Collaboration

My stepmom is great at knitting (something I've never learned) and makes the most wonderful fingerless mitts! Every winter, she makes at least one new pair for me. They were always so perfect! Great for cold classrooms, playing guitar outdoors when it's chilly, taking photographs on cool mornings (I am one of those who likes to "feel" the controls). In Los Angeles (nearly 70 degrees in December um what?!?!?!!!), I get less use of them, but they are still great to have in the morning & evening when the sun isn't out. When I was visiting my family for Thanksgiving, my stepmom gave me the pair of mitts above, except they were plain & she suggested I crochet some type of decoration for them. My stepmom must be a little bit psychic because for the past few months, I have been obsessing over making little motifs from leftover yarn, but not knowing what to do with them.

So I whipped up two yellow circle-flowery things & stitched them to the mitts. Fast & easy! This took less time than it took me to watch the musical episode of Buffy (seriously, I watch this one episode about once a month), including time where I needed to stop what I was doing to wholeheartedly sing along with my favorite songs (um, everything with Giles!!!!!).

Far Away Hearts & Minds Skirt

All done! Finished my last fittings late one night. My favorite proportions for clothing are things which come in close at the waist, but since this was my own design, I got to leave ample space for wider hips. Take that, commercial designs! Thanks for the nice comments on the "in progress" post for this skirt, it really motivated me to hurry up & finish!

I Want This to be Yours: An Ugly Bird Giveaway!

I've never tried something like this (giveaways), but once upon a time I went to this really great store called Yarns Unlimited in Santa Monica & picked up some yarn & buttons. I made a neckwarmer to send to a friend of mine, but ended up having enough material to make two! So as a way to say, "thanks for taking interest in my little projects", I would like to send this one to a reader.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me where you would fly off to if someone offered you use of their hot air balloon for the day. I will use a random number generator to choose a winner at the beginning of November, so you have until midnight of October 31st to submit something. One entry per reader only please!

Pieces

Ever since I made that afghan, I've been way into the idea of making things that consist of a bunch of separate pieces that are joined together somewhere along the way. This was actually finished quite some time ago, but I never got around to posting about it. Anyway, I found a very beautiful pattern online for a cowl here, but I didn't actually follow it. Not because I didn't like it, but because sometimes I get weird about things on my neck & wanted something quite a bit looser & a bit more casual since I tend to dress so fussy already. So basically, I studied the pattern & ended up with something following the gist of it, but a bit different. Anyway, if you do choose to follow the pattern, I think it'll look wonderful & be a fun project as the pattern is very clear & easy to keep up with! Plus there are other really cute patterns on that site, I kind of want to make this, not for bridal purposes, but just because I think it would be fun to wear a garter.

In Progress

This project is mostly done, but not quite. Everything is put together, but I just need to do some fitting. I like to sew a garment a little large, put it through the wash to see if it'll shrink much, & then do a few final alterations to make sure it fits. With this skirt, I created a pattern on paper, which was the first time I've ever tried that. Usually when I sew things without a pattern, I just make it up as I go, but this time, I decided I would like to be able to make the item again or at least that I would like to have a pattern to work off & make small alterations to in order to create new patterns. It worked out a lot better than I was expecting, so you should expect to see my next sewing projects be a lot of skirts. When I saw this fabric, I instantly was reminded of a man's button down shirt so my brain was on this office wear trip, but then I really like things to be feminine & was having a conversation about the importance of details with a friend of mine so I thought adding some crochet work to the skirt would be a good idea.

One side note, Wordpress stats are really amusing & today I discovered that one of the top searches to bring people here has been, "t-shirt with bird on shakespeare's head". I think I might like to make a drawing of a bird on Shakespeare's head very soon.

Lion Brand's, "Easy Sideways Hat"

Easy is a very accurate way to describe this pattern, it is so easy & quick to complete. I was able to finish it in the span of one movie (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari if you were curious) which is perfect! It's kind of a ribbed pattern which is great for making gifts because it can stretch to fit larger heads if you aren't sure how to big to make the cap. I used one of Vanna's Choice yarns for this hat, I love her colors so much! The pattern can be found here.

Again With the Afghan!

It's actually all done now, I just haven't really had any good opportunities to take a snapshot of the completed blanket! Here are a few pictures of my afghan in progress. This was the point where I realized it was finally looking like a blanket instead of some mishmash of squares! I've linked to the pattern several times before, but if you would like to know where I found it, ask away!

Afghans Away!

Working in between other projects, I am making great progress on this afghan! It's proving to be really easy to make because the square design is simple & because the individual pieces are so small, it's a very portable project. While I imagined it being so hot in the summer would really put me off the idea of putting together a blanket, it actually isn't bad if I save the stitching together of squares for the evening hours. Plus working on it in the summer may actually be perfect as it's likely to be all finished when the cooler weather hits & ready to snuggle up with!

Again, the pattern I'm using for the squares is "Vintage Wheel Square" by Kathy North.

Squares

I hate letting things go to waste & I love to craft. This results in trying to find ways to use up leftover bits from projects. I had been toying with the idea of making an afghan for ages & happened to find this pattern online, "Vintage Wheel Square", designed by Kathy North. It's a really pretty square & very easy to make so I've been making them from leftover yarn & stitching them together as an afghan. I really love how it looks & I love how each square reminds me of another project, especially when it's a project I made as a gift. I'll be very happy when this project is complete, but until then, I'm having a lot of fun making it!

Update

I have added a quick crochet project I completed this weekend:

Fingerless Mitts

As well as some of my older journal pages:

Who Remembers?

Bury Them Deep, Real Deep

She Is a Girl, She is a Ghost

Please

It Was Never You