Saturday, August 26, 2006

also..


I got this delicious handspun yarn, made from recycled silk scarves, at YOTG. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it just yet, but I'm in love with it all the same.

welcome back

My goodness. It's been over a month since I've posted!Life has just been busy busy busy. Quiting my job, moving, starting graduate school, going to Italy. I feel lucky to have snuck in any crafting at all!

Italy was beautiful & there's a lot to be observed in the way of fashion, crafting & trends. I could usually pick out who was American by their shoes & accesories alone. Sick, I know. There were countless gorgeous knitted pieces in the new fall lines in the windows. Mostly, knitted dresses.

I was overjoyed to find a yarn shop in Florence, only to be instructed by the owner, "it is very important not to touch the yarns". What?!? Don't touch the yarn?! Surely, I had to have heard her wrong. Maybe it was a language barrier. But no, she was speaking in english & there was no mistaking the scowl on her face as she eyed the skein I had just picked up.

That's like inviting kids into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory & then telling them they can't taste the candies! I just don't get it. And I left the shop flustered, dissapointed, and yarn-less.

Anyway-I did a lot of knitting on my diamonique. In fact, I'm almost done! But in true knitty digital fashion, I ran out of yarn. Go figure. But now I have a good excuse to go back & visit Year of the Goat. My favorite yarn shop. Where they let me touch the yarn! (Okay, I promise I'll stop harping now)

I managed to do a few other minor crafty things before packing all my stuff up in boxes. My favorite of which was making shorts out of these oh-so-unflattering long capris to your left. I used to love these, though after trying them on again I had a hard time remembering why.

A little snip here, and some added fabric in the waist, and they were liberated into comfy long shorts (to the right) that have again become my favorite thing to wear. Now that I can breathe in them, I can appreciate how comfortable the fabric is as well.


I also finally found my halo fauna patch while packing, and used it to cover a hole in a shirt. Simple alteration, yet very effective in making the shirt wearable again.

I was also doing silly little things. Like gluing pins onto big buttons to make..well, a button I guess.

Even the smallest of "crafts" or alterations keeps me sane.