Crafting Chaos

More Portal progress

I’ve been working on the waterfall and opening of The Portal.

My thick and thin yarn crocheted up into a great textured chain.

I handcarded some fibers for the opening in the waterfall. I carded in some sparkly bronze bits.

Prana loves sleeping on my art.

I’m going back to it now. Time to do more embroidery.

2 comments August 9th, 2010

Knit dog bed

Remember the crochet dog bed?

It was going along fine at first. But then it started to get lumpy. I tried to compensate by adding an extra stitch here and there but it kept getting worse. Maybe I could have fixed it. Instead I said fuck it and frogged the whole thing while in a sour mood.

Then I cast on fifty stitches and started knitting.

It’s nice and flat. But it’s hard to knit because the fabric yarn is so thick.

Maybe I’ll frog this too and just sew Sieben a bed. Thankfully he already has a comfy dog bed so he’s not waiting for this one.

4 comments January 12th, 2010

Crochet dog bed for Sieben

I got this idea from a post on Craft Stylish. I’m collecting sweaters, fleeces and sweatshirts from the local free pile. I’m cutting them into strips and crocheting an oval.

Here’s the bed so far:

That little pink spot is part of the tag from a fleece hoodie.

I’m not sure if it’s going to be thick enough. I may make this the top, stuff it and use denim as the bottom layer.

1 comment September 20th, 2009

Telephone Wire Outfit Tutorial

I made this outfit back in 2003 and wore it to the Taos Recycled Fashion Show. A couple months later I wore it to the Santa Fe Recycled Fashion Show where I won first prize!

After posting this on Craftster I got requests for a pattern. Since I made it up as I went along this is more of a guide rather than a true tutorial.

The outfit took me about a month and a half to make. My hands would cramp if I crocheted too long so I had to take several days off during that time.

First find yourself a bunch of phone wire.

Take a seam ripper and cut open the outer casing. You’ll want to keep the wire continuous (it’s a pain to join on more wire so I kept it to a minimum) so wind the separate pieces onto bits of wood. Cut a chunk of casing, pull out the wires, separate and wind them and then go back to cutting more casing.

Double crochet the whole thing with an I hook. It’s hard to start so you’ll do a lot of tugging at first. The wire will bend and mold into the shape you’re making.

The skirt was made in four panels. Sew them together with more wire then crochet a brown border on top and bottom.

Sew a zipper between one of the brown and blue/green panels. Extend the top border a bit to make a flap for the bottom hole. There’s no need to make a buttonhole-you can just push the button through two stitches since the wire will bend. In my geekiness I insisted on the whole thing being 100% recycled-the button, zipper and thread are recycled as well.

You can make yours longer. I started running out of wire so I made the skirt shorter so I’d have enough for the top. I wouldn’t suggest too much longer though. Even though my skirt was short it was still heavy.

For the top started each cup at the bottom. Chain across until it looks like it would cover your breast. Crochet a few more rows. To make the cups “poof” out add a couple of stitches a row near the middle. You’ll see the cup starting to form and can add more stitches in the middle area as needed. When it’s poofed up enough stop adding extra stitches and crochet as normal. Decrease on the ends to make a rounded shape. Crocheted a row of brown on the outside to round out the cups.

For the straps make a chain that looks like the right length. Double crochet until you have the desired thickness. Sew the straps on with wire. For the closure wire on a button and make a wire loop on the other side.

Here’s a pic that shows the neck and back straps.

Since the wire is heavy it stretches. I had to dart the neck and back straps which was a pain. When I wore the outfit at the Taos show (the pics with my hair down) the skirt stretched from the weight and rode lower than I had intended. I threaded wire thru the top row of the skirt to tighten it up. It stretched out again at the Santa Fe show (pics with my wild hair) but didn’t ride as low.

Here’s a full pic of the outfit. My hair was full of cell phone parts. Phones are full of good materials-little screws, number pads and casing bits. I braided my hair around wire and then bent them into shape. Then I dangled some of the cell phone bits from the hair loops. I made rings from the tinier parts.

Add comment November 14th, 2008

Glam Trash Fashion Show

I participated in the Glam Trash Fashion Show this year. The above photo is from the Taos News. They have a slideshow of the event and video and I made it in both. Woot! The below photos are mine.

I got a man’s wool sweater and cut off the sleeves. I then cut the body into a cocktail dress shape and felted it. The sleeves were frogged to reuse the yarn. I crocheted straps and added several inches to the bottom of the dress, making a slit up the side. After sewing on keys to the bottom I decided to sweep the keys up one side to the bodice.

I then crocheted two wristlets and sewed keys onto them. Before the show I put three braids in my hair with wires in them. I made circles with the braids and sewed keys on them. To complete the outfit I wore fishnet stockings and my stripper shoes.

While I didn’t win a prize I did have a ton of fun. There were so many inspiring and arty outfits. And what fun to hang out with so many creative artists.

A close up of the dress.

This was inspired by the shag/fringe dresses from the ’60s.

And a close up of the key fringe.

When I shook my ass on the runway I jingled!

3 comments September 17th, 2008

Hippie Tam

I’m finished with my first car project. I call this my Hippie Tam. This is the first tam I’ve crocheted in years. I used to make them a lot back in my commune days. There were a couple times I had to rip back because I was doing the pattern from memory. But it all came back and now I have a tam for winter.

I did two rows with no increases or decreases to make it roomy enough to tuck up my braids if I want.

Pattern: Hippie Tam
Source: Me
Size: Custom
Yarn: Repurposed wool from a thrifted vest
Needles: H hook
Started: April 2008
Finished: May 2008
Modifications: None

2 comments May 13th, 2008

Crafting in the car

Abbey got me a gift to cheer me up after all my knitting related stress-the book
At Knit’s End.

I’ve been reading the Yarn Harlot’s blog for awhile but had never read her books. This one is great. I’m now reading another one of hers, Knitting Rules. She talks about how the obsessive knitter redefines knitting time. Like standing in the grocery line transforms into sock knitting time.

This is an excellent idea. I’ve now started crafting in the car.

Last time I went to the Taos knitting group I somehow forgot my knitting bag at home. I was annoyed at first. Then I realized I had a knit vest in the car I had snagged from the free box for recycling the yarn.

Instead of knitting I brought in the vest and started the frogging process. I haven’t crocheted something in awhile so I decided to crochet myself a tam. I haven’t made myself one in years. It’s relaxing to make something in the car. Makes car trips just zoom by.

2 comments April 26th, 2008

Socks and squares

I’ve been swinging a framing hammer and pounding 16 penny nails lately. My wrists have been hurting so knitting progress has been slow. I’m up the the ribbing on the orange yellow sock.

My granny square project is coming along. A lot of my stash yarn is now used up.

However, the squares don’t all match because of the different yarn thicknesses. But if I’m making a huge afghan that should be ok right? I’ve been tempted lately to buy several balls of yarn to make an afghan with a certain pattern-maybe ripple stitch?

Add comment August 25th, 2007

New projects, new yarn

I’m getting to the point in my stash where I don’t have a lot of one type of yarn to do a project. So to use up my odd balls I’ve decided to crochet up a lot of my stash into granny squares.

To keep some semblance of gauge I’m crocheting all the squares using an H hook. However, I lost an H hook while Abbey and I were hanging out at Wired, a local coffee shop. Instead of replacing it with another metal hook I got a fancy one from Taos Sunflower, my LYS.

I’ve used bamboo knitting needles for awhile and suspected a wooden crochet needle would be just as heavenly to work with. This hook is palmwood and is a joy to work with.

Since finishing my Knucks I decided to start knitting some socks. The Ogee wrap is an intense project for me and requires lots of concentration. I wanted some easy knitting. Socks to the rescue! And what luck-Taos Sunflower was having a sale on sock yarn. Did I get some? Oh yeah baby!

Trekking and Regia are the brands I used to make my last two pairs of socks. I love variegated yarn, especially how the socks match yet are slightly different from each other. I think I’ll start with the yellow/orange yarn. There’s visions of minimal lace or cable work dancing in my head for these socks but I don’t know if I’ll do anything complex. The point is to have a simple, relaxing project right?

Speaking of lace I was talking to Martie at TS and she showed me her wedding shawl. Wow. Tiny little stiches, yet so very pretty. I have friends who are getting married and once they set a date I plan to make them a granny square afghan in their favorite colors as a present.

2 comments July 29th, 2007

Recycled sculpture and fashion

I dropped off recycling the other day and found two broken rice steamers in the tin area. They looked so full of potential. I brought them home and took them apart with a pair of needle nose pliers.

There’s a recycled art show where I live and I’m thinking of making a sculpture with the pieces. However, there’s also a recycled fashion show and I’m leaning towards making something for that instead. That’s more fun. Years ago, I created an outfit made out of telephone wires. It turned out super groovy!

I crocheted a bikini top and miniskirt. For my hair I put wires in my many braids and attached phone parts to the braids as well. In Santa Fe there was also a recycled fashion show and I won first prize for this outfit. I was overjoyed!

Add comment June 14th, 2007