Crocheted T-Shirt Yarn Doily Rug

Have you seen the doily rug that's been all over pinterest? It's so insanely covetable. Well, I was looking at it a while back and thinking of my cold, stone tile bathroom floor. And I thought to myself, I bet I could make that. For free, even. So I pulled out some leftover tee-shirt yarn and scoured the internet for a doily pattern. It took some trial and error to find a pattern that looked the way I wanted it to and fit my gauge. Then I just crocheted it up! The end result is this little guy. It's smaller than the one in my inspiration photo, but I'm kind of in love with it. It fits perfectly in front of the sink in my itty-bitty half bathroom and protects my bare feet from the morning cold.

Scappy Striped Socks

Here are my latest creations. I had a bag full of leftover bits of fingering weight yarn and not enough of any one color to make a whole project. So I decided to make a pair of scrappy socks. This first pair has some fair isle color work from the ankles up. I love the way it looks, but it makes them not very stretchy and difficult to put on. Plus that little bit of ribbing on the top edge looks sort of awkward, doesn't it?

So I made a second pair. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sock advice on these, from the k2p2 all over rib to the heels and toes. I also made them taller to keep me warm. I love the all over ribbing because it makes the socks so much stretchier and they really hug my feet and legs. They're so cozy and they don't fall down!

Squashy Cabled Throw

Once upon a time, I went to my friend's house and on her roommate's bed was the most wondrous afghan I had ever seen. It was cream colored and cabled all over and it stuck in my memory to haunt me all my days. For years, I have been wanting to make a lovely throw with giant cables. So I finally did.

Although, I went a different direction for the color.

I love this thing! The yarn is some super yummy, superwash merino wool I got for my birthday. And I just adore this color. It's called pea pod. The pattern is called Lover's Knot Afghan and it's a free pattern from Lion Brand.

Cabled Socks

I've been on a sock kick lately. I think it's because this California girl isn't used Tennessee's cold winter weather. Even if it is unseasonably warm and in the 50s most days. So I've been making wool socks.

For the longest time, I never understood why so many knitters knit so many socks. But I get it now! They're quick! They're a little bit challenging (hello short rows!) And they're so warm and cozy.

Here's my most recent pair. They're made of some superwash fingering weight wool from knitpicks. I was very much inspired by slippedstitch's Boyfriend Socks but I wanted the cables to be more random.

PS. Have you ever tried to photograph your own feet? It's surprisingly difficult!

Without further ado, here are my gray cabled socks, modeled on my very pasty and stubbly winter legs. (Yay!)

Birds on Wood

Black Bart

Breakfast Smoothie

I've never been a big breakfast eater. I've just never been hungry first thing in the morning. But about a year ago I decided that I need to take better care of myself, gosh darn it! And thus began my quest for the perfect breakfast food. I tried a few different things like oatmeal, cereal, eggs, and peanut butter on toast. But none of them was everything I wanted in a breakfast. 

Then I moved to Tennessee over the summer and I tried greek yogurt with local berries and local honey. Holy crap that stuff was awesome! It's like dessert for breakfast! But unfortunately berry season came to an end. So I turned to the grocery store freezer aisle, bought frozen berries instead and dumped all my usual ingredients into the blender. And that's how my breakfast smoothie was born. 

I like greek yogurt in my smoothies because it has a ton of protein compared to normal yogurt. The whole milk variety is delicious and has a texture like cheesecake, but it's ridiculously high in saturated fat. So 2% it is. I use honey for a couple reasons.  First, it has a low glycemic index which means that it won't effect your blood sugar level nearly as much as sugar does. Second, local honey is supposed to help with allergies. Plus it just tastes really good. The juice I've been using is some fancy acai stuff that someone left at my house. But you can use any juice you like.  

Breakfast Smoothie:

- 2 ounces juice

- 1 heaping spoonful of honey (about 1 tablespoon)

- 3-4 heaping spoonfuls 2% greek yogurt (about 1/2 cup)

- about 1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen unsweetened berries

Blend together and enjoy!

Elephants

Ink on paper. 7" x 10"

Fishing Cove

Here's another ATC. This one was fun to make. I ran some mulberry paper through my laser printer to print out the little fish. Then I mod-podged it onto a 30 year old map of a portion of the Rhode Island coast line. Then I finished it off with some sewing machine stitching along the edges.

Insects of East TN #3: Spicebush Swallowtail

ATCs ::: New Series

I've started a new series of ATCs. It's called Insects of East Tennessee in homage to my new home and the abundant wildlife herein.

Crab

A water color shamefaced crab. I love his spots!

Mixed Media Farm Animals

Kid's Paintings and Motorcycle

Monster of the Deep

Acrylic on panel. Made for a swap.

Octopus in Ink

Tawny Frogmouth

Recycled Pouf/Floor Cushion Thing

I've been wanting some poufs for my living room only just forever. I love the look of these Urchin Poufs and this diy pattern is fantastic, but I decided not to spend anything on this project. So in a fit of stash busting and recycling, I made some tee shirt yarn (check out my tutorial!) and I grabbed a ton of old clothes and scraps for stuffing and I made myself a nice crocheted pouf. I'm usually more of a knitter, but this yarn is a bear to knit with - I broke 2 sets of circulars on a bath mat a couple years ago.

So anyway, here's my pouf. Along with my lovely assistant. :o) He worms his way into all my photos these days. 

The finished pouf is about 8 inches tall and 21 inches in diameter. I used a size K crochet hook. To fill it, I lined it with an old sheet and filled it with lots and lots of fabric scraps and some old knit swatches.

Tee Shirt Yarn Tutorial

Here's how I make a single, continuous length of yarn from an old tee shirt.

You will need a ruler, a pair of fabric scissors and something to mark the fabric with. I'm using a soft drawing pencil.

Step 1:
Cut off the bottom hem and cut across from armpit to armpit.  You won't be using the bottom hem or the top part.

Step 2:
Fold one of the folded edges until it's a couple inches away from the opposite folded edge.

Step 3:
Flip the fabric 90 degrees. Mark the bottom edge and the edge of the overlying chunk of fabric at 1 inch increments.

Step 4:
Draw parallel lines connecting your marks.

Step 5:
Cut along the lines. Make sure you cut all the way through the overlapping folded edge, but don't cut those couple inches at the top (the unmarked area). If you cut all the way up, you will have a bunch of loops.

Step 6:
Unfold the fabric and lay it out so the uncut area is flat. Now here comes the trickiest part. You're going to cut from the first slit at the bottom to the second slit on the top. See how I'm holding the ruler? That's the line you cut along. I don't mark this part because it's easiest to just hold it in your hand and eyeball it.

Step 7:
Push the loop you cut off aside. For the rest, you are going to cut from the first slit on the bottom to the first slit on the top. You're going to create a long, continuous strip of fabric. Keep going until you reach the end.

Step 8:
Now at the ends, you have a couple funny looking loops. To fix that, you just taper off from the slit to the outside edge. I like the tapered edge because I think it's nice when you transition from one ball of yarn to another. It also blends in nicely when you weave in the ends to finish your knitting.

Step 9:
The fun part! You now have a pile of what looks like jersey ribbon. To give it a rounded, yarn-like appearance, you just grab a section between your hands and pull! Keep going for the whole length of yarn and you're done!

Now take that pretty pile and wind it into a ball. (I like this center pull ball method (scroll down the the bottom of the page))

Please let me know if you like this tutorial, or if you have any problems with it!

Drawing: Heart II