If you are ever in the Boston area, I highly recommend take a walk around Cambridge.
It is the most oddly diverse area on the planet. You have the energy of Harvard and MIT mixes with the locals. There are great eats and eclectic shops.
You can learn so much just walking around and soaking it in.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Bell Book and Candle Love Spells and Magic
Just love the old movie Bell, Book and Candle Starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.
A romantic comedy about what happens when a witch falls in love and her crazy bongo playing brother played by Jack Lemmon.
Kim Novak cast a love spell on Jimmy Stewart as revenge for her nemesis in college...see what happens from there.
Beautiful siamese cat as her familar Pyewacket.
It's so beatnik and bohemian. It is speculated that Bewitched was loosely based on this movie.
If you haven't watched, I recommend you give it a shot.
So for the fun of it I created a collection of items on Artfire that in some way tie into the movie. Check it out.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Making an Upcycled Jester Hat
My husband has been encouraging me to try and make some hats out of upcycled sweaters. New territory for me. After seeing the beautiful coats that Katwise makes, I figured I'd give it a try. I love what she does with color. Be sure and visit her shop if you've never been there. http://www.etsy.com/shop/katwise?ga_search_query=katwise&ga_search_type=seller_usernames
Truth is, I've been to the fabric store so many times, all their fabric is starting to look like old wallpaper. You know how when you first put up wallpaper, you just love it...Think it's the greatest! A year or two later you get tired of it and wonder, what was I thinking?
Yesterday I hit the local thrift shop and bought 2 bags full of wool sweaters. Dry cleaned them. So I'm off to try and figure out how to turn a sweater into a hat. Starting with the Angora blended sweaters. I love the feel of Angora, but my attempts to felt angora in the past have not been good, so this is has not been felted. I'll felt the pure wool ones before working with them.
Starting with my standard jester hat, I've made and sold alot of these, so it's a pattern I'm really comfortable with.
I like how the embellishment accents the hat. What do you think? I need feedback.
Things I've learned so far:
1. Make your squares of wool approximately the same size.
2. Bead embellishments and sergers don't get along...3 broken needles later.
3. Sweater wool stretchs alot, in fact too much Have to put elastic in the headband or they will fall off peoples heads.
4. Make large patchwork pieces and cut your pattern from that.
5. Pay attention to the direction of the knitting.
6. Sweaters aren't cheap even at the thrift store. I'm going to have to start begging my friends for their old sweaters.
Yesterday I hit the local thrift shop and bought 2 bags full of wool sweaters. Dry cleaned them. So I'm off to try and figure out how to turn a sweater into a hat. Starting with the Angora blended sweaters. I love the feel of Angora, but my attempts to felt angora in the past have not been good, so this is has not been felted. I'll felt the pure wool ones before working with them.
Starting with my standard jester hat, I've made and sold alot of these, so it's a pattern I'm really comfortable with.
I like how the embellishment accents the hat. What do you think? I need feedback.
Things I've learned so far:
1. Make your squares of wool approximately the same size.
2. Bead embellishments and sergers don't get along...3 broken needles later.
3. Sweater wool stretchs alot, in fact too much Have to put elastic in the headband or they will fall off peoples heads.
4. Make large patchwork pieces and cut your pattern from that.
5. Pay attention to the direction of the knitting.
6. Sweaters aren't cheap even at the thrift store. I'm going to have to start begging my friends for their old sweaters.
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