Summer top #2, absolutely free

This top I refashioned from a rayon batik dashiki-thingy that was a gift from a friend in Africa. I loved the fabric, but the arm openings were so deep on the original garment that I really couldn't wear it outside the house. Once the neck binding started to fray, it was obviously time for a refashion.

I didn't use a pattern for this one. I probably should have checked the hip measurement before cutting, as I could use an extra inch or so there, but the top is cool and comfortable and completely wearable. I especially like the fringe on the bottom.

A week's worth of summer tops without spending a dime

This spring I finally had time to enter a couple of outfits in the Bloomington Trashion/Refashion  show, which was a blast. I refashioned a couple of old Mexican embroidery garments that had belonged to my mother, plus some string from a defunct furniture factory, into cute new outfits, modeled in the show by a couple of adorable young women. 

The whole experience got me thinking hard about all the wonderful materials I have tied up in unused yard goods and boring, outdated or ill-fitting clothes. At the same time, I don't have many summer clothes that I actually want to wear. And thus was born this summer's challenge: Make a week's worth of new tops, seven in all, from fabrics and notions already in my stash.

Here's number 1, made from a piece of batik fabric I bought in Kinshasa six years ago. The pattern is New Look 6107. The covered buttons, interfacing and thread were all found in my stash. I love this top; it's a flattering shape and the pattern wasn't hard to adjust to my size. I'm visiting my sister in Minneapolis and have worn it at least three times already, so this one's definitely a keeper.

I made a set of Roman shades for my sister's bay window while I was here, which turned out very nicely, too, so I'm feeling very creatively successful at the moment. We're having a great time, but tomorrow I will return to the Hoosier state and my brain is already working hard on tops #2 and 3.

Fighting winter demotivation

It's crappy outside. Here in southern Indiana, we aren't bombarded by snow like our friends in the northeast, but it's 3° outside and still fairly slick. I don't mean to whine; it's winter and this is what winter is supposed to do. Still, the long-term effects of a hard winter are nefarious: eat too much, waste too much time playing with my cell phone, exercise sporadically if at all.

So, in an effort to snap out of it, I finally persuaded myself to start a needlework project. It's stash-busting time (when is it not?), mostly because I have no ready cash for new yarn. I found this blue wool worsted weight, the green from last year's hat project, and the pink from a long ago craft fail that got unraveled and stashed.

I'm not in love with the checkerboard texture yet, but it will be a colorful and warm addition to someone's wardrobe. Stay tuned for the final result.

Family update: DD graduated from IU in May and is working for a lab in West Virginia. DS is a freshman at IU studying biochemistry. DH,  Mr. Fuzz and I are just trying to stay warm.

Bleaching/dyeing disaster

A couple of years ago I bought DD a cute turquoise cotton sundress.  At the time she was sharing an apartment with a young woman whose concept of cleaning was to pile her dirty socks next to the door and stash a month's worth of empty beer bottles in the coat closet; still, the girl cleaned the kitchen at least once. I know this because DD leaned against the counter in her new dress and the harsh cleaner left big white bleach spots all down the front of the skirt.

I couldn't bear to throw the dress away, so I stashed it in the closet determined to fix it. This last week DD and I rediscovered it, and I picked up a box of teal dye at Michael's (unfortunately they didn't have turquoise).

Obviously,  the first thing I had to do was bleach the whole thing white so it would dye evenly. Ha! Easier said than done when the only bleach available is a cheap dollar store brand or an equally useless Aldi brand. Dear readers, it simply was not possible for these awful products to remove the color from the fabric. I started at one part bleach to four parts water, increased the concentration to 1:1, soaked the thing for thirty minutes and it was still bright blue. I finally gave up and moved on to the dye.

Next disappointment: look at that awful color! Even though it was supposed to be teal, and I was dyeing over turquoise,  there's hardly any blue in the color at all. And even worse, the spots I hoped to get rid of are still visible. Ever the optimist, DD thinks it can be beautiful again, but this mom is skeptical.

What's Old Is New Again

This post was originally published a year or so ago. I somehow managed to inadvertently move it to the top of the queue. So sorry!

Long ago, in a faraway land, when our now nearly-adult son was three, I kept my jewelry in the top drawer of a low dresser. Sure enough, one day I discovered the little guy gleefully beating a malachite necklace against the hard marble floor of our African paradise. Green chips flew from the beads, and the string broke just as I arrived, sending what was left of the beads flying around the room.

This wasn't a precious necklace; I had paid three dollars for it at an outdoor market in Nairobi; nevertheless,  the beads were lovely green stone, so I stashed what was left of them in a Ziploc bag with the intention to do something with them someday.

Well, dear readers, that day was today, fifteen short years later. I added tiny lime green glass beads from our daughter's abandoned collection to make up for the ones that had broken, and restrung the necklace. It took about forty minutes to create a whole new necklace. I like the new version better than the original, and can't wait to wear it.

Free Pattern: Rib Knit Cap

Free Pattern: Rib Knit Cap

I made this cap with Cascade Yarns Eco +, a worsted weight, in the color Country Rds. The flower is Stahl Wolle's Skyline Light. The pattern is for the cap only, as the flower came from Nicky Epstein's book "Crocheted Flowers." You could try any number of similar free crocheted flower patterns online. The button was one I had in my stash.

I used a set of double-pointed needles, size US 8, 5 mm. I started out with plastic circular needles in the same size, but managed to sit on them and break them, but at some point you will have to switch to the double-pointed needles anyway, so you might as well start out with them.

Directions:

Cast on 96, connect in a ring, being careful not to twist your work. Use a marker to mark the beginning of each row as you work it, unless you're not that precise, in which case you can just eyeball where the end of the yarn is leftover from the cast on, and guess the beginning of each row.

Work in a k1, p1 rib until the cap seems long enough to you, then start shaping the crown, as follows:

Crown Shaping:

Row 1: *Work 21 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 2: *Work 19 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 3: *Work 17 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 4: *Work 15 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 5: *Work 13 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 6: *Work 11 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 7: *Work 9 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 8: *Work 7 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 9: *Work 5 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 10: *Work 3 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 11: *Work 1 in k1, p1 rib, sl1, k2 tog, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.
Row 12: *sl1, k1, psso. Repeat from * 3 more times.

Finishing off: Cut your yarn 3-4 inches from your work, pull the yarn through the four remaining stitches and fasten tightly.  Attach a purchased or handmade flower to one side.

Wiley House Heritage Arts Show Features My Original Work!

I'm excited to have two of my original creations, a knit top and matching scarf, featured this coming month in a Heritage Arts show at the Wiley House, 14th and J Streets in Bedford, Indiana.  I made the top and scarf with two balls of Warbler Boucle, a 100% cotton yarn by Robin Edmundson of Solsberry, Indiana (www.morenna.com). For the lace stitch, I used a scarf pattern by Vedis Jonsdottir on page 112 of the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I pretty much stuck to the pattern for the scarf, but got more creative for the top, adding two balls of old crochet thread that I dyed with Rit Dye to achieve the dark blue of the yoke, which I knitted in a simple stockinette stitch edged in garter stitch. I had never dyed thread before, and I was really pleased with how easy it was and how well it turned out. I see a lot more thread-dyeing in my future.

The jeans were decorated by DD and her friends in Rouen, France, to commemorate the year she spent there on the Rotary Youth Exchange program in 2008-2009. These jeans remind me of the senior cords created by Indiana high school students in the past. I think they look great with the top and scarf.

The pink bra under the lace top might be a little much! It was either that or a boring beige camisole.