Orange please.

ugly crochet

Lisa — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:00:26 +0000

I bought all this yarn thinking that they are all really pretty colors and would look nice together in a ripple blanket. Half of that was right- they are really pretty. But, after seeing it, I don’t really think they go well together. Also, I forgot which size hook I was using and so halfway through I started using an H, which (turns out!) is a size bigger than I started with. WHOOOOPS. But I’m lazy so I didn’t fix it, so the blanket does this little weird curving thing on the edges. Hopefully I can find somewhere to block it and try to fix it… we’ll see how that goes. I feel a little silly for investing so much time into such an ugly, warped blanket, but I’ve grown kind of fond of it. I have 15 more rows, and then it’s finished.

black and yellow black and yellow

Lisa — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:00:50 +0000

I bought this fabric a long time ago with the intention of making a couple of sweet ass Amy Butler bags with them. And then I didn’t. But I still wanted to use the fabric, so I just made a quick little quilt, with a gingham backing. Now it’s in the roadtrip minivan (aka, the Flamin’ Wagon).

This post brought to you courtesy of Wiz Khalifa.

inspiration

Lisa — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:00:10 +0000

As I am travelling around, I’m finding a lot of really lovely color combos everywhere. Mostly from nature but not all. Maybe someday when I am rich and have time, I will be able to make things that are inspired by these colors. Also maybe then I will be able to afford a $160 turquoise necklace that I couldn’t take my eyes off of until I saw the price tag and then sadly walked away. Anyway, here’s a slideshow of some of the colors.

Click to view slideshow.

Baby Henry’s quilt

Lisa — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:51:36 +0000

Right before I left on this current roadtrip (aka, quarterlife crisis), I whipped up a blankie for new baby Henry and his hot mama, Jen. It was the first thing I made using my new Janome DC 2010, which I bought at a liquidation sell for hella cheap while I was hopped up on crutches and all sorts of post-surgery painkillers. This is really the first quilt I’ve ever made besides the rag quilt, which was a little different because it didn’t require any mitering or binding or deal with any real layers. I used the disappearing nine patch tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew and also hastily used her beginner’s guide to finishing quilts. It was really helpful, and maybe if I had had more than 6 sq ft and a flat surface that didn’t have a dog running all over it, it might’ve ended up a bit neater. I think it’s a little sloppy and I could use some grandma-like advice from someone more advanced, BUT I still really like it and it’s light and warm and delightful. Also the baby makes it looks really good.

Oh yeah, I have a blog!

Lisa — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:40:21 +0000

It’s been so long! So very long… I have a few new things whipped up but have been too busy/stressed/lazy to post. Here’s the DL, troops:

1) I spent the last half of 2010 trying to fight the good fight… and lost. Anyone familiar with what’s going on in Wisconsin politics right now knows what I’m talking about. That work required a lot of my time, and I wasn’t able to create ANYTHING during campaign season.

2) I had three surgeries last summer, right after my last post. The haze of goofy delusion that my pain meds created rendered it impossible for me to create (although it did help me lose any sense of logic, thereby allowing me to buy an amazing new sewing machine. Thanks, Vicodin!)

3) I am currently nomadic. I have no none home, and am quite literally living in a van. Maybe I will come visit you.

I have a bag of yarn and a book of crochet needles with me, so hopefully I’ll be finishing something soon.

new approach

Lisa — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:11:14 +0000

This damn granny square blanket is taking forever to finish. Each square is 5 rounds and 3 colors, and I’m attaching them to the main blanket as I go. So I’ve decided to go with a new approach and make all the first rounds first, then all the 2nd and 3rds, then the last rounds. I don’t know if it will work quicker or not. And I don’t know if it will look good, because I haven’t been following a pattern, I’ve just been picking colors as I go. But now, since I have 12 colors and 133 squares left, I’m making 11 first rounds of each color. Then I’m going to give each of those 11 rounds 11 different second colors (one of each other color). Does that make any sense? I hope it works. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

“blueberry pie,

Lisa — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:00:45 +0000

the most marvelous blueberry pie you’ve ever tasted!”

I made a pie. With a lattice crust. I’d never tried to do lattice before, and I didn’t have any internets or grandmas around to help me figure it out. But I did it anyway. It was delicious. And I think the crust turned out pretty nicely. Pre- and post-baked:

It’s all gone now.

everyone is having babies

Lisa — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:36:21 +0000

I think I mentioned this before, but I feel like every woman I know is pregnant. It’s more like 8 or 9 of them, but it’s still definitely the year of babies. One of them was born last Thursday. It was a girl. I made her some baby booties (using a slightly modified version of this pattern from sylver) and they are squeeeeeeee cute.

I sized them for a 3 month old (according to Google, because I know nothing about babies and their feet) so they should fit for a little while. I can’t believe how little they are though. Squeeeeeeeee!

stuff i’d like to someday probably get to eventually

Lisa — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:20:58 +0000

I am mad in love with my Google reader. It makes everything easy to read, and I can save and categorize certain posts, which make it easier to go back and read them. Typically, I find a nifty tutorial or something that I one day would like to make and I star it and file it away. If I find something not on Google reader, I’ll email myself the link and file it that way. But those files are getting bigger and bigger and I thought it might be time to find a new way to save them. So I’ve linked to them on this page and hopefully will find time to finish a few of them.

new things

Lisa — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:23:54 +0000

Between packing the apartment up and looking for a new job and getting ready for South Africa (and reading endless theories about “Lost”), I haven’t done a whole lot of creating lately. But I did finish an Amy Butler Birdie Sling:

It’s hard to see, but here’s what the inside looks like (or did, before I filled it up with tons of stuff):

and with the scraps I whipped up a cute lil pincushion.

Fabric was bought from FabricArtShop.