More winter crafts

Finally got back into the groove and made some more winter the hats over the past few days...started with an ivory one that I slapped a sparkly maroon bow onto, then a really soft yellow angora one, and then my favorite, a grey cashmere one with black leather bows, and fingerless gloves to match! Glad to be back in action, I think I'm going to use the rest of the yellow angora sweater to make a little cat sweater for Belle...I want to make one for Orion too, but I'll need a whole sweater, and a big one, so that may not happen until I make another trip to Restore.

Here are the hats I made this week...(the ivory one was really hard to photograph, so forgive the blurriness, and the brightness.)

I made the fingerless gloves using the same idea I used to make my last ones (which I ended up giving to my mom while she was here; she liked them and wanted them as driving gloves), but it was a lot less work this time because I used the end of the sleeves for the hand part, and just cut a little hole to sew in the thumb part (which I cut out of the bottom of the sweater), and also used the neck of the shirt (cut into two parts) for the wrist. They look a lot more professional, I think, and like I said, it was a lot easier. The bows are mostly to cover up stitching, but I really like them. :)

Today Josh and I spent some time outside working on clearing the two huge branches that fell next to our house. We made some pretty good progress, but it's slow going since we don't have a chainsaw (or even an axe - we were taking turns using a machete). I think we're going to go to Lowe's tomorrow and get an axe, before we tackle it again. Orion tried to help drag away branches as we cut them off at first, but then got bored and resorted to eating a pumpkin that I threw out.

I have plans to post a lot of words tomorrow, regarding the new year and reflections of this past year, but if I don't get around to it, everyone have a safe and happy end to 2012, and beginning of 2013!

Joining:

31 Days Series: Sweater hats

Today, I made hats. Two of them so far, one more in the works. They're pretty basic and easy to make if you have a sweater or two that don't fit, and depending on the size of the sweater, you can not only make multiples, but you can use the rest of it for other re-purposing purposes! (Pretty sure that's some kind of grammatical blasphemy, but I'm making it work.)

Anyway, here's a link to a tutorial if you need one.

My process came about after getting distracted while trying to finish up our Halloween costumes. (More on that tomorrow.) I was desperately searching for a skirt that I'd bought at Re-store before Joshs birthday party, and then packed away when I got to cleaning. I emptied my entire bin of fabric before remembering that I'd put it with the rest of the costume supplies, in a box on the shelf in the closet. Anyway, long story short, I needed something to do while the skirt (and other costume bits and pieces) washed since they had gotten that 'been in a box in the closet' smell to them, and after coming across two pieces of what used to be sweaters in my fabric bin, I decided to make us a couple of winter hats.

Sorry for the poor lighting, a storm rolled in on me and it got dark earlier than I expected. Brown one is mine, the patchwork one is Joshs.

Our attempts at taking a picture together with the hats were...a failure, I think is the best way to put it. I offer this as proof:

I'm going to make one more hat, considering that I managed to find a gorgeous grey angora sweater at Re-Store today. It's too small for me to wear, but I want to find a way to utilize as much of it as possible, then I'm going to work on making some soft, gorgeous matching accessories. :)

Here it is, in all it's soft, fluffy, grey glory:

(Yes, I did take that in the car immediately after buying it. I WAS EXCITED! And the light was great.)

Here's a close-up of the detailing.

This is taken back at home, obviously, but check out the buttons on the top; you could open it up for a more 'off-the-shoulder' look! I almost feel bad about cutting it up, but it only cost me $3.

That's all for now. Our Halloween costumes coming tomorrow! All three of them, including Orion. He's going to look hilariously adorable! So excited!!