A Little bit of Stitchin' and a whole lot of Pitchin'

  ince I am new to the wonderful world of knitting I haven't really been to any knitting related events and was therefore super excited when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to Stitch n' Pitch with her this year. It seemed like such a perfect plan - go to the game where our spouses could watch the game and we could knit while glancing up every few minutes. I looked forward to the event for quite some time, was overly excited when we all got free Mets key-chains with our tickets, and was even happier that I had a simple project that didn't take a lot of concentration to work on.

The day was pretty pleasant, although it was pretty hot for New York, but I have to say that I got almost no knitting done! Once we arrived at the game we got a free skein of yarn and a crochet hook, but they were out of the project bags. I was gracious enough to have a nice practice yarn, but I have to admit my eye wandered to those little bags all day.

The game started almost immediately after we got there and I pulled out my project to work on.

There wasn't too much room though and as I started to work I completely lost what was happening in the game and didn't get too far with my knitting either. My friend and I then decided to go get some food and spent most of the rest of the game in line at Shake Shack (I would like to make the point that I am a vegan though because I think animal rights are very important, my guy however is not and I respect that as well).

We got back just in time for the last inning and the Mets won the game, so yay for them!

My friend and I agreed that while we pretty much enjoyed ourselves, it might be better to get tickets to a minor league game so that we could
1) be closer to the action
2) pay less money for better seats
and
3) (at least for me) not have to worry about my fear of heights combined with very little room in front of your seat...I just kept imagining myself loosing my footing and falling over people until I smashed into that little gate.Ugh!

I really do enjoy the feeling of comradery that one gets at these type of events, but as I have already said, it might be best to just get a few of your friends together and go to a cheap game where there is less of a crowd and more room to really work on your projects or just sit back and relax.

*cap supplied by Jessica Hische at DailyDropCap  

The Madness Continues: An Army of Covered Buttons!

 kay, so I know I have been pretty lax in posting lately, but I have been spending most of my spare craft time on knitting a baby blanket and so really haven't been doing much else. Maybe you can forgive me then for posting another project that you can do with covered buttons.

I have become pretty picky about what kind of jewelry I will wear. I really like my jewelry to be simple, yet still say something (even if it is just "look at this cute animal!"), but I refuse to pay an arm and a leg for a very basic piece of jewelry. Seeing as how so many sellers find it necessary to charge exorbitant prices for such cheap (and I mean cheap literally, not as a comment on the aesthetics of the jewelry) items has led me to try and make my own jewelry. While this process hasn't been going all that quickly, I have made only about three items, it is one that makes me really happy with what I am wearing because it is custom made for me and doesn't cost a ridiculous sum of money.Thus, covered buttons are a perfect addition to my jewelry arsenal.

With covered buttons I can buy any fabric that I like and turn it into a cute, simple, and perfectly coordinated  piece of jewelry. With an awesome fabric from Purl Soho sitting in my supply box and a few earing backs in my drawer I decided to just go to town and make a couple pairs of earings.

As I have already outlined how to make the covered button (in this case a flat back), all the wisdom left for me to impart is to instruct you to glue the buttons onto the earing back and let sit for 24 hours and then wallah! you are done! I used just a standard jewelery glue from Michaels and this type of earing back (although you can of course chose the type you want, just make sure the setting size and button size match well enough) that I got from the Etsy supplier Softcover:

















I made sure the earings I made would match outfits that I already had and am really thrilled with the outcome:

















I added a little flair to the house set by making the other one a red topped house and the sheep earings were just perfect for Stitch N' Pitch (sorry the picture is so blurry)!

So, I guess all that is left to say on the matter is Go forth and create!


*cap supplied by Jessica Hische at DailyDropCap 

Can a Person Ever Really Change? : The Story of a Chalk Board Girl in a Dry Erase World

  have always been more of a chalk board type of girl, but after seeing this awesome idea that was brought to my attention by HowAboutOrange I might have to start converting to markers instead of chalk! Since deciding my craft area needed a re-vamp I have been looking for a possible chalk board situation so that I can draw out size ideas I have for knitting projects and see if they actually look good. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg though, and as I am sure most people know (although if you don't be warned) the cheap chalk boards are made of a material that seems to expel chalk as opposed to allowing you to write with it. That is why this dry erase board idea is so great! I can buy a cheap frame, to the size of my liking, and simply add fabric for a cute but functional piece of craft equipment. While I think I might always prefer the feel of chalk in my hand, I can see myself much preferring this beautiful piece on my wall as opposed to a slab of black. So, while I am still deciding whether I should buy a huge frame and go for it, I thought I would pass the awesome idea on. If I do make this I will be sure to detail the process here.

* cap supplied by Jessica Hische at DailyDropCap

Revelations are such Wonderful things: Library Thing and I, Take 2

  oday I finally took the time to actually sit down and fiddle with my Librarything catalog and am amazed with the results and embarrassed over my past deductions of it. I have found that not only does Librarything supply the call number for most books, it also allows you to customize the way you view and sort your information so that you can have a complete catalog that meets your needs. Huzzah! Not only will this save me a ton of time by not requiring me to search Worldcat, it also allows me to sort my books by call number order! I am so thrilled and can't recommend the site enough.

So, the plan now is to use the tag area to list "collection" information. An example of what I mean by this is the tag "Craft." If this tag is given it means that this book is in my craft area, on a bookshelf there. So far I only have three categories, "Craft," "General Collection," and "Special Collection." I hope to keep the division of areas minimal, so I think only having three will suffice for me.

The other great feature I found today was that I can decide how the list is displayed and ultimately printed. This was very exciting because it allowed me to realize that the LC Classification can be shown on my list and I can sort by it. Thus my view of the catalog is now set with these specifications:
Small picture of cover, Title, Author, Tags (collection information), LC Classification, and Date.

I know that this process has everyone on the edge of their seats...so be sure to check back soon for more updates and possibly more admissions of how quickly (and wrongly) I jump to conclusions.

*cap supplied by Jessica Hische at DailyDropCap

Inspiration 101

  hen it comes to the wonderful world of crafts and the amazing field of book production/design I have a lot to learn. I am a newbie to taking both areas seriously and when I see all the things I want to do and all the things I need to learn sometimes I can kind of freak out a bit. I mean, it can be very overwhelming. I have Studio on the Square and Mindy for most of my book production/letterpress needs, but crafting is a different story. Not only can the amount that I need to learn about crafting be overwhelming, but all the information out there can be too. There are so many sites and books full of how-to's and projects, but I have found so few that I think actually give enough coherent information to be worth following or purchasing. So, I just wanted to take this opportunity to point out a website and a book that I have just found to be ever so incredible and most definitely inspirational!

The Book:
While I have heard often of this little work of incredible-ness I had yet to pick it up and riffle through it until yesterday and as soon as I saw what a treasure it was I bought it on the spot. Now, to cease with this mystery and get on with it, the book I am speaking of is Stitch n' Bitch: The Knitters Handbook.

I know for anyone who knits the first thought must be, "Well duh," but as someone who has just begun knitting I think it is important to shout from the rooftops that this is a MUST for any knitting library. I had been told by so many people of various books that would do wonders for my understanding of this craft, or that I just had to have and so I was slowly ILLing items from my public library to try and figure out which ones were worth my money. I had overlooked this one though because, for whatever reason, I kept thinking I would get to it eventually. What I hadn't realized until I actually looked through it though, was that as a beginner I needed this. This isn't a book to buy later on down the line, although I am sure it will forever be helpful and I will always be picking it up as a reference. Stitch n' Bitch is full of incredibly understandable and helpful explanations of almost every little part of knitting and I can say, just from the little I have read so far, I have already had at least three "ah ha!" moments.

The Site:
While I had not ever heard of this site, it is something I stumbled upon two days ago and have already visited a few times.  How About Orange will probably always be putting me to shame, in terms of crafts I can do and blog quality. This blog is absolutely incredible, with free downloads, tips, and tons of tricks! In fact I got that lovely W from DailyDropCap because Jessica had the awesome good sense to blog about it. There are so many many things on this blog and I am sure that I will try a few and post about them on here...and I am sure sometimes I won't even realize she posted about how to do these things in the past (like with the buttons...which is how I found this blog, searching for button terms after I had already made them). So, I suggest to anyone who reads this humble little blog and is interested in making crafts to swing on over to How About Orange for some superdity-duperdity fun!

Where is the Knowledge we have lost in Information? -T.S. Eliot

 I could go on forever about how important I believe libraries to be and how in this modern age we do not give them nearly enough credit or funding. I could further that discussion with a tangent on how in order to meet these harsh realities libraries are starting to be run as businesses as opposed to cultural institutions, becoming more concerned with buzz words and the latest fad than with the preservation and advancement of not only information, but the objects that store this information. I could then remonstrate on how much we are losing by forcing libraries into these boxes, only to then ruin them altogether by withdrawing their funding.

Instead of doing all that though, I will point to this more lighthearted and awesome video and say, "Please help keep our libraries open!"

A Tack-tful way to Spruce up Bulletin Boards

Okay, okay, I know that the title for this post is a bit over-the-top, pun-o-refic, but I couldn't help it!! I am so excited about the tacks I made last night and how fun they make my bulletin boards. They are a great way to add color and personality without having to do something a little more complicated, like cover the cork in fabric or the likes.

Making tacks is just as easy as covering buttons, you only need to add a couple steps. The supplies you will need are fabric, flat and round topped tacks, flat-back buttons with pusher and "button well" aka base (you want to make sure they are a size that will fit the tacks well, I used 1/2 inch and it was a match made in heaven), craft glue, and of course scissors.

Supplies (after covering the buttons):

The first thing to do is to cover the buttons with your favorite fabric. I used some of the leftover fabric from the scarfette I made...which matches my craft space quite delightfully.

A jumble of flat-backs:

Next you want to put your craft glue in the dip in the back of the button and press the flat part of the tack down on top of it. While I know it doesn't seem like it matters whether you put the glue on the tack or the button, I found that it did. When I put the glue on the tack instead of the button they didn't really stick together because you can't coat the tack like you can the button dip...and so I impart that wisdom onto whoever may read this.

 With those steps done the next is just to wait for the glue to dry. I would suggest waiting 24 hours, although I will admit that I only waited a few before I put the tacks on my bulletin boards...but I was sure not to yank on them or anything. 

Close up time:

With all of that hard...hard work done you can now relax and let your tacks sit pretty and do all the hard labor!! I know I absolutely adore how they make my craft space both look better and feel all the more craftier!!

Tacks in Action:

 Oh, just one more shot:

And I promise, I am working on getting better at taking pictures!!!