Have you seen the free Wingspan shawl on Ravelry? You’ve got to check it out.

I had some sock yarn that didn’t feel like something I would want socks made out of. It was stiff, a little rough. But the colors are great. So I whipped it up into the Wingspan! This was the fastest thing I ever knit! It took me 5 days!

The pattern is intuitive, so once you get the rhythm down, you can roll right along. I liked it so much I cast on another ball of yarn to make another. This time I making some adjustments, adding stitches to the cast on so it’s bigger overall. I also have two balls so I can make it as big as I like. I’m not knitting as fast as before because I have some other projects on the needles.

 

 

I’m trying to post more regularly here! But it’s hard maintaining two blogs! In case you’ve found this by accident, I also have Motherhoot. My goal is to post here on Wednesdays for the near future. I’ll run a Wordless Wednesday post on Motherhoot and post here about crafting.

My BFF Kelly helped me make myself a duct tape dummy. Why, you ask, would I need a duct tape dummy? Because I am tired of knitting sweaters that don’t fit correctly. Supposedly, this will help me create garments that actually fit me. I heard about this years ago, but I’m taking a class at Craftsy that walked you through the process. Still it took several months to get it done.

Of course, we chose the hottest day of 2012 so far to do this. My advice: have lots of water handy and a fan. Because being wrapped in duct tape is like a sauna!

Here are the things you need:

• duct tape (it took almost 2 rolls for Mini Me; taping the holes closed took a lot more tape than I thought it would)
• contrasting/decorative duct tape to mark your waist line and any other points you want to reference
• old t-shirt
• willing, close friend
• good scissors to cut through a t-shirt and several layers of duct tape
• stuffing (I used a 5 pound box and a large bag)

Here’s how you do it:

Part 1: You Need A Friend

1. Put on the old t-shirt. Wear a good bra under it like you would under a knitted garment. I chose a long-sleeved t-shirt because I could tie off the sleeves when I was done.

2. Have your taper get started. Kelly did the first layer with shorter strips that she molded around my bumps and curves. Then she did a second layer taping vertically with longer pieces of tape. The third layer was done horizontally with longer layers of tape. By longer I mean nothing more than 10-12″ long.

3. When the base layer was done, she added the contrasting tape (see my zebra belt!) to my waist line.

4. Cut the duct tape suit off, being careful to avoid skin and the bra strap. I cannot emphasize enough that you need strong scissors for this. The ones we had (I had to rummage through drawers and closets to find a single scissors in my house!) were pretty crappy and I thought I was going to be stuck forever!

5. Let the duct tape suit air out and dry if you manage to sweat like I did. I don’t normally sweat but I did that day!

Part 2: You’re On Your Own

1. Carefully tape up the seam of your duct tape suit. It’s not hard because you can match the tape lines of the suit and the contrasting tape lines. Remember, the suit is flexible, so you can mangle it around in this stage to get it taped back up. I made sure that my zebra waist marking was complete around the suit.

2. Tie up the arms or tape the arm holes shut.

3. Tape the neck carefully, trying to maintain the shape.

4. Start stuffing from the bottom. I had a hard time getting enough stuffing into my boobs!

5. Carefully begin taping up the bottom. I bought a piece of foam core to use as a base, but didn’t need it. I think I lost some of the correct shaping, but the measurements are close to ones taken a few weeks ago.

6. When you have most of the bottom taped closed, add more stuffing. Add and add and add until you get a stable piece. Honestly, I think I could have stuffed all day because the stuffing really compacts when you shove it in there. I read somewhere that you could use the spray expandable foam insulation to fill it. That might have worked better.

7. Tape completely shut. Stand back and admire your work.

Tips & Techniques

• Be prepared for your taper to get intimately close to The Girls. You need this to get an accurate casting!
• I cannot stress enough how hot and uncomfortable this got. I couldn’t even sit toward the end because the tape was down to my hip line. My legs wouldn’t bend!
• Repeatedly tearing duct tape from the roll wreaks havoc on the hands. Kelly actually lost skin when the tape got stuck.
• By the end, I thought the duct tape had a weird smell. Make sure you have plenty of ventilation!

I can’t wait to use this for a garment. I’m in the middle of knitting a mystery shrug! Hopefully it will look great on Mini Me!

If you’ve done this or even thought about it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

It took awhile, but I finished the project I started here.

The process of decoupage is both fun and messy.

• I loved ripping the paper apart.
• I loved saving the paper edges for the drawer edges.
• I’m glad sponge brushes are so cheap to be dispasable because I didn’t have to wash them!
• I’m sorry I ruined my favorite pair of paints by getting modge podge on them! Who knew it wouldn’t wash out!?

I got the supplies for this project at Michael’s and Ace Hardware. The paint is a soft sage green (Ace) and the papers are various scrapbook papers (Michael’s.) I even got the drawer pulls at Michael’s.

I am offering my first of many knitting patterns for sale on Ravelry! If you are a member, check me out. My user name is QusieSusie.

Here’s a picture of my mitts and a link to purchase the pattern.

I made it my New Year’s resolution to actually be creative this year instead of just reading about creativity on Ravelry and Pinterest. I was so excited when a creative project fell right into my lap!

Yesterday I pulled out of the driveway and saw that the neighbors had thrown away a dresser. I drove along, but the dresser niggled at my mind. I called home and told one of the twins to bring it in and put it into the garage. Instead it ended up in the foyer where I can’t stop looking at it.

It’s much bigger than I thought it was, so it won’t fit into my closet. I was hoping to use it as an out-of-the-way storage system for some craft supplies (mainly yarn–sue me, I have an addiction!). Instead, I am going to use it right here in my office area to store yarn, and hold my printer on top.

Today I gathered my supplies: scrapbook paper, Modge Podge, paint, sandpaper. I was more than thrilled to be able to go to Michael’s and pick up the drawer pulls I had spotted a few days ago. Again, something niggling in my mind making me want them…bad!

Jim’s doing some minor repairs to the drawers. I’m going to start sanding the laminate.

The good thing about this being in the living room rather than the garage is that I keep looking at it and know it needs to be done! This is no out-of-sight-out-of-mind project that I can put off endlessly.

I’ll be documenting my progress!

Here are my Christmas frameables! Feel free to print at home or through your photo printer. I do photos because I can’t seem to get the right colors from my printer! These can replace the Halloween frameables I made a few months ago. I meant to do Thanksgiving…but time got away from me!

Click on the picture to be taken to a page with just the image. Save page to your computer.

Let me know what you think!

© SusieKline, 2011. May not reproduce without permission.

I saw this quote on Twitter, tweeted by @autismfather. Isn’t it so true?! It’s my new life’s motto!

http://www.zazzle.com/if_thebloggess_made_this_card-137640605131058417