Brad's Beanie

My BFF, Brad, requested that I make him a beanie this winter. He picked out a mustard yarn, I knitted a swatch figured out the measurements then knit away. This one was really simple, a 1x1 rib knitted in the round. Here is Brad modeling his beanie.

Similarly I was trying to knit myself a cabled mustard beret, which I am now lovingly referring to as the "Dud" beret. I got a free pattern that I found on Ravelry (the pattern is available for free on the Bernat website). The pattern was awful to read and the finished product turned out even worse. It isn't really a beret and not really cabled either. I knew about half way through that it wasn't going to work out so when I finished it, I didn't tuck in the ends or tie off... this way I can rip it out and knit something better :)

Bargain Hunter

So, most bloggers have recurring posts. Elsie has "10 Things I Love." Kaylah has "What I Wore.", Amanda has {This Moment}, and Betsey has started, "Only in New Orleans." I have been thinking of doing a recurring post for a while now and have been having trouble thinking of a subject matter. I could do a "10 things that I love"-ish post but I don't know if I would have a weekly 10 things to post, I stay at home with my kids 5 days out of the week so nobody wants to see what I am wearing, I have been pretty lackadaisical about taking regular photos and I don't live in New Orleans anymore. :-) I have to post about something I do regularly and something that I know a lot about and yesterday as I was shopping at Urban Outfitters, it dawned on me.... My recurring post is going to be about all the deals that I seem to score on a regular basis.

For those of you who don't know me, let me share somethings about myself.... I do not pay full price for anything! I am constantly looking for SUPER deals that I just can't pass up and for some crazy reason I tend to find the "Deal of the Century" almost every week. So I decided to share with the world the CRAZY deals that I get and maybe share some tips so that everyone else can get on the bargain train with me.

I am becoming more of a clothes horse (as Casey would say) so most of my bargains tend to be on clothing and accessories and 9/10 times the things I buy are way cheaper than I can make. Every once in a while I will stumble onto great deals for things that have nothing to do with my blog (like kids toys) in which I will share just for the fun of it.

So let me get started with my Urban Outfitters score from yesterday. Everyone knows how much I love Anthropologie. I'm not sure how public this knowledge is but Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie are owned by the same company which is probably why I also like Urban Outfitters. Because I don't really fit into U.O's demographic, I am a little pickier with their merchandise. The majority of the things that I purchase there are home goods and scarves. But yesterday I stumbled on their sale that included some cute jewelry!! They were pretty picked over but I found 2 necklaces that i just had to have.

Both Necklaces: regular price: $29.00. My price: $6.99! Not necessarily the "deal of the century" but I definitely could not make them for $6.99!

More color!!!

Here are some more pretties of my new favorite color!!! [click pics for links]

LOVE this hat/flower combo so much that I made one of my own. I have the flower crocheted and now I am working on the hat. Below is the picture of the flower that I crocheted a few days ago and in the upper left hand corner you can see the skein of mustard that I am going to use for the hat. I am thinking of posting a free pattern for the flower in the near future.

I LOVE this print... and would love to have one of my neighborhood!!

I LOVE this necklace... very Anthro!

We are going on a road trip this summer... this photo is good inspiration for my camera :)

I LOVE these 'old' worn photos so much that I created one in Photo Shop from a picture that I took of my oldest and my father in law on a carnival ride from this past summer. Here is the one that I did below. It is a little more "Lomo". I might rework it a little to get more of a "flattened" image and to adjust the shadow border.

Check out the above zipper pouches... aren't they cute?? I think pillows made similarly would be great on my son's bed!

I am also planning on a tutorial for the fabric stamps that I made for these pouches below. You will be amazed how quick, easy and cheap these are to create!

ooohhh

I wonder if I could convince my husband to let me paint our bedroom. I LOVE THIS!!!!! [click pic for link]

Eye Candy

Things that I am loving lately. [click on pics for links]

My New Favorite Color

I'm in a bloggy mood today :) [click photos for links]

I am IN LOVE!!!!

I am completely in love with this kitchen make-over!!! The best DIY I have seen in a long time. Now I just have to convince the hubbs to let me paint my cabinets. Click here to see the MAGIC!!!

Crocheter?

I am still on this organization kick. Not sure if it is early spring cleaning or what but I am trying to get organized because a cluttered house is a cluttered mind.... which is definitely true in my case.

A few years ago I had an ingenious idea to tie the ends of all the little balls of left over scrap yarn together... you know those small balls that you have wound that are too small to do anything with and too big to throw away. Well, I tied them end to end, rolled them into one big ball and started knitting. I decided to make a knitting needle case. Here is how it turned out:

This was one of my favorite projects because I loved the end result but more then that.... it was completely FREE!!! And who doesn't LOVE free?

This worked great for my knitting needles, but not so great for my crochet hooks, which have just been thrown (unorganized) into a tin. So I decided to make a case for my hooks. Not sure where I got it, but I had a completed version of this project in my head before I even started. Here is the final result:

I used my new favorite fabric, linen, and hand embroidered "Hooker" (Thanks Debbie Stroller) on the outside and made it into a 'clutch'. The embroidery on this took me FOREVER!!!! I have been known to dabble in embroidery here and there, but I severely underestimated how long this would take me. However, for some strange reason I had a lot of fun embroidering this. Like most of my crafts, I did this while watching the tube but quickly learned that crafts and subtitled movies don't mix :-)

I made a lot of mistakes with this clutch that I plan on correcting when I make the next one. The 1st mistake was not stabilizing the linen before embroidering... I knew it even when I started and made the conscious decision to proceed without. Not bad, but definitely not as good as it could be otherwise. Most of the mistakes, however, were made when sewing on the zipper. It is functional and the 'clutch' is holding together so I consider this project a victory :-) Most importantly, I learned a lot!

I used an Amy Butler pattern called the 'Fashion Checkbook Clutch'.

Which can be found in this book:

I made mine the same size as hers and I followed the directions in the pattern, omitting the parts that I didn't want. The outside is a bit different because I didn't put in any pockets and and the inside is quite a bit different but the overall construction was the same. I liked this so well, that I think I am going to make a matching one for some of my knitting needles and maybe embroider that one to say "clicker" :-)

Lately

I have a bunch of projects that I am working on and even more popping into my head.... sometimes I have a hard time thinking straight. :-) Let me first start by saying that my Anthro. sweater copy is almost done!!!! I have the back and front together and the bottom trim done and sewn on. I have one sleeve knitted but ran out of yarn for the 2nd.... we are also sold out of that yarn at work so I have to wait for the shipment to come in before I can finish.

Meanwhile, here are some of the things that have been occupying my time:

The zipper on my lingerie bag broke a while ago and consequently I have had to buy a lot more delicates lately. So I decided to make my self another lingerie bag. I actually made this bag once before for a friend and had it in the back of my mind to make one for myself 'someday' and well, today is that someday. I am about 75% done, I have additional trim to crochet, I have to crochet decorative flowers for the outside of the bag and I also have to crochet the ties. The 2 panels are done and crocheted together and this is what it looks like so far:

detail:
Lately I have been on an organizational kick. As a result I decided to make zipper pouches for all of the electronic cords that I have laying around all over the place. Not only do I want them to be sorted and organized but also labeled so that I know what they go to. I decided to make the bags out of linen so that they were all the same and I didn't have to buy a ton of different fabrics. I made fabric stamps that I used on one side of the bag to determine what kind of plug was in the bag and also to add a bit of character.

On the other side, I used a scrap of linen to create a "patch" that I embroidered with exactly what kind of plug was in the bag and who it belonged to. I tried to color code them as well but gave up on that pretty quickly. I sewed the patches on with a coordinating thread and decorative stitch on my sewing machine.
I found a cute matching patterned cotton fabric for the lining. I was hoping to find some nerdy electronic print for the inside but was unsuccessful. If I felt a little more ambitious or had a whole bunch of time on my hands I would print my own fabric for the inside. :-) I am also thinking of sewing little linen "tags" that I can attach to each plug in case it gets separated from it's bag, we will still know what it goes to.

I found this cotton shower curtain at Urban Outfitters for $12.99 and I have something really special in mind to make with it. I can't wait!!!!
I also have a really fun idea for an organizational case to make for my crochet hooks. I can't wait to get started but I have some preliminary things to do before I can get started on sewing it together!