Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thrift Thursday, Finally.

Welcome to the first Thrift Thursdsay Post! Thrift Thursday is all about my love for thrifted clothing, all things vintage and not-vintage-at-all, how to buy secondhand and still look good, and most importantly: being good to our Good Ol' Mother Earth who has been so good to us all these years!

I hope Thrift Thursday will expand to include tips on thrifting, home decor thrifting, re-furbing (or refurbishing), and much more!


Today's piece is actually two pieces. This is an outfit I would most typically wear to work. The thrifted items are the top and necklace. The non-thrifted items are the slacks and shoes. I found this orange top at Salvation Army and loved it for the design element of the trim. It is definitely reminiscent of crochet but is machine-made so it is not actual crochet.  The necklace I got at a consignment store and is really one of my favorite accessories. It goes great with orange, yellow, and white. There are little engraved flowers on each bead though you can't quite see that from the distance these are shot at.




So there it is. You can look good and professional when wearing thrifted fashion!

Until Next Time.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Avoiding Obvious Green Post Titles

You know like, In The Green or It's Not Easy Bein' Green. Anywho. It's about half way through June here and half way through the month of green. I was telling my best friend Ashleigh about how surprised I was by the lack of green in my stash. Thing is- I always gravitate to it and tell myself, "No, you already have plenty of green...you need to use other colors." But in telling myself that everytime I wind up with essentially no green yarn. I said essentially. I do have two skeins of Cascade 220 waiting patientlly to become sleeves and buttholes on my Tea Leaves Cardi. I also had one ball of Knit Picks new Chroma yarn in fingering weight. I have never used a color transitioning yarn, and at Knit Picks prices I thought, "What the heck?" So I grabbed a ball in North Woods, assuming it would be socks. I will say this now- had I known they would, indeed, not be socks I may not have picked this colorway (but that is kind of what Project Spectrum is about). So after dubiously casting on for a sock, realizing it was a little too thick/thin and fuzzy for socks, and hearing Ashleigh tell me that it is "way to pretty to be socks", I ripped and cast on spontaneously for a Lacy Baktus. When I say spontaneously I means as spontaneous as casting on can be: I had never even favorited this pattern on ravelry! But I will say, Knit Picks Chroma loves Lacy Baktus. Don't you think?
At first I was weary of the colors, I am not much of an orange girl. But now I am in love with this scarf/shawl. The orange is more of a terra anyways. So pretty! Also, now I know why yarns like this and Noro are such favorites. They are really fun to use. The pattern is great too, I love the way the shawl grows and the "lace" is simple enough for me to handle (which is a plus). So that's basiclly all that's going on by way of green. I was planning on buying some green crochet thread, but I can't. Which leads me to my news.
I, LiveLoveYarn, am officially on a yarn diet. I am going cold-sheep.
There, I said it. I jokingly asked Andrew if he thought I could go until Stitches East (in October) without buying yarn. He said "Absoutley, without a doubt- you have no chance at all" or something like that. So it became a full-blown-shake-on-it-bet. If I can go until Stitches without buying yarn, patterns (magazines, books, individual patterns), and crochet hooks he will donate $30 to my Stitches shopping spree (after much debate I convinced him to exclude needles since they are not as interchangeable as hooks). If I should lose I have to fork over $30 to him which he can spend on food for the weekend. I have more than enough yarn to get through Project Spectrum and then some. Also more than enough UFO's, but we don't talk about that. So wish me luck on that front.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

One Last Day of Red

Yes I know its June 1st, and technically the first day of green. But I wanted to do one last post on red. So here she is. First up are my crochet thread earrings. I used size 10 crochet thread and the granny square pattern from my Harmony Guides Motifs book.



This is a little flower motif from Linda Permann's Crochet Adorned. I am planning on making two more with one less repeat each (so they are smaller) and making a headband.


Finally- the red beret. I have been wanting a red beret forever. But for some reason it just wasn't happening. I tried three yarns before I stumbled on this one in a yarn sale. It is Plymouth Happy Feet and it is perfect. This design is improvised using my knowledge of beret construction and yarn conservation. Every two or three rounds was a double crochet, ch1 round to conserve yarn. I love it.




Also, I made spaghetti sauce! (And turkey meatballs) Remember what I said about being a novice baker? Same applies to cooking. Remember the first thing you ever crocheted or knit? How you were so proud of it and it was so beautiful even though it was really ugly and probably a poor fiber choice? Well that's me with baking and cooking.



So that wraps up May. But definitely not red. I find myself loving, appreciating, and not fearing this color now that I have worked with it during this month. But seriously- BRING ON THE GREEN.

Until Next Time!