The three last January crafts

Here's how the rest of January went in terms of crafting:
Day twenty-one:

I had lots of purple yarn left over from my bangle project, so I saw this project I got very excited. It’s lots of I-cord (a tube of knitting) sewn together, so I figured it would be a really easy but interesting new thing to make. I’m thinking of making a tea cozy instead of a mug cozy…so, lots of I-cord to make! Here’s how it looks so far:



Day twenty-two:

I (finally) managed to successfully explore a new type of knot.



This is my tiny pouch, made using this video. I found it several days earlier, but I didn’t have any of the recommended cord, and I didn’t want to use polypropylene or yarn again, so I spent the next few days making two long knotted chains from craft thread. Something that is made so fast in bracelet-form feels so much longer when you need to make twelve feet of it! I ended up running out of thread at around six feet, so I made a very short pouch. Technically it isn’t finished, because I’m trying to decide if I should add more thread to the ends.
It’s made from a combination of slip knots, which is really awesome because it’s rarely used as a decorative knot (you often use slip knots at the beginning of knitting and crochet projects). I also liked how fast it was to make, and how pretty it looks at the end.


("Octopus bag will eat you!")

The one downside is that my knotted cord is very bumpy, and doesn’t show off the knot texture very well. Also, like I said, it’s too short to actually hold anything. However…I didn’t want to abandon the idea of a knotted pouch, so…

Day twenty-three:

I wanted another knotted pouch. My problem: I didn’t have twenty-four feet of smooth cord that would show off the stitches nicely. I thought, “What is the recommended cord made out of?” Well, I’m told it has some sort of solid core, but the outside looks woven or braided. Hmm…braiding…didn’t I make a braided cord on day one?



Sorry for the blurriness. I was trying to show the pattern, but my camera was having none of it. You get the idea, I hope.

I'm making it using an easy kumihimo pattern I found online. It’s similar to the first one I made, but it uses fewer threads. Since I’m using full skeins of craft thread, I should have enough to make twelve feet.
As you can see, I went all high-tech and used bobbins. I practically need a wooden stand, like all the professional kumihimers.
It’s only about a foot and a half so far, so I’m going to need to make a LOT more (and then I’ll have to do it all over again to make the second cord). It’ll be a while before you see it again, but I think the pouch is going to look awesome. The cord is exactly what I need. It’s really fun to be resourceful about this, instead of having to wait to buy paracord. See? My artisan dreams are already coming true!


And that concludes the January edition of the daily artisan challenge! I feel it was a good establishing month. I've gotten into the habit of making stuff, and I know how much time it takes me to make a blog post. Over the next few months (hopefully when I'm more free), I want to try to make more diverse crafts more often, instead of falling back on the "new technique" thing every day. I was also thinking of writing some more wordy posts, where I either explain/discuss a technique, or philosophize about crafts or life in general. And...who knows...maybe even a video at some point?
We shall see how the project progresses from here! Watch this space.

D.A.C.: Eighteen and nineteen existentialism

After all the paper stuff from the past few days, the next week was a return to the “fiber arts” area. It was fun to put a new spin on familiar stuff.



All this crafting makes me wonder…




Why am I doing this challenge at all?




(Day eighteen: “plarn” = yarn from a plastic bag. It turned out quite pretty! If anyone knows what one would make from plastic bag yarn, I'm open to suggestions. I think making a bag defeats the purpose.)

I don’t mean to be existential here. It’s not like I’m starting to doubt the project. I’m more trying to answer the people that think it’s too much work for little result (you know who you are).




(Day nineteen: “Box” finger-loop braid. Made from five strands and a similar technique to the day two braid, but the turnout is much tighter and three-dimensional. Weird how passing one loop through another changes everything so much!)


Here’s the thing. I’ve never really seen myself as “crafty” despite going through phases of making stuff. To me, a crafty person is the kind of person who can solve problems by making things instead of falling back on “I’ll just buy a new one”, making something awesome and new out of an unwanted thing, or making presents and cards for friends. You can do a lot of that by just knowing how to knit, or crochet, or macramé, but the Ideal Crafty Person has an arsenal of all sorts of different crafts and is able to call them up when it suits the occasion. The Ideal Crafty Person can make the wrapping paper as well the present.
I want to be that kind of person. Learning different crafts is, I think, a step in that direction. Having to do it every day forces me to think laterally and always keep my eyes open for new crafts, and to do research. It’s like writing a novel in a month – you have to make progress every day to keep your momentum, and by the end of it you will have learned some things and achieved something awesome.
That’s why I’m doing this.

(Normal posts resume tomorrow.)

My week in D.A.C.

...Wherein I discover that it's not a good idea to let a week pass without posting.

I have to admit: I'm not totally sure I remember everything I did since my last post. Making a big catch-up post is, it turns out, not very beneficial to my project, mostly because I don't have time to focus on each craft in my attempt to catalog everything.
I'll give it a shot, though:

Day eight: The Suspended Mitten Cuff

I have this thick blue yarn that's leftover from a hat, and I always wanted to make mittens from it. Unfortunately I don't think I have enough for mittens, so instead my plan is to just make cuffs from the blue yarn, while the body will be made from something similar. I figured that now was a good time to get on it, since I could learn a new stitch pattern and complete my project for the day.
Because the yarn is fuzzy, it's pretty much impossible to unravel, so I had to use a totally different yarn to test the pattern. I tried to double the substitute (to simulate bulky weight), but using my size 7 needles and the "twisted rib" stitch pattern I ended up with an impenetrable fortress rather than a swatch. So I used a single strand and tried again:



I know, it's kind of hard to see. Trust me, there is a (new) stitch pattern there. I need to get bigger needles before I can work on the real yarn, so call this one a suspended project. I'll get back to it after I get those big needles.

Day nine:

I made a ribbon rose!



I saw a video online on how to make these a while back, and thought it looked totally adorable but really hard. I had some grosgrain ribbon (the recommended kind), though, so I decided to try it. I got so into following the video that it didn't occur to me until several minutes in that the technique isn't as precise as I was making it out to be. Basically, you wrap the ribbon around itself and make folds to create the flower petal effect.
My rose didn't turn out as well as the video's, but it was my first. I didn't glue it together, either, so it kind of falls apart if you handle it too much. I think I'll sew/glue/attach it once I figure out what to do with it...maybe a bouquet?
Oh yeah, and grosgrain ribbon is really the only way to go when you make these (at least, when you first start out). I tried it with other ribbons, but they were just too slippery.

Day ten:

I made a braid.



Not too exciting, but I ran out of time. I kind of like the woven effect...it reminds me of a friendship bracelet. And it totally counts as a new craft, because the other braids I did were finger loop and kumihimo, while this was the classic "single strands hanging down" braid! Totally different.

Day eleven: Linen stitch number two

Remember that neckwarmer-cowl-scarf thing I started on day four? Yeah...I kinda unraveled it. I had a new and exciting idea for this yarn: why not make a kerchief thing (Baktus, more specifically), in linen stitch? The "new" part of this project would be figuring out how to make increases on one side while keeping with the linen stitch pattern. I did a lot of scribbling on paper, but it didn't really click until I actually tried it with a test yarn. Don't ask me how it works...I couldn't tell you. It involves slowly including the extra stitches into the pattern, and...yeah. Maybe I'll actually write it down sometime.



I love the way the colors change for this one, but I'm starting to freak out because IT'S TOTALLY CURLING. Will it block, or is this like stockinette stitch in that it just curls and can never be fixed? Should I knit on a border? Do I just leave it, because it looks kind of cool? Many questions that will hopefully be answered once I get the needles back.
By the way, the reason this project doesn't have needles is...

...Day twelve:

I'm making this bracelet for a friend's (very belated) birthday present. Part of the reason for the delay was my fear of trying cables, which look Too Professional To Be Easy. Have you started to notice a pattern with my crafting? I'm always afraid something is more difficult than it is!



In this case, doing the cable was a LOT easier than trying to figure out the "mock cable" rib. And it looks soooo good with this yarn. I love it.

Day thirteen:
Saturdays, I'll warn you, are usually the days where I have no time to craft. Saying that, I made a valiant effort and made...



A wrap bracelet. I've tried them before, but this time I tried to do this crisscross thing with the yellow craft thread. It kinda failed, but at least I tried. And shortly after I made this I found a pattern that suggested wrapping embroidery floss around ear-bud cords to decorate them. I must try this!

Day fourteen (yesterday):

I wanted to try something new. If I'm going to get stuck in my quick-braided-or-wrapped-bracelet-world on Saturdays, I need something interesting to make up for it on Sundays. I went and dug around in my craft books (of which there are many. I was a really crafty kid, surprisingly. More on this topic in a less catch-uppy post), and found instructions on how to wrap beads from pieces of magazine paper. So last night I cut up lots of paper into triangles:



That's as far as I got, though, because I went to bed after that. However! Today I will actually roll the beads and try to make some kind of jewelry out of them. I know, I know, the same craft in two days sounds like cheating. I have two responses to this: One, nobody reads this blog anyway, so I can do whatever I want. Two, cutting up paper and rolling them into beads are totally different skills. This is my defense and I'm sticking to it! Maybe I'll start themed weeks where I do one step every day. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THAT, VOICE IN MY HEAD?
Sorry. I've been writing this post for...a while. I was going to philosophize today, but this post is already long enough, so it'll have to wait for another day.
See you tomorrow!

D.A.C. Days six and seven

...Also known as the Beading Expedition.
On day six (Saturday), feeling slightly demoralized from the previous night's failed knotting, I decided to try something new. Since I was pretty busy last week I never really branched out from my "fiber artist" sphere of crafting, and what's the point of this challenge if not to branch out?
So, I dug through my closet of kits and craft stuff and found a pack of beads. I used to be really into beading when I was eight, but I dropped it at some point and never got back to it. So on day six, armed with a craft book and a teeny needle, I decided to try making a beaded bracelet.




I made several attempts at this triangle bracelet: one with fishing line that wouldn't go through the seed beads, a second with beading thread that tangled horribly, and the (successful) third with really thin fishing line, as well as several attempts in between where I experimented with the beads and was unsatisfied/got tangled in the thread.
It's really weird how similar beading is to sewing. You have a needle and thread, and you have to insert it in the correct way or it'll mess up. And it's so. Fiddly. Beads are so pretty, but seriously...yarn doesn't scatter and disappear if it falls on the ground!
Despite all of the mess, though, it was surprisingly fun. I remembered why I liked beading in the first place - you get to play with colors, and the end result looks really good. It's also a lot faster than knotted bracelets.

On day seven (the first week of the project!), I continued with the beading thing. I remembered receiving a bead loom for a birthday present. I had used a shoebox loom before, but by the time I got the "professional" one I had stopped beading, so the loom waited patiently in the craft closet.

UNTIL NOW.




I was afraid it would be too complicated, but I actually like bead-looming more than normal beading. I guess it's more like weaving than sewing, but I've never tried weaving (or sewing, for that matter) so I'm not sure. The pattern is mostly from my beading book, but I added the little center diamonds in my version.

Bonus craft from days five and six:




I made an amazing discovery: you can finger-loop braid with polypropylene cord. (You still end up having to knot the ends, but it's some progress). This is a harder finger-loop braid that involves putting the loops through each other while trading them on your fingers. It took me a couple of tries to get it, but the result is worth it - it's all twisty and looks like some sort of complicated knot. I'm really liking finger-loop braiding...I'm glad I decided to try it. Apparently it was popular in Medieval Europe...who knew?