I made some fingerless gloves out of a wool sweater.  They were so fast and fun to make.  I decided I wanted some that were really, really long.   Past my elbow, kind of long.  I cut the sweater sleeves off just past the arm pit of the sweater.

I put the sleeve on my arm and decided where to put the thumb hole.  I cut a small circle out for the thumb, then I put a zigzag stitch around the circle that I had cut to finish the edge so that it won’t fray.

Next I selected 3 buttons and put them on the outside of each wrist.

Day 24: Extra Long Reconstructed Fingerless Gloves

Here they are!  I finished the edge of the sleeve with my serger, but you could easily use a sewing machine zigzag stitch at the end.  I didn’t add elastic and casing to hold elastic, but you could do this very easily if you are worried about the sleeves slipping down when you where them.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I am working on some decorative pillows with a friend of mine.  She is using this flower design on some pillows that I will be sewing for her.  More on that in another post, but I saw this flower and thought it would look good in my hair so I whipped something up.  I love the look of fascinators; you know those cool headpieces with flowers or feathers?  The problem for me is that I rarely go anywhere fancy enough to warrant wearing such an elaborate headpiece.  I was thinking that if I made a headpiece out of felt it might be more wearable for everyday.  I was inspired by this fascinator, but I wanted to something a little bit simpler.  Here is a picture of me modeling the fascinator I made. 

I constructed this fascinator out of felt and sewed it to itself after I layered the flowers.

I attached the flower to a headband I had around the house.  I used hot glue on the high temperature to secure it to the headband.

I put my completed fascinator in my tiny brass tree collection because i thought it would photograph well there and it was hard to photograph it well on my head.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

My laundry room is an on-going issue in my home.  It is regularly gross and messy, so no wants to go in there and do laundry, so the laundry pile grows and on and on like that.  Clean laundry pile on one side and dirty laundry pile on the other side, with lots of miscellaneous mess in between.  What I find really frustrating is I clean it and then it’s a disaster all over again.  I realized that I wasn’t really being realistic about all of the different uses that I use my laundry room for and because of that it was becoming messy again and again.  I needed more order from the top down, so decided that I should take some time to plan out the different zones in my laundry room.  I measured the laundry room and graphed it out on paper, then I spent some time thinking about how to group all of the zones and make enough room for all the different areas.  Here are the uses that I considered for my laundry room.

Laundry room uses:

1. washing and drying area
2. housing dirty laundry
3. laundry folding area
4. clean laundry area
5. Knot Ugly booth display and merchandise
6. small tool area
7. gift wrapping area
8. canned food area/overflow food area
9. paper crafts
10. fabric area
11. overflow craft area

I added each of the areas to the graphing paper along with other details.  Then I got to work with a friend, who is a great organizer.  I worked out a trade with my friend and she was able to help me tackle the laundry room in about 4 hours.  I think having a friend help you with project that you have been avoiding is a great way to get the job done pretty painlessly and quickly.

You can see what a mess it was.  The laundry room had gotten to that point where it’s hard to put things away or use the space properly because things were exploding out of everywhere.

Here is another perspective of the mess, before we really got a handle on it.  Because I had a plan it was really easy for my friend to come over and help me and everything had a place where it belonged.

Day 22: Top Down View Laundry Room Redux

Here’s the reorganized laundry room.  This area is probably the most important area.  In the upper tubs I have linens.  In the lower tubs I put clean, but unfolded laundry.  This keeps the laundry folding table free from clutter and ready for use.   When the clean, but unfolded bins are full as they are now, it’s a sign to us that we need to fold laundry before the laundry gets out of control again.  Each of us has a tub, my son, my husband and myself.  We also have one for linens and other items that are communal.  I spoke with my husband and son about the new system and explained that everyone is responsible for folding his or her laundry.  I love it when I can find ways to make my life easier!

This is the overflow craft area, which you will have to take my word for, was a disaster.  The gift wrapping area is in there as well.

On the shelving is where the paper area and the canned foods/overflow food area is.  The lower area is where I keep some of the larger knot ugly booth display pieces.

Here is where the Knot Ugly merchandise and other small booth display pieces go.  To the left you can see where the dirty laundry lands from our laundry shoot.

Here you can see the washing and drying area, laundry folding table and the tool area at the right.  To the left just out of view is where the fabric ended up being moved to.  I am hoping to paint this room at some point in the future, but just having a laundry room that is managed is pretty gratifying!

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

Here are some pictures that I thought would make good desktop wallpaper.  If you click on the thumbnail the larger 1024 x 768 image will appear.  Enjoy!

If you need help in trying to figure out how to change your wallpaper on your desktop, you can go here.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like! by:jen

OK, I admit that I seem to have developed a habit.  A circular scarf habit.  I hope it’s not too boring to read about circular scarf post after circular scarf post, but this is what happens to me sometimes and believe it or not for me, this is a very good sign.  When I started my business Knot Ugly, the business was born out of a need to get rid of all the hats I had piled up.  Everyone I knew already had at least 2 of my hats and I couldn’t stop making them so I decided I would start selling them.  My friend, Crochet Kim, who I work with calls this, putting a study on something.  I’m putting a study on circular scarves.  It is very satisfying to make these because they are fast, soft, beautiful and keeps you warm on a cold day.

This scarf is like the one I made for my friend Oona, but with different yarn so I had to compensate by increasing the number of stitches and I also tweaked the pattern, by mading it slightly longer in length and narrower in width (when worn) so that it stands up a little higher on my face and neck.  Now I have my own circular scarf. I think I’m in love.   Really, I have an unreasonable love for a scarf.

Day 20 – Off the Deep End with Circular Scarves

Here’s how I made this scarf:

I used a chunky wool yarn with a carrier yarn that was really soft and fuzzy.  I used size 15 needles and cast on 18 stitches.  I made this scarf using the moss stitch, which means knit 1, purl 1 across one row and then the opposite on the next, purl 1, knit 1.  I made 50 rows and then crocheted the entire piece to itself.  PS. This is my last circular scarf post.  I promise.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

If you’ve been reading my blog during my 31 day challenge you might remember that last week I did a “Pay it Forward in 2011″ project, where I gave away 5 handmade projects that I posted on my blog.  Yesterday I received in the mail a handmade gift from one of the people who I sent something to.  Her name is Paula.  In the package I received from her was an icon shrine devoted to women with breast cancer and it stopped me in my tracks.

Since 2009 I’ve had a few friends my age pass away from breast cancer.  I have also dealt with a few of my own mysterious lumps, which were benign, but were still scary to experience.

My feeling when I received this was, “This is important and would be a great project to share on the blog.” I will give the details on how you can create your own.

Day 19: Pocket Icon Shrine – to Breast Cancer

This shrine is made from an Altoid tin.  It is covered in paper that appears to be Mod Podged to the tin.  On the inside of the tin is a picture of Saint Agatha, the patron saint of women with breast cancer (St. Aldegundis is also the patron saint of breast cancer . St. Peregrine is the patron saint of all cancers).  On the inside of the lid is a prayer to St. Agatha and there is also a votive candle inside.  Paula, the woman  who made and sent me this icon shrine,  uses icons that her husband paints.  You can find out more about them here.

Note: I am not religious person, but I don’t think you have to be to remember someone and honor them.  It can be quite therapeutic.

Cedar and Penny, I miss you deeply and think of you often.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

Yesterday I had a few friends over and we created vision boards.  What is a vision board you may be asking?  It’s a creative method for setting goals in a visual and fun way.  It’s also a great strategy for defining your intention for the year.

You can see here that these are the tools we used, wine optional (ha).  Here’s what we did, I invited a few friends and asked them to bring a board of their choosing (poster board or foam core, even heavy card stock) and I asked them to bring magazines.  I supplied the Mod Podge and brushes, scissors, ruler and box cutter (for cutting the board down if necessary).

Here is a detailed explanation of the steps involved with making your own vision board.  If you know me, then you know that I rarely stick to one source or pattern.  I like to pull from many different sources and use my intuition to guide me in the direction I feel that I should move with a given project.  A friend of mine sent me this post, from the Art of Non-Conformity, which is less of a vision board and more of a strategy for conducting an annual review of your year.  What is funny about my friend sending this blog post to me is that a week later I was in a meeting with the wife of the guy who runs this blog, named Jolie Guillebeau.   They are organizing an event called, The World Domination Summit.  I am going to help them on the back end of this event.  We are still sussing out the details, but I will be helping in an event planning capacity.  Life is funny how it points you in the direction of people and things while you are just minding your own business.

Anyway, I decided to take a small piece of Chris Guillebeau’s process for his year in review and incorporate that into my vision board process.  I broke last year into 2 parts: 1. what worked, 2. what didn’t work.  I made a third category too for goals for 2011.  Some of my goals were resolutions that I have already defined on paper, but now I wanted to represent them in my board.  Some of the items on my board were things that didn’t work last year that I am trying a new strategy for.  An example is, last year I had some health issues so part of my goal for this year is to eat healthier and exercise more.  I wrote these out on a piece of paper to use as a framework for what I wanted my board to cover.  What was nice is, I had very specific things that I was looking for when I started pouring over the magazines.  Pretty pictures are good too, but having meaning and purpose connected to the pretty is very helpful.  I knew I needed to put health on my board.

Day 17: Vision Boards – with friends:

Here is my friend Angie.
At this stage we are cutting out images and laying them out on our boards.
This is a great way to work with vision boards because you can move the pieces as you find more relevant ephemera and group or separate items as needed.

My friend Richard made this board below.
He wants to travel abroad and feels that he should be living in New York City
so his board reflects this.

This is my friend Lauren.
She used very small boards to create her vision board(s),
which is a great idea if you don’t have a lot of extra room in your house
or if you want to start small with your vision for your future.

My good friend Julz, who is a graphic designer made this board.
She didn’t have time to finish it,
but collected the clippings and finished it at home and then sent this picture to me.

Here is mine from the top down.
I like to use a long skinny board because it doesn’t take up much room,
but it has a great deal of real estate for my vision.

Here’s my board from the bottom up.
I like to keep my board in my bedroom on top of my dresser so that I can look at it often.
This can be very grounding
and can help you redirect yourself when you feel you are losing focus.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

Today I am going to go teach a craft Birthday party at collage, which is something DIY Lounge has been doing for years.   At this party we will be making treasure boxes. I needed to make up a sample for the party and I thought it would be wise if I made a gift for my friend Astrid, who has a Birthday coming up.

I buy cigar boxes from time to time so that I can host this type of party.  It’s great because you can get cigar boxes from various tobacco shops for next to nothing and some of them, as with this one are completely beautiful!  I think I paid either $.50 or a $1.00 for this one.  I can’t remember, I’ve had them a while.

The first thing I did was remove the stickers.  Usually I leave them on or collage over them with Mod Podge and interesting paper ephemera, but I wanted this one to be really clean with buttons as the detailing. You can see here that I made an “A” out of the buttons on the top and the front.  I adhered the buttons to a piece of felt cut in an oval shape to hide the lettering on the box.   I used hot glue on the high temperature to attach the buttons to the felt and then to attach the felt to the box.

Day 16: Treasure Box

Here you can see that I removed the lid so that you can see the detailing of the buttons better.

My thought was that I would find out when I will be seeing my friend next and then fill the box with cookies or biscotti or something.  What is nice about this size box is that if Astrid wants to she could use this as a recipe box , a jewelry box or a box for randomness.

Happy Birthday, Astrid!  I wonder if you will find this post before I give this box to you?  Let’s find out.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

Some times you make something and think, yup, that’s it.  That’s exactly what I wanted.  That’s exactly how it looked in my mind and it’s so profoundly satisfying.

I have been making reconstructed sweaters for years now and selling them through my label, Knot Ugly.  I haven’t added them to my etsy store, but I have sold them in stores in Portland Oregon and at art/craft sales.

For years, when I would make a sweater I would think, nope, that’s not quite it.  I’ll have to try again.  Always looking to improve.  Always wanting it to be better.  Well, better has been found in this sweater!

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few things I would like to do differently in future designs of this sweater, but generally it’s just how I imagined it.  I LOVE it when this happens.

This sweater is made from an over-sized men’s cashmere sweater and fashioned down to a flattering woman’s sweater.  I really like the back of the sweater at the neck where it makes sort of a “V” shape.

Little details like that make me happy
and get me excited.

I use a serger to do all of my reconstructed pieces.  Occasionally I will use a sewing machine to finish a piece, but most of my work is done exclusively with my serger.

This sweater is for me to keep and enjoy.  Making something that you’ve been working on and not quite happy with for years and then finally getting the results you wanted is a beautiful thing.  It reminds me how important it is to keep at something.

Don’t give up or give in.
Keep on keeping on.

Now if you’ll excuse me I  am going to go bask in this sweater’s glory.

Day 15: The
reconstructed Sweater
of Sweaters

It’s day 15!  16 more posts to do to complete the project, so this is the half way marker more or less.  I started this project for purely personal purposes, but am getting even more out of it than I expected.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I made this scarf using chunky burgundy yarn with a carrier yarn that was thin and fluffy, then I stripped it with a chunky variegated  brown yarn.  The stitches I used were knit one purl one on opposite rows which is referred to as the moss stitch.  This scarf is so thick that it stands up at attention in a way that none of the other scarves have.  I have to admit.  I’m really attached to this one.  I am planning to make one for myself very soon and maybe some to sell some because I LOVE this.

Here I am modeling the scarf, morning hair and all.  I wanted to show how it sits on an actual person, because it can be hard to see this on the mannequin.  I got a picture of myself in it, but then I felt you couldn’t see the stitches.  Below are better pictures of the actual scarf.

Here you can see the sexy that is the this scarf.  I don’t care if I sound crazy talking about my love for this scarf, because it’s real. It fits so well and it so cozy.

This project is the last of the projects that I will be giving away.  Now it’s back to the wide world of projects for me {Rubbing hands together in a schemey kind of way}.

Day 14: Thick Circular Scarf -

This final scarf goes to Oona.  I know Oona and she is such a good person with great Karma so she gets the scarf I like the best.  Congratulations Oona on your winnings and for paying to forward with me in 2011!

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.  I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen