I went to a con over the weekend, and I saw some awesome clips as in the title. Basically, they were a small power source, a light, and fiber optic cable. I want to make some for next year for myself and my daughter.

Thing is, I can't find the stuff I need. I also don't know how to go about it. I'd like to have them so I could put some into our hair, and then weave them into our dread falls (felted wool - adding more "dreads to 'em).

Link to an example: http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/WhatsNew/Accessories/Glowbys-White-Fiber-Optic-Hair-Extensions-285847.jsp?AID=10453346&PID=1992680

My SIL's church had an electric organ to die, and they got a new one from another church. So, they brought it here for my hubby to gut the electronics out of (he's building flight sim stuff).

I  took one look at it, and knew it would be perfect for sewing. I forgot to take ungutted pictures, but I've got some of after the speakers were removed.

With kitty tail and dogface action!


Here, I was trying to flatten the pressboard, and hold down the little blocks I had to glue down so the whole surface would be level


I used some pressboard for the top, covered in some plaid I didn't like. and a great shot of my ruler!


The sound controls removed made a perfect drawer for pins, buttons, and little stuff.

I have room for a cutting mat, my iron, all my notions, fabric, books, patterns, and the organ bench has room for thread!

And , I took a retractable tape measure, and glued it across the front becasue I always seem to need to measure elastic and never have enough hands.


All done!


Been using it for a month, and the only complaint I have is when the machine goes all out, the surface I put in bounces Not had the machine get away....yet....

Next, I'm going to get a cheapee laptop and use it to acess patterns from here and elsewhere online. Save some paper!

I need to find a way to incorporate my butcher paper... I use that when I draft patterns because it's thick enough to hold up and is plenty big enough for almost anything I could want to make!

Please tell me what you think! This is my first big recon, and it's all thanks to craftster. I never would have thought of it otherwise!

Like the subject says, I made something for my niece.



Just gave 'em to my SIL, so no action shot, but I love 'em. The fabric was some of that thin slick stuff, which some how co operated with me, lined in black, purposefully peeking out at the bottom.

I reverse engineered the pattern at her request. 

I"m making culottes for my niece (and getting paid! W00t!!) and starting the final pair, I realized I needed to line them. No problem, I drafted the pattern myself, I can make another pair of bottoms a touch smaller.

MY question is, how best to attach them? should I go ahead and put them in now, before I sew the leg seams, or wait and put them in last thing?

ANd they're gonna be so cute.... leapord spots, with a black liner that is going to show at the bottom.

My question for all you drop spindle users - How much on average do you make with your spindle? Specifically, how much (weight, yardage?) do you have on the spindle before you stop and start over?

I know to stop when you get full, I'm just curious what sort of results other people get.

I got a snowsuit type thing at goodwill. It's cute - arms, legs, hood, leapord print!, ears, and a tail.

All it needs is stuffing, a face and sealing up the zipper. My problem - How should I do the face? I'd love to do a feline face, but I'm not sure how to make and attach it...

I'm thinking all I'd need to do is turn the hood inside out and whipstitch the face in, then start stuffing, but it would be easier to get it stuffed nicely with the hood still open...

And I could do a flesh-toned circle, then paint a human face on. But I really want that kitty.

There's a lot of story here, and it won't make as much sense without it...

I started spinning Saturday, and decided I must have a nostepinde and a niddy noddy. I also happen to be broke. So, remembering all those lovely Woodwright's Shop episodes on PBS, I decided to make one. But I couldn't find instructions. 

By golly, I thought to myself, it's just a chunk of round smooth wood. A stick would work! So outside (at 9 pm!) I go, flashlight in hand. I realize that dead wood wouldn't give up the bark easily, so I start looking at live branches. Found one about as thick as my thumb, oak, and not too gnarled. Learned a hoe is not a good impromptu axe, got the old scout hatchet, and hacked it off.

Then I used the hatchet to strip the bark, lower the knot at the narrow end, and do most of the smoothing. Got some sandpaper and a scrubby cloth from the kitchen to finish it, then the stain for my swift (that was used to do the oak flooring in my mom's house!)

Before staining I used it with some horrible pseudo suede yarn I had. It's almost a cake! I'm going to add another coat of stain to it tomorrow, and it will be done.

It's just a stick, but I'm really proud of the thing. It works, and most importantly, I came up with the method on my own.

Although it would double nicely as a wand for Harry Potter....



Sideways picture of the notsepinnde (can I really call it that?  ) and the yarn I wound.

ETA: The spur at the bottom is where I'm holding it while I stain it. I'll remove that later. All I want now is something to make a nice handle. Not sure what, though.

Edit the second : I decided to make a bit of a tute for this....

Final length : 16" (about 41 cm)
Tip circumfrence : 1.5" (4cm)
base circ: 2" ( 5cm)

Cut a mostly straight branch straight off a tree. Look for one with as few things comming off as possible. remove all the bark, exposing the white inside. Sand with a medium sandpaper, then sand again with a green scrubbie from the kitchen (mine was scotch brite). New is rougher, used is fine too.

Run your hand over it to see if it feels smooth enough. if not, back to sandpaper! If there are any lerge knots, you'll want to sand those down, and round the sides where the knot was.

Test it! Try to use something like the suede stuff that doesn't catch. Right now, we want to see if there are any knots we missed. If that comes off, then try with a regular yarn, looking for any rough spots.

Leave as is, or stain it. I'm using an oil based stain with a yellow sponge (again, from my kitchen) and 20 year old stain.Go outside! It's stinky and messy. Mix stain really well, get some gloves, dip the sponge in and wipe it in long, smooth strokes. Let the stain sit a little bit, then wipe off with a paper towel. Restain in 4 hours (minimum - weve got high humidity here, so I let it sit overnight).

Cheap, quick and lazy.

I just got 10 balls of Lite Lopi  (it was on sale - $1.95 a skein!) and I don't know what to do with it. I'm thinking a felting project would be great, since I know I'd probably forget and ruin a sweater.

Any suggestions? I'd prefer free, but I'll take any pattern ideas!

I decided my first full pair of socks was going to be something interesting, so I chose http://www.knitlist.com/97gift/aransocks.htm.  I changed the pattern a little bit...I continued the cable to the toe, and moved the decreases to inside the cables on the top of the sock.

I also used Caron simply soft, rather than proper sock yarn. But I decided when I fouled these up royally, I wanted something I wouldn't cry over when I got really mad and threw 'em in the trash (did I mention I have a very short fuse? ) Then I blasted ran out of yarn on the last sock, so I used the next closest matching color - a dark purple  Too little sock left to justify going out and buying more yarn, especially since I'm trying to stashbust!

Oh, and when I got the second one done, it was way too small, so I cut the toe, unravled back a full day's worth of work, and re did it, adding extra knit rows between the decreases. so the second one has a really pointed toe when it's off, but it fits, and I'm not going to complain  .

On to the pics!
Pair!


Single, closeup of cables at toes


Closeup of the aran braid

Yes, this IS the best my camera will do...Sorry for the crummy pictures.

My 4 year old, Allena, decided she absolutely had to buy some fabric she saw one day at Wal Mart.. So my mom bought it for her (do all grandparents have "sucker" stamped on their heads??).

I made this skirt :

to test and see if I could draft a pattern. It fit beautifully! My model is in bed (it's only 3 am here....) so no action shots.

This one : is the final product. That's the 9/11 picture as a stamp on that fabric. My daughter has developed a thing for the American flag recently.

And there's leftover fabric too. My husband suggested a vest for the remnant. Not a bad idea, really. Anyone know of a good 4T size pattern, priced free? 


ETA: Action Shot!!



They're both the same, so I'm just doing the one.