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 by Susan, on September 18th, 2009 Never enough ... I have 31 binsful. A dining room sideboard stuffed with plarn (plastic bag yarn). Half a ping-pong table loaded with T-shirts ready to be cut into strips. And two shelves stacked with reels of VHS tape. This isn’t going to last me a lifetime. In fact, I’m totally out of green DK because I used all of it for an oversize shawl that blends about 10 shades and hues (in different amounts) into a progression of dark to light. I’ll show it to you next week, after the fringe is on. by Susan, on September 10th, 2009The volunteers at the Third Street Alliance in Easton, PA, probably think I’m the world’s worst momma. That’s better than the alternative, though. If they knew that both of my kids have four legs and fur they’d think me just plain crazy. There are days when The Boy would agree. I recently staggered into the house totally disheveled and covered in sweat, dragging an overstuffed yard-size garbage bag. On the stoop was another near-splitting garbage bag, plus a pair of smaller ones. My load was so big and heavy I’d barely made it across the street and through a parking lot to the house. It was the semi-annual Bag Day at the Third Street Alliance rummage sale. You can practically hear the crickets chirping in the gym throughout the event—until the final day. Then all hell breaks loose. Five bucks pays for whatever you can jam into a yard-size garbage bag and drag out of the building. A smaller bag is just a dollar. The crowd thinned after the first two hours. By then I had already claimed all the clothes I wanted to wear or upcycle into useful and fun crafts. Yet I hung around because I wanted to grab all of the remaining VHS tapes. I can jam 23 kid-themed VHS tapes into a smaller bag; I filled two this time. Did I mention that The Boy and I don’t have any people-children? My neighbor said I was. Until I pulled out a never-worn, never-washed, tags-still-on pair of white jeans in her size. by Susan, on September 3rd, 2009If I ever needed proof that I’m obsessed with crocheting unusual materials and that I’m a lousy housekeeper, I have it now: I can’t find my iron. This isn’t a run-of-the-mill iron. It’s a hundred-dollar Rowenta; the pro model with a heavy-duty shot of steam. I used to use it all the time to block my Aran-style knitting and crochet, especially the sweaters I knit annually for my husband, which are almost always loaded with cables and other dense textures. I blocked last year’s sweater with the wet towel method because the iron has been AWOL for about a year. That’s about the same length of time I’ve been playing with plarn (plastic bag yarn), tarn (T-shirt yarn), wire, and binding twine. Hmmmm. I’ve heard other stitchers say that their housework is often ignored. I guess that means I’m in good company. by Susan, on September 1st, 2009No, this post isn’t about peace, racial equality, and other laud-worthy goals. It’s more pedestrian—it’s about a real dream. Last night I dreamt that America had a new reality show, called The First Family. In this episode, Papa Obama was trying to bolt together the frame of a bunk bed. As the girls bounced around him, he struggled along. But the bed kept collapsing. And I kept yelling at the screen, “get your staff to do it!” It seems the pressure of self-imposed deadlines for my Grand Adventure—and fear about letting down my partners—was on my mind at bedtime yesterday. Usually I’m in the editor’s seat, badgering designers to complete projects and send me the written instructions. Maybe I need a staff… by Susan, on August 27th, 2009I used to groan every time The Boy dragged me along to the hardware store. Now I race to the car at the mere suggestion, secretly hoping he needs lumber. His theory is that lumber has to be carefully inspected. That takes time. Crocheting with alternative materials has changed the way that I look at the world: Cruising hardware store aisles is now exciting. I slowly scan every shelf and pick up anything that looks pliable or can be cut into strips. My last foray netted a huge spool of plastic-coated wire, the kind used for phone hookups. On sale! The coating is a dull ugly gray, but nothing a bunch of beads won’t spice up. Last night I tried stitching with it. I’m disappointed. The wire is stiffer than I thought it would be. The stitches are big and ugly. Just a couple of rows were enough to slow me down. I stared at the small stitched piece—something that usually fires me up— and got … nothing. I let my younger dog run away with it.
by Susan, on August 24th, 2009Five spools of fuchsia thread? Why do I have five?! I don’t have any fuschia fabric and I don’t have any plans to make anything in that color—it doesn’t suit me. Yesterday, before placing an order for thread that changes color in the sun (check it out here, I took stock of my sewing supplies. It turns out that I have way too many spools of thread colors I’ll probably never use, as well as a gazillion bobbins half full of thread in colors that I’ll probably never use. Before the recycle/upcycle bug really took root in me, I would have pulled the thread off the bobbins and tossed it all away. Not anymore. I spent most of the evening mulling over project ideas. At the same time, I was cutting t-shirts into strips. This cutting is one of the early steps in a fun and easy process that turns tees into yarn that I can crochet into really cool stuff.
What a great way to add interesting visual texture to my crocheted fabric, as well as double the thickness of the T-shirt yarn. I can’t wait to show you the Bucket Hat I’m making. The project will be in the alternaCrafts ebook that’s in the works. It’ll include step-by-step instructions to create the sewn T-shirt yarn and crochet the hat. by Susan, on August 21st, 2009One of the small pleasures in life is curling up in front of the TV with some yarn, a hook, and a sci fi show. That’s my Friday night. The house rule is that no one talks to me, asks me to get anything, or in anyway interrupts me once I settle in. Even the two dogs have figured this out. So I recently planted myself on the couch in my studio, equipped with a big ball of binding twine and some test fabric strips cut off a T-shirt. I much prefer to indulge in mindless stitching while glued to my shows … but time’s a’wastin. (I’m committed to designing and completing 20-some projects in the next two months. There’s lots of experimenting involved because I’m working with non-traditional materials.) There I am working up a single-crochet swatch in binding twine. That stitch, which I’ve now used for oodles of projects made from plastic bag strips, is boring me to tears. So I start playing with stitches that create a star effect. It turns out that it isn’t worth the effort because stitch variations have to be really dramatic to be visible in the twine. I need dense crocheted fabric that’ll almost stand on its own, so single crochet it is. And I’m going to try wearing a driving or golf glove on my non-dominant hand while I stitch. The rough twine is doing a number on my pinkie and left index finger when it feeds through for tension control. The twine dragged on the thin cotton glove I tried last night. by Susan, on August 18th, 2009Have you seen the public service billboards that feature a portrait of Lincoln and the words Failed and Tried Again? I’m trying to keep Abe’s example in mind as I yet again type in the revisions for an outdoor privacy curtain. This is Take Eight. (And I save older versions so I can revert to earlier explorations if the new direction isn’t working.) Revising and correcting instructions is tedious work. It’s also necessary. Some designers don’t do it at all. Instead, they just stitch up an item and then work out the instructions. I fear I’d forget things if I did that. My first step after visualizing a project is roughing in the instructions. Only then do I start stitching … with the laptop, fired up, right beside me. I like to type and revise the instructions, row by row, as I make the stitches. Later I clean up the wording. Little notes become tips and hints. Sometimes I add end-of-row stitch counts as I complete each row; other times I add them at the clean-up stage. by Suzanne, on July 5th, 2009AlternaCrafts.com is the bright, shiny face of a new approach to the craft book. To us, the word suggests fresh alternatives for authors and readers alike. Of course craft has always been about exploration, inspiration, and expression, but as a new-media publisher, alternaCrafts can help the crafter-author bring her unique voice to a dynamic new medium: call it ebook 2.0. Within our new-media model, original craft designs, photography, and writing are supplemented with video elements and best-of-the-Web resources—even related smartphone apps. With our guidance, the author’s passion and creative vision can speak to readers on every possible reading platform, whether personal ereader, online, smartphone, download-able file, and even the durable, tech-free bound hard copy otherwise known as the book. The alternaCraft staff has long experience and a deep love for non-fiction writing, real-world editing, creative marketing, digital and Internet-commerce savvy, and design know-how (whew!). And, just so you know, we even do a bit of crafting ourselves. Being geeky as well as crafty, alternaCrafts publishes and promotes in the language of the now. You can follow our own craft-meets-tech blog here, hang out with like-minded friends on our FaceBook page, and catch the latest wave—whether freebie project or craft-a-long—via Twitter @alternacrafts. We’ll share links of our favorite bloggers, sites, and even links to what’s spinning on our iPods. Our first publication will be alternaCrochet, a nifty bit of craft upcycling by Susan Huxley. She’s blogging her way through the writing and designing, so look for her frequent posts. We hope you, early adopters and craft-geeks, become alternaCrafts fans and contributors, and share in this celebration of what modern craft has become: daring, curious, and a little bit cheeky. |
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Now I’m working with prettier, more pliable copper and (surprise!) strings of Christmas lights.
Then it hit me: Use the unwanted and leftover thread on the spools and bobbins to sew together fabric strips.
