Penelope

Hi!

I have a little story to share. This summer, I worked on two knitting projects, both of them following a pattern. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that I don't do well with patterns, and I don't like following them. So, after much trial and error, I decided to ditch one of the patterns I was working with - a cowl pattern - and write my own. 

So here it is, the Penelope Cowl! My first ever successful knitting pattern.

Penelope Cowl

- Cast on 231 stitches in the round, place marker

- Border: *knit 3, purl 3* repeat to end of round 

- Wheat stitch (a 4-row stitch): 

1. row 1 - purl 1. *knit 1, purl 1* repeat to end of round

2. row 2 - knit 1, *purl 1, knit 1* repeat to end of round 

3. row 3 - knit 1, *purl 1, knit 1* repeat to end of round

4. row 4 - purl 1, *knit 1, purl 1* repeat to end of round

- Wheat stitch for 11 inches or as long as desired

- Border: *knit 3, purl 3* repeat to end of round

- Cast off loosely 

Notes:

- make sure your stitches aren't twisted when you cast on in the round

- keep track of your wheat stitch rows to ensure that you know where you are when you pause in your knitting (I recommend tally marks)

I knit my cowl out of Purl Essence Everyday yarn in Oatmeal Heather, with 5mm circular needles. Despite being acrylic, it was really soft and easy to knit, and so far has done a very good job of keeping my neck warm. I would recommend not frowning down on acrylic yarn, but honestly, knit what your heart desires. 

So here it is, I hope you like it! If you have any questions about the pattern or anything, feel free to leave a comment down below!

Also, a big thank you to my mom for taking pictures of me even though people were walking by. 

P.S. The story behind the name of the cowl is that while I was desperately trying to follow the pattern I had originally planned on making I would knit about three rows then take everything out and start all over again. This process lasted a good week and my project was dubbed Penelope, who would weave her tapestry during the day and take out all her stitches at night, of course not making any progress. 

Lil sprout

Hello and happy summer!

I'm finally on vacation for the summer, which should mean that I will have more time to make things and share them here with you.

Over the course of the last few weeks as the weather has started getting nicer, I've developed a new love for plants. I currently have four in my room, and despite my lack of green thumb none of them have died so I must be doing something right.

Earlier this weekend I only had two but the herbs I was growing in the kitchen were starting to outgrow their tiny container so I went out and got two new little terra cotta pots and painted them.

I put my herbs in the pink one and a succulent that my mom received as a gift in the green one (she kindly donated the succulent to my little sprout collection). The plant in the back is a peace lily that has not grown at all in the two weeks I've had it. 

Using acrylic paint, I painted both pots white. I had to do several coats of paint because the terra cotta kept absorbing the color, but the paint dried quickly so it wasn't really a problem. Then I used the brighter colors to paint the rim and, using a Q-tip, the polka dots. Now, at this point, I should probably (definitely) have waited longer before putting on Mod-Podge to varnish the pots but I only waited the amount of time it took to paint the dishes underneath the pots. Apparently that's why the Mod-Podge made little bubbles on the paint. Honestly it doesn't really matter to me. 

I semi-successfully repotted the herbs and the succulent and as of right now they seem to be doing okay. I've been putting them on the windowsill of my room during the day and on my dresser at night but honestly I have no clue what I'm doing. If anyone has any suggestions on plant care feel free to expand my knowledge in the comments.

Have a fantastic week (and a great start to summer vacation if that applies to you)!

My Book

Hello!

The school year is now officially underway, which of course means that my brain is just about bubbling with equations and monomers and the Civil War and the present tense of Spanish verbs. I have never really been overwhelmed by school, because I genuinely like learning and gaining new knowledge. However, this year, we are three weeks in and there are days where I feel like I'm drowning in school-work, which is never good. So, last week, I decided to start a new, on-going project that would have no deadline and would serve no purpose other than to distract me from school and to give me an accessible creative outlet for the days where it all gets to be too much.

This is My Book, or My Book of Inspiration and Happy Thoughts. Basically, it's going to be a compilation of things that make me happy. For the outside cover, I took pages from a book of poetry I bought for $0.75 at the library (if you ever need books for a project, hit up your library they always have books for sale for really, really cheap) and used Mod Podge to glue them to the book's front and back cover. There are a few air bubbles, but really it isn't that bad and the Mod Podge also acts as a varnish so it's all nice and polished. 

For the inside cover I cut out a road map and glued it on to hide the mess of the book pages. 

I found a bunch of pictures that I've liked over the last few months on Tumblr, printed them out and made a collage across the two first few pages.They're pretty and they make me happy, so they fit. Over time I think I'll also add pictures of myself, my friends and family. I'm also going to have poems and quotes written in. The page after this one has the list of my recent music obsession, which I will link you at the end of this. 

If you want a fun, stress-relieving project, I suggest this. It was inspired by my journal for art class (yes, I'm finally taking an art class and it's amazing). You can get an 8.5x11 notebook at a local arts and crafts store for about $10 and everything else is either printed or thrifted, so it really doesn't cost much. The best part is that there are no rules and no deadline, it's basically a visual brain dump. It's a lot of fun. 

I hope you have a great week!

Here is the link to my music love: http://8tracks.com/deadsoulsx/look-how-the-autumn-leaves-fall

It's that time of year again

Hello!

Yes it is that time of year again, the time where instead of craving Nutella and hot chocolate, I crave smoothies and watermelon. Both of which are significantly healthier, I think you'll agree.

Now when I get home from school, my automatic reflex is to grab the blender, a banana, some frozen strawberries and whatever else I can find that would taste good and make a smoothie. On good days, it takes approximately 2.5 minutes. On bad days (the running into things and tripping over flat surfaces kind of days, you know what I'm talking about) it can take up to 10 minutes cause I forget that yogurt does not make a smoothie liquid enough to be blendable.

Today was a good day.

And today I somehow made a vegan smoothie, which turned out to be the best I've ever made, so I decided to share the recipe with all you good people.

I apologize for the phone picture.

Here are my super accurate fool proof instructions on how to make the most perfect watermelon strawberry banana smoothie.

1. Grab blender. Do not forget to plug it in.

2. Grab watermelon. The kind that is sort of mushy and gross that no one wants to eat works very well. Make a fist. Add the same amount of watermelon as the size of your fist. Maybe a bit more.

3. Add a handful of frozen strawberries. 

4. Add a banana torn into little chunks.

5. Blend. 

6. Put in fridge as you clean up your mess.

7. Find a straw. 

8. Get a stool to reach straw on top shelf. Don't fall off of stool.

9. Add straw to smoothie and sit on porch instead of doing chemistry homework.

10. Enjoy the fact that you are having the best smoothie you've ever made instead of doing your chemistry homework.

For my first ever recipe post, I'd say that went pretty well.

Enjoy your smoothie. 

It's really not that easy

Hello!

As a crafter-sewing-knitting-person, I have to find some inspiration somewhere.

That's what I use as an excuse when I spend hours looking through various social media at things people have made.

What I've noticed while browsing through blogs, Pinterest, Tumblr, you name it, is that there are a lot of projects that are two steps long or something and say "You can do this really quickly and easily."

NO. You can't.

I thought I'd give it a go anyway, because I needed a quick and easy but cute craft for my friend's birthday. I knew she loved Mason jars and I thought "Who else loves Mason jars? Oh that's right, most of the Internet." So off we go.

I found this idea for a hot chocolate mix that I really liked and decided to follow it. So we begin. I will write here an accurate instruction for this project.

Ingredients/materials:

1. Unsweetened baking cocoa (2 cups)
2. Sugar ( 3/4 cups)
3. Chocolate chips (more rather than less)
4. Mason jar
5. Marshmallows
6. Ribbon
7. A paper tag

1. Gather your ingredients. And by that I mean, have your mom drive you to various stores because you can't drive and none of them are within decent walking distance. Find Mason jars. Go to next store. Spend ages finding unsweetened baking cocoa. Also grab extra chocolate chips because you didn't check if you had enough at home. You're pretty sure you have sugar at home, so you don't get any. Luckily you do have some.

2. Mix cocoa, sugar and chocolate chips. Promise your brother some when you're finished. Try not to get it all over the windowsill. Did I mention you have to do this around 5 o'clock when the lighting is starting to fade away slowly but surely?

3. Move to the kitchen counter for added precaution. Realize that you are hopelessly clumsy and decide that making a funnel out of printer paper is a good idea to avoid getting chocolate mix all over the counter as you pour it into the jar. You are wrong. The counter will be coated in a beautiful dusting of chocolate within 20 seconds of beginning this operation. When this is done, you realize that you said you would give some to your brother, so you scoop some out of the jar. Then you realize that  it only fills about half the jar, so you close it and ponder possible solutions.

4. The next day, get marshmallows at the local market when you get off the bus after school. Hurry home before the light fades and you can't take anymore decent pictures. Get mini marshmallows because you'll be able to put more in the jar and also you'll feel less guilty if you eat more, because they're smaller right? Stuff the marshmallows in the jar to the brim. Decide to wait until the next day to finish decorating the jar and to take pictures.

5. Add two ribbons to the lid. This step went relatively well.

6. Realize you should probably add a tag to the jar. Remove ribbons and write nice message on a paper tag before tying the ribbon up again.

7. Admire your finished product.

So you see? All the blogs and pictures that makes little projects seem really easy are hiding the real aspect of doing any kind of craft. It takes time, forethought and also a driving license. Although you can manage just fine without one, but it does help.

In the end, this was fun project to do and the taste was approve by my brother, so it must be good. Also, I do really love Mason jars. I bought one for myself, I don't really know what I want to do with it. I keep seeing recipes that have salads or desserts in Mason jars and I kind of want to try it. I'll keep you up to date.

I will be taking something of a break from sewing for a while, due to the fact that I stuck a sewing needle in my knee, that I made a dress two sizes too big and that I will have neither the time nor the patience for sewing in the next few weeks. However, I can't ever not do anything, so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned for more Blue Cat misadventures!

(PS. Tell me what you think of the bigger pictures! I kind of like them, I might stick with them.)

I'm going back to Hogwarts!

Hello!

I will admit that the title is a lie. I am not going back to Hogwarts, as I have unfortunately not yet received my acceptance letter. However, among the ranks of people at my school, I have found many who are in the same predicament. As it turns out, one of my Hogwarts-less friends' birthday is next week and I decided that I would make her a Ravenclaw scarf.

I started knitting this on Monday.

That's not very much time to make a scarf, but I am determined to do it!

As it is almost the holiday season (at Hogwarts and elsewhere), I thought I could share the not-so-secret-secret of how to make these scarves because they make awfully good presents for the magically gifted (and those who just want a striped scarf). For those of you who are like me and absolutely love the Harry Potter world, you will notice that this is a first year scarf, with large blocks of color.

So, here it is, the Hogwarts scarf pattern that I made up.

Stuff you need:

• dark blue yarn (a lot of it) 

• silver or light grey yarn (again, a lot of it, you're making a scarf)

• knitting needles (I'm using 6.5 mm, but use what is recommended for the yarn you're using)

How to do it:

1. Cast on 23 stitches in the dark blue.

2. Knit 26 rows of the blue yarn.

3. Switch to grey yarn by snipping the blue yarn (leave a 4 inch tail) and tying the grey yarn to it, then knit as usual.

4. Knit 26 rows of the grey yarn.

5. Switch back to the blue yarn in the same manner as step 3.

6. Repeat as many times as it take to get a long scarf. 

7. End in a blue stripe.

8. Knit 26 rows of the blue.

9. Cast off.

10. Weave in all the little dangly pieces of yarn.

11. Fly to Hogwarts in a magic car.

To make a Gryffindor scarf, use dark red and gold, for Hufflepuff, use yellow and black, and for Slytherin, use dark green and silver (or light grey). 

Happy knitting! Fair warning, these scarves do take a very long time to knit. The solution that I have found to that is to knit while watching your favorite movies and/or television programs. My TV show of choice has been Doctor Who, which is really not surprising at all. As for movies, I would suggest Hugo, Marley and Me, and the Avengers, as those are the movies that I have been wanting to watch lately.

Good day and all that!

A very loud idea at the back of my mind

Hello!

I've had this idea at the back of my mind, well not really at the back, more like screaming whenever I took pictures, but I've been wanting to do this for a while.

I wanted to build a light box.

So I built a light box.

Using this link here I knew how I wanted to make it. I scavenged the materials from here and there (seriously, the cardboard box was the hardest to find) and today I finally had everything I needed, including time.

Here's the best part: my dad just got a lot of used professional lights and I get to use them! So that's my lighting (I would have used some of the brighter lamps we have if I hadn't had the pro ones) and now, all that remained was to make it.

I kid you not, my entire day has been building up to this. I had a chemistry test to study for (which I did for a very long time) and math exercises (which didn't take as long as I thought) and once those were done, I could start! I even used an Exacto knife for the second time ever, which was a little worrying because I like all my fingers where they are.

But enough chit chat and suspense-building: look!

I took a few pictures of my little bear and then my brother came in and I took pictures of his Legos for him. I'm still playing around with the zoom and the background, but that's details. 

Just like all the cardboard that is covering my bedroom floor right now.

Details.

My room is a mess.

But what you should really take away from this post is that it is currently pitch-black outside my window and I still managed to take decent pictures! This is my revenge on horrible winter light.

Have a wonderful day/night/whatever!

My summer gift to you

Hello!

I usually like to do more "sophisticated" craft projects, but sometimes I just want to do a simple, fun summer camp type of project. So I found an idea for a shirt somewhere on the Internet (I cannot remember where it was and it's really bugging me) and decided to make it for my friend's birthday.

I just found a white shirt and painted on the names of her favorite characters from various books and TV shows.

Here is how I did it (this is my first how-to post, so we'll see how it goes).

First, gather your materials:

- a shirt

- fabric paint

- a sponge

- tape (optional)

- an exacto knife

- a cutting mat

- newspaper

- a piece of cardboard

- a piece of paper with the words you want to print onto the shirt (this will serve as your template)

 

not everything I used is pictured here

Next, tape your template to the cutting mat (you don't have to but it's really helpful). Using the exacto knife, start cutting out the letters.

Sorry for the bad quality picture, the lighting in my living room is weird

Next, spread your newspaper on your work area so that the paint doesn't get all over the place. (I did this part outside so in my case the newspaper was there to keep the shirt clean from all the dust on the table.)
Then, stick the piece of cardboard into the shirt where you want to print the words. If you don't, the paint will leak through to the back of the shirt and you will be frustrated.

Then, put your template onto the shirt and sponge on the paint.

As soon as the paint is all there, take the template off. Don't let it dry first! I was really dubious about this, but it's the right way to do it apparently. And it works, so there you go.

Let it dry according to the paint packaging instructions and voilà! It is complete.

Yay! If my instructions aren't clear, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help you.