Hijacked

I was going to post a nice little update about my work in progress knitting, but said knitting was hijacked by a small cat on her quest for the ideal napping location.

So I guess for now, despite a lack of full sized pictures, I can explain to you what I'm working on.

I'm knitting myself a blanket to bring to college next year. I knew I wanted a pretty big one so I measured a blanket I sewed a while ago because that was the approximate size that I wanted. I calculated the number of stitches I would need based on the gauge of the yarn, and eyeballed the number of skeins I would need. So far, I've used about two. I'll give you the full measurements and stitch details when I'm done! I'm knitting with the Ecological Wool from Cascade Yarn in Beige. So far it's been really nice to knit, although the more the blanket grows the heavier it is, but that comes with knitting any kind of bulky project.

Even before its completion the blanket has been cat-approved, and honestly, what more could you ask for?

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)!

This is but the beginning

Hello!

This summer my goal is to re-decorate and redesign my room. I've lost count of how many times I've planned to do that over the years, but this time the wheels are already set in motion, so I know for sure that some re-decoration will be occurring, and has in fact already begun to occur.

So I went fabric shopping on Friday, which was my long-awaited self-reward for passing my chemistry class. I had projects in mind, just not really fabrics or colors. My general strategy for fabric shopping usually consists of walking in and finding a pattern or color that I like and going from that.

In this case, for the pillowcases, I found the flowers first and the polka-dots second. They went really well together, so I just switched the body and the header fabric for both, so one flower with a polka-dotted end and one polka-dot with a flowered end. 

For those of you wondering, the adorable dinosaur pillowcase I made last year tragically ripped and can no longer be used. I did keep the fabric though because it's so cute. 

So yes, super simple pillowcases. Next and more importantly, I made a huge blanket. 

So this blanket has been on my list of projects to do for a while. It's basically two squares of fabric sewn together, one dark gray fleece and one flowered cotton. Of course, it wasn't that simple to make. The cotton is sold in a thinner width than the fleece so I had to get twice as much of the cotton and piece it together to match the back. Then pinning it was a struggle, a situation that my cats tried to rectify by falling asleep on the fabric. However, the actual sewing was very easy. Straight lines, leaving an opening on one side to turn it right side out and then hand sewing that part shut.

So there you have it, the first wave in the room makeover. I will keep you updated on the progress of this transformation, I have several ideas that's I'm excited to share with you.

Have a fantastic start to summer!