Lil' Red Miette

I finished this little red number about a month ago, but have postponed writing about it until now because I hadn't gotten any really good pictures of me in it. I have to give a big thank you to my boyfriend who I am now calling my own personal paparazzi. He was so great the other day to take picture after picture of a few of the different outfits I have worn this awesome little sweater with.

This sweater was made from a FREE pattern called Miette by Andi Satterlund. This is the first pattern I have done of hers, but it will not be the last. I love that all of her sweater patterns have a very vintage feel with modern sizing and techniques. I enjoy working with vintage knitting patterns but find them very limiting in sizes and extremely time consuming because most of them are done with sock-weight yarn and needles the size of toothpicks. Andi designs her patterns to be worked up quickly and easily and makes them very easy to modify to your own measurements.

One of my favorite thing about this sweater is the buttons. They match perfectly, and came from my grandmothers button bin. Thank you grandma, as always, you are with me.

This outfit is another one that could be considered "second-hand-made". This navy blue blouse with little white polka dots was a thrift shop find as was the red pencil skirt. Only the shoes were purchased new. Oh how I love these shoes. Sadly, the only place they have ever been worn is onto my porch for this pic, then back to the closet. Some day, when I have fully recovered from my back surgery, I'll get to take these beautiful babies out on the town.

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Here's a photo collage I made of another outfit with this cardigan. The dress in these photos was also a thrift shop find.



I'm really enjoying writing about my projects and playing around with pictures too. Hope you all are enjoying too.

Spring Treasures

I'm so in love with the treasures I've found this week. Although they aren't what I was searching for, they are a welcome addition to my new spring wardrobe. I had originally set out to find a light turquoise cross-body purse and a thin red belt at the second hand shops in town. Although there were none to be found, that doesn't mean I came up empty handed. Feeling a bit dismayed having had a picture in my head of what I was searching for, I continued to browse around for a bit. I'm so glad that I did. First up I found this absolutely delightful head scarf.

I love the mix of turquoise, red, peach and cream, It mixes so well with everything I've been wearing lately. It's taken a bit of self control not to wear it every day.

I also stumbled on to this charming little fake Gucci bag. Yes, I'm under no illusions, and I did not purchase it in the hopes of fooling anybody. In fact, I'm almost didn't buy it. But I just love the color and style so much. For some reason, It reminds me of my Grandmother. I don't know if it's the style, maybe it's the color, maybe it's because I seem to be thinking about her a bunch lately. I don't know the reason but it does, and that makes me smile. Plus, It goes so well with the headscarf, right?

It wasn't till I got home that I realized that these two pieces go smashingly with the corduroy Woolrich jacket that I found last week at Salvation Army. Although the sun is shining more and the days are definitely warming up, there is still a bite in the air. This jacket will hopefully keep me warm until the summer weather is here and my next spring cardigan is off the needles. Here's a little sneak peak at my newest knitting project. I'm getting excited, It's almost done.

It's a Hoot

This weeks "Second-Hand-Made" outfit is really special to me. Not only did I make this amazing cardigan sweater, but I also made and DESIGNED the hat myself. I have also published the pattern as well over on RAVELRY.COM. Here's a closer look.

This cute little "Navy Boat Cap" is inspired by the Garrison caps worn during WWII by out ladies serving in the Navy. With a modern twist, you can decorate it any way you like. Making it perfect to go with a great vintage dress or modern jeans. I'm choosing to pair it with a vintage style pant and cardigan.

The gorgeous feathers on the hat were donated to me by a friend who has a huge parrot named Jake. Jake and I are not close friends, he actually scares the crap out of me, but hey the boy's got pretty feathers.

Next up is my new favorite cardigan. This is my absolute favorite cardigan that I've made so far. Of course, the newest one off the needles is always my favorite, that's the way it works, right? Anyways, the pattern is from "The unofficial Harry Potter Knits" magazine available HERE at amazon.com. However, I used a 50% off coupon at Jo-ann's Craft store, because I'm broke like that. The yarn is Madelintosh Vintage, the name of the color is Manor, it's a beautiful variegated dark turquoise color (I'm totally obsessed with any shade of turquoise lately). I cannot say enough good things about this yarn. It flows through my fingers like butter and has just enough elasticity in it to help it keep it's shape and be super comfortable. The absolute best part of this yarn though is the fact that my mother gave it to me after liberating it from my sisters stash. So, it feels like a family affair.

The body of the "Ginny Cardigan" is a plain stockinette stitch but there is this amazing lace owl panel going down the back. It's a nice little shout out to Harry Potter, but doesn't scream "Hey I'm a major Harry Potter geek" (even though I am). This is the first sweater I've knit that was constructed from the top up, knitting the sleeves separately then joining them to the body and continuing up to the collar. I did learn that my gauge was different on the sleeves compared to the body, and next time, I will go up a needles size for the sleeves. I love the bust shaping and will take this technique with me for other sweaters. The shaping is dependent of actual cup sizing and not just inches which makes it very customizable. The only alterations I made to the pattern were knitting the sleeves two-at-a-time, so that they would both be identical and I omitted the pockets on the front because I didn't think they would flatter my mid-section.

This whole out fit is "Second-hand-made", I found these great high-waist, wide-leg jeans at Salvation Army for $4.00 and was surprised that they were actually from Old Navy. I'm not usually so happy with Old Navy, but these are great and you can't beat the price. The shirt and boots were Value Village finds too. A whole outfit of second hand, and hand made goodness. I love it.

Here's yet another pic of the hat. If you like it and would like to make one you can click that little buy now button below.

Earring Rack DIY

As spring is bring more colors into my wardrobe, I've felt that my jewelry collection should grow too. However, as most of you know, my budget for such frivolous things is rather tight. Thankfully, I'm rather creative and resourceful. I've dug into my old bead stashes, gotten some feathers from a friends bird, and even raided my grandma's old button tin (Oh, Grandma, you are always with me) and have created some great new earrings.

Now I have all these wonderful new earrings and no where to put them all. I think I can fix that. I started off with the top of a shirt box, with the sides folded up all nicely to make a perfect frame and cut out the inside.

Then cut some fabric in to 3in. strips and used some Mod Podge to attach it to the frame.

Next, I took a sheet of plastic canvas, cut it down to size and painted it with a matching color. I love that the paint isn't perfect. It gives it a more shabby chic feel.

After the paint dried, I hot glued it into the frame using the sides of the "box" as a backing.

I then took about 3 feet of ribbon, tied it in a bow with a dot of hot glue on the back for stability, and glued it to the back for a hanger. And ta-da, my new earring holder.

I'm looking forward to wearing all my new earrings and making more as well. Especially now that I have a place to put them all.

Second-Hand-Made

What is "Second-Hand-Made"? It's the term I'm using to describe the outfits I put together that are made up of all or almost all hand-made and second -hand items. Over the last year I have had a major change in my income and a significant change in my body shape that has left me with little to wear and even less money to spend on new clothes. In addition, I have had a lot of spare time on my hands that I have filled with knitting and other crafts. All these factors have led me to develop a wardrobe composed of mainly second hand clothes (either purchased from thrift shops or free) or clothes I have made myself, like knitted sweaters or skirts I've sewn. I'm really loving the "new" style that is starting to develop. So, occasionally I'm going to show off some of these outfits and share some of the details. I hope you enjoy.

This week I attended the annual Denali Center Prom, a formal dance for the residents of Denali Center. This is my absolute favorite event that they do and I love getting dressed up and having a wonderful time with those who call Denali Center their home. This years dress was a score I found at Value Village. It's a 50's style shirt dress in a classic floral pattern of sea-foam and peach. I'm in love with this dress, I think I felt a tear of joy in the dressing room when I tried it on and it fit. Even if the belt is on the very last notch.

I paired the dress with a cute spring cardigan. I'd love to say that I knit it myself, but that would be a lie. Again, this little ray of sunshine came from the thrift shop and has quickly become a staple in my spring wardrobe. It fits perfectly and goes well with jeans, skirts and dresses.

So far this outfit is all second-hand and no hand-made. Well, we have to change that. So lets add some accessories. As you can see, the shoes don't exactly match the dress. In order to help them fit in, I knit up some small bows in a coordinating minty color and attached them to the tops. Ok, that's a little bit better, but something's still missing. Hmmmmmmm, oh yes a hair bow. How could I forget a hair accessory? I ALWAYS have some sort of hair accessory. So, a matching knitted hair bow was added and now it's an outfit that can be called "Second-Hand-Made".

Cupcake, my adorable little fur-baby, and I were both surprised how cute and thrifty this outfit was.