Imagine my surprise when I flipped through my bookmarks today and saw this thing! Like finding a journal from high school tucked under your bed; just not nearly as painful to read through.
When I last left you I was a knitting college student. Now I'm a knitting paralegal. I finished college and am employed at the law firm where I did my internship. It's a great firm to work for, and I love my co-workers. Did I mention that I was hired right after doing my internship? Yeeeaaaah, pretty friggen great.
Does it give me more time to knit and spin? No. Have I finished ANY of the projects that I started at the beginning of the year? No.
In January 2013 I started a pair of socks that had little fishes all over them. They're supposed to be fish-argyle socks, but I refuse to attach a new color for the argyle stripe every 3 rows...that amount of weaving in I'd have to do would do me in. I'll add them as duplicate stitch instead....I'll revisit that thought later.
Remember the Tunic that I wrote about? I'm still on the decreases with that one. That's right, haven't even gotten to the body portion yet! And the thing is already really big at the bottom still. Like wear-it-with-my-little-sister kind of big. The ladies at my knitting group have said that the pictures look like the bottom is supposed to be bigger and flare out a little bit, so like an idiot I'm forging along anyways. We'll see how this develops.
I've completed one, count them ONE, skein of yarn that has been on my bobbins for almost a year now. It's boring brown and doesn't have much yardage to it...I think it's because I used most of the roving for something else...oh well. I'm working on "Three Feet of Sheep" roving right now for my Mom. It's a three-foot tube of merino roving, split into 8 differently colored balls. Instead of getting fancy and complicated I'm simply spinning from the top down. So far on the bobbin is a creamy pastel off pink color, a light pink color, a dark pink color, and now pastel purple. Also on a bobbin is some red/orange/pink merino that I've been working on since Spring; but at least that one is getting done...slowly but surely.
And I don't even want to talk about the other projects that have been in my WIP baskets...since 2012. I feel a bit ashamed about that actually. For 2015 my goal is to finish all the WIP's that I have going right now, and then I'll pull out some of the bigger things that I've been wanting to make. Hey, maybe if I make myself give small monthly updates, via picture progress, I'll actually get them done! Sure that will be easier then posting regular random things....surely.
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tutorial and...update?
Seriously, I swear. I just haven't had much desire to do a whole lot of blogging lately, to be honest with you lovely people. And honestly, not a whole lot has gone on around here that would require a update.
I've mostly been concentrating on school work these past couple of months (read, I've been thinking about concentrating on school work but instead sit on you tube for hours before realizing I have something due in three hours and work like a maniac to finish it) And spinning has taken a huge back seat lately. Buggy has even been in the closet for the last few months, just sitting there with some pretty roving on the bobbins.
Although I did learn how to make wine bottle lamp shades, so that's pretty awesome. Since I have nothing else to talk about today, I suppose I'll give you all a quick tutorial on how to make one yourself. Maybe that will be a thing for me...a monthly tutorial....ooohhh, there's a thought. Anywho.
To start you'll need the following items:
- An empty bottle (I used beer as a tester 'cause it was easier to screw up)
- A glass cutter + cutting oil (find them on the internet, the cheapest shouldn't cost you more then $10)
- Gas
- String
- A lighter (one of those long ones...seriously)
- A bucket full of water (You'll thank me later)
- Safety glasses ('cause you know, when setting things on fire, safety is our number one priority)
- Marker
- Measuring Tape
That's right, I said gas. You can find the same tutorial using nail polish remover, which I tried, and it didn't work. Maybe it was the type of remover I was using, But I found that the remover mostly bunt too quickly and not hot enough. So that sucked. Feel free to try the nail polish remover and if it doesn't work for you upgrade to gas.
Step 1: Tie the string snuggly around the bottom of the bottle you're going to cut. You want the string on the bottle tightly, but not so tight that you can't slide it off again. Cut the string and slide it off the bottle.
Step 2: Using a marker and the measuring tape, mark a line around the bottle from the bottom up. This way you'll know exactly where to put the string again before you set it on fire.
Step 3: Soak the string in some gas or nail polish remover. I recommend using gloves when your doing this. Mostly so your fingers don't smell like gas. On seconds though, you might want to wear gloves the whole time you're doing this. Just so, you know, you don't hurt yourself. Then slide the string back onto the bottle over the marker line you created in Step 2.
Step 3 alternative: Alternatively, and this is what I ended up doing, slide the string back onto the bottle over the marker line you created in step 2. Take a spray bottle filled with Gas (like the one I used) and lightly spray the string. Once it's saturated, wipe up any gas that is on the bottle with a throw away rag.
Step 4: Put your safety glasses on. Grab the bottle by the neck and hold it over the prefilled water bucket. Taking your lighter (the long one) and set the string on fire.
Step 5: While your bottle is on fire (okay, that sounds really bad) rotate the bottle slowly. You basically what the fire to go around the string. Rotate the bottle until the fire goes out by itself.
Step 6: Place the bottom of the bottle into the bucket of water. You'll probably hear crackling as the glass splits. That's fine. Lightly tap the bottom of the bottle, and it should pop right off.
Step 7: Clean the bottle, and use a file to smooth away any sharp edges that you may have. Because I have a glass grinder at home, I just used that to smooth out the edges, so I can't really recommend a good inexpensive alternative.
Step 8: Now the fun and not so dangerous part begins. once you have the bottom taken off your bottle you can use glass paints to decorate your bottle any way you want. I used Gallery Glass paints to draw on mine. They come in little 2oz bottles and can be bought at any Michaels craft store. The best part about these paints is that you can make little window clings with them and add decorations to just about flat surface.
Mind you, after making the lamp and decorating it, I don't know how to turn it into an actual lamp.
I'm assuming you can purchase the set up for the light bulbs at any home depot, or Lowes but I haven't gotten that far yet. So, ya know, you're on your own with that last part.
So I know it says up in that title that there will be an update, but seriously I can't think of anything. I've been on a couple of tiny trips, but other then school work and regular work, I haven't done anything else. \
Hopefully you guys will get a more exiting update eventually. Maybe.
I've mostly been concentrating on school work these past couple of months (read, I've been thinking about concentrating on school work but instead sit on you tube for hours before realizing I have something due in three hours and work like a maniac to finish it) And spinning has taken a huge back seat lately. Buggy has even been in the closet for the last few months, just sitting there with some pretty roving on the bobbins.
Although I did learn how to make wine bottle lamp shades, so that's pretty awesome. Since I have nothing else to talk about today, I suppose I'll give you all a quick tutorial on how to make one yourself. Maybe that will be a thing for me...a monthly tutorial....ooohhh, there's a thought. Anywho.
- An empty bottle (I used beer as a tester 'cause it was easier to screw up)
- A glass cutter + cutting oil (find them on the internet, the cheapest shouldn't cost you more then $10)
- Gas
- String
- A lighter (one of those long ones...seriously)
- A bucket full of water (You'll thank me later)
- Safety glasses ('cause you know, when setting things on fire, safety is our number one priority)
- Marker
- Measuring Tape
That's right, I said gas. You can find the same tutorial using nail polish remover, which I tried, and it didn't work. Maybe it was the type of remover I was using, But I found that the remover mostly bunt too quickly and not hot enough. So that sucked. Feel free to try the nail polish remover and if it doesn't work for you upgrade to gas.
Step 1: Tie the string snuggly around the bottom of the bottle you're going to cut. You want the string on the bottle tightly, but not so tight that you can't slide it off again. Cut the string and slide it off the bottle.
Step 2: Using a marker and the measuring tape, mark a line around the bottle from the bottom up. This way you'll know exactly where to put the string again before you set it on fire.
Step 3: Soak the string in some gas or nail polish remover. I recommend using gloves when your doing this. Mostly so your fingers don't smell like gas. On seconds though, you might want to wear gloves the whole time you're doing this. Just so, you know, you don't hurt yourself. Then slide the string back onto the bottle over the marker line you created in Step 2.
 |
| Step 4 |
Step 4: Put your safety glasses on. Grab the bottle by the neck and hold it over the prefilled water bucket. Taking your lighter (the long one) and set the string on fire.
Step 5: While your bottle is on fire (okay, that sounds really bad) rotate the bottle slowly. You basically what the fire to go around the string. Rotate the bottle until the fire goes out by itself.
 |
| Step 7 |
Step 7: Clean the bottle, and use a file to smooth away any sharp edges that you may have. Because I have a glass grinder at home, I just used that to smooth out the edges, so I can't really recommend a good inexpensive alternative.
Step 8: Now the fun and not so dangerous part begins. once you have the bottom taken off your bottle you can use glass paints to decorate your bottle any way you want. I used Gallery Glass paints to draw on mine. They come in little 2oz bottles and can be bought at any Michaels craft store. The best part about these paints is that you can make little window clings with them and add decorations to just about flat surface.
Mind you, after making the lamp and decorating it, I don't know how to turn it into an actual lamp.
 |
| Finished Bottle Lamp |
So I know it says up in that title that there will be an update, but seriously I can't think of anything. I've been on a couple of tiny trips, but other then school work and regular work, I haven't done anything else. \
Hopefully you guys will get a more exiting update eventually. Maybe.
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