Hawaiian Halter Top

This was a quick and fun one to do.  My friend was having a murder mystery birthday party where we were the participants.  It was a lot of fun, even though none of us really knew what to do or say to each other.  It was sort of scripted, where you got clues and questions to ask each other.  It was to take place at a hotel luau in Maui, Hawaii.

My character was name Poni and I was the star of the luau.  My character was to dress in a grass skirt and a tropical top.

I was not going to wear a coconut bra, that was for certain.  Yea, I've been working out, but I do draw the line somewhere!  Instead I decided to make a chic top from a kitchy hawaiian shirt that I bought at Goodwill.

I bought it oversized, because I did not really know what I was going to do with it.  I did some internet surfing and found a blog that made a halter top out of a button-up blouse.  The blog was called In-Perfection and she gives a step-by-step on how to do it.

I will be brief on it, because it did not really go according to plan and I had to make all sorts of corrections.  But the basics are here.

My shirt had a pocket, so I took that off.

What you want to end up with is keeping the collar and cutting away the sleeves and the top of the back.  So I marked with white chalk, where I was going to cut away the arms.

I cut around the neck/collar and shaped the front.  I cut straight across the back.

That was where I should have taken more care in cutting across the back.  I cut way to low.

I then sewed the raw edges just one fold all the way around.  It was big around the body, so I tucked it in the back and sewed a new seam.  I should have taken in the sides, not the back.

I sewed the lapels down, they were all over!  As you can see, I did not cut even on both sides.  Granted this was for a costume party, so I was not that sad about doing a sloppy job.

Here is me and my $4.99 grass skirt.  The grass skirt did not hide much, so I wore the halter tucked in, which barely covered the booty and wore my black running spandex.

The conclusion: no one noticed my sloppy alterations and we all had a great time.  Even though my character was the annoying miss-goody-goody that told on everyone, I was not the murderer!  Ha ha!

Fix It - Crystal's Cinchy Shirt

I have a Guest Blogger today!  My friend Crystal has written one already for me (Glitter Candle) back in 2010 and she is ready to share again.

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I have been inspired by Needles, Hooks & Books, so I though another guest blog was in order.  It was a snowy winter day in New England and all my boys were outside playing.

Blissful Peace Inside for Mommy!

A couple of months ago I was out shopping trying to spruce up my wardrobe a bit.  I found this shirt that I mostly liked but the fit was a little off.  It was on the sale rack for $2! 

Front = Ok

Normally, I would have put it back but I thought of all the advice I read here and figured, "Hey, why not give it a shot?"  The worst that would happen is that I would be out of a couple of bucks.

Back = Hmmm, How To Fix?

I liked that the shirt could be worn with the sleeves down or buttoned up along the arm (shown in above pic).  I decided to add some ribbons to the back to try to pull it in a bit.  I poured through a rat's nest of ribbons in a craft drawer that I've scrapped and saved for such an occasion.

No Rats - Just Ribbons

Let me disclose that I am not the sewing goddess that your usual host it.  In fact, I am a novice at best.  So, my first dilemma was where to attach the ribbons (side seam or pleat).  The second choice was to rip open a bit of seam, feed the ribbon in a sew it closed (the hard way) or just place the ribbon and sew it down so it folds over (the easy way).

Planning With a Little Pink Tomato

My darling husband set me up a lovely space in the basement for my sewing.  I think on this particular day, it must've been about 20 degrees down there.  Is it a wonder I am not too motivated to do more sewing?  But I sucked it up, found some slippers and went to my dungeon.  I felt a little bit like Harry Potter under the stairs.

No One Will Find Me Here

At this point, I realized that I needed some help.  I couldn't see where the ribbons should be placed and although I am a flexible individual, I sure couldn't manage pinning behind my back.  The boys were already in from snow play and once the babies were napping, I dared ask my darling hubby for help.  With absolutely no grumbling at all...ah hem...he agreed to help me.

Pinned & Ready for Business

For some reason, I always end up with messy stitches.  So, I broke out my owner's manual and found all the appropriate settings.  The shirt was fairly thin and the ribbon was very fine.  I did have to rip out my disaster once before getting the tension right, but after that, I just sewed back and forth a bunch of times, making sure to go over the edge of the ribbon a small bit on each side.

Don't Scoff At My Stitches, Please!

As you can see in the above pic, the ends of the ribbon were fraying.  I used the ole' burn-the-edges trick that was previously described in the Lace-up Fingerless Gloves post, and that was pretty much it.  I tied a pretty bow to cinch the back and modeled it for my ever-so-helpful hubby.  Truth be told, he hated the shirt.  Fortunately, I liked it and think that it will look cute with a pair of gray leggings and some gray pom-pom Uggs that I have.

Done!

Admittedly, the front of the shirt was a bit poufy/baggy.  It almost looked like a maternity shirt.  I went online to investigate the brand Lilly Lou, but it did not appear to be maternity.  I read the label a little closer and I noticed that the style number was M1338.  I found the "M" to be a little suspicious, but I will stand by my craft and my decision to like and wear this shirt.

While I was banished to the basement, I attacked my sewing pile: two cashmere sweaters, a tissue t-shirt (my favorite), and a turtleneck.  They all had minor boo-boos and have been sitting in a heap on my closet floor for about a year.  Caught up in a whirlwind of thread and needles, I made the minor repair (all holes in seams) and beefed up my wardrobe a bit more...for free!

Heap of "New" Clothes

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Thanks, Crystal!  I'm always happy to know that my readers are trying some of their own Fit It's.  I would love to see the leggings and Ugg boots together with this shirt.  I've recently bought a few pairs of leggings for weekend wear.  They are so comfy.

Working Alone Tip:  Usually when I am fixing an article of clothing, I have to put it on and take it off a half a dozen times until the placement is just right. I often get pricked with pins and work up a sweat doing this, but I hate having the limited factor of "no one to help me."  But, if your friend/hubby/boyfriend/whatever is willing to assist, then save yourself the contortionist's act and get them pinning and snipping!

What do you have in your closet that could use a good Fix It?  Go on, have fun with it!

Sissy Socks

It has been a long time since I had a guest blogger and I'm happy to say my sister has finally been convinced to write one!  Yeah!  Here is her post:

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Once Nanc heard I was on my 4th pair of socks, she asked me to be a guest blogger.  I was a little apprehensive, since my brother, who lives in New Mexico, had to talk me through downloading the pictures over the phone.  I wasn't sure how successful this would be, so here goes...

I started knitting socks 3 years ago.  I bought this great book, 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.

You use 1 pair of 40" circular needles, using the Magic Loop method, you knit 2 socks at once.  The author talks about second sock syndrome, and although I had never made socks before, I could totally picture myself having a pile of socks that were missing their mates; only because I would dread making them.  My first attempt was a pair of socks for my husband.  It took me almost a month, but I did it and he wears them proudly.  Even though it was tricky, in the beginning, to learn the two at a time method, once I learned it, I will never make socks any other way.  Now I am a little faster and it takes maybe 1-2 weeks to make a pair.

This past Christmas, Nanc bought me a knitting book.  Ironically enough, it was the 2-at-a-time Socks book.  Since I already had it, I exchanged it for another book.  I ended up choosing Socks From the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson.  Great book!  Highly Recommend it!

The patterns are easy to read and can be adapted to whichever knit method you choose to use (I, of course, use the Magic Loop two at a time method).  This book also gives you a great formula on how to make a sock for any size foot.  Genius!  The toe up method is great, since you don't have to worry about running out of yarn when you get to the toe.  If you start running low on yarn you can make your cuff and be done!

So, to get to my project...I am knitting a basic sock with a slip stitch heel.  I used Berroco Sox yarn on size 2, 40" long circular needles.  This gave me a gauge of 8 stitches/inch (the pattern actually called for a size 0 knitting needle but I had to go up in size since I tend to knit on the tighter side).  I was a good girl and actually knitted a gauge swatch, which I never have the patience to do (for those that know me, I know this shocks you).  The pic below is of the toe.  I used the Turkish cast-on for these socks but the book details 4 or 5 different cast-on methods you can choose from.

Step 1: The Toe

Through trial and error, I figured out how to cast-on and started knitting my socks from the toe up.  After the initial cast-on, you knit a round and increase on the next round, repeating these 2 rows until you get the desired number of stitches.

Step 2: Finish Toes

Once you have your magic number of stitches, you knit every round until you are 3" shy of the length of the sock.

Step 3: Foot Length

You are ready to increase for the gusset.  Once you have increased for the gusset, you then turn the heel.  Turning and slip stitching the heel is done one sock at a time.

Step 4: Turning the Heel

I know this sounds silly, but the heel and the gusset make the sock!  You don't really feel like you have made progress until you get the heel and gusset finished.

Step 5: Finishing the Heel

The heel is the hard part. Once you have completed the heel on both socks, you knit every round until whatever length you desire.  I stopped 1" shy of the total length of the leg of the sock for the cuff.  I did a k2, p2 ribbing for 1".

Step 5: Cuff

Loosely bind off and WAH LA!  You have a brand new pair of hand knit socks!

Finished!!

I have to appologize for the darknss of the last 2 pics.  Once I downloaded the pics, I realized they were wicked dark, but didn't have the patience to take them over and re-download them (did I mention earlier my brother had to talk me through downloading the pics?).  So, I'm lucky I even have pictures to show you...lol...

So that was my project!  I want to thank Nanc for letting be her guest and I hope I didn't bore anyone.  Enjoy and keep knitting and hail to the Sisterhood of the Clicking Sticks!




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Thanks Kathy for having the patience to write this blog post!  No, that is not us knitting back in 1950!  She gave me a coaster tile with the Clicking Sticks Sisterhood on it and I love it.  

Reading this post, I may try a pair of socks...someday!  It looks intimidating  at first because the needles are as thin as a toothpick, so I assume you are knitting for a million years.  My sissy is a fast knitter and crocheter, so her 2 weeks is like my 2 months.  Sad but true, for me.

Now that I have had 2 guest bloggers...do I have any other takers?  I would love to show off what my readers have been doing. 

Hail to the Siterhood of the Clicking Sticks, Ladies!

Glitter Candle

Alright everyone, let me introduce you to my first guest blogger, Crystal.  She is from Rhode Island and is one of my very good friends.  We met through my first "real job" in Boston, MA.  When we first met, we chatted and found out that we were in the same Organic Chemistry class in college, but we barely remember each other.  Strange how paths can cross multiple times and then one day it clicks.  Anyway, I am very excited to host today's guest blog post.  Here it is:

So, it's Thanksgiving Eve, and I realize I need a hostess gift.  Being a Scrooge I didn’t want to spend too much and I thought about Nancy’s sentiment of giving hand-made gifts.  Now people usually “Oooo” and ”Ahhh” over various things I make.  While I acknowledge that I have some degree of skill I never feel totally justified receiving their praise.  Why?  Because I steal ideas from the internet or just follow a pattern.  The “art” isn’t really my own creation.  This time was different, I came up with my own craft and felt that it was worthy of a guest blog.

At first I got a really cheap ($1) candle.  It was gold and really pretty.  But when I took the wrapper off most of the gold came off with it.  They went back to the store.  Next I got a red/maroon candle from Target for about $2.



Plain 'ole candle



The next thing I did was to print a “D” for my hostess last name. I used Edwardian Script in Word with a font size of 150 bolded. I then taped it to the candle.

A "D" for Delicious (actually the Hostess' last initial) 



The next step was to use a utility knife to cut out the letter.  I would have used an Exacto knife but for some reason mine hides from me whenever I go to use it.  I didn’t gouge too deep, just enough to outline the letter.  I peeled away the black just so you can see but it really isn’t necessary.



Exacto, where are you when I need you?

At this point I was at a loss as for how to make a nice groove to hold my glue.  I wanted to create a kind of well so that the glue would just sort of flow into it.  I ended up using just a regular old pen.  Note that this chosen pen will get so waxed up it will never write again.  Hey, maybe that makes this a “green” project since you can repurpose a pen that just won’t write.  You know you have them in that junk drawer!  Anyway, I just get “writing” with the pen and digging out my groove.  It made a terrible mess which required me skitteling over to the trash to brush myself off.  Finally I went outside and shook like a wet dog; that worked.

The next pic is a little dark but I wanted to show how the etching looked.  Let’s pause here to say I am not a photographer.  I can’t take a decent picture to save my soul.



Etched out area



I then took some plain Elmer’s glue and very carefully filled in the little canals I had created.  I went through all the trouble of making these canals because I was afraid if I just wrote in glue that it would just fall off because of the waxy slipperyness of a candle.  I also didn’t think I could get the fancy contours of the line for the letter without some guidance.  It worked out pretty well.



Carefully fill in letter



I took some silver glitter and sprinkled it over the glue.  I was very generous but being Scroogey as I did it over a newspaper so that I could recover any un-stuck glitter. 



Crafting's not cheap, so save that excess glitter, ladies!


Here you can see how it looks after just shaking off the excess glitter.


Almost there!



Now you have to let it dry for a good while.  Then take a stiff, thin brush like this one...

Brush to brush 

...and gently brush away the random, spare glitter.  Now you have your finished product.  I think it is beautiful if I do say so myself.  I will feel great giving this gift and comfortable for once taking the praise I hope it will receive.



Beautiful, personalized gift!



Lastly, I want to say how much extra time it took to turn this project into a blog.  I am very grateful for Nancy’s hard work each week.  I had no idea how much it took to document a simple process.  Thanks for the blog and thanks for letting me guest!

Well, that was a great project, Crystal!  Thank you and you're welcome for being my guest blogger!  I love how the last pic has one glitter piece that is giving the little "bling" wink to everyone.  Let me know how everyone makes out with this clever project.

Anyone is welcome to guest blog, just email me and I can tell you what I need from you.  :-)