Dice Bag and Podcasts
First,the dice bag. jenna-thorn pointed out that Anticraft had a really neat eyeball dice bag up. Well.. I'm not really a follow patterns kind of girl, so I didn't. I just grabbed some yarn,and wondered why I'd never thought of that.
E was in deep covet mode. She knew I was making it for her brother though, and she knows she gets LOTS of things, but I offered to make her a bigger version for Halloween next year with thicker yarn, and she was happy.
A bunch of differences obviously from the original pattern, like.. not a big fan of hdcs, although with the yarn the original was made in, hdcs make sense, less stretchy. But I didn't use acrylic yarn, I used my trusty standby ww cotton, a size F hook, and single crochets. I also didn't use any spike stitches. I didn't use a variegated for the iris (like I usually do) because the only one I could find was pink. I need to organize my yarn.
The other difference is the drawstring. I have a way of doing them that's worked well for me for years, and I just do it automatically now.
Since my base was 8 stitches, with regular increases, that meant my finished stitch count was divisible by 4 and then by 2. So for the drawstring channel, I chained 2 (well, actually 3, I do the first chain really tight, and then 2 more chains, that works out better for me the chain 2 for first dc), then dc in next stitch, ch 2, skip next 2 st, *dc in next st, dc in next st, ch 2, skip 2 st*, repeat ** around, join with a slip stitch, then ch 1, and sc in each stitch, then add whatever sort of edging you want if you want one.
The drawstrings, well.. I kind of hate knotted drawstrings. I don't know why, but they look unfinished to me. So what I do is chain the length of the drawstring, in this case, the final stitch count at the top of the bag was 48, so I decided 80 would be a good length, leaves enough that 2 draw strings can be tied in a half knot to close. Chain 81 leaving a tail long enough to weave in, then skip chain on hook, and sl st down the length, break off, leaving a tail, thread through the eyelets on the bag, then grab your needle and thread on tail through the needle, then through the opposite end of the drawstring, tie it in a knot with the other tail, and weave through the joined stitches a couple more times, then weave the ends in through the drawstring.
The second drawstring will be done the same way, but it's woven over the spaces the other string is under, and under the ones it's over. Then when you are done, since you've got an even number of over/unders, you can pull it shut from opposite sides hiding the slightly bulky joins in the eyelets. Whew.. I hope I explained that halfway decently.
I still need to make a couple more eyeball necklaces like this one.
So.. I did this last night in about 3 hours catching up on podcasts with E, like I said, we have a cord to hook my ipod to the tv. We watched On Networks Food Science, and E loved it so much. I really liked it too, I don't have easy access to liquid nitrogen to make instant ice cream or sorbets, but I do have blowtorches, and I like the idea of roasting corn with my big one. Fun fun!
We also watched episodes of ThreadBanger we hadn't seen yet. Still full of win. Next New Network actually has a bunch of E's favorites, Indy Mogul explains special effects on a budget, and Metal Chik is nicely done casts on how to do basic silversmithing. I think all of those are available on youtube too which is nice, but I like watching them on tv because.. well.. it's bigger and E doesn't crowd me watching over my shoulder.
We also watched DIY Style which doesn't have the flare or entertainment value of ThreadBanger, but it's solid, and teaches good sewing habits. For me it's a little too basic, but my mom was an amazing seamstress. For E, it's great. A lot of things my mom taught me but I haven't taught her are shown, and I can explain in greater depth.
I prefer the slapdash get it done of ThreadBanger, but ThreadBanger is short on nice finishing techniques. So I guess it depends if you want an obviously handmade diy alternative/punk look or if you want something finished so people think you bought it in a store.
E was in deep covet mode. She knew I was making it for her brother though, and she knows she gets LOTS of things, but I offered to make her a bigger version for Halloween next year with thicker yarn, and she was happy.
A bunch of differences obviously from the original pattern, like.. not a big fan of hdcs, although with the yarn the original was made in, hdcs make sense, less stretchy. But I didn't use acrylic yarn, I used my trusty standby ww cotton, a size F hook, and single crochets. I also didn't use any spike stitches. I didn't use a variegated for the iris (like I usually do) because the only one I could find was pink. I need to organize my yarn.
The other difference is the drawstring. I have a way of doing them that's worked well for me for years, and I just do it automatically now.
Since my base was 8 stitches, with regular increases, that meant my finished stitch count was divisible by 4 and then by 2. So for the drawstring channel, I chained 2 (well, actually 3, I do the first chain really tight, and then 2 more chains, that works out better for me the chain 2 for first dc), then dc in next stitch, ch 2, skip next 2 st, *dc in next st, dc in next st, ch 2, skip 2 st*, repeat ** around, join with a slip stitch, then ch 1, and sc in each stitch, then add whatever sort of edging you want if you want one.
The drawstrings, well.. I kind of hate knotted drawstrings. I don't know why, but they look unfinished to me. So what I do is chain the length of the drawstring, in this case, the final stitch count at the top of the bag was 48, so I decided 80 would be a good length, leaves enough that 2 draw strings can be tied in a half knot to close. Chain 81 leaving a tail long enough to weave in, then skip chain on hook, and sl st down the length, break off, leaving a tail, thread through the eyelets on the bag, then grab your needle and thread on tail through the needle, then through the opposite end of the drawstring, tie it in a knot with the other tail, and weave through the joined stitches a couple more times, then weave the ends in through the drawstring.
The second drawstring will be done the same way, but it's woven over the spaces the other string is under, and under the ones it's over. Then when you are done, since you've got an even number of over/unders, you can pull it shut from opposite sides hiding the slightly bulky joins in the eyelets. Whew.. I hope I explained that halfway decently.
I still need to make a couple more eyeball necklaces like this one.
So.. I did this last night in about 3 hours catching up on podcasts with E, like I said, we have a cord to hook my ipod to the tv. We watched On Networks Food Science, and E loved it so much. I really liked it too, I don't have easy access to liquid nitrogen to make instant ice cream or sorbets, but I do have blowtorches, and I like the idea of roasting corn with my big one. Fun fun!
We also watched episodes of ThreadBanger we hadn't seen yet. Still full of win. Next New Network actually has a bunch of E's favorites, Indy Mogul explains special effects on a budget, and Metal Chik is nicely done casts on how to do basic silversmithing. I think all of those are available on youtube too which is nice, but I like watching them on tv because.. well.. it's bigger and E doesn't crowd me watching over my shoulder.
We also watched DIY Style which doesn't have the flare or entertainment value of ThreadBanger, but it's solid, and teaches good sewing habits. For me it's a little too basic, but my mom was an amazing seamstress. For E, it's great. A lot of things my mom taught me but I haven't taught her are shown, and I can explain in greater depth.
I prefer the slapdash get it done of ThreadBanger, but ThreadBanger is short on nice finishing techniques. So I guess it depends if you want an obviously handmade diy alternative/punk look or if you want something finished so people think you bought it in a store.