Jellyfish Lamp

I have been looking all over (and by this I mean mostly online) for a cute lamp for baby's room.  Our basic theme is ocean. Everything I found was either absurdly expensive for something I'd use only a few years, or really ugly. You'd think there would be a market for inexpensive but cute nursery lamps... 

I had to go to Ikea for some other items and I was hoping they would have something cute. For kids they mostly have toys and beds. The section seems smaller than it used to be. I didn't find anything. I figured I would at least take a look at the lamp section on the Marketplace floor. This is a long chairless walk, but I found one bench right in front of this lamp. It is not a very pretty lamp, but the lampshade is made of fabric. I thought it looked vaguely like the top of a jellyfish. Since I had a bench I spent a while thinking about how I could make it into a jellyfish. I decided it was possible. 

Being divers, it was important that the jellyfish lamp be as accurate as possible. I did some research online about various species of jellyfish. The closest match was a Box Jellyfish. These are the kind in Australia that will kill you if they touch your skin. 

My first attempt at this lamp is not shown, but has resulted in my never wanting to use that type of fabric again. My second attempt I like better anyway. The fabric is leftover from my Dickens Fair costume, but worked surprisingly well.

Book Review: Home Sewn

I was really excited to get to review a book on a hobby I actually do. I have some really cute books with some great sewing projects in them, and I was hoping this book would be a great addition to that collection. I was not impressed.

Some of the major problems I had with this book:

Two of the projects in the book are just pictures of the writer having used purchasable kits with her own fabric. There is a make your own lampshade, and make your own headboard. I don't think using a premade kit and writing the instructions count as making your own project...

One project is a linen ottoman. This on it's own this could be a great project. Except when you get to the important part of the stuffing. She gives minimal direction on this. "Stuffing of your choice"... "Up to you really"... I made a floor cushion a year or so ago. The sewing part, although complicated, was the easiest part. Finding a good stuffing, tips on getting it into the cushion, tips on not getting said stuffing all over your house... Any of those would be a really useful addition to this project.

At least two projects in this book don't fall on the right side of the handmade vs homemade. When I make something by hand I want to take the time to do it right. If I am going to spend hours making something and probably spending at least twice what it would cost to buy the same thing. What I make should look good. One project the "embroidered lambskin and silk throw pillows" looks terrible. The final project pictured is wrinkled and the embroidery is a small circle in the middle filled in with random stitches and x's. Maybe if it was a child making it this could be appreciated.

Another project " decorative silk upholstery panels" looks like she tacked on fabric to the back of a chair. Reading the instructions for this project, says that is exactly what she did. "You probably don't need instructions - the images say almost all you need"... She actually says that.

There are a few cute things. One project is making silk butterflies. Another is a leather strap to tie back curtains with. She made a cotton, silk, and leather chandelier that looks nice. But even for these projects that I might actually want to do the instructions are minimal. She takes a lots of posed pictures of the finished product, but doesn't really focus on helping people get there with great instructions. I could probably figure it out, but with a book I shouldn't have to.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Latest projects, neither of which are hats.

Awhile back, probably years now, a friend in my knitting group inspired me to hunt for yarn in thrift stores. You do this by buying sweaters, and deconstructing them. It is always a mystery of what you will end up with. My first go I happened to find to brand new, matching, men's XL sweaters made of a wool cashmere blend. I bought both and made an absurd amount of yarn. I figured two sweaters should make a blanket easily. I didn't account for how much looser hand knit items tend to be. I finished the blanket 47"x53" with a lot of yarn to spare. I easily could make a big shawl and a few hats with what I have left.

The pattern I chose was called Umaro. It is a very complicated chart. Many charted patterns have you do just purling on the back side, or knit the knits and purl the purls. This one you read back and forth, and there was a cable that used two needles. At least the repeat was short so you didn't have to stare at the chart the entire time. The pattern makes a beautiful blanket, but not the most relaxing to knit. I am glad I have finished it.

Of course the cat had to lay on my project while I was blocking it. He only lays in that spot when I am blocking a knitting project...

My second project is my level 2 embroidery kit. It is another very colorful floral pattern. This level starts getting into a lot more three dimensional stitches. The white bit in the middle is very fluffy and made from about 20-25 cut loops. The green swirly parts in the middle are loops with 20 wraps around each one. Next step level 3! 

Maker Faire!

I found out how to volunteer at the Maker Faire this year. I signed up to teach people to knit. This means I got in free! I also signed up Steven to teach people to knit. Free is nice. The last time I went to Maker Faire I thought it was overrun with poorly monitored children acting like everything was a toy, even the things clearly set up for an older audience. This year, it was probably also the case, but you can't complain about free. Also I signed up for the noon-4 shift, so the busiest time I was hiding in the knitting booth. 

Getting there early was great. We were allowed in I think 90 min early, but arrived just under an hour early. A lot of the things weren't set up yet, but the bigger art exhibits were. Even better no one was at them. 

Steven jumping to get to a higher high five.

Giant ball of yarn at the knitting booth. The only time it was empty...

Stilt lessons. For obvious reasons I did not partake. 

About 10 min before the public was allowed in we walked by the main entrance. I was very happy to not be in this mob. Going to the Maker Faire as a maker is so much easier. 

Tape. 

In the darkroom they had really cool things. Too many to take pictures of. The one picture that came out well is this light sculpture. It is made of plastic cups, and christmas lights. I might need to make one.

A robot playing chess. 

Automatic marker.

There was a little booth where you can make light up monsters. I made this one. If you squeeze it's tummy, it's nose lights up. I had it in my pocket while teaching knitting. I showed it to the children that were far too young to learn knitting and were just getting frustrated. Then directed them over there. Excellent solution. 

The teaching went fairly well. I signed up to teach both crochet and knitting. I hadn't expected to teach both at the same time... But, it all worked out. It still amazes me how many people don't know a slip knot. I've know this since I was a child, and always thought it was common knowledge. Most people got the basics down. One little girl was far too young to learn (she wasn't coordinated enough to hold the sticks) so I taught her finger knitting instead. 

Steven teaching.

My wrist was full of things by the end of the day. I was amused with the Safety First band. With so much Burning Man like things around, it's a different priority than their "Safety Third."

Mushroom Jerky

Free yarn from volunteering

The booth I was working in had knitting, crochet, needlepoint, spinning, and weaving. Three of these I can do well. Those three were very well staffed, and came with free take home supplies. You get to start a project and take it home to finish it. After I was done with my shift I wanted to try out the spinning and weaving. 

The spinning didn't have take home things. You could just try it out for a while. The only one teaching it was a 12 year old girl. She was a very competent spinner and teacher, but still odd to be the only one. 

The weaving was on a little hand loom. They only had about 5 of these, so you couldn't take them home to finish your project. I spent about an hour on mine, and I got tired of sitting and I was hungry. I finished it early. It's a tiny and cute thing, and I made a fancy design. The woman who taught weaving lives near me, so I may learn more weaving from her in the future. 

Latest knitting project.

I first attempted this pattern when I was still a new knitter. It did not end well. I got frustrated because I couldn't keep the increases and decreases straight and frogged the whole thing. Since then I have done much more complicated things successfully, but I still thought of this pattern as difficult.

At my knitting group a few weeks ago I was given some very nice Noro yarn from a friend who had been given it from a different friend who didn't want it. I love bulky yarn, and I love the colors of Noro. I had planned to make a different scarf, also a simple pattern, but it wasn't looking like I wanted it too. I searched for projects other people had done with that yarn, and this pattern came up. It had been written specifically for the Noro Iro yarn, taking the exact amount that I had been given.

I am not going to mention the specific pattern name. The pattern is awfully written. It has a chart that is far more complicated than it needs to be. I personally prefer charts when knitting, and the knitting on this scarf is so simple it doesn't need a chart. This is probably why I had so much trouble the first time around. I more or less ignored the chart this time.

Falcor getting in the way while I was blocking the scarf.

A random Tuesday post

The library near our home has been doing these monthly adult craft nights. They are free and only take an hour, so I have been trying to go each month. Some have been awful, some have been just ok. Today's actually went decently well. They had all the supplies needed and they had the correct supplies for the project. 

The project was watercolor mugs. It wasn't actually watercolor, it was some paint we combined with rubbing alcohol to have a watery effect. This time the only issue with the supplies was they used paper cups for the rubbing alcohol and it wasn't structurally sound for very long. Some people made some really creative mugs. Some people made mugs that looked like a toddler painted them. One woman actually wrote, "I hate you" on hers, not sure what was up with that...

Here are mugs Steven and I made. Can you guess whose is whose?

After the painting we went down to our gym. Steven has been trying to encourage me to get back into running. His latest attempt was offering to do it with me. This resulted in this very silly picture of him pouting on a treadmill. :)