Community & Bartering & Crafting

As has previously been discussed on this blog (I like to pretend that we're discussing things here so please keep the illusion going), I am involved in a year-long project to knit and sew an average of one item (one knit, one sewn) a month, using materials from my stash.  A caveat I built into my side of the story is that I can trade stash items because, let's face it, we all have some yarn that we'll probably never use or was a novelty purchase.  Of course, I have both.

The boy was here recently for a two-week visit, which really was the best thing ever.  Can you hear my heart squeak?  (Yes, squeak.)  Anyway, no visit to Hamilton is complete without a trip to Value Village where I picked up this awesome skirt:

Yes, the bathrooms have the best light.  Yes, the skirt, made in Great Britain, was $4.99

Of course my mind goes to "What sweater can I knit to go with this?" and Kate Davies's Owls came to mind, a sweater that I've been wanting to make for some time now.  Of course, using up stash yarn was important, and I thought I was onto something when I saw that a number of knitters had used Alafoss Lopi for it.  What do you know?  I have some of that very yarn in my stash!

Alabama Chanin Corset!

I completed this yesterday.  It actually didn't take as long as one might imagine a totally hand-sewn item to take.   The top layer is a CK t-shirt I picked up at Value Village, and the bottom layer is one of the ladyfriend's discards.

Each time I make an Alabama Chanin project I learn something new.  This time it was, "Oh, the thread should be doubled!" and "Okay, double knots, I got it."  Rather than seeing what I didn't know in each project (this is my third), I'm seeing them as evidence of progress and enjoy them as such.  That doesn't mean, however, I might not put a few beads on this.

But now, I swear, it's back to a project from the list!

Shoe of the Week: These Boots...

Wonky photo, I know, but I was wearing them as I snapped them.  These are my non-brand specified (but made in Texas) cowboy boots that I picked up at the Value Village in Calgary.  Somehow all those details work together.