FYI

The wedding is in the 10 day weather forecast. Wedding forecast? Whoooooooooooa.

Salt?

Yes, salt. Go with it.

Oh you know, just a typical Saturday planting 17 mini-deserts.

Wedding planning closer

In case you were wondering, in the past 18 hours I have:

1. assembled, addressed, stuffed, stamped (2x!) 75 invites
2. concocted, purchased, assembled thank you notes
3. acquired my, how do they call it, foundation pieces
4. gotten fitted for my gown by Lina who says, "you will come back. You will be happy."
5. chose shoes for my gown

Sometimes, you just gotta be a closer.

Super secret knitting project: commence.

Photo by my sister.*

After a horrible yarn disaster that left me with about 3 pounds of mottled blue yarn (more to come on that debacle), I've decided that I just have to try and get something knitted up in time for J and J's impending wedding.

Book available here.

I've decided on a pattern from my go-to book, "Leisure Arts Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans." Despite every effort to make the projects look terrible by photographing them on a rainy day in a cottage in 1975 (bonus points: several feature a cat and/or reading glasses and/or cups of tea), this book has so far served me well. It provided patterns for my sister's Christmas gift a few years ago (seen at the top) and C and S's wedding blanket two summers ago. And most importantly, as promised, they really are quick knits. All are knit on size 15 or 17 needles, so each stitch literally goes a long way.

I think I've chosen the pattern called, "Exquisite." I won't show it to you in the off-chance that J or J even knows I once updated a blog periodically... Anyway, it looks like I can easily dismantle the pattern into four packable strips. I know, I know, you're thinking, "why would you introduce seams and therefore SEAMING when you don't absolutely have to? You are crazy." But I can justify 3 seams if it makes me more able to knit on the plane to Europe. (did I mention I'm going to Europe?) The only other modification I'm anticipating is lenghthening it since J and J are stupid tall.

*underneath that delicately draped blanket is my sister's friend hiding in a bush to make the blanket drape delicately. Isn't my sister the best?

Wedding knits: no brainer...

(From Martha Stewart Weddings)

I mentioned I was looking for unique but not overpowering ways to incorporate knitting and handmade things into the wedding. And each day I'm lucky enough to get Martha Stewart's wedding craft of the day. So add this to the list! I could knit this up faster than it's taking to write this... Also, I don't plan to have a ring pillow. Nonetheless, thanks Martha.

Bud vase revolution?

(from Style Me Pretty)

Since I'm momentarily obsessed with things I can spray paint... and weddings... Imagine my delight when I saw this wedding on Style Me Pretty. Aside from the gorgeous dahlia and succulent arrangements, I squealed a little when I saw the candlesticks being used as bud vases.

There were plenty of crappy ugly candlesticks at the thrift store last week. Wheels. Turning.

Spray painted vases, part III: painting

Here I am, continuing on my vase adventure. I started with this inspiration, and told you about my shopping here. Now for the fun part: painting! Or is it?

First, every vase got a good washing and drying. I'll admit, this was hard for me because I was super impatient. Next, I had to divide up the vases for which ones I wanted to try first, and whether I wanted to try painting the inside or outside. I decided to try several things. I tried painting the inside, the outside, and base painting with black and then painting with plum.

There's not much else to say, except what you already know: several light coats of paint, well-ventilated garage, rubber gloves...

And the end result? Promising. At first I hated them, but upon living with them a few days, they're growing on me. I figured these would come out different (given the varied paint processes). Part of me likes it. Part of me wants them more uniform. I'm pretty sure priming with black would make these more uniform. However, in low light, it may not matter at all.

In the end, I think these could be a real possibility for a wedding centerpiece cluster thingy... I may try matte black (more like the inspiration), or making the purple more uniform. In the meantime, these are hanging out on a weird shelf in my room and I have to admit, I kind of dig 'em (although I apologize for the exceptionally bad flash). Meh.

Spray painted vases part II: budget and shopping

(From StyleMePretty)

I've accidentally taken to multi-posting. Think of it as being in the loop to all my works in progress. But seriously, sorry for the Roman numeral overload.

Anyway, as I discussed here, I was inspired by Twig and Thistle's spray painted tablescape. A collection of textured vases + spray paint = cool centerpiece? We'll see.

First I went to Lowe's, since it's the only home improvement store in about 10 miles. I started off wanting dark plum, but based on the cap colors I was scared it might be too red. So I grabbed a standard black and "economy" white. To be as scientific as possible (and also because I didn't have a choice) each paint was in a different finish: flat, satin, and gloss.
Glossy economy white $0.99
Flat deep plum $3.78
Satin black basic $3.12
With tax, Lowe's total: $8.42

Next, off to one of my favorite thrift stores, the Village Discount Outlet. I looked at all of the kitchen and home wares and settled on two large vases, a weird blue vase, and a clay vase with a tree imprint.
Two big vases @ $1.50
Two small vases @ $0.60
With tax, VDO total: $4.49

I was a little disappointed that I didn't find any interesting bud vases, as this was more my original vision. So I made one last stop at Ohio Thrift. Jackpot! With a cart full of vases, a few women stopped to ask if I collected vases. Er, no? I guess it's a reasonable question since I bought 11 things. Mostly bud vases, but also three candy bowls (that's what they look like to me at least)
11 odds and ends $10.43
With tax, Ohio Thrift total: $11.13

I had originally given myself a $20 budget, and 100% freedom to hate it all and throw it away after the fact. I ended up spending $24.04, which is a little bit over my budget. But, if the purple works ok, I'll recoup $4.11 on cost of the black and white if I return them. That would put me at (fanfare) $19.93.

Next up: painting!!

Too early for Christmas?

(image from Pink Lemon Twist, so talented!)

Someone please buy me this pattern from Pink Lemon Twist. The asymmetry is beautiful, and I think keeps it from looking like an old lady lace stole. Although, I kind of like old lady lace...

I briefly considered this as a wedding stole in a deep plum mohair silk blend (hey, a girl can dream). But now I'm surrendering and thinking if I start today, I could finish before I die.

Totes gorgeous.

Weekend mission: spray painted vases

We've toyed around with the idea of doing our own wedding flowers, with the help of our brilliant friend, M. So I've haphazardly looked for centerpiece inspiration from wedding and design blogs. I think I like mismatched bud vases, and while I happen to adore milk glass, it's a little too shabby chic for our affair. So what to do?

Knitted vase cozies like the one I made here? Maybe.

(Photo my own, yo)

But then I came back to this idea seen awhile ago on Style Me Pretty, done by Twig & Thistle. I think these are black, but I like how they appear a deep aubergine. I like that cheapy crappy vases suddenly look chic and unified.

(Photo from Style Me Pretty)

Then, more recently, 100 Layer Cake showed a similar tutorial for spray painting mason jars. The big difference is that these are painted on the inside. What I like about this is that the clear glass makes the color appear shiny, almost lacquered. A very different look, but also pretty. Potential drawback, all of these vases would have to start out clear glass.

(Photo from 100 Layer Cake)

So! The mission for this weekend is to acquire some purple-ish spray paint, hit the goodwill and try painting inside and outside of some vases. At worst, I'm out a few bucks, a few hours, and a few glass vases. At best, I'm one step closer to tablescape heaven.

Wedding knits: Part II

I don't want to go over the top with knitted nick knacks at the wedding. I also don't want to drive myself insane to finish a bunch of labor-intensive projects that I can never finish. But I DO want to have something knitted to add a little touch of me and my interests. Enter bouquet wrap, stage left:

(Source unknown, some wedding magazine. Sorry!)

Seriously, how cute is this? It's barely noticeable, but really personal. It could be understated, like hear in the cream, but it could be more of a statement by contrasting with the flowers.

From a practical standpoint, it's a rectangle. This one looks like it was cut from a larger knitted piece and appears unfinished at the edges. But I couldn't stand for that.

Knitting this in the round would require fitting it to the bouquet, and thus knowing how big it would be. Too much work.

I imagine this look would be easiest to achieve by having fake buttons and using velcro. The buttons could be a way to further personalize if I got my hands on some garment from a family member (Mom's wedding dress buttons? Buttons from any shirt of any grandparent?)

About the velcro: normally velcro would ruin the yarn, but I don't exactly think I'd ever use it again.

Inspired!

From Design*Sponge.

Between favorite blogs, Martha Stewart craft-a-day, magazines and my own wacky mind, I have started to fill my brain with wedding/life ideas. This resulted in some crafty alchemy yesterday. I'd found and flagged this idea in the early throes of wedding planning. The color, the flowers and the basketweave stitch didn't really sing to me, but the idea of a vase cozie seemed workable. The idea had sort of slipped away until I saw the below:

From the lovely, indelible Martha Stewart.

Hello, Martha, I want this. Now, I'm the first to admit that Martha's craft of the day is normally insane or complicated, but I love this. I'm kind of picturing do invites, or thank yous in a butcher paper color dipped in burgundy (actually I have the sudden urge to dip-dye everything I own).

But wait, these two pieces of inspiration have nothing in common- yet.

See, my brain wanted to combine both ideas. Immediately. So fast that I only have a couple of pictures, clearly taken after the fact.

I started with some Lion Fisherman Wool. Have I told you how much I love this? It is cheap ($4-5 with 40% off coupon at Jo-ann's) and there's enough yardage to play around with without feeling badly. This was the "Oatmeal" color, which worked because I've been on a taupe kick this week.

I knitted a swatch (hello!) but didn't block it, so no real help. But basically, I knit a plain stockinette rectangle. I knit the first and last row through the back loop (k tbl), because I used a loose cast on; the end effect gave a little twist at the bottom that I liked. From here, I knit a bigger stockinette rectangle to fit around a plastic jar that was lying around. Then I seamed it, because it seemed faster than knitting the whole thing on double pointed needles.

On to dyeing!! Also no pictures. But I was shooting for an ombre effect. I used part of one grape Kool-Aid pack in a drinking glass. I kind of roll-smushed the knitted tube into the cup for the microwaving - but guess what, a cup full of water heats up really quickly. It only took about 3 zaps of 30 seconds to get pretty darn hot! So I just left it on the counter to cool and soak up color. I added a little more color and water to get a little color higher up. I'm sort of worried this just made an ugly stripe, but we'll see.

Anyway (thanks for bearing with me) when the color seemed good, I wrung it out a bit and fitted it back over the vase. Remember how I didn't block the swatch? Well the vase cozie obviously stretched while it was wet, so was then a loose fit. My solution? As you see, I wrapped a towel around it and taped it shut. Literally. Eek!

I promise more pictures once it's dry. But for now you'll have to be satisfied with a tiny peak of burgundy.

Yet another go around

From here, though I think this is both unrelated and probably crochet.

This blog and I mirror many of my relationships and commitments in life. I predictably go through these stages (that I am making up right now).

Stage 1: Discovery. The OMG how did I live without this?!
Stage 2: Obsession. This is where I google like it's my job, forget to eat and stay up until 2 a.m.
Stage 3: Reality. Okay, so while this is cool, maybe it isn't the coolest thing I've ever done.
Stage 4: Inexplicable resentment.
Stage 5: Boredom/Indifference.
Possible stage 6: Rediscovery. I'll reevaluate my love/hate relationship with project X and either return to Stage 1, or begin a modified, less-scary, toned down, reasonable commitment.

This is true for:
i) most knitting projects (especially those that require more than one skein)
ii) most reality TV shows (hello, Jersey Shore, I hate you)
iii) any single aspect of my new wedding planning
iv) exercise, generally
v) the lofty goal of packing lunch and cooking dinner every day

With that all said, I'm here to give the ol' blog yet another fresh start. You should know that in addition to science and knitting, wedding planning has now crept into the forefront of my mind. So don't be mad if I want/need to talk about things that are neither science, nor knitting-related (though I already have some killer ideas of how to incorporate both of my loves into the wedding).

Best. Wedding gift. Ever.*

(*in my opinion.)

Summer means weddings. And to an amateur knitter this means the potential for panic. As it were, dear friends of the Fella got hitched about a month ago. C and S are fun and special people to the Fella, and the standard kitchenwares seemed to not be special enough to celebrate the occasion. With no fear, I undertook the challenge to finish an afghan in about five weeks.
I referred to one of my favorite (and ridiculously-titled) books, "The Big Book of Quick-Knit Afghans," and chose an equally-silly titled pattern, "Delightful." Fortunately, the result was not nearly as silly, and in fact, I'm quite pleased with it. The picture leaves a little to be desired and the fan-like or paisley-like pattern is faint. Also, it probably needs a napping cat and a pipe resting on it.

And if that wasn't good enough, the Fella brewed a special Nuptial Lager for the happy couple.
See? Best wedding gift ever.