The 15 minute makeover

We needed a foot rest, or at least something to rest our feet on when we sit in any of the three chairs in our living room. A coffee table would work, but it would also take up precious floor space. We tend to be picky about furniture in this house, at least furniture that we spend money on. However furniture that we pick up on our neighbors curb we are slightly less picky about. Case in point this bad boy -

Clearly it's not in the best shape. The leather is scratched, scraped and there are a couple of holes. However the wood is sound, all four legs are still there, and the finish actually matches the two IKEA chairs we have in the living room. So off the curb and into our basement it went, where it lived for a couple of months until I pulled it out on Friday.
Now I could have really put some time in to a good re-do. But honestly, upholstery just isn't that interesting to me. It actually one craft that, although I find it to be an art form, is just not one that I even want to explore. So instead, I pulled out some extra green fabric that I got at Joanns on mega clearance and was going to make some pillows for out couch out of. Grabbed my staple gun and ta-da!

I even got it done while N was awake, although it did mean that she wanted to get in the way help.

Wool

It has not been a summer for knitters. It's hot, too hot to be sitting still with wool running through your fingers and big sweaty half finished pile on your lap. However it is not too hot in Alaska, where we just returned from visiting family. My sister and I enjoyed the reprieve from the heat and actually got some knitting in. So much so I actually started and finished a project on our trip. Granted it was a small project, just a hat, but a project none the less.



 

The pattern is Habitat by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. (I'm also on Ravelry for those knitters out there). Overall, I love it. When I make it again I'll use a solid color yarn so the cables stand out better since they get a little lost in all of the colors of the yarn. It's a little chunky, warm, and done before winter has even begun to think of starting.





In other wool related news; I made a rookie mistake recently.

Returning from Alaska I set out to do laundry and was trying to save myself a little time. Those of you who knit know where I'm going with this already. I set aside the wool and delicate items for last and realized that I had a pretty significant pile. Looking at the washing machine and then the pile I figured "hey there's a hand wash/delicate setting, why not use it?". Right there is where I made the rookie mistake. The mistake that I knew would be done at some point, even though I've been knitting for more than a decade. A lovely hand knit sweater, probably my favorite that I've ever made and certainly the one that fit me the best is now a lovely, felted, sweater that will fit N great when she turns 5 or 6. Take note - the hand wash setting does not mean hand knit setting. Lesson learned, at least for now.

Radio Silence

It's clear I've been absent from this space for a little while. Out of all of the seasons summer seems to be the busiest doesn't it? It doesn't seem to matter if you have school aged children or not, if you take a vacation or not; everyone always seems to just be harder to pin down come the warmer (or this year downright hot) months.

Despite my absence of posts I have still been creating, perhaps not as much as I would like but creating none the less. My sister's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and while I finished these in plenty of time I couldn't post about it since she (as any dutiful sister would) reads these pages and I didn't want any spoilers.

That's right, more buckets! The pattern from a cuppa and a catch up is the same that I made for N's nursery and has taken up residence close to my heart. I'm on a kick of organizational swooning, for which I blame Pinterest, and these buckets fill nearly every need I can think of. I do have more plans for them but will probably take a break.

The fabric for these came nearly all from Joann's with the exception of one fat quarter for interior of the smallest bucket which I got at a local quilt shop. I followed the pattern for the patchwork stripe exterior with two lined of coordinated stitched both above and below the patchwork stripe. There is a green machine stitched line 1/4'' from the top and bottom patchwork seam and then a light blue hand stitched line 1/2'' from the top and bottom patchwork seam. 

There is more to catch up on, including a tearful incident with my washing machine this morning. It won't be two months again before the next post, I promise!