Maybe it's because I've been watching Project Runway, or maybe it's because I spent several hours looking through the Craftster archives...but I've got the sewing bug. Anne Marie is very concerned that the sewing will replace knitting as my obsession of choice. This will not happen, because you can't take sewing in the car, you can't sew in the movie theatre, and also, because KNITTING. I LOVE YOU SO.

But. It's nice to change it up every now and then, right? Especially since I have (literally) 15 or so bags of old clothes in my attic, and a big old chunk of those are t-shirts. Time to deconstruct!

So here's my first attempt: from too-big t-shirt to tube top.

It was too baggy so I never wore it.

and it became this:


A tube top that fits.
Now, I don't have tons of events where a tube top would be my attire of choice, but it was a good way to practice. Here's what I learned from Tube Top: I can sew a (mostly) straight line, and I can take in the sides of a shirt to fit me better. I just put a tank top that fits me well on top of the baggy shirt, traced the sides with a pencil, and sewed up the sides. Zip, zip.

Okay. My next shirt was a little more ambitious, and it's got lots of issues, but again, I learned from it. I forgot to take a before picture, but I used a stretchy long sleeved v-neck and a black plain t-shirt:

Sorry for the crappy picture.

This one I probably would wear out. And AM tried it on and she looks really good in it. I cut the top of the long-sleeved shirt off, added some black fabric to the top, and used the bottom of the black t-shirt to make it longer. If I could redo it now, I wouldn't use quite so much material at the top...it took me several tries to make it look right.

And yay! Now I'm getting closer. I forgot to take a before picture again, but it was a little yellow t-shirt that says "Florida". Cute design, but the sleeves were too tight, and the truth is that I'm just not much of a t-shirt girl.

And here's the reconstructed shirt:

Florida!

I used the bottom of a HUGE red t-shirt for the collar, and the bottom half of a super old white tank top for the bottom half. I cut the sleeves off the Florida shirt, and cut a big old square collar.
Glamour shot:


Yay new old shirt.

With this one, I learned that you can sew two right side edges together and get a seam that doesn't show your thread (!) and ... if you use thread that's the same color as your fabric, it doesn't show as much. Duh. I realize this is totally elementary for the real sewers among us, but I'm Not So Good at sewing, so I'm learning as I go. And Having So Much Fun. Yayayayayay.

I love the collar on the Florida shirt, so I'm going to try that again with some different shirts. funfunfunfun.

This weekend is going to be superfuntimes.com. I'm going to see Quintron in Atlanta tonight, and then hanging out with friends all weekend. The start of school is nearing...so I must max out the fun times NOW. By the way, thanks for all your encouraging words about working/grad school/weddingplanning, etc. I'm glad there are lots of other people doing it and surviving and being happy about it. Yay bloggy support.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (36)

Woo-hoo! Birthday Blowout Weekend 2006! [edited to add: it was actually Anne Marie's birthday this past weekend. I was celebrating mine again because we had a party together. And because I like to draw my birthday out as long as possible.]

1. Lunch on Friday at East West was fabulous, not only because of the great company and excellent service, but because this was my dessert:

Um, chocolate mocha cake. With cream cheese icing in between the layers.

YUM.

2. Friday night we had planned to go out for just a few hours, but of course we ended up staying out latelatelate. Here's what Jacob and I looked like after several beers and some dancing:

Happy schmoos.

We started playing the color functions on my camera, and then we got silly. One of the crazy things my camera can do: you can pick a color, and the camera will take pictures that are totally black and white except for THAT COLOR. Example:

Fun with color accents.

And also:


We have yellow eyes. We are not werewolves, I promise.

Beer + latenight + camera = lots of silly pictures. But it was lots of fun.

3. Saturday night we had a little get together at my house to celebrate our July birthdays. Sadly, the karaoke machine did not make an appearance (although I think my friend Leslie REALLY wanted it to) but we did sing Mandy by Barry Manilow. And we did inject some liquor into a huge watermelon. Because we're classy like that.

A good time was had by all.

In crafty news, I spent a lot of time on Friday looking at craftster.org, and I became enamored with the T-shirt reconstruction section (Vibegrrl totally inspired me) DUDE. This is fun. And also a lot harder than it looks. Now- I'm not a very good sewer, like Silly Pinky Pants over here, but I made a few shirts this week...pictures soon!

And last, but certainly not least, I've been knitting the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts with some yummy La Luz Silk that sweet Betsy sent for my birthday. So. Soft.

Ohhhhh. I heart this yarn.

Hope everyone's having a good week, and staying cool. It's hot up in here.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)

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EDITED TO ADD: I am fixing some bugs on my blog, so if you may not be able to comment for a little while. Thanks for your patience!
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It's hard to post when I haven't got many pictures to show. I'm knitting on lots of things right now that can't be shown on the blog (presents, etc), so my knitting pictures are pretty limited. So, in the interest of having some blog fodder, I took my camera to the studio last night. My band, Bling the Children Back Home, is working on an album, and we've been laying down some vocals this week. See:

Working hard.

I actually don't really work with that big old board very often. I just go into the room and sing, and they record it. But in that picture, I really was helping record someone else. I swear. You can ask this guy:


He's for real.

That's Richard, aka Greasy V. He's pretending to knit in that picture.

Clearly I'm struggling for bloggy pictures.

Do you want to know what that knitted object is in Richard's hands? I'll give you a hint:

Do you know now?

Crap. I just can't keep anything a secret.

Hmm. What else is going on? I'm starting school on August 17th. Yikes. I'm trying not to freak out about it. I've talked to a few people who have worked full time and gone to grad school at the same time, and they're all like, "Um, good luck! Your next two years are going to be hell." Like, they don't even try to sugarcoat it. Accccccccccck.

But, I like to be busy. I can do it. And I'm interested in what I'm studying, so that should help. Right?!?!?!?

So, there you have it. Grad school is a-comin'. And so is a Bling album. And some not-so-secret knitted items. And Anne Marie's birthday! It's tomorrow - July 21 - so be sure you go wish her a happy happy!

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, ya'll. I had a really nice day yesterday. Work was calm, and had a lovely birthday lunch at Taste of India with Courtney, Sarah, and Anne Marie:

We just ate lots. of. food.


It was delicious, and the company was fabulous. Perfect birthday lunch.

It was definitely an odd day yesterday. You know how on your birthday the pressure is on for the day to be like TOTALLY THE BEST DAY EVER! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! -- and some stuff happened that put me in a grouchy mood for a big part of the day. And my twin sis was out of town, so I didn't get to see her, although we talked a bunch of times.

But. With a lovely lunch, AND a lovely dinner with Jacob and AM, and lots of happy birthday wishes from the internets and in person and on the phone, I really couldn't stay Grouchy McGrumpypants for long. I also got some fabulous things from some friends:

Um, YAY.
Click here for a close up of that business card...Hee.

Dude. I'm a lucky schmoo. And Jacob and I are going to go laptop shopping in the next couple of weeks. !!! Yayayayayayay. So, the birthday ended up being fantastic, all because I have such great people in my life. And was there knitting? But of course...

Knitting on a Morehouse Merino shawl.
With my little yarn helper beside me.

That's actually the night BEFORE my birthday, at a Packway Handle Band show, but you get the idea. And also, that's a TWO DOLLAR Sierra Nevada draft in front of me. I love Athens.

Thanks for the birthday love! And have a great weekend!

OH! Two things:

P.S. I recently did a bloggy redesign for High Energy Jenny, and we just went live with it! It's electric. If you visit High Energy Knits and it looks wonky, try clearing your cache. It'll help.

P.S. again. Remember when I was knitting on a yummy red cabley thingy, and I couldn't tell ya what it was? Well that's because it was Jodi's design for Interweave Knits, Fall 2006! Congratulations, Jodi!

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Gah, I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged! And it's been a super awesomely busy week with much knitting, visiting, eating, and picture taking. Like, SO MANY PICTURES. I heart my camera.

[Edited to add: it should be noted that the Pants took a good majority of the aquarium pictures and the fireworks pictures. Gots to give the man some credit. And while I'm giving credit, my camera is a Canon Powershot SD550. ]

Fourth of July was great - we went to Jacob's parents' for a wild game cookout, which included the following: pheasant, wild boar, wild turkey, venison, and normal old ribs. It was a delicious meal, indeed. We finished the night with VIP seats at the local fireworks show (Jacob's dad is an assistant fire chief, so we got to be super close to where the fireworks were actually being lit.) Um, they were HUGE! and really loud. And KICK ASS. (My sister and I were actually afraid of fireworks when we were little, and we used to always go see them on holidays and then cry. So I felt like I was achieving a small victory for young scared Carrieoke by being so close to the fireworks.) Here's a picture for ya:

Pretty.
More Fourth of July pics [ here ].

There was also knitting at the fireworks show ... Jacob's cousin Abby worked on a scarf, and I worked on a new (old) project:

Orangina!

I've actually made Orangina before - mine was a Grape Fanta. It's cute - but I've been wanting one that's a little more lightweight. This time I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine, and I love the way it's turning out. The color is darkish brown, and I've decided to name this one after my most favorite drink ever : Unsweet Tea! (I know, I must be a fake Southerner. But really. I like my tea unsweet. It may be because my grandma used to put TWO FULL CUPS of sugar in a pitcher of iced iea.) Anyways, yay for summery lacy tops.

The next day, the Pants and his mom convinced me to take a vacation day so we could go to the Georgia Aquarium. DUDE. It rocked. I'll let you peruse the 100+ pictures we took if you want: [ Aquarium Pics ]. And also, can I please have a penguin, a sea lion and a beluga whale come live with me and be my pets? Because they are CUTE.

And today, I got to see my mom, my sisters and my nephews. I knit Brady a baby onesie a little while back, and I forgot to take decent pictures, so I snapped a few for my gallery while I was over at Michelle's. Then Brady agreed to try it on:

It's the 12-month size.

I think it will fit him. In the future.

Good times. I must confess that I've also made my first attempt at intarsia (yikes) recently, but I'll have to save those pictures for another time. It's time for me to go to bed and read some of this ...

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)