Finished stuff, part deux!

Last night my sister and I finished up the Gamma Delta Iota tee.

This is what it looked like while drying.

We made (read: she made and I worried and critiqued) our own stencils using painter’s tape. The trick, I’ve now learned, is to lay the tape out with multiple layers on cardboard, draw out the design, and then use an x-acto knife to cut it out. Don’t lift the tape too many times when you are cutting it out; if you do the tape won’t stick to the shirt enough to keep the spray paint from seeping. Crisp edges are your friends. Also, when spraying be sure to cover the rest of the shirt with painter’s tape, the glitter will get everywhere otherwise.

Once the tape was removed.

And here's what it looks like on.

I am silly proud of this. I know that my sister did most of the work, but it’s just so darn cool. And I helped.

The other thing I made in the last few days was this:

The, apply named, Yarn Basket.

I’ve been wondering where to keep the yarn I’d spun. I guess I could keep it with the “store bought” yarn but that just doesn’t seem special enough. So when I noticed this pattern I thought, “Hey, I’ve got a giant skein of yarn I bought because it was huge and purple. I could use it for this!”

It could also double as a hat for Hagrid.

I cast on using the provisional cast on and size 17 needles. It took two evenings, and I was knitting it continental style since it is supposed to be easier on the hands. The basket is basically a giant knit cylinder, and then you thread a piece of yarn around one edge and pull tight like a drawstring bag.

I may be making a bunch more. It’s quick and easy and I need to practice my continental knitting skills. I’ve thought about making a Doctor Who scarf. It would be great for working out tension, plus it is so wonderfully geeky... I just can’t make myself do it left handed. I’ve decided I need instant gratification projects because knitting continental makes me I feel so clumsy and slow.

I have a major project coming up. It’s called Organizing the Craft Room (cue: screams). I hope that making baskets of some sort or other is going to help, not hurt this endeavor. I’ll post pictures of what it looked like once I can take pictures of the progress. To post just “the before” pictures would be too depressing.