Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts

Monday, January 05, 2009

Busy busy busy!

I've been actually getting some stuff done lately. I'm as amazed as anyone, really. Since there's a lot of stuff to share, I'll get right to it.

First, on December 30, I decided to turn an old t-shirt into yarn. It's really easy (Thanks, Alwen!) and I love not having to throw out all that perfectly good cotton. I'm such a packrat. Anyway, the resultant yarn is a little thicker than I'd like, but never having done it before, I didn't know what I was doing exactly, I didn't cut the strips thin enough. I'll do that next time, said Jack. I knit up a swatch, and will definitely try it again. This is about 3/4 of the yardage from the one shirt (men's sz medium) and is a 6" square. I used my trusty 9mm bamboo needles for this.
From ravelry


Next up is a Panta headband. I used about 70 yards of leftover Patons Classic Merino for this. I was so anxious to get started on this, I didn't even bother to wind the yarn into a ball first. I just looped the hank over my neck. That's true slacker knitting for you, right there.
From ravelry


It took no time at all, and I really am happy with it. It keeps my ears warm, and doesn't do funky things to my hair. That's all anyone really can ask of a wool head band, no?
From ravelry


I also have been baking lately, but I'll save that for another post. I have dough in the kitchen that won't turn into a loaf without me. ;)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Help!

It's cold and damp here, which is perfect weather for shopping for a few more wool sweaters for the winter. I had no luck finding items I could actually wear this winter, and was going to go home empty handed (young son, however had fallen in love with some Ninja Turtle figures). Then this soft and squishy lambswool sweater jumped out and begged me to buy it, as it was lonely among all its pilly acrylic and faded cotton neighbors. What could I do? It looked so sad, and was so cute, with its little red stripe across the middle.


Unfortunately, it's way too big for me or Mr. Deplume, so it will need work. But I cannot decide what shoud be done. i leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide this fuzzy fate.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

So much to post, but so little devotion

I'm in a slump here. Every day something happens that causes me to say to myself, "you should put that on the blog." But every day, I reply, "I'll do just that later tonight." But it pretty much never happens. But it stops here. I am now making a concerted effort to actually document the interesting stuff, instead of procrastinating. Procrastination is really only acceptable for yucky stuff like calling the dentist or paying bills or scooping the cat litter, not fun things like playing on the internet.

So here's a big catch-up post.

First off, we have a little example of Norm's insane obsession with old crap. A tricycle from my Grandma's barn. About 25 years ago, Grandma Bug decided she wanted a tricycle to use for exercise. So she got one. It was yellow and big and heavy and had a big white basket on the back. We kids loved it, but it was too hard for her to pedal up the hills on their road. Enter bright idea #2, the electric trike. It is red, powered by a motor on the front and a car battery mounted between the back wheels. We kids loved that trike, too-- nothing like pedaling down the road, and then pulling the power-assist lever on the hills. Zoom! I remember it like it was yesterday.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when I saw a thread on Bikeforums about resurrecting an old trike. Suddenly visions of bicycle restoration pop into my head. A phone call, a flashlight, and a lot of dirt later, I came home with this:

The original yellow tricycle had been sold many years ago, but the red DeSoto was there, waiting for me. It needs a lot of work, but is in amazingly good shape for something played with by preteens and then stored in a barn for the last 20 years. If all goes according to plan, I'll remove the motor and put a big basket on the back.

I'd like to take a moment, here, to mention that Mr. Deplume never said a word. He helped me load it into the truck with only one little question, "why are we bringing this to our house?" And when I gave him my answer ("so I can fix it up and ride it, of course") he didn't even give me a funny look. He's a good egg, I tell ya.

Next post that should have been made last week:
I actually finished something! I've been working on this prayer shawl for months and months. I will never again use that pattern. It's too mindless and too tedious all at once. And it felt like the shawl refused to grow. But I persevered and got it done. This is my first object made from a recycled thrift store sweater. You can see the original sweater on the Ravelry page for this project.


And lastly, I made meatloaf on the grill this week. Well, Mr. Deplume was in charge of the actual grilling part (we like to keep our gender roles archaic, thankyouverymuch). I didn't take a picture of it, though, as meatloaf is ugly. But it tasted great. I started with a recipe on someone else's blog, but changed it considerably as I am incapable of following a recipe (or pattern, for that matter). It didn't really resemble the author's recipe at all when I was done with it. I remembered what I did differently, so if anyone wants my take on grilled meatloaf, let me know and I'll post it here for you.

So that's all I have for today, but promise to be back soon with more madcap adventures.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

What a weekend!

Urg. I feel like I'm becoming one of those complainery hypochondriacs these days. Really, we're not normally sickly people- I swear! But last weekend, Casa de Deplume became virus central once again. Friday night, the girl came down with the world's worst cold. Her ears hurt, her sinuses were going crazy, and she spent a lot of the weekend either in tears or asleep.

Saturday morning found my dear husband in the throes of some stomach bug. The boy had had it early in the week (although he certainly had a mild case), and we all thought we had managed to avoid it. The poor man was laid up for two whole days subsisting on one popsicle, ten animal crackers, one piece of toast and 2 liters of ginger ale. I haven't seen him that sick in 10 years. I managed to fight most of it off, but was definitely under the weather by Sunday night. The girl and the man both called in sick on Monday. I'm hesitant to say it, but I think we're all on the mend now.

On other fronts, the house is a total mess. The laundry (both clean-in-baskets and dirty) is piling up, and my stairway is still not finished. But I did catch up on the dishes yesterday, and tidied up my linen and clothes closets.

Last week I promised a post about a recycled sweater, but it awaits finishing. I've been unraveling while pedaling the recumbent bike in the TV room, and knitting it back up into a project while ignoring household chores the rest of the day. But the WIP is slow going. I'll post copious pictures when it is all done, I promise.

And now I shall bring this post to a close. I have to go tackle something domestic. And go buy chicken for dinner tonight, too.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Unknitting

I've been busy ripping apart sweaters. Now I just need to find someone with a postal scale I can borrow, so I can figure out my yardage. I hope to knit up some of my reclaimed yarn in January, once the Christmas decorations are put away and the inevitable holiday mess cleaned up.
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Fear me, thrift store sweaters!

I'm on an unraveling rampage. Really, I'm too cheap to buy really great yarn. The idea of spending a hundred buckaroos on one garment's worth of yarn just boggles my mind. But for just a couple of bucks and a whole bunch of time and work, I can have heaps of good wool at my disposal. I have started with a men's XL sweater. It's a pretty heathered dark green.
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The yarn seems to be completely untwisted when I frog it, which makes it fairly weak. I hope it is all worth it. According to my (rather inexact calculations, I have about 300 yards from just the left sleeve.
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I'll probably go find a scale after I frog the whole thing to really figure out how much I have here. This had better be worth it. It's sorta a lot of work.

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In other news, I really need to get better at photographing this stuff. It's maddening to have a hundred pictures of project that don't end up resembling the real thing. I've vowed to get better at it. And to create a picture-taking space on my front porch. It has windows on three sides and gets great morning sun. So expect upcoming yarn pr0n from me.

But don't hold your breath for it. I'm a horrible procrastinator.