Look What I Found!

My Dress Dummy II And A Free Scarf Pattern

2009-11-01T19:22:00.019+01:00

I still had to show you a better picture of my dress dummy.

Now before I give you the secrets of this lovely scarf let me tell you how I fixed the foot of the dummy. Well very simple: with a cast out old floor fan foot and an aluminium rod, probably a curtain rod. Stuck the rod in the foot and placed the dummy over it (she has a hole underneath, rod sticks through the whole body). Done!

The scarf is crocheted in a bow or net stitch consisting of 5 chains per bow, but you can vary that number as long as it's uneven. The stitch is most commonly used for triangular shawls or net bags, so I thought I'd do something different.

For this scarf I used the small batch of mohair yarn I bought at the Queen's Day Market in 2005. I used a hook number 3,5 (mm) or D (US). With ten bows per row I got a width of about 20 cm or 7.85''. But you can make this design in any gauge you like, make a swatch if you want to measure out the width exactly. The beads are plastic with large holes. A present from a friend who emptied her attic when she moved abroad.

ch: chain stitch

sc: single crochet

Ch 40 (or any number devidable by 4) + 5. Make a sc in ch 37 (so skipping 3 from the beginning point). * Ch 5, sc in the next 4th st. Repeat from * till end of row. * Turn the work, ch 5, sc under the middle ch of the previous bow. Repeat from *. Make as long as you like. Crochet one row with 3 ch (only first bow is still 5) instead of 5 to make a straight edge. Cast off and work in loose ends.

Fringes: thread 10 (or equal to the number of bows in each row) beads on your yarn. Start to work from the sc of the last row, * ch 10, pull up one bead, ch 1 around it, ch 10, sc in the next sc. Repeat from *. End in (not under, to keep it better in place) middle ch of the 5 ch bow). Repeat on other side. Note that you're working from the upside down here and your ending is in ch number 40 of your starting chain.

The non-crafty among you can purchase the scarf in my Etsy shop.

Trash For Stray Kitties

2009-10-29T18:43:00.012+01:00

From all the books I find on the curbs there's a number I can't list in my on line shop because they don't have an ISBN or EAN number, either because they're too old or published by Time Life or Reader's Digest or such who for some reason don't have to publish under these official rules.

Which doesn't mean nobody is interested so I kept those apart for a long time, till a while ago I found an ad from a lady on a local website asking for books to sell on markets to raise funds for a foundation that neuters and feeds stray cats. We have several stray cats in the back who've been helped that way and are being fed by people at their own costs. I love cats and think it's very important to prevent more kittens from being born in the wild. It's really hard to socialize them and find homes for them. Remember Miene?

I contacted the lady and she was happy to come pick up the whole lot. I also love helping out such small foudations because I know they don't have any payed employees and every bit of my donation (even if it's not in cash) will go for 100 % to the good cause. I know larger worldwide organizations do good work and are necessary (WWF, IFAW and such), but think a part of your donation will always go to wages (and other costs).

When the lady came to my house she brought me some curb finds of her own, how cool! A vinegar and oil set in a rack and some magazines. Then seeing my work she told me she's a jewelry maker herself and later brought me beads and broken and deconstructed jewelry she had no use for. Most welcome!

Here are some necklaces I made using wax cords I got from my new trash picking friend. See my shop here if you're interested.

She may not sell all the books I gave her, maybe even just a small part. But if it's enough to neuter just one cat or buy some food I'm happy. What local group or micro-foundation do you have near you that you could help out in such a simple way?

My Antique Matrix Printer

2009-10-09T15:47:00.018+02:00

(Find a tutorial for simple and cost free packing bags for small items at the bottom of this post)

Meet my antique printer. It’s a Star AX-20. Yes, it’s a dot matrix printer from the last century! It’s designed for chain paper but has an option for single sheets that have to be fed one by one. So that’s clumsy, slow and it only prints text and simple drawings in one colour. But before you start laughing out really loud let me explain why I love and keep my machine from the stone age.

When I found it in the trash about eight years ago bubble or inkjets were still fairly expensive and I couldn’t afford one. So I was more than happy to be able to at least print my own letters, invoices and so on at home. Or recipes or other instructions from the internet. If the web page look makes it difficult for my machine I just copy the text in a text document first.

It’s reliable. It’s strong and sturdy and just always works. Believe me I see countless broken inkjets in the trash every week. And I don’t have to clean up print canals after not having used it in a while.

But most important: It’s very low cost in use and eco-friendly. I doesn’t need expensive and polluting ink cartridges. The first time when the print started to fade too much I searched all over the internet to buy a new ribbon cassette but with no luck. And then found a simple solution. With a bit of stamping ink that I still had I just re-inked the whole ribbon by carefully dripping the ink on while turning it through by hand.

Last week at the office when we were clearing out a file cabinet I found some blue stamp-pad ink and took it home. No honest, nobody in my department still uses stamps, it would have disappeared in the waste bin.

Now my printer prints in blue.

My printer has a relatively fine print as compared to what most people know as a dot matrix print like this example I found on Wikipedia.

With a freshly inked ribbon in fact the result of my printer is almost as good (left) as that from a modern inkjet (right).

So yes, today I have a better printer as well. A few years ago I snatched a special offer for less than 75 dollars. But as it was a model that was going out of production I already found out by now I can’t get the cartridges in discount shops anymore. Hopefully I can still find them online. But as I’m carefully saving this printer only for photo’s, my business cards and such I’m afraid some day I will have to throw out a perfectly working machine just because I can’t get the ink anymore. Doesn’t that suck? That’s how even if you take care of your stuff progressing technology feeds having to buy new things.

Last month I got my third pc in ten years at home. I never had Windows 2000 and went straight from 98 to XP. I was a bit scared my printer wouldn’t be in the list of pre-installed software anymore, but it still was! I can tell you I was thrilled!

So I’m glad my stone age printer will serve me for quite a few years to come. I also use it to print the packing slips for my second hand book orders. Books that I take from the trash and sometimes go with a profit of less than a dollar so I don’t want to spend any extra money. For the paper I use the blank back side of non-confidential print work from the office or letter sized advertising that I find in my mailbox.

My cost free printer and paper are also very useful for this:

I’ve been selling at quite a few craft fairs lately and I started to run out of my paper lunch bags to pack up my items. So I had to think of something new to create a cost free and eco-friendly packing especially for small items like my flower brooches or bracelets.

To keep in line with the character of my art, fiber work, I decided to not just fold and glue the paper, but sew the sides together. This also is done much quicker as it needs no extra folding and careful cutting!

But that looked a bit to ‘blank’ and I would still have to staple my flyer to the bag. Though I still have enough of those I thought simply printing the information on the bag would be a lot more efficient. I cut the corners of the bag to open it more easily to put the goods in.

Of course if you are inspired by this to make your own packing bags you can still use a laser or inkjet printer as well. But Googling around I found in this day and age of laser and inkjet, matrix printers are still being produced and sold. Unfortunately at a much higher price than the inkjets you can find in consumer’s shops. But think about it, it may be an advantage to have one next to your colour printer. They are more durable and cheaper in use so if most of your print work is black on white text the initial cost may be worth it. On top think of the profit for the environment. And of course you can try to find a second hand, but some of the modern matrix machines may be faster and have better options for single sheet feeding.

Zipper Tutorial

2009-09-13T19:27:00.008+02:00

Making small purses and pouches from T-shirt yarn I encountered two problems:
1. How to machine sew a zipper in at all.
2. How to make stoppers on re-used zippers from bags or re-used zippers cut to size.

1. Problem with my t-yarn work is I could only do it by hand. The items are too small and rigid to work under the machine.

Not being happy with the results, especially when using a contrasting colour I came up with the following solution.

In fact it was simple. When the flat pouch or purse (crocheted in the round) is finished I add two separate rows of single crochet on each side. I now have two open sides and I can bend the opposite flap away and easily machine sew the zipper in.

2. Zippers from manufactured bags often don’t have stoppers at all because of the way they’re sewed in. Then again if they do or when I use zippers from reclaimed clothing I often have to cut them to fit my project so I either loose the front or back lock. In my old model I tried to tuck them away in my work the same way as in the manufactured bags using the end of the purse to lock the zipper puller.

But it’s a clumsy process, causing lumpy folds and it just doesn’t look professional. But with my added rows, before fitting the zipper in I can sew on a stopper from a piece of strong fabric, like from an old jeans.

I cut the zipper at about 1’’ longer than the project on each side or on one side if I have one stopper already. Cut one or two rectangular pieces from the fabric slightly wider than the zipper that folded make about a square. Seam all around then fold around the zipper end and sew the sides together all around. Sew a cross from corner to corner for extra strength.

And voilà, the zipper end(s) hang(s) outside the purse like you see sometimes in manufactured pieces.

On top you can ‘play’ with the stoppers, using matching fabric, fancy fabric, embroider them, print your logo on or whatever!

You can purchase the green purse showed here.

The Turtle And The Bathtub

2009-08-31T16:35:00.006+02:00

A few weeks ago when I came home from grocery errands I found this old plastic hip bath which we dragged home earlier this year parked on our garden path where before I left it was still in a corner of the yard. One of those silly curb finds but the plan was to wash my large duvet in it (too large for my machine) and then get rid of it again, but I'm not sure if this will still happen this summer.

A look inside made clear immediately what had happened. The BF had found a turtle in the park, decided it didn't belong there (turtles don't naturally live in the wild in Holland) and brought it home. The tub turned out to be a perfect place to keep it in with a bit of water in the lower part and leaves and branches on the higher side.

With the BF back in the park I started Googling but couldn't find out which kind of turtle I had here. An email to the official turtle rescue centre only gave me an automated answer ('these animals don't belong here, please call your local animal rescue centre') so I decided there was nothing left to do but call the pet paramedics. Where quite disapointingly the telephone operator told me next time to leave the animal where I found it! Oh? She sent out the team anyway because now that I had him I wasn't allowed to bring turtie back to the park.

Well, Googling more I found out this: the most commonly kept pet turtle in Holland is the Red-eared Slider (see picture below). Therefore often dumped it turns out they do manage to get by in the wild and in parks, but our winters are generally too cold for them too procreate (maybe better so). However once every so many years when we have a really harsh winter they all die for sure.

Then again I don't believe what we found was a Red-eared Slider. With that pitch black head and the dotted yellow line he doesn't fit the picture. Best thing was just to wait for the rescue team. Unfortunately when they finally came they also classified him as a Red-eared Slider. I'm still not convinced. The good thing though is they were a lot more happy about our rescue than their co-worker in the office and found his temporary home in the tub quite an ingenious idea.

Now I can only hope they brought him to the right place where he was properly recognized and gets the right treatment. But if anyone recognizes our turtie I'd be happy to hear from you. Sorry the pic was a quick snapshot and not very clear, please click on in to enlarge.

Zippers

2009-08-11T01:49:00.005+02:00

All zippers I use in my craft projects come from thrown out clothing and bags. I must have said that before. This doesn't mean they have to look old or used.

Here's another bag I just recently found. The handles were broken off in two places before the woven material of the bag even had the chance to become a little bit smudgy.

Love those pullers. On the back side of them 'CHANEL' is imprinted in full. The inside pocket has a finer zipper in beige with a smaller puller in the same style. They will all end up in crocheted bags or pouches.

First I wondered why such a great brand would produce such a poor quality bag (even though it's all manmade material), but at closer look the cuts look too sharp to have come about from wear and tear. I think one mommy's little boy or girl has been playing with a pair of scissors. Hope she came over the shock.

Yarn Leftovers - Free Coaster/Flower Crochet Pattern

2009-07-30T17:31:00.015+02:00

Don't throw away your yarn scraps as the previous owner of this lot did! Though maybe the (presumably a) lady gave up her (knitting) hobby altogether as she threw out her cable needle as well, I think it's more likely she just forgot that was still in the plastic bag too that I picked up from the curb about two months ago.

Search the internet and you will find lots of free patterns for flowers, coasters, appliques and such. Tiny projects to use up your leftovers or otherwise keep them for little accents in larger projects.

In the first picture I can't even show all the yarn I found because I've used up some of it already. I made this set of reusable face scrubbies from one of the larger balls of cotton yarn that came with it. This set is currently for sale in my Etsy shop. You can make your own and save money on cotton pads by crocheting flat rounds of dc with a trim in any fantasy stitch you like.

If you don't want to look further here's a crochet pattern for a flat flower shaped round that I like a lot and takes only a few grams of yarn each. The design is not my own, but I translated it in English from a crochet book I had as a child and is at least forty years old. These two are part of a set with a larger variation for sale in my Etsy shop.

You can use them as coasters in a thicker cotton yarn, but thin cotton thread will make great appliques. Or, done in seasonal colours or sparkly shiny material even hang them in your Christmas tree! Weave a ribbon through if you like (imagine that here) and starch if necessary.

My abbreviations (in universal terminology; BE readers pls look up conversion charts USA>>BE):

ch - chain stitch (Dutch: losse)

ss - slip stitch (Dutch: halve vaste)

sc - single crochet (Dutch: vaste)

dc - double crochet (Dutch: stokje)

Start: 6 ch, close as a ring with a ss.

Row 1: 2 ch, 23 dc under the starting ch, close with a ss in the 2nd ch of the beginning of this row.

Tip: Find it difficult to fit 23 dc in? Make about 6 at a time then pull them back tightly between thumb an index finger, make the next 6 and repeat.

Row 2: 4 ch, 1 dc in the closing ss of the previous row; 1 ch. *skip 2 st; in the next st: 1 dc, 2 ch, 1 dc; 1 ch*. Repeat 7x from *to*. Close row with a ss in 2nd ch (of 4) of the start.

Row 3: 2 ch; 1 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc under the 2 ch of the previous row; 1 sc under the 1 ch. *2 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc as before; 1 sc as before*. Repeat 7x from *to*. Close row with a ss in 2nd ch (of 2) of the start.

Row 4: No build up with ch as before; directly 3 dc, 1 ch, 3 dc under the 2 ch of the previous row; 1 sc to the left and right of the sc of the previous row. Repeat 8x and close with a ss in the first st of the row. Bind off or crochet a loop if you want to hang it up, then bind off.

Simple Pull Up Curtain

2009-07-27T15:12:00.021+02:00

This is my front window. As it faces the street directly (we have no front yard) I want it covered completely with a non see through material that still lets in enough light. But I also had a construction problem. The bow shape, the central heating pipes and a plasterboard placed in front of the stone wall (which they probably did for isolation and to be able to construct a windowsill, not present before the renovation), make it very difficult to hang up any kind of normal curtain rail or rod. Sorry it's not a great picture and now that it finally hangs maybe I will get inspired to paint that wall and window pane too.

The solution is a simple white thin cotton pull up curtain. I just screwed two small hooks in the ceiling borders to hang it up on. Not even electricity required; a hand drill was enough to make the two tiny holes in the thin planks.

The solution was offered by IKEA. Well, sort off. The nearest shop for me would be a long bus and metro ride away and take me at least an hour. Luckily my neighbours like to shop there and just buy and buy and then just cast out what in the end they didn't need or didn't fit after all... Yes this curtain just came brand new from the curb to me and had never even been out of its packaging. I only had to make it a bit longer which shows in the slightly darker colour at the bottom for which I used another but used curb found piece of curtain.

It's not the first time. I have IKEA slat blinds on my hallway door that had never been unpacked and (this is a very old post) that picture frame with plastic 'glass'. Just recently put a curb found Dali repro in it. Looks cool!

So what is it with IKEA? Are they really that cheap that people just take home things to try out and don't care to bring back? For me they have changed from a cool company that offers affordable modern design in honest products to a monster multinational that exploits people in poor countries and sells mass products that people don't care to keep if they don't need them for a certain moment. I'd think the crisis would change that, but I don't see much effect on the curbs yet. Don't even want to start about the pile of IKEA duvets, pillows and covers for those and towels I found.

Eh, what I really want to say is, thank you IKEA for being so cheap so I can get the stuff for nothing at all, but really, when are we going to stop wasting? Me alone I can only rescue so much, you know.

The Swine

2009-07-09T16:46:00.009+02:00

This has nothing to do with trash but I had to think of the incident when I was talking about my 'funny' neighbours a while ago in The Hand And The Doll.

It was last summer when I came home from work and found a little black swine happily routing in the hedges along the path behind my house.

By the time I came back with my camera the girl had come to try to bring the escaped animal home. She is not the owner but another neighbour who thought she knew where the hog belonged. It looks like she managed to get it moving!

To this day I haven't found out who the owner is and where exactly they live. Or still do live here for that matter.

The Handbag

2009-07-04T19:26:00.005+02:00

I found a handbag made by 'Kenneth Cole New York'. I wondered who would have ever fancied this baby blue fake croc design. All I saw were the pretty steel rings that attached the handles and so before I even Googled the brand I had started cutting them off. Well it turns out these bags go for up to around 400 dollars! Take a look here: http://www.kennethcole.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3075304

Not that I care. The bag was really used and this is what the rings end up in.

If you want to see the listing in my shop look here.

And perhaps you remember that garden table I photographed the bag on! Look here.

The Hand And The Doll

2009-06-30T08:31:00.004+02:00

To stay a little bit with last post's theme I want to show some more display stuff my neighbours threw out.
Here's the hand again that came with the shop window doll's legs.

Here it is in the layer of black paint I gave it. If you look carefully you can also see it on my market table (second picture). It really works to draw attention to my crocheted bracelets and helps folks to immediately understand what the bands buttoned around the cardboard cylinders are for.

Now I'm still dreaming of a complete adult lady model, but I'm quite happy with this little girl. Actually I was pretty amazed when we found her and only a block away! Some neighbours I have.

It's a pity her hands are missing but I can live with that. She looks a bit funny in her oversized shirt, but I hope to use her soon to show my first crocheted little girl's clothing.

In the meantime she's perfect to show my tiny beanies. The truth is some just turned out too small for an adult by accident, but at the markets I found out that children often look at them so now I started a complete series in kid's sizes on purpose.

At The Market Again

2009-06-15T13:59:00.021+02:00

For Change I took a picture from behind my market booth on April 5 of this year. If you want to see the complete photo impression of the Sunday Spring Market at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam click here.

This venue is at five minutes walking from my home and my only possibility to bring out all my stuff without having to worry how to get it there. Basically it all goes on a trashed Maxi-cosy style baby push cart (cradle removed) that holds two large house moving boxes and much more. If necessary I walk twice. And those boxes themselves? You didn't think I bought them, did you? One's on the left under the table holding extra paper and bags for packaging and one's on the right, nicely covered as a high rise for my tea cozies.

Covering my table is my usual curtain. Here you can clearly see this booth is a big size professional one but the sheet is still large enough. Covering the box and display board is that purple silk sheet I talked about in my earlier post mentioned above. So yes, I found it again but last year Octobre found out the hard way it's not suitable as a table cover. Too light, it blew away in the wind! The board itself is the larger version of the one I showed in my first post about craft fairs and how to cut costs taking part.

It was a lovely sunny day but April can be still chilly so in the foreground you see my winter coat - once trashed because of a broken zipper, but it closes with push buttons over that, so who cares? And it's hanging over my handy fold-up stool that I took from a renovation dumpster.

Making a high rise on your table with boxes or boards is not only good for display, it serves to hide your personal stuff from the visitors as well. On the right you see my blue thermos that was brand new when it was trashed. At home we use one of my own tea cozies of course, so in fact I believe this rescue had its inauguration this day. Next the lunch bags I use for wrapping. Then my hand/back bag. Very practical, trashed and never used probably because the ugly company logo printed on it. I covered that with a piece of crochet from my own hand.

If you take a closer look (click on image for a larger view) you can even see the old-fashioned green school notebook I use to keep my 'sales administration'. Found in a box of children's books and when this one is full I have a pile more. You can see there's a pile of shoe boxes behind the board as well. Shoe boxes are great to store small items and perfect to protect my handmades from dust and smells in the house and when I don't have to travel lightly I just bring the stuff in them. Problem is though I never buy (new) shoes, so can you guess where I got them from? And if the neighbours are really nice they leave that silky protection paper inside too. It makes the best protective wrapping for delicate work when shipped to online customers!

Here's a picture from my second market this year, June 6 at the Craftymarkt in het park. Also in Amsterdam, but a little too far to walk.

Though I could have loaded up my bicycle, the very next day I had to go to Eindhoven (by train) and I didn't want to repack from boxes to my suitcase, so I came here by city bus with my Samsonite (the bulky black suitcase gave up last year unfortunately) and a large bag on a fold up trolly. Last one being a super handy curb find I often take on trash tours as well. Light weight and fits in the bag before using it! When filled up one of those large reusable supermarket bags fits perfectly on it. Those sell for about 5$ here, but the fun (or sad thing really) is that a lot of people only 'reuse' them to put trash in, so I have a whole pile of them at home and never paid a cent. For my train travel it just held my lunch, some drink cans and extra warm clothing so I traveled pretty conveniently.

This was a very windy day and what's new here is that I hung up my wind proof flower brooch display (made from a trashed fold-up curtain) vertically instead of horizontally and push pinned it at the bottom to the table planks to prevent it from flapping. And with no boxes or boards available in the same time it served to hide my personal things.

This venue is actually at the bottom of the office where I work so of course I had to rally there for visitors and to finish this post I want to thank my co-worker Natasja who 'just' came to visit but ended helping out selling for almost half of the day.

That's her behind the booth and here's the item she chose as a reward. That means it's sold out for the moment, but still available in pink in my Etsy shop.

I have no pictures from Eindhoven yet as my camera failed that day and I'm still waiting for the shots my booth-sharer made. Next up is the Summer edition of the Sunday Market at the Westergas fabriek on 21 June, where I will be sharing with the organizer of the Eindhoven market herself. Sharing a booth is another great way to cut costs if you want to bring out your work to a real live audience! Coming up some day soon!

Mosaic Table Tops

2009-06-08T15:42:00.007+02:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been up to my neck in preparations for two craft fairs I had last weekend. But fortunately I found some inspiration there. Looking around on one market I found someone selling mosaic, and she had the loveliest round end tables.

They much reminded me of two table tops I found in the trash over a year ago. Mine are maybe less refined and a bit more of a mass product than the work of the artist I saw, they are still hand work and though I never planned to remake them into tables, I found it a shame to see them trashed just because the legs broke off. I took them home without specific plans, but recently found they serve as a perfect background for photographing my 'cosmetic' crochet.

These reusable eco-friendly 'cotton-pads' or face wipes are of course available in my Etsy shop, but if you are in the Netherlands your next chance to buy them at a reduced price is at the Sunday Market on 21 June at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam!

Rescued Bulbs Update

2009-05-07T08:39:00.004+02:00

It's time to show what has become of my rescued bulbs.

The fun is, as it turns out they were not all that deep red tulip Oscar, but a mix of those and a bright yellow variety.

I hope I can divide the colours when I dig them up so next year I can make a nicer arrangement, but I kind of like this random mix too.

Take a closer look at the yellow flower; see that lovely fine red edge? Now of course it would be nice if anyone could give me the official name...

Queen's Day Finds

2009-05-04T19:04:00.008+02:00

Despite Thursday's tragedy street partying went on as usual almost everywhere. Even with modern communication it takes a while before such information reaches all corners and I guess by then half of the country was already too drunk too be stopped or to be in shock. I suppose the real blow came for many when during the next day(s) the number of deaths (seven including the driver) was announced plus the fact that this was officially now confirmed as an attempted attack on the royal family.

As said in my last comment (previous post) I'm not a royalist at all, but it killed my festive mood and especially my pride over that story I wrote for the Etsy blog. So I just had to go over there and announce the premature end of our beautiful celebration.

But when I arrived in the park to see the boys I found they knew not much yet and I heard the usual noises coming from town as if nothing had happened. So from there later on the BF and I went for our tour for market leftovers as every other year. This time I mainly looked for books because since last August I have a venue at Bol.com to sell them on line. Collection was quick and easy. First corner we found the leftovers of a book seller and I loaded up my cart with about 50 copies. About half of them turned out to be good for the shop, the rest will go to the 'exchange box'.
Further on we found some clothes from which one was a good sweater for unraveling. Nice blend of material too: 60/40 cotton/acrylic. Plus a nice reusable zipper. Then I decided that was enough and we went home to suck in the news reports.

Queen's Day 2009

2009-04-30T09:07:00.005+02:00

Today we're having that wonderful party again in Holland. For this year's celebration I had the honour of being asked to write a story about it on the Etsy Blog in 'The Storque':

http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/celebrate-orange-koninginnedag-dutch-queens-day-april-30-3829/

If you want to know more about how I will pass the day check my previous posts on the subject. I sure hope to come home with a lot of great finds tonight!

ADDITION (2.15 pm): I'm sorry to report that just before noon local time here a bizarre car crash near the bus of the royal family happened. At this moment all festivities are being slowed down and will be cancelled altogether during the afternoon...

Garden Update II

2009-04-12T19:40:00.007+02:00

Last year Octobre or so the plant shop trashed their leftover pansies which I potted in my large curb found planters and they almost all survived the winter.

A couple of weeks ago the first flowers started to come out and I was so pleased to find so many different colours! Right now they bloom in abundancy.

In between the little pots I found some bulbs as well. Unfortunately one was ruined by the cats, but here's the elegant plant that grew from the other one.

The Kitty Blanket

2009-03-30T16:55:00.005+02:00

Well, it's finished but immediately claimed by my own cats and I'll have to create another one for my Etsy shop!

Yet doesn't this prove what a cast out sweater in an unfashionable colour is still good for? At least Oskar isn't complainig about the baby blue and it keeps the cat hair from my chair.

If you're interested in the stitch I used see my minimalistic directions here. Otherwise just Google for front post double crochet and back post double crochet (but here only front post is needed).

Happy Cat In A Doll's Pram

2009-03-28T17:56:00.006+01:00

When I was a little girl my cat would always sleep in my doll's pram. Or sometimes even in my doll house because my parents made it by hand and used these very very nice pure wool carpet samples to cover the floors... I guess it's every girl's story who grew up with a cat or a small dog! Or did you maybe even go for a stroll with your Jack Russell in your pram? Wouldn't surprise me, I've seen our little niece do it.

So we were quite happy to bring home a little wicker pram for my BF's darling, even if the wheels were off. Of course cats love all baskets, but this one just looks super cute, doesn't it? And doesn't he know how cute he looks in it!

Our Pepe only didn't like the bottom of pressed wood. I had to quickly crochet him a tiny blanket to cover that from a curb found sweater. On the right corner you can just see a little bit of the pale blue of it.

That inspired me to start on a larger cat or pet blanket with the rest of the material for my shop. It's almost finished now and available soon. I'm using a special rib cord stitch to make it extra attractive, because I know cats love to feel some sort of structure under their paws. But don't forget reused for them is also more interesting than any brand new material. Because no matter how many times you wash it, they'll still smell the history of it!

Garden Update

2009-03-02T18:19:00.004+01:00

Spring is in the air, the days are lengthening and temperatures slowly going up. The time when most people are likely to head for the garden centre but the curb brought me a new addition for my garden:

I don't know what it's called, but I've seen it in other gardens so I'm sure it's a good outdoor perennial. You can see it has been kept in a pot and ripped out of that before it was trashed, but other than that it was in good condition. The leaves were hanging a tad bit dried out, but after a night in the rain it thrived again. As usual it's beyond me why it has been abandoned...

Does anyone know if this is a plant that needs a lot of light? My feeling is it can do well in shadowy conditions. At least I hope so because I plan to cheer up one of the darker corners at the side of the staircase with it.

In the background you can already see some of my Oscar tulips pushing up! Though it wil still be a surprise if they will flower at least they are doing something. Hope to be able to update you on that soon too!

Old Boots

2009-02-22T15:45:00.005+01:00

About ten years ago I found a pair of boots - the ankle height type of the model you see at the bottom of this post - you know the kind, they're pretty common but the greatest to wear under jeans. They were used but good enough to last me another five years. By then the leather soles were really through and I had to part with them.
But not until I cut off the leather straps to keep those nice large metal rings. They then disappeared in a drawer waiting for a project to be used for. I've been close to do the obvious and use them in a bag, but something told me they should end up in some sort of jewelry though I didn't know how or what.

The answer came last week when I was looking for new metal parts to use in my rag bracelets. I ran out of the coat closures and wanted something more sturdy anyway to create a bracelet that would suit guys as well. I think this turned out quite groovy! If you want to view the Etsy listing click here. I'm now working on a model without a button that is adjustable and looks even more masculin.

In the meantime I threw out my other boots as well. I bought these in 1991! I must admit I didn't wear them while I had my curb found pair because they were more comfortable. But I turned back to my bought boots until the soles (rubber) broke in two parts. Even though they still look pretty neat they were beyond repair. And of course I also kept the rings. These are a bit smaller and will be great for a more unisex type of wrist band, but who knows what they will end up in.

A Strange Musical Instrument

2009-02-13T16:28:00.004+01:00

A long time ago I wrote about the simple rack we gave to our good friend Ed to display his collection of musical instruments on. In fact we only picked up this guitar-like instrument because we thought of him and we were just waiting for the proper occasion. So when he invited us to join the celebration of the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Amsterdam we were ready to go and didn't have to go shopping for a present.

It misses most of its strings but it's otherwise in good condition. Though nobody at the party had ever seen anything like it before it's a real instrument to be played on, not some kind of toy or decorative thing.

And at least our man is more than happy with his new curiosity. Now the only thing I still haven't done is to go over to his place and take a picture of the complete collection on that rack. But as I promised him a frame from my curb found pile for a drawing someone made for him I hope to get that opportunity soon.

65 Lampwork Beads

2009-02-07T16:35:00.005+01:00

Though it's not as bad in Holland as the in rest of Europe we're still having the coldest winter in thirteen years or so. Meaning late night trash excursions are not always the most pleasant and there's less to be found as well. Packed up in warm coats and scarves we make a bit shorter walks and leave the few big things for they guys with the vans. It's certainly not the time for big hauls, but I still come home with a little something most of the times.

Last December with a temperature below zero and a biting wind, when we intended only to go for dumping our waste glass and paper a man just put an old chandelier on the same corner. It's not the first time we found a chandelier and I still have a lot of the plastic beads from one my BF brought home years ago.

The simple flat beads were the perfect addition when I wanted to upgrade these Eighties heart earrings. And they went too at the market in December.

So I was happy to find some more but still with my gloves on I pulled off only a handful of the bead chains and then we went quickly home. Only there I found my new beads were not plastic but glass and wished I had taken more. Next time I'll take the whole lamp after all. Still after washing the dirt off I counted 65 shiny beads!

Moulding Mixture

2009-02-02T16:48:00.004+01:00

Another one of the more curious products we found in our favourite shop that we call 'The Last Order'. At least on a quick Google search I couldn't find any place where you can buy the stuff on line.

The pack looks old but it hasn't even been opened and the contents feel soft so I'm sure it's all in perfect condition. I've no idea yet what I'm going to make with it, but this is just one more proof even specialized craft shops are places I don't need. And I don't even want to start about the piles of half full paint cans, glue bottles etc. I've collected.