Handwoven Shawl

This is my first weaving project that I've finished. It's soy silk (warp) with mercerized cotton (weft). It is somewhat uncommon for a woven item in that the stripes run along the length rather than the width. It's super soft and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!!
It's a twill pattern that used a straight draw threading. It was somewhat simple and a good project to start out with.

Save the Date Cards

Here's what we ultimately designed and printed after taking the screen printing class! We had a lot of fun with the whole process. Our screen printing teacher was such a cool guy and he really helped us out a lot (Chet at the T Factory at the UCSD craft center = amazing!).

Screen printing

Chris and I have been taking a screen printing class to prepare to print our own Save the Date cards and invitations. Here are some of the things we've been printing!

This was my project for the first week, which was black-and-white. We had to cut the image out of tracing paper; then, we put the tracing paper under the screen as we pulled the ink. The image is a copy of a window from V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.

This was Chris' project for the first week: an image from one of the Sin City books by Frank Miller.

The second week, we cut images from rubylith. The rubylith was used to transfer the image onto the screen, and then we just pulled the ink.  The above image is mine; below is Chris's.

Most recently, we did a high-contrast project, where the image could not have any mid-tones (grays). For this, we just Photoshopped an image and sent it to the instructor digitally. He printed it (with a regular printer) on a transparency and then used that to expose the screen and transfer the image.

ohmygosh it's March

Well, it just so happens that I started school shortly after the last posting...when that happened, my crafting time became pretty much non-existent. Wah-wah. It's okay, though, because I'm getting smarter and stuff.

I have been steadily working on one project, though, which is another scarf for a friend. It's knit, and it uses a really different kind of pattern, which I love. It's super easy too; it took me a minute to figure out the whole "slip stitches with yarn in front" thing, but once you start doing it, it makes sense.

Anyway, here it is:

I also made myself a little cheat sheet for the first few stitches of each row:

So, for example, row 8 says "k5, p3" so I start knitting the row with that and then just do k3, p3 until you get to the last three stitches of the row, which are always sl 3. It's a lot easier than either following along with the full pattern (once you get the hang of the pattern, you don't really need all of that info), or trying to count it out every time I start a new row. After I finished that row, I'd put a dot in the right column and keep going!

It's not done yet, but I think I'll have it done just in time for Summer. :)

Happy New Year!

I realized that I had off-loaded a lot of stuff I made before I even took pictures of it...oops! I'm going to make an effort to take pics of things as soon as they are finished so that doesn't happen.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a lovely New Year's and is starting the year refreshed.
Here's a scarf I knitted (my first knit project!) out of some alpaca yarn my mom sent me:

As you can see, it curled up along the edges...it's because I didn't use a pattern and so had decided to knit one side and purl the other; as it turns out, that's called a stockinette stitch and will always make your piece curl.  It's most often used for sweaters, because when you attach a seam it doesn't curl anymore. Oh well, lesson learned, and it's still a pretty rad scarf.

I started a new knit project as well, which I am excited enough about that it's taking up almost all of my crafting time :)
It's called a curbing bag and it's pretty fun to make.

I am also determined to get back to my weaving project this month!!
Finally, Chris and I got engaged, so I apologize in advance for the fact that many of the future projects this year will probably be wedding related. But still lotsa fun!

Wood work by Tom

Chris's brother, Tom, works with wood a lot. He made some Christmas gifts that we love, so I thought I'd post them!
He said he cut them and turned them on a lathe.

I finished a handful of things over the holidays as well, so I'll work on photos and posting for those soon.

Update

Ah! So I've fallen a little behind in posting.  But it's mostly because I have a lot ongoing and not a lot getting finished...I've been working on my own designs/patterns, which is actually a lot more challenging than I thought it would be! I have about 30 little scraps laying around that started as something and then I didn't like the shape so I ditched them. =P
Anyway, I did manage to finish a scarf made from yarn my mom got me (100% alpaca - very soft and chic).

 [I hate taking pictures of myself...]

The scarf is crocheted - it's just straight hdc, working back loops only throughout. I learned how to knit when my mom visited for thanksgiving, so look out for more knit projects soon! I'm working on a knit headband to match the scarf currently.

I also made a little Santa hat for the Butis:

Finally, the ring is almost done - I soldered the bezel onto the band and now just need to get the stone in there!! I'm hoping to finish all of the jewelry projects this Sunday...

Chris is still finishing up his most recent neon projects - kinda slow going because he has his qualifying exam soon. (Wish him luck!) But he did make us some delicious Guinness ice cream for thanksgiving. :)
My mom also made me this lovely floppy hat, which is just adorable.
[More guest spots on my uber-talented family to come later!]