Can you have a snow day in college?

For the second time this season, the East coast is being faced with copious amounts of snow.  So far, we have accumulated over 6", and I don't think it is stopping anytime soon.  

Although I am pretty tired of the cold, a snowstorm is the perfect knitting weather.  Yesterday, I made up a pattern for a little cotton washcloth with a heart in the middle.  It only took about an hour to knit up, so I plan on churning a lot of them out this afternoon.  I am hoping I can find an organization to give them to so that they will go to the earthquake victims in Haiti.  It's not a huge donation, but since I don't have much money, it's what I'm able to do.  I'll post the pattern later today once I get it written up, and I'll also try and figure out exactly where to send them.  I want to encourage everybody to do just a little something, no matter how small to help haiti.  Even just sending one dollar, or one bar of soap can really make a difference in someone's life.

5 Minute Art Gallery

Today, I finally got around to taking down my 2009 calender, and putting up my groovy 2010 calender.  My new calender is all about one of my favorite subjects: mustaches.  It's the "Sex Confident" mustache calender, and I ordered it from themoustachecalendar.com.  As much as I love new calenders, It makes me sad to see the old ones go in the trash.  I had a beautiful Nikki McClure calender, and it seemed wasteful to throw out all of her incredible paper cut art.  So, instead of tossing it, I ripped out all of the pages, cut around the images and words, taped them to the wall, and voila!  A mini art collection.  The images fit in perfectly into our room.  We put some above my bed, some above my roommate's desk, and some on the front of the high up cabinets above our closets.

In my opinion, re-using the art from old calenders is a great way to recycle, and put great cheap art on the walls- you can even customize it to the season.  Especially in a dorm or a rental apartment, where it's against the rules to drill into the walls and hang things, it's fun to just cover the walls with posters and photos.  My closet door features a photo collage of some of my favorite pictures, and it makes me happy whenever I see it.

In my room I also have some screen printed concert posters (which make a way better concert souvenir than a band t shirt):

As well as two Steve Keene paintings (and my Frida doll of course).

Back To School

The time has finally arrived, and I'm back off to college.  While I'm here I'm really going to be challenged to accomplish all of the crafts that I want to.  I have limited mobility (as well as money), and I don't have a sewing machine or many tools, but hopefully, I'll come up with some good ideas.
I'm currently unpacking all of my stuff and re-aquatinting myself with my dorm room.  I unpacked my craft basket, and am half way done unpacking my clothes.  I decided I'd take a little break.  My roommate Carleigh and her boyfriend Carl are here too getting themselves back in order.  We have a cute little room, but it's very weird to be back here.

On another note, I have made my first sale!  I had recently made some frilly aprons sized for a little girl, and a friend of my mom's bought one!  Exciting!  I'm thinking about trying to get involved in a local craft show, and selling more things!

Update!

It has ben bitterly cold here in Virginia (as well as the rest of the country) for these past few days, so I have mostly been inspired to sit on the couch, watch LOST, and play with all of my scrap yarn.  Tonight I finished a little winter bonnet inspired by this one I found on "A Beautiful Mess".  I tried out a couple of new knitting techniques: provisional cast on, kitchener stitch, and an attached i-cord.  I also made the pompom with a homemade cardboard pompom maker.  I think I'll invest the $5 to get a real one.  I used leftover bits of Lion Brand "Think n' Quick" yarn in raspberry, fig, and oatmeal.

The cold weather has had me thinking a lot about shoes and spring.  I have been on an epic journey to find a pair of weather boots that are functional, classic looking, and not a goofy color or print.  apparently, I am not the only one looking for these boots, because everywhere I have gone, they have been entirely sold out.  Any suggestions?  This cold snap has also made me more than ready to shed my coat leggings, and thick scarfs.  I am SO ready for april.


Here are some things I'm lusting over at the moment:


This little dress is adorable, and I'm thinking I may have to make a stop at my neighborhood Urban Outfitters to give it a try on pretty soon.

Urban Outfitters

Another Urabns dress.  I think thai I might attempt a diy version of this one with an old floral sheet, and a dark green t-shirt.

Urban Outfitters

There is nothing I love more than a pair of leather boots.  I already have two pairs of Frye boots, but I am hankering for another.  How about these beauties?  If only I had a spare $500...

Frye

Perhaps a more viable option would be this pair, which I found on sale at Nine West this weekend.  I didn't buy them, but I'm seriously thinking about going back tomorrow.

Nine West

I love these Dr. Martens.  The dainty flowers are so springy, and they would be adorable with a cute cotton dress.

Dr. Martens

And finally, the godfather of all boots.  Thank you Jeffery Campbell.  I would wear these 365 days of the year.

Free People

Sorry about the huge shoe post, but this is the reason why my family calls me Imelda.  I'll just be dreaming of spring...

The Domestic Life

Since I've been home on winter break, I've found myself indulging in many domestic pleasures.  When I'm at college, I don't have access to any type of kitchen (unless you count a microwave) and all sewing has to be done by hand.  Since I'm not an extraordinarily patient person, i tend to forgo sewing, and just immerse myself in it when i go home.  The same goes for baking.  Yesterday, I ended up taking advantage of everything I have at my house.  I woke up, knitted, sewed, then baked.  I turned into a 21st century June Cleaver.

Somehow, a couple of months ago, my mom and I ended up with an entire bolt of this crazy, psychedelic, cotton print.

  

It's a really fun pattern, but unfortunately, it's nothing i would ever wear, or even use for something like curtains.  Yesterday, I thought that it would be fun to make a girly little apron with it.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I like the colors, and it's a cute classic shape.  I was going to attempt to add a ruffle around the bottom, but I made it too big and it looked awkward.  I think that later, I'm going to cut the ruffle in half, make two more, and make a four tier ruffle apron similar to this one.

I got to use my new apron later in the evening, when I baked cookies "with" (aka for) my friends at my house.  It wasn't the easiest cookie baking experience ever, because i did encounter some ingredient problems.  We don't have a microwave, so I had to attempt to bring frozen butter to room temperature with the toaster oven.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked well enough.  I then realized that we had no brown sugar, so I had to substitute molasses.  We also decided to make them Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, instead of just plain chocolate chip (which I'm famous for) but it all worked out well, and we ended up with some delicious cookies.

I working on knitting my first sweater currently, so i'll be sure to post it when I'm all finished!

Hello Out There...

Hello Blogosphere, I thought it was about time for me to introduce myself. My name is Elise, and I'm a first year student at the University of Virginia. I'm in the College of Arts and Sciences (jokingly refereed to as the College of Arts and Crafts by students in other schools such as Engineering) possibly majoring in art, or art history, or drama, or- you get the idea. Because apparently I'm not busy enough as a new college student, I thought that I would try my hand at blogging this next semester. For as long as I can remember, I have been making things. With this blog, I want to document and share my projects, as well as share my inspirations and ideas. Being a stereotypical college student, I am dirt poor, so my recourses are limited. No expensive yarn or fabric, and no spur of the moment trips to the art supply store. I have to challenge myself to create from the things that I have. It certainly won't always be easy to keep up with my crafting, but it is my hope that this blog will keep me motivated.

I hope to post my first project soon, as well as trying my hand at making a tutorial, so keep tuned, and thanks!

Elise