The last year has been a rough one, and as November approaches, I am already so very grateful that I’m back to the point where I feel like knitting again. First up this season: fingerless mitts. I found the pattern while I was browsing Ravelry.com and followed my way over to the author’s blog and I have to say, I love how they turned out, although I will probably need to adjust the size in the future because mine aren’t as snug as I’d like since I used a different needle gauge.

In all, it felt good to finish something for the first time in what seems like forever.

more seedling babies: sunflower, catchfly and basil

Meanwhile, the girls and I have been having a lot of fun visiting the thrift store nearby. Sometimes we look for things to dress up the house, and sometimes we look for things to turn into dresses. I came home today with 2 shirts, one skirt, a pair of slacks and a lovely white coverlet for the guest room downstairs.

basket I bought at the thrift store last week for fifty cents. painted and added some fabric (it's going to be a plant's home soon)

vintage white coverlet I got at the thrift store for $9 - in absolute perfect condition

pair of pants I got at the thrift store for $4 and I will not be taking any scissors to these because they fit splendidly

a skirt I'm going to try and modify to fit me, and if I can't do that, it's going to be a summer bag

plain collared shirt - $2.50 at the thrift store

cute oversized men's button-up collared shirt, $2.50 at the thrift store

first skirt made out of the plain shirt above... too easy.

second skirt made from the striped men's shirt - I added some pleats to this one.

first skirt on - short and light and cool

second skirt on - I hemmed up the button front to avoid unwanted peeks

Because I’d cut each shirt right under the arms, I had the entire upper half leftover from both shirts. I thought maybe I’d take the sleeves and make a little matching wristlet purse to use with alternate skirts. When I cut the sleeves longways to open them up, I realized I could piece them all together and make another skirt! I sewed the sleeves together and stitched in the ditch to lay all the seams flat. While I closed most of the sleeve button openings, I left one open so that I could make this skirt with a fitted waistband (the cuffs work nicely there).

You’ll notice this skirt wasn’t hemmed. Once again, I like the unfinished look on certain pieces. I may change my mind in the future, but for now, I like it as is.

SURPRISE 3rd skirt

left one sleeve's button opening alone so this skirt could be fitted with no elastic

That’s three skirts from two shirts for a total of $5. Now that I’ve realized it is not only incredibly fast and simple to make these shirt skirts, I plan to make an army of them, for this is the summer of skirts. Goodbye, shorts that ride up and stick to my legs.

Use code: 1977 at checkout for 15% off all of DISASTR77 gear through this Wednesday, June 8th.

Between the seven members of this household, we have quite a bit of DISASTR77 clothing but all the DISASTR77 pants are for guys, so I decided it was time to show the ladies that you can totally make a cute skirt from a pair of Tokyo Hiro work pants:

First, take any pair of workpants and cut as short as you want the skirt to be. *Tip: Check both sides (front and back) to make sure you're not cutting the design in half.

I couldn't find my seam ripper so I used my scissors to disassemble the seam of the back of the pants.

Not wanting to lose the design off the front leg of the pants, I cut it out with plans to put it on the front of my skirt.

Sure, you could machine-stitch this patch on- but that's boring (just ask Duane). I hand stitched it on purpose.

I love that he loves to hang with me while I'm doing my thing.

Stitched the pockets closed with a simple, clean straight machine stitch on the front pockets, small zigzag on the back.

The back is tricky. I have a pretty damn good eye, so I pinned this up without measuring and then tried it on. Fit PERFECT. What can I say? Time to close up the back...

Trim all the excess fabric before you start sewing. It helps the fabric to lay down and gives you a smooth back.

Stitched it up with simple straight stitches again.

Okay, I double stitched the back for extra sturdiness. Some of us have junk in the trunk that needs extra reinforcement, k?

Am I going to give this a clean hem? Hell no. I like to leave a little something to show this was modified. (Also, I like the unfinished look.)

A perfect fit. (See why I got rid of those pockets?)

Fin!

This may totally not be your style, so mod these pants however you see fit. The point is, IT CAN BE DONE. Get out there and make your clothes your own!

our public library is within walking/biking distance so we head there a lot

parked

Expect Nothing, picked up for reading

wise words

gorgeous sky

more clouds

homemade salads with fresh produce are best

homemade fried rice is pretty damn good, too

Power UP

polaroid, circa 2008

a pair of earrings that Emma made herself

faux moustache

framed moostachio

Emma is learning the art of wireframing before she puts projects together

crafting tools (Emma's)

lunch sack made for Emma's camping trip

matching name tag made for her duffle bag

another Emma-creation...

pink hair, hazel eyes

brown eyes and freckles. love.

Maybe it’s the cold weather or maybe it’s to relieve all the stress from work, but I have been knitting what seems like nonstop since the start of the year. It began with Emma’s beret:

Which was followed by a hat for Esther, who subsequently had a special request for a hat for her father:

Then I started work on a hat for myself (which was ignored for nearly two months):

After getting a little tired of the same ol’ thing, I decided to try my hand at stranded knitting:

Upon the completion of that, I began sketching and knitting my own designs:

My wrists are tired but I refuse to stop knitting.