DIY: One Skein Rainbow Cowl

 Hi. My name is Cassie. I have crafts and will travel. 

(okay, I contemplated erasing that last sentence as I kept reading it as "I have crabs and will travel"...it's CRAFTS, people. Not crabs.)

If you follow me here, then you know that I'm fresh off the plane from Seattle. I loved Seattle (my two faves were Chihuly and THE FOOD! I've never had better food in my life, y'all!) but that is one heck of a flight. Heading to Seattle, I traveled with my good buddy David which was great as we had all the time in the world to chat and figure out what we were going to explore and do while in town. However, knowing that I'd be flying solo home, I decided that I'd need something to occupy my time and my hands. So, while on Capitol Hill in Seattle, I popped into a sewing shop and picked up a skein of rainbow yarn.

Now...I know what you are thinking: Cassie, don't you already have a RAINBOW SCARF?! Yes, I'm the proud knitter of a 24' (we measured!) scarf of rainbows. However, that thing is a BEAST. It's heavy, super warm and INSANELY HUGE. So I thought for these less-chilly spring temps, a cowl would be nice...and the rainbow yarn totally sold me. The sweet woman working at the shop gave me some tips on how to make a cowl and I got about this much accomplished on the flight home. Side note: I also watched 3 Billboards while knitting...if you have not seen that movie, DO IT, it's fantastic. I also attempted to watch Happy Death Day. DON'T DO IT. It's no bueno.

Because I've been sharing knitting projects lately, I've been asked by several of y'all to do a knitting tutorial or video. I hesitate because I'm THE WORST KNITTER. You don't want to learn from me! I can strongly recommend this book, it's my knitting bible. Yes, it's for kids...but it's the most clear book on knitting for beginners that I've ever found. Buy it used, you don't need to get the kit. Just purchase the supplies they recommend. 

So, if you do decide to knit a one-skein cowl, I'll tell you how I did it:

I started by casting on 40 stitches. In the end, I think I could have cast on less and had a wider cowl. So I would recommend casting on 30. It will seem small but I think it will be fine (again, not a knitter!). Also, I like size 10 needles for a more hole-y knit (not to be confused with holy). Then I simply knit until I ran out of yarn. From there, I used yarn, a tapestry needle and a whip stitch to connect the ends of the scarf. This tube thing is what I ended up with. 

Look, maw! I made a tube top!

Putting on a cowl is just as glamorous as one might imagine. 

 What I loved the best about this knitting project is that it was short! Way faster to knit than a scarf...especially a 24' rainbow scarf!

And quite cozy too. 

Perfect for these kinda-chilly/kinda-springy days ahead!

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DIY: Do it Yourself Crayola Bins!

Yay! I made something for my art room! It's been, like, 10 minutes, since I last made something for my most favoritest space, so why not, right?!

I'm currently on an All-Things-Rainbows bender and let's just hope I like it for a VERY long time. It had been YEARS since I'd moved in to my art room (nearly 15!) and I hadn't really changed anything until this year...meaning, I just kept piling poster on top of poster until it was just a cluttered disaster. This past summer, I tore it all down and told myself I was redecorating, rearranging and organizing the entire space. Six months later, I'm STILL in the middle of it all but I can't tell you how excited I am everyday when I walk into my art room. In fact, I've been spending entirely too many Sundays in my art room, sprucing the place up. Now that I've got the revamp bug, I'm looking forward to tackling my home this summer. But, I'm getting off track. Crayola bins!

 I was inspired to create these bins after someone shared THESE bins with me:

They sell these online nearly everywhere if you just search Crayola Bin: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Amazon, Target, you name it. However, every place sold them for $14.95...EACH. I was like, surely that can't be right. That's gotta be 15 smackers for three of them? Nope. Each, y'all. There was no way I was gonna shell out that kind of dough even if they are as cute as can be. 

 On a recent trip to Target, I found these colorful bins for $4 each. I bought one of every color they had (why no yellow and orange, Target?) and decided to make my own. 

I created a poster board template and painted each with acrylic paint. Not super sure if that was the best move as the fabric soaked up the paint...it was like painting on a sponge. It was time consuming but I do love them so.

 I have the perfect shelf for them in my art room in my fiber arts area. I'm thinking they could hold our fiber arts supplies like small looms, yarn, felt...not super sure yet, but when I find something, I'll have the cutest bins to store 'em in!

When I shared in my Instagram, several folks shared other ideas: use black felt and glue that one; create a screen print with freezer paper; use a Cricket cutter to make the design. All super duper ideas! 

I hope my kiddos love these as much as I do! 

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How to Knit a Rainbow Scarf

LEEEEET me just start this blog post by stating the obvious: I am not a knitter. I mean, I know HOW to knit but just as much as I know HOW to sing in a wannabe opera voice or I know HOW to tap dance when I have annoying tap dance sounding shoes on. But that don't make me no Maria Callas or Fred Astaire. Knowing such, I should have known better than to even think I could knit a Rainbow Scarf...that didn't look like a giant boa constrictor about to devour me (my buddy Michelle called it the Rainbow Anaconda and I think that's hilariously 100% accurate). Think I'm exaggerating about the size of this thing? Check this out:

I mean...oops.

The whole thing started with a week of snow days and time on my hands. I spotted these colors at the craft store and they all happily hopped into my shopping cart. I had no way of stopping them, I swear (this is the story I tell the hubs. He's not convinced). 

I've knitted scarves before and I DISLIKE knitting. It takes to dang long! Which is why I only knit a scarf every two years...it takes me that long to forget what an epic pain in the butt it is in order to begin a new one. And, yes, I'm self taught with the help of a children's book. And, yes, I do have to give myself a refresher course each and every time I pick up knitting again. 

Okay, so, lemme tell you how this whole thing happened. I decided I wanted the rainbow to run the length of the scarf. And I also decided to knit on needles in the round. So when I was casting on, I just decided to go by look and not count how much I was casting on...that, obvi, was mistake numero uno. Then the round needles made the knitting appear a lot smaller because they kept everything so compact. Therefore, in actuality, it's the needles fault. Cuz I just kept knitting and knitting and knitting...

Let's talk about the pros and cons of having a 12 foot long (plus!) scarf, shall we?

It gets a lot of attention! I have been stopped by more people when I am wearing this monster. Mostly it's just like, "wow...that scarf...it's really long, isn't it?!" How do you even respond to that? My husband gave the typical "that's what she said" response but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't sound quite right if I said it. 

Another pro is that it's very warm...almost too warm. The weight of it tho, seriously, gives me a big of a neck ache after too much wear. 

 Let's talk cons now, shall we? It seriously takes some thought and time to put this thing on. Because you just keep wrapping and wrapping. 

 And even when you think you are done wrapping, the scarf is all "but wait, there's more!"

 One day, I didn't manage to wrap the whole thing around me and I found that I'd drove all the way home with half of it hanging out the car door. Thankfully the scarf was fine...but I can only imagine what others must have thought when they saw a little blue Honda with a giant rainbow billowing behind it.

 Don't mind me, I'm just over here putting my scarf on. For 20 minutes. 

 My students absolutely LOVE this scarf. I shared it with my first graders and we literally all wrapped up in the thing. 

 Me trying to gage just how many more wraps Ima gonna hafta do.

 About 7 more. 

And there you have it, the Rainbow Scarf! Remind me the next time I get the itch to knit about this crazy thing, would ya, please!? 

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DIY: Needle Felted Rainbow Dress

I'm pretty certain that at some point, with all the rainbows of color, I'm going to just blend right in with my art room and the kids will no longer be able to find me. Rainbow is the new camouflage, says me.

Now, if y'all have followed the progression of this needle felted rainbow dress (that's right, this whole thing is needle felted, y'all), then you know we MUST talk about Paintbrushgate...

See, originally, I had wanted the dress to appear as though there was a paintbrush painting a rainbow. I really REALLY loved the idea and really REALLY wanted it to work but it just wasn't. And I couldn't figure out what was wrong. So I posted to my friends on my Instagram. Everyone was super sweet and, thankfully, honest when they saw what I failed to.

HOLY CATS! WHAT?! I was like one of those cartoons where the character rubs their eyes and then finally sees the giant train heading right at 'em. I immediately removed the paintbrush and the bristles (let's face it, they were the true culprit in Paintbrushgate) and decided to ditch the brush idea entirely. At least for this dress. I do still LOVE the idea and have created a more details sketch with better placement options (ahem) for next time. 

 Here's what the dress looked like with the brush removed and the new roving just tacked down. This is before I'd run the dress through my needle felting machine which further tacks down the roving. That's why the dress looks a little misshapen and lumpy. Once tacked down and ironed, the dress no longer has that stretched out look. In the end, it really reminded me of the work of Jen Stark whose image you see on the right. 

 Now the other thing that was a bit tricky with this dress was the placement of the curves. This gray dress was actually one I found at Old Navy and is a big large for me. I like it because it's different from the usually fitted and flaired dresses I wear. However, the shift shape of this dress doesn't really do much for a gal's figure. So I had to make sure that the roving kinda accented my curves. Well, let's be honest, I don't have much by way of curves...so I needed a dress to create the illusion that I do. 

 Especially when I stand like this, BAM! Don't ask, I have no idea what I'm doing. Ever. 

 I will say this, without the advice of my online buddies, I just might be wearing an accidental inappropriate dress. 

 If you've been hanging around this blog for a while, then you know needle felting clothing is my jam. If you are interested in learning more, I've got tons of info on this hear blog, including how-to videos. Just use that search bar thingie over to your right and you'll find all sorts of needle felting information.

 Of course, now that my art room is an explosion of rainbows, it makes a pretty sweet backdrop for photos. I was getting a lil tired of standing in front of that giant painting in our house anyway. 

 There are still little parts that I could go back and tweak. Places where the lines aren't as smooth as I would like. When I run it through my needle felting machine, that thing is kind of a monster as it just kind of chews the fabric. It's not for delicate work and sometimes things get moved around a pinch. 

 But I'm not one of those artists who goes back and reworks something. When I say done, it's done...and I'm all WHAT'S NEXT?! Not sure yet...but I know it won't have a paintbrush in an unfortunate place! 

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