DOT -- Flood

It rained A LOT between Monday night and Tuesday morning.  We woke up to a serious amount of water.  There was a lot of street flooding.  I wasn't able to make it into work, nor were any of the other people who work at my 6-person company.

Lucy and I took a walk to check out the neighborhood.  The ditch that we walk along was full.  I have never seen so much water in it.

Oh no, Mom, our path is flooded.  But I'm a Lab.  Let's just wade through it.

Maybe we should swim instead of walk!
Seriously, Mom, don't we usually walk toward that green sign then to the left into those trees?
Needless to say, our walk was cut short on this morning.  And I came home with a soggy puppy.

An Experiment, Part 3

Due to some huge storms and flooded streets, Tuesday was a "rain day" and I had unexpected time to continue my bag experiment.  All the parts were cut and the handles were sewn, so all that was left was actually sewing the bag.

First I had to figure out how to place the handles.  The t-shirt and the lining are placed pretty (or public as they say in knitting) sides together.  The handle is sandwiched between those two layers.  I placed the outer edges of the handles 4" in from the edges of the bag.  They also extend 1" below what will be the top of the bag for strength.  Here's a view of the sandwich ready to sew.

This is what it looks like if you open the sandwich.
I sewed the top, then down each side.  Then I sewed the bottom, leaving about a 4" gap so I could flip this thing inside out.
Here's how it looks in the process of being flipped (or pulled through the gap on the bottom) so the right side is emerging.

An Experiment, Part 4

Once the front of the bag was flipped inside out (so that the right sides were out), I pressed it nice and flat.

Then I sewed shut the little gap.
I repeated the whole process for the back of the bag.  The only difference is I included a little loop I'd made out of some scrap fabric, folded in thirds and sewn down the middle.  I placed this at the very center of the back of the bag.
Here are the finished front and the finished back!
Now they just needed to be sewn together.

An Experiment, Finished T-shirt Tote Bag

Ready to see the results?  Ta-da!

Here's the bag from the front.

See how I chose a sun button to echo the sun at the top of the design in the t-shirt.  Note that it's a button with a little loop on the back, not the kind of button that you sew through the front.  I don't know button terminology, so that's the best way I can describe it.
Here's the view from the back.
I am really pleased with this!  The only thing I think I'd change next time is that I'd make the straps slightly longer, maybe 4 more inches.

Lucy thinks we should use it to tote around her dog gear, such as tennis balls, poop bags, and her travel bowl.  Maybe we will!

An Experiment, Part 1

I had an experiment in mind.  I wasn't sure how it would go, but I knew I couldn't have a Labrador retriever's nose in my lap to be successful.  So the first step was to take her to the dog park to swim for an hour.  Then she'd be tired enough to be content with some quality time with her dog pillow.

An Experiment, Part 2

I was reading Martha Stewart's magazine (again) and saw something that led me to this link on her website.   I thought the t-shirt bag would be kind of loose and flimsy (or wongo--thank you, Ariel, that is a great word!) without interfacing to stabilize the t-shirt.  I decided to take her basic idea and see if I could improve on it.  

The next step was to pick out a sacrificial t-shirt from my multitudes.  This is just a small fraction of the ones in my closet.  As a runner, I have so many race t-shirts that I will never miss a few.

Then I went to Joann's for supplies:  cotton fabric for lining, fusible interfacing, coordinating thread, and a button for closure.  Remember, I am just making this up as I go along.
I have a 16.5" quilter's square so I decided that would be the starting dimensions of my bag.  I cut the sleeves off the shirt and cut down the sides and across the shoulders so I ended up with a front and back to begin with.  I then cut the fusible interfacing slightly bigger, about 17x17".  I ironed the interfacing to the wrong side of the t-shirt, centering it about the design I wanted on the front of my bag.  Then I put the square on top of the stabilized t-shirt and cut around all the sides with the rotary cutter.  I did the same thing with the back of the t-shirt.
Then I laid the square on top of my lining (cotton from the quilting section) and cut two squares of lining.
I then did a similar process with t-shirt fabric from near the bottom hem and more interfacing.  I ended up with a 20x5" strip of fabric.  I cut that in half lengthwise.  I also cut strips of cotton fabric to the same dimensions.  Now I had two 20x2.5" pieces of t-shirt stabilized with interfacing and two 20x2.5" pieces of cotton fabric.  Next I had to sew these together to make straps.  (This is a big difference from Martha's bag.)  So I put a strip of t-shirt and a strip of blue cotton together, right sides facing each other, and sewed up the long sides.  Here's an example of that.
Then I flipped that little tube of fabric inside out so the pretty sides were now on the outside and pressed it nice and flat.

At this point I was hungry and realized I should eat dinner and that I should have started my experiment earlier in the day.  So I cooked a pork chop, made a salad, and poured a glass of wine.  I decided it would not be good to sew after drinking that glass of wine.  So I set aside my project for laundry duty.

I will get back to my experiment this week!

FO -- natural scarf

One day I was shopping at Ann Taylor Loft and there was so much natural/cream color stuff. And all through the mall, the mannequins were wearing scarves or wraps of some sort. So, inspired by the color palette at Ann Taylor Loft, I left the mall and immediately headed to the yarn store. I looked for a summery (not wooly/mohairy/alpaca-y) yarn and came up with this, Berroco Cotton Twist.

I basically did a Montego Bay scarf.  I cast on 17 stitches, knit 2 or 3 at the beginning of each “knit” row, but otherwise followed the Montego Bay pattern. I worked on this whenever I felt like knitting but didn’t have enough brain power to concentrate on something difficult. I ended up using two skeins of yarn for the scarf and cut fringe from the third.

I think I’ll wear this scarf all summer long.

DOT -- Earth Day Dog

Lucy is a "green" dog.  She believes in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Her mom (that's me) does too.  I am a geoscientist and I got into this field because of my love of the natural, unblemished world.  As a kid growing up in Colorado, how could I not?  

Lucy did her part to show her support of Earth Day by wearing her Earth Day bandana.  She's a dog-gone green dog!  Where does one get such a cool bandana, you ask?  I got it quite a while ago, maybe last summer, at Target.  I found it in the dollar section and it was reduced 75%!  So for a quarter, Lucy is able to be fashionable and remind us all of doing our part.
This last photo is Lucy demonstrating "reuse".  She found this stick on one of our walks, brought it home, and plays with it in the yard.  That's reusing at its best!

New Orleans Knitting

This year, like last, I spent Easter weekend in New Orleans.  The French Quarter is full of friendly faces like this one.

Last year I found this fun and friendly yarn shop called The Quarter Stitch.    It's some needlepoint...
...and some knitting.  It was worth a return visit.
I bought some yarns and they were beautifully wrapped.
There's cotton (on the left), alpaca (on the right), and in between is the only yarn I have a definite plan for.  Once again I fell for the shop sample.  The mohair (cream color stuff in the middle) was knit into a simple garter-stitch scarf.  The ends of the scarf and every 6" or so also had the sparkly stuff knit along with the mohair.  It looked very nice. 
I need to find some additional projects (and some time) to knit all the yarn I bought!

DOT -- Not a Show Dog, Part I

Lucy would never make it as a show dog. They are always so well-groomed on TV. Lucy gets herself dirty whenever she has the chance. There is one low spot next to our walking path that collects water. Lucy finds it every time and body surfs though it. The result is usually a dirty belly and paws, but this time she managed to splash mud onto her neck and face. What a tomboy!

Swap Update

I received a box of goodies from my latest swap. This one was on Ravelry and it is called the Spring Fling Swap. We were swapping a handmade item, the ingredients to knit a small project, and whatever else you might want to include. Linda (or bartons15) made a beautiful and soft cowl for me. I'll have a very warm neck come next winter. I love the pattern and color. edit: Linda let me know it is Malabrigo!
Linda sent me blue wool to make a neck warmer called Thermis, the buttons to close it (which I've been admiring in the Knit Picks catalog) and the needles to knit it. There's also some of my favorite tea, yummy chocolate wedges from Trader Joe's, cute note cards, a magazine to relax with, some microfiber cloths for my dishes or dusting (Linda must know how much hair the pets leave around here), some hand cream, and a bonus skein of yarn.
This is my neck modeling the cowl. It's not as photogenic as Heidi Klum's neck in the above photo. It looks to me like she is modeling the cowl too.
Other than the knitting stuff, I think this is my favorite part of the package. I really wish we had this store around here.
Thanks, Linda!