to blog no more...

Well friends, I think it's plain to see that I am awful at blogging. I'm glad I tried it out, but I've realized I need a space where I can post little morsels of things I find and am inspired by. Enter Tumblr. It's a perfect fit; acting more as an inspiration board, it will hopefully encourage me to post regular updates. I'll still carry on the essence of this blog over to my tumblr, but it will have more of a "here's what's on my mind right now", short little blurb format. Anyway, go here if you're interested!

Love,
Amanda

simple slippers

I live in the attic room of a cute little green house. The attic space is every small child's dream hideaway, with plenty of little nooks and crannies to play in. I absolutely adore its charm and quirky dimensions. But one thing I do not love is the complete lack of insulation in this little room of mine. You can literally feel the drop in temperature as you make the climb - it's at least 10 degrees colder in my room than the main floor. Usually this would be a good thing because I'm naturally on the warmer side, but it gets pretty cold even for me. I constantly need to be wearing sweats from head to toe, and sometimes it's even necessary for a hat. But somehow I've yet to purchase good wooly socks to keep the feetsies warm. That's where this crochet project comes in. I was inspired by this blog post for my slippers, but honestly I just kind of swung it until it looked right (it took 3 attempts in all). It's a fairly simple and quick project. I'll do my best at relaying my methods to you. I have pretty big+wide feet (yay size 10), so keep in mind how you may need to adjust accordingly.

Yarn: I used Michael's Loops & Threads "Impeccable"

Hook: Size H (You could use G if you want an even tighter weave)

-Chain 10; join with a slip stitch

-row 1: 2 single crochet in each stitch (20 stitches)

-row 2: 2 single crochet in every other stich (30 stitches)

-row 3-7: double crochet in every stitch

-row 8-11: turn; 25 double crochet

-row 12: decrease by 2 stitches at stitch 12 & 13

-row 13-16: double crochet in every stitch

-to finish, fold the end and sew it up. do the same with the hole at the top of the slipper.

I'll save the little flower embellishment for another post, along with a couple of variations to the slippers. I'm hoping to tackle these ridiculously cute bunny slippers from The Happy Hooker soon.

warmth = happiness

lub-dub

Let's be honest. Valentine's Day has never been a favorite holiday of mine. All the fuss and pressure about professing your love in extravagant ways - spare me, please. But recently I've embraced it with an open mind that it is a day to remind the important people in your life how much you appreciate and love them. I like to do that in small measures throughout the day or week or, if I'm feeling especially giving, throughout the month of February.

One way I've spread the love this Valentine season is through making tiny little door charms for my coworkers' offices. It started out with me making my own version of a design*sponge tutorial - a crocheted heart garland - that I adorned my office with.

(please ignore the dingy blue message board)

I showed a coworker how to make the heart with some spare yarn I brought with me, and figured I might as well make something else with it! And behold, a simple white heart door charm was created.

This is the same method as the heart garland tutorial, and to hang it, just chain about 30 and attach to the back of the heart. Next time around, I'll get the fine crochet thread that the tutorial calls for because I have a feeling that tiny heart garlands are even cuter than the ones I made. But hey, this blog is about being green so I used what I had and the result was still pretty darn cute and simple.

craft challenge

In between the daily tasks and client care at work (I swear I'm not neglecting my job duties!), I find myself perusing blogs here and there and bookmarking interesting finds. I wanted to share what I found with you today:

Yep, those flowers are made out of shredded cotton t-shirts. So delicate and lovely. I'm a big fan of hydrangeas and chrysanthemums, so this makes me want to drop everything I'm doing and make a dozen of these beauties. But the bad news? Not a single tutorial to be found! The Cotton brand website used to have one, but they took it down. How rude -- what a tease, right? So my challenge, when I'm done with a couple of pending projects, is to find out how to craft these lovelies. And if it's successful, I will post a tutorial and share the wealth!

For real. I am in love.

so fresh and so clean, clean

Friends, I am so ashamed that I have neglected this blog for over a month! A deadly combination of laziness and lack of new projects had me at a standstill. But I am back and with a long list of goals and projects for 2011; I can't wait to share them.

While I regain my bearings, though, I will make a post or two about old projects. First up: homemade laundry soap!

I discovered a recipe for homemade laundry soap a few years ago and haven't given store-bought detergent a second glance since. I L-O-V-E this stuff. Three ingredients. Each load of laundry costs me pennies. Specifically, about 8-10 cents per load. Cuh-razy, right?! Those are numbers I like to see. And if you're worried about if the homemade stuff delivers, don't be! With tried and true ingredients like Borax and Washing Soda, you cannot go wrong. This is a no brainer for me. I get to store my concoction in cute, reusable glass containers and pair it with vintage spoons for measuring - instead of bulky and unappealing plastic bottles. The only thing that might be a deterrent for some is that the grating of the bar soap takes a bit of elbow grease. But turn on your favorite show and in no time you will have a pile of grated soapy goodness.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2 cups grated Fels-Naptha soap*

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing soda

2 tbsp for a light load, 3 tbsp for a heavy load.

*One bar yields about 2 cups. You could use other bar soap, but I've always stuck with Fels-Naptha.