Knit Picking.

Hello Dear Blogging Friends. I am enjoying a few lucid moments, so thought I would pop in and type a word or two. This recovering from major surgery is tiring. Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I don't. Fortunately my spouse took the week off of work to help me out, and the kids as well. Speaking of which... my girls started back to school today. Summer went by entirely way to fast.

So... I thought I would delve into one of my other creative outlets that I haven't gone into detail about previously here on my blog.

I like to crochet, and I like to knit.

My grandmother taught me how to crochet a simple chain when I was around 10 years old after Thanksgiving dinner one year. She was very adept at crocheting and made my siblings, cousins and I many toys, afghans etc. out of yarn. Growing up, my mother did a lot of thread crocheting. She made lots of snowflakes, angels, and other delicate and decorative items that she would decorate her Christmas tree with.

Fast forward to 9 years ago. After I had my second daughter, I found myself in need of a hobby, so I took up crocheting and taught myself how to crochet and was hooked! Pun intended.

Then 3-4 years ago, I decided that I wanted to take a gander at knitting. So I taught myself using just a book. I knit Continental Style, which probably comes from years of crocheting.

I think I enjoy knitting even more than crocheting at this point. I have also become a bit of a yarn snob. One of my mantra's is "Life's Too Short to Knit With Cheap Yarn."

If you are on the knit and crochet community Ravelry, you can always sift through my projects. My username is harpfingers.  There you can find project details as far as patterns are concerned, needles used, and yarns used.

But for now, here is a sampling of some things that I have knitted.
I am currently working on a pair of socks.

And a multi colored baby cardigan. I picked up some funky wool yarn at the GoodWill several months ago for an incredibly good price. Pictures to come - soon.

The following were some bibs I made for a baby gift several months ago.

 A couple of cardi's that I made for my eldest daughter.

Some fun socks.

... and just a tip of the iceberg. As the weather gets cooler, there will be more knitting.

So that's it for now. And if this post seems rather disjunct and all over the place... well, we'll blame it on fatigue and pain meds.

Just Recouping

No Projects to report of for a bit. You see, I am recouping from nasal surgery that I had done on Thursday.

It was a lengthy process - a 6 hour surgery requiring the skills of both an E.N.T. and a plastic surgeon. The short of it was that I have had chronic sinusitis, constant sinus infections due to obstructions, and severe breathing difficulties resulting from collapsed nasal valves for a few years now... and a septum that had split in two. Both doctors worked their magic, and hopefully when things are all said and done, I will be breathing a lot more freely and no longer have daily sinus headaches.

In the meantime, I am stuffed up, doped up and sleeping for the most part and trying to keep my head elevated.

This may give me some time to get caught up on some knitting projects!  But for now, I am off to get some more rest.

Floating Petals Dresser

I am so excited with how this project turned out! Just to refresh your memory, this is an antique dresser that I bought off of Craigslist for $35.00. 

I loved the style and the charming wood  casters on the bottom.  However, the veneer was bubbling and peeling and needed to come off.

I took a heat gun and a putty scraper and removed the veneer from the bottom three drawers and the top of the dresser. It came off quite quickly on two of the drawers, rather it just snapped, and broke off. It was the same situation with the top of the dresser. The third drawer required more work. After removing the veneer, I had to use the heat gun and putty knife once again to scrape and remove the Hyde glue. I neglected to take a picture of this process.

The veneer was fine on the sides of the dresser. I opted to give it a good sanding all over, then primed it with some primer I had on hand. I also went over individual areas with  Kilz Oil Based Spray Primer which always provides great coverage!

I decided that I would decoupage some fabric to the front of the drawers, but was undecided as to what color to use and what style. After weeks of searching, I was drawn to the home decor fabric, Waverly Floating Petals in Blue, that I spotted at my local JoAnn's. Lucky for me, it was 40% off that day and I bought a yard. 

I measured and cut  the fabric  all the way around, so that it was about 1/2" larger than the front of the drawer. I then placed the fabric on some wax paper, and applied Mod Podge to the entire front side of the fabric and allowed it to dry.

 This was so that it would be easier to cut, and not fray when I went to resize it. This was a tip that I picked up from the blog, Mod Podge Rocks!  One thing that I neglected to do, but should have done in hindsight, was to wash the fabric first so that it would have shrunk up a bit.

The next step was to apply Mod Podge to the drawer front, place the fabric on top, smooth any bubbles and let it dry.

Once it was dried, I turn the drawer upside down, with the fabric on top of a cutting board, and took an Exacto knife and cut around the edge of the drawer front to trim off the excess fabric. I initially tried a rotary cutting tool, but couldn't get the angle and found that the Exacto knife worked better.

Then I applied 3 layers of Mod Podge glue  to the top of the fabric to seal it. I let it dry between each coat, and used a damp rag to smooth out any bubbles I came across.  Had I prewashed the fabric, I am certain that I would have had less issues with the bubbles and the fabric stretching as much as it did.

The top drawer got a coat of Rustoleum's Slate Blue, as well as the drawer pulls on the three bottom drawers. I opted to use the existing hardware since I liked them initially. The drawer pulls on the top drawer were painted white to give it a contrast from the blue, and the entire dresser was just painted with a white latex semi-gloss paint that I had on hand from a project I had done two years ago.

So here it is all finished!

I am pleased with how it turned out. It does have a few bubbles here and there, but I know what to do differently next time.

Here is a  close up of the knobs.

Happy to be done with this one, and happy with where my creativity lead me.

Linking to:

Meringue Dresser

Dresser #1 is done! I told you that I was on a mad dash to get some projects done!

So here is the Craigslist dresser before:

I stripped the paint off of the tops and sides, before I decided I was too tired and lazy to do anymore.

So it got primed with some Kilz Primer, sanded, and then painted with Krylon Indoor-Outdoor Spray Paint - Satin Meringue.

And VOILA!

Here it is!

This  dresser went in my youngest daughter's room. There was a bit of a shadow when I took the picture, hence the darker color towards the bottom of the picture.  Her room is decorated in greens, pinks and yellows. The storage book bin, was the blue one that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I spray painted it with Krylon's Ballet Slipper and put some books in it.

The knobs on the drawers, I hand painted different designs with some acrylic paint to give it some character.

Then I outlined the details with a black fine point Sharpie Marker.

I like how it turned out. What do you think?

I'm Around!

This past week has been insanely busy! Sunday we made a quick trip out of state to see my in laws before they flee to the south for Fall and Winter. Lots of driving. In three days we did 1160 miles... too much time spent in the car!

Also on my busy-ness..

I  got a Cub Scout Day Camp out of the way today. I am the Committee Chair for our pack and had to plan, delegate, and carry out a Day Camp today. It was long, tiring, but fun! The boys had fun and things ran smoothly.  Everyone followed through on their assignments. I am just happy that it is done!

 I know what you are thinking, "But you have just girls and no boys?" They asked me to be the Chair for the pack a year ago and I said, "Sure!" At first I was out of my element, but then started to learn the ropes, get more training and feel more comfortable with the Cub Scout program.  I have enjoyed it so far. I  grew up in a scouting household and my mother has been involved with Cubs and Boy Scouts on some level for the past 20 years or so. All three of my brothers are Eagle Scouts.
So it's kind of fun, in an odd way... for me at least.

And finally, on the creative side, I have been painting a ton! The two dressers and bookcase are just about done and will be revealed in the next few days.  I am excited where my creativity, some paint, fabric, and mod podge has taken me with one of my dressers. So much fun!

Just a few more things...

Garden and flowers are still growing like crazy. I am patiently waiting for the tomatoes to finally turn red. On just one plant, I have counted 21 green tomatoes. I can't remember what variety they are.

My other tomato plant is a golden pear/ cherry tomato. Actually is is more like a small tree, than a plant as it has gotten huge.

The lone pepper plant still just has ONE pepper. But it is getting bigger everyday.

The crookneck squash are doing well and there are several on that plant as well.

I thought I would also share a few of my flowers. My delphiniums really look great! I attribute that to lots of fertilizers. Delphiniums are heavy feeders.

The flowers in the hanging baskets and pots are doing quite nicely as well.  However, I am getting to that point in summer, where I am getting a bit tired of yard work.

And on another side note, I broke my promise to my hubby and picked up more furniture... I couldn't help myself.

I saw this dresser advertised on Craigslist for $15.00 and liked it! When I went to go see it and pick it up, the lady that was selling it said that she had a bookcase that I could have for free, if I wanted it.

Yeah, I like free!  Then when I came home, I found some loose change in one of the drawers of the dresser. So the bookcase and dresser ended up costing me a grand total of $14.83!  Not bad.

I did promise my husband I would get some projects completed soon! My goal is to have the bookcase, dresser, and this dresser :

completed in the next week or so.  I am having surgery in a couple of weeks and will be out of commission for doing big projects for awhile.

The dresser that is on casters has had all of the veneer stripped off of it, and I have primed it.

The bookcase is partially primed, and the newest white dresser, I am in the process of stripping the paint.

After getting them all primed, the hardest part is always trying to decide what color to paint them and if I should do some decoupaging or not.

I am going to have to think about that one a bit.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall.

Once again, here is the mirror that I picked up at the Goodwill this past Monday for just $9.99. Heavy mirror, plastic frame.

A little bit of primer, some paint, and a bit of distressing, and it was good to go! I hung it in my dining room. It really opens things up quite a bit.

The chandelier shades, I started tweaking last night. I may have something ready to reveal there as well, soon!

But that's it for now.

Cost:

$9.99 for mirror.

Had primer, paint and sandpaper on hand.

Linking to:

Debbiedoos Before and After Party.