From the Nest: maps!

For the past four years (and the foreseeable future) I have lived in dorm rooms, rental houses and apartments which means no wallpaper or painting those maddeningly white walls. The solution that I have come up with is maps!  Not only are they abundant and informative, I just love the way that maps and charts look.  The colors and textures of veins of highways and rivers, creates something that is appealing to look at as a whole but also can be focused on and inspected in detail.

Here are the ones I have around my apartment currently:

Map of the North West in the bathroom

We even got a map shower curtain! That way you can learn geography while you brush your teeth.

This is the map/photo wall that I made for my bedroom.  The pins on the map show the locations that the photos were taken

Where my parents grew up

My favorite map is this one of Earth at night

All the maps I have I have either gotten for free or very cheap. I have a lot of other maps that I use for craft project. Maps make great scrapbooking paper, envelopes and wrapping paper.

Envelope that I made from a map.

Edit 2/8/13: I found another envelope from a map that I thought I would share:

I sent this to a long distance boyfriend who lived in Pennsylvania when I was in Washington

Here are some other inspiring map projects:

Via

Via

Via

I'd love to know if you have ever done any creative projects with maps.

Don't they just make you want to go somewhere?

As always,

Make it Monday: Hemp Bracelet

This week's Make it Monday is a pretty easy one. If you have had any experience making "friendship bracelets", then this tutorial will be a cinch. This bracelet uses a basic right and left square knot with a unique anchor for a closure. 

Supplies needed:

Hemp in two colors (natural for the inside, colored for the outside), 

scissors

an anchor charm (I got a pack of them at Craft Warehouse for $5)

Okay here we go!

Inspiration: Make This Look

Make This Look is a series by The Sew Weekly blog which highlights a dress from the popular clothing site Modcloth  with a pattern and fabric suggestion to make it yourself.  

Via

Finding this series was such a "yes!" moment for me because it is something that I have tried to do on my own for a long time.  Modcloth is one of my favorite clothing sites however, most of its items are quite out of my price range.  I often browse the inventory, saving images of items that I love and think that I could possibly make myself one day.  These posts capture that idea and make it so much more simple. I don't often use patterns or buy fabric but when I do, it is usually to make something that I saw in the store and wanted to make myself.

Here is a somewhat successful example of a Modcloth copy that I did to wear to a friend's wedding several summers ago:

I am one of those terrible people who takes pictures of things in dressing rooms and at farmer's markets so that I can go home and make it on the cheap! (I got yelled at by a vendor for doing that once).

Do you ever wish you could just make the things you see in stores instead of buying them?
Have you ever tried?

Stay crafty,

Knitting isn't just for scarves

I just came across this on the internet and thought I would share it with my more scientific crafters.

This is a brain. KNITTED

Via

"Psychiatrist Dr Karen Norberg, of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts knitted this awesome, anatomically correct replica of the human brain. 

Using different colour to represent different parts of the brain, it took Dr. Norberg one year to complete her project. She used yarn because she thought “the wool lent itself to creating the right “rippling” effect for parts of the brain and was easier to manipulate than other materials."

Silly rabbits and the importance of gauging

Back in middle school, when I was first learning to knit, I got to a point where I was really tired of making scarves but not good enough to make something a crazy as a sweater (I'm still not). So, I decided to make a stuffed rabbit.

It was going pretty well. I was able to follow the pattern fine and made one side of the rabbit. The problem was that the needles that I was using were so small and I was so slow that it took a twelve-year-old's  forever just to make that one side. By the time I was done, the idea of making the second side sounded like cruel torture. So, my brilliant idea was to make another rabbit but this time smaller. I would just shrink the pattern and whip it out in no time!

What I didn't understand at the time is that what had been small stitches making up this large rabbit, would by ratio be very large for a small rabbit and I didn't think to use smaller needles. The consequence was that I did indeed make a small stuffed rabbit however, the large stitches made it twisted and misshapen.
I don't know where it is at the moment so I drew you a pretty accurate picture in paint:

It reminds me of the rabbit from Donnie Darko and I always imagine it with bloody buck teeth

I never did finish the other side of the large rabbit. In fact, I unraveled it to make the yoga mat bag that I posted last week.

The lesson here of course is make sure that you understand gauging or else you will end up with creepy looking stuffed animals.

Stay silly,

Make It Monday: Book Clutch

Welcome to the first ever MAKE IT MONDAY!!! 

the part of the show where Heather (that's me) tells you how to make something

This week's project is a book clutch that I have been wanting to make for a while.  I was in love with this clutch a few months back and have been trying to make one however, it has been really hard to find a frame that will fit a book. Then I saw this zippered clutch from etsy over winter break. My mom and looked up a lot of tutorials on how to do it and here is our version of what we came up with.

Supplies you will need:

• a hardcover book that you don't mind cutting apart
• a zipper a bit longer than the edges of the book
• fabric to go on the inside
• sewing machine
• hot glue gun
• needle and thread
• scissors
• iron
• exacto knife
• paper and pencil
• Optional: bias tape and liquid fray stopper

Crochet Square Afghan

Over the winter break my mom gave me a bunch of yarn that had been given to her by a friend (I LOVE free craft supplies!).  I had been toying with the idea of making crochet square afghan but hadn't wanted to buy that much yarn so this is the perfect solution!

I love this project so far because it doesn't take much effort and each square only takes me about an hour to make, about the time when I start getting bored and want to start on a new pattern.  The squares can be as complicated or simple as you like and still look good.

Here is what I have got so far:

#6 is a simple granny square and the one that I use to make sure the others are the right size. The patterns for #s 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 9 all came from a book that my mom had at home however, I wouldn't recommend it.  There were a lot of errors in the patterns. Things like the wrong number of stitches or missed steps. As a beginner, it was really frustrating. I wasn't sure if I was doing it right in the first place and then the pattern was telling me the wrong thing! There was a lot of "MOM WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!?!?!?!"

#1 and 8 are from this website and worked out really well, so well that I made two of them!

In the future, I will post updates and patterns for the new squares that I make so stay tuned.

Close up of my favorite square so far.

Does anyone know of any good crochet square patterns or websites?

I've been working on some new posts for you guys but in the mean time here is this adorable illustration that I found online:

via

Keep an eye out for:

granny square blanket
inspiration post
and
first ever Make it Monday!

I hope you all had a good week. 

Keep it crafty!

Love,

Crocheted Yoga Mat Bag

Yesterday, I finally finished a bag for my yoga mat. I had started this in early November, but I tend to slow down the closer I get to the end of a project.

This is my first real crochet project. Last year I got bored and frustrated with knitting so my roommate taught me how to crochet. I have tried to learn in the past but had a lot of trouble holding the hook. Once I got that down, it's been a breeze! For some reason it is very difficult for me to understand how the construction of knitting works and crocheting makes much more sense to me. 

New brother! (sewing machine that is)

I finally unpacked my new Brother sewing machine! 

I received it as a Christmas gift from my parents because they knew that I was having trouble with my old one.
Last year I was very thankful to be given this old Singer from a friend's mother.

However, I had a lot of trouble working the knee pedal. The speed was very touchy and went from 0 to 60 with the slightest touch. It made sewing small and delicate things very difficult. I also recently tried to sew several spongy layers with it and somehow messed up the timing.

Although I appreciated the solid construction and simplicity of the Singer, my new Brother has so many new features and conveniences. I am still not used to how wonderful it is just to be able to have complete control over the speed. Aside from just being able to sew (yay!) it also threads itself, threads the bottom bobbin and comes with pre-programmed decorative stitching.

Another thing that I wanted to share today is my crafting space. My lovely roommates have not objected to me taking over one corner of the living room for my crafting stuff.

As you can see, I have quite a bit of crafting supplies and there are several other boxes and bags not pictured.  Of course I would love to have my own crafting room and I love to drool over well-lit and organized crafting spaces but this is definitely a step up from trying to fit anything that I could in a cramped dorm room!

I would love to know your opinions on sewing machines new and old.

Which do you prefer to work with and what brands do you think are best?

I have heard that the new Singers are not as good as the old.

Do you have a crafting space and how do you keep it organized?

I'm forced to be contained since I am in the main living space and I'd probably explode if I had a whole room!

As always,

Welcome to Chickaddie's Nest

Welcome to the first ever post of Chickaddie's Nest! I am so excited to be here and I hope that I can make you get excited too.  This blog is beginning as an assignment for my honors seminar but it has been long in the coming. In the past, I have documented my crafting all over the web from Tumblr to Facebook and Flickr but no one place has allowed me to fully share my creative process and the results.

This blog will include:

•  Things that inspire me
•   Descriptions of the objects that I make
•  Helpful (hopefully) tutorials
• An exploration of my creative processes
• Bits and pieces of my life and adventures

I am interested in all sorts of crafting so you will see things that I have sewn, crocheted, embroidered, glued, hammered and slapped together.  Because I am a poor college student, my materials are often items that have been thrifted, found (free piles are the best!) or given to me. I also tend to create my own shortcuts and round about ways of doing things so hold on for the ride things may get a little confusing!

What exactly is a “chickaddie”? Isn’t is supposed to be spelled chickadee?

Well, yes you are correct the adorable little bird called a chickadee is not spelled Chickaddie however, I am not, contrary to some beliefs, a small woodland creature.

When I was very young, my grandmother’s nickname for me was chickadee and sometime in high school I chose this as an internet username but the traditional spelling was already taken, so my best friend came up with chickaddie and here we are today!

Chickaddie’s Nest is a collection of things that I have created and found to fill (and maybe clutter) my home, just like a small bird collects twigs and bits of string to build her nest.

Thank you for viewing and I hope that you find something you like

Love,