Work Blog | Made By Julianne

CARD HOLDERS AND UPDATES

16 January 2013 by Julianne

This past weekend I went to Sew LA‘s party for Gertie‘s Guide to Sewing book. It was nice to chat with like-minded sewing ladies, and I certainly enjoyed the homemade cherry pie and rum punch!

Of course, Gertie was perfectly charming! She signed my book, and even kept my Sharpie. Technically it was my husband’s Sharpie, so it’s all good. (He is looking over my shoulder as I type this).

Also this weekend, Craftster announced their Best Projects of 2012, and my rainbow wedding boots were chosen! I can’t wait to share the rest of the wedding clothes with everyone; I’m just dragging my feet on organizing all the photos.

I’ve been working on lots of small projects lately, and I don’t really feel like patching holes makes for an interesting blog post. But I did spend several days making all these card holders for Villy Customs. The idea is that when passers-by admire the awesome cruiser they can help themselves to a business card.

I made 50 total! The vinyl packs attach to the spokes with elastic and velcro, which is easy to use and durable for rides. I’ve been testing the design out on my own bike. It’s a more sophisticated version of putting baseball cards in your spokes!

FIRST KNIT HATS

15 January 2013 by Julianne

I’m pretty pleased with my first ever knitting project. It’s based on this very basic hat, but I wasn’t paying attention, missed a few steps, and decided to just continue with my own design. I’m terrible at following other people’s patterns!

I used Lion Thick & Quick, in a 80% acryllic 20% wool blend. It was really nice to work with as a first project: the yarn held together well, it was easy to see my stitches, and the thick yarn made this hat a fast project! Plus I do love the color, and it goes very well with all my other yellow hats.

I used #10 bamboo circular needles, and then waited almost a month to sew the side seam! And I did such a horrible job of it! I know that I should learn how to do a decent job at a side seam, but in the meantime I think I’ll stick to knitting in the round.

Since I’d bought two hanks of the yarn, I decided to make a second hat (and I think I have enough left to make a third!). My second hat was knit in the round on the same needles, and I really loved the process. Near the top, I switched to DPN, which was challenging but kinda fun. I’m looking forward to trying out magic loop on my next circular hat!

For this hat I was able to adhere to the pattern (mostly), but the hat’s too short for my head! I have some crochet needles somewhere, and once I find them I will add a band to the bottom of this hat… or maybe give it as a gift? To a child? In the meantime I’ve been wearing it in my apartment, because it’s been freezing in Los Angeles!

I’ve wanted to knit for years, but never gave myself the time and space to concentrate on it. There were a few aborted attempts that didn’t break my spirit, but let me know that I wasn’t ready yet. One morning I woke up, spent a few minutes on Knitting Help, and spent the rest of the day gleefully knitting swatch after swatch.

Based on all the handwork I do, I knew that I could knit. And it’s pretty easy, and I’m really excited about it. I’m already working on my fourth hat, on #4 needles, with stripes, and ribbing, and I can’t wait!

RAINBOW CHANDELIER

4 January 2013 by Julianne

So we had this big, black, ornate light hanging in our dining area. It was extremely obnoxious. And hung so low that my husband would hit his head on it!

I painted it between working on other projects over about one month. I used the same acrylic paints as for my bike seat covers, although I didn’t bother to put a clear coat on the finished piece.

I also bent out the decorative arms, to give the chandelier more openness. The chain was ugly, so after shortening it I bound it together with a piece of trim, then covered the whole thing with a strip of fabric that my mom used as gift wrapping. Stash busting!

These gorgeous rocketships were a wedding gift from our friends Shing and Bender, awesome scientific burners who love beer just like us! I love having them flying above our breakfasts.

I’ve also been hanging up bright glass bottles and giant lightbulbs in one of our windows. I worry that it might look junky, but it casts rainbow shadows all over our apartment!