Most Awesome Shopping Bag!

Okay, so yesterday Chris and I went to the fabric store and got some canvas, orange thread, and awesome strap material to make a super fabuloso shopping bag! It's a proto project, he wants to make something cool for this new girlfriend (so sweet)

But the practice bag came out great! I'm really proud of it, but since I wasn't at my place, I didn't get very many pics- so I'll work on harassing him into takeing some good detail pics, and I'll post them right away!

In the meantime, here one quick pic (from my makes everything orange phone):

and also, please take the time to watch this video and sign the Courage Campaign Petition - Equal Rights should be equally available to all our citizens!

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Laura and Penelope sew a bookbag

For those of you who don't know, Penelope is my sewing machine. I named her after Odysseus' wife, who used her fiber arts to delay her wedding date so she could keep waiting for her husband to return.
 
I found this pattern for a quick book bag on stumble, and so last night, I decided to chop apart a few old shirts and an old belt (for the shoulder strap) and whipped it together in about 3 hours!
 
This was an old t-shirt of mine, that's become a little to short for my comfort, but I've always liked the design. And I really lucked out that I had another blue shirt for the lining. The colors don't match exactly, but somehow it really worked out.
 
You can't see it too clearly from these pics, but I used a zig-zag stitch for my pockets on the inside!
I also learned a lot about leaving large margins or edges to work with during the pocket attachment, but they're on the inside, and that was the first step, sewing the main pieces together went a lot better.
 
Overall I'm really happy with the way it came out, and now I just feel pained being seperated from Penelope long enough to do my Spanish.

Pero, qué lástima, es importante también.

Hats & Earwarmers

Third Christmas Hat
 
so this is the third of these hats I've made; it's based on the Ski Beanie from Son of a SnB- using the larger needles and a CO of 105. I didn't reduce the CO number enough, I guess, because they've all come out fairly large and poofy.

This particular hat is the only one I kept, the other two were gifts to my newphews, and it has expanded quite a bit. Richard now calls it my "Rastafarian hat", but it's super soft , warm and cuddly; and I love it anyway (especially since it reduces the need for styling my hair in the morning).

The first time I wore it in the rain, however, the all-natural-fiber, that this one is made of, returned for one final "alpaca in the rain" swan song. It was quite manky and musty for about 2 days. But now, it just smells like my shampoo, so *phew*

The beginning of the ear warmers:
 
a humble beginning. Or, you could say, and 11 inch I-cord and nothing more..

I'm a little nervous; I've only read bad reviews of this particular pattern (in the SnB nation) and my first attempt at it yielded similar results to what I'd read: frustration, confusion, and a general disagreement with the writing style. But I will persevere.. or if all else fails, I will resort to my usual mo of ignoring the pattern outside of the most basic sense and making something that makes sense to me.

ciao!

Finished Christmas Hat

 

Finished Christmas Hat!

So I'll have to come back and edit this post later with more info on the yarn and stuff, but this is a pattern from the Debbi Stoller - Son of Stitch n' Bitch book. I just love it! It came out so well and went really fast too.

I'm going to make another in the reverse colors, green stripe with red as the main. Originally I was making them for my newphews, but it looked so good on my sister I thought maybe they should be for her and her husband.. they're kinda big for the boys anyway.

We'll see.

ciao for now!

 
Well, the scarf is really coming together - once I abandoned all the patterns in the name of common sense, and my knowlege of even numbers, it's looking beautiful! I'd say it's about 1/2 way now (if you don't count the inevitable fringe)

I'll be really glad to have a more toned down scarf for the days I'm not feeling the bright pink one!

ciao for now!

Oh p.s. Check out this song! I'm absolutely in love with it! It's very open and dreamy - so it's better for your chiller moods
School of Seven Bells on IndieFeed

Yes, they are.

see more english fails

Striped Scarf

Striped Scarf
Originally uploaded by leeisenhauer

scarf
Okay, the real post! This is the new scarf I'm working on. Originally I was thinking about doing the stripes really wide, but finally decided that I liked the ease of doing a 2x2 striping patter (1x1 ribbing)

p.s. to all you folks out there that said the odd number cast on for this pattern would make it simple and mindless should all go join MENSA. Or post clearer rules about how you're making an odd number bahave like an even number..

For all my peeps that have been wondering where I am: you guessed it. Back in school, which means that I have no time to do anything but.

Classes and Lamba Alpha
This semester I'm not taking 20 credit hours (last spring was brutal), but I am taking 16, and have taken on the challenge of reviving Lamba Alpha (anth students honor society) at PSU. We recently lost our funding because we were running a program that was too similar to ASA (Anthropology Students Association), and also everyone running both of those programs just graduated. So Wendy (who's taking charge of ASA) and myself (taking charge of LA) have our work cut out for us.

In good news, I just met with our advisor today, and she thinks we can get our funding back by winter if we can prove two seperate programs.

I've also been unofficially elected to get study groups off the ground in Spanish, and in Anthropology for this semester. So with all these things combined, I've spent the better part of this week juggleing peoples schedules, while still trying to find time to read and watch the debates.

I'm hoping that we can get our funding back in time to have our entomophogy feast in the spring!

Okay.. other news... Yes, Ben and I did break up; yes, we are still friends; No, I don't want to talk about it. Thanks, though.

Colorado
People keep asking me to give better updates about the trip to Colorado (except for those of you that were there in Colorado with me, you all seem to be pretty on top of it)

Look, I'm sorry, but a lot happened, and I can't really wrap my mind around all of it. All I know is that it's a really strange dynamic for me to be in Colorado. There are a lot of things that I was happy to leave behind when I left the first time, and there were a lot of things I didn't realize that I'd miss so much.

Going back this summer really made me think hard about which parts of my personality from CO to keep, and which from OR to keep.
Needless to say, they don't align that easily. This summers trip to CO was really hard on me emotionally, and it has fanned the flames for a much bigger fire inside my heart.

I had fun, there's pics on facebook, and I guess for the final result of the summer at my home away from home, you'll just have to stay tuned.:)

xoxox