Yearn Less, Craft More: Crocheted Sunglasses Case

In an effort to feel more accomplished in my crafting endeavors, I'm now making a conscious effort to document more completed projects. On to the title project!

I've never been a big sunglasses wearer; something about the fear of getting tanlines on my face mixed with my feelings of awkwardness when deciding when to put them on and take them off, I think. But then I came across Tumbleweeds Handcraft wooden ones, and I fell in love. I've also never spent more than $10 on a pair either, and the last pair I bought in that price range ended up breaking within a month of me buying them. So, I struggled between the side of me which said, "Why would you spend even more money to end up with something equally as broken?" and the other side of me which said, "well maybe if you didn't buy $10 sunglasses you would end up with more than just a pile of junk." Well said, self, well said. 

So I bit the bullet (happily) and got a pair (the Around Ombre pair, to be exact. It ended up not being at all the color scheme pictured on the website and I was really disappointed at first, but they ended up really growing on me). My one promise to myself was that I would get a case for them.

Thus entered my earnest search for a case suitable to my liking, and what I came up with was.....nothing. And then I realized I had the much better option of making a pair for myself, and I found a tutorial for this case here. Crochet seemed like a good bet because it would make the case nice and cushiony, and with the added protection of the bobble stitch, this case seemed like a good choice.

I used three different types of yarn and ended up needing to change just a bit from the pattern given. I think I used half double crochet for the foundation chain instead of half treble, and single crochet for the rows alternating the bobble rows, and even so, my bobbles still look farther apart then the original pattern's finished project's do. Oh well! Mine's still cute, if I do say so myself. And I'm happy to report that after almost a couple months of use, my sunglasses are still in great shape! Mission complete.

A New Year, A New Start

It's that time of year again when you're forced to look back on the previous 12 months of your life and evaluate how you feel about them. A part of me dreads it, but then there's that optimistic side of me that wants to grab hold of this new beginning and shake everything good that I can out of it.Truth be told, I can't say that I'm too pleased with my accomplishments of this past year; I mostly seem to get by doing the bare minimum. So now seems like as good a time as ever to change my lifestyle so that I can once again feel a consistent pride in myself and my actions.

My 2013 Resolutions

1. One of the things at the top of my list are mornings. That is, making them more of an opportunity and less of an, oh-my-gosh-this-is-the-worst-moment-of-my-life-and-why-do-I-even-need-school-or-a-job-can't-I-just-lay-in-my-bed-forever experience. And so, my resolution is to not press the snooze button, at least not nearly as consistently as I do. And also to think more positive thoughts to minimize the feeling of dread that has become so inseparable from my early mornings. Seems easy enough, right? Yeah, hopefully.
2. Study more. A lot more. Like for at least an hour and a half every day. Hey, maybe if I just cracked open my textbooks more than thrice a semester I could get better grades. 
3. The inevitable fitness resolution. Yeah sure, I'd like to lose some weight just like the majority of other folks out there, but my pride keeps me from trying to determine a weight that I need to achieve to be happy. So really I'd just like to increase my overall fitness: stamina, strength, flexibility, all that good stuff. And I'd like to throw in the resolution to stop eating out of boredom/filling my time with good food to avoid doing other productive things, because that's always been an issue for me.
4. Be a more patient and kind person. I've always prided myself on being a nice person, but I feel like over the past few years I've become less patient, more snippy, and less considerate of others, and that makes me really disappointed in myself. So this is a high priority for me.
5. And last but not least: procrastinate less!! 

So what are you trying to change or maintain?

Lace-Stenciled, Spray Painted Bookcase

And then, several lifetimes later, a blog post!

I had seen a few pictures of furniture that looked like it had been spray painted using lace as a stencil and I thought it was a very nice alternative to just regular old spray painting. To do this, all I did was cover the sections I didn't want lace pattern on with newspaper and taped it down, and then sort of placed/taped the lace where I wanted it and sprayed away. It didn't take long at all, so go give it a shot if you're as much of a sucker for lace as I am!

What I'm About

8 posts in, and I have yet to introduce myself, and my blog!

So I'm Patty. I'm a 20 year old college-goer navigating the seas of self-discovery (? Sure.) Majoring in animal science, I'm one of those people who never grew out of their childhood dream of becoming a vet when they grow up, so if all goes well, I still have at least 6 more years of school to go (yeah, the thought kind of makes my brain go ouch as well). I'm also a bit of a band geek who enjoys spending her time lugging around a sousaphone on a field and doing horn moves in stands during home football games.

Me and the Boyfriend at Tuba Christmas, 2011

In retrospect, I've always been the kind of gal who likes doing crafty things, but it wasn't until earlier this year that I discovered the world of blogging and all the amazing pictures, tutorials, and ideas that it entails. I was so hooked on all of the fantastic lifestyle/crafting/DIY/sewing/everything else blogs out there, I decided I wanted in on this fantastic outlet! I'm a newbie at this, so take it easy on me, yeah? On Of Silver Forests, I plan to post:

• My projects! Anything I've created, including tutorials I've followed from other places, along with useful tips that I've discovered during the process
• Things I find to be inspiring, intriguing, or just plain pretty :)
• Tutorials of my own! (hopefully)
• And maybe some tidbits from my life as well

So follow along if you're interested in joining me for the ride, I promise to make it as enjoyable as possible!

Scrap Fabric Keychain

Now that I'm feeling all grown up with my own set of apartment keys, it's time to get myself a keychain! One other than the generic blue recycled plastic one that they came with.

The idea for a scrap fabric keychain came from living with punks, and I followed the tutorial, for the most part, but pinking shears is not on my list of items owned, unfortunately, hence the really frayed edges, woops. On one side I made a geometric collage of sorts from floral printed fabric scraps, while on the other there's a painted felt hummingbird. I used a bit of iron-on interfacing to hold the fabric scrap pieces in place while I sewed around the edges, and tried to do the same for the felt hummingbird, but guess what? Fusible interfacing does not like felt, apparently. So I just had to sort of wing it. Hehe... wing it. Get it? 'Cause it's a hummingbird? Anyways, that side came out a bit rough, as you can see (note to self: must work on sewing tight corners). What pretty things are your keys sporting?

A Touch of Pretty

I was really excited to find this pair of oxford, moccasin-type shoes while thrifting at Value Village last week; they were $7! There was only one thing that bugged me about them: the laces. They were the type of laces you see on like hiking boots, you know, the ones that are all multicolored and round and skinny instead of flat and wide? Not so attractive, but what was great was that I had some light blue ribbon I had bought for a project and still had a ton left over from, so I just switched the old laces out for the ribbon, and that was it! Really simple, and I've gotten a few compliments on them already. 

And in other news, notice the improvement in picture quality? Cause I sure do. I'm absolutely loving my new Canon PowerShot SX150is. It's no DSLR, but for my beginner's photography adventures, it's bananas. I love the full manual mode, but the pre-set program modes seem pretty intuitive as well, and seeing as how I'm still fumbling around a lot learning what shutter speeds and apertures work for what types of settings, I resorted to them pretty often this past weekend on a trip to Harpers Ferry. I also used Picasa 3 to edit the photos, which is so helpful! Google stuff is awesome. 

Velvet Clutch

Made from this greyish-beige, furniture upholstery-looking fabric I found in the remnants bin at Joann, this is my rendition of the bow clutch found on elm street life, tutorial here. I'm digging the assymetrical bow, it gives it some character. Funny story though, although you can't see it in this picture (not by chance, hehe), I actually sewed the wrist strap on wrong so it's behind the bow. Nice going, Patty. But that's okay, i'm happy that that's the biggest mistake, because otherwise I think I did a pretty durn good job! And I used it the same day I made it for a wedding I went to with my mom, so yep, it's already proven its functionality to me; good job, clutch. By the way, I feel fancy using the word clutch...

AND, in other news, this will probably be my last post featuring my lovurly instagram photos as my main method of posting pictures, as I just today received my new camera! 

Pretty baller, if I do say so myself. Perhaps I will post a review in the near future, although fair warning, I am in no way knowledgeable of most camera functions/settings, so who knows how helpful it'll actually be. Isn't she a beaut though? Quite a hefty little thing for a point and shoot, but for some reason I was super drawn to that.