Bar Towels

  I'm realizing just how many projects have slipped through the cracks here! Here is one I did about a year ago. They're bar towels based on the pattern Back to School by Star Athena. I just replaced the study related words to bar words. The yarn I used was Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton! Solids.

   But why did I make these? I was going to my cousin's new house for the first time and wanted to make a house warming/bar warming gift. He's got a GREAT bar called Big Time Scott's in his basement. 

  Here's how they turned out!

Beer, wine & booze. All a bar needs.

Fits in nicely!

Whew!

  WOW! I've done a lot of updating tonight. Now it's time to go to bed. I have a few more things coming up once they're finished so until then I'll leave you with this sketch of some designs I've done to keep myself fresh! I put a cartoon art filter on it so that the details could be seen a little better since it's mostly a light pencil drawing with some skin tone marker. I think I'll upload more of these eventually, Joie has really inspired  me with all of hers!

Senior Collection

Ah yes, the reason why it's been SO LONG since I've updated! The last year of my life was devoted to my senior year in fashion school's personal collection, like a senior thesis.

It all started with designing a 4 look collection:

 

After multiple muslins through the fall semester the final garments were then constructed and perfected the following spring semester. All the hard work was worth it for this final outcome:

 

 

To see more of my work and photos of my senior collection visit my website!

KatieRempe.com

Recycled Yarn Experiment

  Ok, so I came upon a group on Ravelry called UnRavelers that unravel old, ugly sweaters for the yarn then reuse it to make a cute modern garment or item. Oh yeah, I was intrigued. So I went right off to my local Goodwill thinking I would score an old ugly man sweater in some awesome fiber like cashmere for $5 and then dance all the way home. Well it turns out that Florida is NOT the place for that to happen. But I was still eager to try unraveling something! So I went back home, looked through all my old stuff, and found an old duster from Wet Seal! 

  Well, it wasn't exactly the dream garment, it was acrylic yarn, but at least it would have a lot of yardage and give me a chance to test the waters. Sooooo....the duster went from this...

To THESE!!

 

I'm not sure what I'll make from it...if anything...but it was a good experience if nothing else!

Smurf Hat

  Well it wasn't SUPPOSED to be a smurf hat, but after a comment my roommate made...well she was spot on. Just look at it! I had to make it in white lol.

  The REAL name of the project is The Slouch Hat by Diane Serviss and is $5 through Ravelry. It seems like an easy pattern because it's all just garter stitch, but when you review the pattern skills you see that it's really a great project to build your skills! For this hat you need to know how to do Provisional Cast On, Kitchener Stitch, and Short Rows! Don't worry! YouTube is full of videos showing you how to do all those things.

  The yarn I used was by Misti Alpaca called Chunky Solids. It is SO SOFT but sheds like crazy! My black coat is now kind of gray. But whatever because my head and ears are always 100% warm!

  I ended up making mine longer because I thought my first attempt with the recommended CO wasn't going to make it slouchy enough in the back. Thus I OVER compensated and had to brim the front quite a bit for the hat not to be hanging halfway down my back, lol. At least all my hair would fit into it if need be! Anyway, it's still cute and warm and soft so it just ended up being a 'design detail'.

Sassy Sam Cat

I can't believe I've gone all this time and never had one post about my cat, Sam!

AKA Samuel Catson, AKA Samwise, AKA Sammy, AKA Puppy, AKA Poopy, AKA Family Puppster, AKA Fuzz-Butt, AKA....

...ok yeah he just has a lot of nicknames. No wonder he doesn't know his name.

But ain't he so cute and STYLISH!?

Oh BABY!

  Ok so here's the deal. I don't have a baby. Will never have a baby. But a friend of mine did have a baby. Thus this very cute baby sweater. It's actually the FIRST sweater I've ever finished! I have an adult size one for me in the works but it's taking forever because I keep putting it down.

  Anyway, I actually had this yarn and pattern laying around from my Sophomore year in college when I was planning on making it for my professor's baby. Well that didn't turn out so it got a second chance with my friend's baby instead! Better in the long run.

  What's great about this project is that the yarn, buttons, and pattern were all included in the $15 price! There was enough yarn to make 3 different sizes (I made the middle one and there was plenty of yarn leftover), and two pattern choices. It's from Plymouth Yarn, the design I made was called Baby Placket Pullover, and that was included was called Cotton Kisses. I tried to find a link to the Plymouth site for the project but it doesn't seem to be available through their official site anymore, hence the link to the Ravelry page. Also included on the other side of the baby placket pullover was this pattern for a very cute Baby Cardigan. Anyway, the pattern was written pretty well, some of the details were a little abbreviated but manageable.

  If I have one gripe it's that I don't think the slubby/nubby yarn was a great choice for this pattern. It didn't really let the details you knit into it stand out as well as they could with just a regular yarn. Either way, it was a pretty fast knit (ran into the 'putting it down' problem since there was two sleeves and front/back) but still got it done before winter which is always a plus haha. But for once I didn't mind having to seam up everything. It was so small that it was fast and easy!