DIY Distraction: Further Notions On Furry Scarves

So, you want your own Danier-style furry scarf, but you don't crochet? No problem, if you knit!

Step 1: Choose a knitted lattice pattern.

Ribbon Scarf Pattern on The Shiz-Knit!

Lattice Pattern on Knit Wiki

Step 2: Choose a trim design!

A Scalloped Edging by Judy Gibson

You could use just the edge of a lace design.

Summer Fancy Work on Knitting-And

Scallops aren't strictly necessary. This is YOUR scarf, after all!

Mama's Lace Pattern on The Tattered Pickle

Step 3: Choose your trim! You could use the aforementioned fur, faux fur or feather trim. Or you could use something else entirely, like a bulky boucle:

Be Sweet Boucle Mohair Yarn on Jimmy Beans Wool

Or hand-dyed pencil roving:

Coral Reef by SpinKnitLove on Etsy

Ooooh, or even handspun super-bulky yarn!!!

HUGE 7oz skein Handspun Mohair by PheonixFarmFiber on Etsy

So many possibilities!!!

DIY Distraction: When Yarn and Fur Combine!

I receive the Elle Canada newsletter specifically to view their "TRENDS" slideshows. It's so much more convenient to click a link in my inbox than to hunt down the info myself. Every week, I have at least one slideshow to view, and one of this week's treats was The 10 Best Scarves for Fall.

Thank you, Elle Canada, for you have alerted me to the existence of this amazing scarf from Danier Leather:

As seen on Killer Kurves

URK. That's the image used by Elle Canada, which you'll notice is not the image on the Danier Leather website:

As seen on Danier Leather

While this beautiful scarf is a reasonable $79.00 CAD, I believe something has gone awry here. The Danier scarf is not the scarf being attributed to them by Elle Canada. The fur is sparser on the Danier scarf, and the scallops are different. This makes me wonder who really owns the Elle-featured scarf...

BUT WHO CARES!

Crafty chicas everywhere rejoice, because YOU can own this scarf for far less than $79!!!

Step 1: Find a crochet lattice pattern. CHECK!

New York Noro Plaid on Make it Messy

Pamela's Lattice Prayer Shawl on Mariel's Magic

Step 2: Locate some pretty fan-based trim patterns. CHECK!

Crochet ARC LACE Edging #1 on Moira Crochets

Edging #3022 on MyPicot.com

Step 3: Buy some fur or faux fur or feather trim. TRIPLE CHECK!

Rabbit fur trim on eBay

Wrights Trim - 10 yard reel of 1" faux fur trim from Joann.com

Wrights Trim - 10 yard reel of feather boa trim from Joann.com

Potentially, this costs as little as $10 for 100g of fingering weight yarn and $15 for a reel of faux fur trim. And you'll have the satisfaction of making it to your exact specifications :D

DIY Distraction: Awesome Yarn Things - Crochet and Other Stuff

Do you crochet, or macrame? Perhaps tatting is your thing? Check this stuff out!

Polyvore: Isabel Marant Striped Sweater DIY

Isabel Marant Striped Sweater DIY by alexus1325 on polyvore.com

DIY Distraction: Awesome Yarn Things - Knitting Edition

If you knit, or like knitted stuff, you just might like this stuff!

I knit socks. Lately, I knit lots of socks. When I discovered Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel, I just about died!!! A triple-mitered heel that sits much more smoothly than a regular wrap and turn mitered heel, this heel design is the basis of her new eBook. You can also view her free video tutorial.

Do you love ombre/gradient fashions? Now you can knit up your own Chrysanthemum Hat with custom ombre-dyed yarn you can make at home! Xandy shows us her ball-in-KoolAid method.

Broomstick lace is so pretty, but crocheting it is such a pain in the wrists! Which is exactly why wrist-strain-prone Karlie Robinson developed a knitted version.

"Deadbeat" for Contributing Editor by Ben Morris, on Models.com

Paris street fashion on Real Men Cry

Isabel Marant's jumbo-knit sweaters have been on my to-do list for awhile! I love super-bulky sweaters, I love colourful stuff, and I can knit! But where do I get yarn this big?

Easy! You make yarn out of old t-shirts! If you want to dye your yarn, Dmariemart of Imagine Mechanix suggests dying the trimmed shirts before turning them into yarn.

Martin Margiela AW 2008 silk sleeve top on 1stdibs.com

And for the truly unconventional, thank you Mr. Margiela! Yet another WIN from your crazy, crazy mind! It's so tempting to go to Salvation Army on the next $5 bag day just to get a whole bunch of long sleeve shirts! A knock-off could conceivably be knitted from tubes of fabric, using up some of our copious stash fabrics, right?

Polyvore: Casual Elegance / Retro Glamour

Don't forget to heart my set!

Inspiration: Elegant, Ladylike, Sophisticated - Pearls!

If there is one recent trend in jewellery that I'm all over like cat hair on your favourite (insert garment here), it's the prevalence of pearls! It's a trend that's been trickling down to the masses since October 2010, when Fashion Weeks around the globe hosted the SS 2011 collections. Like many excellent trends, it was the small-scale designers who inspired the Big Names, with innovative usage of pearls as early as 2009!

I've been fond of pearls since girlhood, but I always viewed them as being for special occasions, a bit of living history when women were ladies and elegance was the truest expression of feminine beauty. I think my uber-stylish Grandmother had something to do with that!

But pearls aren't just for family photos, or Christmas, or evenings out anymore! Modern living, modern values, modern fashion means we, as fashionable women (and some men), get to wear what we want when we want to!

BEHOLD! Pearls for the everyday, or at least in a modern way!

Pearl Mega Cluster Necklace - Subversive Jewelry by Justin Giunta

Inspo: Gluing Sh!t to Other Sh!t

If there's one craft trend I've been cringing at lately, it's the "let's glue sh!t to other sh!t" mentality. Mainly this is because of the over-saturation of the hand-crafted market with "steampunk" jewellery. Gluing gems and a brass octopus stamping from China to the guts of an old watch does-not-steampunk-make. I'd link some photos, but that would just embarrass the creators and make me look like a wanker. To avoid that, yee who doth gluest watch parts to octopi, takest thou thy medicine:

HOWEVER!

I have seen some examples of LGSTOS that are, simply put, things I COVET! You can see them after the jump:

Sequinspiration!

Vintage Sequin Collection - Plenty of Colour

Ooooh, I'm such a magpie! I love all things shiny, sparkly, metallic! Which is why I'm LOVING one of this coming year's big trends: sequins! Sequin embellishment has fallen in and out of fashion-favour since... Well, since sequins were invented. I learned in an anthropology class that many aboriginal peoples in North America used sturgeon and pike scales to decorate their clothing and possessions, and this usage was likely common around the world. There are a few fashion-fabricators that still use fish scales as sequins. Just look how pretty this trout is! Yes, yes, trout don't have proper scales, but they're amazingly iridescent and clearly illustrate the potential beauty of sequins.

Trout caught by my boyfriend's father last winter. It was stuffed with lemon-pepper rice and baked.

So why are sequins so awesome for FW'11 into SS'12? Well, for one, Dolce & Gabbana are among my heroes:

Assemblage; "How to Build a Better Necklace"

The art of assemblage has seen a major resurgence over the last decade or so, particularly in the "crafty" community. If you frequent Craftster, you have surely seen some amazing multimedia work, particularly in the Papercrafts and More Art, Less Craft categories. My favourite iteration of this art style is definitely in jewellery! Specifically, necklaces. This style has been a mainstream trend since 2009, but I notice that the "affordable" versions from such vendors as Forever21 and Target are made of cheap, potentially toxic materials, and are actually pretty boring as far as assemblages go.

That's not to say that I don't own cheap, mass-produced, slightly-interesting neckwear. These cheap pieces have a place in my wardrobe, but it's so much more interesting to combine jewellery in unexpected ways! I've already shared the Monoxious tutorial for a Tom Binns style safety pin necklace, but here I'm going to focus more on how random elements put together can be chic and fresh, AND how to do a simple version on the cheap.

These are commercially available, inexpensive, and not particularly interesting iterations:

After the End-Times: Dirty Chic

The Apocalyptic Fashion Swap is in full swing, and everyone is crafting like mad! It is because of this swap that I discovered an amazing new tool. Whoever invented the online pinboard is a GENIUS! Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to create a fabulous collection of Apocalyptic fashions from ALLLL over the interwebz :D Here's a few beautiful pieces I've collected so far:

How to Look Fabulous After the Apocalypse

Yet another Etsy treasury! This one is inspired by the Apocalyptic Fashion Swap going on at Craftster.

How to Look Fabulous After the Apocalypse

Tattered Romance

I spend FAAAAR too much time perusing all the amazing talent on Etsy. Today, I was inspired by a single little handbag to make a new treasury featuring an elegant variety of Victorian-esque fashions and accessories. The selection is intended to be representative of a variety of techniques and aesthetics that incorporate the Victorian sensibility.

Tattered Romance

Must-Have Knitwear

Earlier this year, I posted about some AMAZING spring fashions in lovely beige tones. I'm sooooo in love with Modcloth's Braid New World, now sold out.

Spring Fashions I Want to Wear (Part 2)

Oh, ModCloth! Why must you tease me so!

I absolutely MUST make a version of this!

Spring Fashions I Want to Wear (Part 1)

I think I'm going to start a series to keep me posting more often. Here's some goodies I LOVE and can totally make so I can stop drooling and start strutting :D

Heel Condoms: Say WHAT?!?!

Many moons ago, I saw this intriguing post on Outsapop.

This is only one image of the work of a knitwear student named Gyu. She does some really interesting things! I'd actually forgotten all about this image until recently, when I was catching up on my fashion reading.

A Little Boy Grows Up... Into a Sexy Girl :P (Plus: Crop Tops as a Trend)

That cracks me up every time I think about it! I entered Craftster's Challenge 59: Super Ugly to Super Awesome. You can read my entry HERE.

Before:

A size 6x boy's tee from the local Salvation Army. It was stuff-a-bag day, so this is one of MANY goodies I brought home that day :D

Fall Fashion to Look Forward To! And Why I'm Excited :D

Well, guess what? I took the last year off from school because I was burned out and actually managed to fail a few classes (including my thesis because I totally lost interest in doing research). The goal was to get my life in order by pondering my priorities, motivations and goals. I did alot of that. I also did alot of nothing :P Ok, well, not NOTHING, but not much.

So here I sit, less than 2 weeks away from my fifth year of university! Click the logo above if you want to check out my school's website. I'll be re-taking the math class I failed, and instead of doing a thesis or other full-year research project, I'm taking a half-year research project and a course called Applied Anthropology. Those three things are all I need to get my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (Honours Program, which is 4 years instead of 3). I'm rounding out my course-load with 5 Native Studies classes, which I've already taken... 4 of? Maybe 5. Or 6. I'd have to check my transcript. I'm wondering if it's enough credits to count as a minor. I have to take all 8 courses to qualify for yet another student loan. I'm already up to my eyeballs, but it's either that or give up on an education.

Naturally, going back to school necessitates a discussion of fashion!

Yay for Grosgrain giveaways!

Pleated Petal Tank ANTHROPOLIFICATION GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wow, I just love those people who have the patience to make a whole raft of teeny tiny flowers :P

There's a lady on craftster who made a shirt with cherry blossoms on it last year I believe. I'll post the link tomorrow or something.

No new posts lately because the only things I've gotten done are for a swap, and I'm not posting that stuff til my partner gets her package.

*EDIT*

I found the cherry blossom top!
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