Win Yourself a Hat, Whynot?

It's time for me to appreciate my Followers again. I wish I could do something really magnificent, like heal a wound by laying on hands, or turn some water into a Mojito, but all I got for you is a hat. A nice, chunky re-purposed hat, which will look very much- though not exactly- like this one I posted the other day:



You can even give me the measurements of the noggin in question so your prize hat fits. Now, lest ye find yourself hording chances, and not mentioning this drawing to a pal because your odds will go down, well, I have a solution. If you are or you become a Follower to Mama Uses Needles, and you want to tell a friend to as well, I will enter your name AGAIN for each friend you bring to the site. Thusly, improving, not diminishing your chances to win. So devious of me.

Why I am doing this? Because I suffer from a fragile ego syndrome and the more people who read this blog, the less I'll have to run up to people on the street and say, "Hey! Do you think I'm pretty?!" Because that embarrasses the kid.

No, My Daughter Is Not Going Scuba Diving...

But she could. She's that advanced. Well, she's pretty advanced. I guess I probably wouldn't test her maturity under water.

This is another cagoule prototype. I said to my friend Steve today, "I made Phinny another cagoule today. She looka like an alien in it." " Great," he said, "the more alien, the better with babies, don't you think?" True true. It's impossible not to love something that draws attention to how weirdly and adorably tiny a baby face is, situated in such a disproportionately low spot on the HUGE head.



This cagoule, made of, you guessed it, an old sweater and the trim from a t-shirt, does a fine job of emphasizing the freakball that is my lovely baby. I am going to make more. Even freakier. Tighter. Sexier. More aerodynamic.

Fat Hat

Here's a hat I made from an Old Navy sweater. I got the sweater at the thrift store where I get all my materials and it was in perfect shape. It's pretty new and I actually wondered if I should feel guilty for gutting it to make it into something new. But then I reasoned that it would be several new things, rather than one (re)used thing.

So then I forgot about it because this hat is adorbs. Forgive my bad sewing in this one, it was a quicky and those huge, wobbly fibers where running scared from my overlock machine.

Brief Poladroid Addiction

Okay, I will admit it. I went bonkers with this for like 20 minutes. (And then forgot about it.) It's a little application that turns your regular snapshots into Polaroid-style images. It's actually pretty accurate.





In approximately 5 minutes, 79% of people will have Poladroid images as their profile pictures in Facebook, so here's your chance to be an Early Adopter. Fun.

http://www.poladroid.net/

Cool Cagoule, Baby

One might begin to think that I am institutionable with my obsession over a baby's cold neck. They would be right. Hence, I give you a lovely 2-minute cagoule:



This used to be a poncho hood (!) and a turtleneck-neck. You know there are more of these on the way.

I have to get busy with a new giant pile of sweaters though. I am willing to consider that it's a bit freaky that I am so relaxed by the act of using sharp scissors to divorce the arms of shirts from their bodies for hours on end.

We can talk about it if you want.

Ha! Amanda Gibson you have a cravat.

How great. My friend Amanda Gibson, whose last status update on Facebook said, "Amanda Gibson is perhaps the luckiest person you know" couldn't be more apt.

The hilarious part is that there will likely not be a day in her life at home when either her gorgeous daughter Bine, or adorbs baby boy, Angus will ever need a baby scarf. Because they live in Utila, Honduras. They wear bathing suits to dinner. Hilarious.

But maybe she has a dear friend who has a baby with a cold neck. Either way I am happy she won.

Now she gets to pick from this very stripey batch of cravats:



Congratulations, tropical lady.

And the Winner is!...

We're drawing a winner of a Baby Hobo cravat right this moment. There were a whopping 12 Followers to the blog (all of whom I appreciate), so you're chances are pretty good!

Will Trade Pug for Chambray

Speaking of scarves, maybe I should get one of these for myself as inspiration to weave myself one. So simple, so gorgeous, from Hickoree's Hard Goods:

More Ways to Sit on My Arse!

For many months now, I have been closing the door (literally) on my Structo Artcraft 4-harness loom. It sits in the closet, surviving thrice monthly attempts by my wife to get rid of it because I don't use it. But she is an honorary Japanese person with her incredibly efficient use of space.

But I resist! And I will warp that loom and I will make a scarf for myself. I saw a woven scarf of fat orange yarn and I intend to copy that idea. I have no excuse saying "I can't remember how to warp a loom, I don't have time, it hurts my back", blah, blarh.

I mean, check out this crazy chick and her backstrap loom. Shu, I can't even sit like that in yoga for like 5 minutes. And she's smiling. I should be able to make a damn scarf.



PS I know you were all on the edge of your seat waiting for a post about a loom. And now you have it.

Hmmm. Free stuff. Yes. I pick Yes.

If you think I am above shamelessly bribing strangers to be my blogfriends, you are wrong:

If you become an official Follower of this blog I will put your name in a drawing to win free stuff. To begin with, I'm going to give away a baby cravat of course. You can even pick a small, medium or large. (Newborn to 6 mo., 6-12M of 12M+). Because that's the kind of suck up generous person I am.

The sooner you do it, the better your chances will be. I will pick someone next Sunday. Be that person.

We're in Business

Am I going from Art Dealer to Baby Cravat Dealer? We've had our first sales of the Baby Hobo cravats from the awesome Green Genes store.

Perhaps it was the spokesmodel that is responsible:

Luca Bruni, You Have Cravat

Little Luca Bruni, this cravat is for you, from your Aunt Carla. She wants your neck to stay warm. Because you're cute. I know, because I saw a picture of you dressed up as a banana.

She will get this to you very soon.

Of the Category: People Who Get Amazing Opportunities

Artist Robert Fontenot, based in Los Angeles, has found himself one remarkable privilege, I must say. He has gained ownership over a significant trove of de-accessioned textiles from the Los Angeles Museum of Art and is allowed to do whatever he wants with them.

He has undertaken the huge and admirable project of re-purposing them one by one into an assortment of sometimes fantastic, sometimes weirdly artful and occasionally, I'll say it, not-so-inventive objects. He documents the process on his blog, http://recyclelacma.blogspot.com/

Overall, a beautiful project of which I am very envious! Someone give me some de-accessioned schtuff from a museum textile department!

Here are a couple highlights from Fontenot's expansive project:

A pair of knickers made into a beautiful pair of boxing gloves...






And also this, a Turkish embroidered textile, turned wastebasket (cover):




I like it, Robert Fontenot.

Carcass Processing; A Study in Upcycling Economics

Okay, I've decided to trace the life cycle of some of my upcycling materials. I'm experimenting with the goal of using absolutely every single part of the secondhand clothes. Maybe it's OCD, maybe I care deeply about the earth, maybe I'm askeert my child will be wading ass-deep through garbage all over the world because we insist on plowing through so much *NEW* stuff.

I'm guilty of a good amount of this plowing through new stuff, but I'm trying more and more to either take rests from it, and even go backward, as with re-using old forsaken things to create newly loved things. I am also very interested in the economics of all of this.

Now, stay with me, for here is a brief narrative about what happened to but one of the sweatshirts that are to be featured in my experiment:

Once upon a time, a girl named Michelle strode into the local Land's End. In this retail outlet, she selected a $38.00 shirt for her dad, Carl. This shirt, a gray and green striped rugby shirt, led a life of celebrity and exposure during it's time with Carl. He wore it often and never stained it. (Thank you, Carl. You are a fastidious man.)

Eventually though, Carl got new shirts (bad Carl!) and this fine garment found itself with increasing frequency at the bottom of the bottom drawer. Until Carl's wife, Janice, took it to goodwill in a thinly-veiled act of ecological repentance for all the terrible spending she had done to punish Carl for his affair with Wanda. (We'll get to that whore Wanda another time.)

It was at this SAME GOODWILL that I, Lisa Solar, harvested the shirt and dropped it into a basket with fourteen other abandoned shirts. It's value had dropped, apparently, to 90 cents.

Now, here it is. The great news is that it is about a yard and a half of soft, perfectly worn, high quality fabric without any blemishes or pills. Bad news is that I'ma 'bout to go upstairs to the loft and gut that bugger like a giant fish and violently separate it from it's collar and side seams. I will use every scrap except the collar and create from the pieces no less than 8 baby cravats, 2 hats and add a few pieces to my Future Quilt bin. So, if I were to theoretically sell these items, the value of Fat, Cheating Carl's shirt has gone up to $184.00! And it has kept at least 7 babies warm (this number allowing for one double-headed baby).

Ultimately, this rugby shirt has experienced much more than a physical transformation. Yes! It has symbolically risen from the sinful ashes of Carl's affair with Wanda and has been reincarnated as any number of cozy, loving little baby things, that both literally and symbolically bring warmth to the world.

Thank You, Michelle, and I'm sorry for saying that about your new Stepmom Wanda.

And so, let's look at this visually. Here's the beginning of my effort to document the life-cycle of 15 sweatshirts. Note: this will be most interesting if you can rap the captions.

Stepz One: Put your sweaters in the cart... Stepz 2: You gotta pay fo' yo' cart... Stepz 3: You gotta wash the thrift stank out yo' thrifts.




Break it down, break it down one tiiiiyme...(cut off the trims)




"Abercrombie and Fitch" logoz a bitch, cut it up two tiiiiiiymes (remove and collects seams, etc.)




Admire your lovely new stack of fabric and if you are so moved, pat it with satisfaction in an almost perverse style.



There you have Phase One.