T-shirt Rug, Reunion Weekend, Black Sweater Done!

So here's the rug I crocheted from 14 or 15 T-shirts in the beach bathroom - looks right at home, and I'm so proud of it! I can throw it in the washer, unlike the rug that was in there before.


And my 5 college roommates came down for our annual reunion weekend, which we rotate around to each person's house. Next year we're all turning 50, so we're going to Chicago to celebrate. This year was low-key, especially with the monsoons that blew through every hour all weekend. We had exactly 4 hours without rain on Saturday, so we boated over to a marina for lunch (I successfully docked the boat at a public marina for the first time - yay!), then took a boat ride and watched some of the wakeboard championship that was going on nearby.


Then we came back, and 3 people jumped in a kayak, 1 person went to pick up steamed seafood for dinner (God bless people who enjoy cooking!), and 2 of us jumped in floats with margaritas. Not 30 minutes later, somebody yelled that a storm was moving in from the Gulf, so Durema and I swam madly for the ladder and had to fight to hold our floats, because it was like a tiny hurricane coming. You could see the wall of rain and hear it coming, and as soon as we stood up on the dock it hit. The other 3 were running across the yard with the kayaks, then realized they were on the porch but they're margaritas were on the dock, so of course they sprinted back to us. About 5 minutes later it was all over with - crazy!


We did get to eat most of our dinner outside that night and stayed fairly dry, although Friday night we had eaten under an umbrella at The Gulf, and 3 of us were pelted with blowing rain against our backs for 10 minutes, so we left that dinner with soaking hair and clothes. Still good times, though!

So on to the final pics of the black mesh sweater, which I started in January, 2015, I kid you not. Remember I knit one sleeve inside out and screwed them both up good by not using a chart? So Heidi at Mobile Yarn set the sleeves up in a chart on Knit Companion (go take a class from her - so worth it!), and I redid both sleeves, learning to use double-point needles in the process. Knit Companion keeps track of how long the app is open, so I know that the sleeves took just over 23 hours to knit - ridiculous! But look how cute it is! Just need to block it and stretch the sleeves out, because I want them a touch longer.


And I think I need to wear collared shirts with no sleeves underneath, since this may look too much like a bra underneath it - what do you think? It's really a tank top.


So the most exciting news is that this monkey is finally off my back, so I will be starting a new "split-neck" sweater that can be worn alone, and I'm treating myself to a private lesson at Mobile Yarn to learn how to knit 2 socks at once on a circular needle - woot woot!

So my thought for the day/week/month/year is that life is too short not to enjoy something special EVERY day, so figure out what that is, and DO IT! Shia LeBeouf really does say it best, and I get a good laugh every time I watch this. I love that boy:

Family Photos & New Fluevogs!

Here are a couple of action shots of the wood-turning jackets I made for my BIL and brother recently. Joe sports his Auburn jacket while proudly displaying one of his own creations. (What is that, Tracey, a wine stopper?)


And Scott demonstrates the superior ability of the neckband to repel pesky wood shavings.


Meanwhile, I've been attempting to train for a Spartan race, mainly by doing pushups, Russian crunches, and climbing the rope in the backyard. Drew showed me how to wrap the rope around my feet, and I finally succeeded!


And am actually progressing up the rope with each attempt!


It's a wee bit scary!


Lucas was fitted for a tux for the school chorus, and looks quite dashing.


And the proudest moment of all - my nephew snapped a pic of Aubie (Auburn University's football mascot for our foreign visitors) with the ROTC contingent in the stands, and the clean-shaven young man without glasses would be Drew. My heart swells. And all the deceased relatives' hearts would swell, as both Drew and my nephew are in the ROTC and were on the field together for the flag detail. (I'll wait while you get a tissue, Mother.)


Now on to the Fluevogs. We went to New Orleans for the Saints opening game, and I had emailed the Fluevog store there ahead of time that I was in love with the Pilgrims. Why would I email them? Because they will make sure the right sizes are there for you to try on when you come to town! The amazing customer service continues.


They fit perfectly, so I wore them as above to work today. Now when the weather gets colder, I will need to incorporate socks, and this is the best I have right now.


Yes, I know, Wicked Witch of the West. The sales associate did tell me to join the Fluevog Friday Facebook group, though, and that's where everybody shows pictures of how they wore their shoes. (And if you thought I was obsessed, you should see some of the posts!) Of course I had to try them on with everything in my closet, and they do play nicely with the Alabama Chanin garments.


But I liked this look the best - very professional.


They're so comfortable, though, that I'm entertaining the idea of wearing them to Mardi Gras....


or the Lyras....which do you think? (Remember that I wore brown ankle boots a couple of years ago - nobody looks at your shoes.)


I'll leave you with a fun little video from the Saints game - this usher danced to every little song they played. We should all love our jobs this much!

Gin Lamp & Crocheted T-shirt Rug

So we had this beautiful Tanqueray 10 gin bottle that my brother turned into a lamp - cool!


I'm just having a hard time with the shade. This is from another lamp - I was just testing the size...


And this is one on sale from Hobby Lobby, which is entirely too big. The do-it-yourself shades that you can stick your own fabric on were not the right size either. Anybody got another shade-shop you recommend?


And now, I've been thinking about crocheting a rug for the beach bathroom since I enjoyed doing Lucas's donut so much, and Drew declined an Auburn rug for HIS bathroom. I checked Ravelry for ideas, and found some made of cut-up T-shirts- how cool and green! I checked my LYS, but they didn't have any T-shirt yarn (also known as T-yarn or tarn, Google told me), and if you buy it online they don't guarantee more than 2 skeins of the same color - huh? So I went upstairs to my stash, and found a bunch of XL T-shirts I bought at an outlet to make Alabama Chanin stuff. A lot of these are also hand-me-downs or shirts nobody wears anymore.


I found a couple of tutorials online for cutting up T-shirts to make a continuous strip, and went to work last weekend.


Most importantly, don't cut all the way through the whole shirt or you'll just have individual strips that are a pain to join. You go back and cut diagonally through that uncut portion to get a continuous strip.


And a rotary cutter makes it go SO much faster than using scissors.


The cutting is tedious, and I got blisters from pulling so much cotton to make it curl, but the crocheting is fun because it goes really fast!


The strips up top are from the back of the shirts where I couldn't get continuous strips.


So I chained 50 then slip-stitched, then went back with 49 single crochets, and just repeated that over and over. I only added colors at the beginning of a row, except for one time I used a similar light blue because it was all I had left.


And ta-da! It took about 17 T-shirts to get 34", which is what I needed for the bathroom. And that very dark stripe is actually purple...


This is closer to the actual color. (I think up-close stitches are so artistic.)


I'll take a picture of it in the actual bathroom next time - that bathroom has green walls, a purple lamp, and lots of blue colors in the artwork painted on the wall, so I think it'll be cute.


Now wasn't I working on a black mesh sweater sleeve? And I'm eagerly awaiting an update and picture from Robbie, who's finishing up her Alabama Chanin tunic - no pressure, Robbie!