Knitting??

I can already imagine what everyone is thinking, a 19 year old knitting away instead of going out partying.

Truth be honest I'm not a party kind of girl so instead I keep myself busy by drawing, working and apparently knitting too.

I first started knitting when I was in school 11 years old when my teacher mentioned that she was starting a knitting club for students during our lunch hour, so I thought why not try it (I was in a lot of after school clubs so this was another addition to keep me busy). So I went and started to practice knitting, I brought my own knitting needles and yarn and started to do it from home. 

Baring in mind I haven't actually finished what I started knitting years ago but it would pop out of my draw and I would start knitting from time to time until I complete forgot about it.

So why take it up again??

One of the main reasons as to why I wanted to take it up again is because I saw this gorgeous scarf online that was roughly £200, it was long, thick and wide and I was in love with it. But obviously I don't have much money due to saving for london. So instead of forking out 200 for a scarf, I thought why not make one myself and I am.

I bought hayfield chunky with wool, 145m, black (obviously) from fenwick and it didn't take me long to finish my wool. Obviously it had been a really long time since I've last touch a knitting needle to which I turned to youtube to reteach myself how to cast on stitches and to join on more yarn. I found this very useful and I'm really impressed with my progress.

I'm guessing that I will need maybe 3 or 4 more bundles of wool depending on how long I want my scarf to be. 

The large image that displays my progress so far and how long a full bundle goes, this about just wraps around the neck and the wool is thick and very soft. Obviously when I've finished I will need to pull the scarf a little to make it seem longer and slightly stretch because at this minute when it's sat how it is now it looks short and thick. Stretching it will make the finished look longer and slightly thinner.

The following videos are the clips that have helped me restart my knitting are - 

Casting on - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJQvsZ6kT0

Joining on - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy__eVIDshE

Casting off - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIhhAM5MFbQ

 <<<< Click to enlarge

DIY Jeans

 

Click to enlarge image ^^^^^^

My very own DIY jeans.

What you'll need:
- A bath tub
- Patients
- Thick bleach
- An old pair of jeans
- Rubber gloves (To protect your hands)
You could also wear an apron if you wish to

These would be my second pair that I've bleached. My first bleached pair were burgundy which then turned into some crazy spirals. To make those I used thick bleached and poured it all over the jeans in different direction.

For these in particular I wanted to create a faded/half and half look. To make these I used the same thick bleach (which could be found under your kitchen sink) and squeezed it out along the waist band and then rubbing it in using a cloth to smear it down towards the knee. (Do this in the bath so it won't ruin the floors and your clothes)
I then repeated the process on the other side. I then checked on them ever 20 mins to make sure that they were changing and rubbing the bleach in even more to speed up the process. After about an hour or so I rinsed out the bleach and threw my jeans into washer machine by them selves with some soap and made sure that it was on a quick wash, other wise you'll be using a lot of water for just one item of clothing.

The out come as you can see came out quite well, they aren't' exactly the faded effect that I was going for but that's the reason why you do these kind of things on old clothes so you don't ruin your new ones.

I would recommend using a mask though because after a while I did get a little light headed which then made me ill. The amount of bleach that I used and the amount of time I spent in the bathroom was not good for me.