Sweater Project - Continued

I may have gone to the thrift store the other day....
I think I made out like a villain. I got all of these lovely sweaters for about $13. The light colored ones are all cotton, and are destined to become part of future art projects. The darker ones, on the other hand, are very nice merino wool sweaters. They are destined to become knitting projects, or at the very least, lovely skeins of yarn.

There was one sweater in particular that I spotted from yards away:
It was a boxy short sweater made from beautiful self-striping wool yarn. Think Noro but softer and 2-ply. Lovely eh?
I got a pretty good amount. Enough for a sweater or a hat/scarf/mitten set.
Lastly, here my piece from the Ars Nova show!
I've stolen this photo from the gallery's website... On the right of my piece is my good friend Kim Strom's piece. She landed first prize in the show! Congrats Kim!
I also went to two other shows last night, one at Gallery 214, and one at Bad Dog Gallery. More on those later though, I'm off to head home for Easter!

'Invisible, Invincible' - Part of the Sweater Project

This is the finished piece that used the yarn that I've been spinning. It is about 8 feet long!
I brought it in to the university earlier this week to enter into a show. I was tempted to just wear it as a scarf for a little while before bringing it in. It is deceivingly heavy as it is made from super chunky cotton yarn.

Thrifted Bag Redo and a Continuation of the Sweater Project

I had been looking for a nice leather bag for a while. I have a few stipulations when it comes to bags. First, they've got to have a long strap. I am always doing stuff with my hands, and I hate having to keep a handbag on my arm. Also, it can't be too big. I hate huge bags-- that's what backpacks are for. So I went to the thrifting Tuesday and found this pretty:
But, it needed something. Lace!! I sewed some of my vintage lace onto the purse on the train into Chicago yesterday. End result = LOVE!It was the perfect size for walking around the city all day. I could fit my sketchbook, wallet, small digital camera, and my cell phone perfectly.
I also made some progress on the Sweater Project. I spun these up this weekend, and they are drying - they take sooo long to dry because they are bulky and cotton.
I'm going to post some pics of our Chicago adventure later today or early tomorrow. The lecture we went to was amazing as well, I'll post a link to the podcast once it is posted on the art institute's blog. :)

The Sweater Project -- Continued

I've made some progress with the yarn I was spinning yesterday and the day before. I have three skeins completed, and I'll probably get about 4-5 more out of those two sweaters.
A finished skein:They are pretty big skeins, cotton yarn is SO heavy, it is almost rope-like when it is this bulky.
Even though it is heavy it is still really soft and drapes well.
I've still got a ways to go. If you look closely at this pic, you'll see Bo, my cat, is trying to get some attention.
Back to work!

Sweater Project - Continued

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog this last week or so! The rest of spring break flew by, and this last week has been spent working a lot in my studio, grading, reading painfully complicated art history articles, and 'catching up' in general. In the beginning of the semester I had been in a bit of a rut art-wise, but recently, things have been going well. I've been working on part of my Sweater Project. This week I've been spending a lot of time spinning together recycled sweaters. Here are two of the sweaters that I've deconstructed into pieces.
I wanted a bulky yarn for this project, so I am combining both sweaters into one yarn, I am taking two strands from the sweater on the left, and one from the sweater on the right. When I'm done spinning the three strands together, I'm going to ply in back on itself to make it really chunky. So far I've spun three spindles today. I'm going to start plying them today. I love the subtle difference between the two colored sweaters in the yarn. Hope you all are having a good Sunday! I'm heading in to the studio for a while today, and hopefully I'll get enough done that I can go to knit night tonight.

The Sweater Project - Post 2

A continuation of the Sweater Project.

Unraveled - The Sweater Project

The beginnings of a long term project I'm just starting to work on.