Fetal playlist

My Nugget’s favorite songs, currently being played in rotation and in no particular order:

The Juno Soundtrack (hurrah for Kimya Dawson and the Moldy Peaches)

Annie Ross- Twisted; Jeepers Creepers; When the Red, Red Robin Goes Bob-Bob-Bobbin’ Along; Gimme That Wine (with Dave Lambert)

Caro- Back it Up

Wynton & Ellis Marsalis Ft Germaine Bazzle – Little Birdie

The Thompson Twins- If you Were Here (Sixteen Candles Soundtrack)

Ray Charles – (Night Time Is) The Right Time; Mess Around; Let’s Go Get Stoned; I Got a Woman; What’d I Say

Robin Thicke– When I get you Alone

Beyoncé- Halo; Crazy In Love (Featuring Jay-Z)

Rolling Stones- Sympathy for the Devil; She’s a Rainbow; Jumping Jack Flash

Janelle Monáe- Tightrope (ft. Big Boi)

Alicia Keys- Put It In A Love Song (Feat. Beyoncé)

Andre 3000- Hey Ya!

Missy Elliot– Pass That Dutch (Explicit Version)

The Gift- RGB

Duffy-Mercy

Tiago Bettencourt  Mantha – Canção Simples

Cee Lo Green– Forget You

And euphonium solos, with Aaron Tindall, Philippe Schwartz, and other folks

Knitting plastic bags… a not-quite-tutorial

Creative upcycling is fun. What is even more interesting (to me), is finding out that other people have independently come up with crazy ideas that I have 🙂 And the best part? Being able to Google random ideas and find instructions, lessons learned, and tips and tricks for almost anything you can think of.

I love the internet. 🙂

The other month or so, I thought, “surely, people knit using old plastic grocery bags. Cut ’em in strips, and they’re knitable…”…

At the time, I figured I’d find one or two kooky rogue bloggers and design students who have given it a whirl.

I was wrong.

Knitting with plastic bags is a whole ‘thing’ 🙂 Love it.

[Do a quick search on Google for “knitting plastic bags”… 🙂 ]

It wasn’t long before I found a site (Pie and Coffee) with a handy, easy to follow, basic tutorial on how to get the most material out of one bag.

After a few tries and experiments with different gauge knitting needles, I got the hang of it.

So now what?

Make a market bag for a friend, of course 😉 (Ugly? Yes.  Imperfect? Hell yes.  Unexpected birthday gift? Of course.  Sweet? I think so!  )

The front/bottom/back are one knitted rectangle with varying plastic types for each section. The bottom/middle of the rectangle is composed of thicker, less stretchy plastics (for more durability) while the mid-section of the front and back are from regular grocery sacks. The top sections are of a mid-thickness plastic. All strips are about an inch wide, knit with 8 gauge needles.

The side panels are regular grocery sacks cut into two-inch strips, knit with 17 gauge needles (so they can stretch to make more room if the bag is full, but the thicker strips have enough strength to compensate…I hope!).

The handles are a simple braid of three strands done in a loop to provide a bit of extra support to the bag. The bags here were cut in half to make very thick, strong pieces.

The components were sewn together with an embroidery needle and some sturdy thread, using double-triple stitches, widely spaced.

This is why I don’t do tutorials. Description ain’t my forte. (For bad-ass tutorials that you can really use if you want to learn how to sew, etc., go to Ikat Bag. LiEr rocks. Hard.)

My baby franken-bag? Here ’tis:

Side view of Frankenbag

Front view of Frankebag

My Belated Birthday Photos

Well, my birthday wasn’t belated…but the photos most definitely are. As you’ve certainly had tattooed to some important extremity by now, my birthday was on March 9. Yes. Thank you. …