Antique Brass Light Fixture

As a home owner on a budget, I am always looking for ways to create a unique and comfortable setting at my home without paying breaking my bank.  I like the mood that antique pieces bring to a home, but I also like the price tags of Ikea furnitures; therefore, I hunt for statement antique pieces to mix with "mass market" furniture pieces to create a "modern vintage" look.  While waiting to move into my current home, I found an antique brass light fixture with roses dangling on it at the Cloverdale Antique Mall.  I felt in love with the fixture instantly, and I decided to design my future breakfast area around this piece.  After endless trip to the antique mall and some more trips to other furniture places, I finally got all the pieces I needed to decorate the breakfast area at a reasonable price.  It got tricky, however, to purchase other light fixtures to go with the surrounding areas as brass fixtures with roses wasn't really the thing to do in the 21st century.  When I found another antique brass light fixture with the rose motif from the same antique dealer, I called my husband and said, "This is meant to be!  We are bringing it home!"

Crystals and roses from the fixture.

Like most antique pieces, the were some flaws with my light fixture.  The crystals were not shiny anymore, and the roses were not in perfect shape.  That said, I was delighted about imperfections on the roses as they reinforced my believe that they were hand made and therefore should not be perfect.  I was a little concerned with the not-so-shiny crystals thought as the fixture was fairly small and I wanted the crystals to reflect as much light off the bulb as possible.  Another dealer in the same antique mall happened to sell crystals for light fixtures, so I picked up some to replace the ones on my fixture.

Replacement crystals.

The new crystal has a lot more shine.

The "prettying up" the light fixture process took a lot less time than I anticipated.  The crystals and roses were removed from the fixture by the cashier to avoid damage during transportation.  I started by cleaning the fixture with a damp cloth and then wipe it dry with another piece of cloth.  I then removed the old wires on the roses and crystals and replaced them with new one.   Hanging the crystals and roses onto the fixture was not particularly difficult; thanks to the petite size tools that I collected from my beading days.

I left the electrical work to my husband.  30 minutes later, we had ourselves a "new" light fixture in the hallway!

Lap Blanket

Ever since I saw the Pixie Dust Lap Blanket on Purlbee.com, I've wanted to make one for myself.  Unfortunately, I could not find any yarn store in Vancouver that stock Knit Collage's Pixie Dust yarn; I also could not justify spending the money on this very luxurious yarn.  I started hunting for a substitute yarn a while ago, and I finally found the Malabrigo Gruesa in Art of Yarn when I was in Kelowna.  I could not believe how difficult it was to find a think and thin yarn, but there it was the Gruesa sitting in a basket right next to me as I walked into the yarn store.  I did not know how many skeins I would need for the project, so I went for seven skeins which was the number of skeins of Pixie Dust required in the original project.

I casted on 75 stitches and knitted the 1x1 rib pattern with a 9 mm needle, but I thought the blanket felt a little too dense, so I took the blanket apart and knitted it again with a 10 mm needle.  This time around I casted on 79 stitches instead because I wanted the blanket to be slightly wider.  This was very fast to knit up and it was perfect for those hours that I spent in front of the TV catching up on The West Wing.

I finished knitting the blanket in about a week.  The finished blanket measures 25" wide and 36" long when not stretched.  The stitches are not crazy tight but I can see going for a larger size needle if I were to make this again.  I am very pleased with my yarn choice; it was very ideal for this project; the blanket is warn and heavy, and it is very plush.  The Pixie Dust would probably be as nice, but the shimmer in Pixie Dust would not match my home decor as nicely as the Gruesa.  My cats absolutely love the blanket.  There were a few times that my cats gave me the stare when I had the blanket on my lap, and they looked so happy when I gave up the blanket and let them sit on it instead.

Simple Lace Wrap

Are you a knitter?  I started knitting when I was in junior high school; I had to knit something for home economic class.  I borrowed some knitting needles from my mother and I knitted a pink scarf with checker box pattern.  In retrospect it was a pretty horrible attempt, nonetheless I was pretty proud of myself then for being able to knit something with a pattern.  I tried to pick up knitting a couple times in the coming years, but for some reasons I never went beyond scarf knitting.  And even so, I only knitted a handful of scarfs in 10 years which was not a particularly exciting achievement.

I started getting back to knitting four, five years ago when I visited Knot Just Yarn in Burlington, Washington. The store was not located in a major tourist point and I guess I must have done some research on yarn shops on the internet prior to my visit.  I cannot remember what prompted me to look up a yarn store, but I haven't stopped knitting ever since (well, minus the time for sleeping, working, cooking, and all that good stuff!).  I wanted to knit something that is not a scarf, but I didn't think I was ready to move beyond something rectangular quite just yet.  I asked the lovely sales lady in the shop to recommend an easy lace pattern to me, and she suggested the "Easy Lace Scarves and Wraps" by Bev Galeskas.  Since wool makes me itchy, the sales lady recommended the Pagewood Farm Yukon yarn which is a Merino, Bamboo and Nylon blend.  This was the first time I've done yarn shopping outside of your average arts and crafts chain store, and I was really shocked to see the price tag associated to the yarn. (Really it wasn't all that expensive; anything from a decent yarn store would looked expensive compare to the $6 / skein synthetic yarn you find in Walmart.)  Anyway, I am glad I purchased the yarn because this yarn transformed my knitting experience.  I came to the conclusion that I took a break from knitting because I did not enjoy the look and feel of items knitted with polyester yarn and other synthetic materials; knitting with good yarn is so much more satisfying! (This should be a discussion that I would continue in a separate entry because I could go for a long while!)

Anyway, getting back to my scarf...  As promised by the pattern, the lace pattern is very simple to knit.  You can make a scarf or a wrap using the same lace pattern, and there is an alternate lace pattern.  I have to admit that I struggled with the lacing pattern as well, but that has to do with the fact that I had not been knitting for a while at that time and I really could benefit from some warm-up exercises.  After I got into the groove, I could knit the wrap while watching TV!  Not only did I re-discover the joy of knitting, I also learned about the beautiful effect of "blocking."  The lace pattern looked so impressive that I couldn't believe I knitted the wrap!  (For those who know when I blocked my wrap, don't ask me to explain the delay.... It's a long and convoluted story! :p)

I "reconnected" with knitting fairly quickly because I discovered I could satisfy a lot of my desires at the same time: knit up beautiful garment that I could wear, watch a few TV shows while I'm knitting, do a photo shoot for the item to showcase it, and have a conversation topic with my friends on the items that I knitted up!  I look forward to share more of my knitting projects with you in the future.

For your information, detailed information on a lot of my knitting projects can be found on my Ravelry page. (www.raverly.com)  If you are a knitter but you are not familiar with Ravelry, you should check it out.  It is a free knitting and crocheting web site with lots of excellent information!  Please contact me for my Ravelry information if you would like to visit my Ravelry page.