Resistor Headband DIY from T-shirt

There is only one week before the March for Science (it is on April 22, 2017) and if you are looking for a quick and easy design to make and wear in solidarity with Project Thinking Cap, this could be just the solution for you. Also, it is environmentally friendly, as you can upcycle an old T-shirt into a fabric headband. You can use acrylic paint or fabric paint to add on a design.

To learn more about my scientific research, why I am marching, and the Resistor Knit Hat I designed, check out this blog post: Resistor Knit Hat - March for Science.

Step 1. Find a T-shirt - I did not want to part with any of my blue or green T-shirts so I found one at a garage sale for $1. :)

2. Cut T-shirt ~3 inches from bottom

3. Cut bottom seam from the strip.

4. Option 1: Cut the T-shirt so that it is ~1-2 inches shorter than the diameter of your head 

(mine is folded in half and was made for a 24 inch hat brim). 

Option 2 (not pictured): leave T-shirt strip original diameter, but cut to open up the strip. This will make a long strip of T-shirt that can be tied around your head ninja style. :)

5. Assemble paint - I used a white acrylic paint for the design. You can also use fabric paint (the puffy paint type). Tug the fabric a little laterally so that you can see which side of the fabric naturally folds under. You will want to paint on the side that does not fold under (so your head can keep the fabric flat). I am having trouble explaining this, so comment if it seems unclear. For my T-shirt, I ended up painting on the side that originally was the interior of the shirt.

6. Paint on desired design. I used a design showing a circuit with the symbols for a battery and two resistors.

 7. Let paint dry, then fold in half with the painted side in. Seam the edge with a sewing machine or by hand using a whip stitch.

DIY - Cardboard ottoman base tutorial

Hi everyone! A while back, I received a request from my friends for a pouf ottoman for their baby's room. I always love a challenge and was honored to help make something for their new arrival. I spent many a daydream thinking on how to best (and cheaply) construct a sturdy base for the ottoman. 

Luckily, I had a lightbulb moment and decided to roll up corrugated cardboard boxes to make the base. This proved to be an extremely sturdy and strong base. Click here to see a step-by-step tutorial of the process.

Then, I scored some half price foam at Joann for the cushioning. If desired, you could easily use an old blanket for the cushioning. Since I was knitting a cover for the ottoman and I did not want the foam to show through, I bought a dollar tree tablecloth to wrap around the ottoman. To see my knitting pattern, click here. Other finishing options include sewing a cover for this ottoman.

All ready for the baby!

Jeans to Aprons Upcycle

A while ago, I upcycled a pair of purple pants and denim jeans into some awesome aprons that I can wear when I paint, or much more rarely, when I cook. This project was fun and easy and they would make great gifts (friends and family - holler if you want one for Christmas)! I followed the awesome tutorial here. Then I went and convinced Pablo Tsukayama to take some great pictures of me. :)

T-shirt Lining for Knit Hats Tutorial

 I love knitting hats. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment and joy I have when finishing a hat and wearing it with pride. However, on the super cold and windy days, I often opt for a store bought hat, simply because it has a fleece lining and keeps my ears warm.

I solved this problem last year by designing a lining for my bulky hat with earflaps. Best of all, this lining is made out of stretchy knit T-shirt material, so it should fit most hats and heads (and provide yet another way to reuse old T-shirts - other T-shirt projects seen here, here, and here).

Directions:

1. Cut your T-shirt under the sleeves as shown. Then cut up the side so that you have one long rectangle of material.
2. Lay your hat along the bottom of the shirt material. Begin cutting, using the hat as a pattern as shown.
3. Flip your hat over onto the material and continue cutting. 
4. Fold the cut portion of the T-shirt material in half. Using the hat as a pattern, trim the top so that the material forms a semi-circle.
5. Line the material up, you should have two layers of material.
6. Sew a seam along the material, allowing ~1.5 inches for the seam.
7. Try on the lining to make sure it fits your head. If necessary, trim it a bit from the base.
8. Sew the lining to the hat interior  ~1 inch from the brim of the hat. Also secure the top of the knit hat to the top of the lining at this point.
9. Cut two triangle shapes and sew them to the inside of the flaps as shown.

Enjoy your warm homemade hat!

Monsters in Thrift Store Paintings

A while back, I stumbled upon this website that features monsters in thrift store paintings. I thought this concept was hilarious and immediately wanted to try it myself! I even google image searched "Monsters in thrift store paintings" for more inspiration.

I enlisted my artsy friend Erin in this venture and we lucked out and went to Salvation Army during their customer appreciation sale when everything in the store was 50% off! So Erin and I purchased our paintings and then spent the afternoon monster-fying them. 

"Autumn Picnic" - Monster by Heidi Arjes

"Untitled" - Monster by Erin Reinl

"I'm Hungry Too!" - Monster by Heidi Arjes

Arm Knit T-shirt Yarn Cowl

Arm knitting has been all the rage on Pinterest and after seeing some cool projects, I decided to give it a try. 

This was perfect project to use up some of my extra T-shirt yarn from the crocheted T-shirt rugs. See the diagram to the left for instructions on how to make T-shirt yarn. I used two T-shirts for this yarn. I plan on cleaning out my closets and repurposing a lot of T-shirts into these comfy scarfs. They make fast, inexpensive, easy, and beautiful gifts as well!

How to make T-shirt yarn

Arm knitting was pretty intuitive to me and I just started right up without any tutorials. However, even beginning knitters find this project accessible (see The Pinning Mama's scarf here) and numerous video tutorials can be found (Simply Maggie's excellent tutorial is here and and updated version with a cast off here).

Pattern:
Cast on 10
Arm knit until scarf is ~40" long
Cast off, leaving ~20" long tail
Use tail to seam the cast off edge to cast on edge creating an infinity scarf

It was fun looping the stitches over my arms and transferring from one arm to another to add rows. The scarf grew so fast, it only took me about 30 minutes from cast on to cast off. Check out the pictures below taken during the process. It was especially difficult to get pictures while knitting, the two shown were the most successful attempts at me setting a timer and wedging the camera under my chin. 

My scarf was long enough to wear open or wrap once around my neck. It is super warm and comfy and I can't wait to make more!

Bicycle Basket on a Budget

Supplies:

Basket from dollar tree ($1.00)

Zip Ties (less than $3.00 for a pack of 50 at Wal-mart)

Directions:

Attach the basket to the handlebars of the bike with the zip ties. Put a sticker on the basket for additional character. :) Simple as that!

The story of a girl and her bike: 

I rescued this bicycle from my apartment's basement. It had been abandoned for years and after a tune-up and some new tire tubes, I was up and riding my "new" old bike. It sure has its quirks, it is not built for speed and it gives me a serious cardio workout whenever I have to go up hills. That said, it works great for getting me to work, softball and even the grocery store. Plus, I love the color and have gotten several compliments from kids and adults alike when I ride past.

Wine Box Planters

I love planting vegetables, watering them, encouraging the tiny shoots, relishing in the first buds and then eating the final project. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and cannot have a real garden. I have been growing tomatoes and peppers in a repurposed recycling bin for the last few years. 

This year, I wanted to expand and plant some greens in my garden. To do this, I repurposed these wine boxes into planters, put them in my backyard, sowed some seeds and watched the plants grow. 

Directions:

Step 1: Gather wine boxes. I found these at a local wine shop for $2.00 a piece.

Step 2: Drill holes in the bottom of the box for drainage.

I drilled 5 holes in each box.

Step 3: Place boxes in a sunny location.

Step 4: Fill boxes with soil.

Step 5: Plant seeds. I used disposable chop sticks as markers.

After about a week some shoots are coming up!

Yay for fresh healthy food! Hopefully I can eat some of it before the rabbits!

Repurposed Recycling Bin Planter

The recycling dumpsters that appeared alleys across St Louis. Source.

I love to recycle. I even implemented a recycling program in my sorority house in college (you would not believe the amount of paper/plastics/tin cans a houseful of women can create!).  When I moved to a new apartment in St. Louis, I was happy to have a recycling bin provided so that I could single-stream my recyclables and take them to the curb every week - at my first apartment I had to separate my recyclables and carry them down the block.  About 6 months after I moved into my new apartment, our neighborhood awoke one morning to recycling dumpsters next to the regular dumpsters in the alley. I was SO excited about this, as it was even more convenient, as now, for the average resident, recycling is almost as easy as throwing away trash and more people might begin this good habit! Plus, I could take out my recycling at my leisure and did not have to remember to take it out to the curb every week.  If you live in St. Louis and want to learn more about recycling, click here.

However, this left me with a dilemma about what to do with my recycling bin. I used it for a while to collect my recyclables and take them out to the trash, but these recycling bin lids are heavy, and it is impossible for me to lift the lid high enough to dump the contents of my bin into the recycling dumpster. Plus, the bin was rather large, and I preferred to use a smaller trash receptacle to collect my recyclables in.

Then, after I bought tomatoes and peppers, I needed pots to plant them in. The previous year, I used pots that were way too small, and the plants did all right, but could have done much better. I went to Target to buy some pots, but since I am very thrifty (read cheap) and the cheapest options in the store still seemed rather expensive, I only bought one and then had the brilliant idea to convert my recycling bin into a planter for the tomatoes and peppers.

Instructions:

1. Wash the inside of the recycling bin.
2. Set the recycling bin upside down on the ground
3. Puncture the bottom of the bin several times (I made ~8-10 large knife cuts around the edges of the bottom of the bin) with a large knife, a screwdriver, a hammer and nails, or anything else that will make holes.  This is important to allow efficient drainage of excess water.
4. Turn the bin right side up, fill with soil, and plant your plants.

The tomatoes and peppers in this bin did extremely well last year!  The cherry tomatoes made it up to the second story landing on the deck steps.  Hopefully they will do as well this year.  I noticed when I was planting this year's crop that there were several earth worms living in the pot.  I don't know much about gardening but I will take that as a good sign.  :)

Update - Cherry tomato - Summer 2013:

Crocheted T-shirt Rug

I made two rugs for my mom's laundry room out of old T-shirts.  My parents recently remodeled their house and painted their laundry room a very happy orange.  Mom loved the T-shirt rug my Aunt Nancy crocheted for her kitchen and asked me if I could make some for her.  So Mom gathered tons of colorful shirts and cut them into the strips, and I got my Q-hook out and began crocheting.

Materials:
Several T-shirts in whatever colors you would like
Q-crochet hook
Needle and thread

Directions:
Cut T-shirts into ~1 inch continuous strips.  I would always cut starting from the bottom and wind my way up until I got to the sleeves.  I would cut the sleeves from the shirt and open up the shirt so that it is like a square with the neck hole in the middle. Then I cut around the neck hole, getting closer and closer until there was no more T-shirt to work with.  Once you cut up the entire T-shirt, roll the "yarn" into a ball so it is easy to work with and move on to the next shirt.  After you have a sufficient amount of T-shirts cut up, begin crocheting.  Using a Q-hook, chain as many as you would like and make your rug varying widths.  The long rug is about 30 stitches wide and I cannot remember how many I did for the smaller rug.  Continue single crocheting until the rug is the desired length.  Switch colors by cutting the working color and sewing the end of the next color on securely with your needle and thread.