Green Shawl

A while back David bought me this gorgeous varegated green yarn.  I knew that I wanted to make it into a shawl or scarf, but I also knew that my usual lacy patterns would get lost in all the color.  So I found a nice simple pattern, aptly named "Simple Thing"

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It's mostly plain stockinette stitch, but near the edge there's a few rows of eyelets.

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It's a bit bigger than my usual scarfs, so I've decided that it's a shawl.  I've been draping it over my shoulders in the evenings when I get a little chilly, while knitting or watching a movie!

Charging Station 2

Yesterday I told you all about deciding to re-purpose my old jewelry box into a cell phone charging station.  (You can read all about that here.)  Well now I'm back to share pictures of the finished product.

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After removing all the gunk out of the top of the jewelry box I sanded the whole thing down, and painted it.  I spray painted it using a color called "Antique White" which is actually off-white.  It took a couple of coats to get the color even, but now it looks fabulous!

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The cords hide in the drawer, where they are plugged in to a little extension cord.  With the extension cord we are able to plug in three things, so only the single cord sticks out the hole that I drilled in the back.

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David helped me drill three slots so that the chargers can get from the drawer up to where our phones sit.  We put in three because there is definitely enough room for three devices, although currently we are just using it for our two phones.  Perhaps in the future one of us will want to charge our i-pod here.

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So that's my new charging station.  I hope that you like it!

Charging Station 1

I've been wanting a charging station for our phones for a while now.  The charging cords have been cluttering up the top of our dresser for way too long.  I have tried looking for one at Target, but they never seemed to have one that I liked.  So I decided to make my own.

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I know what you're thinking:  That's not a charging station, it's a jewelry box. 

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Well, you'd be right.  A few months ago, after purging my jewelry collection, and keeping only the things that I actually wear, or really like, I was left with a jewelry box that was way too big.  I was about to just get rid of it, when I realized that it was the perfect size for a charging station.

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I figured that once I removed the dividers that were inside and took off the lid, the top portion could hold our phones, and the drawer below could hide the cords.

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This worked perfectly for the drawer.  The dividers popped out easily leaving the bottom fairly clean.  Since the velvety lining was in pretty good shape, and no one was going to see it since it was in the drawer, I decided to just leave it in.

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The top was much more difficult.  The velvet wrapped up the sides of the dividers, and everything was stuck in there pretty good.  After trying and failing to just pry out the dividers like I had done with the drawer, I eventually resorted to using this tiny little saw to cut them out.

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While the dividers did come out, they left behind a whole lot of gunk.  Everything was glued down, and when I got the dividers and the lining out it left behind a the paper backing.

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I nearly gave up, but eventually I managed to scrape all of the paper backing and velvety residue out.  It must have left me exhausted, because I don't seem to have a picture showing the interior clean and free from gunk.

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Well, that was a lot of photos, so I'll save the "after" photos of the completed charging station for tomorrow!

Converting a Keg

 

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David is planning to brew his own beer sometime this summer.  Last weekend he was converting a keg into a kettle to use during the brewing process.

Jungle Dog