Wooden chair makeover

What a beautiful week-end we've had! Really sunny but not too hot, the perfect weather to be outside. It gave me the chance to work in the garden for a while, which was much needed. All that sun and rain we've had in the past 2 weeks made the veggies happy, but weeds also took advantage of the situation! The savoy cabbages, the winter squash and the tomatoes are growing fast, and I even picked a couple radishes yesterday morning. Zucchinis and parsley are doing better, some animals were fond of them I think, but they seem to have found something else to eat now.  Beets and carrots haven't really show up yet, I think I might have to sow some more.

As I mention in my previous post, I've been busy lately with various project. Not that I'm putting away knitting (no no!!) but I've had some little projects in mind for a while and I'm finally putting time in them. Today I want to share my first spray paint project (yay!). It might seem simple, but I've had a lot of fun spray painting for the first time!

Maybe I told you before but I'm kind of addicted to the thrift store haha. I have a list of things I'd like to find (small furniture, vintage dishes, clothes and fabrics etc), so I look for them every time I pass by the store. Lately I've been looking for a chair to replace an old plastic patio chair that broke (I didn't really liked it anyway). I though a wooden chair would be perfect, prettier in my opinion and long lasting. Here is what I found:

It was only 4 dollars, so I bought it, thinking it would be perfect to sit on the balcony. At first, I wanted to clean and re-varnish it. There were small splashes of paint on the legs and seat. Some came off easily when I scrubbed them, but it was difficult to get rid of others, especially between the bars. So I changed my mind and went to the hardware store. I found a bottle of spray paint (the indoor/outdoor kind) of a color I liked for 6 dollars or so, and here is how it looks now:

I'm happy with the result, it really makes my balcony more joyful! I'd like to find a little table I could also paint in a funky color to go with it. I will eventually make a little cushion that matches the chair but it's not a priority on my crafts list for the moment.

Jeweled Cowl

 My Jeweled Cowl is finally finished! I started this project in january, I think, but it took me a long time to knit because I worked on it nearly exclusively at work during my breaks.  In fact, I finished it awhile ago, but I wasn't satisfied with the bind off. At first, I only did a traditional basic bind off but it was too tight and made the final opening smaller than the starting one. After a couple of weeks of watching it lying around, I kicked my butt and unraveled the bind off. I searched for a stretchier bind off in the book Cast On Bind Off  from Leslie Ann Bestor and chose the Suspended Bind Off and now it's perfect!  

If you like the cowl and would like to make one yourself, you can find the pattern here for free: www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jeweled-cowl It really is a nice "lace-weight beginner" (as I consider myself) project. The instructions are simple and the pattern knits easily. You'll need patience though, because the beading process does slow down the knitting. But its worth it, all these little beads adds a lot of elegance and shine. Plus, it totally mystifies people who don't know the technique haha!

It was a fun project to knit as a first time with lace yarn. I used Knit Picks Shadow in Vineyard Heather. I like the rich violet color with the tiny bits of red and gold mixed in.
I hope to make a more complex lace piece eventually, maybe a shawl...but right now I'm much taken by other crafts. I love winter time, with all the cozy wool and hot cups of chai tea, but summer always seem to bring me more energy and a lot more project ideas than what my normal schedule allow me to work on. Anyway, I should be posting some non-knitting projects soon, between my gardening and balcony-tea-drinking sessions!