Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Prince Street

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I picked up another cheap @$$ nail polish at Walmart because, well, I'm cheap. This is another "In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish" at $1.72 per 0.33 fl oz bottle. The color (247) is a purple called Prince Street. My camera can't take pictures of reds or purples apparently, so it shows up a blue purple in the picture, but it's a red purple. It's a color you think of when people try to dye something "amethyst" even though it's nowhere near the color of the actual stone... Somewhere between purple and fuchsia.

This stuff went on watery and clear, but by a second coat was fine. I like the color, but it's not the same flat color as the High Line Green I tried earlier. It's a more pearlescent purple. Pearlescent isn't in Chrome's dictionary either. Shame!!


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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Ruby Pumps

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After I saw The Hunger Games today, I decided to revoke my show of support for District 12 by removing Smoke and Ashes. Yes, I love the books... But I didn't feel the same way about the movie. I thought it was awfully slow in some parts, and sped up the parts I'd actually like to see. I remember the director's movie Seabiscuit being the same way -- a great story, but too slow of a movie. I'll give it another viewing later (probably on DVD) before I make my final call on the movie. But it could have been so much better.

I've been pretty excited to try China Glaze's Ruby Pumps since I picked it up, so that was the first thing on my list tonight. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it, because to me it is exactly the color of Dorothy's slippers in The Wizard of Oz. It's a bright red polish with fine red glitter in it, so it doesn't feel as rough as most other glittery polishes I've used. It's not completely smooth, but I was pleasantly surprised. Still might do another topcoat though.

It's a deeper red (more like the bottle)

I will say that the base coat of Gelous I used with Smoke and Ashes made it a lot better. I thought black polish would never come off, but it slid off easily. I might be regretting not using it with Ruby Pumps in a few days...

Edit: Ruby Pumps came off just as easily as any other glitter polish. Which is to say not quickly... 😉

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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Smoke and Ashes

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I'm so excited for The Hunger Games this weekend! To celebrate its release and my support of District 12, I donned their signature color -- Smoke and Ashes from China Glaze's Capitol Colours collection. It's a basic black with a twist: there are blue and green shimmers. I did expect a little something better for the main district in Katniss' story, but ah well. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the sun! The bottle in the picture looks like it contains grey polish, and the nails look straight black for the most part. It doesn't do the color justice.



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Finished Mockingjay

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I wrote this last night, and picked up my laptop today to see that it was still sitting unpublished in the editor. Whoops!

I finished my Mockingjay Hat, but I don't like the way the hat fits. =( Also, I didn't carry the gold yarn from the end of one row to the beginning of the next as loosely as I should have, so the Mockingjay design is a little puckered. It doesn't matter though because I hate this hat! There's too much ribbing (and I didn't do it all), there's too much hat (again, didn't do it all), and the design is on the top of my head so you can't really see it. Someone in HPKCHC suggested I try to wear it with the design on the back, so I'll see how that looks.


Yarn used:

  

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

My Dragon Hoard from Sally

I went to Sally today and got something like $32 worth of products for $13. I picked up some Gelous which I've been eyeing for a while, China Glaze in Ruby Pumps from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection (shiny, glittery red and fun!), a nail corrector pen, polish remover, dark circle undereye corrector (I have yet to find one that works), and tons of other stuff. I had a $10 off coupon for my birthday, so I've already got about $25 in free stuff this month. And who doesn't love free stuff? I also picked up one of those China Glaze crackles. Not sure how I feel about the crackly polish, but they were on sale for $1.99 so why not give it a shot?

Ok, my allergies are killing me so I'm going to bed. Just wanted to let you know that I am becoming a hoarder of all things from Sally. And yarn.

You can see a Mockingjay!

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I've been working on my Mockingjay hat like a fiend today because I was slack yesterday and the day before. I wish I had more accurately imagined the way the chart would have turned out, because if I had I would have filled in some of the holes. They're for effect but totally not necessary. If I ever do this again (or use the chart on something else), I'm going to have a more solid Mockingjay.


I'm going to use this for Charms. I can definitely tie it in with Cedric Diggory for the colors and a lot of other things. Katniss and Cedric have a lot of similar qualities.

Yarn used:

  

Monday, March 19, 2012

First Mate

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I got bored today and decided I'd try another nail polish. I stripped off my Hook and Line and put on some Seche Clear... Then had to leave the house. My nails are still a little greeny from the High Line Green I used earlier this month, so it kinda looked like I had a disease.

So I came home and while Castle was on (late at night, as usual), I used China Glaze's First Mate, which was from last spring's collection. It's a pretty, glossy navy and I love it! I choose things so well. ;) So of course it's late and the base of my nails looks a bit wonky, but I'll peel off/acetone the crap out of the weird pieces later. I'd also like to point out that this is the first time this month I haven't messed up my right index fingernail. Making progress!

Pretty... And pretty wonky.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Mockingjay Hat

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I've decided to start a hat hoping that I'll finish it in time to wear it to The Hunger Games on Saturday. I'm combining a Mockingjay chart with the pattern for a Simple Slouchy Hat. I saw a project where someone else did this and it looked pretty good. We'll see how this one goes...

Now Blogger has flipped it upside down. I give up.

I ended up using my last hat for a class, and this one doesn't qualify for my Quidditch path, so it will be my fifth class (plus a partial) this month. I think I need someone to stop enabling me instead of enabling me. And the excitement of being Sorted soon is mounting... I can't wait to have a new home in HPKCHC come May!

Yarn used:

  

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Hook and Line

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I got my shipment from Sally Beauty today. Now I have 7 new polishes to try! First I tried the China Glaze Hunger Games color Electrify over my green polish from the other day. It looked awful, so I decided to redo my nails and try a new color. Since The Hunger Games is coming out soon, I decided to try another one from the Capitol Colours collection. This time I decided to try Hook and Line, which is a beautiful light pearlescent grey. Only problem is, it comes out streaky and you can see the strokes of the brush. So, if for instance you did a slightly off-kilter brush stroke on your thumb like I did, you have a weird line going diagonally across your thumbnail. I really love the color as it reminds me of one of my favorite polishes from middle school that they don't make anymore (Street Wear in Gunmetal). I just wish it didn't get all streaky!!


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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Laurel

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I started making a hat yesterday called Laurel. It's my first experience with these things called bobbles, and it's not going particularly well. I think my bobbles are smaller than they should be, and some of them have what looks like a yarn over next to them, so it's a bump next to a hole. Not very attractive... So I'll keep working on it and see how it turns out. You can tell from the nail polish in the photo that I should have posted this before High Line Green, but I never do anything the way I should.

WHY does Blogger insist on flipping my images?

I'm not sure about what HPKCHC class I can use this for, so it might be going to Quidditch. I've already turned in 3 completed classes, a partial class, and 5 badge/contest entries, so I think I'm OK for the month. 😛

Yarn used:

High Line Green

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Today I tried out a cheapie nail polish. It's a mouthful... The brand is NYC (New York Color) and the polish is "In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish." The color is a new one called High Line Green. I picked this up at Walmart for $1.72 (regular price, not sale) so it's about as affordable as you can get. I used what are becoming my staples of Seche Clear base coat and Seche Vite top coat with the cheapo polish, so we'll see how long it lasts.

I'm actually surprised at how much I like this stuff. It went on fairly smooth with the exception of a few bubbles (nothing a top coat can't fix). It was translucent on the first swipe, but I just piled on a little more and didn't need another coat. It's super glossy even without a top coat, but I chip polish so bad that I did a top coat anyways. You can see in the photo that it's picking up and reflecting all the lights in the room (photo was no flash). Anyways, it's a bright not-quite-neon green that is so fun, and the high gloss just amps it up. I'll definitely be using this one again.

Maybe one day I won't do this late at night and it will look perfect

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Monday, March 12, 2012

Kool Aid Cotton Yarn Dyeing

I'm going to inundate you with process photos, so be prepared. I decided to try to dye some cotton yarn using Kool Aid since there are so many things online saying you can't, and a few sites saying you can. I tried to do this as conservatively as possible, so I may have added a few extra steps that were unnecessary. But my yarn is dyed so I can say that this works!

There are several places that say vinegar makes the yarn take dye better, and that heat does the same. So for safety's sake, I used tons of vinegar and heat. Not sure if this is really necessary, but it's what I did and you can to! =P My materials for this process are below, plus things you have around your house like forks, paper towels, cling wrap, and paper plates. I used a stainless steel pot for all the process instead of using a ton of bowls. Also included in the picture are white vinegar, Kool Aid packets, and Peaches & Creme yarn.


First, I took about half the skein of yarn and wrapped it around a couple dining room chairs. I left the other half in a ball and used that for another yarn dyeing experiment that I will chronicle later. I made a mixture of half vinegar, half warm water and threw the yarn in. It floats, so I had to smash it down in there with a fork. I let it soak for a while on one side, then flipped it over and let the other side soak.


I took the vinegar-soaked yarn out of the pot and let it drip over the sink for a minute. Then I laid it out on some paper towels to let some of the vinegar leave the yarn. I then unwound the ball and repeated the dining room chair process to make it easier to dry completely. I hung each one on a hanger to dry. You can tell from the pictures that the ball-soaked yarn (on the left) is actually smoother than the wrinkly, loose-soaked yarn (on the right). I let these dry overnight since I started out pretty late.


Experiment 1

The next morning, I heated up some more water in a pot to almost boiling. I added a little bit of vinegar (didn't measure, just poured) and 2 packets of green Kool Aid (Lemon Lime flavor). Then I threw the yarn in, smushed it down a little with the fork, and let it soak. I flipped it a few times to help both sides soak up as much dye as possible. You can tell from the second picture to the third that it really began to soak up the Kool Aid. I've read in some places that the yarn will soak it all up and the water will be clear, but since I used 2 packets it never got clear. I may have over-estimated the Kool Aid to yarn ratio, but I wanted to be sure that I had enough dye.


I used the fork to remove the yarn from the pot because the water was still a little warm. I let it hang over the sink for a bit to drip and then moved it onto some plastic wrap. Like I said, I've heard heat helps this process and I'm not sure it's necessary, but I wrapped the yarn up in the cling wrap and put it in the microwave for a minute (just in case... couldn't hurt, right?). Then I removed the plastic wrap from my steaming yarn burrito, moved it apart and left it on a paper plate to cool and dry. When it was dry enough to not drip, I hung it on a hanger again to dry.


Experiment 2

My second little experiment used the leftover (ball-soaked) yarn and some more Kool Aid. I added another packet to the leftover green Kool Aid mixture from the green yarn dyeing. Then I hung each end of the ball-soaked yarn into the pot and let the middle hang over. I smashed it down with the fork and flipped it over several times as in the previous example. Then I took it out of the pot and put it in the sink to drip. Then, for good measure, I poured the Kool Aid mixture over it so it would add some more dye to the yarn on its way down the drain.


Then I made another Kool Aid concoction. I heated water to almost boiling, poured in some vinegar, and mixed in 2 packets of red Kool Aid (Cherry flavor). Then the middle of the yarn section went into the pot with the ends hanging over. I let it soak with some white space in between the green-dyed portion and the water. Then I picked the yarn up by the ends and submerged it up to (and maybe a little over) the green dyed portion. That way, I was hoping it would end up variegated with really green and really red extremes with a pale green and pink in the middle.


I removed the yarn, dangled it over the sink, and poured the remaining Kool Aid over the yarn and down the drain. The yarn rested on a paper towel for a short period to sop up the remaining dye then went into a cling wrap burrito that was more like a churro because I didn't want the different colors touching. I put that burrito in the microwave for a minute to make sure it was hot enough, even though I've seen sources say heat doesn't matter. Then I arranged it loosely on a paper plate to dry.


I must warn you that by dyeing the yarn in a big heap I ended up with a tangled mess that took a while to get straight again. Here's a picture of the finished yarn. The red ended up more pastel after drying. I wrapped it around a toilet paper roll to keep it from tangling again.


Update: It has been a while since dyeing the yarn, and the colors fade a little bit over time. Also, washing the items I made removed much of the color. The unwashed items are still the same color I dyed them though! The red took to the cotton a lot better than the green did.