DIY / / Infinity Rope Scarf

*If you enjoy this tutorial, please pin on pinterest with the caption Kollabora All Summit Challenge, it may help me win a trip to Alt Summit! Thanks so much!*

It's that time of year again! Every time the leaves start to fall, I start to yearn for a ball of yarn and a knitting project. I tend to have a case of seasonal knitting syndrome! Does this happen to you, too?

If you are new to knitting or have wanted to learn how, but never tried, this is the perfect project! Even if you are an experienced knitter, this project is quick, easy, and it's always fun to play with something new! Also, my favorite projects are one-skein knitting projects, like this one. I tend to go into yarn shops and can't leave without at least one skein of beautiful yarn! I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem! ;) 

Supplies: 

Any type of yarn will work! Currently, my favorite yarn is Berroco Flicker, it comes in beautiful shades and has a trace of metallic flicker in it. 

Have you ever used the Clover Wonder Knitter? It's cheaper than a pair of knitting needles and can make many more knitting projects too! 

To get started, thread the yarn up the barrel of the wonder knitter. Wrap the yarn clockwise around a spoke, work counter-clockwise until all of the spokes are wrapped. Thread the yarn in the holder and you're set to being knitting! 

With the hook, pull yarn (that is attached to the holder) over the first loop of the spoke and release the hook. You've made your first stitch! Turn the yellow wheel to your left and repeat stitch. Keep knitting until your desired length.

I like the knit the whole skein, this always seems to be the perfect length no matter what skein of yarn you use. To end, knot the beginning and the end of the knitted chain together by taking the tail end of each yarn and tying them together. Knot with three overhand knots. This knot can easily hide under the leather cuff or at the back of the neck. 

Isn't it easy and oh so pretty?! Now you could stop there, but I love the look of adding this simple leather cuff, it also helps keep the loops secured together. 

Supplies: 

5" x 1.5" scrap of leather

gold snaps (available at sewing and craft shops)

leather hole punch

snap setter

cutting mat

Punch a 1/8" hole in the leather. Hammer the punch through the leather to make the hole. Make sure your table is protected by a self-healing mat. There are four parts to a snap (directions are included in the package), but set the leather in-between the male and female snaps, hammer the setter to expand the male snap to secure it. Repeat with the other side. Make sure that both snaps are on the right (top) side of the leather. Wrap around your infinity rope scarf and snap! 

Enjoy! 

*If you enjoyed this tutorial, please pin on pinterest with the caption Kollabora All Summit Challenge, it may help me win a trip to Alt Summit! Thanks so much!*

Field Trip // Antique Portland Expo

Three times a year, one of the biggest antique fairs in the US occurs at the Portland Expo Center. From experience, we've found that this is not the right venue for us to sell our goods at. The crowd of vendors and customers are mostly in the older age range, and as such, they tend to not want to buy mid-century pieces. Because of this it's also very hard to find mid-century. So today we headed out to this three-day event, on the last day in the afternoon, when many of the vendors still have lots of product, don't want to take it all home, and are willing to make deals! 

There were so many Native American rugs that kept drawing my eye! I don't know if I just haven't paid attention to them before...or if there were lots more than usual (probably the first), but they were everywhere. Oh so beautiful and oh so very, very expensive! I'll continue to search for them in the "wild" but in the meantime, I'm dreaming of turning some of these patterns into quilts. :) 

These three pieces were the stellar stand outs of mid-century furniture.  Chris really wanted this first chair, an Arne Jacobsen Swan chair, but alas our pocketbooks only allowed us to look. Also, these Norman Cherner Plycraft chairs & Hans Wegner armchairs were all so fun to stare at. 

While Chris was only looking at furniture. These two pieces stuck out to me. One of my favorite books growing up, Anne of Green Gables in a beautiful illustrated version. Also this orange and gold dot dress, I just love the pattern on the dress! 

Here were our finds of the day (while loading out in the heavy PNW rain): a men's leather luggage bag, 60s teak and black clock, a black tensor lamp, chair, typeset tray, kitchen cart,  and lots of pottery goods in my canvas bag.  Tomorrow, there will be photos of everything on the Remnant blog. But I couldn't help but share today's adventure with all of you!

Happy Sunday!

DIY // Leather Geometric Necklaces

Have you heard of the new site, Kollabora?! It's an online community of makers, they are making an awesome site where you can share projects, inspiration, and gather supplies. All crafts related to jewelry, knitting, and sewing are featured on Kollabora. They have many inspiring projects, check it out!

How does this relate to this tutorial? Well, they are hosting a contest (along with Bernina) for a change to win a ticket to Alt Summit (and the opportunity to teach a design camp)! After experiencing Alt last year, I know that this would be such an amazing experience and I would love to have this opportunity! If you love this DIY and would like to help me win, pin your favorite picture from this post on pinterest with the caption Kollabora Alt Summit. Thank you so much! 

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Ever since I went to Oregon Leather Supply in Portland, I've fallen in love with leather. For the first time, I saw so many interesting shades and textures of leather. Leather is so easy to use and durable, it made for the perfect material for this special project!  Also lately, I've been inspired by the patterns of Pendleton wool and Native American art.  Here's a fun do it yourself project that combines these two elements. Make these three necklaces or use your creativity! There are endless possibilities and combinations to this simple project.

Here's what you'll need: 

// Scraps of Leather // Eyelets // Jewelry Chain // Jump Rings & Lobster Claws //

- Decide on pattern and shape of necklace. I found it most helpful to draw out the design on paper, then to make a paper template of the shapes. For the triangle necklace, using graph paper helps to draw perfect triangles. Cut out the paper templates. 

- Trace the paper templates on the back of the leather. A ball point pen is the easiest to use. Cut the leather shapes out with scissors. 

- Connect the shapes with eyelets and jump rings. If you're making your own design, make sure that each shape is connected to another shape.  Using a hole punch that you can hammer, while working on a self-healing mat, hammer a 3/8" hole into the leather. 

- Place an eyelet in the hole. On the back side of the eyelet, fit the setter in the hole and hammer lightly. The metal will coil back and secure itself to the leather. 

- Using needlenose pliers, open the jump rings and attach shapes to one another. Attach a jump ring to the end of each leather arrangement, then attach chain to your desired length. 

- If desired, attach a lobster clasp in the middle of the chain. On one side of the chain, attach a small jump ring to the chain and place the lobster claw in the jump ring and then close it. On the other side of the chain, attach a large jump ring. This makes closing the necklace much easier! 

Variations: 

Paint it! // Chevron Gold - Use masking tape to type off patterns on the leather. Using acrylic or fabric paint, apply a thin layer of paint with a foam brush. Allow one hour to dry. Remove tape. 

Charms! // Asymmetric Circles - Attach metal charms to the leather. Simply use needle and thread. Knot the end of the thread, starting from the back stitch two loops, and knot to secure. 

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Special thanks to Courtney Smith of All Burnt Up for the beautiful photography! 

Field Trip // Maven Collective

A new shop opened last weekend called Maven Collective on 7819 SE Stark St.  Four amazingly creative and impeciable curators (Jacklyn, the original owner of Maven, Kim from Ethanollie, Sue from Solstice Home and Rebekah from Little Byrd Vintage) have assembled to create this shop in the Montavilla neighborhood of Portland. Chris and I wanted to check it out and support another new shop, so we went not knowing what to anticipate. We were both blown away by the amazing array of vintage goods. We couldn't leave without purchasing a few goodies of our own! 

...are scattered throughout the shop. I couldn't leave without a little plant of my own. 

Some of my favorite pieces were the...

 Mark your calendars for the Grand Opening! Chris and I plan on stopping by, too.  

Another aspect that I feel is unique to Maven Collective are the unique collections throughout the shop. 

/// I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour of Maven Collective. Like them on facebook to follow their adventures! ///

Shop Announcement // Vintage Design Collective

 

This morning I'm bubbling over in excitement to tell you that Remnant (my husband and I's vintage furniture business) is opening up in a new Brick & Mortar shop! It's called Vintage Design Collective (website coming soon) and will have 10 vendors showcase lots of great vintage goods! We are so excited to have one of those vendors. 

Portland Flea // October

Here's a little of the back story: Chris and I have been looking to have space in a vintage shop for over a year now. We really wanted to pick the right spot that would be the best fit for our esthetic. There are many vintage shops in Portland, but they are either not the right fit or did not have any open space. A couple months ago, a friend of ours told us he was planning to open a new shop and would love to have us be part of it. After planning and praying, we are taking the plunge! You see over the past year, we've always sold at Portland Flea, etsy, and craigslist. But for anyone who has sold on craigslist you know the headache of no-shows and posting. I'm also extra anxious to get most of our house back!! We'll still use it to store some pieces and of course work on more, but it won't overtake 80% of our home. I think I might be able to actually get more work done! ;) 

Be sure to follow us on our new site/blog: www.Remnantpdx.com, as all of the info will be posted there. (Also for more pics of yesterday's Portland Flea!) But I just had to share here with all of my faithful followers that have been seeing this progress and transition. Thanks so much!