Monday, April 19, 2010

Michelle goes a little overboard.

A quick update to the previous post. I may get some flak for this...it's a tad whacko.

So we made the cute hair combs, right? We like them, yes?


But I was a bit sad, realizing that since I never wear orange, I would end up giving them away (probably to my beautiful orange-wearing friend Kim). Then, suddenly, I wondered...

Could I alter the colors of the yarn?

I didn't want to keep the orange, but I'm fond of the second color, that chartreuse-y yellow-green. So I took a length of yarn...

And painted all the orange blobbles pink.

Yes, you read that right. I may have taken this challenge too far, even for me. But really, it wasn't that hard! It only took a few minutes, the paint dried really quickly, and I whipped up some hair combs in fresh colors.

For those of you who have not yet clicked away in horror, a mini tutorial.

I used ordinary craft paint. The neatnik version was using a Q-tip, which worked fine:


But if you don't mind getting a bit painty, it was actually easier to dip two fingers in the paint and roll each blobble between them. I did another length in purple. It was fun, look:


So that's what I did. Here's how my altered yarn turned out:


(You can click on the photo to see it bigger. The piece in the foreground is original recipe.)

Yes, I am a little embarrassed. But the challenge was to be creative about working with limited supplies, without buying anything new. Obviously, if you're knitting something or doing a project using miles of yarn, this isn't feasible. But for a teensy project like these hair combs...why not?

New combs in pink-chartreuse and purple-chartreuse:


For anyone cuckoo enough to give this a try: I attempted to Sharpie out the orange, but it didn't work so well. I don't recommend Sharpie-ing. I wonder if Ritt dye...no. No.

The madness must be stopped.



3 comments:

  1. Your 'I'm certifiable' certificate is in the mail as well as your 'I painted threadballs' award. You are in a category by yourself...It was a bold and audacious idea--and I like it! I'm also crazy about your 'boot' picture holder. You should sponsor a contest, "What's the most wearable piece of jewelry or art you can make from the most obscure piece of used or discarded or 'on sale' material. Or how about a 'Save Your Planet by Wearing Your Trash' contest? Now I've gone too far!

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  2. I don't think this is odd at all. I think it's brilliant! I never knew you could paint those little thread balls, so now you've just created a monster! :) (Thank you!)

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  3. I adore the combs, I have a skein of yarn that I just loved in the store, but when I got it home and tried to crochet with it, I wanted to burn it. LOL drove me nuts so I stashed it in the "someday I'll find something to use you for" bin. Everyone has one of those, right? Any way, I think it will work great on these, can't wait to try it.

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