Painted Credenza....and a Milk Can

Today I'm sharing my second attempt at painting furniture with chalk paint.  I thought I would share my before and after photos and also a few lessons I learned along the way.  First, the fun stuff....
before

 Pretty awesome, right?  Okay, not so much.
after

Just a little better.  I really liked the detail of the cabinet, just not the wood tone.  Same with the hardware, I liked the detail, but not the finish.

I got out some black homemade chalk paint that I had made earlier and stirred it up.  Lesson number one learned- homemade chalk paint is awesome but it can't be stored.  So only mix up what you are going to use right then.  All the plaster of paris settles out to the bottom and when you stir it up you get a bunch of chunks in your paint.  Lesson number two-if you do end up with paint like this, don't go ahead and put a coat on.  I did because I didn't want to go get more paint, thinking it would somehow be okay.  It was not.  So I had to sand off all those little bumps (not fun!) and go get more paint.  Lesson number three-not all black paint is black paint apparently.  The second black paint came from a different store and as soon as I opened it I wasn't in love with the tone.  But I went ahead and put it on, thinking that it would dry to the tone I wanted.  It got a little better as it dried, but it wasn't quite what I wanted.  Oh well, it was painted, and it really didn't look bad, so I spray painted the hardware, put on a coat of wax, put the hardware back on, and called it good.

Love that detail now!
I really didn't want to throw away all of the first paint that I had mixed up (the lumpy stuff) and I had a milk can that I was planning on painting.  I decided the gritty of the paint would actually look good on the milk can since I was going for that primitive look.

It worked.  I made a stencil out of newspaper and spray painted the star on, then touched up around it.
Both of these pieces are now for sale at our booth at the Factory.

V-Stitch Cardigan for Barbie

Today's pattern is a cardigan sweater for Barbie.  This pattern will fit both the tnt older style barbie and the belly button newer style Barbie, although the fit will of course be slightly looser on the newer style.

My blonde barbie is the older style.

My brunette barbie is the newer style.  I actually don't like this sweater as good in the pictures as I do in real life. Huh, I guess it's just one of those things that didn't photograph well.

Size 10 thread
Number 5 steel hook

One note before we get started.  When I joined the seams, I used the same thread and just worked a sl st.  You could also use a regular needle and thread. (I was just too lazy to go get one.)  Also, there are going to be a LOT of threads to be worked in.  At places like seams, instead of doing all that weaving in, I cheated and tied the threads securely, then trimmed close.  Again, I'm lazy.

Ch 53
R1)  Work 3 dc in 6'th chain from hook, and in every 3'rd chain across, ending with 1 dc in last chain.  Ch 3, turn.
R2)  Work 2 dc into the space between dc and 3dc in previous row, then work 3 dc in every space between sets of 3 dc across, ending with 3 dc worked into ch 3 space.  Ch 3, turn.
R3)  Work 3 dc into every space between sets of 3 dc across, ending with 1 dc into ch 3 space.  Ch 3, turn.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 for 8 more rows-11 rows total.

Right front:
R1)  Work 2 dc into space between dc and 3 dc in previous row, then work 3 dc into next 3 spaces between sets of 3 dc's.  Ch 3, turn.
R2)  Work 3 dc into space between sets of 3 dc across, ending with 1 dc into ch 3 space.  Ch 3, turn.
R3)  Repeat row 1.
R4)  Work 3 dc into next 2 spaces between sets of 3 dc, 1 dc in last space between sets of 3 dc.  Ch 3, turn.
R5)  Work 2 dc into space between dc and 3d, work 3 dc into space between sets of 3 dc, and dc 3 into ch 3 space, ch 3, turn.
R6)  Work 3 dc into spaces between sets of 3 dc, 1 dc into ch 3 space, finish off.

Left Front:
Sl st to ch 3 sp on opposite side, ch 3.
Repeat rows as for right front.

Back:
R1)  Skip first space between 3 dc's, sl st into next space.  Ch 3, 2 dc into same space.  3 dc into each space across, stopping at second to last space.  Ch 3, turn.
R2)  3 dc into each space across, 1 dc into ch 3 space.  Ch 3, turn.
R3)  2 dc into space between dc and 3 dc.  3 dc into each space across and into turning ch 3 space.  Ch 3, turn.
R4)  Repeat row 2.
R5)  Repeat row 3.
R6)  Repeat row 2.
R7)  2 dc into space between dc and 3 dc, 3 dc into next space,  1 dc into next space, sc into next 6 dc, 1 dc into next space, 3 dc into next 2 spaces.  Finish off.
Stitch together at shoulder seams.

Sleeve:
Ch 17
R1)  Work 3dc in 6'th ch from hook, and into every third ch across, ending with 1 dc worked into last ch.  Ch3, turn.
R2)  Work 2 dc into space between dc and 3 dc, then work 3 dc into every space between 3 dc across, ending with 3 dc worked into starting ch space.  Ch 3, turn.
R3)  Work 3 dc into every space between across, ending with 1 dc in turning ch 3.  Ch 3, turn.
R4)  Repeat row 2
R5)  Repeat row 3
R6)  Repeat row 2
R7)  Repeat row 3
R8)  Work 2 dc into first space, work 3 dc into next space,  work 3 dc into next space, ch 1, work 3 more dc into same space, work 3 dc into last 2 spaces, ch 3, turn.
R9)  Work 3 dc into each space across, including space created by ch 1, work 1 dc into turning ch 3, ch 3, turn.
R10)  Repeat row 2
R11)  Work 3 dc into first two spaces, work 3 dc, ch1, 3 dc into next space, work 3 dc into last two spaces, dc into turning ch, ch 3, turn.
R12)  Work 2 dc into space between dc and 3 dc, work 3 dc into every space across, including space created by ch 1, ending with 3 dc worked into turning ch 3, ch 3, turn.
(for 3/4 length sleeve, stop here and continue to sleeve cap)
R13)  Repeat row 3
R14)  Repeat row 2
R15)  Repeat row 3, but ch 4 and turn.
(row 16 begins the sleeve cap)
R16)  Work 3 dc into each space between 3 dc across, triple crochet into turning ch, ch 4, turn.
R17)  Repeat row 16
R18)  Repeat row 16.  Finish off.
Stitch together long sides of sleeve, beginning at bottom of row 1, and ending at top of row 15.  Turn sleeve right side out and place into armhole of sleeve, right sides together, and making sure that sleeve seam is centered at bottom of armhole (space between 3 dc's), stitch sleeve into armhole. To make sure that you are getting sleeve stitched in evenly, the middle set of 3dc in last row of sleeve should line up with the shoulder seam of the bodice.
Repeat for other sleeve.

If you want, you can stop right here and you will have a perfectly acceptable sweater.  Or you can keep going for a different look.  Like this.

Haha!  A sweater that actually buttons!

Front band:
Left Side)  Join with sl st to bottom of left front, ch 2.  Work 21 hdc evenly up front edge.  Ch 2, turn, skip first stitch, work hdc in each stitch back down front and in beginning ch 2.  Finish off.
Right Side)  Join with sl st to bottom of right front, ch 2.  Work 21 hdc evenly up front edge.  Ch 1, turn.  Work sc in first 2 stitches, *ch 2, skip next 2 stitches, sc in next 3 stitches*, repeat 3 times.  Ch 2, turn.  Skip first st, hdc in each stitch, working 2 hdc into ch 2 spaces.  Finish off.
Sew buttons, 4 of them, (approx. 3/8" size,can be slightly smaller but I don't recommend going any larger) onto left side of band to coordinate with the button holes created on the right side. 

The back view.

Front view on the other doll.

And back view on the other doll.