Five Strands? What happened to Fishtail?

This week I stumbled upon a unique and relatively simple hairstyle which completely swept me away with envy. How I wish I had known about this before I chopped off my long, wavy tresses! I could bemoan cutting my hair until it is long enough to style it this way, and I probably will, but onto the main attraction. The Five Strand Braid is an intricate eye-catching style which is very likely to become more popular than the near impossible Fishtail Braid. Now, I'm not really one to jump on upcoming trends or see them long before the insane fashion bloggers who spend every waking moment trying to wear/do/style/eat/medicate/exercise the "in" thing; I usually am late to the game and continue doing whatever I thought was comfortable and fashionable. This braid has kinda rocked my world though, and I am seriously excited to give it a try(although it's probably gonna have to wait many moons till my hair grows out). 

   

So for all you ladies out there who just can't decide what to do with your long hair, be it straight or curly, layered or one-length, this look is most definitely for you. This Five Strand Braid is swept to the side and can be done with or without bangs, whatever your preference or current hair situation. (I consider it a "hair situation" because half the time my hair cuts don't turn out right, and I assume others experience this weird/funky hair phenomenon). The video tutorial lady suggests pulling out a few strands and curling them a bit for a more "romantic" look, but I don't think it's really necessary unless that's what you're going for. If you don't have any bangs to speak of I'm not sure the wispy curls would look that awesome, but that's just me. This braid would really pop with a unique headband, perhaps a DIY cloth one like these:

   

Obviously the girls in the photos have big, swooping bangs which look fantastic, and I suppose the braid would look great coupled with that. I just have this thing against bangs 'cause I've never been able to get them done right; curse of having curly hair. I've all but given up on ever getting bangs to work for me, so don't even try to tell me anyone can have bangs; it simply isn't true.

The Five Strand Braid does have a certain fantasy flair to it, reminiscent of Lord of the Rings or some other medieval costumed story, but I think that's what I love about it. Who doesn't want to look like Arwen or Nynaeve once in awhile? 

If you stumble upon my blog or have been reading it, please leave me a comment or suggestion, I'd love to hear from you! Check out what I'm currently liking on Pinterest or my crafts on Ravelry by following the links.

~OpalStitches~

Miss Noncommittal Strikes Again!

So ya'll know that I have absolutely no consistency and can't commit to projects I post on my blog; my bad, I apologize, I'm a terrible person. No seriously, I know that I suck at this.

To make up for my suck-at-blogging syndrome, I thought I'd try something different and post about my recent Pinterest finds. I know that everyone probably does this, and you could just find me on Pinterest, but heck no one reads my blog anyways so here we go. To start us off, I'd like to present the awesomest DIY t-shirt upcycles ever! WOBISOBI is fantastic and has VERY easy tutorials on upcycling those crappy t-shirts that never fit you right anyway(or it gives you an excuse to raid the man-closet and steal those super soft tees!). 

I am absolutely in love with the racer back tees on WOBISOBI and this one is super cute with the braid in the back. I like that most of the shirts she redesigns can be used for us regular ladies or for those of us with buns in the oven! Having clothes which work either way is a great money saver, of which I am always a fan. Now I'm not going to say "Next week see my version of this great tee" because I don't want to lie to you blog readers out there, if you exist. At some point in my existence I will likely make one of these awesome shirts, but no promises they'll make it to my blog. 

I'm hoping to get some readers by posting about other great blogs, on the chance that someone out there finds my rants unique or interesting or whatever. If I was more motivated I would probably read up on how to get more views and readers, but that's probably never gonna happen. So for now I'll try this format and see what happens. If you stumbled upon my blog, please leave a comment about what you think, I would LOVE to hear from you! 

Happy Pinteresting!

Brunette's Summer Shades

So I am a terrible blogger, obviously, because I never post and when I do it is just not that interesting. However, I have an adventure that I am about to embark upon and it should make for a great blog experience.

Most women at some point want to change their hair color, whether it is a few shades lighter or darker, or something drastically different. Being that kind of woman, I did a home dye kit a few weeks ago to make my dark brunette hair a blackberry/maroonish color. It looked great for a couple of days, but I wasn't using a color shampoo/conditioner routine so it didn't last that well. I think it was also because of the brand I used, which I'm not going to rail against; I'll just say that it was cheap and I should have known better.


My husband is always teasing me to go blonde(which is so far from my natural color that it's not even funny) and I'm too nervous to take the jump. However, I do want to lighten my hair for the summer. I don't want to go the salon and have to pay with my limbs or organs, so I did some research today on natural lightening techniques. So far, I have found that the traditional lemon juice routine is effective, but it will not make dark brown hair turn blonde. Adding chamomile tea and red wine vinegar to the lemon juice is much more likely to brighten up dark tresses, or so I have read on various beauty/DIY websites. I am not going anywhere near hydrogen peroxide as it can ruin your healthy hair and turn it all kind of funky shades of orange(I don't want to deal with that hot mess). So sometime this week I am going to come up with my own concoction to naturally lighten/brighten my hair. Wish me luck, and here's hoping my hair doesn't fall out!

Tunic Troubles

As spring is finally here and soon it will be summer, I decided that I wanted to make myself a comfortable top to wear in the warmer weather. When I've made clothes for myself in the past they were generally cardis or wraps, not true tops to wear basically by themselves. So I'm venturing into something new, even though I am sticking to knitting flat because I'm just not brave enough to knit in the round ;)

So here is the pattern, Aspira One-Button Tunic and isn't it lovely! I really can't wait to try my hand at this, although it uses considerably more yarn than one of my typical projects. As usual, I am hesitant to purchase natural fiber yarn a) because of the expense and b) because of the care required. I just prefer to use acrylic that is as soft as natural fiber, while costing much less and being way more easy to launder. Thankfully this pattern is done by Caron so I can use some of my favorite yarns if I so choose.

There is a hint of crocheting around some of the edges, I believe, but I've mastered at least slip and single crochet so it shouldn't be a problem. I did read some interesting comments on Ravelry of people who made this project and had some problems with fit. I think the pattern must be strictly adhered to, as well as gauge being thoroughly checked if this is to come out well. So here is hoping for a rewarding summer project that will probably end up taking me months to complete.

Stash Busters and Badger Pride

Calling all knitters! I am finally posting and discussing some of my recent projects. Ravelry has been consuming a lot of my time lately, particularly Hogwarts@Ravelry. After my trip to California I was sorted into Hufflepuff house, which I have to say was a bit disappointing as I was hoping for Ravenclaw. (Don't worry Luna, you're still my favorite!) So as for that, I am spending most of my knitting time keeping up to date with what's happening @ Hogwarts and earning points for the Puffs!


Speaking of which...
Here are a couple of projects recently completed that have helped earned my house some Badger pride :)

The Toffee Toned Sweater is knit in acrylic worsted weight yarn, which was scrap yarn(most likely Red Heart something or other). 
The baby sweater is about 6 months size, knit flat and seamed with mattress stitch. I was really pleased with how it came out, especially since I added the stripes and adjusted the pattern. The original pattern, One-Piece Baby Pullover by Lion Brand Yarn, seemed a bit large for the yarn I was using so I shortened the number of rows at intervals. Still very cute!

The Owl Puff is knit in Simply Soft and Bernat Softee scraps I had laying around.

Owl Puffs by Jenna Krupar is a fantastic pattern, and I highly recommend it if you're into knitting owls. I really enjoyed this project as it was not difficult and it allowed me to practice my double-pointed knitting skills. Adding stripes or enlarging/shrinking the pattern would be very simple as well.

So there you have it, my attempts at minimizing my ever-growing yarn stash. There should be more to come as I complete assignments @ Hogwarts. Go Badgers!

Long Overdue Check-In

My promise to post many wonderful things in January 2012 proved to be a terrible resolution as I did not post even once! Life has a habit of getting away from me, and although I have been knitting I just cannot seem to regularly post. I find myself spending more and more time on Ravelry, so my knitting is definitely not suffering; cannot say the same for my blog.


Since my iPod touch battery is nearly dead I won't be posting any photos of projects today, but I thought I should check in anyhow. I have been on a knitting rampage it seems over the last couple of months, focusing mostly on different tops and other clothing articles. I get tired of making scarves and wristwarmers so I have been trying to expand my knitting universe with clothes I can actually wear. Shrugs are working their way into my stash of FO(finished objects) and I have been very happy with the results of trying new types of projects. I am also discovering many other knitting blogs which are fantastic, both for patterns and for inspiration. Perhaps one day my blog will reach such heights; I have serious doubts about that though :) That's all for now but if I can get my iPod charged I will begin posting recent finished projects sometime soon. Thanks for reading and happy knitting!