Two Project Updates

It seems like it's been a while since I blogged. Despite this, I've been working quite a bit. A week's worth of break for the Thanksgiving holidays has given me plenty of free time in need of filling. I had a great holiday, and visited at a friend's family's house. Even though we weren't the slightest bit related, I felt plenty welcome among them. What better way to digest pumpkin pie and turkey than with a knitting project?
I skimmed the knitting patterns over at Knitting Pattern Central (the link to which I believe is over at the helpful sites post) and found a neat looking set of arm warmer thingies that I like (link). After scrounging around my knitting basket, I found a ball of Vanna's Choice in the aptly named "Oatmeal" color. I find it a bit amusing that the wheel of fortune lady has her own line of yarns, but they are very good. 
I'm a pretty fast knitter, so I'm almost done with the first one. I've made quite a few adjustments to the pattern (both to better fit my rather reedy arms and just for general preference), so I may end up writing up the changes and make up my own pattern later. 
In other news, I've been helping out to plan a friend's brother's wedding celebration. They are Indian, which is interesting because their own wedding customs differ from our Western ones quite a bit. Specifically she is in change of a sort of pre-wedding party, which I've been invited to. After rifling around a bit, I discovered an early 2000's-era dress a friend donated which has some lovely embroidery that has some faintly Indian feel.
The only issue is that the built in bra cups (its strapless) are too large for me and slightly misshapen after being stuffed in a closet for so many years. It also needs some major zipper surgery, which will probably mean I'll replace it. I'm considering taking out the cups, which is difficult since they are sewn to the lining in a slightly odd way. My other option is the more aggressive revision of just removing the top part of the dress entirely and making a high-waisted skirt. I'll sleep on it, but the party is in early December so I'll get to work soon.

Pimping Sites That I Love

I suppose if I'm doing this thing I aught a pay homage to the people who really inspired me to start my own. The following is a short description and link to a few really great sites.

General Crafts and Tutorials:
Tipnut- Possibly one of the best-orginizined repository of links for just about any craft, DIY, or household project ever. Browse the categories to find pages of well-described links with photos of each project.

Craftster- Yeah, it's technically a forum, but this cheeky site has got great posts of tutorials and places to sell projects. The forum style allows you to read about other crafter's attempts and reactions.

Cut Out + Keep- A nice site of tutorials. Like Craftster, it has a social networking element that is helpful.

Craftzine- Another nice tutorials site.

Historical Costuming-
Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion- Yeah, the design reeks of early 2000s code webpages. Yeah, it hasn't been updated since about 2009 and a good amount of the links are outdated. Still a fantastic resource for Regency costumers, with in-depth looks (including photos!) at many elements of Regency era clothing and accessories, plus book and film reviews. Also check out the very detailed dress diaries, which are very inspiring and entertaining reading.

Elizabethan Costuming Page- Run by the very experienced Drea Leed, this website is a great repository of links for all things Elizabethan. Find tutorials, photos, and helpful articles.

Semptress- Another great costuming site, focusing mainly on Elizabethan, but also forays into other eras occasionally. Some great sewing tips and tutorials included.

Festive Attyre- A website run by one of those general, all-over hobby costumers. She isn't particularly amazing at any specific era, but she crafts some lovely clothes.

Demode- A fun, pretty site. She does all eras, but 18th century is really her best and most knowledgeable. Has some (if slightly undefiled) dress diaries, and an impressive resume. A few good info pages and one FANTASTIC 18th century hairstyle tutorail.

Extreme Costuming- A very tongue-in-cheek look at one costumer's attempts at VERY accurate costumes. I talking hand embroidered, hand-sewn Elizabethan wear. Check out a very funny wall of shame.

Koshka the Cat- Slightly out of date but has some decent costume pics for a few different eras.

Other-
The Period Movie Review- Good photos and some nice reviews for many period movies. Not updated anymore but still decent.

Knitting Pattern Central- Large but somewhat disorganized knitting pattern link site.

I'll add on to this if I find any other helpful and/or interesting sites!

Welcome to Tangled Threads!

Hey, I'm Anne and this is Tangled Threads, my new sewing/crafting/knitting/creativity blog. I'm still a relative novice (been sewing casually for about two years), but I'm always thinking of project ideas. I'm completely self-taught, and I've figured a lot of stuff out with pure elbow grease and a little Google searching. I'm always learning more and love to read other craft blogs for inspiration and ideas.
Well, that it about me. 
I don't post on this main blog section very often, but you should check out my project pages (in the tab bar up top) for updated project journals.