Projects (I can't call them crafts)

I start a lot of projects. I finish maybe half?  Anyway, I bought this groovy '70s ceramics instructor style lamp for $3.50 at a garage sale last summer: (a picture should be here but the computer is making me cuss because I don't know how to make it into fewer jpegs whatever the f jpegs are.  f,s,ffff.   Just visualize it. I need help.)

I found this frame for a shade at goodwill. The fabric or paper or whatever had once covered the shade was gone, but I liked the shape, and it was $0.49.  I bought it and it sat in the basement, next to the lamp.

I re-arranged some furniture upstairs--and found I needed a lamp-- how lucky I happened to have one (or three) in the basement.  But what to do with the shade?  It seemed a little naked.

I was mulling this over on one of my frequent trips to True Value.  How I love True Value.  I could/should meet our family's needs entirely from the farmers' market, true value, and goodwill.  So--mulling the lampshade and buying some nails, duct tape, canning jars, and chicken wire-hmmmm chicken wire-- no, too big.

But I thought: I could knit a cover for the frame-- out of twine?  Really push that groovy 70's vibe with a macrame-ish look?  I threw three balls of twine in my basket--BUT on my way to the cashier I passed the copper wire....YES!  I bought four packs of 24 gauge. (I bought the twine, too.  You can't have too much twine.)

I knitted a copper wire cone on size 17 round needles.  I cast on 60 stitches and decreased semi-randomly until it was approximately the right circumference and height. I bound it off, stretched it around the frame, and used more wire around the top and bottom to secure it.   I think it turned out really well, although I wish I'd used smaller needles, and wire is hard on the hands.  It's more glamorous than twine, which I think is progress--I want to refer to 70's decor, but not to the point of green shag carpet, big ferns on macrame plant hangers, and growing my own bean sprouts.  Wait, I grew up in that house.  Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, it was a good place to grow up.  I like to think about it, but I don't want to live there.

Also I finished something-- well, not quite.  I want need a softer light bulb and a slightly shorter harp. And the finial rolled away, so I need to find it or buy another.  But I finished it. And maybe I've invented the knitted lampshade.  I think you could use smaller needles and make amazing shades for pendant lights.  But you'll have to do it.  I'm moving on.