handspun handknit

Fingerless mittens! My fingers are so cold at work. My computer is right by the window so when I sit down to prep lessons my hands get really cold. These will come in handy!

The stitch pattern is:

row 1: k1 p1 (repeat all the way around)
row 2: knit the whole row
row 3: p1 k1 (repeat all the way around)
row 4: knit the whole row

repeat repeat repeat!

The merino roving came from Pigeon Roof Studios.

What was once these batts

from knitty dirty girl

Is now this yarn!

I think I'm going to weave this yarn into squares on my multi-loom. If I back it with a soft fabric it would make a pretty cool scarf me thinks.

More free paper toys!

NaniBird has the cutest little birds for you to print, cut, and play with!

DIY Upcycled Inspiration Book

I am inspired every day by the crafty blogs I follow. My bookmarks are full of projects I would like to try someday. Frankly, it's become impossible to weed through the ideas to find the thing I am looking for. So, I set out to make an inspiration book. Not a sketch book. I just wanted a place to keep print-outs. So, I grabbed an old issue of Cooking Light and a cereal box. Here's my little tutorial:

Materials:

Cereal box
Magazine you are done reading
Paper grocery bag
Pencil or pen
Yarn (or other thick string)
Tapestry Needle
Glue
Inspiration!

I hope you also DIY an inspiration book for yourself!  Post a link to your project in the comments - I'd love to see it!

Some new roving

I bought this from Rachel-Marie over at knittydirtygirl. I have not started spinning it yet. I'm pretty excited to do it, though! It's going to be singles. I'm going to weave it with my little looms.

I have so many scraps of beautiful yarn. I'm making little squares and I'll either make a scarf or a blanket. I'm always cold so spinning, knitting, and weaving are just perfect crafts for me.

Yarn for my Mom: V2.0

So, I overdyed the other skein of yarn and it's definitely more what I was going for. I used tropical punch for this one (and my new crock pot). Love it! I hope my mom does, too!

I don't know why but I've had trouble finding kool-aid around town. Is it seasonal? And then, oh baby, I went to Rainbow. They had millions of all the flavors. I stocked up with the ones I think will turn out the best. I think maybe I'll paint some roving next.

Some gifts for my niece

I made my first needle felted crafty thing! I used some leftover roving from the pink yarn I made my daughter and felted it into a heart. Then I strung some hand dyed yarn through the back. It's a little necklace!

And I made her a snail. This snail was made with my spool knitter and some handspun yarn. I have a little army of these around the house, now. My kids asked me to make snails during breakfast the other day. They love playing with them and taking care of them.

No Sew Legwarmers

In honor of the cold weather (-39 degrees with wind chill this morning) I thought I'd share my tutorial for No Sew Legwarmers. It's not scientific and I've only done it twice but it's easy to do and you can use up an old sweater no one wants to wear anymore.

Full (aka felt) a wool sweater. You'll probably want one at least one size up from what you usually wear. Before you full it check that the wrist cuff can comfortably fit up over your calf. I used two XL sweaters for my legwarmers (I wear size M or L). Full the sweater by washing it in your machine with hot water and soap, rinse it on cold (the temperature shock does awesome stuff to wool) and then you can either dry it in the dryer or let it air dry.

Cut off the sleeves. Cut on the outside edge of the seam. You want a clean edge (don't worry, it won't unravel).

You're done! Legwarmers in a flash!

And, after all your hard work...

Legwarmers! Slip the end that was once the cuff up over your calf and you have some snazzy warmers! (They are looking a little high-waters here but they don't have to.)

And here they are peeking out from under my pants. They are so warm and comfy! This is generally how I wear them. I'll have to wait for the spring to see if I like these as legwarmers with skirts. (I'm new to legwarmers, actually. I only wear them because I'm always freezing. It's not really a fashion thing for me.)


ADDITIONAL NOTE:

Both of my pairs of legwarmers are quite itchy. To solve that problem I cut the toes off an old pair of socks. The socks had holes and are clearly pilling like crazy. This picture is a little embarrassing, frankly. Anyway, they were headed to the garbage bin so I rescued them and now they are working perfectly again as legwarmer liners! All I do is slip these on up a little over my knees. Then I put on the legwarmers and roll the top of the sock over the very top of the legwarmers. (I have been wearing my legwarmers under pants so the look at the top doesn't really matter.)

Needle Organization

I've been doing a little organization around here. I'm very pleased with how my needles turned out. They have been a mess (most knitters have been at this point one time or another). I went in search of a needle organizer and didn't really like what I saw. A nice woman at Borealis Yarns told me that a friend of hers just used pencil cases and a 3-ring binder. Well, I had those things sitting around the house! I am very happy with how it turned out.

Now there's just the matter of the uninspiring binder. I'll need to make a cover for that...

More craft tools = more craft fun

Look at what I made with my new spool knitting kit! I bought these for my kids and niece & nephew. We've made 3 flowers, a fish, and a snail. The snail is my favorite.

This seller was so generous and helpful. Every time she runs across another idea for how to use the i-cord, she sends it to me! She's so sweet.

These are fun and easy to use. What an easy way to make i-cord! I tried stuffing a pipe cleaner down the middle of the i-cord to no avail. Then I thought maybe I'd just knit the pipe cleaner right into the i-cord and it worked great! I'll get some pictures next time I do it. We encased some pipe cleaners in the i-cord and then the kids can shape them however they want.

A scarf for my mother-in-law

I hit the jackpot with my mother-in-law. She's so great. I'm working on a scarf for her. This yarn was in my stash for the last year and it's just not the right color for me. I looked at it a few weeks ago and thought that this was her color! She has a couple shirts and a jacket in this.

The pattern is from Knitty. It's the lace ribbon scarf.

An ear flap hat for my daughter. I made this with some handspun yarn. I think it turned out great. The only thing I don't like is how the flaps roll. I think they'll lay flat when she's wearing it, though. Pink is her obsession and this hat is about as pink as it gets.

Look at the scrubby I made! I used my multi-loom for this. I wove four 4-inch squares and then sewed them together. The sewing doesn't look too good. But, it's for washing dishes so I didn't really spend much time on it.

See this pot? I burned some onions in it and couldn't get the little bits of char out of the bottom. One easy swipe with my new scrubby and it was clean! I love my scrubby. It washes stuff off really easily and it's not at all rough on my hands like those green dish scrubbers I used to buy at the store.

I made it with Red Heart acrylic yarn.