Patience?

I was gifted this amazing alpaca fleece! I can't even stand how soft it is and how amazing the colors are. Now, I don't know anything about carding, drafting, spinning, etc. to go from fleece to yarn. I only know those words from watching a few You Tube videos. I can't wait to figure it all out! (FYI: I'm looking for some cotton hand carders to borrow or buy used if you know of any laying around)

This book was part of my Christmas present from my husband (sometimes he does listen :) ). Can't wait to dive in. Read it once already, have shopping list on iphone, projects multiplying in head.

Here is where the patience comes in. I have a long laundry list of started projects to finish. Started loosely defined here. So, the goal is to spend January finishing these projects so I can start these new fabulous ones without old projects hanging over my head.

Here is the list ( I need to write it down now, because the longer I think about it, the longer it gets!)

- A 'silky' for my friend's son (cut out, seem to be missing a piece, must dig deeper)
- 'Little Bo Peep' skirt for me from 'Seams to Me' (have fabric)
- Knit socks (one sock on needles 1/3 finished)
- Double knit hat for mom (see previous post for this sad tale)
- Knit Sweater (the one new project as it is a 'how to knit a sweater class' I received for Christmas and starts next week!)
- Hot Pads (just the idea, mine are gross and not cute, must change that)
- Crazy quilt (half way pieced, started when I didn't have any on going projects and wanted to use up scraps- when does that ever happen - guess it did)
- Pajamas for me (have fabric, no pattern)
- Mending basket (will it ever be empty?)

There you have it, in print and on the internet, that's a good start I hope! Here's to clearing out the old as we approach the new year!

Crafty mom

Look at this super easy (toddler friendly) Christmas tree decoration. Make them now and have them tucked away for next year.








Supplies:
-1 yard each color of star used (5 colors will make enough for one tree)
-1 yard batting each color used
-star stencils (cookie cutters work great).
-matching thread

Draw stars on 1/2 yard of felt with erasable fabric pen, spaced atleast 2" apart.

Layer the materials. Felt, batting, felt with stars drawn.

Sew with a small stitch width along the star outlines through all layers.

Cut out the stars from the felt. Being careful to not cut the batting.

Pull batting apart in between the stars.

Hang on tree. The batting sticks to the needles so no hangers are needed.

Thanks for the tutorial mom!

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Merry Christmas

Hope your day was filled with suprise, wonder and a cozy spot to relax.




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Christmas Eve

Nothing better than family Christmas eve crafting!









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Sewing with mom

I'm home for christmas. Which means sewing with mom. The supreme sewing goddess!

I brought two of my favorite sweaters that had been attacked by moths with me. We created two of these 'scarflets' for Christmas gifts.





Being allergic to wool, my model was a little hesitant. Thanks mom!

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Good things to come in 2010

Look at this amazing bag of stamps!




My husband collected them when he was a child (how cute and nerdy is that!). His mother is visiting and brought them.

I have soooooo many ideas already. Can you think of possible uses?

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Toddler Christmas

It's much more fun to craft together, so when Wendy asked to make rocket ships I jumped at the chance. I even had time to finish a new 'silky' for keenans stocking too.






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Double Knit Update

oh it's bad, very very bad. Three inches and hours into the hat. I decided to try a little color work, although I don't know how to do color work (you can see it coming can't you). It did not turn out that well, so I decided to undo it (this is where is goes very very wrong). Came off the needles, couldn't get it back on and finally I un-did every last stitch. I almost cried!

I'm waiting a couple of days to try again (maybe this time with a pattern and some instruction) just need a few days to regain my wits.

Winter freeze

-6 in Denver this morning. Amazing how beautiful something so miserable can be.






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Double knit here I come!

Someone ( they occasionally read this blog) I love is in desperate need of a new hat. Being allergic to wool, I found some silk/bamboo yarn. The problem arose of how to make it warm. So I jumped onto ravelry.com, knittinghelp.com and YouTube. Seems like double knit is the answer, so here we go. I'll keep you posted.




Trying out posting from my phone. Let me know how you think it's working.

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camping christmas

A picture snapped just before the snow hit! We now have 3" on the ground, hello December!

This pup tent (ala 'Weekend Sewing') is for my oldest nephew. I think that opening, basically a big piece of fabric, would be kind of disappointing for a six year old, so I decided to include a photo of us trying it out.

I thread sketched the spider web and spider with my sewing machine (ala: http://clutterpunk.blogspot.com/2009/10/thread-sketching-on-fabric-techniques.html). Easy project which I know will be used.

Black Friday

Who has time for 'black Friday' when there is sooooooo much crafting to do (and don't get me started on the social and economic impacts).

So we crafted and crafted and crafted all weekend. Food, friends, football in the background (something about the sound of football makes me want to craft).

Here are the results:

Purses for the tweens on my list. I just love both lining fabrics, it's like a special little surprise every time you open your purse (not sure why the photos keep loading sideways, sorry). The pattern is from the blog 'Made by Rae' It's a free download and super easy!






Uncle Cary and Auntie Julie dolls ala Angry Chicken 'Bend the Rules sewing'. Hilarious, I can't even stand how funny these are. Keenan is hugging the 'mommy' doll, or pretending it's a phone, I'm going with hugging because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy!



Hand knit dish cloth for my dad. Not my favorite knitting project, borrrrrring, but the result is lovely. I would want to do dishes if I had a few of these.


Sneaking in the Christmas list, a bridal shower gift for a winter wedding. LOVE that Lisa & Bill will actually wear these.


And finally a plain, plain hat for my man. What's fabulous is the yarn, it's a local. Local Alpaca! They include these amazing photos of the alpaca that they got the yarn from with it's name. How cute it that! I'm wrapping those photos in with the gift



Almost finished, just a few more projects to finish up! Hope you made the most of your Thanksgiving weekend!

Eek!

oh, he looks cute. But, two of those in your cabin for two months unattended are the end of all your crafty weekend dreams.

The only crafting that took place was a few rows of knitting in the dark during the car ride too and fro. Otherwise it was cleaning, washing and steam cleaning, oh my!

Although I did occasionally look out the window at the amazing view, see a fox on our porch and loads of blue jays gobbling up the peanuts we put out (much to my sons delight). I guess it could be much worse.

three, two, one blast off!

Life was slow last week, as I loved on a sick babe. A tiny bit of knitting and this awesome rocket ship were made. A gift for a nephew turning one. It was a bigger hit with his three year old brother, go figure. At least it was loved.

Mucho crafting to come as I overheard and panicked in the airport yesterday when someone said 'Christmas is seven weeks away', then I checked my calendar and it's actually five weeks away. Now I'm really panicking!

On top of Christmas, one of my best friends just announced her wedding will be December 23 and well, she must have a handcrafted gift, so some secret crafting will be happening on top of that!

So rev up your engines here we go!

slowly, slowly

I think my finger is now flipping me off! It's still healing, who knew you used your middle finger so much? Hence, I have been gathering material for the ridiculous amounts of Christmas crafting I have in mind, instead of crafting.

I'm attempting a bit of knitting, seems to be ok for about 10 min. at a time. Do you LOVE that giant ball of yarn, this is for a gift so I can't tell you details yet.


Glue sticks, I can handle glue sticks. A few photo cards were made for Cary to send his Real Estate clients. Beautiful shot he took of the fall colors. Mmmmm, I can smell fall just looking at the photo. Don't you just love that smell.

A fabulous thrift store find, can't you just see a sun dress from this! Much better then it's current life as a curtain. Don't worry, I'll rescue you fabric!

Sauerkraut

Well, I missed the start of the Sauerkraut class as I was um, delayed at the health clinic. My finger and the car door had a bit of a fight. Obviously the car door won. Luckily my parents, in town to teach the Sauerkraut class, were troopers and went on without me.

I was able to film and get photos of most of the fun. I'm hoping sometime before the end of the year to get a video edited.

Chopping up the cabbage, I love the community effort and working outside!

Shredding, weighing and salting in the kitchen

Stomping, nice to have lots of helpers for this, although they don't seem to be working much in this photo.

Who knew so many friends would want to have a five gallon bucket of cabbage fermenting in their basement! I'll keep you up to date on our fermenting as we go along. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have a tasty macrobiotic treat!

Not much crafting or anything else for a few days, as I let my finger heal. I'm hoping by the weekend, cross your fingers for me!

Sharing Traditions

Waiting at the acupuncturist, with a little bit of knitting and choco to keep me company.

Waiting for the weekend to begin. My parents are in town to teach a sauerkraut making lesson. How cool is that! My father grows 200 cabbages each year to make sauerkraut with, most of which he gives away. Amazing. A few people are gathering tomorrow with clean 5 gallon buckets, salt and 'the stomper' I will document with photos for next week.

Whatever you are up too, have a great weekend!

Lots of fall crafting

The weather has turned, the days are shorter and there are soooo many projects going on at our house right now. A couple to share today.

A too bulky not used scarf deconstructed for that fabulous pink and orange wool. I'm feeling more elf hats are on their way!


New aprons to celebrate the finale of canning season! Thanks too my canning partners Charlene & Wendy, and Grant Family Farms for the amazing produce in our preserving share. 10 bushels tackled and on the shelves ready for winter!

'Tea Cup' apron pattern from Anna Marie Horner's 'Seams to me, 25 new reasons to love sewing'. Loving the custom bias tape for the edge. Great instructions in her section 'maybe I'm biased'.

Embracing Mistakes

Have you ever figured out you made a mistake, waaaaay too far into a project to fix it. That happened this weekend, so I decided to embrace it! I'm choosing to see my mistake as just a personal handmade touch, adding my own unique flair to the project if you will. Maybe you will see it maybe you won't...



This project is fairly easy.

1. Cut your orange, yellow and white fabric into strips (mine were 3.5", 4", 4.5").
2. Sew strips together with 1/4" seam allowance
3. Cut into triangles. Because I was making mine reversible with the candy corn fabric (Hancock fabric), I cut my triangle 6" at the large end and 1/2" at the pointy end (sewing the two triangles with a 1/4" seam makes a perfect triangle point).
4. Sew two triangles right sides together on the two angled side edges. I used a 1/4" seam allowance making a perfect point when turned.
5. Turn and press.
6. Insert 'flags' into black binding tape, spaced however you like and zig zag closed. I leave 2' at the beginning and end of the bias tape to use when hanging.

I used 1/4 yard of each solid color, 1/2 yard the candy corn print and 6' of bias tape. This made 12 flags.

This same process in different colors makes a great re-usable decoration for parties of all kinds!

Spooktacular sewing!

This was a great quick project to add some Halloween spirit to our kitchen.

First, I cut Halloween shapes in wool felt. Then sewed them together using invisible thread. I used my sewing machine, although the project could be completed by hand.

If using your sewing machine, backstitch at the beginning and end of each shape then keep sewing for a few inches before adding the next one. (My invisible thread broke a few times during sewing. Because the bobbin thread was still intact, I just re-threaded and started with the next shape.)



This weekend: Candy Corn Bunting (then on to Christmas gifts, I promise!)