Knitting A Pouf

Posted on | December 28, 2009 | 5 Comments

Here’s a fun project for those of you who have the week off. Why not try knitting up a pouf? Inspired by Christien Meindertsma’s Flocks Pouf (below) I found a link to make similar knitted poufs last night on Apartment Therapy. Pickles has shared online patterns for different sized poufs including knitted and crochets versions. Pickles version (above) is a variation of knit and purl. I kinda like it in just knit and that’s the only stitch I have in my knitting vocabulary at the moment. So cute for a kid-friendly home. Find the patterns and inspiration on pickles.no. Need more inspiration? Check out these crocheted poufs I found last winter, click here.

My First Knit Hat

Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 15 Comments

I just finished my first knit hat in the round! I can’t believe I actually did it. It took forever compared to the scarves I’ve made. Most of the hat had 88 stitches around on 8 point needles. One row took me about 9 minutes. My hands are achy and my fingertips hurt. Maybe I’ll try fingerless gloves next?

p.s. The hat is actually a nice gray not blue like the photo suggests. The sun was setting and I made Greg run outside to take my photo in front of the neighbor’s house. I only got one shot before he screamed it was too cold and ran back inside.

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Four scarves for Christmas

Category: diy, fashion

Working On Macaroni Snowflakes

Posted on | December 9, 2009 | 17 Comments

Over the weekend I worked on making some macaroni snowflakes. Crafty Stephanie from even*cleveland shared the diy last December on my blog. I didn’t use as much white paint on my snowflakes as Stephanie did. I kinda like the natural macaroni color showing through. The second photos shows me applying some glitter. Click here to find the full how to instructions.

Category: diy, holiday

Diy: Birch Bark Hearts

Posted on | December 8, 2009 | 7 Comments

I have a few more holiday diys to share. My wonderful crafty college friend Betsy was inspired by these woven paper hearts she spotted on Once Wed. She recreated the hearts using birch bark. Below her how to instructions. Thanks Betsy for sharing!

My mom and I used to make these when I was growing up in Maine. I am excited to now be making them with my son! The design is really simple, but using birch bark makes them special.

We collect the bark from already cut logs, or if it as already peeled off the trunk, so as not to hurt the living tree. Once we get the bark home we peel it into thinner layers. If the bark is dry and brittle and seems like it might break in the folding, then we soak it in a shallow pan of water until it softens up. We do the same thing with the innermost layers of bark which are sometimes stiffer and harder to fold. While that bark soaks we use our patterns to cut up the rest of our bark.

It is fun to match the two pieces—sometimes we make one side “inside out” for contrast. For the pieces that we soaked- we cut the pieces out of the wet bark, assemble the basket, and then press them under books (protecting the books from the damp bark with a dishtowel). Finally, we add handles so we can hang them from the tree. Usually the handle is just a thin strip of birch bark glued on the inside of the basket, but we sometimes use ribbon if we run out of bark.

Category: diy, holiday

Diy: Icicle Chandelier

Posted on | December 7, 2009 | 4 Comments

I have one more amazing project from Stephanie of even*cleveland to share. Did you check out her diy salt dough ornaments? Stephanie and I did a little barter. I sent her a really big photograph of seagrass I took this fall. In exchange, she created two beautiful diy holiday crafts posts for my blog. I love bartering! Be sure to check out even*cleveland for more great projects and inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing Stephanie!

This year, many of my friends have new babies in the crawling, grabbing, and toppling stage, and several of them have mentioned that they are at a loss for decorations that are kid-proof. I thought a holiday chandelier might be a nice compromise – everyone can admire it, but only grown ups can reach it!

1. Choose three graduated sizes of embroidery hoops- I used 3″, 6″ and 10″ hoops. Discard the outer ring with the screw adjustment, keeping only the plain inner band.

2. Choose your decoration. I used some crepe paper icicle border that I had on hand, but you could cut out or paper punch any frosty pattern you like onto crepe or regular paper. Wide ribbon would also work really well – I especially think a woven Nordic pattern would look great. The trick is to keep your decorations relatively light. You will need three pieces – one long enough to wrap around your widest band, one for the mid-size band, and one for the smallest.

3. Next, tie your hoops together. You want them to fall in graduated size from largest to smallest, and you want the vertical space between them to be just a little shorter than the length of your decoration. I used silver embroidery floss, and stating with the smallest hoop, tied the floss in four spots- at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Centering the smallest hoop inside the middle hoop on a flat surface, I tied corresponding points on the middle hoop, and then on to the biggest hoop. At each stage, you need the lengths of floss to be exactly the same, or your chandelier will be crooked. To double check that they are hanging relatively evenly and positioned concentrically, I always hold them up in the air with the threads in my hand before I make any knots.

4. Once you have all three hoops tied together, take four long pieces of embroidery floss and tie them at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock on the biggest hoop. Holding these loosely in hand, adjust the length of the drop – this is the point at the top that the whole chandelier hangs from. Once you have it as long as you like, make a tight knot and trim the excess.

5. Ta – da! You have the frame of your chandelier. Now is the fun part – using pieces of double-stick tape, attach your crepe paper, paper cutouts, or ribbon to the hanging bands. I like using double stick tape because it is quick and light. You can also attach dangling pieces like pompoms or jingle bells, but remember that you will need to treat the whole thing like an algebraic equation – whatever gets added to one side has to be added to the other for balance. Fold and tape down the ends and voila! Finished!

Category: diy, holiday

Tomato Cushion Ornament

Posted on | December 5, 2009 | 2 Comments

I always spot tomato pincushions at $1 stores and wonder what else I could use them for. How cute to turn them into ornaments! Vintage handmade versions are super sweet. Discovered via countryliving.com.