We had a major crisis this morning. We went to playgroup, but my son didn’t make the craft because he was too busy playing. He realized this on the drive home, and cried the entire way home. I had to do something fast, so we made turkeys.
I realize that this isn’t a new idea, but if you’ve got a crying toddler, it’s one that you can do quickly and easily.
And with that, I’m off to cook pumpkin for my Thanksgiving cheesecake. Recipe to come soon!
I discovered Shay’s Clays last week, and she had a project about putting clay on everything that wasn’t bolted down. Ok, maybe not quite that… But she had made herself a handle for her blade, and I wanted to do the same thing, because what I currently had wasn’t cutting it.
Well, maybe it was. My fingers. I used the leftover cane that I had from making beads for my son, and I pressed it down on the dull edge. I used a block of clay to hold it in place.
I also made sure that the clay covered the hole I. The blade, just to help secure it. And here’s the finished product!
So I wondered what else I could cover with clay… I ended up doing a crochet hook handle, because I’m making some slippers for a friend, and my hand cramped up the other night while I was working with the hook.
I was trying to do a Skinner Blend with blue, orange, and white, and it didn’t work out for me. I think my problem was that I was using too little clay. So I just kind of swirled it together, and came up with what you see.
It was a little too much fun using that pasta machine, so I think that another Skinner Blend may be in my future this week…
My son has been asking me to make him a necklace lately, so today I though that I’d tackle that project. I’ve also been itching to make my first cane out of polymer clay.
We started out by picking out three colours of clay. David picked his three favourites:
I then broke off about 1/4 of each block, and then conditioned it slightly.
I then smushed the pieces together.
Then I started rolling the clay into a long snake, and then twisting and rolling again until I was satisfied with the marbling effect.
Using a blade from an exactly knife, I started sawing off small sections of the log I had made.
I rolled the sections into spheres, and then used a toothpick to make the hole. Then I baked the clay on parchment paper at 275 for about 15 minutes. We broke out the hemp, and started stringing the beads.
He was very pleased with the end result!
I want to apologize for not posting much recently. We had someone new join our family six weeks ago, and he’s been taking up quite a bit of our time. Here’s Jack!
Also, this is the first post that I’ve made using my iPad. I’ll let you know how I feel about this app in a future post…
Saturday was a very busy day in our household. Hubby took our son for a drive in the morning. They went out for breakfast and then went ‘topping’ (shopping, to my two-year-old son). Once they got home, my son and I hit the road again. First we went to a baby shower. Here’s a few shots of the gifts that I made my friend:
Here is a link to the bootie pattern, and you can check out my previous post on the hat (also includes a link to the full pattern). This was my first time making booties, and I’m very pleased with how they turned out. If you check out the site where I got the pattern from, she also includes a video tutorial on how to make the sole of the bootie, to help you out.
After the shower, we went to a second birthday party for a little girl who lives up the road from us. We arrived a little late, because the shower and the party were at the same time, but we also stayed later because the two kiddies were having a great time playing with her new toys.
Another exciting thing happened on Saturday:
A parcel arrived in the mail for me! Actually, it arrived Friday, but we could only get to the post office on Saturday morning. Isn’t it great when you get something in the mail? Even though I knew exactly what it was, I was still pretty excited. Here’s what I ordered:
A new baby blanket pattern and yarn for our new arrival, and a set of kitchen cloths with toppers. My hubby really likes the kitchen cloths, so I figured that it was time for me to learn how to make them myself. The blanket is a knit entrelac pattern in vibrant colours. I made an entrelac scarf back when I was in university, but it should be interesting to make it on a larger scale.
March break started for us this weekend, so I’m off for a whole week. I’m hoping to finish a few things that I started so I can begin that blanket. Once I get them done, I’ll show them to you! One is a sharp crochet hook project that I’m quite excited about. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!
When I came across this pattern, I knew I was going to have to make it. (Please visit the link for the pattern! Amy’s pretty creative!)
I made the 6-12 month size, so I used a 5mm hook, and made 11 rows. I made a few changes from the original pattern. For one, I didn’t use buttons. I’d be scared that the little babe would take it off in the car and find a button to chew on. I just used black and white thread for the eyes and nostrils. Secondly, the first first row I made, I did it in hdc instead of dc. Lately, all of my hats have been cone-headed (just see any post that I’ve put up with a hat), so it was suggested to me to make the first round hdc, and it seemed to work pretty good here! Thirdly, because this is a hat for a little one, I didn’t make the final round for the eye, to make the patch smaller. I also only did four rows of the muzzle, as well. For the muzzle, I ch 17, and instead of making 16hdc, I did an increase on the first and last stitch, to make 18. This made the muzzle more round. And finally, I made two additional pieces for the ears in white, so the ears would have a white back, and it would cover the mess of changing colours.
Have fun with your crochet!
I finally finished my first knook project! I made a hat.
In case you’re wondering what a knook is… see my previous post with my knook review.
It does take some time to get used to using the knook, it was slow going at the first. However, once I got used to it, I could speed up a bit, and I think it turned out quite nicely in the end. Here’s a close shot of the lacing in the hat:
The pattern came from a book by Leisure Arts, called Urban Hats for the Knook. I’m looking forward to trying some of the more complicated patterns, and maybe trying to make up some of my own!
I didn’t actually make 99. I made 16 pairs of red, and 3 pairs of green.
I did take a picture of all 19 pairs, but it got accidentally deleted, so I just have this one mobile picture of the first two pairs that I made. I found the pattern on this website.
This post isn’t exactly about slippers, it’s about taking a big project on. In September, my friend asked me to make these slippers for her wedding in December, and I told her that I’d be glad to. This brings me to point number 1:
In the end, I’m glad that I took it on. It was very satisfying to hand over a huge bag of slippers to my friend. Plus, it will probably be a pattern that will be stuck in my head until the end of time… meaning the slippers will probably end up as gifts for others in the future.
What is a knook? You may be asking. It’s basically a crochet hook with a hole in the end for a thread to run through. It’s called a ‘knook’ because you can knit with a crochet hook. I finally picked it up this weekend, and tried making a hat. After two hours, this is how far I got:
That’s about an inch. It’s been very slow going. Definitely slower than if I had knit the hat, or even if I decided to crochet. Here’s what it looks like up close:
You actually are making knit and purl stitches. And I must say, it is kind of neat having the string attached at the end. I was following a k2 p1 pattern, and I realized that about 20 stitches ago, I added a purl stitch. With knitting needles, you have to carefully pick up your stitches again, however, with this, you just rip them out, and they stay on the cord. Sweet!
I’m making one of the hats from this book:
Hopefully, I finish it within the week, and will be able to show you some pictures of it…
Happy new year everyone!
WordPress did a need little ‘year in review’ for me, and I published it, so I hope you check it out! But here are some highlights from 2012:
Top 5 Recipe Posts:
Top 5 Craft Posts:
It’s been a busy year!
Now… are you one to make resolutions? I can be. I always try to make them manageable, like the year that I made it my resolution to actually use my cookbooks. That one was a pretty good success. Or last year, when we had Meatless Mondays. We actually lasted a long time with that one. This year, with me being pregnant, I decided not to do anything involving food or exercise. Instead… my resolution is to actually use the craft items that I purchased last year. Yeesh. Here’s a few of the things that I bought:
Martha Stewart Loom and Weave Kit
The Knook… I bought the beginner kit, plus maybe another book on hats. I think. I may have bought two.
Plus countless skeins of yarn, yards of fleece and felt, tubs of beads, etc, etc, etc. So my resolution this year is to buy as little crafting supplies as possible, and use up some of the things that I’ve got in storage. Plus to break out the new things that I’ve really only glanced at. I’ve bookmarked some pretty neat patterns for the loom and the knook and am quite excited to try it!!
However, all that being said, on January 2nd, I put in an order for a sharp crochet hook… oops. But that’s going to help me use up some of that fleece, right? Right?
While the little guy and I were watching “Tupty” (that’s Thomas and Friends, for those of you that can’t speak toddler), I finished a few of my Christmas hats. He was more than willing to model for me!
To get the basic idea of what I did, you can check out the Santa hat for a new born, and my post on a quick elf hat. For these hats, I used Red Heart Light & Lofty, and a 10mm crochet hook.
Round 1: Make a magic ring and ch 3. Make 4dc into the ring. Join to first dc, not the ch3.
Round 2: Ch3, 2dc in each dc. (if making the elf hat, switch colours every two rows)
Round 3: Ch3, *2dc in first, 1dc in second* repeat between * * 3 more times. 12dc
Continue to increase in this fashion for 8 rows (32dc)
If making the Santa hat, continue with red, if making the elf hat, switch to white
Row 9: dc all around
Row 10-12: sc all around with white
I’m still experimenting with this pattern. I’ll have to do one post once I get it all figured out for all sizes. Hope you enjoy the pattern!
PS – 50 posts! Thanks for reading!
