Rudolph's roundup

Well, I think my big list of potential makes was a tad optimistic! An awful lot of my time (far more than I had originally anticipated) was spent knitting the rudolph jumper.

I'm not going to lie. It was a hard make. Perhaps not the best pattern to knit my first jumper from. That may be a little harsh though - the plain red bits were fairly straightforward, it was just knitting the reindeer that slowed me down. It wasn't until half way through I finally figured out how to strand properly, so inside the top half looks all neat and tidy, like this....

Whilst the bottom half looks a fine mess...

I had a few heart stopping moments though. When I reached the top of the antlers, I realised I'd forgotten to shape the armholes. The thought of having to frog 20 rows made me feel more than a little sick, and I didn't touch it for a week - I didn't want to make yet more mistakes by rushing into correcting it. And then when I knitted the neckband to join the front and back together the night before I was due to go back to my mum's, I realised that I couldn't fit it over my head, so there was no way it would fit over my brother in law's head. Rather than have to frog and reknit the neckband, mum had the genius idea of using buttons on the shoulder. This led to a last minute dash to a local knitting store with my mum (about 30 mins before it was due to close on Chistmas eve) to find some suitable buttons...

Still, it was suitably appreciated by the new owner, who modelled it with great aplomb. He even wore it down the pub on Christmas day (although, sadly no photos of that!).

OK, so there's no sleeves, but I think he carries it off! Plus, what else could his present be next year? I still seem to have quite a lot of red yarn left, so I put some of it to good use when wrapping.

I'm still loving the Christmas bunting though, and I might make some more bunting next year in the smaller size for the other shelves. Sadly the ribbon wreath didn't work out. I'm not sure if it was the type of ribbon I bought, or using a wire form rather than foam, but after adding about 20 bows, I realised it looked more like something to be used when dancing round the maypole, rather than a classy Christmas wreath. Next year, I'll attempt the felt flower wreath now that Adele has pointed me in the right direction of foam wreaths!

And while I keep thinking that's all I've made this Christmas, I also made a fair few make up bags and tote bags.

So, that's it for 2011.  See you all next year!

Last Minute Christmas Knits

Hello Festive Crafters!

It's Kerry from Kestrel Finds and Makes. By now I'm sure that most of you have your handmade pressies wrapped up and ready to be gifted. I wanted to share my two Christmas knitting projects with you - one which has already been sent and opened and the other which is for my sister-in-law to open tomorrow.

First up, Owl & Pussycat Mittens for Sian Lile Makes as part of a Christmas Blog Swap which was to include handmade and thrifted items.

I used the pattern for Owl Mittens which can be on for free on Ravelry, and made one owl into a cat.

As Sian is vegan and was concerned about the potential of wool farming to be harmful, I used organic wool which had been dyed using natural dyes.

My Blue Leaves Scarf was made using the Saroyan pattern (also free - don't you love Ravelry?!) and Sirdar Sublime aran yarn which is a mix of cashmere, extra fine merino and silk. It is beautifully soft. My sister in law wanted a blue scarf and I loved the lace leaf edging and tapered ends of this scarf. It's a straightforward knit too, perfect for beginner lace knitters.

I hope you all managed to get your handmade gifts finished up this year. I didn't make as many as I had intended, but I bought some handmade things, which is nearly as good in my opinion, and definitely better than just buying something from Amazon! Maybe next year I'll be a bit more productive!

Now I just need to wrap the last of my presents. A very Merry Christmas everyone!

K x

Pillows, Snoods & Table Decorations!

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I posted here due to some unexpected travel, but here's what I've been up to in the crafty Christmas world:

Pillows
I made these pillows for my sister from fabric she bought on our trip to Hawaii last year (Kapaia Stitchery on the island of Kaua'i, great prices!). These were supposed to be for her birthday in February (oops), but better late than never! I bought pillows from the craft store and just sewed 2 fabric pieces together and flipped them right side out. I slipstitched them closed after inserting the pillow. I bought the blue fabric to make a dress, but borrowed some of it here since I thought it made for a more complete group!

Snood Fever Continues!
This is my version of the snood made world famous by Karen from Did You Make That? I made 3! This snood is made from Merino wool that I bought at the Brooklyn General Store in Brooklyn, New York and was my first knitting project in years. I started it in New York and finished it in Virginia! This one went to my friend who is heading back to France next month. Should keep her nice and toasty.

Table Runner/Napkins

And finally, I made a table runner and napkins for my mom, as she loves decorating for the holidays. I gave them to her a bit before Christmas so she could enjoy the festiveness! For the table runner, I used sew-in interfacing to weigh down the lighter weight reindeer cotton and found that slowly ironing out the bumps in the fabric helped keep the fabric flat. I also used my walking foot which helped keep the fabric layers from shifting.

The napkins were made using the rolled hem setting on my overlocker. It's the first time I've used this feature and I love how it turned out! It looks like the edges are bound with a narrow bias tape and it was so fast and easy to make.

Happy holidays, all!

~Amanda from Sewin' in the Rain

Peppermint Soap and a Knitted Scarf

Hi all!  It's Lindsay checking in again with a couple of finished gifts!  Last year I made peppermint soap for my co-workers and a few of them have mentioned to me over the past year that they loved it and were sad when their bars ran out.  So I knew I had to make the soap again!

I like to give a little something to all of my co-workers and since I have about 40 of them, making soap is an easy and cost-efficient option.  The process went a little more smoothly and quickly than it did last year, even if it still is a little scary to be dealing with such a toxic ingredient (lye).  Once again, Mr. Pinds and I suited up with our protective gear to make the soap, which I’m sure caused our neighbors to wonder what we were up to. 

I used the Good Morning Soap recipe that I used last year from Raleigh Briggs' How to Make Soap Without Burning Your Face Off.  This year I measured everything out before we started the process, which worked out really well.  When the time came to add the next ingredient, all I had to do was reach for the bowl and dump it in.  Of course I waited to measure and pour the lye until we were outside.

The fats in the soap are coconut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, shortening, and castor oil.  I added sea salt and sand for exfoliation and flavored it with basil and peppermint essential oils.  Our house has smelled like peppermint since I first made this on December 4^th!  It’s great walking in after work to the delightful smell of peppermint—I’m sad to have it go away.

The first step to making this soap is to add the lye to water, or in this case, to peppermint tea.  You then melt the fats. Once the lye mixture has cooled to the same temperature as the fats, you add it to the fats and then mix until you reach trace.

Trace means that if you run a spoon through the soap it will leave a trail behind.  If you’re just stirring by hand, reaching trace can often take hours, but I read somewhere that if you use an immersion blender it happens within minutes.  And I’m all about efficiency, so I picked up a cheap immersion blender to use for concoctions.  If you’re going to do the same, I highly recommend that you label the non-food blender.  I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but I would feel funny preparing food with the same blender that has had contact with lye.  Once you reach trace, you add essential oils.

Then add the sea salt and sand and mix thoroughly.  It’s really simple!

I use two shallow but long plastic containers as soap molds.  You just have to grease them beforehand (I used Pam) and once the soap has molded it pops out really easily.  You let the soap stay in the mold (or as my book says, "put them to bed") for a day or two and then they are ready to be cut.

Mr. Pinds came up with the great idea of marking guides into the top of the soap with a pizza cutter before we started cutting.  Brilliant! I enlisted Mr. Pinds to cut the soap for me.  He used a serrated bread knife to cut the blocks of soap into bars, which he said worked perfectly.

Once the bars were cut, I placed them on drying racks and they cured for a couple of weeks.  I had to hide them in our laundry room where our rascal cat wouldn’t have access to lick them all day while we were at work.

To package them, I wrapped each bar in plastic wrap (I know, not the most environmentally friendly, but it was the easiest and fastest option) and then wrapped the bars in postal paper. 

Each bar got tied off with some raffia and was topped with a mini candy cane and a printed feather (I found these on How About Orange and there are more here) as a gift tag.  I think they look pretty festive!  I waited until I got to work to put the feathers on because I was afraid they’d get creased during my commute.

I’m glad to tell you that the soaps were a hit once again.  A few of my co-workers told me that they were secretly hoping that I’d refill their soap bins!

We also did a Secret Santa gift exchange and my Secret Santee requested a scarf.  With a $20 limit, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get an amazing handmade scarf from Etsy, so I did the next best thing: I decided to knit one myself.  Even though I am a very beginner knitter, I think it turned out beautifully.  I made a simple 50 stitch wide scarf in a knit stitch.  This yarn is so soft!  I wasn’t able to make it to a specialty yarn shop (why do they all have such strange hours?) so I spent a good 20 minutes in Joann rubbing all of the yarns against my face to find the softest.  I ended up with Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Maize.  I wanted a gold yarn, but that was the closest I could get.

When I was about halfway through the scarf I realized that I made it a little wide, resulting in a wide but short scarf.  Oops!  It turned out OK in the end though and my co-worker loved it.  And because I made the scarf instead of buying it, and thanks to a Joann coupon, I was able to pick her up a bottle of wine without going over our $20 limit!  I do enjoy when things work out.

Quick Knitted Gifts

Hello! Sarah O from Oh Sarah O! here. I'm still knitting away on my (ravelry link)Cambridge shawl and hoping to get it finished in time for Christmas. Knitting the same pattern over and over again can get a bit monotonous and boring, so over the weekend I decided to take a break from the shawl and whip up 2 quick knit Christmas presents for some other very special relatives this year.

First, I knit up a (ravelry link)Ribbed Watchman's Hat for a special soldier that I know who returned home from combat in one piece in 2010. I used about half of a skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids and Heathers in Navy and cranked this baby out in just over a day (with frequent breaks). I tried to take a picture of me modelling the hat, but I found it difficult to take a good photograph of me and the hat while it was on my head. I can testify that it is very warm and cosy.

Next, I knit the (ravelry link)Lyndhurst Cowl with 2 skeins of Lion Brand Amazing in Mesa for a "lady of the desert." This cowl only took me a day to make. The colors remind me of a desert sunset and the yarn is very soft and fluffy. I'm sure this lady will love it when the temperatures start to drop.

The last one!

I finished my last Christmas present! These are for my two little sisters. They asked for some ear warmers like they had seen in a shop, but in their favourite colours :) They're very simple, an inch of rib, two inches of stockinette, and another inch of rib. Oh and two huge pom poms :)

I hope they like them!

Ashley x

Nearing the Finish Line

Whew! What a craftganza this has been! I have been knitting and sewing like a maniac for over 5 weeks and I am finally nearing the finish line. I sewed this apron for my aunt-in-law, who is an angel on this earth. I know she likes kitschy prints, just like I do, so I know she'll love this.


On the needles is the second glove to a pair of fingerless gloves I am making for my mum. I made a pair in hot pink for my aunt and a pair in dark charcoal grey for one of my best friends. I wrapped them before I took pictures, though - doh!

My last project on the needles is a lovely woven cowl I'm making for my friend. She loves purple and it was a happy accident to have enough in my stash.

I'll be starting my baking this weekend. I plan on making chocolate gingerbread cake, peppermint bark, brownies, and white chocolate cherry chunkers as gifts.

It's wonderful to see everyone's projects! You are all marvellously inspiring people!

A Handful of Scarflets

Oh my, how time is flying by! I'm Alessa from Farbenfreude, and I'm on my last week of uni before Christmas break. I still have to finish up all the little gifts for my friends before Saturday, as I'm making my way home to visit my family on Sunday. For now, I've been knitting up scarflets (pattern from here). One each for my two grandmas,one for my stepdad, one for my boyfriend (who has already appropriated it) and the green one is actually for me. :)

I really like the pattern for these little scarflets. They're pretty, warm but not too bulky, they knit up very quickly and if careful, they one require one skein (50g or 110-160yd) of dk weight yarn! It took me a little while to figure out how to make that happen, since the pattern requirements state two skeins of yarn. However, since I had made the first scarf wider by 4 stitches and only started on the second skein about 10 rows from completion, I was sure they could be made out of only one! After a couple of failures and having to unravel and shorten one scarf slightly, I now have a fabulous trick:

1. At the beginning: weigh your yarn (I used my kitchen scale). I know it should have a weight on it. Do it anyway. (In the instance of the green scarf, this was 50g.)
2. Knit the first "bow" part, first "loop" part and the first row of joining the loop. Weigh your yarn again. Subtract, and you will have the amount of yarn needed for the loop and bow part. (In my case: 12g)
3. Knit the straight/middle part until it is either long enough or you have just the right weight left to knit the loop&bow (I left myself 1-2g of margin for error, starting on the loop with 14g left. Unraveling is not much fun.) Even if you think it may be too short, it'll probably be ok since the garter stitch is able to stretch out nicely.

I still have one scarflet to go, as well as two socks from the heel up. I found out how to knit socks from the toe up using a magic loop (circular needle)! It really feels like magic and is highly convenient! :)

Since there will be a little Christmas party with most of my friends on Saturday, I've decided to also make some little gifts that aren't too difficult or time-intensive, just so I have a little treat to give to everybody. I was inspired by something I recently saw at a specialty food store, although I've also seen similar ones on Pinterest and other websites:

Real chololate hot-chocolate spoons! I bought some wooden sticks (actually, tongue depressors, from the apothecary), chocolate, dried orange peel and vanilla essence, and I'll have to think about combinations to use tomorrow. I love the combination of dark chocolate and orange flavor, so that is one. I'm also thinking dark chocolate and almond flavor, or apple, cinnamon and rum-raisins, although I'm not sure how to get an apple flavor. A tablespoon of cider? Anyway, my plan is to pour the chocolate into an ice-cube tray, let it set for a bit, stick in the wooden "spoons" and put into the fridge. Then wrap them up in some cellophane and put a little bow and tag on them, and they should be good to go! :)

Hope you have fabulous holidays!
Alessa xxx

Oh Sarah O's Christmas To-Do List

Hello Everyone! My name is Sarah O of ohsaraho, blogger of all things artsy, crafty and fun. Christmas is less than two weeks away, which means that I am in full Christmas elf mode, knitting away on my last minute gifts, completing my last minute Christmas shopping, and wrapping up all of my Christmas gifts to place underneath the tree. Right now I have several projects on my knitting needles that I am hoping to complete. Here's a list of knitting pattern's that I'm hoping to complete this holiday season (note: if you have a Ravelry account you can click the link to view the patterns):

• To Eyre... by Carol Sunday. This shawl pattern is based off of one of the shawls worn in the new Jane Eyre movie (which I have yet to see). I picked up some skeins of Ella Rae Classic wool in a grey/navy blue color for this shawl and can't wait to knit this up and check out the film.

• Cambridge by Carol Sunday. I've had my eye on this shawl ever since I saw those paparazzi photos of Kate Middleton pushing her shopping cart. I've even caught myself thinking that I could shop like a princess, if only I had that shawl. I'm sure I could not afford the original, but thankfully there is a look-a-like pattern available on Ravelry. So this weekend I picked up some skeins of The Spectrum Collection Fluffy Stuff DK yarn in green and began casting-on this shawl. Check out my progress:

• Wurm by katushika. This floppy hat pattern is based off of the hat worn by Michael Cera in the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. It looks like a fun, quick knit, but I'm not sure of what colors and what kind of yarn I'm going to use.
• Ribbed Watchman's Hat by Channah Koppel. This pattern was originally designed to create hats for Israeli (IDF) soldiers. I'm actually going to use this pattern to create a navy stocking hat for another soldier that I know whose a little closer to home.
• Winding River Cowl by Kathleen Cubley. I recently purchased some beautiful Lion Brand Amazing yarn in Mesa and hope to quickly knit this up for a family member who often ventures West.
  

Christmas bunting

I've got my first set of Christmas decorations finished - the Christmas bunting went up today. This is a big moment - it's the first time Christmas decorations have made an appearance in nearly four years of living in our flat. I followed the instructions from Saints and Pinners for the festive mini bunting. Well, I say followed, but after marking it out on a piece of card I realised it was smaller than I wanted. So I doubled it up to 8cm wide, and set about cutting it all up with my rotary cutter and pinking shears.

Three fat quarters has given me enough bunting to go across the main wall of my living room. I could have got even more out, but made a rookie error - my snowman fabric is directional, so doesn't work upside down.

Nevermind - lesson learnt for next time, and having a little less of the red has meant that I've had to be a little more creative when it came to setting it out. I quite like that it's not a regimented red, white and green.

Oh, and I'm so over reindeers. I've nearly finished the antlers in the Mark Darcy jumper, then it's the 'simple' task of finishing the neckline, knitting two sleeves, blocking and making up.

I'm not going to lie - I'm seriously tempted to make this into a tank top. But I'll persevere with it in the hope there's enough time left to bring it all together!

Turning a negative into a postitive . . .

Here's the negative

 no more of the wool to be had anywhere!  It's a deleted line apparently.

So in the end I've unpicked the first toe

and made cream toes instead.  I actually prefer the finished result - positive.

But I was more careful with the next pair, for my mother.

Now for some secret sock knitting for my partner and other daughter.

Knitted facecloths

Bonjour! Just using the guest poster pass to share these facecloths with you.

I knitted these up last weekend; each took maybe an hour and half to do, and I'm sure it would taken an experienced knitter even less time. They're perfect for using up small amounts of yarn in your stash - I used three different cotton yarns, of varying weights, and a US size 7 needle for all three. The pattern is super simple, easily done even by a novice knitter like me. I found it here on Ravelry.

The facecloths look and feel really nice. I'm going to a tie a little ribbon around them and slip them in a me-made drawstring bag, along with a bar of organic soap. Et voilà! Another present done.

Happy holiday crafting!

OK, I admit it.

It's only a month until Christmas. And I really need to get cracking with my Christmas prep. Eek!

I'm Kerry, and I blog at Kestrel Finds & Makes. This is my first post here this year, although I have been peeking at some of the other lovely projects that have been posted. I don't have a huge list of things to make as I decided not to make things too hard for myself, but here's what I will be crafting in the next few weeks:

1. Mittens for my partner in a charity shop/handmade blog swap
2. Scarf for my sister in law
3. Cushion covers for a friend
4. Fabric-based matching game for my friend's daughter

I am also planning to post about wrapping and decorations - all homemade of course!

K x

Crochet apple cosies

Bonjour!

This is Kate (aka Mommy en France), using the guest login to post.

My poor sewing machine is not feeling well, so she's having a rest and probably going into a shop for a tune up next week. In the meantime, I've been working on crafty Christmas projects that don't involve sewing.

Among other things, I'm trying knitting and crocheting again. I learned how to do both years ago, but never really got into them. And my skills never evolved beyond hats and scarves (for knitting) and not much of anything for crocheting. I think part of the "problem" is that my mother, aunt and mother-in-law are such talented knitters that I just sat back and let them do all the knitting for everyone. What they can do in a week would take me ages to accomplish.

Anyway, I decided to sign up for Ravelry and hunt down some simple projects to help ease me back into this. And wow, is Ravelry great. What an amazing resource! At any rate, I've already whipped up a snood for myself, using this great free pattern. I'm going to make another for a friend. And I made some apple cosies, using the pattern from the first issue of Molly Makes. If you didn't buy it (I didn't), you can either buy a digital issue through your e-reader or you can find the Apple Crochet Jackets pattern for free here (thank you, The Guardian).

The one on the left is for my dad, who always brings his lunch into work. The one on the right, well... I'm tempted to keep it! And these work up so, so quickly - even for a novice like me - that I may make a few more. The best part about these cosies and also the snood is that they don't require lots of yardage, so I'm able to use up all the odd bits and bobs of it that I have held onto over the years. Finally, what better way to show off a few favorite buttons?

Happy crafting and happy Thanksgiving to all you other Americans out there. I guess it's really the start of the holiday season now...

knitting through November

Hi folks! 

I'm Becca and I blog over at Knit Happens.  There's been some fab knitting progress happening on here, I'm sadly lagging behind with my Christmas knits but I thought I'd share the little bits I've managed to finish! 

Above you can see the stripey phone sock.  It was super simple and quick to do, you can find the pattern here.  A couple of my friends will be getting these. 

I've also knitted a snood for my nan (as requested, she's so on trend!).  There's been a fair bit of snood lovin' on here, but if you've not had a go yet, here's the pattern I used.  And below is said snood in action, kind of.   

Anyone got any tips for improving knit productivity?

x

Doing it in private . . .

Here's what I decided to make as a surprise present for my daughter - she likes Fair Isle/Nordic style knitwear.  I went for a pair of socks rather than mittens - you're less likely to lose one sock  no matter how drunk you get in the student union bar!  I stopped putting her mits on strings a long time ago. 

My main Christmas craft difficulty (apart from lack of time - obviously there's never enought time) is that I'm struggling to make secret gifts for my partner and younger daughter who lives at home.  I'm considering using work lunch breaks (total three hours per week) otherwise I'll have to lock myself in the bathroom.  What does everyone else do?

An update on my project progress

Hi there, it's Katie from The Little Red Squirrel again, I just wanted to share with you two of my Christmas projects, one completed and one nearly done!

First up is the scarf for my mum, and it is finished, yay! 

Obviously it needs to be pressed, the ends need to be sewn in and the seams stitched up, but the colour work is all done so I'm thrilled. I honestly didn't know whether or not I would be able to finish this one in time for Christmas, it was a bit complicated!

Here's a close up of the yummy fair isle pattern...

I wanted to make a pair of matching gloves as well, but I'm leaving those for now while I finish all my other presents, if I have time I will try and make the gloves as a little bonus :) I have also been working on my Dad's scarf, and it's coming a long nicely as you can see here:

This scarf is worked completely in moss stitch on quite large needles so it grows quickly which is great :) I've altered the pattern quite a bit from the original because I'm going to double the scarf up and sew a seam to make it extra warm and cosy :) Here's a close up so you can see the yummy texture of the scarf, I really love it!

So yeah, I'm pretty thrilled with my progress so far (I have also made one of a pair of gloves for my friend Harriet and have started the second), as when I get these scarves finished I will only need to make a laptop case for my brother and then I've completed everything big that I planned! Of course then I'll probably decide to make even more things and I'll be working right up until the last minute anyway!

I hope your Christmas Crafts are going well, bye for now!