April Stash Bust 2012

April is Earth Month, and in 2010 several blogs joined up to do the April Stash Bust. Many of the blogs did it again last year. I haven't seen any bloggers talking about it this year, but I am sure there will be all sorts of posts tomorrow.

Today, I am pledging to stash bust in the month of April, and not buy any new craft items. No new hooks, needles, pins, thread, yarn, buttons, fabric, glue... No new tools or materials. Trading non-new items with others is okay, though.

On top of that, I will finish at least ONE of the THREE rugs I am working on for my kids, made of stained, broken clothing and/or blankets. I started the first one just over 2 years ago, the second one about a year and a half ago, and the third one a year ago. It is time to finish these things up. Especially since I found a really cool pattern for weaving a rug from old t-shirt fabrics, and I want to make one for my kitchen... That will be my prize if I finish all three rugs.

Also, Bex bought us a new sewing machine this week, so I should probably finish up a few sewing projects I have sitting around, full of pins without any work done on them. I will do at least one bag this month. With a sewing machine, this should be easy-peasy. (Bonus: All the bags I have cut are from stash-busted fabrics.)

How to: make a kindle cover from a journal

Steve bought himself a kindle fire and gave me his kindle touch. I made him cover for his kindle touch out of a scrap piece of jeans, but the kindle fire is much bigger. He didn't want to buy a cover because they are a billion dollars (okay, about $30). Instead, he bought a journal and had me turn it into a kindle cover for him.

Materials:
Kindle (to trace)
Journal
Fasteners (I used snaps from a very stained onesie)
Mod Podge
Super glue

Tools:
Pen
Binder clips (optional)
Utility knife/exacto blade
Metal Ruler/straight edge - VERY IMPORTANT! You don't want a flimsy piece of plastic coming between your hand and a cutter when you should be putting the piece down to go to sleep, but instead stupidly cut anyway.
Paint brush

To make:
1. Lay your kindle on the first page of your journal; trace around. Clip down the edges of the paper.

2. Using your cutter and your ruler, cut the traced shape out. If you are crazy, you could try to keep the curve. I am not that crazy, so I opted not to. I also opted to not cut out the page that the baby marked up. (Just a reminder to daddy to keep his stuff out of her reach.)

3. Using super glue, attach the fastener to the "lid". Close your cover, and mark where to cut for your fastener. Make the cuts. Note: Do not glue fastener all the way at the edge. Leave a little space so when the cover is closed, there is no tell-tale page cutting. (The fastener is still together in the picture below.)

 

4. Mod Podge all the cut edges, and the outside of the pages. Once that is dry, glue the other side of the fastener into its niche. 

5. Put your kindle in the journal. (Not pictured because I just finished the project and Steve isn't home yet.)

The Schuyler Blanket Project - March 2012

Yay, I've been made a mod over at The Schuyler Blanket Project. The project was started when a woman lost her daughter, and her friends, online and in real life, wanted to do something. These friends made a blanket in memory of Schuyler. (Read more here.)

The goal of the project is to help grieving parents facing the loss of their child(ren) by putting together blankets of squares made with love by anyone who wants to contribute.

There are five blankets in need of squares right now; the first two are past their due date for squares, so they could really use pledges.

For Nilsa:
Nilsa requested a blanket in memory of her twins. Nilsa lost a baby boy and a baby girl at 20 weeks gestation. She named her girl Annalyse and calls her boy simply My Baby Boy. Squares should be 8x8” in soft, washable fibers in pinks, blues, and neutrals.

For Heather G.:
Heather G. recently lost her son to sids at the age of almost 3 months. He was born on 3/26/11 and sadly passed on 6/18/11. His name was Eddy Maurice S. III. Squares should be 8x8” in soft, washable fibers in blues and greens.

For Megan:
Megan had a stillbirth at 23 weeks. She had just gotten married the week before they found out their son, Charlie, no longer had a heartbeat. Squares should be 8x8” in soft, washable fibers in boy colors.

In memory of Madison Annabelle:
She and her twin brother were born prematurely, at 24 weeks and 2 days on 7/22/2011. Madison passed on 7/25/2011. Her brother Michael was in the NICU at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. (Michael came home January 25, 2012 and is doing great.) Squares should be 8x8” in soft, washable fibers. There are no color preferences for this blanket, so feel free to be creative.

For Ilene and Omar:
Nabil died a few months ago, and leaving behind his only son, and his mom. Nabil was Ilene’s only son as well, and he lived with her. He did his best to help his mom because she was helping him too. The thought is that when Ilene passes away, Nabil’s blanket could be given to his son Omar. Nabil was an avid NY Yankees & Jacksonville Jaguars fan. It would mean a lot if those colors were included (blue/white, teal/black/gold) in the squares. Soft, washable yarn please, 8X8”.

If you are interested in helping (pledging squares, donating yarn, etc), contact me at Heather@schuylersblankets.org

Super quick toy storage from a t-shirt

Sick of tripping over stuffed animals in the middle of the night, I made a net for the toys from an old t-shirt. Yeah, I could have just bought a hammock, but those are $10, aren't they? I'm waaaay to cheap for that.

To make one, you need a t-shirt, a pair of scissors, and some time to cut things (like when you are watching a movie).

1. Cut the sleeves and neck band off the shirt.

2. Cut the t-shirt open along one side seam to make a rectangular(ish) piece of fabric.

Note: This is the point where I stitched the arm hole from the other side closed every few inches, but I don't think it is strictly necessary.

3. Fold the top of the rectangle down about an two inches and make one inch cuts every inch. 

4. Fold the top of the rectangle down another inch and make one inch cuts between the previous cuts. (See below image)

5. Repeat step 4 until you have reached the bottom of the rectangle.

6. Hang your newly made stuffed animal hammock. I tacked it in three places: right side, left side, center back. (I used thumb tacks, which may or may not be the best idea, but they've held just fine for an entire week now.) 

7. Put all the stuffed animals in the hammock and watch your three your old try to figure out how to get them all "out of bed". Oh, wait, that part is just for me. Hmmm.

General cutting diagram:

Where to tack:

Spots and Stripes Cowl

My first knitting pattern! It has been tested, but please let me know if there are any mistakes.

Spots and Stripes Cowl

Materials:

Bulky yarn, about 75 yards

Two toggle buttons

Tools:

Knitting needles, US size 10

Yarn needle to weave in ends

Note: This cowl is made using a 9 row repeat, with a 5 stitch repeat. Size is easily adjusted. 

Abbreviations:

BO - bind off

CO - cast on

k - knit

ktbl - knit through back loop

k2tog - knit two together

p - purl

psso - pass slipped stitch over

sl - slip

st - stitch

wyib - with yarn in back

wyif - with yarn in front

yo - yarn over

For a cowl 5" x 18":

CO 20 st.

Row 1 (RS): Knit to last st, ktbl.

Row 2 (WS): Sl 1 wyif, knit across.

Row 3: Sl 1 wyib, k to last st, ktbl.

Row 4: Sl 1 wyif, p across

Row 5: repeat row 3

Row 6: repeat row 4

Row 7: Sl 1 wyib, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k 2, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k 2, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k2, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k 2, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, ktbl

Row 8: repeat row 4

Row 9: repeat row 3

Repeat rows 2 - 9 nine times.
Next row: (WS): Sl 1 wyif, knit across.
Next row: Sl 1 wyib, k to last st, ktbl.
BO.


Block. Weave in ends.


Using a 12" piece of yarn, sew on toggle buttons on the first repeat, lining them up with desired holes.

Focusing on Charity

I have so much mundane stuff to write in, but that will have to wait.

In the interest of spring-cleaning type stuff, I wanted to find a good way to stash bust. And I found it:

Craft Hope

They do projects every few months. Earlier this week, they launched Project 16 :: The Littlest Warriors. They will collecting handmade beanies and bags for kids who are fighting cancer. Size infant to teenager. If you have craftiness, I challenge you to make a few. If you aren't crafty, maybe you can donate supplies to someone who is, and they could make some beanies or bags. You don't even need to spend money - I'm making beanies out of stash yarn, and bags out of old pairs of jeans. With a little bit of googling, you can find patterns for no-sew hats and bags using old t-shirts.


This is a really good way to to clean out your closets and help some kids out.


My work from yesterday:
2 hats completed, one bag cut out, and two squares for Schuyler's Blankets, a charity that collects 8" squares to make afghans for the families of children who have died.

Because someone grumbled...

Today was Steve’s family Christmas get-together. It was the first chance his aunts got to meet Mara. She was definitely the belle of the ball - at no point was I forced to take her, which is my favorite way to spend a day.

I finished Steve’s mom’s pillow last night (when she opened it, I’m pretty sure there were tears...), and I made her a pair of socks in 2 weeks as a surprise. She sent us a pre-Christmas package almost a month ago with stockings and a nativity set for the kids, some candy, and enough sock yarn to make 2 pairs of socks. She asked if I would use one set of yarn to make her a pair of socks, though she said after the new year would be fine. I finished the second sock at the party - I wanted to make sure they were long enough before finishing off the second sock.

 

While there, I mentioned that we had about 7 Christmas ornaments, in response to Steve opening an ornament. So after the white elephant swap, Tim (Steve’s mom’s husband) gave us the gift he got: 3 handmade ornaments in a decorated tin. Then, as we were getting ready to leave, Kim (Steve’s aunt) offered us some ornaments that she had bought a while ago on clearance. She said if we wanted them, we could have them, if not, she wouldn’t be offended. I took them, because... well, why not?

Gabriel decorated the tree all by himself. All of the ornaments are hung on the bead garlands.

I put up the stockings with only a little help.

Tomorrow is the s&b Christmas party. We are doing a yarn swap. I am nervous that the person I got won’t like the yarn I bought. Not for any particular reason, just because I am always nervous about things like that. She said green and purple, so hopefully she likes it. Also, the questionnaire was LOTR-themed. I’m hoping the name tag looks kinda like an elf-y leaf, and the packaging looks suitably elf-y. I am also going to make a set of stitch markers to go in the package.

Still working on the quilts. Figured out what to make Bryan. Need to finish up the cook books, now that I (finally) got the recipes to finish them up. I think that is all that is left...

Seri’s afghan is done. Bane’s beanie is done.

MARA HAS NOT NURSED IN 40 HOURS!!!! Can you tell I am excited? I told her grammy, so hopefully babies will begin to be stolen for weekends. ALSO!!!! Gabriel went 8 hours without an accident. Yay!

Steve hasn’t found out about his foot, because he won’t personally go pick up his test results.

I got my stuff from my recipe swap partner! Yay! I love the wash cloth - it is a penguin! I plan on making the cookies with Mandi’s kids. (I’m trying to figure out things for them to do on their visit, so I don’t have to endure much whining. Not that her kids are particularly whiny, but bored kids generally are.) I’m also going to force the kids to help me stuff cat toys.

Also, I sent a very nice woman a 500 word story in exchange for 3 skeins of hand spun/hand dyed yarn. She sent me TWELVE skeins! Plus a hand sewn plush, and a plastic bag holder. Be jealous.