April Stash Bust: The tally

This month, I have stash busted the following:
-Several sheets of newspaper to make starter pots for my garden
-A handful of t-shirts to make one rag rug, and a blanket to make a second
-Fabric to make a My Little Pony tote with a matching crochet hook holder, and a hot pink tote
-Half a pair of jeans to make a door snake
-A few ads from a magazine to make envelopes
-A juice bottle to make a clothes pin holder
-Candle scraps and broken/used birthday candles to make new candles
-A ton of baby clothes: for the door snake, and the third rag rug, which is half done

So how did I do, compared with the goals I made at the beginning of the month?
 I did not buy a single new craft item! I didn't buy anything but groceries and my Sunday chai. I finished two rag rugs, and two bags! Double the original pledges. I will take the month as a success.

Next year, though, I will do better. I'm sure I can have a better list than what is up now.

My first knitted shawl

It is done! My first big knitting project is done! The pattern I used is In the Pink by IzzyKnits. It is definitely an intricate piece, but it isn't hard. I had to put the project down a few times while waiting for my brain to catch up with the pattern, but that was usually when I was trying to knit after I should have been sleeping.

This project brought a lot of firsts:
-I'd never made a knit shawl before
-I'd never done lace before at all
-I hadn't used lace weight yarn before
-I had to learn a circular cast on, how to bind off purl stitches, how to do a knitted cast on, p2tog tbl...

Now comes the hardest part... Giving the shawl up! After working on it for 3 months, I am getting ready to send this shawl away. I made it as part of a swap on ravelry, and I am hoping to send the package out sometime next week. The one thing that makes it easier to give this shawl up is that I will be receiving a gorgeous shawl in return. I can't wait to show what comes for me in return!

Hot Pink Tote

 A purse I had cut out to make for a friend, but hadn't worked on. I grabbed it down, brought out my sewing machine, and finished the bag. This bag is made completely from materials I had in my stash.

Also, the outside fabric is my favorite fabric EVER. My high school art teacher let me take the whole bolt of the fabric (about 3 yards) from the classroom stash. I used it to make the first purse I ever made, which is now hanging in a shadow box in my room because my favorite band my senior year of high school signed it and wrote "Happy Birthday" on it. (Thank you, Pooks, for taking the purse with you to the band's meet and greet and telling them my birthday was the following week.)

Finished measurements:
opening - 15" across
bottom - 13" across
10" deep
3" wide


Features of the purse:
-Two straps
Clockwise from top right:
-Interior zippered pocket, 8"x4" (I used a zipper from a baby hoodie I cut up to make the shag rag rug); closed
-opened
-Interior cell phone pocket, 4"x3"
-Divider that is half the height of the purse

Old Candles to New

I just lit my last non-holiday candle, so I think I need some more. I almost put them on the weekly shopping list, because I am out of wick to make new ones. Then I opened the junk drawer to find a pen and saw some broken/used birthday candles. Ta-da, problem solved.

Tools:
Knife and cutting board
Pot and stove
Bowl (to melt wax in)
Pot holder
Glass container to pour wax in (or a candle mold)

Materials:
broken/used birthday candles
candle remnants

To Do:
1. Fill the bottom of your pot with about an inch of water. Put the water on to boil.
If using cups that previously had candles, continue. If using new containers, skip to step 3.
2. Place the cups in the water. Wait for the wax to melt. Fish out any old wicks. Pull the cups out of the water and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Using the knife and the cutting board, carefully cut/shave the wax into small chunks. Place the chunks in your melting container. Put the melting container in the pot. Leave until the wax has melted. Pull the container out of the water and set aside about 5 minutes to cool slightly.
4. If necessary, pour a small amount of wax into the bottom of the cup. Once the wax has cooled slightly, place the birthday candle in the center of the cup. Hold the candle in place for about 20 seconds, or until the top layer of wax has solidified.
5. Pour the slightly cooled wax to fill the cup to the top of the candle (do not cover the wick completely). If you didn't melt enough wax, you can drop in chunks of wax, or melt more.
6. Set aside to cool completely. I like to put mine in the freezer.

If you can get a steady source of candle castoffs, you can make all of your candles for a fraction of the price you would buy them for. Thanks, mom, for saving me all your scraps! 

SBP - April 2012 update

There is a new blanket up this month over at the Schuyler Blanket Project, and three other blankets that could still use squares. This is a wonderful way to stash bust yarn. 

For Marc: 
Marc was a graduate student in music at the University of Tennessee. He was 24 when he died unexpectedly. His graduate advisor, Connie has requested a blanket in his memory. She would like to present the blanket to his parents at a reunion they hold every year in Marc’s honor. The reunion is over Memorial Day weekend. We realize the turn around for this one is fast. We understand that it may not be possible, but we would like to try and get this one done in time for that reunion. We’re collecting 36 8x8” squares. Connie has requested squares that represent some of the things that Marc loved: 
Orange, UT’s color. Garnet and Black, the color’s of the University of South Carolina where Marc received his undergraduate degree. Gold, the color of the saxophone, Marc’s instrument. Blue, because of Marc’s love of the water and boating.

Madison’s blanket still needs 15 squares. 
Madison 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.

Megan’s blanket still needs 12 squares 
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.

The blanket for Ilene and Omar still needs 17 squares. 
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”.

I have made squares for all the blankets except the newest one, and I will be stash busting those out this week. If you are interested in donating a square (or more), or have any questions, please contact Heather@schuylersblankets.org

A pictural tour of my last few days

Never fear, I have been making awesome stuff the past few days. I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it. Until now, of course. 

First up, a swiffer cover. I FINALLY used up the last of my disposables last week (because it would be silly to just throw them away, or something...). I made a swiffer cover a few months ago, and received one a few days later, so I had two. Ideally, that would be enough: one for the kitchen, one for the entry/bathroom. Launder, then reuse. Great. Until I don't do laundry for a couple days (sometimes the babies and I make very little laundry) and the swiffer covers are still dirty when I need them. This happened, so instead of doing laundry when there wasn't enough to make a full load, I decided to stash bust. You might remember that I mentioned buying a bunch of cotton yarn in my first entry. I grabbed a ball and improvised the cover below. it is made with alternating rows of hdc, sc tbl. Gabriel thought it was so cool that he did the swiffering for me. 

 

Then I made a crochet hook holder for one of my awesome blog readers, to go with the My Little Pony tote.

 

Then there was middle of the week grocery shopping, and I picked up some clothes pins for the lines I have in my backyard (even though I am not supposed to dry clothes outside; I think that is a silly rule). My mom gave me the clothes line and some plastic clothes pins at a baby shower I had when I was in my last trimester with Gabriel. After more than three and a half years, only one plastic clothes pin remained. (I snapped it this morning when I tried to use it to hang up a pair of jeans).Well, I needed something to hold my new bamboo clothes pins. Conveniently, Gabriel wanted some juice, which emptied the bottle. 

To make the clothes pin holder, I removed the label from the bottle. Then I cut one of the sides to make a flap (cutting three sides of a rectangle, and leaving the top attached) using a box cutter. Then I stabbed two holes near the top with the box cutter. Using a tapestry needle, I threaded yarn into the holes and tied knots to secure the ends. Then I hung it on my clothes line. 

So far, it works great. When I want a pin, I grab one through the flap. When I am ready to put all the clothes pins away, I unscrew the top and drop them all in. It's so easy, Gabriel figured it out all by himself.

I also decorated some envelopes using colored water and sprinkling them with my fingers. 18 of 52 envelopes decorated.

I also finished making Becka's garb. I think the dress turned out really well, especially since I didn't use any sort of pattern at all. Too bad all my hard work will be hidden under her armor :(

Now I am working on the third rag rug. Below is what it looked like last night. Today, I have covered about half of one of the rectangles. My plan is to finish one rectangle every two days. If I manage that, it will be finished before the end of the month! Expect a long blog post full of pictures when it is done!

 

Also, a garden update: all my pots have sprouts! Yay!

Decorating Envelopes: Part Two

For some reason I woke up before 7am. I lay in bed for a while, trying to tell myself sleep was good. No deal. I waited for the kids to get up. Didn't happen. So what was I to do? Make something, of course!

I have seen some pictures of envelopes made from magazine pages. So I googled envelope folding, and decided I was too lazy for all that nonsense. So here it is, my one-cut envelope how-to.

One-Cut Envelopes
Materials:
Magazine advertisements
Scrap paper (optional; to make a place for the addresses)
Glue

Tools:
Scissors

1.Cut your magazine advertisement in half hamburger style. (Yep, it is too early for me to figure out lengthwise vs. width-wise.)
2. Fold the ragged edge down, leaving an inch of the bottom layer showing.

3. Using just a small line of glue, secure the sides closed. Fold the leftover inch down to create a flap. 

Note: You could be done at this point. I chose to make address labels.

4. Cut rectangles of scrap paper (just large enough to write an address on). Glue one each to the front of the envelopes.

Ta-da! The envelopes are made. I made 8 in less than 20 minutes, including gathering all the supplies.

Envelope fronts                                                            Envelope backs

12 of 52 envelopes done.