Valentine's Weekend

I have made 2 more pigs and have started making another one. One of the pigs is for my son's school librarian. She collects pigs. I need to find out when national pig day is, and I'll give it to her then.


I also knitted another dish cloth. I used a self striping cotton yarn in Easter colors (blue, purple, green, and white.... all light colors). I cast on 37 stitches and just knit in garter stitch. I used Lily's Sugar'n Cream and size US10 needles. I just cast on the same yarn on the same needles for a new2 dish cloth. I am starting off with one stitch and increasing on the two ends every other row. The alternate rows are knitted as is. I'll eyeball where I want to start decreasing it. This way I'll end up with a square dish cloth with diagonal stripes.


In other news, I am an Instant Challenge appraiser for my region's DestiNation Imagination Tournament this year. I went to my training session on Valentine's Day. The one creative thing that an appraiser has to do is make a silly hat to wear at the tournament. It puts the kids at ease. I am making mine out of recycled materials. Right now I am crocheting a top hat out of plastic bag yarn. I am going to embellish it. I have a few ideas floating around in my head. At the end of the tournament, there is a hat contest for the appraisers. That should be fun. If you don't know what DI (DestiNation Imagination) is, it might be easier to look it up than for me to explain it. I was a team manager for my son's team last year. It's a lot of work. The kids come out of having learned a lot.

Pig & Hearts

Last night I knitted 3 heart shaped dish clothes. I used Lily's Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn in the pinky stripes color way. I used a size US8 knitting needles for this project. I now know that pattern by heart, lol. I know that I have posted this link before, but here is the link for the instructions:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/BK4K-0602001.html?noImages=

Today I made an amigurumi pig. Instructions can be found at http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi?search=Search&searchText=pig&Go.x=21&Go.y=10. I used Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn in the Rose and in the pink color way. I also used a size G crochet hook. This was another Valentine's Day present for my toddler. My oldest son picked it up with chocolaty fingers that left a mark. Oh well. I plan on making at least one more. The librarian at my son's school loves pigs. She is such a nice woman, that I would love to make her one.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I was on Ravelry.com today when I came across a thread that asked what you can do to reduce your waste at home. I forgot to add using a compost and a water barrel in the thread, but here is what I posted.

Cereal boxes and other food boxes: 1. make file boxes (I keep magazines and computer print outs in mine)
2. Make a book. You can sew in the pages or just staple them.
3. Quilting templates. I have made several templates for my hand pieced grandma's flower garden quilt.
4. ornaments - glue on left over or used wrapping paper or old cards (Christmas or whatever cards).

Juice pouches, like Capri Sun & Kool Aid: I clean them out and sew them up to make all sorts of things.To see examples, check out [my blog][1] or [my website][2].

Plastic shopping bags: 1. cut them to make yarn then knit, crochet, or weave them to make great tote bags or other things.
2. fuse them and then sew them to make produce bags. Examples are also on my blog.
3. Make a winter wreath out of them. Vicki Howell from Knitty Gritty has a link on how to make one on her blog.
4. Mailing packages, instead of using bubble wrap and packing peanuts

Plastic Bottle caps: 1. ornaments
2. jewelry
3. punch a hole on 2 sides, string together, and you have garland for your outdoor trees
4. Personally I am going to make a trash can out of mine by punching 4 holes (around the sides) and putting them together with wire.

Metal bottle caps: 1. ornaments
2. jewelery
3. game board pieces, like for checkers
4. turn your shoes into tap shoes
5. I have seen them made into hand bags and even chairs (the frame was made from something else)

Soda pull tabs: 1. a beautiful purse. I've seen pictures and now I am going to make one.
2. Some people crochet flowers using them

Twist ties and bread clips: These are good for around the house. You can keep your wires and cords together, hang things, etc.

Scrap ribbon: 1. fuse them or stitch them together to make a funky new ribbon
2. collage
3. use on gift cards and gift tag

Left over pieces of yarn, thread, fabric, and other soft materials: stuffing. I make dog toys and use those left over tid bits to stuff it with. Some people find a way to put these things in their quilts (as part of the design).

Those green plastic things that strawberries come in: 1. an Easter basket
2. line with tin foil and put a plant in
3. weave ribbon through it and make a container
4. makes an excellent bubble wand
5. printing (just dip in paint and print)
6. turn upside down and it is a pencil holder

Plastic bottle: 1. message in a bottle (Family Fun has it for a Valentine's gift)
2. The bottom is cut, sanded, and attached to more bottoms to form a flower like curtain
3. Cut the top off, punch holes around the top, and join a few together with ribbon or yarn - great pencil holder

Potato chip bags: 1. cut and fold like a gum chain, join, invisible stitch, and make a change purse (DIY's Craft Lab has instructions)
2. Turn inside out and it is shiny wrapping paper

Duct Tape: make a sheet, flip over so that sticky side is up, attack candy wrappers or other paper like products, fold and glue or tape to make a gift bag.

Business cards: take two and glue the fronts together so that you end up with 2 blank sides. Fold in half, punch a hole at the corner, and you have a gift tag.

Tape cassette holder: flip open and you have a business card holder

CDs: 1. cut a Styrofoam ball in half, glue the 2 halves to either side of the cd, you have Saturn
2. Cut and mosaic
3. use the back side to make a card or ornament
4. punch small holes, string together, and make a curtain
5. glue a marble in the center of one side and a water bottle cap to the center of the other side and you have a spin top.
6. I've seen beautiful sculptures / mobiles made from cds

Soda Cans and other cans: 1. make a robot (not a real working one)
2. there are books on how to make airplanes and cars from them. My uncle made a road runner out of some
3. I made a chair out of them once. I couldn't sit on it though.
4. cut and flatten, then tack onto wood: purse, sign, planter, etc.
5. Fill with water, freeze, using a nail and hammer, make holes in a pattern. Then let the water melt, then dump the water out. You have a lantern. Great for Halloween.

There are books on what to do with tubes, egg cartons, boxes, etc. I love looking in the children's section of the library for ideas.

Valentine's Box

My oldest son needed to make a Valentine's holder from a shoe box. He wanted it painted red. I spray painted several coats of paint on it so that the writing from the shoe box did not show through. He said that he wanted a heart cut out of the top (where the Valentines would go). I cut a large heart out of paper and used it as a template. I first asked him if it was the right size. He wanted it a little smaller. Thats why I started out big. You can always make it smaller. Then I showed him what it would look like on the box in 2 different placements. He liked the diagonal placement. So I cut it out for him. I also die-cut several hearts, tags, and letters (that are in his name) out of different colored construction paper. I'll provide him with these things plus stickers, glue, and writing materials so that he can decorate his box for school tomorrow.

I've been working on the heart log cabin quilt. It is slow going since I am hand sewing it. I have 3 blocks finished, and 4 others almost finished. I am also posting a picture of my youngest son with his knitted heart pillows.

Knitted heart pillows

I finished knitting the last of the 4 hearts today. I then embroidered the white hearts. I sewed the hearts together to make 2 small pillows for my toddler for Valentines Day. The red heart has a cat toy inside of it. Its one of those balls with a bell inside. I find that it jingles better than just placing a bell inside with the stuffing.

Hearts

Last night I knitted 3 more hearts and started a 4th heart. I am using this pattern from Lion Brand: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/BK4K-0602001.html?noImages=
However I am knitting from only one strand of yarn using size US 8 knitting needles. Two of the hearts are made using red Lion's Brand Homespun and the others are made from the standard acrylic yarn in white. I am making small pillows for my toddler for Valentine's Day. I might embroider something on the white hearts. The white hearts are slightly smaller than the red ones. That just goes to show you how 2 different yarns can result in 2 different sizes.

Valentine's Day Log Cabin Quilt

I am hand sewing a log cabin quilt for Valentine's Day. I am positive that it will not be finished this month. However it will be finished for next year, lol. I love log cabin quilts. I saw one where the blocks were turned to form a heart. That is what I want to do here. I am not sure how big it will be or who it will be for. It will be for someone in my home though.