Hat Ornaments

Yesterday and this morning I made these 8 hat ornaments.  Two of them are on my Christmas tree right now.  I'll save 2 more of them for gifts, and the others will be donated to my church's craft fair.  I have a lot more to make before the craft fair's deadline (this Friday).  

Below is the video tutorial that I made last year on how to make these hats.  All you need are scissors, a toilet paper tube, and yarn.  The new ones use a wire hanger instead of yarn to hang them on the tree from.

Purple Crochet M&M Minis Cozy

I have been crocheting this cozy for a few weeks.  I finally finished it today.  It took a long time because I used thin crochet thread and a 1.90 mm crochet hook (size 5).  I used a modified spiral pattern to create the stripes, that way the stripes are seamless.  I slipped stitched the last round, which makes it stay on easier.  This cozy and empty container is for my swap partner who likes purple.  She can put small craft supplies in it, like sewing needles, buttons, stitch markers, etc.

The cozy was a little to plain, so I added a flower made on the peg loom to it.  I used the same 2 colors of purple, and wrapped them around the loom 3 times (thus getting a 6 layered flower).  Then I used 2 strands of the lighter colored purple thread for the center.  Next I added a dot of black glitter glue to the center of it.  My partner likes the color black as well.  

Here name starts with the letter B, so I turned the M on top of the M&M minis container into a B with some black glitter glue.  Why did I choose the lime green container?  I asked her grandmother (who I am friends with) which color she would prefer: red, light blue, green, or orange.  Those are the colors that I have been able to get a hold of with the M&M minis.  I hope that she likes it.  I really like it, and now I want to make one for myself.

Candy Canes, Wreaths, and Hats! Oh My!

I made some more crochet candy cane and wreath ornaments.  I'm going to donate a few of them to my church's holiday fair next month.

I signed up for another swap, this time it is a Christmas ornament swap.  My partner likes black, purple, and zebra striped things, so I made her some candy cane ornaments with those colors.

I also made her these two hat ornaments using parts of a toilet paper tube.  Here are the directions on how to make them.

Juice Pouch Lunch Box

Last week a friend asked me to make a rainbow colored juice pouch lunch box.  She wanted to buy one for a belated birthday present.  So last weekend I made it.  Each juice pouch is stuffed with a layer of batting to help insulate it.  She also wanted a ribbon that had to do with gardening, but she wanted me to use something from my ribbon stash.  What is funny is that the person who it is a gift for saw it yesterday and asked me how much it would cost to make one for her, lol.  She is going to be surprised when she gets one soon.  

It has been a long time since I sewed anything, so it felt good to dust off my sewing machine and make a few things.  I did make something else, but its for the Halloween swap (you'll have to wait to see what it is).

Projects from Class

Last Thursday I taught a juice pouch notebook class at the East Branch of the Somerville Library.  It was a full class (15 kids), and everyone walked away with a juice pouch notebook.  I made an orange Kool Aid one.  Then 5 of the kids stayed longer and made paper beads to add as a tassel on their notebooks.  Four of the kids were girls, and they wanted to learn how to make paper bead bracelets.  So I did a mini demo of how to make them, and sent them home with supplies.  My demo bracelet is in the above picture.  Here is a past blog post that shows what the bracelet looks like when finished.  That particular bracelet was made as an example for another class at the other branch of the Somerville Library.  One of the kid's brother asked if he could have it, and how could I say no?  :)  

8 Rainbow Cork Elves

Here are my rainbow cork elves so far.  I can't wait to have the whole rainbow completed. 

I made this little guy last night.  I just had to take a picture of him next to this plant, because of the similar colors.  I'm starting to run out of corks with blank spaces on them (for the faces).  However now I have a few more people who will save corks for me.  I don't drink alcohol, so all of my corks are donations.

Yes, More Cork Elves

I've been busy making more cork elves.  This time with smilie faces.

I finished knitting the red one's hat at the Farmers' Market yesterday, which is where this picture was taken.

Here is the yarn that I have been using:  Bernat mosaic acrylic yarn: Calypso.  I want to make the whole rainbow of cork elves.

Orange Cork Elves

I'm thinking that these guys will be good for Halloween.  I can add a little leaf to the top of their hats, and make a mini trick or treat bag for them.

More Cork Elves

I am loving these cute little cork elves.  In case you missed it before, here is the pattern.

I made this little guy during the tropical storm known as Irene (on Sunday).

My 4 year old is really into rainbows right now, and he asked me to make some rainbow elves.  I knew exactly what yarn that I wanted to use, and at the store my 4 year old was the first to find it.  Smart kid.  Here are the two elves that I made yesterday out of the rainbow yarn.  They don't look like a rainbow, but I'll be able to get a wide assortment of looks out of one ball of yarn.  The elf on the left looks like his clothes shrunk in the wash, so I had to tweak the pattern for the 2nd one (this yarn is a little thinner than the cotton).  For the sweater I knit 5 rows of stockinette instead of 3, and for the hat I added an additional knit row to every knit row in the pattern.

I'm co-leading and participating in two Halloween swaps next month.  I'm thinking of using black yarn and making cork witches using this pattern for the swap.  I'll make a little broom for it.  Maybe I'll also make a purple wizard with a beard, a cape, and a wand.  My husband wants me to make a Santa Claus one complete with a beard.  Maybe I'll sew in some fuzzy white trim on the clothing.

Christmas Cotton Projects

I started this white cotton Christmas scrubby a week ago.  It is a variation of the red scrubby pattern where I doubled every stitch.

The pattern for it is: 8 sc in loop, dc twice in each st for 2 rounds, sc twice in every st for 1 round, and sc 3 times in every stitch for remainder (about 3 or 4 more rounds). 

If you hold on to the center, it is perfect for scrubbing dishes or for the shower.

It reminds me of brain coral.

I made this little cork elf yesterday, and I plan to make more today.  Irene is coming to us today in the form of a tropical storm.  My little elf is watching it before it gets worse.  I hope that he doesn't get blown away ;)  The pattern for him is here.  He was super easy to make.  I used size 5 dpns and Christmas cotton yarn, but I am going to use size 4 for the next one.  I might glue his hat to him and turn him into an ornament.

Flower Pincushion - Pincushion Swap

Two weeks ago I mailed off my pincushion swap to my partner in England.  She got it yesterday.  Here is what I made for her.  It is a flower pincushion that uses a jar lid as its base, and I also used eco-fi felt for it.  Eco-fi felt is made from recycled plastic bottles.  I used 3 different shades of blue felt for the petals, and then I painted lines on them with puffy paint.  The petals are good for storing sewing needles.

On the top are some green sequence with yellow paint dots in the center.  Then I lined the base of the yellow center with blue shiny trim.  My partner likes shiny stuff.

I also added some sequence to the base as well.

Here is what I received from my partner: two pincushions, the small one is a bottle cap ring pincushion.  The large one uses a sock around the outside of it.  Here is what my partner said about them: "Hi Hun I am so glad that you liked them. You are right about the sock. The strawberry fabric was left over my friends little girls dress. The black part on the side of the bottle top pincushion was the strap off my old velvet top and both of them are stuffed with wool from my friend’s pet sheep Bertie."


It was fun making the pincushion and getting some in trade.  I want to make another flower one for myself so that I have a good place to store all of my sewing needles as well as my pins.

Pincushion, Class Prep, and Soda Tab Chain

Yesterday while my friend and her 2 daughters were over at my house, I showed them how to make a bottle cap pincushion.  One of them was having a few friends for a sleepover tonight and she wanted a simple craft project to do with them.  I wonder if they made some.  

I finished sanding 31 cardboard tubes for my class tomorrow, and I counted all of my soda tabs to make sure that I had enough.  I'm teaching 26 teens and tweens how to make cardboard mailing tube bangles and soda tab bracelets tomorrow.  The tabs in the chick paint can are all the large tabs that I have.  I didn't expect to have that many large ones.

This is a soda tab project that I have been working on.  I think that it looks like a bike chain.

New iPhone Hoodie & Bangles

Last night I cast on another iPhone hoodie, this time with Vanna's Choice yarn.  The stitch markers were a gift from someone on ravelry.  They are made with blue paper beads.

Today I got started on prepping for a bangle class that I'm teaching next week.  First I take a mailing tube and I mark it in one inch increments all the way around.

Then I saw it.

I have 12 of the 25 bangles cut so far.  After that I need to sand them.  Here are the bangles that the girls made in my class last year.

My husband has been having fun doing motion capture and animating his clay creatures.  This is what I found in my refrigerator today.  I should probably hide all of the chocolate, lol.

Here is my fortune from today.  It seemed fitting for how my day has gone.

Gift Tags & Crayon Swap (Blue)

Yesterday Cindy blogged about making gift tags out of tissue boxes using her die cut machine.  What a great idea, especially since lately I've needed gift tags for various things.  So after going to the grocery store today I had a few empty boxes (from canned drinks - bless my husband for saying that I should buy more canned drinks so that I have a lot of tabs to work with).  My tag die cut template has two tags on it, and here is what I got after cutting 4 boxes.  Some are better than others, but they are all great ways to recycle.

I just love the tags that I got off of a cracker box.

Pepsi tags.

The other day I got a surprise package in the mail, another angel gift from the crayon swap.  This one was all the way from Guatemala.

My angel said that the heart and the star on this scarf was in appreciation for my work in our ravelry group and in the crayon swap.

This is a knitted hair piece.  Such beautiful work.

And here is the cute card in the shape of a crayon.  Very cute.

Thank you my angel for the lovely gifts!