Posts filed under 'Projects and Projects Ideas'
Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap Weekly Post
New Post of the week to earn entries for the WWCS!
Holly Says: I love the holidays, it turning colder here, and I love coffee. As the cold of winter approaches, do you change the projects you work on? Do you work on gifts for others or do you continue working on projects for yourself? Can’t wait to see all the replies. Nice meeting each and everyone of you.
I do change the projects I work on when winter approaches. That means holiday time and many, many grandchildren’s birthdays! I still have all my UFO’s, but I try to make something for them so they know that I enjoy spending time on their gifts, rather than just going to a store to purchase the latest, hottest toy.
However, as they get older, it gets harder to find something that they will enjoy as a hand made gift from Grandma. Last year I made them all two pair of flannel pants. That was a big hit! They love to lounge around on Saturday morning and watch the cartoons after a hard week at school. The year before it was fleece hats, scarfs and mittens. Since they love to play out in the snow (when we have some) that worked also.
This year, I’m going to try to make slippers. Not real fancy, just basic knitted slippers to wear while watching TV , or getting out of bed on a cold morning. This project will involve my knitting machine since my list is growing this year with the addition of two new grands – both boys! Isn’t life grand?
1 comment November 12, 2007
Candy Cane Sock Pattern
Are you looking for a seasonal pattern to knit? Here is a cute one offered for free from [tag]Catherine Wingate[/tag]. These are cute socks with eyelet-formed candy canes.
Catherine is the designer author of [tag]The Sock Calendar[/tag] and [tag]The Sock Journal[/tag], published by HeartStrings FiberArts. This pattern (a $6.00 value) is free right now at the [tag]HeatStrings FiberArts[/tag] web site.
If you want the exact yarn used in this pattern, HeartStrings FiberArts is offering, for a limited time, a yarn pak of 3 balls of the Heirloom EasyCare 8 yarn for $20. The color is red #760.
3 comments November 10, 2007
New Fall Yarns from Patons
[tag]Patons[/tag] has added seven new timeless tweed shades to their [tag]Patons® Classic Merino Wool[/tag] line that add a layer of practicality, warmth and earthiness to the shade range of this quintessential yarn.
[tag]Patons Melody[/tag] comes in GREAT NEW SHADES! Bright, fun and vivid – these five new shades will grab the attention of your kids and tweens and inspire you to knit or crochet adorable hats & scarves or energetic afghans for them to enjoy.
Patons also have many [tag]free patterns[/tag] for use with their yarns. The Melody yarn has a pattern for an Easy Hoddie and a Diagonal Waves Scarf. Cute patterns and yarns for holiday gifts to make for the youngsters on your list!
Add comment September 22, 2007
Knitted Quilt Blocks?
Ann Budd joined [tag]Interweave Press[/tag] as an editorial assistant for [tag]Handwoven[/tag] magazine. Since then, she has worked for Interweave Press in several capacities including managing editor of Handwoven, assistant book editor, and now, managing editor of [tag]Interweave Knits[/tag] magazine. Ann’s designs frequently appear in Knits and she has also written several technical articles for the magazine.
[tag]Ann Budd[/tag] has written patterns to replicate well-known quilting patterns into knit quilt blocks for hand made cards using size 8 pearl cotton and size 0000 knitting needles. This article appears in the September/October 2007 issue of [tag]Piecework Magazine[/tag] by Interweave Press and is available online at the above link.
This article and pattern combination brings together several hobbies at one time, [tag]knitting[/tag], [tag]card making[/tag] and [tag]quilting[/tag]!
Add comment September 1, 2007
Dishcloth Hangups For 2008
Would you like to have a calendar full of [tag]dishcloth patterns[/tag]? [tag]Knitting Knonsense[/tag] is creating a 2008 calendar -“Dishcloth Hangups For 2008″ -that will be available starting in September.
Jane Nogle has a blog showing some of the beautiful designs she is using in the calendar and the websites of the designers who created them. According to Janet – “The cost will be $16 electronically or $22 printed and mailed to you. Due to postage and printing costs being so high we don’t plan to offer as a printed document unless requested.”
Some of the designers are [tag]Allie Barrett[/tag] of [tag]Knitwits Heaven[/tag], Allie’s blog contains additional FREE dishcloth pattern, [tag]Michelle Crimm[/tag]. and [tag]Susan Mrenna[/tag] to name a few.
Add comment September 1, 2007
Designer Bags from Recycled Sweaters
[tag]Fittner Knitter[/tag] has a great site full if interesting items. This page however, fits in with my current recycle theme of the past few days.
Cindy writes “These bags are made from 100% [tag]recycled wool[/tag] sweaters. No patterns were used so no two bags will ever be alike.
After felting each sweater, I just took a pair of scissors to them
and let the design emerge from the sweaters.The bags are lined with polyester fleece”. Because I also knit socks the Magic Loop way, I found this bag interesting.
The Magic Loop Bag
I love the [tag]magic loop[/tag]. But knitting 2 socks with the magic loop at one time makes the project less portable. If you just drop everything into a bag, the yarn gets all tangled. So I decided to design a bag to carry my 2-socks-on–one-circ projects.
Another good use of recycled wool sweaters!
Add comment July 26, 2007
Finding Recycled Yarn on the Internet
Picture courtesy of KnitWit site. Have you tried to recycle yarn? Have you bought a sweater at a resale shop and tried to take it apart to reuse the yarn in your project and pulled your hair out in the process?
If you have attempted this and decided it isn’t something you want to do, might I suggest looking at shops on the internet that recycle the yarn for you. One shop I found is [tag]Jag’s Funky Fibers[/tag].
[tag]Ebay[/tag] and [tag]esty[/tag] can be additional great sources for [tag]recycled yarn[/tag]. One shop on ebay, [tag]The Twice Sheared Sheep[/tag], believes that “yarn unfortunate enough to be born as a store bought sweater still deserves to be made into a hand made item”. They have some yummy pink silk/angora up right now. Another shop on ebay is [tag]Recycled Yarn and Gently Used Stuff[/tag]. Good name, right?
Because the yarn is recycled, you need to buy all that you think you might need, because that is probably all you will find.
Add comment July 25, 2007
Recycling Yarn
Purchasing quality yarns for your project can become costly. Many knitters have become resourceful in obtaining yarn for their projects by purchasing knitted items from thrift stores, yard or tag sales, or estate sales and reusing the yarn.
How do you decide if a knitted item is worth taking apart for the yarn? The [tag]KnitWit[/tag] site has a whole page devoted to the methodology of finding and reusing previously knit yarn. The most important thing she does is to avoid serged seams. When a seam is serged, the excess fabric is usually blade cut as it is sewn, thus each row of yarn is cut at both sides of the item and the yarn is in very short strands.
[tag]Ashley Martineau[/tag] published a tutorial and shawl pattern in the Spring 2005 [tag]Interweave Knits Magazine[/tag] about reusing yarn. The information is also available at [tag]Neauveau Fiber Arts[/tag].
Another source of how-to information can be found at this page at [tag]ebay[/tag]. This ebay guide writes very good information about purchasing recycled yarns at ebay and what information you need to for in the auction write up.
Bottom line is if you want to try expensive yarns, and have a beer budget, think about recycling yarn. At minimum, the largest expense will be your time.
Add comment July 24, 2007
Knitting Daily Waist Shaper
Ravelry
Yarn Harlot
