Subheading

Showin' some love to the sheer awesomeness of homemade gifts



Thursday, March 31, 2011

Shrink Film Craft Fail!

Remember how much fun shrinky dinks were?!  I found some of the plain shrink film at the craft store and all kinds of ideas started swirling around - jewelry, buttons, zipper pulls, maybe even little custom people that look like my family to jazz up Candy Land.  But the first attempt didn't go so well. 

The Little Man of the House gets so excited when he sees his name, so for the first experiment with shrink film, I wrote his name in black marker.  The film is pretty glossy, so it needed to dry a bit to keep from smearing the ink.

Then I cut around the name and added a little hole so that we can eventually attach it to a keychain or zipper or something else that the Little Man will be pround of.

Next, things got a little messy.  BEWARE of the smudgies - Even though the marker had set a bit on the film, it still smears when adding in  allowing a 4-year-old to add in other colors.  It may not suit my grown-up taste, but it was totally kid-tastic by preschool standards.
 

Next step - get that baby into the oven for 2-3 minutes.  The directions are sparse, but do say that the film will curl before flattening, and do not remove it from the heat before it uncurls.  ....so 5 minutes later it is still in the oven and yet not uncurled because it managed to meld itself together.  I managed to break it while trying to uncurl it:

Even in the hard curled plastic mess, I see some promise.  The colors really did pop out in a fun and cartoony way after baking, and it looks like the finished product will be sturdy.  So attempt number two is to follow, wish us luck!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Work in Progress Wednesday - Amazing Mitts

After finishing the Knitted Gifts convertible neckwarmer, I had 2 1/2 skeins of Amazing left over and cast on some mitts to go with it.  The pattern is Semplice, a freebie on Knitpicks.  In theory, it's a simple pattern, but it's a bit hard to follow.  The pattern is unclear on where to place the stitch markers to place the thumb increases.  I improvised by starting the thumb increases at the beginning of the rounds, but in retrospect the pattern probably intended the thumb increases to begin at the end of one round and continue into the start of the next.
Other than the thumb issue, the pattern is pretty clear and simple.  It is a twisted rib cuff, straight stockinette, a thumb, and then some more stockinette and twisted rib.  One nice thing about the pattern is that the two mitts are identical, so there is no shaping to reverse.  That makes it easier when you're a two-at-a-time-on-one-needle junkie like me.  Socks, sleeves, mittens, you name it, two at a time is the way to go.

Don't forget to visit the roundup of the other WIP Wednesdays.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Taming the Startitis - finished two projects!

It's another Finished Object Friday and I actually have two of them to share.  They were actually finished last week but life was too hectic to get them photographed and uploaded.  So without further delay...

The Vine Yoke Cardigan is finished - more or less blocked and complete with buttons:
The blocking was only "more or less" because I was not very aggressive with it, just sort of pulling the bottom into shape, and it ended up drying unevenly.  So looking from the front, the left side hangs a little lower than the right.  Buttons were an issue - I was anxious to get something on them and ended up going to JoAnn.   Have you ever tried finding 10 matching buttons at JoAnn?  Especially 10 large (1 1/8") buttons?  Choices were limited; I could only find 4 or 6 of any button I loved, and ended up with buttons I liked instead.
They are cute, and made from coconut shells.  They have grown on me and I think they may stay on the sweater, instead of being a temporary solution until I find the gray buttons I first envisioned.
This was definitely a fun knit, and was suprisingly quick.  If I had worked more diligently, it would have taken under three weeks to finish. 

And the other finished object is a gift for a family member - she really wanted the convertible neckwarmer from the Knitted Gifts book, and here it is:

The Lion Brand Amazing produced a nice, soft, warm fabric. 


The idea of the convertile neckwarmer is that it can be worn around the neck like a cowl, or the i-cord on top can be cinched up to make it more of a hat.  The warmer is really just a stockinette tube with ribbing at one end and an eyelet row at the other.  I was a little concerned about the sizing, since it seems like anything large enough to be a neck warmer would be too large to work as a hat.  But somehow this seemed just about right.  With longer hair like the recipient has, the ribbing on the bottom will just stay in place and look a little slouchy.
P.S. Say hi to one of the earliest homemade gifts I ever received - he's a handsome model, isn't he?
P.P.S. Check out some more fabulous finished objects over at Tami's Amis.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Another Work in Progress Wednesday

Well it's another Work in Progress Wednesday, and instead of actually making progress on something I was already working on, I started a new project.  Luckily, this new project is a gift and it is going pretty quickly.  Which is good, because I think I want another one for myself.  The project is a convertible neck warmer -turned - hat from the book Knitted Gifts:
The yarn is Lion Brand Amazing, and I really like it!

The yarn is 53% wool and 47% acrylic, and it is pretty soft.  It has a slight halo so the stitch definition is not completely clear.  But it seems both drapey and warm.  Plus, it's fun to see the colors change.

This is my second project from the book.  The first was a pair of hobby horses that I knit last Christmas.  There are a few nice projects in the book, but they largely not quick knits which makes them not my ideal gifts.  The neckwarmer, though, works up quickly, so it gets an A in my book.
Check out the other work in progress Wednesdays here.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

More Works in Progress Wednesday

This week has been kind of crazy, but I've still made progress on a couple of projects.  First, the sweater I have been longing for for about a year, the Vine Yoke Cardigan, is almost done.  I just need to graft the underarms and then add some buttons, still TBD.


I also started what should be a quick crochet project if I ever take a couple hours to just sit down and work on it.  It is a striped owl, intended as a belated birthday gift for my baby girl (don't worry, she won't have any clue it's late).
So far it is only pink and brown, but I hope to add some fun accent colors.  I found some honest to goodness Red Heart wool at a garage sale over the summer and have been looking for something perfect to use it on, and this will hopefully be the project.
And because Little Miss had a birthday this week, I had the perfect excuse to test out the new Silhouette.  Using just the fonts already on my computer and the free shapes that came with the machine, and a little mod podge, I was able to make this box for the birthday girl.

Because the box is always more fun than the presents, right?
And a custom banner, which was a lot of fun to design.

So those are my works in progress this week.  I can't wait to see what everyone else is up to - here is the roundup of other Work in Progress Wednesday posts.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Holiday Countdown

It's funny how those holidays sneak up on you, right?  Valentine's day has come and gone.  New Years?  Pffsht..., that is so two months ago.  So before we lose track of things, here's a countdown in days to the next few up and coming events:

St. Patrick's Day                         15 days
Easter                                          53 days
American Independence Day     124 days

And, if you are really enthusiastic about taxes:
Tax Day                                       44 days

However, if you are looking for a reason to celebrate right now, it is National Pig Day!  Pig macaroni art, anyone?