June 3, 2012
by Tammy
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Weekend Chilling & Craft Links

The furry babies and I have had a nice weekend of crafting and chilling. Lola especially enjoys the crochet circle of power.

Coco likes to sit by my feet as I write on the computer. She also enjoys the use of my shawl even if she only gets a little bit of it to snuggle.

I hope you are finding some time and chill and craft.

Aileen’s Musings
Aileen shows you how she revamped an outdoor decoration!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Making fiber flowers has never been easier if you have a Martha Stewart Loom!

Cherie Burbach
Cherie makes homemade coasters out of cheap tiles.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at Craftside there is a fun idea for serving individual salads at a party, an inside peek into the new book 1000 Artists’ Books, and a tutorial on how to incorporate sea shells in stained glass.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Design gift boxes to match your card or gift.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has been dreaming of hedgehogs!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
How to make a 4th of July decoupaged wreath

June 2, 2012
by Tammy
2 Comments

More Cross Stitch Progress & Masking Tape Solution

As I continue to work on my Dolly Mama cross stitch kit, I continue to remember cross stitch issues and (eventually) solutions. One issue that I had forgotten about when it comes to the cloth used for cross stitching is that the edges fray like nobody’s business! The more I worked on it, the more little pieces of thread emerged around the edges. Finally, I remember that you need to cover all four sides of the cloth with masking tape. Problem solved!

I managed to get more done this week on it too, yeah me. Though now, gulp, I’m to the point where I have to start stitching the face.

I managed to get one hand done and will do the sign that it is suppose to be holding next probably. I may even wait to the her head until the very end!

May 29, 2012
by Tammy
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Spinning Fiber Is Everywhere

As I have been spending a chunk of my summer vacation catching up on craft podcasts and finding new podcasts, I have noticed that spinning fiber is super popular right now. Of course, this may be because knitting, which tends to dominate the world of crafting podcasts, relates to spinning since knitters can make their own yarn from fiber that they buy, which I have learned is referred to “roving.” I sure as heck do not need another craft to spend my time and money on, but I have to admit that I am very curious and spinning looks pretty dang cool.

As I watch video podcasts and listen to audio podcasts that talk about knitting and spinning, I have realized that there is all kinds of terminology involved that I am not familiar with. Many of the folks doing these shows seem to assume I know too, so I went over to YouTube to find some spinning basics. Below is one video that shows how to use a basic drop spindle.

Here are some links to a few other spinning videos that I found helpful:

Hand Spindles – This video shows the different types of hand spindles available and also briefly shows how to use some of them.

Drafting Wool – In this video, Megan LaCore shows how to prepare fiber for spinning.

Finishing Yarn – Again, Megan is back showing how to take the yarn you spun and prepare it so you can knit or crochet with it.

Alpaca Direct – This is really an ad, but there is some good basic info in this about the fiber that I found helpful.

May 28, 2012
by Tammy
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Felting Failure

I posted recently that after frogging a shawl that I was making using purple wool yarn I was playing around with the idea of using the reclaimed yarn for making bags and then felting them. I even did a fair amount of research, though admittedly I did briefly and unsuccessfully try felting a few years ago. This time would be different (I told myself). I watched a few YouTube videos and found instructions on line as well. I even combed through some Ravelry.com archived forum posts. I was set!

First I knitted a swatch. Yes, me swatching! Who would believe it? But I figured I needed to know how much shrinkage to expect. I knitted up a 2 1/4 inch by 6 1/2 inch swatch to experiment on.

Then I found an old pair of jeans, set my washer to the hot setting, and threw in the jeans, swatch, a little baking soda, and some soap. Voila! errr…well…not exactly voila…

Not only is the swatch not felted, though yes a little on the fuzzy side, it actually grew to almost 8 inches long! So I figured I’d give it another go in the washer. I noticed my hot cycle ends with a cold cycle. This time I opted for the warm/warm cycle instead, and to help with the shrinking issue, I dried it as well. And voillllaaaa???

It was a tad fuzzier but still not felted. It was maybe a tiny bit smaller than the expanded version but not much smaller. So I had to attempt one more time. I threw the swatch in with a load of clothes (since the dye did not run at all in previous washings) and also dried it with the same load. And….

It is smaller (2 inches by 6 inches), the fuzz shortened up somewhat, but still no felting is going on! I went back to the web and read more about felting and watched a few more videos, and finally, I found the answer! According to a KnitPicks.com video, you can’t felt super wash wool. I then checked the label and am now banging my head on my desk! I did not see this handy little factoid any place else on-line! Back to square 1 of what to do with a heck of a lot of purple wool yarn!

May 27, 2012
by Tammy
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New Podcast Links & Weekly Craft Links

I have your weekly craft links followed by a few links to podcasts recently added to by blog roll.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Do you know how to repair cracked ceramics? Eileen shares two methods.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi’s family finished up their wonderful trip to Italy in Rome!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
The Go Baby! has made sewing fun again!

Craft Buds
Learn how to make a car trash bag or reusable lunch bag with a handle slot, perfect for those summer road trips.

CraftFoxes
Take a look at a gallery of stunning quilts and booths from Quilt Market in Kansas City.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to make polymer clay cabochons and transfer muslin markings to a sewing pattern, a billboard doodling exercise, a cool oversized stitching detail and recipes for flavored water and banana breakfast bars.

New podcast links: Stockinette Zombies, We Are Yarn, Min Knits, and Girl Friends Knitting.

May 27, 2012
by Tammy
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Felting Frogged Wool Yarn

Shawl #2 is now officially frogged. And this means I have a heck of a lot of purple wool yarn. And I live in Florida were wool is sort of like tire chains, not necessary at all! Now what to do with all this purple wool yarn? I’m not ruling out an afghan, but I also realized I might be able to use at least some of this yarn to make bags and felt them. I have tried felting before without success, but I did not do enough research to understand how the process worked. Thanks to a few YouTube videos, I am thinking of trying it again.

In the first video, Mikey tries to felt a crocheted bag (versus a knitted bag). In the second video, he describes some of the things he should have done differently, even though his experiment was semi-successful.

May 25, 2012
by Tammy
2 Comments

Shawl, to Frog or Not to Frog?

This is actually an older picture of the second shawl I have been working on. It is now over 3 feet long, and I probably have a few feet left to go. According to the pattern (Afternoon Breeze Shawl), the finished size is supposed to be 20 inches by 67 inches (over 5 feet long). This is really easy to do, and I have enjoyed working on it because it uses all half double crochet stitches (next to double crochet a favorite stitch of mine), and the yarn I’m using for it , wool from Black Sheep, feels great to work with. However….

It is so dang heavy I can’t even tell you! The stitch is tight and the yarn is wool; duh, of course it’s heavy! What was I thinking? As it turns out, the first shawl I finished (the ripple shawl) has been great to wear around the house. My husband and I are always playing battle of the thermostat, so when he has to have it cranked down (for example, he’ll do this when he’s cooking), I can just toss this on. It is really handy to pull on and take off quickly.

So I woke up this morning and realized….gulp!…time to frog this other shawl…rip it…rip it…rip it good!

It sucks to do that, but I know that this will turn into a shawl that I will never wear, and it’s sucking up a lot of really good yarn that I could use to at least make a throw or even an entire blanket if I use a nice open stitch, like the V-stitch, which I used for a baby blanket once and really liked it. Plus, I have to remind myself that crocheting is as much, if not more so, about enjoying the process and not necessarily the end result.

May 24, 2012
by Tammy
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Make the Connections Jewelry Components

Pictured are some samples I received from Cousin.com, a company that manufacturers and distributes jewelry components through craft outlets such as Michael’s. They have two lines that are pretty cool, especially for anyone who would like to make jewelry but doesn’t have a lot of time. First (pictured at the top) is the Make the Connection line. It includes pendants and necklace and bracelet straps that you can connect to each other. You don’t need any tools because there are rings on the pendants that go around the connection pieces on the necklace straps.

For bracelets and rings, there is the Snap in Style line. The back of the ornamental components snap to the front of a ring base (see the second photo above) or a bracelet base (see the photo below).

Other than these allow you to design jewelry really fast and easy, you get the added advantage of being able to switch out and change the look of each jewelry piece as well.

May 22, 2012
by Tammy
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Cross Stitch Outlining

One of the many things I had forgotten about cross stitch is that when you are done you are supposed to stitch around the finished sections in order to outline them. This helps define the various sections of the stitching and sort of makes them pop out. Normally, you do this at the very end I believe, but I wanted to see some progress so went ahead and stitched around the sides of the skirt as well as the bow on either side of the skirt. Before doing this, especially since some of the thread is white (yes white thread on white cloth), I had a hard time seeing what I had actually done so far. This helped define the areas I had completed and gave me the push to move on stitching the design. Now, I’m moving up to start stitching her shirt.

The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog