Every day next week a Lincoln Handmade Team member will be having a giveaway! All of our members are extremely talented and do beautiful work. Be sure to check out their blogs and shops. Then stop back here on Tuesday. I’m giving away something green for St. Patrick’s Day!
Monday: Christy of ChristyNelson.net
Tuesday: Julie of Kundhi Creative (Me!)
Wednesday: Lisa of Chimera Crochet
Thursday: Kelly of refibered
Friday: Korrine of Crafterella
Saturday: Lynette of Handmade for You
UPDATE: Thanks to the Craft Magazine blog for their link to my tutorial!
March is Mending Month over at Craftzine. I’ve been doing a lot of mending lately. I keep a bag next to my desk for whenever I have a little time for sewing a button or fixing a hem. Mending is good for the soul, at least mine anyway.
Last week I posted a scarf I made out of sweater scraps from resizing my brother-in-law’s ’80s style sweaters. It was super easy. I probably wouldn’t try this with an heirloom sweater, but it’s great for all those oversized sweaters you may have collecting dust in the back of your closet.
Step 1
Try on the sweater inside out and pin along the sides and under the arms for a more fitted shape. (I used safety pins for this step.)
Step 2
Lay the sweater flat and adjust the pins make sure your seams are straight and equal in size. (I changed to straight pins at this point.)
Step 3
Machine stitch the new side seams with a straight stitch. Then repeat with zigzag stitch to catch the frayed ends. (A serger would be perfect for this.)
Step 4
Your seams might be a little wobbly after stitching. Press with a warm steam iron. Use a press cloth if your sweater isn’t 100% wool. Trim excess.
Step 5
Turn sweater right side out and press open the seams. That’s it!
Last Thursday it was 70 degrees. Bella and I went for a lovely walk with Lauren and Brady. We did our regular loop, visited the ducks and even stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful morning. The first long walks after the cold of winter are like those big stretches when you wake up in the morning: refreshing and invigorating — an unfolding and uncurling of all the kinks from hibernation. Lauren took this picture of Bella when we stopped to say hello to the ducks. We all were a little high off of the sights and sounds and smells of Spring.
Later that afternoon, during quiet time, I could hear Bella in her room. It sounded like coughing. At first I didn’t think anything of it. She’s been coughing to get attention since she was a wee little thing. But something didn’t feel right. I decided to check in on her. Ugh! She had thrown up her lunch all over her bedroom, including her bed and blanket (but thankfully not on any of her friends that aren’t machine washable). It’s the first time she’s been that sick since we found out about her milk intolerance when she was an infant. She was stunned. Shocked. She didn’t understand what had just happened.
I cleaned her up. I cleaned her bed and the floor. I was thankful that I knit her blanket out of washable yarn. We settled down, read books in the living room and she took a nap. The rest of the evening wasn’t so good, but she did sleep through the night once we got her to bed. Her spirits were up on Friday even though she didn’t eat much and by Saturday she was back to her old self.
It’s hard explaining being sick to a two-year old. The idea of food coming back up? of running to the bathroom when your tummy rumbles? of only taking little sips of water and avoiding solid food when your tummy is empty? All of those were completely confusing to her. It’s hard to watch your little one feel so low. I’m so grateful that she bounced back so quickly!
It seems like I can’t stop making felted wool coffee sleeves, so I’ve decided to start a feature cozy of the month!
March is all about St. Patrick’s Day and basketball. I don’t know much about hoops, but I used to be quite the little Irish Dancer. My Girl Scout troop had to learn an ethnic dance and we picked The Walls of Limerick. I remember that we performed on the stage at Golden Ring Mall.* A few of my friends and I stuck with it until high school. We competed, performed at Irish festivals and even walked in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. So in honor of my “Irish” background, this month is all about green!
Two sleeves are available in my etsy store.
*Sadly, Golding Ring Mall has since been leveled and replaced with big box stores.
I’ve been wanting to make a bag like this for awhile, but just couldn’t figure out the pattern. I fiddled around with a prototype that didn’t work out too well and then abandoned it for a few months. (OK, a year!)
Then my friend Christina asked me to do something with her Fairy Jeans. I did a lot of sketching and research and actually got a lot of inspiration from diy skirt and maternity jean tutorials.
When we went shopping for her wedding gown, she mentioned that she liked the color combination of dark blue and champagne. She also asked me to incorporate one of her finance’s blue silk ties. I used it for the lining of the flap and lined the rest of the bag with tan cotton.
I’m going to make one more of these bags to make sure I’ve got my pattern down and then I’m going to offer it as a custom bag listing in my etsy shop. More pics of the bag in my sewing gallery.
Last year my brother-in-law gave me two sweaters for felting and bag making. He said he hated to give them up. They were in great condition, but their style was too outdated — over-sized and ’80s. I felt bad taking them from him so I suggested altering them instead. It was a simple project; one that might make a knitter cringe and a sewer tremble. (I’m writing up a tutorial so everyone can see how easy it is to update those baggy Benetton sweaters in the back of their closets.)
When I was finished with the alterations, I was left with four long sweater scraps. They were scrappy-looking scraps, especially the Benetton ones, which had serged (!) seams. I decided to turn them into a scarf.
I wanted to do something a little unconventional. I sewed around the edges with a 1/4 inch seam allowance to keep the yarn from unraveling. I’m hoping that with use, the edges will fray and give it even more of a scrappy style.
I hope Tanuj likes it. It’s a little offbeat, but if there is anyone in my family who would appreciate an offbeat scrappy scarf, it is him. Hopefully he’ll take a follow-up picture for me next season so I can see if the edges turn out as expected.
What do these things have in common? Over a year ago, one of M’s Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color Blocks was recalled. The paint used for the snorkeling turtle contained lead in “amounts that exceed US lead standards.” Following the instructions for returning the block was easy. They gave postage-paid label to return it and sent me a new block.
It took a long time to receive the replacement block. It didn’t matter, though. M wasn’t really attached to it, so it wasn’t missed. I had actually forgotten about it and then one day it arrived in the mail. End of story.
Fast forward to this year; February 10th, in fact. The day that the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act was supposed to go into effect. I’ll leave my opinions and rants about the actual law for some other blog post. Instead, I’d like to show you what showed up in my mail that day.
At first I thought maybe it was surprise yarn or something. It was light, soft and smooshy. Then I figured out it was a cube. It made a little rattle sound when I shook it. It was the little lead snorkeling turtle. (Why do turtles need snorkeling equipment?) The package looked like it had been through a war zone. It was battered, ripped and covered with stamps that had marked its journey through the postal system.
Apparently, its journey was so long that by the time it arrived to its destination, the postage-paid label permit had expired. The only thing more incredible than the thought of a recalled item being returned to the consumer was the original post mark date.
I sent Kids II an email explaining what had happened. I was concerned. What should I do with the block? I mean, if it was dangerous enough that they had wanted it returned, what was I supposed to do with it now? Toss it in the trash? Yep. That’s exactly what they advised me to do.
It all seems a little crazy, doesn’t it?
Remember when I knit that baby kimono for Brady? I wanted to knit another one for Sarah’s baby, but they were both born during late winter. I know Brady didn’t have a lot of time to wear his little wool sweater because Spring came too quickly and it was too warm. I decided to knit Baby Anikka’s in cotton. Hopefully, it will carry her through the seasons a little longer.
The pattern is the same as Brady’s; it’s from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I crocheted little ties instead of using ribbon or velcro.
I also added a little flower. Even though we were overwhelmed with tons of pink when M was born, I have a feeling Anikka will be wearing a lot of her big brother’s blue and green. I decided she needed something shockingly pink!
The best part about giving this gift was when Sarah opened it, she said she was hoping I would make this for her. She saw Brady’s sweater on my blog and wanted one for Anikka, too. I love when that happens!
I wanted to get a picture of M watching tv all snuggled up in the Garfield blanket. She was so serious! I asked her to smile.
Then I begged. Come on! Say cheese! Please?
Thanks! How about once more and actually look at the camera?
Sigh.
I must have it. I updated my etsy shop today and there are flowers blooming everywhere!
