Really Crafty

Scrapping about Preemies

2009-12-30T04:18:00.000-08:00

After I finished my first scrapbook layout about my older DD, I turned my attention to my younger DD and DS, twins. I was excited to start a page about them, but quickly sobered as I looked through their early pictures. The twins were born 14 weeks premature and had extended stays in the NICU (my DS for 2 1/2 months and my DD for 10 months).

Looking over the images from their first days and months brought back a lot of emotions that I hadn't thought about in a while. I plan to scrapbook about as much of the NICU experience as I can, but wanted my first layout about them to focus on a happy moment. I decided to work on a first Christmas page. I have a set of sweet pictures of the twins being held by Santa Claus, who make a special visit to the preemies in the NICU. I am grateful to the nurses and hospital staff who tried to bring a little sense of normalcy to all the families by taking time to bring the spirit of the holidays into the intensive care unit.

I found this wonderful poem that I will include on the layout in a journal box. It really captures some of the realities of the NICU, but in a comforting way...

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Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and in each isolette
Little creatures were squirming and getting all set;
Machinery sat by their bedsides with care,
In hopes that good breathing skills soon would be there.

Day shifters were home all snug in their beds,
As visions of overtime danced in their heads;
While preemies on ventilators, and some on CPAP,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap...

When out in the hall there arose such a clatter,
The residents woke up to see what was the matter.
Away from the sink I flew like a jet
To make sure all was well at my baby's isolette.

Some bilirubin lights with their powerful glow
Gave the luster of mid-day to babies below,
When, there before my wondering eyes, it would seem,
Was an oversized stroller and a medical team.
With a handful of needles with which they could stick you,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nicu.

More rapid than eagles his specialists came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Nurses! Now, Residents! Now, Neonatologists!
On, Social Workers! On, Respiratory and Occupational Therapists!
From the front of the unit! To the end of the hall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

Up to each baby's cribside they flew,
With the stroller full of toys, and St. Nicu too.
And then, in a twinkling, they stopped at each bed
And tucked in the babies and got them all fed.

As I looked at my baby, and was turning around,
Down our aisle St. Nicu came with a bound.
He was dressed in red scrubs, and I could instantly tell
That his clothes had an obvious hospital smell;
A bag of stuffed animals was flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
A little red pen he held tight in his teeth,
And a stethoscope encircled his neck like a wreath.

He was chubby and plump, with a few extra pounds,
And I laughed when I saw him there doing his rounds.
A turn of his clipboard and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke few words, but came straight to my side,
And running down his face was a tear he had cried.

And laying his hand on the back of my head,
He gave me a nod, and slowly he said:
"Each night you come here you're aware of the danger,
But your baby is loved by the One in the manger."

Then the medical team gave a thumbs-up and smiled
And St. Nicu placed an animal next to my child.
But I heard him exclaim, as they rolled out of sight,
"Merry Christmas, tiny baby, and have a wonderful night!"

Crafty Update

2009-12-28T05:57:00.001-08:00

Gull Pattern Preemie Hat made for Knit One, Save One

I'm back! I've had a long break from blogging as I dealt with other issues in my life. Things are a bit calmer now and I'm ready to get back to posting about my crafty adventures.

Even though I've not been writing, I've continued to make and create. I've made quite a few baby hats over the past year for charity. My school group donated over 1000 hats to Save the Children's Knit One, Save One campaign last year and I had the joy of accompanying a group of my students to Washington, DC for a Save the Children volunteer event.

The Arthur Dollhouse (w/red clay bricks, white clapboard siding--no shingles yet)

I've also adopted a few other craft interests recently. The first is building dollhouses. A dollhouse is something I always wanted as a little girl, so I decided to build one with my DD. It is still a work in progress, but it's coming along well! The above house is only about halfway done. We still need to finish the roof and outside trim before starting to decorate the inside.

The most recent new craft I've taken up is scrapbooking! Again, it's something I've wanted to do for ages and am finally making the time to begin. I recently finished my first layout featuring my DD at bathtime.

I have SO much to learn about scrapbooking and have been doing a lot of reading and surfing to learn about techniques for creating layouts, journaling, lettering, and more. I advised our school yearbook for almost 10 years, so I have a good understanding of design and what looks good on a page, but even though there's lots I can apply, scrapbooking is a different animal. It's been a lot of fun and I have a lot of pictures to scrap, so look out!

Fun Handmade Knitting Needles

2008-04-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

I think my biggest problem as a crafter is that I have too many interests. Sometimes I find myself pursuing so many craft projects or trying to learn about new ones, that I sometimes neglect the things I really like to do. Making knitting needles is one of those things. I haven't made a new pair of knitting needles since this summer, but as I finally sold a few pairs on Etsy, my inventory was suddenly dramatically low.

The first thing I realized is that I was not happy with the wooden dowel rods I had bought most recently and wanted to find a better quality wood. Why put all the effort into making a quality handmade pair of needles if the wood is not great? I looked at several different web pages that discussed wood types and decided to start working with birch dowels. The dowels I've bought at the craft store previously were never labeled with a specific wood. They just said "hardwood", but I found the quality varied. I bought several sizes of birch dowels from Woodworks Ltd. this week and immediately noticed a difference. The 3/16th birch dowels had less "bend" than the last batch I had worked with and definitely made me more confident that they wouldn't break easily. Also, the dowels had a smoother, even texture and I didn't need to sand them as long. I was very pleased.

So here is another pair of needles I finished this weekend. I've made smiley face needles before and they are fun to work with, but decided to paint the needle shaft this time, instead of just the bead. Looking at the finished product, I think I won't do that again, unless I change the color. Just a little too much yellow I think.

My favorite are the Froot Loop knitting needles. I made a bunch of the polyclay "cereal" beads several years ago and kept the extras. I've used some as needle toppers before and made buttons for a baby sweater out of some. Here's a picture I kept of the baby sweater from a few years ago (I donated it to a infant resource center).

I thought it was too cute, but a friend warned me about making more, because children might be inclined to try to eat the buttons... True, but it was still cute.

Anyway, I'll post more on my process for painting the needles soon, something I have recently started doing more. Painted needles are a lot more work, but the results can be quite striking.

Spring Break Service Project

2008-04-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I have spent part of our spring break working on a fun service project to help animals at our local shelter. She is a animal lover and wants a dog SO badly, but that's not going to happen right now for numerous reasons. We decided she can do something to help dogs though...make homemade dog treats!

I actually got the idea from the education director of our local shelter on a recent trip there with my students. She actually had a recipe ready for us to make, but we ran out of time for the activity. She said they love to get homemade treats for the dogs. It makes the pets happy (which make them more appealing for prospective pet owners) and gives them a chance to reinforce behavioral training (the dogs must sit to receive their treat).

We had a blast with this activity and after looking at many online recipes, we made up our own in two varieties. Check out my new Squidoo lens Great Treats for Good Dogs for the recipes and other info about helping shelter animals.

I got another great idea from Kelly Medina on her blog about making a Dog Bone Label. In the spirit of recycling we took an empty peanut butter container and put some of the treats in it to keep at home for our hamster Twyla. Dog biscuits are great for hamsters anyway and she really likes our peanut butter variety. My daughter helped me design our own label for the jar and voila...a recycled dog (ahem..hamster) treat jar!

We are heading to the animal shelter tomorrow to drop off our treats and spread some love to these great animals.

On My Needles....

2008-01-05T14:20:00.001-08:00

I thought I would do a quick post about what projects I have in progress right now. From my sidebar you can see that I just finished a baby hat using sock yarn (modeled on one of my daughter's dolls).

I used Lion Brand Magic Stripe yarn to do a quick preemie hat that I will donate soon. I like self-striping yarns for baby hats, because it makes it look like you did some thing complicated, when it really isn't any big deal. The gauge of this hat is a little looser than I would like and next time I will use the next size smaller needles (I'm not sure if these were 6's or 7's). The hat is a variation of the Ann Norling Fruit Cap pattern that I have practically memorized. I cast on 60 stitches, worked until it looked "deep" enough, then gradual decreases ending in a i-cord top. Cute and easy!

My big challenge right now is to get the baby blanket I'm working on finished. It's one of those projects that has dragged on way longer than it should have. Normally, if I'm knitting a baby blanket for someone, I choose something quick and easy. This time because the recipient is a close co-worker (first time grand-dad), I thought I do something a little more complicated. Ughh! Well, I started this in September, the baby was born in October, and at the rate I'm going, he'll be 6 months old before I finish! Oh well, I know it's the thought that counts and I'm determined to finish. I'm just so use to mindless projects, that anything that requires counting rows and stitches carefully is like work. It'll be pretty when it's finished though.

So that's what I'm up to on the knitting front right now. I got a gift certificate for Christmas to my favorite LYS, so I can't wait to see what trouble I can get into there!

New Year...New Start!

2008-01-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

Life hasn't stopped my crafting, but it did derail my blogging for a while. Actually, I did manage to keep my other blogs more up-to-date than this one. Check out the activities of my middle school knitting group, Stitch for a Cause. I've been really proud of the girls this year. We just completed a scarf project for our local women's shelter and delivered 110 scarves just before Christmas.

I'm still trying to decide what we'll start with after the holidays. I have a few of them working on squares for blankets and we'll continue that, but I always like to do something fun in the winter to keep the enthusiam up. This year we don't have any boys in the group and in past years I've had as many as half the group made up of boys. That makes me think I need to come up with a guy-challenge this month... One year, we had a "Real Men Knit" challenge with boys knitting against some male teachers (mostly just one) to see who could complete more squares in two weeks. They beat him by one square and were so excited. Since I don't have any guys coming right now, I think I will start with an "Eye Spy" challenge. Any boy I see knitting each day will get entered in a drawing for something cool. Got to work out the details, but that's my idea for now...

Another new crafting endeavor for me was started by "Santa" this year. Santa brought us a hamster for Christmas named Twyla. My daughter adores her and loves to play with her. I have been reading a lot about hamsters on the web and noticed some people have been making little pouches for them. You can put the hamster in the pouch for some lap time or even put them in cages for a sleep bed. Oddly, you can't find these pouches in stores. I'm pretty crafty, so I put my minimal sewing skills to work and came up with my own version of these pouches and have been calling them Hammy Sacks!

I have put a bunch on Etsy and have supplies to make more. I even made a little logo featuring Twyla. I've seen other people expanding the idea to rabbits and ferrets, but right now I'm sticking with hamsters. Hopefully I'll sell a few! If you are interested in one, visit my Esty store. I'm open to custom orders and am posting new sack patterns (for boy and girl hamsters and owners), so hopefully you'll see something you like.

So, my New Year's Crafty Resolutions are:

Increase my completion percentage for my projects (aka, finish what I start)
Blog at least once every two weeks
Put more time into my Esty shop and hopefully increase sales (so I can buy more craft stuff!)
Inspire others to be crafty too!

Happy New Year's everyone!

Organized Living

2007-09-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

I had a major setback in my crafting endeavors this summer when my entire craft shelf came tumbling down one day out of the blue. I think it just got a little too overburdened (wonder why?). Turns out that it really had not been put up in the way it should of have been for what it was going to hold. So for a while, my kitchen table looked like this...

After I got tired of the complaints, I went to Home Depot and bought some 50 lb wall anchors and rebuilt the entire unit. The result is definitely better and I don't think anything short of my children collectively swinging on it would bring it down again (I hope!)

This mess actually gave me a chance to rethink how I wanted to organized my "stuff". To anyone but me, it always looked cluttered and disorganized, though I usually could find what I wanted (although not always when I wanted it). Anyway, I went shopping for containers and other things to help me make sense of my supplies. I ended up putting all my acrylic paints in two plastic containers from Walmart. I found a tip somewhere online about storing paints upside-down to keep them fresher and have found that it does make a difference. I also put all my painting tools in trays on the same shelf, so everything is ready to use. Glues, sealers, fillers, tape, sprays, are all grouped together and have a place.

Next were my jumbled up craft drawers. A couple of years ago my husband bought me four Rubbermaid stackable drawers for my crafts. Shortly after that, he went out and bought four more. The drawers have always be stuffed and at one point were generally organized (fabrics, yarns, etc.). After fixing the shelves, I decided to tackle the drawers next, one by one. I pulled everything out, cleaned the drawers and decided what would be going back in and what needed to just go.

I realized that I had a lot of stuff I had forgotten about and still would like to use. I put all my collected patterns, stencils, sketches, etc. in a stack and eventually put them in a expandable file folder. Fabric was neatly folded and put back. I used more plastic containers and put related notions in the same drawers (ie. pins, needles, buttons, etc. went in the fabric drawer). I even had a drawer for works in progress which I put in separate grocery bags. If ever I want something to do, I can pull out one of the bags and have at it.

There's a drawer for glassware (like mason jars I use for Cookies in a Jar) and a drawer for tools (like my glue guns, wood burner, sandpaper, etc...) I also made a box for craft supplies I didn't want anymore and plan to drop that off at Goodwill sometime soon. Not as full as it could have been....

I haven't solved everything yet. I decided to keep the drawers looking somewhat organized, most of the knitting supplies had to come out for now, including the yarn. I don't have a huge stash like some people might, but enough to make a big tangle if I'm not careful. The knitting needles will probably return to the tool drawer, but I want to figure out how to organize them (by size and type). I may put the straight needles in a vase again (like I've done in the past), which can be cute. As for the yarn, I read about someone who used a closet door shoe organizer, and I'm planning to try it. I have the organizer and as soon as I have it up with yarn in it, I'll post a picture.

So, even though I haven't posted recently, I've been busy! I have more projects to update everyone on, so check back. I finished the book purse, which looks great (smells a little too much like glue though--any suggestions?)! I also have finished my Harry Potter hats and a few other things. Still have lots "in progress" though!

Charmed Knits Crafts

2007-07-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

It's been another long drought on the blog...sorry. I took one of my little ones out of town for some scheduled surgery. She's doing fine, so I'm back to posting!

I have been helping organize a Charmed Knits for Charity event in my area and am starting to get excited. I'm a big Harry Potter fan and while I've been "rereading" the books on audio cd, I've been knitting for the KAL and working on other stuff for the big day. Namely, I've made Gryffindor robes and wands for myself and my older daughter, made spellbook knitting cases for us, made up some potions and magical props for decoration, and last night made a pair of Golden Snitch knitting needles for decoration.

The needles were a last minute inspiration and I'm really proud of them. They're not totally done yet. I need to work on the wings a little more and then finish the rest of the needle body so they are usable. These may end up on Etsy after the event if I decide I can part with them.

On another note, I've been inspired to finally create a book purse. I've been reading about them for a while, but hadn't ventured forth yet. I made it a little harder though, since I'm very picky and wanted it to be something I'd actually be willing to use. Since I didn't want to cut up any of my favorite books, I took an old college text book and "retitled" it "Black Beauty". This first one is my experiment and I think I'm going to give it to a friend's daughter who is really into horses. I found some straps that are sort of like horse reins or a bridle, and I'm trying to figure out how to add a zipper closure. Again, it's not perfect, but for a first attempt, I'm pleased. Here's two pictures and I'll post more pictures and details when I get it done.

The thing I like best is that it looks like this is an original copy of Black Beauty and not the boring and dog ugly book I started with.

Hats and Handbags

2007-07-04T10:15:00.001-07:00

I can knit, and I can blog, but I have to get better at doing both at the same time *smile*. I started another drop stitch scarf with Lion Brand Incredible yarn in Copper Penny. It's really coming out nicely and I'll post a picture soon.

I got going on my Gryffindor hats for the Charmed Knits knit-along FINALLY! I finished the first hat and started the second today. I decided to spice things up a bit and put in little cables on a K2, P2 ribbing. It looks pretty good, but I hope it'll stay on a head well. We'll see!

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about writing patterns. I've made up some patterns and modified plenty, but have never typed up one for anyone else's use, so... I've been working on some felt purse patterns. I love felting and I have a little crocheted wrist bag I use for carrying knitting sometime (pattern here). I like it, but wanted to see if I could make a knit and felted version. I also wanted to do it all in one piece (little or no sewing). After some trial and error, I finally came up with something that worked and looked good! I just have to give it a little shave (it got a little hairy in the wash) and put the lining in and it'll be done.

I decided to call it the Lil' Kipper because that's what I'll use it for (carrying my knitting around places). I need to finish typing up the pattern and will knit another bag following my written directions to make sure I didn't leave anything out. When that's done, I'll put it out there. I'm planning to add a patterns section to this blog soon. Some will be free, but I'll have a couple that will be for sale. Might be a while before I get it all up and going though.

Hard at Work...Crafty Work That Is

2007-06-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

It seems I've gotten on a roll and have managed to carve out more time than usual to work on unfinished projects. For instance, the drop stitch scarf is done! After months of languishing in a bag, then being "completed" but having an untimely accident in the finishing process, it really looks rather good. I decided not to add a fringe, since the yarn snags so easily anyway. I love the pattern I ended up using and will definitely do more in different yarns. Whoo hoo!

So, next on my list was the Mother Bear Project bear and I added a good 7 or 8 inches to that last night. I've done a few of these, enough to want to take liberties and push my creativity, so this one is going to be a hula dancing polar bear... don't laugh, I'm serious. Pics to come soon. I'm still looking for the sock pattern, so that left my recycled sweater purse needing some attention.

I was inspired by a tutorial on ChicKnits and started this project over my spring break. I was at Goodwill looking for some old jeans and sweatshirts to take on an outdoor trip and found two very nice looking 100% wool sweaters for $2 each. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking ahead and have no photos of the unfelted sweaters. Basically, I machine washed them to oblivion until they were densely felted and then put them in the dryer. Ouch! Next, I cut the sweaters apart at the seams, removed the arms, and spread everything out to see how much felted material I had to work with. Working with the first sweater, I cut out some templates on poster board in the shape I wanted for the purse and traced those in marker on the sweaters. I love the colors of this sweater, but needed to be careful because of the stripe pattern (matching up the front and back of the purse). Next, I pinned the two pieces inside out and sewed on three sides with my sewing machine. Unfortunately, on one side I got a little careless and did not watch my stripes, so there a jog, but I think it won't be that noticeable. I'll definitely watch for this in the future. So here's what I have so far. The tabs sticking up will be sewn down for purse strap loops.

So, this is where I picked up this morning. I've been thinking about the straps for a while and decided to do black i-cord, but I was also unhappy with the edge of the purse. It had an unfinished look to it that I didn't think would improve without work. If you look at the tabs, you see what I mean. I decided that a nice single crocheted edge in black would help , so I used a tool to push holes through the felt as I crocheted the border.

I think it looks pretty good and will felt the edge by hand using some hot soapy water. I have to get started on the i-cord straps next. Not sure of what length I want yet, but will play it by ear. The finished purse will have a black lining and magnetic snap. I've used these great tutorials on Hello Knitty.com (Purse lining tutorial--PDF and Magnetic snap tutorial--PDF) in the past to learn how to do this. I will post more purse pictures as I work.

New Beginnings

2007-06-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

A new day, a new start on the drop stitch scarf. Trying to put the horrendous catastrophe of the scarf behind me, I chose this pattern from my wish list and cast on today. The picture of the finished scarf is gorgeous!

So far so good! I think I like the look better anyway. I tried this pattern back in December with some ribbon yarn, but frogged it, not because of the pattern, but because I had trouble with the yarn. It was a ladder yarn and my needles kept getting caught in wrong places. My only trouble with this yarn is that the nylon content keeps snagging on my embarrassingly rough hands. I suppose that's my cue to get some better lotion or use more of it...

Drop Stitch Gone Horribly Wrong

2007-06-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

Today was a sad day, but it started really well. I finished my Hufflepuff hat last night and was on my way to finishing the drop stitch scarf ("Magic Scarf") this evening. Two projects done in two days! That almost never happens. The scarf is for charity too (I rarely keep anything I knit) and will be part of our fall fundraiser for Stitch for a Cause. Now, I've never done a drop stitch scarf but have been eager to try this pattern. I thought I followed everything to the "t" and it looked pretty good after I had cast off. You can see the stitches on the left starting to run down the length of the scarf (as they are supposed to).

Now, the first problem I had was that at the second to last row, I was supposed to purl a stitch then drop the next. This was little freaky, but it went fine until the end of the row. I was supposed to be left with 21 stitches, but found I had 22. I decided to knit the last two together and bind off on the next row according to the pattern. Didn't seem like a big deal. I would have a row next to the edge that wouldn't drop, but I didn't think it would be very noticeable. As I started to pull my scarf lengthwise, you can see the dropped stitches running just like they should.

Then things started to go wrong...really wrong. In a few spots, I got big loops of yarn that seemed knitted o.k., but were just REALLY loose. I figured I had just knit a stitch too loosely. As I continued to pull on the scarf and use my fingers to help the dropped stitches, it looked very pretty, but I noticed some of the other rows that were not supposed to drop, starting to come loose. Ahh! What was happening? So I stopped pulling and laid it on the table again. This is what I had.

I felt sick. All I could do at this point was frog the whole thing. I am planning to knit the scarf again, but may use a different drop stitch pattern. I'm sure it was something I did wrong in first rows, but since I'm not sure what... Part of my problem came from working with a slippery yarn, so the next time I try it, I'll try a different yarn. In the meanwhile, I'll go back to knitting more hats...sniff...

Finally...Yarn for a Gryffindor Hat

2007-06-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

I stopped by Hancock Fabrics today and they had just the colors I needed for my Gryffindor hat for the Charmed Knits KAL. Finally! I also found a better (brighter) yellow for my Hufflepuff hats and a pretty purple sock yarn on clearance (color didn't photograph well on that one).

I am not a sock knitting fan and keep wondering if I'm missing something when I look at all the blogs and patterns out there, but I'm willing to give it another shot. If I don't find a pattern I can get into, I find that sock yarn makes very cute self-striping baby hats also. *smile* I have an unfinished pair of socks I started last year that I dug out today. One sock is finished and the other is about half done. I would have worked on it today, but I can't find the pattern...oops! If I can't track it down in a few days, I'll talk to my friend who owns the yarn shop where I bought the yarn. The pattern was free with the purchase, so I'm sure they have more copies.

Hufflepuff Baby Hat

2007-06-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

So, I've been working on Hogwarts hats for the Charmed Knits KAL. This is my eighth one, a little Hufflepuff baby hat. It's rather a pale yellow, but oh well. I've had to be budget-minded lately and got some Wool Ease on sale, but the choices were pretty limited. These hats are super simple, which makes for great mindless knitting (when you want busy hands but not a busy brain). I'm so used to working on hats for little heads with my charity knitting, that I scaled down the size a little from the pattern. I'll do some bigger ones when I increase my yarn stash.

Here's a look at the inside. Do many of you carry the yarn for stripes along this way? Is there a better way, short of cutting it off and weaving in each bit? I've tried twisting it every three rows instead of only at the color change, but I didn't like it any better. I'm happy with the jog technique I'm using (knit row in new color, slip first stitch in row 2, knit normally until next change). It only looks a little funny on the hats with the narrow stripes (two rows). I will have to investigate other jog options.

I've got to find a box so I can get these all in the mail this weekend. I've wanted to do a Gryffindor hat from the start, but I can never find the right colors when I'm looking for them. I've got the scarlet now and just need to get the gold.

My First Squidoo Lens--Knitting Needle How-to

2007-06-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've long been a fan of Squidoo and just created my first lens! Check it out: Make Handmade Knitting Needles With Jewelry Beads.

It's kind of long, but I wanted my directions to be thorough. I will post a picture of the finished pair of needles as soon as I can. One bead jumped out of my hand and rolled away, so that's why there is only a picture of one finished needle *smile*. Oh well...

I first ran across Squidoo with this lens on Making Fairy Wings. I made my daughter a set of Painted Lady Butterfly Wings for her Halloween costume last year. They came out well and got lots of compliments.

Under Construction...

2007-06-07T08:25:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my blog! I am still planning and setting things up, but hopefully will be posting regularly before long. Thanks for reading!