Headband

I made this headband from the DROPS Design pattern 86-10. I used black worsted weight acrylic yarn, from the stash my mama gave me. (I never buy acrylic, just using it rather than tossing it!) It was super easy and only took me a few hours to whip up. The only alteration I made was turning the inc to an M1. I haven't made any embellishments for it, such as a flower or something. I'm currently making some leg warmers and wrist warmers to go with it.

This pattern only requires the knitter to know basic increases (although I used an M1, so no holes), knit, purl, purl two together, and how to bind off adding the cast on edge (not totally necessary, you could just cast off like normal and seam them together).

Here's the pattern:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/86-10-headband-in-alaska

Felted Clutch

I made myself a felted clutch! It was an experiment that I didn't really expect to turn out as well as it did. I wish I had taken notes and pictures along the way! Basically, what I did was knit in garter stitch a long rectangle, keeping in mind that I was going to felt it and it would shrink in length much more than width. I made a very long rectangle, then bound off (co 75 stitches, garter stitch all the way). I then knitted a very long strap (co 10 stitches, garter stitch the whole way). I then folded the rectangle into thirds, sewed the strap onto the sides, then threw it in the wash. I beaded it for a final touch and added a hidden snap. It is so cute, even my husband keeps making comments on it! He's also enlisted me to make him the manly version ;-)

Felt Soaps

Continuing with the holiday gifts... My oldest son made some soaps, then we felted a few of them. They came out really nice and were super easy for him to do. Great project for a small child! For more detailed instructions on this project, check out this page.

Nuno Felted Scarf

I finally tried my hand at Nuno felting! It's a Japanese art form that I think is very beautiful. You felt wool onto silk, changing the texture, creating ruffles, it's amazing. I bought a bunch of undyed playsilks off a co-op, dyed this one with red kool aid, and felted on a length of swirly wool with leaves. I made this one for my 17 year old daughter. It started out red, but after all the felting and soap, it ended up pink.

More Holiday Gifts

I have a ton of pics to take and post from all of the holiday gifts I made, but these are all of the projects I forgot to take pictures of:

I made several washclothes. We made some beeswax candles, a few are sand candles. I made a few pillows with some felt and essential oils. These can be used in drawers or closets to repel moths and for a touch of freshness. My oldest son and I made a recycled tee shirt bag, following this pattern. We used an old stained up white shirt (it wasn't really that stained), and my oldest son drew all over with with fabric pens. The pattern says to only stitch the bottom of the bag, great for those who don't have a sewing machine or serger, but I serged around all of the edges. Came out great!

Knitty Book

For Yule I made a knitted book for my littlest son. It was inspired by this pattern, though I deviated quite a bit. It has 8 pages of different knitted and crocheted stitches, includes things for him to lift up, different textures, colors, designs, velcro, ties, cables hugs and kisses, embroidery, and a little knitted bear that fits into a pocket.

Felt Vest

I found a pattern in a library book a while ago that I've been wanting to try and I finally made the time! It's a recycled felted vest. I took an adult size wool cabled sweater, washed it a bunch of times (only need to wash once or twice in a top loader), cut the sleeves off, washed a few more times, needle felted some dinos and other embellishments, and VOILA! I did the dinos by using clip art templates of the three main dinos, then winged the rest, but you can use cookie cutters, whatever! It's VERY easy and fun. I do recommend using a needle felting tool that contains multiple needles, it takes way too long to use a single needle but was very quick with my new tool ;-) I need to clean up the edges of the sleeves, I think I might try needle felting some edging on.

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