Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beanies

After reading this post "Ninja Turtle Beanies" I decided to come up with my own ninja turtle themed hats with knitting. So I took a pattern I'd already worked with before the brown baby hat from the pattern "wool hat" in "easy baby knits"(Claire Montgomery) and added two extra inches to the body of the hat (after the rib and before the decreases) in Avocado color of lion brands wool-ease yarn. For the masks I'm knitting long strips angled at the ends like a rolled up bandana would be and the eye section from the mask I had knit previously. I plan on making three hats and masks (orange, red and blue).

Knitted Wedding Veil

These are pictures from our wedding in Oct. I knitted my veil because I found this beautiful knitted veil pattern in the book "Wedding Knits: Handmade Gifts for Every Member of the Wedding Party" (Suss Cousins) and because I really don't like tulle and because I wanted to make my dress exactly like the one I wore from Project Alabama but didn't have enough time in our 5 month engagement, so I made my veil. It took me a few months just working on it in my free time, like before church and after work when I felt like it. I made the head piece out of thick jewelry wire and with thinner jewelry wire I connected the knitted loops to the head piece and beaded it with an assortment of yellow and gold beads.

Rastafarian Eyeball

I started knitting in the rnd and this is what came out, a little Rasta eyeball with dreads and a hat.
For the dreads I did one row of cable stitch and continued to decrease after that. The eye was called frog eyes in the googly eye section of hobby lobby.

I posted about it on craftster

Nacho Libre meets sock monkey

Yay, OK I'm really proud of this one. I started it yesterday and finished knitting it today. I guessed it would have taken me a week to knit. It is the "Lucha Libre" pattern (a Mexican wrestler mask slash ski mask for winter) from the book "Son of Stitch N' Bitch"(Debbie Stroller). I used size 4 and 6 double pointed needles(I knit it in the round even though the pattern is flat). The yarn i used was the lion brand yarn, fishermen's wool, in colors "natural" & "nature's brown".

posted about finishing this on craftster

brown baby hat

This is the baby wool hat pattern from the book "easy baby knits"(claire montgomerie) in size 6-12 months. In the book the pattern is to be knitted flat and then sewn together to make the hat. I decided to knit it in the round and do a knit2 purl2 rib around the bottom instead of the k1 p1 rib in the pattern and i didn't add a pom-pom because it is for a baby boy (Christmas present). I used lion brand yarn, fishermen's wool in "nature's brown". In the book the pictures show the hat to be fairly loose on the baby's head but the hat also fits my 7 year old brothers head, just being a little short.

pom poms

A great idea for your yarn remnants. I recently bought the clover pom pom maker set in large. I love clovers assortment of fun time saving gadgets. Like their pom pom makers available in 7 sizes, they are really easy to use. i decided to put them on hair clips. I call them sea urchins hair poofs.

knitted bowl

This is a cupcake base from the pattern in the book "One Skein" (Leigh Radford).
I used Patons shetland chunky yarn.

eyelet baby hat

I was surprised by how fast this hat was to knit. I knitted it in one day. It's a variation on the eyelet baby hat in the book "One-Skein Wonders" (edited by judith durant). The edge of the hat is a picot cast-on meathod.

Picot cast-on meathod:

cast on 6 stitches , then bind off 2, leaving 4 stitches. Continue to cast-on 6 stitches and bind off 2 until desired number of stitches are on needle.

I used Lion Brand Yarn wool-ease worsted weight in blush heather.

posted on craftster

His and hers fingerless gloves

I checked out the book Son of Stitch N' Bitch from the library to see if there was something i could knit for my hubby. I found the pattern "beer gloves" to be fairly easy and fast knit. I started to knit a pair for myself too. For my husbands pair i used needle sizes 6 & 7 and for myself 4 and 5.

The white pair I'm using lion brand yarn, fishermen's wool, color natural.

In response to some questions people had about knitting this pattern i posted the info below in a craftster.org post here.

I wrote out a chart of the pattern to help me remember where I was in the pattern. Just use a stitch counter to keep up where you are. I didn't use circular needles, I don't have any. I used double pointed needles.

Cast on 40 stitches place a marker before the first stitch you cast on, and a different colored marker after the 20th stitch.

[What it says in book]

Whale spine cable stitch:

Rnds 1 & 2: k12

rnds 3: slip first 3 stitches onto extra needle and hold to back, knit next 3 stitches, knit stitches on extra needle, slip next 3 stitches onto extra needle and hold to front, knit next 3 stitches and then knit the 3 stitches on the extra needle

Rnds 4-8: k12

(In book: cuff title):

K2, p2 for 2 1/2" (2 1/2" = 15 rounds)

(In book: Body title):

Chart = whale spine cable stitch (in eights)-row number-palm chart (1-15)

1-16 [needle 1 (palm),*p2, pfb (purl front and back of one stitch), p2; repeat from * to end. needle 2 (back of hand), p2, pfb, p3, *k1, m1 (make 1= pick up bar between stitches and knit through back loop), k1; repeat from * 3 times more, p3, pfb, p2-(50sts:24 on needle 1, 26 on needle 2.]

2-17 [needle 1, purl. needle 2, p7, work row 2 of whale spine cable stitch over next 12 sts, p7.continue in rev st st(purling)and cable stitch as established until glove measures 5"(=30 rows)from beginning]

3-18

4-19

5-20

6-21

7-22

8-23

1-24

2-25

3-26

4-27

5-28

6-29

7-30 (5")

(In book: palm chart title)

(The palm chart is in the book, I didn't know how to write that here and wasn't sure how much of the pattern I was allowed to post, but I left out the palm chart chart, the fingers and how to change it to the right hand)

8-31-1 [needle 1, p4, work row 1 of chart over next 11 sts, p9. needle 2, continue in pattern as established until glove measures 5 1/4"(=32 rows) from beginning]

1-32-2(5 1/4")

(In book: thumb opening)

2-33-3[work to last 7 stitches of needle 1, with an extra piece of yarn p7, slip these 7 stitches back onto the left needle and purl the 7 stitches again but this time with the yarn you are knitting the gloves with; work to end of rnd. continue working in pattern as established until piece measures 7 1/2"(= 45 rows) from beginning. place all stitches on holders]

3-34-4

4-35-5

5-36-6

6-37-7

7-38-8

8-39-9

1-40-10

2-41-11

3-42-12

4-43-13

5-44-14

6-45-15 (7 1/2", place stitches on holders)

Then you just work the fingers as the pattern says in the book.

I believe where it says "Rep rnds 1-12 for patt." is a misprint and is supposed to say repeat rounds 1-8 for pattern.

old sheets

If you like to sew here's an idea. Lately everything has been going up in prices. Fabric is 7.99 a yard now. Check out your local goodwill, or thrift store. You can use old sheets as fabric. That is pretty much what they are already. Large pieces of vintage fabric that is hemmed at the edges. Just wash it, if it is white or supposed to be, bleach it a little but not to much as to not deteriorate it. Here are some items i've made with sheet fabric.(click on them, they are available in my etsy)

another designer whose made items out of vintage sheets as fabric is jill bliss (bellow)

shop bag

Here is a bag I made recently based off of a shirt pattern. I took the 2 pattern pieces there were for the front of the shirt. I chose a thick linen looking muslin for the yoke (top piece) and two different (fabric) patterns for the front and back of the bottom (larger part) of the bag. I cut out 2 of the yoke in the linen and 2 out of (reg.) muslin. For the main larger part of the bag I cut out 4, 2 out of muslin and 1 of each the front and back fabric I chose. I took each fabric piece intended for the outside and matched it up with a muslin pattern piece that matched it and surged all the edges. I sewed it together adding some gathering as an accent (between the yoke and bottom). First the yoke pieces to the bottom pieces then the handles, sides and bottom. Then on the inside where the sides meet the bottom to make a 90 degree angle. I folded so the seem down the side would touch and seem across the bottom and measured where it was 2 inches across, sewed and surged for both corners of the bag (this makes it possible to put more stuff in the bag). Then sewed seem binding to the outside of the neck part of the handles and the arm holes of the handles and finished it up by sewing the other side of the seem binding by hand to the inside of the bag.

You can make your own shop bag out of many shirt patterns by just doubling the front of the pattern and not making sleeves. I cut mine out of the largest pattern size (the pattern I used had, 16) and use it to carry around my knitting including the book I’m working from. Can also be used as a library bag or a purse in which you can place your jacket when the temperature fluctuates and it often does here in Texas. Your very own environmentally friendly bag like they have at grocery stores now except more desirable and personal.

screen printing

Being interested in but never having tried it i bought a screen printing kit yesterday. The instructions it came with said there are three different ways to transfer your picture on the screen.

I wanted to make a t-shirt with one of my face drawings on it and my husband wanted to make t-shirts for his band. Since these were both drawings that we wanted to transfer the screens we chose to try out the photographic emulsion method which picks up fine lines.

Ok, so far the screen printing kit by speedball from hobby lobby was $59.99 with a 40% of coupon obtained and printed out from the website came to $38.96. After looking at the instructions a trip to ACE hardware was made where a spotlight(the kind with a clip and long extension cord), 150w flood light bulb, plastic tarp, plastic gloves, masking tape, scotch tape came out to $21.32. Then we went to Kinkos and got transparencies made of the two drawings we wanted to make into our two screens, that cost $1.62

1.First step was to place to masking tape over the frame and the screen fabric evenly on both sides. This helps to keep the screen tight which prevents leaking under screen frame during printing meaning clean printed edges. It said not to choose a design that comes within an inch a the tape and that rubbing the tape with a spoon makes it stick the best.

2. on the back side of the screen (where it lies flat on the ground or the side that will be touching the fabric when you make prints) put four punch pins in the four corners to pick it up from touching the ground.

3. Now to mix the solution. The kit came with a little bottle of diazo sensitizer (yellow black fluid)it said to fill bottle halfway with cold water shake well and then pour into diazo photo emulsion (blue fluid) bottle and shake some more. Make sure the top is on tightly because it leaked some with us. although my husband thought is would shake well by throwing it into the air and it hitting the ceiling(on accident).

4. we laid out the plastic tarp for renters floor protection and plastic gloves prepaired, placed the screen on top of the box the kit came in. Starting with the top of the screen. Pouring a little at a time in a spot or a line of the photo emulsion mixture along the top and sqweeging back and forth on both sides making the entire thing even

5. we placed newspaper at the bottom of the drawer and placed the screen bottom with the thumb tacks on bottom in the drawer and closing it, making it the dark environment it needs to dry in.