Hi everyone, Big update to the shop today. There may be a few more things this weekend.
Free shipping to Nebraska next Thursday/Friday. Send me an email, so we can set up the sale not to charge shipping.
Nothing ships 11/26-11/30.
It is beer coozie fest around here. This weekend I finished three and put the recycled sweater wool coozies up in the store:
A day later and one is sold. Trying to figure out other hip statements to put on these things. I’ve considered putting artsy motifs (owls, tetris blocks) on them, but they just take too much time for how much I can charge. If you want a custom one, or multiple ones, I can get you a quote. Check them out at my store.
While in Arkansas, I haven’t met very many knitters or crocheters. I have met a bunch of weavers. The problem with meeting weavers is that the size of the loom makes weaving a non-social craft.
The last issue of Craft Magazine attempts to solve this problem. They put a hunky dude on the cover holding some blankets. At first I thought it was a gimmick to sell magazines to crafter women…to create some sort of crafter pinup. It turns out that Travis Meinolf has figured out how to make weaving social.
The magazine details how to tie the loom to yourself and some other object (or person) to keep the yarn tight. His website even shows a coat hanger harness. I thought I would try to do it alone before taking it social.
I cut out the card stock loom included with issue #8 of the Craft Magazine.
It took me a long time to get everything woven pretty tight. I’m still unsure about the tension. A wide toothed comb worked well to flatten the work (not sure about the technical term).
Next time, I’d use a thicker yarn to string up the loom. The thin yarn made the woven piece only about 3 inches wide or so. It seems so small for how big the loom is. I definitely need to practice more before this becomes some sort of social thing.
There was a whirlwind of activity around our tower in the weeks following my birthday. When everything settled down, my present from Ty was finally delivered:
It is a Wendy Jane Bantam original, and I love it. She did a fine job with the piece “Puppet Show on 2841 Fox Hollow Road”. Her abstract style, thick/thin/shiny paint, and knack for houses combine to make this one of my favorite gifts ever.
A family of opossums hang out of the tree as a big ball of yarn rolls out of the front door. The place is surrounded by bunnies and other special blooms, just like it is in real life.
I was also excited by this gift because of the Buy Handmade movement. In this time of cheap imports from China, buying handmade supports local artists and crafters. An added bonus is that the artist or crafter may be in your own community, allowing for customization if you wish!
In this economic downturn, buying handmade locally keeps money in your community. It allows people to earn a little extra money on the side, even while their jobs may be in question and companies are cutting back.
As a part of the creative writing enhancement of Hendrix College, Tyrone has started up the Word Garden Reading Series.
After attending so many successful reading series meetings in Nebraska, we both know what the key ingredient is: baked goods. The Clean Part Reading Series was fond of giving away pies.
For the first reading, we did give away pies, but here is where The South gets fun. One of the committee members said he enjoyed making funfetti cakes. I enjoyed looking at them:
My favorite part was the green olive plastic markers. The readings were great also! There was a healthy blend of non-fiction, poetry and fiction. It is always amazing how many students show up to every reading.
Yesterday we got some weird weather. There was a break in the rain, so I poured some more pendants. Two hours later we had sideways rain, and a table that endured two hurricanes was swept up into the air and shattered, taking a plastic chair along with it. I probably need to get some better safety glasses.
I have a free ornament pattern for you!
Here is the treehugger ornament pattern in PDF format. It is made from recycled plastic bags. The green bags are from Barnes and Noble, and the yellow ones are from Super Saver in Nebraska. If you don’t have a Super Saver, Dollar Store bags work well too.
Here are instructions for making the recycled plastic yarn.
If you like this pattern, check out my other patterns for sale at juleej.etsy.com.
Here it is, the finished camo can hat.
My husband, Tyrone, thinks it should be more top hat like. The previous hat I made was way too puffy on the top, so I wanted to make sure the top was tight on this one. I may have gone too far in that direction. The can hats from my youth were also tapered to get smaller near the top. Some part of me strives to emulate that memory.
Working on some pendants to list in the store tomorrow. I’ve got a few made with bittersweet!
Finally, along with applying for jobs, I’m working on a simple pattern for this recycled Christmas tree ornament.
The thing about patterns is that they must read like patterns. I could write: “do this stitch three times in the next 4 holes, and then 3 times in the next 5 holes, and then three times in the next 4 holes again,” but that is very confusing. Apart of the second pass in writing a pattern is finding out how to convert the line above to some repeatable progression.
The ornament is 5 inches high with a 2.5 inch diameter. The hanging loop is 3 inches long. Made from recycled Barnes & Noble bags!
The mold I built for the resin cuff leaves one end much bulkier than the other end. Most of the pendants require some sort of hand-sanding to take off the raised edges. The amount of sanding the cuff required made me put it on the back burner until I could find the right tool.
In consulting with my in-laws and then the internet, I found the appropriate tool is a Dremel.
I found a Dremel 300-N/55 on sale at Target for less than it was online anywhere else. Donning my respirator and safety glasses, I attached the smallest sanding tool and went to town on one end of the cuff.
The cuff on the left has a clear coat over the sanded area. While sanding the cuff, the material gets really cloudy on the surface. While washing off the sanding debris, I noticed that water helped to make edges clear again, and figured the clear coat would have the same property. The picture in the middle is a close-up of the coated cuff.
You can see some sanding marks at the top. I’m going to make a second pass with a finer grit sander bit on the Dremel to smooth out the one on the right. The third picture shows the top view of the sanded edge. The picture doesn’t capture how white the uncoated cuff is.
Today I officially applied for a job. Getting everything together to apply for a few other positions.
Started on a new needle-felted scarf with darker colors this weekend.
The second hand stores I’ve visited so far in the south always have great floral patterned bedsheets from the 1970s and early 1980s. My friend Sarah used to buy up these sheets and resell them on etsy.com. Ever since thrifting with her, I’ve been unable to pass them up.
Last year, during the holiday season, I stopped blogging about my crafts because so many of them were gifts. This year, those who may receive gifts from me: be warned! I’m blogging it all!
These napkins come from a full sized fitted sheet. I was able to get 8 20×20 inch napkins out of the sheet. They are very soft, and 50/50 cotton/polyester. The recipient of this gift will never need 8 napkins at a time, but Tyrone and I like to have a few to re-use daily, and a few on hand for company.
These are easy to make, but seemed to take me much longer this time. Since I’ve started to sell some crafts, I often think about how much I would have to charge to sell similar crafts. With all of the straight-line cutting, ironing seams, and actual sewing, these took a couple of hours to make.
Target sells a set of four dinner napkinsfor $24.99. Lotta Jansdotter sells a linen set of 2 for $42! (on sale for $21). Etsy.com has a whole range of options, from hand-woven sets, to embroidered sets, to the single-rolled edge sets. Looks like $20 for four non-embroidered napkins is pretty standard if you are looking for a gift like this on etsy.com.
