The Crafty Librarian

MARCH IS NATIONAL CRAFT MONTH AND I HAVE A CRAFTY TIP

2012-03-01T10:44:00.000-05:00

Did you know that March is National Craft Month? On their website the Craft and Hobby Association explains that National Craft Month was designed in 1994 "to help people learn about and re-discover the joy of crafting and all its many benefits." How have I never known this? Well now ... get out your fabric, paper, beads, buttons, yarn and glue...it's time to tap your inner-crafty!!
To get the month started, I have A Crafty Tip if your craft project involves a small amount of paint (or other liquids that might dry out between coats such as decoupage medium): use an old prescription bottle to hold your paint!

I used one of my larger prescription bottles and a 1" foam brush which fit into the opening of the bottle perfectly!

The bottle can be easily sealed and unsealed between coats giving the paint less chance to dry out. In between coats I closed the bottle and wrapped the brush tightly in plastic wrap (but not so tightly that it distorted the shape of the brush).

I didn't use all of my paint up so when I was done with my project I made a small dab on the outside to easily identify the color. I also find that a Sharpie pen works well to write special color names or customized blends - mine was white so I wasn't too worried about it. Additionally, if it had been any other color I would put a dab of the color on the top of the lid so it would be visible in my storage drawer.

This is also a great way to store small amounts of paint for touch up jobs around the house - when you paint a room save a small quantity in one of these bottles, label it and set it aside. Then you are ready for those pesky dings, scrapes and mars that seem to come out of nowhere without having to open the giant can of paint you originally used. Much cheaper than those tiny paint sample bottles found at your local paint or hardware store...and is an exact match for the color you used.

Time to get Crafting!!!!

BOBBLES!

2012-01-25T18:01:00.000-05:00

Bobbles...I swore that I would never knit one again after the scarf I made for my friend's charity drive last year (see blog post: Knitting for Charity - Part I from March 2011).

As I recall, I swore bobbles off because I found knitting them to be highly tedious as one must knit a few stitches (really few!), turn the work, purl those few, turn the work, knit those few, blah blah blah. And I have managed to avoid them. Until now. In the course of one week...one week I say!...several people have come to me regarding bobbles!! Bobbles!!! Of all things.

The first was my sister - who can refuse their sister? Not me (shhh, don't tell her). Finally having a peaceful moment in her life (she doesn't get many) she was trying to get back to her knitting. She picked a pattern that had...bobbles...and was asking for a bit of help figuring out the bobble stitch directions. Okay, it was brief, she was doing the work, no problem. Even though I had to pick up my needles and knit a bobble or two to refresh my own memory, I was grateful that it was a project she was making and not I.

Soon after my sister's request, that same friend who had presented me with the charity project from last year came to me with this years project...the same thing only bigger!!! Instead of knitting Bobble Ribbon scarves, she reported, her group is making Bobble Ribbon shawls for the Breast Health Initiative Race this spring. Bobbles. Out of my mouth comes, "No problem, love to help" (what is wrong with me?). It is for a good cause, I tell myself, and I can get past this bobble issue of mine, I think. I haven't seen the pattern yet...

Well now, here is the kicker. My friend has a problem with knitting bobbles as well. Additionally, she is more comfortable crocheting than she is knitting and lamented that if she could figure out how to crochet a bobble she would be so much happier. That's where The Crafty Librarian comes in!! I don't crochet (yet) but I can find resources to help her. And there are some excellent references available for crochet stitches.

The first book I found on our library shelf is titled "Ultimate Crochet Bible - A Complete Reference with Step-by-Step Techniques" by Jane Crowfoot.

With a title like that, I reasoned, it must have a Bobble Stitch in it that even I might be able to follow. And I am correct. I found the Bobble Stitch in the index and turned to page 100 to determine if this book would be helpful to my friend. The diagrams are large and very easy to follow and are accompanied by a photograph sample of the stitches - the best of both worlds. Love it!! I learn that the crocheted Bobble is worked on the wrong side rows (unlike knitting) and is, very simply, a group of stitches worked into one stitch to form a raised "puff" that is pushed through to the right side of the work.
For a 5-Stitch Basic Bobble (a double crochet bobble on a base of single crochet worked into the back of the stitch) it instructs:

With the wrong side facing, work to where the bobble should be formed. Work 3 incomplete stitches (by leaving the last loop of each stitch on the crochet hook so that 4 loops remain on the hook.
Then work 2 more incomplete stitches to leave 6 loops on the hook. (I don't really understand why it doesn't just say work 5 incomplete stitches until 6 loops are on the hook...)
Wrap the yarn around the hook and draw it through all the loops on the hook.
Wrap the yarn around a final time and draw through the loop on the hook. Gently push the group of stitches through to the front of your piece.

Sounds nice, looks easy (trust me, the diagrams that go with that description make it appear much simpler than what I wrote!), and it doesn't involve constantly turning your work. Hmmmm, maybe I have to learn to crochet.

This book is a wonderful go-to resource for anyone who wants to learn to crochet or learn some advanced crochet styles and techniques (such as Tunisian, Entrelac, Broomstick and Hairpin Crochet).

Another very good resource for someone who is new to crochet or for someone who is interested in learning some advanced stitches and techniques is one that relies specifically on photographs to exemplify each. It is aptly titled "The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet" by Margaret Hubert.

As the title suggests it provides a wealth of excellent photographs of a comprehensive number of stitch patterns and covers a number of specialty crochet methods as did the previous book.

Here are the instruction for the Bobble Stitch provided in this book (also worked from the wrong side):

Wrap the yarn over the hook and pick up a loop in the next stitch.
Wrap the yarn over the hook again and pull it through 2 of the stitches on the hook
Repeat this 5 times in the same stitch.
Then wrap the yarn over the hook and pull it through all 6 loops on the hook.
The bobble stitch is worked from the wrong side and pushed to the right side of the work.

These instructions are a little different from the other book in that a yarnover is done before the hook is put through the stitch but for all I know it is simply a different crochet stitch. You still work in the same stitch until 6 are left on the hook and pull the yarn through all of those (but, you don't yarn over and pull through that one.)

Okay, I have to go get some practice yarn and a crochet hook....I think that I have some experimenting to do!!

I started with the Ultimate Crochet Bible and taught myself the Single Crochet stitch. Easy Peasy! Instructions are good but I became a little lost when it came to the Bobble because a) I didn't know where to go in the row once I did the steps for the bobble, and b) once I got past that, I didn't know where to stick my hook on the way back. I looked at the Complete Photo Guide to Crochet and followed their instructions as well. It left me with the same questions but ultimately I figured it out. I think it was just my lack of crochet experience making me overthink things.

Here's my little sample!

Now I can provide resources for my friend as well as show her how to crochet bobbles. I can't wait. Bobbles are much less of a pain when crocheted...almost fun even!

In the fianl analysis, when I am really ready to sit down to learn to crochet I think the Ulitmate Crochet Bible will offer me the most intital guidance while The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet will supply a number of stitch patterns to keep me occupied once I am off and running.

For those who would like to actually see the stitch being made I found a video on YouTube that helped me understand what the book instructions meant (again, since I don't crochet I needed to see!). You can search for Crochet Bobble Stitch instructions on YouTube yourself (or do a Google video search) however, click here to link to one video that I found helpful.

Both of the above books could be of interest to those of you who are already accomplished crocheters as they both offer a number of stitch patterns and an introduction to some advanced methods of specialized crochet as I mentioned. But, if you want to investigate a book of patterns that employs some of those techniques then the following book could be very interesting:

Crochet Master Class - Lessons and Projects from Today's Top Crocheters

by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss

I found this book while I was searching for Bobble Stitch instructions and while it is not a stitch instruction book it has so many interesting and beautiful projects in it that I wanted to give it a mention here. It is not a book that I can use, yet, but one of you might!!

A KNITTERLY APPROACH TO THE NEW YEAR

2012-01-15T16:41:00.000-05:00

I had great intentions about posting an article before Christmas...had a book picked out, projects selected, supplies purchased, notes written out...then I misplaced the whole shebang. It was on my desk, I had visitors, it was gone. Sometimes tiding up before company is NOT a good thing no matter how organized you think you are.

For once in my life I decided not to go too crazy and went with the flow. I switched gears, slowed down, put the blog aside, and focused on the gifts I wanted to make for friends and family...most of which involved my beloved knitting. I have to tell you, it was nice to approach the holiday in the relaxed state of mind that knitting puts me in. Not to mention the fact that, for the first time in maaaannnnnnyyyyy years, the gifts that I was hand-making were actually ready and giftable!!!!!

Among other projects, I knit two pairs of socks (one for my dad and one for my sister) using Plymouth Yarns Encore which is a really soft and pleasant worsted weight yarn. It was very calming to sit and knit these gifts, like a little gift to myself.

My sister's sock in progress.
In the photo above I have just turned the heel - a process that sounds intimidating but is actually quite simple. Just trust the pattern and do what it says.
It is always magically rewarding to me when I have completed the turn!

Funny thing - when I finished knitting those two pairs of socks and was cleaning up my patterns and supplies guess what I found folded into the pattern notebook I was using...all the copies of the projects I was going to make for my Christmas crafts blog along with all my hand written notes!! Right under my nose the whole time!! Lordy.

Well, it all worked out and I really did enjoy slowing down and just knitting for a while. I guess I needed that. A frame of mind to remember in the new year.

*********

F.Y.I. Socks are a quick and fairly easy project to make. To those who have not made them ever, they seem like a daunting project to tackle but that just makes knitting them for someone even more fun!

In a nutshell you begin by knitting a tube with what ever stitch pattern you choose. I used a Knit 3, Purl 1 rib pattern for my sister's sock. When the tube is the length you prefer you knit a "Heel Flap" back and forth on 2 needles (that part of the sock that sits behind your heel approximately from your ankle down).

Here is a picture of my sister's sock with the leg tube and heel flap completed.

Next you "turn the heel" which, as I said before, sounds terrifying but is simple and somewhat exciting to execute. Still using only 2 needles and working back and forth in "short rows" which means simply working only part of the way across...turning...and working back. If you follow the pattern instructions you will be in awe of yourself when you are done!

Here is a picture of my sister's sock after I turned her heel.

See the turn where her heel will nestle?

Once the heel is complete you work with 3 needles again to create a "gusset" by picking up stitches along the heel flap and knitting all around the sock. This creates the part of the sock that fills in from the side of your heel flap to your foot section and looks like a triangle when completed. Before I made my first sock I always wondered how that mysterious section was accomplished only to find out it is a simple pattern of knitting with specifically placed decreases. Again, just follow your pattern and trust it!

Here is my sister's sock after I have completed the Gusset.

Once the Gusset is complete your pattern will tell your to knit, in the round, to create the foot section...more tube, this time usually in simple knit unless you have chosen a pattern that carries the design down the top of your foot...not me!

Here are the stitches for my sister's sock all set to go round and round.

When your foot section reaches about 1-1/2" shy (or whatever length your pattern tells you) of your total foot length (from the back of the heel) it is time to decrease for the toe.

In the picture of my sister's sock above, the marker shows where I stopped knitting the foot and began decreasing for the toe.

CRAFTY LIBRARIAN TIP: Run a "lifeline" (a thin thread or piece of yarn run through the stitches on your needles) BEFORE you begin your toe decreases. This allows you to easily rip out your knitting back to this start point if you are not satisfied with the length of the decrease section (if it is too long and pointy or too short and stubby)!!

CRAFTY LIBRARIAN TIP #2: As you work your first sock write down everything you do (number of rows, etc) so your second will come out the same!

The final step joins the two sides of the toe stitches together in a such a way that there is no seam using what is called "the kitchener's graft. It is a way to "mock" knit stitches using a tapestry needle. I didn't take a picture of this step because my hands were full but a good tutorial can be found by clicking here.

*******

If you want to learn how to knit socks there are a number of books and websites that offer good instructions. One of the best books I found when I taught myself is one published by Knitter's Magazine and titled "Socks Socks Socks," edited by Elaine Rowley.

This book includes an overview of a basic sock, in a section called "Six Steps to Sock Success." Here the six steps involved in knitting a sock are clearly diagramed and explained. The diagrams are great in that they showed me exactly what I should have on all my needles at any given time.

A website that also helped me understand the anatomy of a sock, provides tips as well as additional links can be reached by clicking here..

Happy knitting in the new year everyone!!!

THANKSGIVING DECOR - BY THE SKIN OF MY TEETH!!!

2011-11-23T14:25:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lateness of this Thanksgiving-related post. My intentions were great and I had time etched out for crafting, but the unexpected October 29th New England storm (Storm Alfred...I didn't even know it had a name until the power came back!) that left us without power for over a week and then no cable for a few days after ... not to mention the ensuing yard and home restoration that followed it, as well as the backlog at work, has put me way off my crafting game!! Darn those Nor'easters!!

The snow we shovelled was up to my knees. Tired!! I don't know if you can see those poor trees in the background weighted by the snow!! The oaks still had their leaves and the older ones simply didn't hold up to the weight of the snow. Needless to say, I am keeping things simple this holiday.

I completed my Fall wreath for the front door prior to the storm, thank goodness.

I started with a purchased twig wreath and some Fall foliage floral picks. I placed the picks around the wreath in a way that pleased me and added a few dried weeds from my yard for texture. I made my own bow using wire-edged ribbon that had a nice Fall ombre' to it. I am particularly pleased about the bow because I am a Bow-Challenged Crafter (as much as I hate to admit it).

For a decorative touch in my powder room I placed some tiny pumpkins and a few berry sprigs in a tall vase and set it on the shelf.

Here again I was lucky in that I set up the display initially for Halloween and when Halloween passed I simply removed the elements that were specific to that holiday (the spiders and skull...)

These tiny pumpkins are fun to use in your decor...you can find some additional uses in my post last year titled: Quick Fall Table Decor Using Tiny Pumpkins.

I wanted something natural and homey for my Thanksgiving table. I turned to Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts book because I recalled seeing decor using acorns and leaves (and I have plenty of those!)

Sure enough, the book has a section about "Acorn Crafts" that includes 4 projects: a pincushion; an acorn-topped box; a garland; and, a napkin ring. I really would like to make the garland but, for the sake of time I settled on the simplicity of the napkin rings. Each ring uses two acorns and one oak leaf.

Martha Stewart used real oak leaves and preserved them with a glycerin solution. I did not have the time, nor the desire, to preserve my oak leaves so I stole some silk ones off of the fall garland I had on my mantel.

I collected some acorns with caps that fit (plenty of those lying around the yard now!)and used my Dremel tool fitted with my 1/16th" bit to drill two side-by-side holes through the top end of each cap. I inserted 16" lengths of 22-gauge wire from the inside of the cap so the ends stuck towards the outside.

I twisted the wire ends and attached the acorn bodies to their wired caps with wood glue.

I wrapped the acorn stems with floral tape (... which is stiiiiicky!!!) . I also used floral tape to attach one oak leaf per napkin ring to a piece of 22-gauge wire (covering the wire as well.) To use floral tape you need to stretch it as you tightly wrap the element.

Note: I wondered why Martha used plain wire and then covered it, rather than pre-covered floral wire so I bought both types. I found out that when the cloth-wrapped wire is pushed through the hole, the cloth part gets jammed up behind the hole which allowed only the wire to poke through. You can see that in the photo below.

I do wish Martha would explain stuff like that.

The photo below, from left to right, shows the elements (and steps) that comprise one napkin ring: a wrapped leaf stem; two wrapped acorn stems in opposing directions; the leaf stem attached to an acorn stem, then all wrapped together and covered with brown hem tape.

Martha's instructions guided me to wrap the wired elements with floral tape, and attach one leaf wire and one acorn wire together with brown floral tape, then wrap the units together with brown seam binding...gluing at the ends. I did my first one that way but found an order of steps that worked better for me on all the others when I was ready to apply the seam binding (which I could not find...so I used "Soft and Easy Hem Tape" and found that one package was good for two napkin rings.)

After wrapping each wired stem with floral tape this is the process I found to be most efficient:

First: Wrap a leaf stem with the hem tape...securing the end with a small wrap of floral tape.

Second: Wrap an acorn stem with the hem tape...adding the leaf stem to the wrap when you get down an inch or so (which hides the ends of the leaf stem). See photo below:

Third: When you are a couple of inches from the bottom, add another acorn stem, positioning it so the acorn is heading in the opposite direction, and continue wrapping with the hem tape until you reach the acorn.

Last: At the acorn end, I wrapped the hem tape around a few times so hide any wire that showed and came back down the stem a little. I used a bit of glue and held the end in place with a tiny clip until it dried. I coiled the unit into a ring shape all ready to add a napkin.

These would also be pretty snaking up a candle stick, wrapped into a wreath, a vase, a chandelier -- the possibilities are something to think about. But not right now! Now I have to get everything else ready for my table...tomorrow!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

A VARIETY OF PUMPKIN AND TREAT BAG IDEAS ON THE FLY!!

2011-10-28T12:30:00.000-04:00

Halloween is practically upon us and I, for one, can not believe how quickly October has flown by! I was hoping to publish one or two more posts before The Big Event but, given the time, will squeeze all that I have into this post. And, if I can guarantee you the projects here are quick (even though the article will be long...)

First however, a note for the reader who requested, via a comment, more instruction for my "Sewn Harvest Pumpkins" post: it has been updated to include a step by step tutorial. An email was not provided so I have no other way to inform them that it has been completed. To all other readers, if you ever have any questions regarding my projects, comments are great, but also feel free to email me at the address in my profile. I read all emails and comments, love getting them, and try to respond as quickly as possible. I thank all who have corresponded already!

Here is a group shot of the Halloween 2011 dudes in this article.

Funny little guys.

So. Here I go. Halloween is Monday. Already. Wow.

Project One - Goofy Vampire Pumpkin:

As I have been looking through this year's Halloween books and magazines it appears that the big trend in pumpkins is to decorate them rather than carve them. It's as though all the editors got together and said, "forget carving this year, let's dress the pumpkins up instead!" Some are decoupaged with fabric, tissue paper, or book pages (including mine from my last post); some are decked out with glued on embellishments such as rick rack and other trimming; some have been painted a solid color (white or black has been the norm) with a silhouetted image painted (or glued) on.

To be honest, I think we have Martha Stewart to thank for the development of pumpkin creativity. She has been stepping up the innovative ideas for a while now and the pumpkins in her magazine this year (Martha Stewart Living, October 2011 issue) made me laugh outright and are again different from the mainstream. She started with a couple of small pumpkins and on one, put zany eyeballs and a goofy smile, and decked the other out with vampire teeth and red map pins for eyes. I combined the two and made my own goofy guy.

I printed the templates from Martha Stewart's website www.marthastewart.com/pumpkin-faces and, after laying the mouth template on the pumpkin, poked holes all along the outline into the pumpkin to transfer the design.

This lets you know where to cut. For the eye holes, I cut cone-shaped holes, slightly smaller than what I was going to use for eyes. As much as I enjoy Martha's creativity, I must admit that I find her instructions to often be vague and missing steps. In this case, I was a little flummoxed as to how to go about reaching through the tiny mouth hole to scoop out the innards. I used a long iced tea spoon but it wasn't easy. Additionally, I am not really fond of scooping out pumpkin guts...

You can use store-bought eyeballs or you can make them. Last year I made some from Styrofoam balls in my post titled: "Fall is Here - and With It Comes Halloween." One of my readers made an anonymous comment offering an interesting suggestion: " FOR REALLY GOOD EYEBALLS, open up empty cans of Guinness Stout. The things that float and rattle inside and make it foam when poured look exactly like white eyeballs. All they need added are the pupils." I decided to give it a try. They were right! I used colored Sharpie markers to draw in the features and a pair of eyeballs was born.

Thanks for the great idea Anonymous. Good thing my husband likes Guinness Stout!

Project Two - Squash-kins:
I think the various magazine and book editors agreed not to discriminate against the squash family since there is an abundance of decorated butternut squash, acorn squash, as well as other lesser known varieties of squash showing up . Naturally I had to jump on that bandwagon as well. I have seen many photos of pumpkins and squash painted white and adding black silhouettes of ghost faces, lettering ("boo"). So I decided to make a white butternut squash ghost for this post to demonstrate the idea but when I flipped the squash over to paint the bottom and leave it to dry, I noticed that the shape was similar to another common Halloween standard - the skull - so I went with that idea.

My skull came out somewhat less scary and more like a dude in aviator glasses, I think, but he goes well with my wacky "Martha Pumpkin".

While there are many resources that provide ideas for painting squash I initially inspired by the "Ghastly Ghosts" project in the book titled "Reader's Digest - The Ultimate Halloween Book," by Deborah Harding.

I like the variety of projects in this book and many of them are quick and easy. My Cool Dude Butternut squash above just took a couple coats of white paint and some details applied with black paint.

Project Three - Black Cat Acorn Squash:

The author of that same book took the painted squash project one step further to include an acorn squash that was painted to look like a cat. I was really running out of time but wanted to make the cat too.

The author cut shapes from paper, colored them individually and glued them onto a spray painted acorn squash (leaving the stem unpainted for the nose). For the sake of time and my sanity I ran a google search for cat eye images, cut my selection out and glued them on to my painted squash. I cut black construction paper for ears and cut a yellow anchor-shaped mouth from felt. I cut several pieces of wire for the whiskers and simply poked them into the squash.

Project Four - Broomstick Treat Bag:

Now, some people like to throw Halloween parties and put some treats in individual bags. Here are a couple of ideas for "different" treat bags. I found the first one in the Family Fun, October 2011 magazine issue.

Making it is very simple. Cut lengths of raffia and tie onto the end of stick stuck into a brown paper lunch bag filled with treats.

Project Five - Pumpkin Tag Treat Bag:

I traced around templates that I drew freehand onto paintchip cards to make the individual sections.

After I glued them together I added a small curlicue made from floral wire and a tiny stem. I also used a brown marker to apply a little shading within the segments, smudging it with my finger before it dried to blur the line a bit.

Project Six - Fabric Treat Drawstring Bag:

This photo was from an earlier post that I did titled "Drawstring Bags - One Technique, Many Uses" since it included a Halloween treat bag I thought I should include the photo here. Instructions can be found in that article when you click on the title.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011 EVERYONE!!

EASY UPCYCLED PUMPKIN

2011-10-18T10:55:00.000-04:00

Orange and green spray paint ... check.
Floral wire ... check.
Sticks, no problem...lots after Hurricane Irene ... check, check and, triple check!
Glue gun ... check.
Dryer vent hose ... check. Wait, what?!? Dryer vent hose you say?

What has all of this got to do with Fall crafting? Well, put them together and you get the cutest and easiest little pumpkin ever, that's what. Look at these!

This project caught my eye last year but I ran out of time to make it - the Fall decorating season was over and the Christmas crafting season had begun. As usual, too many projects, too little time!! Anyway, here I am a full year later and I actually remembered to give this a try (wonders never cease)! I found the project in a book called The Big Green Book of Recycled Crafts, published by Leisure Arts.

To make one pumpkin you will need 20-25" of dryer vent hose - I bought some at my local hardware store since my husband frowned at the idea of my cutting into the vent hose attached to my dryer. Go figure! Measure the hose when it is extended fully and then cut. Form it into a circle, matching the ends and glue to secure. Tip: I found that the longer length was better because I was more easily able to stretch it into the circle. Another Tip: I held the hose and glued it myself but it would be easier to maneuver if you had a helper to either hold the vent or apply the glue. Yet another Tip: I stretched a rubber band around it to secure the shape while the glue dried.

Spray the body orange and, when dry, spray a bit of green at the top. (Spray a 6" long stick green while you are at it or, if you prefer you can leave the stick natural.)

Curl a 16" piece of wire around a pencil....

Slide pencil out...

And you have a completed curlicue! Wrap the straight end around the base of the stick/stem. Apply some glue to one end of the stick/stem and insert it into the opening in the center of the top of the pumpkin.

I made the "leaves" by knotting a 12" piece of ribbon at the base of the stem and trimming it into a leaf shape.

That's all there is to it! When my husband came home from work he was surprised at how effective the pair of these pumpkins were. He didn't even double-check to make sure our dryer hose was intact.

Crafty Tips: If you hope to use these outside make sure you use a spray paint that is appropriate for outdoors. Also, they are somewhat light and might blow away (can you imagine what someone might think if pumpkins were flying by them in the wind!! funny) so one thought I had would be to insert something weighty before you glue the ends together.

A LITERARY FALL LEAF WREATH AND PUMPKIN

2011-10-12T11:41:00.000-04:00

This week I am not writing about a book per se, but about the pages in the book. And I am not writing about the pages so much as I am writing about what can be done with those pages (once the book is no longer a viable reading option, says the librarian in me..)

I was wracking my brain for a different Fall wreath idea this year, thumbing through all those magazines and pre-holiday catalogues that had begun to pour, in when I noticed a recurrent theme: leaves made from book pages, book pages with leaf shapes cut out of them and inserted into vases as table decor, pumpkins decoupaged with old book pages (hmmmm).

I studied the pile of catalogues and magazines in my recycling bin. I studied my book shelves and recognized several paperbacks that really were falling apart and waiting for me to accept their fate. And an idea was born: I decided to put them all to good use and created a Literary Fall Leaf Wreath!

Isn't is pretty?

To begin, I went through my catalogues and magazines looking mainly at the colors and tones, searching for areas that would make good Fall leaves.

Crafty Tip: I used an old quilting trick taught to me by my sister who makes gorgeous quilts in her spare time. When she is trying to visualize whether a fabric (or section of a fabric) will work for her finished piece she puts her right and left thumb tips together and her right and left index finger tips together to form an open triangular space in front of her. If a smaller opening is required, she slides her hands closer together to make a smaller triangle. She then holds this opening above the fabric so she can isolate the small section she might use while the her hands block out the rest of the image that may be visually distracting. If she sees what she likes and feels it will "fit" the theme of her quilt, she buys it. Easy-peasy!!

The photo above is an ad in one of my catalogues.

I use my hand triangle to block out visual distractions

and determine that I like that section of color.
(Please excuse the visual distraction of the butterfly stamp on my hand ...
I went to a butterfly conservancy recently which was incredible!)

Ta da ... it is a beautiful Fall leaf!

I looked at everything on each page, the backgrounds as well as the image the photographer was trying to capture, isolating sections with my "hand triangle".

An ad for a blouse ...

... becomes a leaf!

Here's what I mean about looking beyond the picture itself.

If you look carefully you can see that I have traced my

leaf template onto a section of the page

that might make an interesting leaf.

I do not own a leaf punch or a die-cutter so I made templates in the shapes of an oak leaf and a maple leaf . I cut two sizes of oak leaves from the magazines and catalogues and cut one size of maple leaves from the old paperbacks. My fingers did get a little "scissor-sore" after a while.

Crafty Cutting Tip: Make a rough cut first to separate the section you want from the larger piece of paper to reduce "drag" from weight of the sheet. Next, when cutting around the shape, turn the paper rather than the scissors for a smooth, even cut.

I spread my leaves out in front of me, roughly sorted by color and tones and pinned a foundation layer of leaves around a foam wreath that I wrapped with burlap strips.

I used leaves that were not my favorites for this foundation layer

because I figured they would be mostly covered up anyway (as would the pins.)

I continued placing and pinning leaves randomly distributing the colors until the burlap was no longer visible and I was satisfied with the look. I finished by placing the paperback book leaves around the entire wreath in a random fashion.

Crafty Tip: I used some double-sided tape to keep some of the

leaves in place and to hide some of the pin heads.

Since I had some the paperback maple leaves left over I continued my literary holiday decor by using them to adorn a small pumpkin. I had noticed some pumpkins in the magazines I was "leafing" through (bad pun but appropriate here!) that had been completely covered with dictionary pages and others that had tissue paper leaves decoupaged on them. I combined the two ideas for my little pumpkin.

I mixed some white all-purpose glue with a little water and decoupaged (fancy word for adding cutout adornments with layers of glue) them on using a small foam brush. The spider is from one of my posts last year called: Fall Is Here - And With It Comes Halloween.

Happy Fall crafting everyone!!

EASY TO SEW REUSABLE COFFEE SLEEVES FOR FALL

2011-09-28T15:32:00.000-04:00

I stumbled upon a pattern for sewing coffee cup sleeves on the Fiskars website and decided to conclude National Sewing Month by making a pair in Fall-themed fabrics for my coffee loving colleagues. The pattern was free on their website and was super simple to sew. I really like the idea of a reusable sleeve because it cuts down on waste...just throw it in your laundry with the rest of your stuff when you need to.

You will need to collect two coordinating fabrics, some batting, a small piece of elastic cording, and a button (two if you want to make it reversible). You will also need a sleeve from an earlier cup of coffee to use as a pattern.

Use the sleeve to create a template by drawing around it, then drawing another line about 1/2" out from its edge thereby making it a little larger all around for seam allowance. (I have not yet drawn the larger outline in the above picture.)

Use your template to cut two pieces of fabric and one piece of batting. I used my rotary cutter to cut the batting - scissors tend to snag.

Layer your pieces in this order: batting on the bottom, then lay one of the fabric pieces with the right-side up, then your other piece of fabric with the right-side down.

You will want to lay your pieces so the edges line up nicely. I splayed the pieces in the photo above so you could see the order. Once they are lined up, cut a 5" piece of your elastic, fold it in half and lay it between the two fabric pieces with the cut edges hanging slightly outside your layers (loop end pointing towards the middle).

Pin the edges.

Sew a 1/4" seam around, back-stitching over elastic to secure and leaving an opening for turning the piece right-side out.

Trim your edges and clip your corners then turn it right-side out and hand stitch the opening closed.

Top-stitch, using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Add a button. I put buttons on both sides to make it reversible.

I made a second one for another colleague using different fabrics and style of buttons.

When we were all out together the other day, naturally we had to stop at my colleagues favorite coffee spot and when they came back to the car I gave them each their Fall Coffee Cup Sleeves. They were so delighted they immediately put them on theirs cups (right over the cardboard sleeves if you look carefully!). Cheers!

And now, I bid adieu to National Sewing Month 2011. I draw in a deep breath and pat myself on the back -- I have braved my sewing machine one more time (anyone who knows me knows that I am not " at one" with my machine.) The Machine and I have been associates since Middle School (waaaay back in the day) but have never mastered true friendship. At best we maintain a distant wariness. It's my fault really. I have never truly tried to reach out to It. It has always scared me with its mysterious elements. But I must say, I think I might be close to asking It to come out and play more often. Maybe get to know It a little better. We'll see.

SUMMER DRAWS TO A CLOSE - LET THE FALL CRAFTING BEGIN

2011-09-21T09:40:00.052-04:00

The heat of the summer is soon to be a thing of the past (I sure hope so!), the open windows admit a slight chill to the night air, the endless weeding in the garden will come to a stop, and the desire to bake things will start. I like the change of seasons and the change of motivations it brings with it.

In the Fall, the magazines that arrive at the library begin showing pictures of soups, apples, pumpkins and all things "harvesty" (I'm sure that is...should be...a word). When the October issue of Crafts 'n Things Magazine first arrived, its cover caught my eye and drew my attention to the fact that it was definitely time to start focusing on Fall crafting!

Isn't that inviting? Just the word "harvest" conveys images of corn, pumpkins, apples...warm apple cider. Of course I had to flip through it and as I did I was surprised by the variety of ideas and techniques inside - felting, painting, sewing, punch needle, clay, Styrofoam, paper crafts, cross-stitch - each project by a different designer and each listed resources for further ideas.

I found myself inspired and wanted to try a number of them. But where to start? Well, since September is National Sewing Month I opted to start with the Sewn Harvest Pumpkins. Fashioned out of a printed tan cotton fabric with brown velvet stems and green leaves made from clay, the pair of them looked pretty in the photograph and the instructions seemed simple enough even for me (you may remember that I am not "one" with my sewing machine...). Anyway, I thought a grouping of them in different sizes and fabrics might bring a little bit of the harvest season into my home.

Project One: Sewn Harvest Pumpkins

I chose supplies that I already had: some upholstery, corduroy and quilting fabrics that went well together instead of the tan cotton fabric; raffia and hemp instead of the jute twine; and sticks instead of velvet for some of the stems. I also decided not to make the clay leaves shown in the pattern because I just wanted to focus on the sewing.

The instructions were pretty simple, although there did seem to be an error in Step 6 which reads "with wrong sides together...turn right side out". I think they meant "with right sides together...". Also, I was having some conceptual difficulty with the instruction for the pumpkin body which could have benefited from a diagram.

Tip: I learned that it is important to stuff the pumpkin firmly and pull the wrapping cord tight to best define the segments. The smallest light colored pumpkin was my last one and the segments are less "puckery" than the others.

The following instructional tutorial was added at a later date

in response to a request by an anonymous reader:

1. Fold a rectangular piece of fabric in half, right sides together, to form a square.

2. Machine sew a seam along the edge that is opposite the folded edge (the edge to the right in the photo above).

3. With strong thread and leaving a 6" tail, hand stitch a running/basting stitch along one of the open edges.

4. Pull the ends of the basting thread to cinch the fabric ends together; tie off and whip stitch to secure. This will be the bottom of your pumpkin.

5. Turn piece right side out.

6. Stuff body firmly with polyfill and stitch another running/basting stitch along open edge.

7. Cinch that basting stitch, tie it off (wow, the exposure in my photos change alot! Looks like a whole other pumpkin...)

8. Whipstitch it to secure as you did the previous one. This will be the top of the pumpkin and the ugliness will be hidden by your stem when you sew it on.

9. Thread a large-eyed tapestry needle with a long piece of strong threading material (raffia, jute, embroidery floss, hemp...I found the hemp worked best). Thread it through the top, straight down through the body/core leaving a 12" tail. Move needle over slightly to avoid first hole and push straight back through the body to the top. Tie ends together to secure the pumpkin shape.

10. Continue by bringing needle around the outside of the body and pushing through the same area at the bottom of the pumpkin, up through the core and out the top. Snug (I also tied it each time for security) to form segment. Repeat to create more segments by wrapping around the outside, up from the bottom through the body, snugging (and tieing) as you go until you are satisfied with the number of segments you have created. If you run out of threading material before your segments are complete simply tie on another piece and continue.

11. Sew a stem shaped piece of fabric.

12. Turn the stem rightside out, stuff the stem, whipstitch the ends together.

13. Hand sew it to the top of the body, concealing the pumpkin's closure as you stitch.

(The above photo example for step 13 is from one of the other pumpkins. My pumpkin did not magically morph...I just didn't have a good picture from the rust colored pumpkin for this step of how to sew the stem on. Actually for the tan corduroy pumpkin I left the bottom of the stem open which worked out just as well as whipstitching it closed. And in a couple of the pumpkins I simply hot glued sticks in for stems.)

I hope this photo tutorial is helpful. I thank the reader who requested it since I had originally written the blog as a tutorial and agonized over the length the article was becoming. Please let me know in email or comment whether this works for you. I love hearing from my readers and respond to the comments and emails as quickly as I can! Unfortunately, I was away from my computer when the comment was posted...

Project Two: Needle-felted Halloween Mouse and Pumpkin

Sewing done, I could then move on to the project that really drew me - the needle-felted items. Lured in by the warmth of the cover art and the very cute mouse inside, I got my needle-felting supplies out. I had blissfully forgotten that the last time I tackled needle-felting I had found it somewhat tedious with my insufficient tool. I remembered that fact once I got underway however, and I stabbed myself any number of times which is not a good thing when you are using white roving! Anyway, while I still am not completely enamoured with needle-felting (because I simply am not patient enough), I do love the completed felted items.

I decided to nix my original plan to make the needle-felted Indian corn and larger pumpkins...for now.

The magazine has a lot of projects that are Halloween-oriented but I was still wanting to make Fall decor that was not Halloween specific. I decided to work up their napkin ring project.

Project Three: Harvest Jute Napkin Rings with Clay Leaves

A couple of the projects in the magazine called for an adornment of leaves made out of Sculpey Polymer Clay. I didn't make them for the Sewn Pumpkins but I decided to give them a shot now. I used burlap glued to cardboard tubes as the base and then set to work on the clay leaves. The full-sized leaf templates are provided by the magazine and the leaves were easy to cut out and bake (especially after all the stabbing in the last project). The hard part was waiting for the various paint coats to dry before I could proceed to the next step. Also, I found the instructions for the painting techniques to be a bit vague - but I played around with the colors I had and applied them in a way that pleased me. I liked the end result.

When they were done, I glued them to the prepare tubes with some berry sprigs.

I grouped some of the items together in a display by my fireplace. We will see how long the mouse lasts before my cat discovers it.

I would love to work on a number of other items in the magazine but I really need to get to work on the wreath for my door before Fall is over! I have already found the inspiration for that and will show you soon. Until then, browse through the magazines at your local library and you are bound to find some great inspirations! Magazines are great sources of information, providing a variety of up-to-date ideas of whatever the current trends, materials and resources are and should not be overlooked when you are researching ideas for things to make.

Some other magazines that might be of interest:

Country Living, October 2011 issue includes pumpkins that are decoupaged with all sorts of interesting patterns; crow silhouettes fashioned from static-cling window decal sheets (a very trendy Halloween craft this year); and a custom-stamped tablecloth for Halloween. Decoupaged pumpkins, who would ever have thought?!

Martha Stewart Living, October 2011 issue includes clever paper bats to hang outside your front door; a number of very funky, clever, and simple ideas to dress up your pumpkins instead of carving them which are bound to impress your visitors; and a beautiful idea for an artful arrangement of Fall foliage and fruit.

McCall's Quick Quilts, October/November 2011 issue includes a variety of project types including some adorable ideas for Halloween. They also always feature some Quick and Easy ideas. This magazine is beginning to make even me think about learning to quilt!

A CRAFTY TIP AND AN AHA MOMENT

2011-09-02T12:44:00.000-04:00

Part I - The Crafty Tip:

In my last post I used a nylon cord for a drawstring to use on the laundry bag I sewed. When nylon cording or rope is cut it has a tendency to fray. To keep the ends from fraying I needed to seal the ends. Here is a brief tutorial about how I did that.

It is a little hard to see against the white sink in the photo below but you can sort of make out the fuzzy tip where I made my cut.

To seal the ends so they don't fray, first make sure the cord is nylon and not cotton. Nylon melts, cotton burns. Once you have ascertained that it is nylon, hold a small flame slightly below the cord until the end melts slightly.

If it flames up, blow it out and be careful not to burn your fingers. It does not take long to happen. See the nice clean end on my cord in the picture below?

This works on nylon rope as well. This is a tip I learned from my father when I used to sail with him. My father has always been a fountain of knowledge.

Part II - The Aha Moment: A Prescription Bottle Repurposed as a Matchbox

When I opened my kitchen drawer to search for matches to seal the drawstring cord I used for the laundry bag I sewed, I found them alright! They were all over the bottom of the drawer, happily intermingling with 500 toothpicks - all of which had escaped their containers and were partying in the bottom of my drawer. The boxes that had been holding them had fallen apart and the contents had spewed forth. This led me to an aha moment, however, as I thought of a way to repurpose an old prescription container into a waterproof, child-safe match container.

I collected my supplies: a matchbox, an old prescription bottle,double sided tape and, of course, you will need matches eventually.

Remove the old prescription label from the bottle. Most of them peel off pretty easily. (I had already removed the label before I took the photograph above.)

Remove the "striking" section of the matchbox (the part that you rub the match against to cause it to flame) and apply pieces of double sided tape to its back side, covering it completely (double sided tape is sticky on both sides).

Press that prepared striker section to the prescription bottle to adhere it.

I applied a small piece of regular scotch tape where the ends met. It isn't terribly pretty but I just wanted a little added security.

Put the matches inside the container and close it up.

You now have a waterproof, child-safe container to keep your matches in. When you need to use a match, take one out, put the lid back on, and strike the match against the strike section on the outside.

My husband discovered (the hard way) that putting the cap back on prior to striking the match is vitally important...matches all over the place!! Oops. Good tip honey, thank you for testing it out for me!

Oh yeah, those pesky toothpicks got their own container in the drawer as well.

That's it for today! No book this time. Just a little Crafty Tip and Technique.

DRAWSTRING BAGS: ONE TECHNIQUE, MANY USES

2011-08-24T15:48:00.000-04:00

A drawstring bag is a very handy thing and it is actually quite easy to sew one. Once mastered, the same basic techniques can be used to create bags for all sorts of things: sachets, gifts, jewelry, jewelry to give as gifts...kidding dear, treats, camping gear, groceries, the list is endless really.

To learn how to sew one, I decided to make a laundry bag, particularly since it is that time of year again...the time that many of our offspring leave the nest and head out into the world. Do you have a child who will be heading off to college soon? Said child will likely be doing their own laundry (it could happen) and will not, most likely, have their own conveniently placed laundering equipment (I'm referring to the machine here, not the mom...) For some, this is the time during which a gigantic pile of laundry forms in the dorm in anticipation of the first visit home...often not until the holidays (I have boys don't ya know). Given the idea that a laundry bag creates an individual, controlled laundry portion I thought that I might try my hand at sewing one.

I flipped through the sewing books on our library shelves looking for a pattern that I could follow easily and had instructions for a drawstring sleeve (called a "casing") that would be open on both sides of the bag so I could pull the bag closed by drawing the string from both ends. I really wanted to learn this technique because it has always seemed soooo mysterious. Odd, the things that befuddle me...

There were a number of possibilities in several of the books but in the end I decided on the project for the "Drawstring Travel Bags" in Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. After all, it was the weekend...and I was going to be sewing! If a project is in a book about sewing that can be done over the weekend (I reasoned) it must be simple enough to follow.

(click here to go to our library catalogue)

Right away I like that the project provides instructions for different sizes, suggestions for different materials to use for the drawstrings, and an instruction for an optional treatment for the bottom corners. I love options. I also really like the very simple technique the author uses to create the openings in the seam for drawstrings to come through (which I will get to shortly...).

Of course, as with my knitting, I never seem to follow directions and patterns exactly and that is the case here as well. I had about one yard of denim fabric left over from one of my first blog posts "A Pattern is Like a Recipe" (almost a year ago, wow!) and I am not bothering with the exact measurements the pattern recommends for the "large bag". The instructions/techniques are general enough, however, to guide me through the process for a bag of any size and there are only a few steps. So here goes!

Step One - Sew the Outer Seams:

Start with two rectangles of fabric, right sides together, decide which short end will be the open end and sew a 3/8" seam starting at the top of one side, along the bottom and up the other side.

Tip: Place masking tape on the plate of your sewing machine for a bigger visual line to follow than the itty-bitty one etched into the metal.

Pivot at the corner edge by stopping while the needle is inserted in the fabric, lift the foot and pivot the fabric for a clean right angle. You can see in the picture below that my needle is in the fabric and lines up with the pencil seam guideline I made before I started to sew. I am about to lift the foot and pivot the fabric.

Step Two - Create the Casing:

Sewing the casing turned out to be very simple as well. With the wrong sides still together, fold the top edge (the edge that will be the opening of your bag) down 1/4" to the wrong side and press.

My sister taught me to use a "seam gauge" (that's the ruler tool in the picture above) to measure my seam as I press it which saves the time of measuring and pinning and unpinning. I never understood what that tool was for before she helped me one day. You can see I have the guide set for 1/4" and I move it along as I iron, folding the edge and pressing as I go. I hate fussing with pins. Fun! Just be careful not to burn your fingers...

Next, turn the casing again toward the wrong side 2" (for the large bag) and press that double fold. You can see below that I have folded down the edge and have moved my measuring guide to 2".

Next, edge-stitch about 1/8" from the edge (that edge that is closest to the 2" guide in the picture above.) The phrasing of the instruction in the book confused me here but their diagram was most helpful. In the photo below I am using my seam gauge to figure out how far in 1/8" is.

The idea behind edge-stitching is to secure the raw folded edge in place cleanly. My seam was pressed at 1/4" so my edge-stitch is half of that. When you are edge stitching your eyes are the best guide to help you stitch close to the edge. Below is my edge-stitched seam. Isn't it a thing of beauty? Maybe the sewing machine isn't so bad after all!

The next step is to turn the bag right side out and sew a top-stitch to create the upper edge of the casing. Again, I found the wording of the instructions slightly confusing but the idea is to create a channel that will be wide enough for whatever you are using as a drawstring to pass through. Whatever material is above your top-stitched line will be visible above your cinched drawstring area when you pull the bag closed. My top-stitch is about 1/2" from the top edge of my bag.

To create the opening for your drawstring (here come the magical part) the author uses a short zig zag stitch back and forth about 1/8" at the two points where the casing seams meet the side seams. I simplified this when I sewed my bag: I stitched back and forth a lot over the 1" area of the side seams as I edge-stitched and top-stitched the casing. In the picture below you can see (to the left) the completed lower edge-stitching with the thicker backstitched area extending across my side seam and I am just completing my backstitching across the top before I continue to the other side seam.

In this pattern a seam ripper is used to open the side seam between those two heavily stitched areas. This is important: rip open only the top layer of fabric!!

Here is what the completed opening looks like. You can see that the outside edge is open and the inside is still sewed shut. Do not rip through all that heavy stitching you did.

Step Three - Inserting the Drawstrings:

Now here is the part that was so mysterious to me: inserting the drawstrings so they extend out either side and cinch the bag closed when pulled. It is very simple really. Cut two drawstrings, equal in length, twice the width of your bag plus some (that will extend beyond your bag when fully opened). You can use anything for a drawstring as long as it will fit within your casing width-wise. I decided to use some nylon cording left over from the days of stringing my son's lacrosse heads (sorry son, it was handy...).

Tip: Attach a safety pin to the end of whatever material you choose for a drawstring (the book also has a pattern for sewing your own). This makes it easier to feed the drawstring through the casing.

Insert the end of the drawstring with the safety pin into one of the slits you just cut out and feed it through the casing channel.

Continue feeding it through the channel passing the 2nd slit until you can pull it out the same slit you pushed it into.

Remove the safety pin and knot the ends securely so the string doesn't slide back in. (Funny how different lighting affects the color. The picture below makes it looks like I have made a gray bag as well as the blue denim but it is the same bag you can trust me on that!)

Attach the safety pin to your second piece of drawstring and repeat the process, however this time begin and end with the slit on the opposite side.

Here is a diagram of the threading pattern for those (like me) who find pictures and diagrams very helpful.

Ahhhh, that's how the magic happens!!! Pull the ends and ta-da!!!

Here is my drawstring laundry bag all done.

This really was a very simple project and the bag was completed in no time. I started when my husband went outside to mow and I was done by the time he came back in. He made my day when he remarked as he entered, "Wow, that really was quick!" (he doesn't usually notice these things and I am really not that fast...I hem and haw alot and try to reason things out...procrastinate...before I really get started.)

I was so encouraged with the ease of this project that I decided to put my new found skill into practice with bags of different sizes. I had some Halloween fabric and some black satin ribbon that I decided to turn into small treat bags using the same techniques but on a smaller scale.

I had some other fabric that boasted colors reminiscent of Fall so I cut that into long, skinny rectangles and sewed up a gift bag for the wine I will bring to Thanksgiving dinner. This time I made only one slit and used a wide wired ribbon for the tie.

This was a lot of fun. I suspect I am just getting revved up, after all the sewing machine is out of the cabinet and set up and there were some interesting projects I saw as I was flipping through all those books I checked out. Hmmm...

Some additional books that might be of interest:

Sew & Stow
by Betty Oppenheimer

One-Yard Wonders
by Rebecca Yaker

Sewing Bits & Pieces
by Sandi Henderson

A GREAT IDEA FROM ANOTHER BLOGGER

2011-08-02T12:11:00.000-04:00

In my last posting I wrote about summer being a great time to take on simple projects that can be quickly and easily packed up and taken anywhere to be worked on...the beach, vacation, your deck. One of my fellow bloggers seems to be on the same mind-track as me, at least in regards to thinking about projects-on-the-go. This girl is amazing and seems to write perpetually and I am in awe. Her blog is called Sew Many Ways (there is a link on the left of this page). On Tuesdays she publishes a feature called Tool Time Tuesday in which she thinks outside the box to find new uses for everyday items. My hat is always off to her for the way her mind works and the simplicity of the tutorials she provides. We know how wordy I can be!

One of her recent articles features a brilliant use for the type of fill and pour paint cups that you can find at any paint or hardware store.

It makes a great portable container for toting your craft project around and the magnet can secure your needles, pins, scissors, etc.

Because it has a handle it can be hooked over the arm rest of a chair. I love that! Off I can go to the outside world and get to know the view from my deck.

So simple. So Duh! So brilliant! Her article made me look around my house to see if I had any similar items that I could re-purpose...hmmmm.

Click here to go to her full article called Paint Craft Bucket.

I thank her for allowing me to include her photos in my blog and link to her blog Sew Many Ways. If you go to her site you will find her to be a very active blogger who is full of good ideas.

SUMMER - KEEP IT SIMPLE

2011-07-20T07:47:00.000-04:00

I am aghast at how long it has been since my last entry - time got away from me - oops!! Problem is the seasons changed and with that change, the shifting of the day to day chores. Spring and Summer have come along and with them came OUTSIDE WORK: gardens had to be uncovered, deck furniture had to be brought up (and, in some cases fixed or painted); new plants put in - old plants divided and moved - new gardens dug to put them in...; weeds pulled - more weeds pulled - where do they keep coming from?!? Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I love gardening and being outside...but it is time consuming. More to the point, the gardening leaves me with filthy fingernails and aching hands, neither of which leaves me desirous of picking up knitting needles or any needlework that typically shows every microscopic bit of oil or dirt that might cling to your hands. But now, the outside dirty work has settled down and the weather is too hot to be out there much, so I am ready to redeem myself from my negligence both in the crafting world and the writing world.

First, a crafty fix for my dirty hands - a simple recipe for GARDENER'S HAND SCRUB:

Crush a small (about 5"x1") pumice stone in a heavy-duty zip style bag, using a hammer to smash it into a fine powder. It should yield approximately 1/4 cup of pumice powder. (I used pumice stone that was already crushed. It can be found in paint stores and comes in a cardboard box. It is used in furniture refinishing for gentle sanding.)
Combine that with 1 cup grated bar soap ( I used Dove because it has moisturizer) and 1/2 cup borax (available in detergent section of grocery stores).
Mix well.
Pour into a container with a tight fitting lid.
To use, pour a small amount of hand scrub into hand, and mix with warm water to form a lather; rinse hands with warm water.

Since this scrub is for my own use, I am going to keep it in a recycled vitamin flip-top container so I can easily access it when my hands are filthy. I will have to improve the looks of the container at a later date so I don't confuse it with my real vitamins!!

I might consider adding an essential oil (available at craft stores) for some soothing aroma therapy while I'm at it, maybe lavender, bergamot or eucalyptus...

This summer-themed "recipe" was a gift-giving idea that I originally came across last winter when I was researching ideas for quick gifts to make for the holidays in Christmas with Southern Living- 2010. You never know where you might find ideas and I was glad I made note of it when I did since I certainly would not have thought to look for it there now!! (Note: I don't have a link to this title because our holiday books are currently inaccessible in storage due to the renovations at our facility, you can however call to place a hold on a copy from another library).

Okay, I am cleaned up and ready to rock!

Summer has arrived in full force. It is an active season involving outside chores, activities, and vacations, and many of us can not dedicate our time to (nor do we want to) big craft projects. During the summer I like "to-go/packable" projects: something that is small; can be quickly packed up (requires few supplies) to work on anywhere; can be easily picked up from where I left off, and conversely, simple enough to be able to stop at any time due to frequent interruptions/diversions (in other words, a no-thinker).

Some craft genres lend themselves more easily than others to "pack-ability". Obviously if you are on a driving or flying vacation you won't be doing any machine sewing on the way! Some craft genres that lend themselves to "to-go projects" are: knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, embroidery, applique, hand-sewing, crewelwork, needlepoint, and macrame.

Knitting and crochet projects, particularly the simpler patterns, require very few materials (your needles, scissors, yarn and, maybe a pattern) and can be packed up in almost any small tote.

This is one of my current packable projects that I work on intermittently. It is one half of a very simple cap-sleeved tee shirt that I am in no great hurry to finish. Very few supplies and I don't really need to refer to the pattern much at this point of the project.

I like to use my circular needles, knitting back and forth on them as I would with straight needles, because it seems to make the piece easier to pick up and put down. The whole thing just kind of rolls up. Also, when I am seated right next to other people, such as at the DMV or on a train, there is less likelihood of me sticking the person next to me with my needle.

I keep it in the paper tote and just grab it and go when I know that I am going to be knitting with friends or travelling in the car for any great distance.

Small Cross-Stitch projects are highly portable as well and can be packed into small bags.

Here is one of the kits I bought to work on sometime this summer. As you can see, not too much in the way of supplies: pattern, floss (which I have not yet sorted), fabric, scissors, needle, and the color picture of the finished piece for reference.

There are a variety of kits available or you can work on a design of your own. Many cross-stitch motif books are available with all types of designs to mix and match.

Needlepoint also requires few supplies and is a great "to-go" project. The needlepoint project in the picture below came in a kit which included a chart for reference, however, since the design is painted on the canvas you usually don't even need a chart or picture of the finished piece, just your canvas, yarn, needle and scissors.

Applique and hand sewing require only some fabric, thread or floss, needle (of course), and scissors.

Felt applique just requires some design elements, thread, needle and scissors and has the added benefit of no hemming...simple, simple!

Needlework projects pack up nicely in one of my all-time favorite product: ziploc bags. These bags keep your needlework clean and come in a number of sizes so you can match it to the size of your project (although the giant ones are not easy to find so I snatch up a couple of boxes when I see them.)

One thing to remember is that small doesn't necessarily mean that the ultimate finished piece needs to be small. Think of working on sections of what will later become larger pieces, such as appliqued quilt blocks or knitted or crocheted squares that will be assembled at a later date into quilts, afghans, pillows, and the like. The individual segments are quite portable and the variety of each keeps the project entertaining.

Also, consider working small sections of a larger piece when you are going to be away from your supplies. Just pack the colors of yarn or floss that you will need to work the smaller portion while traveling and therefore take few supplies. Working design sections bit by bit creates a small sense of accomplishment that might hold your interest until the whole piece is done. Some designs are easier to do this with than other. These two cross-stitch pieces are good examples of designs that can easily be broken down into small areas to be worked when time occurs:

Some projects that you might consider include (but are not limited in any way) to the following:

The usual small things such as hats, mittens, scarves, socks - don't just think winter materials here and turn away! Summer weight materials such as cotton, tencel, bamboo, linen can each be used to make some of these projects in a summer-perfect pattern.

My talented friend, Kathy, has made several Sun Hats that are quick, easy to work up, and beautiful as well. Here is a picture of one of them:

It looks really beautiful on her and the colors of the yarn remind me of the sea. The brim is held stiff by a length of thin wire that is attached at the end. The pattern comes from a book called Knitting in the Sun: 32 Projects for Warm Weather by Kristi Porter (click here to go to our catalogue record)

The Starfish embellishment was not part of the original pattern. The pattern for that came from a different book called 150 Knit and Crochet Motifs by Heather Lodinsky. Unfortunately it was her own personal book and none of the libraries in our consortium currently own this title.

Fortunately, however, our library has a different book that includes a knitted starfish pattern in it if you really want to knit one. It is different but just as nice. In fact it has a bunch of really cute designs in it (some of which you can see in the cover art). The book is titled 75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield. (click here to go to our catalogue record)

Continuing the list of small project ideas...

Jewelry, such as Bracelets and Necklaces - don't just think beaded here, I think beads would be a tad roly-poly on a car or plane trip! Think macrame, knit, crochet, fabric, ribbon. Friendship bracelets are a simple example.
Bookmarks
Headbands
Dish cloths
Kitchen scrubbers
Sachet bags
Needle cases
Placemats
Napkins
Coasters
Small pieces that you might frame
Pillows
Toys
Embellishments (like the Starfish pictured above) or Embroidered details to add as a finishing touch for other projects - such as handbags, barrettes, clothing, (or any of the projects above really)

This is a great time to get ahead with your holiday gift making and all of these smaller projects work well as gifts. Hmmm, I don't know about you but I think that I am properly motivated to get myself back into crafting action. I certainly do not want to go pull more weeds!!!

Some additional books that might be of interest are:

Doodle Stitching: the motif collection: 400+ easy embroidery designs
by Aimee Ray

Pretty Little Felts
by Julie Collings

Embroidery Companion
by Alicia Paulson

Knitting Block by Block
by Nicky Epstein

Knitting 24/7 - 30 Projects
by Verokik Avery

Crocheted Gifts
by Kim Werker

DON'T OVERLOOK COMPENDIUM-TYPE BOOKS!!

2011-06-03T12:20:00.001-04:00

Books that include a number of crafts (often prefaced in the title by "Encyclopedia of...", "Guide to...", "Compendium of...") are often overlooked when information about a specific craft is sought. I am here to say, "Don't" !!

Frequently, when people search for information about a particular craft they look for books that are specifically about that craft and miss books that include a variety of crafts. Generally I would agree with this tendency since, in most cases, books that attempt to cover a number of different types of crafts manage to only scratch the surface of each topic - providing only the basic beginning techniques for each. But sometimes it is too bad because some of them are quite extensive and provide a lot of information, projects, tips and patterns that you might not find somewhere else.

Point in case: research for my last post led to a nostalgic desire to explore embroidery for a little while. As I looked through our library shelves, I found some books specifically about Embroidery but I had a hard time finding as much information as I wanted. But I recently came upon one of our new books that covers a number of needlecraft techniques, including Embroidery arts, and I am impressed by the caliber and presentation of the information it provides for each technique it addresses.

The book that has caught my current attention is The Needlecraft Book (click here to go to our catalogue record.)

This book is a comprehensive step-by-step guide that covers knitting, crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint, quilting, applique' and patchwork. It contemporizes these traditional needlecrafts and related materials and would be a great reference for anyone who would like to learn a new needlecraft as well as those who would like to improve on the skills they already possess.

I shouldn't be too surprised by the thoroughness of the information provided since the book is published by DK. I have always loved the books DK publishes, no matter the subject, because they are well researched, comprehensive, and always include excellent photography. The close-up photographs in this particular book present the subject matter against a white background, mostly without the distraction of hands (meaning the close-up focuses on the stitch), which makes it very clear to the needlecrafter as to what they need to do to form each stitch.

DK has assembled three authors for this book - each with expertise in the needlecraft they write about: Sally Harding (knitting and crochet sections); Maggi Gordon (embroidery, patchwork, quilting, and applique' sections); and, Ellie Vance (needlepoint section).    The information is presented knowledgeably, clearly, and in a logical fashion.  Each author takes the reader through the skills necessary to master the technique.

The information provided for each of the needlecrafts addressed in this book includes the necessary tools and materials, technique and design recommendations, and an ample Stitch Gallery (or Block Gallery in the case of quilting and patchwork). Helpful tips, advice and information are sprinkled throughout each section as well and each stitch pattern or quilt block is accompanied by information as to how, or where, it is best put to use.  All three authors cover the basic techniques that will get any beginner up and running, and then they go above and beyond by adding a surprising amount of the more complex/advanced techniques that will enable one to advance the skills they already possess. A final chapter regarding general finishing techniques guides the needlecrafter through the steps required to hem, bind, embellish and care for their projects.

I have to say "wow!" as I flip through the pages and examine the information, the presentation of that information, the clear photographs that support the step-by-step instructions (we know I am a big fan of good photographs), and the number of techniques and tips each section covers.  This is not just for beginners! It is a great all-around go-to guide.

To test the depth of the information, and its "follow-ability," I first turned to the section on knitting (what else?!).   I have looked at a number of books on knitting for beginners and I have to say that I am impressed. This book covers a lot more territory, and will take a knitter farther, than most of them, by putting an extensive amount of instruction in one handy reference.

I even discovered a new technique to use when I wind my yarn into a ball. I always like to to wind my yarn into a ball before I begin to knit because it allows me to discover any flaws or knots in the yarns that I can deal with BEFORE I meet them mid-project or mid-row.  Also, when I knit from a ball of yarn I plop it into a bowl (to keep it from rolling all over) which allows me to keep my stitch "tension" even. In the "Beginner's Tips" section, the author describes a technique for winding a hank of yarn into a ball in such a fashion that allows the yarn to be fed from the center of the ball, thereby alleviating the tendency balls of yarn have for rolling all over the place (and would mean I could use my bowls for cereal rather than yarn which would delight my husband who wonders where all the bowls have gone...). As fate would have it, a friend recently gave me a pattern for felted slippers and some yarn that needed to be wound before I could begin, so I decided to give this method a try.

Starting with yarn from one end of the hank, I am instructed to create a yarn "butterfly." The instruction provides a cross-reference page number leading to instructions to create a yarn butterfly...and the page number is correct! (Good editing! I hate when page numbers are provided but the information is actually on another page!). Anyway, a butterfly is achieved by wrapping the yarn around your index finger and thumb in a figure-eight fashion.

I then pinch the yarn "butterfly" at its center and slip it off my fingers.

Securing the tail in my palm with the rest of my fingers, I proceed to Step Two which instructs me to continue by wrapping the yarn around the butterfly and my thumb to create a hole in the center of the ball.

I continue wrapping, and turning until I reach the other end of the yarn. I secure the tail under some of the outer strands.

Isn't it a thing of beauty? See the tail sprouting from the center hole waiting for me to get started on my slippers? (So much for my piqued interest in embroidery....)

When I prepare to knit I am instructed to pull the butterfly out of the center and begin knitting with that end. My cat is fascinated (she was never all that interested when the ball was in a bowl! hmmm.)

Lo and Behold! It works! My yarn ball stayed in place, the yarn played smoothly from the center, and I was able to maintain an even tension through my stitches.

I have never seen this technique in any other book. I asked my friend about it and she was not familiar with it either. I guess my husband can have the bowls back - our dish set is once again complete!

Oh, I finished the slippers. Here they are before I felted them:

They look very silly and I am unsure how these saggy-baggy pieces of knitwear are going to end up being wearable slippers. After I ran them through the felting process, however, I was delighted to discover they turned out exactly as they were supposed to.

I have momentarily been distracted from re-entering my pursuits of embroidering. When I am ready to revisit embroidery or needlepoint, or learn how to applique', quilt (my friend would be so excited if I started to sew), create patchwork pieces or crochet I definitely plan to check this book out. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about needlecrafting.

OTHER NEEDLECRAFT COMPENDIUMS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN (some older but containing lots of good needlecraft techniques that aren't always addressed anymore):

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts,
by Martha Stewart, Published in 2010
(click here to go to our catalogue record)

Covers basic techniques for sewing, applique', embroidery, quilting, dyeing, and printing. It was the focus of one of my first posts: A Pattern is Like a Recipe, Oct. 2010. Lots of techniques, lots of patterns and instructions. And, of course, pure Martha.

Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Needlework,
by Donna Kooler, Published in 2000
(click here to go to our catalogue record)

Covering Needlepoint, Embroidery and Counted Thread arts, it includes an extensive stitch guide for each needlecraft (over 400 stitches!) and each stitch is accompanied by a clear photograph and color diagram. A brief history of the origins for each of the techniques is also provided, which is kind of interesting.

Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework,
edited by Virgina Colton, Published in 1979
(click here to go to our catalogue record)
This is definitely an older book and the projects are somewhat dated, but stitches, instructions and most techniques don't change that much and Reader's Digest has always been good at compiling information such as this. Furthermore, it provides instruction for a number of crafts, many of which are hard to find new information about: including macrame', rug-making, and lacework.

IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE - REFELECTIONS ABOUT CREWELWORK

2011-05-10T09:16:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it's the little things in life that take you by surprise, make you pause to think, reflect and remember.

I was sitting up in bed, drinking my morning coffee when I glanced down and, for whatever reason, took particular notice of the binding on my blanket and the stitching that held it there. This is not a new blanket mind you, it has been on my bed all winter. Why I decided to focus on it this morning is beyond me but focus I did. Maybe it is because Mothers Day is this month and I have been thinking about my mother and my grandmothers. Let me explain some. This is not a regular store bought blanket. This is one half of a blanket that my grandmother (my moms mom) had cut into two because of wear and tear, and then hand-sewed the sateen binding around all four sides, neatly mitering and stitching each corner. People were more thrifty back in the day (although with today's economy more and more of us are learning new skills in an attempt to be thrifty) and my Grandmother had learned to be very thrifty during the Depression. She also had wicked great seamstress skills from years as a milliner (hat maker).

Anyway, it was the stitching in particular that caught my eye this morning. It wasn't a simple Running Stitch, Blanket Stitch, or Whip Stitch - it was more decorative, kind of cross-hatched and showed on both sides. To me it looked like a one-legged chicken had walked all around the edge.

It has been years since I have done any decorative stitching and I reflected on how long it must have taken my grandmother, and thought about the care she had put into a project for household use rather than decoration. It also reminded me of the many crewelwork, needlepoint, and embroidered projects my family has produced over the years...skills taught by and passed from both of my grandmothers and my mother, to my sister and myself. This simple piece of handiwork brought back images of sitting by my grandmother learning how to create different stitches - the Lazy Daisy, Chain, Stem, French Knot, Trellis, Woven and Whipped Wheels, and Herringbone Stitches to name just a few. I can not name them all here since there are over 100 crewel embroidery stitches (and no, I have not learned them all!)

Here is a piece I created for my Mother-in-Law back in 1983. I had forgotten about it until a recent visit...I guess it was because I was mentally formulating this article that the piece caught my eye. How opportune!

My Grandmothers taught me to always sew my initials and the date of completion in my work (it is under the pussy willow in the lower left side as you face it) - it surprised me to see I had made it nearly 30 years ago!

Closer views show many French Knots (the brown dots), lots of Satin Stitch (white pussy willow catkins and mustard flower petals), a series of areas filled with the Turkey Rug Stitch (the rust colored fuzzy mounds) which is also known as the Ghiordes knot, and flowers made up from radiating Pistil Stitches (the white and mustard colored flowers visible in the second picture below).

The shading of the pitcher is achieved with a series of Short and Long filling stitches and Block Shading. (I was not terribly fond of working them as I recall!)

I love the diversity of stitches used in Crewel Embroidery because each stitched section provides short-term goals and a sense of accomplishment which keeps the projects from being boring.

I have noticed a slow resurgence of interest in the old needlework arts such as embroidery, crewel work, and needlepoint (to name just a few.) I have seen an increase in circulation of our books on these subjects and needlework exhibits have been popping up, such as the recent exhibits on Needlework by Connecticut women at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme and the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford. Just the other day, in fact, I came home from vacation and saw in the local paper that members of the Connecticut River Valley Chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America are showcasing examples of modern embroidery throughout May at the Granby Public Library (click on the organization names for more information.)

There has not been a whole lot of new material written on these old needlework arts, however bit by bit new books are being published. I turned to one such book as I decided to explore the stitch used by my Grandmother and feed my nostalgia.

CREWELWORK by Jacqui McDonald
(click on the title to go to our catalogue record)

This is a wonderful little book by the Royal School of Needlework (or, in brief, the RSN) and is part of their new series of Essential Stitch Guides which to date will include the following three titles: Blackwork, Stumpwork, and Silk Shading (the last two have not yet been published.)

The authors of all the books in this series are Graduate Apprentices of the Royal School of Needlework and, as such, are very knowledgeable on their subject matter. The RSN was founded in 1872 to ensure high quality arts and techniques of hand embroidery would be kept alive.

People from all over the world participate in RSN courses from beginners right through those pursuing degrees for professional careers in embroidered textiles. (FYI: the RSN has worked for every British Monarch since Queen Victoria and had a hand in helping designer Sarah Burton create The Duchess of Cambridge's beautiful wedding dress!)

Let me begin by saying that this is not a project book...you will not find designs to create here. You will, however, find all the essential information necessary to design and create your own crewelwork piece. For those who are unfamiliar with crewelwork it is a "surface embroidery" technique in which stitches are applied to a fabric to create an image (rather than a mesh as with needlepoint).

In addition to its extensive stitch guide (hence the series title...) this book includes a brief history of crewel embroidery; a good section about materials and equipment; and a comprehensive design section to help you develop a design, choose colors and stitches. Each section contains great photographs and clear step-by-step instructions. The comprehensive stitch guide is divided into four types of stitches: Essential Stitches, Filling Stitches, Outline Stitches, and Surface Stitches. Each stitch is introduced by a brief description of how it appears and what it is commonly used for.

Here are some photos of a chair my father's mother made years ago using many, if not all, of the stitches described in Crewelwork.

I can not imagine how long this took her to make! It was part of an exhibit in her municipality and is one of many crewelwork items featured in an older book (1962) called The Art of Crewel Embroidery by Mildred Davis (our library doesn't own it but several of the others in our consortium do.)

Oh, and that stitch on my blanket that started this whole rumination...I think I have identified it as a Slanting Feather Stitch. But I could be wrong..... The many years and many washings have created a bit of distortion - but now I have an odd need to continue exploring and wandering down my nostalgic path.

OTHER TITLES YOU MIGHT FIND TO BE OF INTEREST:

Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840
by Susan P. Schoelwer
(click on title to go to our catalogue record)

This book was issued in connection with the recent exhibition at the Connecticut Historical Society and is a historical exploration of the subject matter with many photographed examples.

Crewel Embroidery
by Erica Wilson
(we own this title but not possible to link to our catalogue record)

Published in 1962 it is an old, but classically good, book by an author who is well-known to embroiderers. Erica Wilson was trained by the Royal School of Needlework.

Blackwork
by Becky Hogg
(recently published, our library does not yet own a copy)

The second book in the Royal School of Needlework's Essential Stitch Guide series. I haven't seen it yet, but look forward to exploring it since I am completely unfamiliar with Blackwork.

NEEDLE-FELTING FUN

2011-04-19T11:13:00.001-04:00

One of the nice (yet oddly complicating) things about doing this blog is that it forces me to try crafts that I have thought about doing someday and then never remember to get back to it, or am not yet ready to put down my favorite craft to give a new one a whirl. But hey! If I can't do it how am I supposed to expose you to it? I have been comfortably writing about knitting (yay, knitting!!) for a while now and even I recognized the need for a bit of a change-up before this became The Knitting Librarian (hmmm....uh oh, focus...!) After all, one goal of this blog is to explore the possibilities of inspiration located in the sewing and craft sections of the library with high hopes of enticing the browser to try something out. This time it worked on me!

I knew I needed to step away from becoming the Knitting-Only Crafty Librarian but I wasn't sure what to do next. Guess where I went? Yup, the craft shelves in the library. Almost immediately my hand settled upon a book by an author, Laurie Sharp, whose first book, I recalled had elicited innumerable "ooohs" and "aaahhhs" from any one who saw it, including myself. Literally. And so, here I am holding two books by the same author, Laurie Sharp, on the subject of needle-felting.

Needle-felting is a fiber art technique in which a very sharp, barbed needle is stuck repeatedly into dry wool fibers thereby encouraging them to mesh together. The more "needling" the fiber artist applies, the more compact, or dense the item becomes. Other than the needle, the only other supplies you need to needle-felt are a piece of foam at least 2" thick and some wool batting or "roving" (which is batting that has been processed into a sheet of fibers.) The foam is used as a surface to absorb the stab of the needle - which is much better than destroying your table or body parts!

I read and used Ms. Sharp's two books in reverse publication order, so I am going to review them in reverse order as well and start with the newest of the two - Wool Toys & Friends by Laurie Sharp.

As the title suggests, the book provides step-by-step instructions for handmade wool toys. Most are simple needle-felted sculptural pieces such as a pop-up prairie dog puppet, a hedgehog, an elephant pull toy, a tiny teddy bear, and the sock monkey shown on the cover. But a few projects involve a simple "wet-felting" technique that creates a felt fabric which is then used as a base for those projects, such as her star shaped
beanbags or, her finger puppet "pocket pals" that go inside a felted child's storybook. Since I have never needle-felted before, I chose to focus on the projects that would allow me to explore that technique rather than the wet-felting ones. Each step is accompanied by a photograph which gave me a sense of confidence.

After glancing through the lists and descriptions of the materials, supplies and techniques I purchased the very basics and launched right in.

This is the needle I purchased, if you look very closely you can see the barbs notched in it.

I flipped through the book and selected the cute Pixie character to start with. After all, folding pipe cleaners for an armature, rolling wool, and jabbing a needle into fluff sounds like great therapy to me. How hard can this be anyway?

Well, I can't believe how long I fumbled around with Step One - bending the pipe cleaner into the armature. For one thing, I read it too fast and made assumptions (because it was so easy); for another because I mistranslated the direction (again, it was too simple!) I literally said "duh!" when I finally latched on to the simplest of steps. Needless to say, when something directs you to "fold the larger piece over and around the arm piece, going through the legs," it means: wrap the "head" end of the body piece over over the arm piece and through the legs to secure the arm piece in place. I was busily trying to wrap one side of the arm across the body, around the other side and through the legs. Bit of a mess and not a good start. Oh well. Some Crafty Librarian I am... I decided to actually read the steps instead of trying to second guess them based on the pictures.

Step Two: Roll a 5"x2" piece of wool into a ball. Well, the photo shows a completed rolled ball but I am at a loss as to how thick or thin this initial 5"x2" piece should be...a picture of that would be helpful! Some amount of experimentation is required. The wool sheet I initially laid out is about 12" long so I tore a 2" wide section off, folded it in half length-wise, and pushed it into a 5" length. Then I started rolling. After fumbling around a bit timidly I decided to check the Techniques section to see if there was any guidance. Come on, really?! On rolling wool into a ball!? But yes, the Basic Techniques section had information, again one picture or two shy of being completely helpful but I worked at it some more. (To be honest, I think I was trying to delay using the Really Sharp Barbed Needle.)

Once I got brave enough (and frustrated enough) to poke at the "ball-shaped" wool with the Really Sharp Barbed Needle though, darned if it didn't start holding together. In the end, I had exactly what the book said I needed. Huh! Hint: just don't over think this stuff. It is as simple as it looks, it is not rocket science.

Steps Three and Four: Use large needle to poke hole in base of head. (Simple.) Then place dab of glue (quick check to list of supplies in front of book - yup- suggests best type of glue to use) on head end of pipe cleaner and twist head onto it. Yay!

Step Five: Thin wisps of wool are wrapped around tips of armature to form hands (how much is a wisp?). Somehow the first hand comes out great, but I struggled and redid the second hand several times. Go figure. Ultimately the form has two hands (although the second is a bit clubbed..) Oh well, I remind myself that crafting is a very individual process of creativity and move on.

Steps Six through Ten involve wrapping and needling the body, arms, feet and legs. Note: The needling action caused wee bits of loosened wool fibers to cover my table. Just be aware of that if you have allergies. Hmmm...the tiny, lighter colored typeface at the bottom of the page instructs one to "try to wrap firmly and evenly. Avoid loose wrapping." Wish I had read ahead and seen that "hint." It might have have with the bulbous hands and loose body.

Steps Eleven and Twelve are all about the Pixie's hat. I needled some wool into a fat triangle, then folded and needled the seam together, placed it on the head and needled it to attach.

Step Thirteen: Needle a few wisps of hair tucked under the hat (still am not sure how much a wisp is but I like the lyrical feel of the word "wisp.")

Steps Fourteen through Sixteen involve creating the facial features. Usually the face of a character can make or break an entire piece. I was not terribly confident that I could produce as "cute" a pixie as the author but I plunged ahead...the pictures make it look very easy. The nose is tricky business - my first attempt involved jabbing it through the center a gazillion times and produced a flat pock-marked disk. I removed it, formed a smaller ball and found that jabbing it around the edges formed it much better. This takes a little practice.

The author never mentions ears in her instructions but her completed pixie definitely has ears. I later observe that this proves to be a common issue with her creations - elements that show in her finished creations are not referred to in her written instructions. Once again, I am reminded that creativity is a personal process and I decided to wing it based on what I have learned.

All done! I turned her into a knitting pixie, of course. And yes, those are toothpicks I used for knitting needles. And yes, I knit the teeny tiny thing for her. And yes, I probably have a knitting problem and need to join knitters anonymous!

About the time I finished the Pixie, our Children's Department staff changed the tree display in our stairwell - adding cherry blossoms to the branches to honor the people of Japan in their troubled times. (You may recall the tree, decked out for winter, in one of my earlier posts: Some More Holiday Decorations.)

I decided to add to the honor by making the Japanese Doll project from the book before I moved on to the cute critters in her original book. The techniques were similar to the Pixie with the exception of the pipe-cleaner armature. This figure has no such armature in it.

I do everything backwards, so having given my due diligence to the projects in her second book I finally open Laurie Sharp's first book (the one with the cover art that had everyone purring).

WOOL PETS by Laurie Sharp

Isn't the cover art adorable? Reading through this book made me very aware that Wool Toys & Friends was a follow-up book. Right away I discover that this book has information that would have been great had it been repeated in her second book (and I hope, any books she might come out with later.) Most importantly it included the instructions for the basic techniques of needling, rolling the shapes, and making flat pieces (like my Pixie's ears and hat.) However, the quality of the photographs and the variety of the projects are just as good as her other book.

Wool Pets has instructions for 20 needle-felted critters that can be used as toys, magnets, even jewelry - simply by adding the appropriate hardware. In addition to the penguins shown on the cover (and the critters I made and will show you), there are instructions for a variety of creatures including, for example, a turtle, chipmunk, border collie, bat, mermaid, and a gnome girl. After lots of needle jabbing here is the collection of critters I created:

A sweet little chicky - just right for an Easter basket!

My little sheep with his happy face has elicited his own "ooohs" and "ahhhs" from visitors which is a very satisfying thing for a crafter to hear.

A couple of insects later and I feel comfortable enough with this craft to call it a day. I used tiny pins for the eyes instead of trying to sew seed beads on and I didn't put any antennae on but I like them well enough(again, while the author did not refer to that addition her finished product did have a set!)

All in all I am very happy with the characters I have created. While not exactly the same as the authors pieces they have their own level of cuteness and my friends and family have all been impressed. What more can I say, other than: give needle-felting a try - it doesn't require a whole lot of space or supplies and there is no limit to what you can create. Here's the whole gang from both books.

While I initially thought that the repeated stabbing of the needle into the tiny bits of fluff would be somewhat somewhat therapeutic, I am now very weary of the action. A firm structure requires a fair amount of needling and in the end, cute as they are, I decide not to make any more right now. There are tools that I did not buy that might have made the process quicker such as a handle with multiple needles affixed. If you decide this craft is for you, then you might want to invest in such a device!

You might also be interested in:

Sweet Needle Felts by Jenn Docherty.

Naturally, I looked at this one after I finished my pieces and it seems provide some very good instruction and pictures of the steps which I missed in the two books by Laurie Sharp. The projects in this book are very cute also.

KNITTING FOR CHARITY - PART 2: PRAYER SHAWLS

2011-03-23T14:50:00.000-04:00

I pick up my needles and I prepare to knit. The yarn is soft, the color is soothing, the pattern is easy to work. Knitting quietly, alone or among my friends, I let the peace, the quiet, the calm settle into my stitches. I think about the comfort the recipient will feel as they wrap themselves in the hug I am knitting. Maybe I'll know them, probably I won't. It is not about the who, it is about the unconditional gift of comfort and care to someone who is probably facing hard times. And the process of making it is a gift of peace I give to myself. Stitch by stitch, thought by thought, row by row, a Prayer Shawl is created.

In my last Post I discussed the idea of knitting for charity, any charity, and presented two books that described a wide variety of opportunities for those in need of some comfort such as soldiers, refugees, premature babies, adults and children who have become sick or who have been traumatized in some way...even organizations that collect items for animals in shelters. Listed in both books was a charity that is dear to me - The Prayer Shawl Ministry . The Ministry was formed in 1998 by two Connecticut women who took a class together in women's spirituality at the Hartford Seminary's Women's Leadership Institute: Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo. They developed the idea of knitting shawls as a way to provide a little peace and comfort to others who might be suffering a hardship--no specifics--just someone who could use some uplifting and comfort and the knowledge that they are not alone. Prayerful thoughts and blessings knit into each make it a Prayer Shawl. The desire to bring comfort and peace to others must be pretty strong because what started as a grass-roots movement with one shawl here in Connecticut has grown by leaps and bounds with groups working on them internationally by the thousands.

Prayer Shawls (as known as "Peace" or "Comfort" Shawls) are what drew my interest back to knitting after many years of exploring other crafts. It happened when one of my colleagues was busy working on Prayer Shawls for her church. She was not able to put the fringe on and would bring them in to work for another colleague to attach the fringe pieces she had cut and ready for attaching. These shawls were so pretty and so soft - I would eyeball them every time she brought one in. My life at the time was in upheaval and the thought of quietly knitting (knitters always look so content!), combined with the fact that I might be able to craft something that would bring joy and comfort to another when I was having difficulty finding it for myself was appealing. I told my colleague that I might be interested in making one but that I hadn't knitted in years (...years). Lo and behold and never a fool, the next day she brought me a pair of needles and a skein of beautifully colored, incredibly soft, yarn. "Here," she said "cast on 60 stitches and knit three, purl three. It is easy." Uh oh, I thought, but inside I was excited. The rest is history. I haven't stopped knitting since!

The shawls I usually knit use a simple "knit 3, purl 3" repeat over 57 stitches which creates a modified seed stitch pattern. I like the rippled effect.

This shawl is still being worked on, but here is how the pattern looks bigger.

The pattern that the group my friend knits for uses the same "knit 3, purl 3" repeat, but over 60 stitches which creates a ribbed pattern.

My sister used that pattern to make this shawl when I taught her to knit.

Most of the shawls I have seen are made with Lion Brand's Homespun Yarn which is very soft and comes in lovely colors (although I have found that it has a tendency to split which makes it a little tricky for beginners to use.) But any yarn and any pattern can be used and most community groups will gratefully accept any shawl contributed to their Prayer Shawl collection. There is never a shortage of those who could benefit from receiving one.

Having only seen the shawl patterns described above, I was amazed by the number of different patterns and project styles available in the books I discovered while researching for this blog. One book that I came across that I particularly liked was compiled by the The Prayer Shawl Ministry co-founders:

THE PRAYER SHAWL COMPANION

by Janet Bristow & Victoria A. Cole-Galo

The authors preface their book with the story of how the Ministry came to be and the creation of the first Prayer Shawl. The book is offered as a piece of inspiration for those interested in knitting Prayer Shawls. As such, a number of stories from those who have created shawls, as well as some from those who have received them, are sprinkled throughout as are a number of blessings and reflective prayers for those who would like to work them into their knitting. Helpful guidelines are provided for interested community groups as to the proper way to craft, bless, package and deliver Prayer Shawls and an appendix addresses how to start a Prayer Shawl Ministry group in your community.

The information in one of the Appendices came as a bit of a surprise for me - a Color and Symbology chart. I can't remember seeing this in any other knitting book. This neat little chart was included to help the knitter make their own design choices based on the meaning of a color, a number, or the addition of certain shapes or symbols. For example, by choosing to use the color Aqua, according to the chart you are sending messages of courage, balance, harmony and stability. I have always thought of Black as a foreboding color, but according to this chart it symbolizes self-confidence, strength, mature wisdom, harmony, and absorbs negativity. Huh! The symbolism can be through the choice of yarn colors, or any embellishments that might be added, such as the color or number of beads or tassels used.

The Prayer Shawl Companion provides 38 patterns from the contributions of a number of different designers, including some who are well known to knitters such as Kaffe Fassett and Nicky Epstein. All the patterns are clearly written and accompanied by good photographs of the finished piece. Each designer introduces their pattern with a brief description of what it means to them and why they chose that particular stitch or design. What surprised me was the variety of patterns and styles. Most are shawls but there are also patterns for neck-warmers, baptism blankets, lap blankets, a tallis, even a wedding capelet. What unifies the projects is the joy and comfort they are meant to bring to the recipient.

I have several acquaintances who have undergone a mastectomy so I was particularly surprised by and drawn to a pattern in the book called the "Heart Warmer," by designer Wren Ross. This is a shrug-type piece that wraps the shoulders and upper body of the person wearing it in a comforting knit embrace. I didn't have the yarn used by the designer but I did have some pink Homespun so I gave it a try. After casting on and knitting a few rows, the pattern calls for increases at the beginning and end of each row and working in a seed stitch until a certain length is reached. A few rows of garter stitch completes the top edge. This creates an elongated triangle.

Once the triangle is complete, the ends are folded over and tacked in place. The addition of a button under the v-neck is a finishing touch that completes the piece.

The authors have also published a similar book for those who are interested in making prayer shawls but prefer to crochet:

THE CROCHETED PRAYER SHAWL COMPANION

by Janet Bristow & Victoria A. Cole-Galo

According to the Shawl Ministy website, the authors are currently working on collecting designs for their next book. Their website has further shawl information and stories, clicking here will link you to their site.

The act of knitting has been found to be a great stress reliever - if you knit or crochet (or think you might like to learn) why not give a Prayer Shawl a try? You and the recipient will both benefit!

KNITTING FOR CHARITY - PART 1

2011-03-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Before I start I would like to qualify this entire article by including crafters of many types - while I am discussing "knitting" or "knitters" specifically, I do not mean to exclude those who crochet, sew or quilt as I have seen similar charitable efforts from them. Much of what I claim about knitters is equaled by crafters with those areas of expertise. I hope one day to be able to address some of their contributions as well.

When I decided to address knitting for charitable purposes I thought it would be a simple article. It has not been simple at all - hence the great delay between my posts, for which I apologize. I started out thinking that I would describe a few projects or charities but I kept discovering more charities, more projects, more aspects, attitudes, and craft types than I could ever hope to address adequately in one article. I have stopped and started this posting more times than I can say. But I realized that if I wanted to say anything I just needed to forge ahead...so here I am, forging!

Knitting for charitable purposes: ie. knitting an item for a recipient, known or unknown, that will bring them comfort, maybe some peace, and the knowledge that someone out there cares about them and that they are not alone.

In addition to knitting items for themselves most of the knitters I know like to knit items for other people and will have at least one project designated for a charity. Some are drawn into knitting for a particular charity because someone they know, or a community group they belong to, is already involved with it; some are drawn by a cause that is near and dear to them for personal reasons; some just want to knit for the love of knitting and will search out a cause to knit for. Most of the local yarn stores support a cause - they provide patterns and collect items from their patrons throughout the year which they deliver en masse.

There are so many charities that you could contribute your skills to that it would be difficult to list them all adequately. But I don't have to!

In my research for this blog I came across two books on the subject that I found to be good compilations of charity opportunities: Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen, and Knit Along with Debbie Macomber - A Charity Guide for Knitters by Debbie Macomber. Both address a diverse cross-section of organizations with concerns for soldiers, refugees, adults and children (from preemie to 18) who are sick or have been traumatized, even organizations whose concerns are animals in shelters. The organizations in both books cover local, national and international needs and include websites and contact information for each of the organizations listed.

KNITTING FOR PEACE - Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time

by Betty Christiansen

Betty Christiansen has put an awful lot of research into a wide variety of charity organizations and her passion for the topic shines throughout her book which I found to be highly inspirational. As is obvious from the title and subtitle of her book, the emphasis is on the organizations, the people that created them, and how a person can help them. The book also includes 15 patterns that would be appropriate for some of the charities she describes. A final section provides information and websites that enable the reader to get started by finding concerns within their own community.

KNIT ALONG WITH DEBBIE MACOMBER - A CHARITY GUIDE FOR KNITTERS

by Debbie Macomber

Debbie Macomber is a beloved author who is well known in the knitting community...which has its benefits and ability to attract readers. She is a big supporter of knitting for charity. Ms. Macomber's book features 14 charities and 18 projects as well as a section regarding techniques and sources similar to the other books in her Knit Along series. The patterns are well written, easy to follow, and are accompanied by good photographs of the finished piece. It presents slightly differently than Knitting for Peace in that it reads more like a book of patterns which, by the way, would be appropriate for these charities but it is just as full of heart and inspiration.

I think that if a person were browsing the shelves, Debbie Macomber's book would initially appeal to different people than Betty Christiansen's book. I am a fan of both books because their different approaches/appeal means they might reach a wider number of knitters thereby inspiring a greater number of people who might end up making a difference in our world. Pretty cool. Both authors have culled the wide world of possible opportunities cutting through the process of endless online searching to present a manageable list of causes. This provides the knitter who might be looking for a charity with a quick and easy way to find a way to make a difference.

Unfortunately, our library doesn't currently own either title but you can call our Reference Desk at 860-673-9712 or go to our online catalogue to place a hold (click on library link on left of page). We can borrow it from another library in our consortium and have it here for you shortly.

I am no different than my fellow knitters in that I like to have a project designated for charity on my needles at any given time. I am currently working on scarves for a friend's community group (Prince Thomas of Savoy Women's Auxiliary) who are creating scarves for the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative Race taking place this Spring. Each year her group votes on the pattern(s) they will create. This year they chose two patterns: a Spiral Scarf and a Scarf with Bobble Ribbon. My friend provided me with the patterns and two skeins of their chosen yarn...but no pictures. I started with the Spiral Scarf because it seemed interesting and was different from anything I have made in the past. I must admit though, after a few rows I was a little concerned about whether I was producing much of anything:

Doesn't look like much does it? After a little ways I began to recognize the "spiral" and felt better.

Sometimes you just need a little faith. Here is how it looks completed.

On to their second pattern, the Scarf with Bobble Ribbon. Again, without a picture I was a little confused by what I was going to produce and I must have been a little dopey as well because I wasn't understanding the "ribbon" of bobbles until I confessed to my friend my problem with interpreting the pattern. I experienced one of those forehead hitting "duh" moments as she drew out the breast cancer ribbon that the bobbles would form once it was knit. I have gotten this far with this second pattern so far:

Need more reasons to knit for a charity?

Did you know that knitting has been found to be a great reliever of stress? Many knitters will tell you that knitting is like therapy - while their hands are busy in one direction, their minds are freed up to think about other things. When I knit I think about the person or the cause that I am creating the piece for. Sometimes I just reflect on what is going on in my own life - it is my quiet, reflective escape time. I have heard this is true for other knitters as well.

Knitting projects for a charity can be even more therapeutic. The action of knitting is good for the knitter and the finished piece might make a difference to a someone in need, bringing them a little comfort.

Additionally, patterns that are designated for charity projects are often more simple and easy to follow because knitters of all skill levels need to be able to follow them. This makes them excellent starter projects for beginners - whether they knit them for charity or themselves! Also, because they tend to be small, these projects are an excellent way to use up materials left over from other projects. Kind of a good deal all around don't you agree?

If you have never knit for a charity, I invite you to explore the possibilities and give it a try. Obviously, one or both of these books would be a good start. I have also added a Charity Links section on the left side of this page that will connect you to lists of charities compiled by other groups. To surf the web on your own is as simple as entering something such as "knitting for charity," or "charity knitting" into your preferred Internet search engine. You could also make inquiries at your local yarn store, your religious organization if you are affiliated with one, hospitals, shelters, or nursing homes.

Very shortly (I promise!) I will publish KNITTING FOR CHARITY - PART 2 which will address the charity that got me back into knitting after a long departure: Prayer Shawls. Check back soon!

Any comments on knitting for charity? I would love to hear them, please feel free to click below on "Comments - Enter Yours Here" to enter one.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

2011-02-08T17:23:00.011-05:00

Valentine's Day is almost here and the Hallmark ads are coming fast and furious! While I was looking through a variety of materials for my upcoming article on Charitable knitting I came upon a project that I thought would be ideal for Valentines Day. It is one of 12 designs included in one of Debbie Macomber's "Knit Along with..." series: Knit Along with Debbie Macomber - Back on Blossom Street.

Debbie Macomber is the author of the popular Blossom Street fiction series that you may or may not already be familiar with. Her stories often include knitters (she herself is an avid knitter) and projects which she has followed up with a series of books of patterns inspired by her stories. Tidbits about the characters in her fiction stories are sprinkled throughout her "Knit Along with..." pattern books which makes it kind of fun. The Project book patterns are well written and the supportive instructional diagrams are good. In addition to the project I chose, there are patterns for throws, shawls and some baby items.

The project that caught my eye is named "You're Invited" and it is an edging embellishment designed to affix to a Wedding Invitation. With a very minor change (color of ribbon woven through it and, of course, the card) I think the project would be ideal for either a Wedding Invitation or Valentine's Day since the two events are closely related, and it sports a heart motif.

With Valentines Day drawing near, I got out my tiniest of needles and my teeny tiny thread (can't even call it yarn!) and set to work.

Here is a photo of the tiny size #1 needle required for this project. I put it next to a pencil so those of you who are not knitters can have a relative idea of how small it is. Kind of like knitting with toothpicks!

I started out using my circular needle, knitting back and forth on it as I would with straight ones, because it was the only size #1 needle I owned. However, the cable kept getting tangled with the thread (there is not much weight to hold the piece down) so I ended up borrowing some straight needles from my friend after this photo was taken.

There are two rules to remember when working on this piece...

First Rule: wash hands. I found that having absolutely clean hands was important because any oil or dirt will transfer to the piece you are working on and this is a white item (there's no hiding dirt in a white item)! Of course, the item in the book was crafted with Ecru colored thread and I chose to use White, none-the-less, washing is important. This proved to be tricky because with our cold weather my hands are very dry. Invariably I put moisturizer on just before I sat down to work and when I leaned forward to resume my knitting I realized what I had done and repeatedly needed to delay my start.

Second Rule: don't consume vast amounts coffee prior to working with teeny tiny needles and teeny tiny thread. That's all I have to say about that!

Here is how it looked after the first full set of row repeats. You can see the heart on the right side.

Although this is lacework, the smallness of this piece meant it was a relatively quick project to work up. Also, even though the pattern incorporates a number of slipped stitches and yarn-overs, it was fairly easy to follow. This is due, in part, to the fact that there weren't any "repeats" of the motif in which to lose my place, but it is also because every row (wrong sides as well as right sides) is written out which I find makes it simpler to follow than a pattern that instructs the knitter to do such and such on every wrong side row. You may remember from one of my prior posts, that I use a copy holder to hold my pattern instructions near eye level, sliding the clear bar down the instructions row by row as I proceed. It is easier for me to remember where I am when every row is written out. I am less likely to lose my place when the phone rings, for example, or when I realize that, once again, I have spent too much time knitting and not enough time getting ready for work! Here is what I am looking at when I am working on lacework pieces:

This brings another helpful hint to mind...when you are working on lace, many books and experts advise the knitter to thread a "lifeline" through the stitches on your needle now and then. A lifeline is a yarn of contrasting color that holds those stitches as they were on the needle when you knit them - if you make a mistake farther along that requires you to "rip back" (take out) your stitching, this lifeline provides a row to "rip back" to. It is a safety net. I didn't do this on this piece because it was so small and shortly after I took that first photo, I began to daydream and made a mistake. I ended up ripping it all out and starting over. Not much of a problem with a small piece - real annoying with a big project!

Eventually, dry handed and caffeine deprived, I finished the embellishment.

I wove a pink satin ribbon through the left edge stitches (it doesn't show up too well in the picture, sorry) and affixed it to the card I made.

Since the project was initially designed for use on a Wedding Invitation I decided to work one up so you could see that as well. I wove a white satin ribbon through that one.

Here is a close up of the weaving since it is so hard to see.

Once the event the embellishment was made for has passed I think it could have a nice life living on as a bookmark. It is the perfect size for a bookmark, especially if the border were to be replicated on the right hand side so the motif were framed (which, with a bigger yarn might also make a nice scarf...stop me!):

It also might be interesting to search through some stitch guides for other motifs that could be used in a similar manner for other occasions...I'm thinking of teddy bears or rattles for a Baby Announcement or Shower, fir trees or holly leaves for a Christmas card. I could go on but I think you understand my train of thought!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!

WHAT'S ON MY NEEDLES? - JANUARY 2011

2011-01-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

Apparently I never really answered the question that prompted my last article, "Returning to my Comfort Zone - Knitting" and, apparently the question still begs an answer since it has been pointed out repeatedly that I did not and there are those who would like to see! Well, other than the cowl and coffee cup sleeve that I produced for that article I have several UFO's (UnFinished Objects in knitter speak) in varying stages of progress and several Finished Objects which I can share now that the holidays have passed.

I'll show you the UFO's first. I started several of these projects simply to keep newly possessed yarn from sitting in my stash, figuring that if I saw the projects in progress I would continue with them before buying more yarn...nice try anyway. Several pieces have been set aside because they are "seasonal" to me - projects geared to the Spring or Summer.

I am making an alpaca lace, cap-sleeved vest from a very fine lace-weight alpaca yarn that was given to me by a very good friend who knows me well (...mmm, alpaca). The light blue color is beautiful, the yarn is very soft, and I decided that the snowflake lace pattern would suit it well. The Vintage Vest pattern is a free one from Valley Yarns that I have been wanting to make but didn't have the appropriate yarn (thank you, thank you really good friend).

The stitch pattern has lots of yarnovers and slipped stitches so it is to be worked on when I'm alone and with no distractions. I like to have one lacework piece available for those quiet moments. You can tell from my lack of progress that I have not had too many of those for a while!

The next photo shows what will eventually be a very basic cotton tee that is worked purely in garter stitch with very little shaping. - the variegated yarn supplies much of the interest. I bought The Garter Stitch Topper pattern by Plymouth Yarns when I saw the top in its completed state at my local yarn store. I thought it would be an easy project to knit in a social setting. I like to have a very simple, no thought project to work on when knitting with friends. I can converse and knit with a project like this!

Next up - a cotton lace Cabled Vest that is practically done. The Tahki Yarns pattern is one I bought several years ago but I didn't like the yarn they used so it sat, collecting dust in my pattern collection until I recently found a compatible yarn locally. I was excited to get this vest going! The pieces are complete and have been blocked. It is just waiting for me to be compelled by the promises of Spring to sew it together and add the collar and buttons.

This was a fun item to work on although I had some problems with a bit of "vagueness" in the pattern instructions that I purchased. Here is a closer view of one of the front pieces.

(The color in this photo came out better also.)

Currently I am working on what will be a pair of fingerless convertible gloves at the request of my younger son. I have been working on the design details feverishly. Each will have a mitten-style flap attached to flip over the open fingers. He is a photographer and needs to have his fingertips available for camera adjustments. The photograph shows the prototype that I am working up. I have finished one finger so far.

I call this a prototype because I am making up the pattern as I go, based on my yarn, my gauge, and my son's preferences. I already know that I want to use a smaller needle for the cuff...maybe the body as well so I can produce a denser fabric. The white strings you see are holding stitches yet to be worked into the rest of the fingers and the thumbs.

I also have two unfinished charity projects on my needles, I work on them intermittently between other projects and I will show those to you in a future article which will focus on knitting for charities.

Now that I have re-entered my comfort zone of knitting I seem to be blasting through small project and am full of ideas for more projects. I know I will have to switch gears soon and start roaming the library shelves for other craft books to review and techniques to share but for now, I am having so much fun with my knitting!

Here are some of the projects I recently finished and gave away as gifts:

I knit and felted (purposely shrinking a wool item to create a thick, durable felt product) a zippered case for my friend (the one that gave me the yummy lace-weight alpaca yarn) to store her circular needles in.

When an item is felted it loses more length than it does width...I'm never really sure what I will end up with! My photo shows the completed length to be 7" and the width to be about 12". Prior to felting the piece measured 11" x 11".

I used the same pattern, but casted on 10 fewer stitches, to create a small clutch for my sister. I was amazed at the difference in the striping of the variegated yarn with just 10 fewer stitches! You never really can tell with variegated yarn how it will stripe.

Here it is before felting (note the difference in the pattern from the previous case):

And how it looked after felting:

Staying with the 10 fewer stitches, but using different yarn I made a case for my older son's girlfriend. I inserted (and attached with a whip stitch) a small plastic zippered cosmetic case so she could keep some make-up inside if she desired.

It turned out well in the long run but the black yarn I used was not wool as I had thought so it didn't "felt". (FYI: Wool fibers have microscopic scales on them that "mesh" when agitated which is how they "felt", and non-wool fibers are smooth so they can not "mesh" together.) You can see the difference between the black stitches and the red. Originally I had a black band along the top that matched the bottom band. I actually liked the loose bottom band but not the top one because it made it too big for the plastic case I was inserting and it was too loose. To reinvent the piece I cut that off and pulled the pieces out of the felted red fabric which left tiny holes:

I then single crocheted some frizzy black yarn I had in my "stash" using the holes as a guide and it turned out better than my original idea!

I also knit my son's girlfriend a Neck Cozy - a collared style neck wrap (for lack of a better term), that she could wear under her coat and not be bothered by a long scarf. The pattern is one I made up but it is essentially a rectangle that I folded to create a collar and added a button at the top so she could snug it as tightly or as loosely as she desires.

And lastly, I knit a couple of hats because you can't make it through the winter without knitting a hat for someone!

I told you that I was on a tear!

RETURNING TO MY COMFORT ZONE - KNITTING

2011-01-13T12:17:00.001-05:00

Everyone who works at the library, and many of our patrons as well, know that my favorite craft for the past few years has been knitting and many have been asking me what is on my knitting needles these days. When reflecting on my answer, I was surprised to realize that my focus has been on finding craft books to review for this blog (and crafting some items from them) and that my own craft projects have been languishing. Egads!! In fact, even though I was blogging about crafting holiday ornaments and decor, Christmas snuck up out of nowhere. (Go figure!!) It seemed like Christmas was weeks away and then BOOM!, no time left for all the projects that were on my needles, or planned in my head to give as gifts, or even to recommend to you in my blog (next year....). Oh well. At this point I did what every good little (blogging) knitter does - I looked through our library shelves for anything that might provide ideas for gifts to knit quickly and came up with plenty! Uh oh, I might need more needles...

One book in particular caught my eye. It was on our cart of New Books that were waiting to be shelved so it was front and center, the cover showed a fun and playful take on an old project and, the title...well, you will know by its title why I was drawn to it:

MORE LAST-MINUTE KNITTED GIFTS by Joelle Hoeverson

This book provides a variety of ideas all of which are divided into sections by time required to complete the projects - less than 2-hours; 2-4 hours; 4-6 hours; 6-8 hours; more than 8 hours. I kind of like this method of organizing the patterns because it is time-saving in and of itself allowing me to jump to a very quick project or one that might take longer. While the projects include the expected last-minute ideas such as hats, mittens, fingerless gloves, scarves and socks their designs seem a little more creative than the usual simple ones. The author also includes many unexpected ideas such as bookmarks, coffee cup sleeves, coasters, slippers, baskets, and ornaments. Some of the more time-involved projects such as the cardigans are simplified by their design elements. The Baby Cardigan, for example, is knit in one piece which eliminates the need to sew multiple seams at the end - a real time-saver in my world! The lady's Cardigan is also knit in one piece and has a simple, yet elegant yoke (although it is knit using a fingering weight yarn and would definitely take more than 8 hours!)

I would like to try many of the projects (if only I had more time) but in the hope of actually completing this article I have limited myself to two that I thought I could work up quickly and for which I had recipients in mind.

The first project I chose comes from the "less than 2-hours" section and is an item that one of my friends would certainly appreciate: the "Reusable Hot Coffee-cup Sleeve." This is an eco-friendly project in that it is reusable and uses 100% wool yarn (which is a renewable source). I like that! It is also much more comfy on the hand than those cardboard sleeves that are usually placed on the cups. I substituted the yarn suggested with an equivalent 100% wool yarn that I already had. Since the project doesn't require much yarn, it is also a good way to use up yarn left over from other projects. The Coffee-cup Sleeve did indeed reach completion in less than 2 hours and while I am not terribly fond of working with double-pointed needles I am ready to make a lot more of these for all my coffee-drinking buddies if they would like one.

The second piece I decided to work up is an accessory that is currently in fashion: a cowl. A knitted cowl, for those who might not be familiar with the term is essentially a loosely draped neck warmer. I have seen them in fashion magazines and catalogues all over the place this year - some very loose and "slouchy", some like a scarf that is joined at the end, and others that are more fitted. The author provides patterns for three elegant "Soft as a Cloud Cowls" which vary from each other by simple stitch pattern options. The pattern for each is pretty easy to master and remember which is also a time-saver. Each cowl project uses less than one hank of the yarn specified...which, happens to be a fairly pricey cashmere yarn, (lushishly soft I am sure but one I don't dare go near). Fortunately, I had yarn in my "stash" (all crafters have a stash, trust me) that I could substitute - an Alpaca yarn, almost as soft as cashmere but not nearly as pricey. I selected the simplest of the three pattern variations - simple in that it is a 5-stitch repeat and 4-row pattern which made it very quick to remember and I didn't have to keep marking my place or get "lost" in the pattern.

Note: It is easy to lose your place as you look back and forth from the pattern to your knitting which wastes a lot of time. When working a more complicated pattern I solve this by using a Copy Holder (typically used for holding documents upright so you can refer to it when you type it up) purchased from my local office supply store. I keep the Copy Holder next to me while I knit and I slide the clear bar down my pattern as I complete each row.

"Ahhhhh..." Soon after I casted on and worked several rows I felt the comfort of working with a favorite craft and enjoyment of the soft Alpaca yarn as it fed through my fingers!! This is going to feel so soft and cuddly on the neck of the young lady I am making it for. I am so excited, I love making gifts for friends. Whenever I work on a gift, I think of the person that I am making it for, focusing on all that makes them special and it makes me happy. While I have never thought of it this way before, I guess that the making of a gift is like a gift to myself.

I like this stitch pattern especially because those five stitches and four rows create what looks like a complex cable and lace piece which, in fact, is achieved by an easy slip-stitch decrease in one row followed by a yarn over increase in the next. No cable needle needed, another big time-saver!

I will admit that this did take me a while to finish. It required a fine yarn which always takes more time to knit into any pattern. A friend of mine started this project with me to give as a Christmas gift and rapidly decided to switch to a cowl pattern that used thicker yarn and larger needles...she was definitely done way before me, even managing to ship it out in time for Christmas! Fortunately I was intending to finish mine for a January birthday gift rather than a Christmas gift and it was completed in plenty of time for that event.

As the title of the book implies, it is a sequel to another book by the same author that you might also enjoy called LAST-MINUTE KNITTED GIFTS.

This book also segments the patterns within by the amount of time most likely needed to complete them and includes interesting patterns for projects such as potholders, leg warmers, drawstring pouches, cushions, toys, even a yoga mat bag. I can easily recommend either of these books as a source of some interesting gifts to work up. I hope you give at least one of them a look!

SOME MORE HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

2010-12-15T08:35:00.000-05:00

I guess I am not ready to stop crafting Holiday decorations. When I started looking through the books for one or two ideas, I found more and more things that I wanted to try ... I warn you, it can be addicting! Today I am trying some crafts from a Better Homes and Gardens publication from last year:

Christmas Ideas 2009 by Better Homes and Gardens.

Better Homes and Gardens publishes one of these Christmas Special Interest issues each year. The ideas I tried for this post were from the 2009 issue specifically. (To place a library hold on a specific year's copy you will need to contact the library because it is listed as part of a series.)

I like these Special Interest series because they have something for a great variety of tastes and styles (this issue claims to provide "256 easy and elegant ideas for your home"). Also, the projects tend to be relatively simple to execute and use many different types of crafting techniques.

I still had all the scrap booking stuff out on my table from my post about making holiday cards and tags so I tried my hand at the Tree Tag project first of all. I don't own the stamp they used but the tree was simple to draw out with my markers.

I was inspired by the tags they showed in "Tag Team" so I made a few more tags using some purchased stickers.

I have had a set of clear glass ornaments in my craft stash for years but never set myself to do anything with them so when I saw the "Custom-Color Ornaments" project I decided it was high time to drag them out. You swirl diluted acrylic paint inside them to coat the interior and then apply punched out snowflakes (or snowflake stickers) on the our surface. Yay! Another opportunity to use my snowflake punch!! The craft is simple and the finished project is very effective...my husband really liked these.

I decided to use up the rest of my clear glass ornaments and tried the project I originally purchased them for: marbleizing. For this project you squirt two colors of diluted acrylic paint inside and swirl it around to coat. Dry it upside down and you have a "marbleized ornament". My son really liked these...my photos don't show them off too well though.

Lastly, I made the "Circle of Snow" wreath by randomly piling felt snowflakes of varying sizes on a circular shape. (The book's project used a foam wreath...I used a sheet of stiffened glittered felt that I already had and which I cut into a donut shaped piece.) The glitter in the felt doesn't really show up well here unfortunately.

As I am writing this, the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas 2010 issue is being readied for circulation.

It indicates that it has "247 Festive and Easy Ideas for your home" including "39 simple and stylish ornaments." I'm looking forward to investigating many of those.

Meanwhile, a couple of my colleagues here at the library have been tapping their inner craftiness and have given me permission to share their endeavors.

If you read our ever so fine SciFi blog "The Labyrinth Librarians" then you are familiar with Adam. While he and I were talking about the crafts I was planning to make this season Adam thought he remembered making pipe cleaner reindeer sometime in his past. Not one to let any craft opportunity to escape, I challenged him to try making one. Not one to let any challenge go unanswered, Adam did make one.

I thought that his rise to the challenge was GREAT!! But, then we decided that the little guy was destined to be Rudolph, so Adam added some bling:

And there you have it, a blinged out pipe cleaner reindeer by Adam, The Labyrinth Librarian. We only need a few more, a sleigh and a Santa....Adam, are you able to rise to the challenge again?

Next up in the colleague craft-a-thon is a beautiful display by Mary, one of our Children's Librarians. During the Fall, Mary created a tree covered with Autumn leaves for our stairwell. Not yet wanting to see it go, she decked it out for the Winter. While I was working on my "Quick Felt Holiday Decorations" post, Mary created some felt cardinals to put on the branches of her tree. She looked through our books for Cardinal pictures to use as a reference and sketched one out. Once happy with her sketch, she made templates for the individual pieces: body, wing, beak,black thing that goes next to beak..., traced them onto felt and cut them out.

She used a blanket stitch to outline the wing and body.

She sewed the rest of the parts on and added a bead for the eye and put them in her snowed capped tree.

I am so pleased with my colleagues' crafting contributions and thank them for allowing me to share them in my blog...you never know what you are going to encounter in this place! As for me I think I had better start worrying about some gift making ideas pretty darn soon! Back to our shelves I go, exploring the world of possibilities. I will keep you posted. Until then, take a look through the Holiday crafting books at our, or your own library and tap into your inner craftiness!

QUICK FELT HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

2010-12-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

When time is of the essence and handmade holiday decorations (or gifts) are needed, crafting with felt can be the solution. The beauty of working with felt is that it doesn't need to be hemmed...the edges can be left raw. I love that! You can work up some lovely pieces, as basic or as elaborate as you like, in practically no time at all.

The library has a new Christmas book that is full of cute holiday decorations, ornaments, and stocking ideas all crafted from felt. The title and the cover art grabbed my attention:

Fa La La La Felt by Amanda Carestio

The book includes information regarding the various types of felt, basic needs for working with felt, as well as an overview with diagrams of some very basic embroidery stitches you might use to embellish your pieces. A brief description of how to use your old wool sweaters to create your own felt is also provided . (If you have shrunk any of your sweaters accidentally then you already know how to create felt and now you will have an idea of how to put them to good use.)

There are 45 projects described in the book. The projects are designed by different people which I like because it usually means that, while they share the standard set out by the author, they are not all the same style, ie. there's a little something for everyone. To test the instructions I decided to make the Christmas Candy Garland and the Holiday Hoot ornament. Templates for all the projects are provided in the back of the book. My first discovery was that the templates are not full-sized, however each one states the percentage you need to enlarge it by so you are not left completely guessing. It does lead to a little extra copying though and for me anyway, some quality time spent with my copier as I tried to figure out where to place the template on it so it would print the enlarged image fully on my paper... hmmm.

I started with the Holiday Hoot ornament designed by Lisa Jordan, and found it was definitely a quick and easy project.

To start, I cut out the required pieces of felt and applied a small dab of fabric glue on back of each piece to tack it in place.

Sew pieces in place with coordinating colors of embroidery floss using the whipstitch. Then sew body pieces together using darker brown floss and the blanket stitch. When you reach the center of the head, insert and tack in the hanging loop. Continue sewing until about 1" is left and insert desired amount of stuffing.

Finish sewing to the end and there is your Holiday Hoot ornament all ready for the tree.(It's much cuter in person...)

Next I tried out the Christmas Candy Garland designed by Esther Coar. I picked it because it looked really pretty in the photograph but seemed really simple to make. And it turned out to be both of those things, however I can not photograph it nearly as well as the book's photographer did (also, mine is still too short to show much draping as it is still in progress at this time).

The instructions and list of items needed is (purposely) vague since you will be determining how long you want to make it. None-the-less, you start by cutting strips of red and white felt. (I can see the value of investing in a rotary cutting tool!) You need twice as many red as white, it doesn't explain why - but I determined that I needed to double the red because it is thinner than the white. Then you stack the strips together with the white on top, with the white staggered forward a little (for a more solid center in the candy).

Roll the strips, keeping the long edges lined up.

Place pins to keep candies from unrolling until you need them. (The instructions indicate you might want to sew the ends to hold them in place prior to stringing them but I found that the beads held the candy together just fine - I just had to remember to remove all my pins!)

Also, while the instructions didn't say to do this, I trimmed the edges to even them after I pinned them since the layers seemed to "crawl" as I rolled them. I used waxed dental floss to alternately string the candy pieces with red and white pony beads. You will want to make sure the needle goes through the stitched (or pinned, as in my case) end of felt and the candy center.

Tie hanging loops on the end and hang.

You'll have to trust that it looks MUCH better in reality. Sorry I couldn't get a truly effective photo ... maybe once I get it to its finished length so that I can get more "swoops" going I will be able to post a better picture.

Other projects I really like and hope to try are the Stitched Gift Tags, Snowflake Coasters, Sorta Swedish Stockings, and the Merry Little Ornaments. I haven't worked with felt for years really and I found this to be a fun set of projects. I encourage you to try your hand at it as well - many of the Holiday books and a number of periodicals feature felt crafts.

THE HOLIDAY SEASON HAS BEGUN - MAKE SOME CARDS AND TAGS

2010-12-02T07:32:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving is over and the Holiday season is upon us once more. Here at the library our Holiday books (seasonal fiction as well as non-fiction such as crafting, cooking and traditions), music cds, and Christmas films are out of storage and reside on a special table dedicated to our seasonal items. They have actually been out of storage for a while now since many crafters like to get a head start on their projects, or at least planning for them. (Mind you even though they usually live in storage, they are ALWAYS accessible to check out...you just need to ask one of our staff members to retrieve them for you, no problem!)

You don't have to be a knowledgeable crafter, rolling in the bucks, or have oodles of time to be able to craft homemade holiday decorations or gifts from the heart. Many books address quick to create holiday decorations and even gifts that use a limited number of supplies, many of which you may already have on hand. I will be exploring these possibilities over the next few weeks.

First up: Christmas Cards and Tags.

It seems to me that as soon as Thanksgiving Day is over, and mail service has been resumed that the Holiday cards start pouring in. I swear some people must write them prior to Halloween!! I am not that organized. We have many books that address card making, but one in our Christmas collection caught my eye:

Christmas Cards - 100 Fast & Festive Cards & Tags , by Elizabeth Moad

This book provides a number of projects ranging from the very quick, "uh oh, out of time" to the more involved, "no worries, I have lots of time." A description of basic tools and techniques is provided up front. Hints and tips are sprinkled throughout, as well as options for slight adaptions. Great photographs with step-by-step instructions are provided and each project has a complete list of materials needed. As the title suggests, projects include ideas for gift tags as well as cards.

Although I am guilty of not sending cards out in recent years, I might try some because I agree with the beginning of the introduction in this book:

"The giving of Christmas cards is the time-honoured way of sending festive goodwill to loved ones, friends and colleagues. These simple items have the power to strengthen family ties, renew acquaintances and even heal a breach in a personal or business relationship. by spending just a little time and effort on a handmade card, you have the opportunity to make them individual and extra special, and therefore the recipients are sure to appreciate them even more."

I tried a couple of the projects so I could get an idea of how complete the instructions are (I wouldn't want to recommend a book with lousy instructions after all!). The first project I tried was the "Brilliant Baubles" card. It was broken down into eight steps.

The first three steps were pretty darn elementary. They were instructions for copying and cutting out the templates and baubles as well as tracing the designs onto the backsides of the baubles (you can see them in the photo below.)

Steps four and five covered pricking evenly spaced pin holes along the traced lines from the back side. (Well mostly evenly spaced...)

One of the baubles required a tool I do not own: a "4-needle pricking tool", which is basically 4 needles secured in a square pattern in a holder (the photograph that accompanied the step had a picture of it, fortunately, so I could see what they meant.) I decided I did not need that design detail. I just used my singular needle on all my baubles.

After pushing the needle into the cardstock a couple of times, the pain entering my fingers and palm opened my mind to the probable usefulness of the appropriate tools. I created a needle holder of my own by pushing my heavy upholstery needle (from the eye end) into a cork.

Here are my baubles with their pinprick details. The one on the far left has not been done yet - the lines have been drawn on it but the camera did not seem to pick them up.

Step six was more fun (and less painful) than pricking holes. In this step I was instructed to apply gold paint detailing to each bauble. I used a gold paint pen to do this.

Step seven said to draw lines resembling strings for each bauble on the face of the card with a silver pen. My silver pen had dried out so I glued gold cording on the card instead ... crafting often involves improvisation!

Finally in Step eight, the baubles were affixed with foam pads (so they stand out? - it didn't say why). My project is complete:

After finishing that card I dabbled with some of the other projects in the book. I purchased a snowflake punch tool which I love. You could use the punched out shapes on cards, tags, strung together as a garland or an ornament, add them to packaging like confetti - there is no limit! It was so much fun punching the intricate shapes out in no time that I think I could go nuts punching snowflake shapes out of all our scrap paper.

Here is a card that I made inspired by the "Simply Snow" instructions in the book:

I made a few gift tags as well:

I think I prefer making the tags - I know I always need tags at the last minute - I could whip up a few and have them on hand for that last minute crunch. Some of the tags could be affixed to a card for another look. As a matter of fact, the "Rudolph the Reindeer" tag shown above was actually a card project from the book - I prefer it as a tag.

Overall, this was a fun project (especially using the snowflake puncher! I might have to buy some other shapes and play some more!) It was simple and I could easily see it as a project that you could do with a group of friends or your family...a nice way to spend time together and get something done during this busy season. And remember, cards don't have to be for Christmas only, once you have the techniques or general ideas in your head, and some supplies on hand, cards can be created for any of the holidays - why not? Just re-read that introduction and put any holiday's name in place of Christmas!

Check back soon - next I will be exploring the use of felt for ornaments, decor and gifting ideas.

FROM MY READERS/TO MY READERS

2010-11-22T14:02:00.000-05:00

This post is in response to some emails that I have received from several readers. I must say, it is so nice to hear from you and I really appreciate your input and comments. Keep them coming.

One of my readers sent me a photograph of a whimsical wreath she made after reading my "Fall Wreath" post. She has given me permission to share it with the rest of you.

I love how she used her imagination by putting the fairies and chair on it. She really thought outside the box! It goes to show that you can use anything, there are no rules when crafting. I thank her for sharing. If anyone else has photos of projects they have made after reading my blog and would like to share them I would love to see them. My email is in the "Complete Profile" section.

Also, I would like to thank those of you who expressed sympathy in regards to the passing of my Aunt, which I shared in my post about the local Needlework Exhibits. I appreciate your thoughtful responses very much. I still haven't gotten to any of those exhibits...have any of you? If yes, I would love to here about which one(s) and what your impressions were.

Additionally, the library now has a copy of the book published by The Connecticut Historical Society that relates to the exhibition in Hartford:

Connecticut needlework : women, art, and family, 1740-1840

This book offers comprehensive research of many 18th and 19th century needle work pieces by Connecticut women. Beautifully photographed, it shows the stitches employed, the designs and artistry of their work.

Please click on the title above to connect to our library catalogue record and to place a hold on it if you so desire.

Again, thank you for your thoughts, comments, photos and best wishes -- keep them coming!

F.Y.I.: over the next few weeks I aim to post frequent articles that address quick gifts to create during the upcoming Holiday season. Keep checking in!

QUICK FALL TABLE DECOR USING TINY PUMPKINS

2010-11-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Are you familiar with those tiny pumpkins and squash that seem to be all over the grocery store this time of year?

For some reason they spoke to me this year: "Buy me, I'm tiny and cute"; "Buy me, you're The Crafty Librarian and you need to find a use for me...." Really, I'm not nuts, I didn't really hear them, no need to worry about my sanity just yet. But buy them I did. And they sat on my counter mocking me while I worked on my "Fall Wreath" post. Periodically I'd look over at them from behind the glue gun and ponder their possibilities. Initially I thought I would add them to my wreath but I decided not to. Lots of pondering later, and after many days of walking past them and the gooseneck gourds that I bought at the same moment of weakness, I decided to find ways of using them in my Thanksgiving centerpiece.

For all the projects in this post, I began by marking a circle on the top of the pumpkin. I used a biscuit cutter but you don't really need one - I was just hoping it would slice through the pumpkin, but it didn't.

It did, however, mark a perfectly round cutting line:

I cut through the rind with a sharp knife, then pulled off the top and scooped out the guts...a lot fewer guts and a tidier job than the big pumpkins that's for sure!! One little spoon accomplished the job in no time!

My first idea was to use the pumpkin as a votive holder. I tried it with a variety of tea lights and votive candles.

I like the battery operated tea lights (shown on far right) because they are less of a hazard, they flicker effectively and, last a loooonnnnng time.

I placed them on purchased fall-themed candle rings to dress them up a little bit. You could also use the real stuff, gather some natural materials from outdoors (if you are not too sick of raking it up at this point...) and spread them around and underneath.

Grouped together is also nice. You'll notice that I put mine on a mirror - I like that it unifies the group, and I like the effect of them reflected back. (The gooseneck gourds cry out for the addition of googly eyes ... I am tempted...)

Next I tried putting the candle ring inside! Not bad.

A place card on a stick works well here. I didn't get too fancy with mine here (I might have to explore the art of place cards in a future post) I just added it for the idea of using these pieces as place cards.

Then I tried it with a tall taper candle. Also not bad.

Lastly, I took all of the candles away and added some Fall flowers...you'll need some floral foam or material inside the pumpkin to support the flowers.

Try using different types of squashes, gourds or pumpkins - just make sure they have a relatively flat bottom so they don't roll over on the table. Group them together in a centerpiece or use them at place setting, with or without place cards. They were an inexpensive addition to my table and worked up quickly.

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NEEDLEWORK & THE THREADS THAT BIND US

2010-11-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

My maternal aunt recently passed away after a long fight with Alzheimer's. She was a special, gentle woman - my mother's only sister. I was honored to spend about a half hour alone with her just prior to her passing. During that time, while I stood rubbing her forehead, I spoke to her about the activities she had enjoyed through her life. Among other topics, I spun images of the many needle crafts she used to do - particularly knitting, needlepoint and quilting. I spoke about our shared interest in needle crafts - my own developed as a result of her mother's (my grandmother's) tutelage. If you have read my profile then you know the importance of both of my grandmothers in the development of my interest and love of needlework. I asked my silent aunt if she could recall how many times her mother flipped her piece over to inspect the quality of her handiwork. I was pretty sure she heard me and imagined the chuckle that would normally have been shared. As I reflect back on this moment today, I am struck by how the threads of needle crafting have woven themselves through my family - connecting us and binding us, creating a shared history of pieces, stories, imagery and times spent together.

Needlework has been a pastime of women (and many men too, but primarily women) for many years. Many times the finished pieces far outlast their maker, leaving behind remembrances of the people who created them. In fact, a sweater that my aunt knit many years ago was one of the items proudly displayed among the many photos of her and her family at her memorial service.

There are related needlework exhibits currently going on that celebrate and explore historic needlework by Connecticut women and girls. I have not yet had the opportunity to visit any of them but I plan to. I think it would be a fitting way to honor my aunt.

Here are the details and links for the exhibits and the museums who are sponsoring them (click on the exhibit for more information or on the name of the museum for specifics):

"Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art and Family: 1740-1840" is on display at the Connecticut Historical Society, One Elizabeth St., Hartford, through March 26, 2011.

"With Needle & Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley" is an exhibit at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme, through January 30, 2011.

A third exhibit is going on outside of Connecticut, but relatively nearby in historic Deerfield, MA: "Celebrating the Fiber Arts: The Helen Geier Flynt Textile Gallery" can be seen at the Flynt Center of Early New England Life - Helen Geier Flynt Textile Gallery. The blurb indicates it is a permanent exhibit with changing elements, the current exhibit runs through November 28, 2010 except November 25, 2010.

The busy holiday season is quickly descending upon us. Quiet needle crafting can be a healthy way to settle our stresses, and provide restorative moments in which we might contemplate the people and things we hold dear. Check through your library's holdings - you will find many materials on the traditional needle arts such as crewel, embroidery, needlepoint, cross stitch, quilting, and of course, crochet and knitting.

A FALL WREATH TO GREET YOUR GUESTS

2010-10-27T09:15:00.003-04:00

I love the Fall. I love the vibrant colors of the leaves, the textures of all the grasses and seed pods, and the cool, but not yet cold, air – so crisp and clean with the occasional scent of wood fires wafting through. Particularly the cool air this year after all the heat and humidity we experienced. This is a great season for hiking.

Photo courtesy of dgartistics

While wracking my brain for this post I needed to get out and enjoy what was becoming a beautiful Fall day, the first after several days of rain during which my husband and I had not been able to continue our pursuit of exploring the local bike trails two miles or so at a time. The wind and rain had knocked a lot of the branches and leaves down so we had to keep an eye on where we were stepping more than usual. I began to take note of several fairly large leaves from different types of trees and I started to think of ways I could use them, perhaps as templates for a felt leaf runner or some painted project. The creative juices were beginning to flow again. Ahhhh.

Back at work the next day I began pouring through our Christmas books (hoping I could find a Christmas craft that I might translate into a Fall project). Luckily for me, my brain was now on Craftster overdrive from my hike when I picked up a new arrival:

Wreaths and Bouquets by Paula Pryke

As I flipped through the book my mind started to buzz with ideas: Wreaths. Centerpieces. Fall foliage. Company coming. Decor. Ahhh again! A little light bulb went on in my head. I usually think of wreaths as a Christmas decoration, but Paula Pryke’s book provides ideas and inspirations for arrangements for every season and many types of occasions. And while the book is titled 'Wreaths and Bouquets', the author provides ideas for other ways to incorporate fresh and dried plant materials in the home as well. Additionally, the author sprinkles bits of how-to’s and tips throughout. I skip to her section “The Fall,” hoping for some ideas, and am immediately drawn in by the colors and textures I see - some expected, others not. They sing of the Fall. The photography in the book by Sarah Cuttle is excellent. While I don’t care for all the arrangements exhibited I am fueled with ideas from many and eager to find some materials to begin a project.

I already had an old grapevine wreath stashed in my attic: an imagined project-to-be that never was. You see, unfortunately, the fine art of arranging plant materials is another craft that I am not particularly skilled in. My mother has a wonderful gift for creating clever, artistic arrangements. I do not. The extent of my ability has been to plop the whole bunch of flowers into a vase and pray they drape artfully. Sometimes a hopeful little nudge will create…something. (I fear you are going to begin to doubt the “Crafty” part of the blog title!! Fear not, I would never send you down any rabbit hole that I was not willing to fall into myself.)

So now, inspired by Paula Pryke’s book, and with my grapevine wreath dusted off, I return to our library shelves hoping to find something more exactingly instructional such as “put flower A into slot A and flower B, etc.” Floral crafting is not an exact art, however. None-the-less I find another book that will help guide my current endeavor:

Flower Arranging, contributing editor Malcolm Hillier

Malcolm Hillier’s books never seem to disappoint me as they are thorough and contain beautiful photographs. This one is a good combination of the principals of arranging, what choices the arranger has, and inspirational ideas. It covers both fresh and dried flowers with a multitude of photographs of plant material options by season as well as occasion. It goes beyond wreaths and bouquets providing ideas for a variety of floral crafts such as garlands and ropes, flower pressing, potpourri as well as the tools and techniques (with diagrams) you might encounter.

Emboldened by all that I have read I am ready to find plant materials for my project. I will be seeking a variety of types of plants with different textures, shapes and colors so I plan to exit the bike trails and search the woods and marsh areas.

If you want to try this and are not sure where to go, you might want to look into the annual Wreath Ramble at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. This is a popular yearly event (this year it is on November 14 from 12 – 4 pm) during which, for a small fee, participants can stroll the Museum's grounds collecting materials like bittersweet, milkweed pods, ferns and berries. Then, with guidance from expert volunteers who have the supplies needed, you can create your own wreath. Click here, or on the museum’s name for more information.

Unfortunately, I could not wait for this year's Ramble so I approached my husband with the idea of looking for wreath making materials. One of the things I love about my husband is his enthusiasm. He may greet the statement, “Let’s go off the trails and look for plants for a wreath!” with a blank stare, but he is always game for a walk in the woods. And while he may not know what bittersweet or milkweed pods look like, or what I mean by “frothy spray type stuff, pods and plants that have texture,” when given an example or two he always rises to the challenge and is a great searcher. In fact, I am quickly in awe of his ability to spot a particular type of berry or plant waaayyy before I do and in no time at all we have a beautiful collection of plant materials to work with. This was actually a very nice way to spend the afternoon together on a beautiful Fall day.

Some of the materials we collected

(Please be reminded that it is important not to collect materials from privately owned property unless you have secured permission.)

Note: bring clippers, gloves and paper bags. Also, collect more than you think you will need because some will get crushed in transit and some may not be “right” for the arrangement.

You will want to spray the more delicate pieces with ozone-friendly hairspray or some other fixative (outdoors if possible) to discourage any disintegration.

I wove bittersweet vines in and around the grapevine base, using a glue gun to secure them as needed (I sometimes adhered leaves or loose berries to exposed glue to cover it).

I randomly placed the rest of my materials through trial and error in a way that pleased me – alternately moving a piece around until it looked “right” and gluing it in place (make sure you like where you have it before you glue it).

I made pine cone “flowers” that I arranged here and there:

Here's how I made the pine cone flowers:

I snipped sections from the pine cone using my pruning shears.

I was able to make several flowers from each pine cone.

This is a close-up of one section.

Finally, I attached an old bird’s nest that I salvaged from a bush in my yard. I knew the nest was no longer in use and had been abandoned (never remove a nest from the wild that may still be inhabited or is in the process of being made). I also added a bird that I purchased from my local craft store.

And here is my completed wreath!

I encourage you to give this project a try, materials are prevalent right now and best of all, free! It is a beautiful season to forage for elements to use and rambling around the outdoors with your spouse, child, best friend, what-have-you is a great way to spend time together.

Little end note: If you are interested in visiting the Hill-stead Museum during any other part of the year you might be interested in reserving our library’s Museum Pass which is provided by the Friends of the Avon Free Public Library.

FALL IS HERE - AND WITH IT COMES HALLOWEEN

2010-10-15T08:34:00.000-04:00

I admit it. I had trouble coming up with a project for this posting. The material for the last two posts practically fell into my lap when, almost simultaneously, my colleague asked for sewing advice and I discovered that September was National Sewing Month. The project was also a no-brainer - since she cooks I decided to sew an apron and tried to cover the various steps involved in creating a finished craft project. This time around however, I had a subject but no idea of a what or a how. Oh no! I was stuck at my own instruction: "Step One - decide what to make." This was a new concept for me!! I usually have a "how" at least (...and these days it is usually knitting) so, I ask myself, what is the process of coming up with an idea (out of the blue) in the first place?

I started with what I knew - my subject - I wanted to recognize the onset of Autumn. So I went to our library shelves to explore the possibilities for Fall crafts. I quickly discovered a couple things.

First off, after getting over the shock of not finding many on our shelves I found that our, ever so on the ball reference staff had set up a special display that celebrates Fall. Much relief!!!!!

Secondly, while there are numerous books dedicated to Christmas decor and crafts there are far fewer that cover Fall, and many of those seem to be specifically Halloween or Thanksgiving oriented. You can find many books and magazines that concentrate on costumes, pumpkin carving or food. I am not going to do that...except to share with you one of my father's pumpkin creations. My dad doesn't tend to go into all that fancy carving that you see these days yet, somehow, I prefer the zany characters he creates. They always tickle my fancy. Here is one from a year past.

I didn't want to do just turkey or ghost and spider projects. Also, because I had just finished a sewing project, I didn't want to use sewing as the method this time around (although I did find some really cute Halloween and Autumn themed fabrics...hmmmm). This is not so easy when you can't start by looking up a specific craft and then figure out what to make following instructions for it. A Craftster's mind almost never stops thinking or envisioning possibilities, except when it comes to a deadline. Then it can all go dry. I was really wracking my brain - did I want to use clay, papier-mache, paints? A project for Halloween , Thanksgiving, or just Fall in general?

Since Halloween is fast approaching and you may be up a creek regarding ideas for little Halloween projects, I have decided to post some relatively quick and easy Halloween projects for now. In a few days I will continue with my Fall themed projects.

Here is a group shot of some of the things I created for this blog

Some of the crafts I discuss here were inspired by projects found in various Halloween books we own at our library, while others are either from my head or from free projects sheets I found at our local Michaels store. When trying to come up with quick and easy projects your local craft store is a great place to explore. Not only are there often free project sheets, there are so many types of products available that allow you to create any of the projects you've seen in the Halloween books in many different ways. That's the fun of crafting - nothing is finite. Use whatever you have, experiment, and enjoy yourself.

Egg Carton Spiders - when my kids were little I would hang these from our chandelier. They are very simple to make. Cut the cups out from a cardboard egg carton - poke a small hole in the top (for hanging thread if you intend to hand them up) and 4 holes on both sides (for the legs). Paint the cup black inside and out. Attach thread at the top. Cut 4 lengths of black pipe cleaners for the legs: push a piece from the outside to inside of one leg hole on one side of body then through the other side of body from inside to outside - one piece becomes 2 legs. Repeat with the rest of the pieces and bend to shape. (If preferred, cut 8 smaller pieces and affix individually - glue in place from underneath.) Glue googly eyes to front.

Creepy Crawler from Styrofoam ball - Use toothpicks or craft stick to connect two balls for a head and body. Cover with craft clue and small pieces of tissue paper. Once dry, paint it black. Cut four pipe cleaners in half for legs and insert 4 legs into each side of the body. Thread 1 bead for each eye onto a large head straight pin and press into the spider.

Glue gun Spider Web - Every spider needs a web to crawl on. This one is amazingly simple. When I peeled mine off of the parchment paper I felt a sense of wonder at how easy, yet effective this project was. To create: Using a glue gun, "draw" an L shape, with both sides the same length, onto parchment paper or non-stick baking sheet. Starting at corner, draw a series of lines, the same length as first lines, radiating outward (the creates the spokes of the web). "Draw" scalloped lines across these to make spiderweb. Make sure all the rows are touching. Let dry, then peel off.

Polymer Clay ghosts, pumpkins etc. - Polymer clay (such as Sculpey brand) is a soft clay that is moldable until baked in an oven. I used white clay and then painted it because that is what I had on hand, but you can purchase this clay in a wide variety of colors to create pieces that do not need to be painted. To create these pieces simply push and pinch the clay into the desired shape. I used the side of a toothpick to create the indents separating the pumpkins sections. If you want to hang the item like an ornament, insert a small hook or curved section of wire prior to baking. I used wire cutters and snipped off the small section of a paper clip for mine. I also used pearlized paint on a couple of the ghosts.

Sheer Stand-up Ghost (or you could attach invisible thread and hang it up) - I have seen this ghost made with cheese cloth. I had some old sheer fabric leftover from something else and I thought this would be a good way to recycle it. This was very simple! Find items to use as a support - I used a tall vase, added foil "arms" because I wanted the "arms" to stick out (if you don't, just don't) and a giant ball of masking tape for the "head" (you could use a bowl - I just happened to have, oddly enough, a giant ball of masking tape that was left over from when I painted a room. One of my sons, who has a great sense of humor, thought it would make a great pen holder and stabbed a number of ball point pens into it, quietly leaving it for me to discover. I thought it was a riot and have kept it - great recycling and actually, a great pen holder!).

That's my form on the right with the giant masking tape ball. Note: Cover the objects with plastic wrap so they don't get ruined and so the completed project doesn't stick to them. Also, place the assemblage onto a waterproof surface that you can move or where it can sit while it drys. Coat the fabric with fabric stiffener following the directions on the bottle (you can find this at your local craft store) and drape it over the form you have created, arranging it however it pleases you. Allow it to dry; remove it from the form; if desired, paint black eyes and mouth on it.

Styrofoam Eyeballs - Here's looking at you kid! I painted small balls of Styrofoam with white acrylic paint hoping it would give the eyes a uniform look all around, I then painted the iris, followed by the pupil. I finished up by drawing in the veins using a fine red marker. Note: Styrofoam is very porous and is not easy to paint. "Pouncing" the paint on rather than brushing works better. Coating it with glue and tissue, as with the spider, might have been a good idea...but I wanted to do something different here, and the eyes are fairly small so it wasn't really a big deal. If you are tackling a bigger project you might do something different (as I did for my next project.)

Styrofoam Candy Corn Cones - There was no way I was going to play around painting the cones, I would have been there forever!! And I didn't want to do the tissue and glue thing again, although it would have worked fine. I decided to try a product I bought a long time ago because it seemed neat and I just never got around to trying it. This blogging thing is continuously getting me to try new stuff! The product is called plaster cloth and it a 4" wide strip of cloth that is pre-plastered. To use it, cut it into lengths you want, dip it in water and shape it onto the form you want to cover. Pretty much like papier-mache except the strips are pre-treated. I covered two different sized foam cones using this product and set it to dry. Once dried, I painted them to resemble candy corn. Pretty neat! Note: I wanted mine to have a rustic look to them so I didn't mind the ridges left by the plaster cloth. If you want a smooth, more candy-like, finish you could coat the cone with air dry molding clay before you paint it.

Let me interject here: whatever you do, when you are gluing tissue paper onto something, or using plaster cloth, DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE. My next blog may well be titled, "Decoupage your phone - What a great idea!"

Candy Corn Earrings - Paint purchased unfinished wood shapes and paint them to look like candy corns. Glue pierced earring posts to back. Ta da!

That is all I have for you this Halloween season. I hope you feel inspired. Flip through some books or magazines. Go to your craft store. Let your mind ponder the possibilities. If you have any questions about these crafts please feel free to email me (the address is in the About Me section). I'd love to hear from you! Comments are also welcome - just click on "comment" below.

Some of the books I utilized for this post were as follows (as always, clicking on the titles will link you directly to our catalogue):

Halloween Celebrations 2 separate books from the Woman's Day Special Interest Publications series:

vol. XVII, 2007 - inspired my polymer clay ghosts, pumpkins and witches hats

vol. XVIII, 2008 - inspired my glue gun spider web

Gooseberry Patch Halloween, 2010 - inspired my Styrofoam spiders

A PATTERN IS LIKE A RECIPE

2010-10-01T08:02:00.001-04:00

When you last heard from me I was heading off to our library shelves to research an idea I had for an easy starter sewing project for our resident cooking blogger, Julie (641.5 with Julie). As I researched and then executed this project I came to recognize similarities in our crafts: a pattern is much like a recipe! Both involve a collection of items, a series of steps and, if you follow the steps, a product to be proud of (or, in some cases, at least learn from...). If you read my last post you may recall that sewing is not my favorite craft in the world but I do like to cook. This was therefore, a tremendously helpful epiphany. Having said all that, here is my recipe for completing a sewn project from scratch.

My sewing machine. Had it since I was a kid. Hardly ever used.

I'm not sure the stitch selection wheel has ever been changed.

Here goes nothing!

Step One: Decide what you want to make. This part was a no-brainer. I decided that an apron would be a relatively easy item to execute and something that Julie might actually use. It could also be a quick gift to make over a weekend for one of my cooking friends.

Step Two: Locate a pattern. Once I realized that I was going to have to produce this sewing project myself (egads!) I set out to find the simplest, most basic pattern possible. This is kind of like looking through cookbooks to find a recipe that suits you.

My initial search led me to 3 books that were not currently checked out. (Clicking on the titles will link you to our card catalogue should you want to place one on hold for yourself).

Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner
The "Part 1 - Getting Started" section has good coverage of sewing tools and how to use them; the choices of fabrics and how to decide what you need; the how-to descriptions of basic stitches and the techniques one might encounter.
The "Part 2 - Projects" section includes an apron.

Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross
I figured anything that was labeled "weekend" had to be fairly manageable. Indeed, her pattern for a tie around the waist style apron looked like it would be quick and easy. It was a definite contender.

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts by Martha Stewart
Even though this title was included in my last posting I thought I would revisit it with more of an in-depth look at how workable her projects are. She has several apron options to choose from, some as simple as sewing two tea towels together. I don't think I can get away with that here!

In the end I chose an apron pattern from Martha Stewart's book because it was a full length/chef style apron. When I cook I get flour all over the place and frequently wash my hands that I dry on my apron. A pretty, little half apron just doesn't cut it in my kitchen (I can't say what happens in Julie's kitchen...)!

Step Three: Read the pattern instructions (and in my family, read it at least 3 more times because we're funny that way). This is so you have a clear understanding of what the steps are and what you will need to purchase.

Step Four: Shop!! Buy fabric and notions. (Apparently "notions" doesn't just mean "ideas/whims" it also means "small useful items/sundries". One can have a notion to shop for notions!). At any rate, the pattern lists what you will need to complete the project. This is probably my favorite step. But it can be daunting as well - so many choices, all ohhhh so pretty! This is why many crafters often end up with vast "stashes" of fabric/yarns/flosses/patterns, etc.

The pattern I chose suggested a medium weight fabric such as linen, cotton, denim. Martha chose linen. Hmmm. I opted for durable denim because it can take lots of abuse (see above note about my cooking style).

You can learn a lot from the label on the end of the fabric bolt - including washing instructions. It's a good idea to read this as I almost chose a fabric that said "dry clean only" - NOT very appropriate for an apron to say the least! There is nothing on the label, however, that says "medium weight". Given Martha's examples I looked for denim type weights or something akin to a table cloth. I steered away from the pretty quilt fabrics which are not medium weight. When in doubt ask a store employee.

I had no idea there were so many denims to choose from. This display continued on the other side as well!

My notions have been collected and I am ready to go.

Step Five: Prepare materials. This is when a cook would start trimming the meat or washing the veggies. A little less messy for a seamstress.

In the pattern I have chosen, Martha first recommends that you wash the fabric. Why, I ask? It looks pretty good to me. I turn to her section "Preparing Fabric for Sewing" where she explains that washing "will prevent your finished project from shrinking in the wash after it's sewn and prevent puckering along seam lines." Not necessarily a vital problem for my apron but probably a good habit to get used to (not that I intend to do a lot more machine sewing...) Since I am committed to this project I might as well do it right. Who wants to cook in an apron with puckered seams after all? This same section of her book also instructs that you:

Press the fabric so the wrinkles don't "distort the fabric enough to throw off the sizes and shapes when it comes time to sew"
Find the grain (more kinship to cooking!) because the "grain of the woven fabrics influence both the drape and durability of a finished project
Determine the "right and wrong sides of fabric." Always a good idea. Guess you can't just flip it inside out...

That Martha Stewart is thorough!!

Speaking of thorough, this book includes a CD with all the pattern templates on it, which is nice. But I decided not to print the template. The diagrams in the book show all the measurements I needed (famous last words).

My pieces all cut out.
I decided not to include a pocket and opted for it to be
shorter and slightly more narrow.

Note: remember when you are cutting out the 2 ties that the fabric is folded, ie. doubled. You only need to mark and cut each once. I almost ended up with 4 waist and 4 neck ties.

Step Six: Create. This is the time of truth. The pieces are cut, there is no going back. Commitment. Deep sigh. It is at this point that the cooking and sewing processes divide a little. Many cooks I know sip a little wine while they create. Vast amounts of coffee however appears to accompany the creative process of most of the seamstresses I know. Hmmmm, again.

I look at the pieces, at The Machine and then to the pattern where I read (yes again but somehow it only enters my awareness now) that I can still avoid The Machine for a little bit because the next instruction requires ironing. Now, to be honest here, what I feel towards ironing is akin to how I feel about machine sewing but I am at least a little more familiar with it. So, off I run, pieces in hand, to the ironing board. While the iron heats to the proper temperature for my fabric I read on (mm hmm, again - if I procrastinate long enough maybe the project will magically complete itself!). I see why this instruction hadn't impinged itself on my awareness before: Martha instructs "Sew double hems" but then follows it with an explanation of how to create a double hem (which requires folding in and pressing, then folding over and pressing again).

Martha's directions are complete and all terms that are unexplained within the pattern are easy to find in the other sections of her book when/if necessary - such as I did with "Preparing the fabric", or now, "edge-stitching" the double hem. What?!

Edge-stitching means sewing very close to the inner edge of the hem.

My completed edge-stitch is a thing of beauty that I pause to admire. I must admit there is a certain level of pride in this small accomplishment.

I can't be too smug however, because I did discover that you need to do this at a relatively slow and steady pace. If you get too cocky and go too fast you just might go off the edge.

My neck and waist ties all ironed and ready to edge-stitch.

All that is left to do is to attach the ties as instructed, using a "boxstitch" which is a fancy name for stitching what is essentially a square around the edges to secure the pieces together. A figure to the side of the page depicts the step well.

My completed boxstitch.

Ta Da!!! Project Apron complete!!

This wasn't so bad after all! I even made some changes to the pattern (shorter, narrower, no pocket) and came out the other end with a viable product. Not too shabby. If you choose to do this as well, take note: you will need to buy less fabric - I ended up with a whole extra yard left over. Another thought: for today's "green" movement recycle an old tablecloth instead of purchasing fabric.

I don't know if my apron would pass Martha Stewart's inspection but my seamstress friends showed appreciation as they inspected it and that works for me. (A completed recipe would certainly taste better at this point but now I am prepared to cook anyway. Guess I can put the coffee cup away and pick up the wine glass. Maybe I will try one of Julie's recipes.)

If I can do this, so can you. Work the steps and let me know how you did. Best wishes for happy sewing, The Crafty Librarian.

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL SEWING MONTH...WHO KNEW?

2010-09-13T21:44:00.003-04:00

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? I didn't and I'm a major Craftster -- alas, just not much of a sewer. I have tried it - just not terribly good at it. Every Craftster has a bug-a-boo or bane of existence. Sewing is mine. My sister once said that "between the two of us we must have tried every craft possible through our lives." I'm not so sure that's exactly true since there are some pretty odd possibilities out there but she was right in that we made a very large dent in the field. Anyway, she is the one that ended up with the sewing gene and produces some beautiful quilts - of which I often get to be the lucky recipient (so I don't mind not being much of a sewer if you know what I mean!)

Back to National Sewing Month. I was surprised when I researched "National (anything) Month" to find out that there are months dedicated to pretty much everything under the sun. Where have I been? I laughed when I discovered that this was in fact National Sewing Month because just last week a colleague of mine (and fellow blogger, Julie) came to me for advice on sewing. She was thinking of trying a new skill - sewing. She knows that I craft but she didn't know that I lack the sewing gene. I wanted to help her though - what Craftster doesn't want to lure (I mean, guide) someone else into the web of a craft?

My first thought was to look through our library shelves for some basic how-to guides since she hadn't been specific about a project. She was hoping to try something small and simple to get her going with learning how to sew. To be honest here, my first thought was actually "RUN!!!! This is sewing!!! How do I tell her that I have no skills in this area?" But I do not run from any craft nor do I run from requests for help. I am a Librarian after all, I have resources. I have LOTS of resources. I can do this. So I trotted to the shelves and pulled several general guide books for her. I figured that she could flip through them for some basic how-to information and maybe develop the direction in which she wanted to head.

I thought (hoped) that would be the end of it for me. I had given her books and she seemed content....but The Crafty Librarian is feeling guilty. Feeling like she has dropped the ball. She has had time to ponder the request and doesn't feel as though she has really risen to the call for guidance. Given time and a craft issue my mind always wanders down the path of possibilities. I feel I have stranded my colleague with a lot of how-to's but not a project. A project will teach and feed a skill. And I have an idea or two in mind. Maybe we will go down this path together (just don't tell my sister!). I am going to propose these ideas to Julie and then back to some research in our shelves. I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, I invite you to explore our sewing section and celebrate National Sewing Month. Some good general reference how-to books include, but are not limited to, the following titles (if you click on the titles you will be linked directly to our library catalogue where you can place a hold):

Martha Stewart's encyclopedia of sewing and fabric crafts : basic techniques for sewing, applique, embroidery, quilting, dyeing, and printing, plus 150 inspired projects from A to Z. (call# 646.2 Stewart) This is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive reference that touches on every type of sewing one might imagine. Includes a number of projects to try your skills out on. Pure Martha!

The Complete book of sewing. (call# 646.4 Complete) A guide that covers the tools and materials needed for sewing. Has colorful step-by-step illustrations and photographs of the step you might encounter in your sewing project.

Singer : the complete photo guide to sewing. (call# 646.2 Singer) Good visual reference guide that covers equipment and techniques. Includes projects for both machine and hand sewing.

200 sewing tips, techniques & trade secrets. (call# 646.2 A to Z) Covers basic as well as advanced techniques. Includes a HUGE amount of hints and advice like you might get from an instructor. I was impressed, for example, with the tip regarding the use of the scissors blade as a surface to really press seams flat.