Knitted Camera Cozy

Well, this blog has been silent for FAR TOO LONG! My fault really - Mom has been ridiculously busy moving and, well, Carolyn always has a full plate. Oh, and my computer died a horrible death, taking many pictures saved on my hard drive with it to the "other side". So, here I am with a new laptop and a little contribution to get my blogging skills warmed back up. Many more fun things to follow.

My parents move had a great perk for me - it allowed me to buy a digital camera! Hurray - thanks Mom and CC. But, of course, it needed a cozy. 'Cuz I can wrap just about anything in yarn :). My yarn drug of choice - Malabrigo - fiber crack. Amazing colors, the softest, softest stuff. I used their Lace baby merino for this project - it was already in my stash. Found a lovely free pattern on Ravelry - thanks Janelle! I think that's enough hyperlinks for one post...

Here's the finished project:

Funny thing: when you make a camera cozy, you can't take a picture of it on your camera. It's a Schrodinger's cat sort of thing. Just trust me when I say it fits perfectly. It's for a Canon SD1200 - I held the yarn double and cast on 28 sts on size 2 needles and increased to 36 sts per the pattern. I switched to size 1 needles for 10 rows of ribbing. Ta-da! Now, to use the camera on my Winter Train Adventure - pictures to be posted on the WEBBLOG next month! Last hyperlink, I swear...

Felt Christmas Stocking Pins

When our mother, Lulu, was a nursing home resident, our family made friends with many of the other residents, and often their families. Carolyn and I planned special events for the ladies (and a few men!). Each December we gave a holiday tea, with sweets from Molly's Bakery, music, fun and silliness.

For one of the holiday teas I made many of these cute little felt stocking pins. The ladies loved them! I was touched when, at our tea the following year at Christmas, some of the ladies wore their stocking pins from the year before.

The pattern for the stocking pins is below. Trace around the pattern onto doubled felt and cut out. Join the back and front with buttonhole stitch, in a contrasting color of two strands of embroidery floss. Cut a strip of white felt to wrap around the top. Scalloped or pinking shears make a pretty cut. Glue the white felt strip to the stocking using Beacon Fabric-Tac, joining ends of the felt strip at the center back. Glue a 3-hole pin back horizontally on the back of the stocking, on the white strip.

The miniatures that go into the stocking were found at Michaels, near the scrapbook section of the store. You will find a lot of these little holiday things in the months leading up to Christmas.

Join the various miniatures, plus a leaf or two pulled from a fabric flower, using a small piece of fine guage florist wire. (I glued the florist wire to the back of the tiny wrapped presents).

Put a small amount of polyester stuffing in the stocking, to puff it out a bit. Put some Tacky glue on the pre-wired miniatures and insert in the stocking, behind the stuffing. Let dry, wear your cheerful pin during the holidays! Make 30, host a tea at a nursing home and brighten the holidays for the residents there!

It might be fun to add a little embroidered flower to the toe of the stocking. I didn't do that because I was making a lot at one time.

Here is the pattern for the stocking. You will probably have to enlarge or reduce it on your computer or printer. The dimensions of the stocking are 2 - 3/4" high x 2" wide. If it is helpful, the frame around the pattern is 2 - 7/8" high x 2 - 1/8" wide.

These were fun to make, very colorful.

Enjoy!

Beaded Button Brooch Workshops

On September 22 and October 10 I'll be doing Beaded Button workshops for RSVP in Oxford and the North Mississippi Fiber Guild in Hernando. The workshop is three hours and participants should be able to finish their embellished button brooch and wear it home!

Here is a sample of one of my beaded button brooches. To see more samples, click on the slide show of beaded buttons (on the right, the beaded cat button picture).

For RSVP participants, all you need to bring is a 1" or larger button. All other materials are provided. The workshop is from 10:00 to 1:30, so bring a lunch (dessert and drinks provided by RSVP).

(NMFG, please visit the guild Yahoo site for a list of materials to bring, though most supplies will be provided.)

What sort of button works well for this project? Well, just about any kind of button! If you have a button with sentimental value (perhaps it once resided on your mother's winter coat), bring that and wear a memory of your mother on your lapel!

Buttons old, new, plain, fancy, solid color or patterned -- they all work. The vintage button in the upper left of this photo was recently given to me by a friend. I can't wait to make it into a pin. It's so me, the pink gloved hand, holding the big rhinestone! The bottom left button was recently purchased, at M&J Trimming in NYC. The button on the right is from Africa.

Colorful and inexpensive new buttons make good beaded button brooches:


In Oxford you can find pretty and colorful new buttons at the Fabric Center on University. Ellen has a wonderful button selection there. Even Wal-Mart has a good, though smaller, selection of colorful buttons.
Lastly, if you want to spend a lot of money, you can find reproduction Czech glass buttons online.  The glass dragonfly button, below, was purchased at the big bead show in Tucson last February, and it cost about $10. I think the "work in progress" button is funny; I found it at M&J Trimming on my recent trip to New York City. The soft pink button in the center is plastic.

Remember, 1" or larger. See you on the 22nd!

Vintage Monogram Forms

Our parents were in the antique business. One time they bought the basement contents of an old mercantile store in a nearby town. That means my sister and I have a lovely stash of vintage laces, trims, and other "ladies" things. I have many, many paper initials, which women embroidered over to monogram their hankies, lingerie, etc.

Several years ago I repurposed a couple old hankies to make this sweet little purse. What would you put in it? Perhaps....a hanky! Too fragile to hold much else. I used a very fine machine embroidery thread to hand stitch over the two, small paper initials. (I first tacked them down at the points.) The tatted edging was removed from another hanky and attach to the purse as the front and back were hand sewn together. I used a heavier fabric for the back.

I have paper initials for most of the alphabet (no B, G, M, S, or X's).  But I have many, many D's, I's, J's, N's and T's. And if you're name is Yolanda, you are in luck!! 

In the post below I ask for help in identifying some "mystery" initials!

Mystery Monogram Forms!

Most of the paper initials I have are pretty straight forward, but a few of them are complete alphabet mysteries to me! Perhaps someone can help identify them.

The first picture, below, shows three letters inside their packaging. I know the letter on the left is "C" and the letter on the right is an "E." But I'm not sure about the one in the middle. Is it a "D?"

In the next photo, the paper container identifies the contents as "I," which I guess it could be. The narrow vertical bar on the left would not be embroidered over, but would be removed after the embroidery was complete.  Is it a "J"?

In the next photo, the paper containers are marked "J" and "N." That is an odd looking "J." Is there a calligrapher out there that can help me identify these paper initials? 

"I" or "J" or "T?"
Maybe this will help:

 

Links to Free Knitting Patterns

Knitting Pattern Central is a wonderful site that links to hundreds of free knitting patterns. They are nicely categorized so you can look for something specific. Below is a link to the gloves, mittens and wristlet page: http://knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/mittens_gloves.php

Here is a cute pattern for cable wrist warmers that I found through Knitting Pattern Central: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60157AD.html

Vickie Howell has an interesting pattern for wrist warmers that looks like it might be easy: http://vickiehowell.blogspot.com/2007/04/hand-like-hole-free-pattern-of-month.html

And one more pattern I found that I think is very pretty: http://susaninstitches.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-pattern.html

There are many, many more at the Knitting Pattern Central website! Enjoy!

Knitted Wristlets

Here is a pair of knitted wristlets I made for a friend. The cuff can be turned up and buttoned above the thumb for more warmth. Don't need these much in Tucson!