Making the best of what's on hand.
After so much intense sewing for the book, that pile of yarn is looking pretty inviting. Hi ya yarn, how’s it going? What have you been up to? Oh a sweater you say? Knit a sweater? I think I will. In fact, I think I’ll crochet one too.
It’s been fun pushing my pile of yarn WIPs and seeing what I want to finish up next. I’ve fallen back in love with these two projects.
I just wanted to post a quick note that I’m changing templates here on Craft Leftovers.
The latest and greatest issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly is now available in the shop! This month’s issue is all about the current cool down we are going through. I went out to the garage for my last bit of outdoor crafting this month to bring you projects that take advantage of the last few weeks of bearable weather. Pick up your copy in the shop or on etsy today.
Like all crafty book authors told me, it’s a mess at the end. I wanted to check in to let you know that I haven’t completely dropped off the planet, but it’s pretty close. I’ve been buried in my studio and home office typing away trying to get the last […]
Don’t you love it when you have a favorite card game? It’s you can’t get enough of it. Every time you and your friends get together, one of you pulls out a worn box and starts dealing out the deck. I do. And I don’t. After awhile that super-worn box for your cards starts really falling apart and those precious cards start slipping out.
Well, for my favorite “flavor of the day” game, I opted to knit my own little holder for them.
Part of organizing and using up my stash of yarn is to pass some of it on. The yarn is priced around a cup of coffee, a latte, a cello lesson, or somewhere in between. I don’t want much for my stash yarn, just take me out for a cup […]
The allure of handmade and its perfect fitting ways makes store bought dresses sub-par (without spending a few hundred bucks). I decided to take a look in my fabric stash and I found just the fabric. I love this stuff, but up until now I haven’t had a use for it.
I’ve been teaching beginning knitting for a couple of years now (crazy to think). One thing that I’ve found is that if a student already crochets, they take more readily to the continental style of knitting. If you are completely new to yarn craft, throwing the yarn is the way to go.
Part of stash busting is to finish all my WIPs. Instead of posting all my WIPs at once, I’ve opted to post about one at a time. Focusing on each one, finishing it, and moving on to the next. Each WIP has a story to tell. Some will end up […]
I think most of us are beyond the world of Rolodex, but there is something nice about having all the physical contact info at your finger tips. When I go to craft fairs, craft shops, meet random people, I pick up their post cards, fliers, and business cards. While I […]
I’ve also opted to do another crazy thing. I took photos of all of it. Every single skein.
I honestly have no idea why I decided to try poaching an egg. I also can’t remember where I learned how to do it. It’s totally different than how my mom showed me–which involved spooning boiling water and lots of fussing. Was it Julia Child? Maybe Martha Stewart?
In the last 2 years of living in Ames, I just gave it a shot. Now I have eggs and yogurt or eggs and oatmeal or eggs and greens or eggs and sausage (featured in today’s post) every morning.
In the September issue I have delved into the world of miniature crafting. It’s been a blast making tiny crafts on the small scale and reminiscing about playing with my Pink Panther as a kid. Ah the adventures that 10″ high pink plushie and I had.
By Friday the coop was just about ready to go. All we had to do was get some previsions and put on the roof.
We opted for the mason jar style feeder and water holder. And some feed called Start n’ Grow. And one huge bag of pine shavings.
(We dubbed them Mac n’ Cheese. Mac is on the left and Cheese is on the right.)
Sunday we put the roof on and it actually was really easy. I just have to say that those Garden Ark instructions are amazing. We were able to finish in one week just putting in a few hours each day. I think I’m actually going to miss working on a wood working project each morning.
Two things recently happened that lead to me giving yogurt making another try. First, my dear Yankee friend Unplugged yogurt making with this great post on the process–no fancy equipment here. Second, I bought a dehydrator to make our own camping food. It came with instructions for making yogurt and a few dishes specifically for yogurt. How could I not try again? What happened the first time? Well, too hot, then too cold and that pretty much tells the story.
Friday’s post really inspired me to get my act together and organize my fabric. Each box is 11″ x 12″ x 14″. I opted to sort them by color, which seems to be my best organizing option yet.
I can count on just my hands the things I’ve bought from the craft/yarn store this year: painting supplies for a painting class, yarn for a pair of socks, yarn for a present for my mom, fabric for a shirt and dress (I actually made both, so that’s good.), a small fabric kit. Yet, I still have more craft supplies then ever. Friends routinely give me fabric (which I love) and so I always have an over flowing source of fabric for project making, hence all the fabric projects here on the blog. In fact, it’s the largest category in the project archive.
We ventured into the world of chicken coops this week and are attempting to make the Garden Ark Chicken Coop. Read about how chickens are coming into our lives, the coop we are attempting to make, and our progress so far.
You may or may not have seen all the hubbub on Twitter and Facebook, so I wanted to give a quick here’s what’s up. :: Floods :: Last Tuesday Ames was hit with the another huge thunderstorm. It was enough to push the already elevated waters to flood levels and […]
I make a lot of swatches when I’m working on patterns. You know, working out patterns, figuring out the count. The color combo. When I was making the library tote for this month’s Craft Leftovers Monthly, it was same as usual. This time, instead of shooting for “coaster” sized swatches, […]