Craft File: White Afghan

I started to crochet this afghan a while ago, then ran out of yarn and it fell by the wayside. Hopefully posting it will encourage me to buy more yarn and finish crocheting. It's actually not too difficult and the bulky yarn allows you to see a lot of progress rather quickly. I wanted to stay away from making it look like a typical grandma's afghan and to sort of modernize the look, so I'm using all cream-colored yarn and a stitch that add a lot of texture.




Details: Yarn: Lion Grand Wool-Ease, Color 099 Fisherman and a size N hook.



Tips/Tricks: I use a huge hook and a bulky yarn to help the afghan grow faster and to make the project seem less daunting.



Enjoy!



Rachel May

Craft File: Striped Dishtowels

This was a great quick project to get me back into sewing. I was only going to make one towel, but it seemed silly to not have a set, so I made two!


If you would like to make them, all you have to do is take two different kinds of ribbon, pin them to a tea towel however you want them (I chose stripes, you could do something more wild if you like) and sew the edges of the ribbon down using your sewing machine.


I then hemmed the two sides that contained the ribbon ends, so there wouldn't be any raw edgs, and voila! Not sure if I'm going to keep them or give them away...hmm.


Supplies: Tea towels, ribbon, sewing machine, thread

Tips/Tricks: pin the ribbon first if you want a streamlined look. If you want to make it a little more wild, don't pin the ribbon and do free motion sewing over the ribbon. It's important to sew down both edges of the ribbon so it doesn't curl when washed.

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Craft File: "I Like You a Latte" Card

I've been thinking about friends a lot lately, how it's so great to have that support. I thought I'd tell a couple of my friends that live oh-so-far-away that I was missing them and that they're special to me, so I sent out a few cards. Now that the cards have been received, I thought I'd show you this one. It's one of my favorites, so it was hard to send out (it's hard not to have a favorite when you make the card just the way you like it!).

Details: stamped and embossed image colored with prismacolor markers, background is kraft cardstock, and patterned paper is from the Green Stack 70% recycled cardstock collection by DCMV and the circles embellishments are brads I purchased at Archivers a while back.

Tips/Tricks: Double stick tape glue runners. Don't leave home without them!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Craft File: Purple Socks

I could've sworn I've blogged about these socks, because I started knitting them forever-ago, but I couldn't find it in the archives! Anyways, sometime soon (hahahaha) these will be my purple socks. You may remember that I made socks for The Boyfriend on Valentine's day of last year...well now I want some. Hopefully they turn out better this time. I'm slowly churning away on them, it's my nighttime knitting project.


Details: yarn is merino sock yarn, don't know much else, but I bought it here, needles size 2.5, aluminium dpns (4), knit in the round using the Yarn Harlot's Basic Sock Recipe from this book.

Tips/Tricks: Try to focus on your tension. I didn't do that when I knit my first pair of socks and the first sock fits perfect but the second sock is HUGE!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Craft File: Handspun Yarn

Last Thursday, my sister and I took a class at Fancy Tiger for spinning yarn on a drop spindle. It.Was.Awesome. Our instructor was Jamie, she was so nice and very skilled at spinning. I left the class with a new knowledge and a ton of roving, excited about the craft. By the next night, I had spun up all of the roving, washed the yarn, dried it (Saturday I made cute tags) . I can't wait to spin some more, I'm totally hooked!

If you haven't already tried spinning on a drop spindle, I highly recommend it-it's fun, you can spin while watching a movie or hanging out with friends, and it's a no-waste craft (which eases my eco-loving heart).

Tips/Tricks: Jamie suggested that once you finish spinning your yarn, you make sure to label it. It's much easier to remember the yardage right after you make the yarn. I couldn't agree more.

Details: Merino roving, Shetland roving, and another kind I can't remember, drop spindle (it's a basic one-only costs like $10)

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Craft File: Picnic Time Quilt

Last weekend I decided I wanted to be a quilter...again. So I started the easiest quilt I could think of, a simple checkerboard quilt. I love the idea of just a mish-mash of reds and creams for a blanket, taking it out on a sunny summer day for a picnic. This was a scrappy project (I'm lucky enough to have to aunts that are big-time quilters, and they share their scraps with me) the red scraps were from the aunts, the creams are from my stash-I have a love for unbleached cotton fabric-so natural, such a great feel to it.

I'm pretty far along in the project, all the squares are cut, I'm in the middle of sewing the blocks together to make rows, then I will sew the rows together to make the quilt top!

I'm thinking of using a red binding and and unbleached cotton backing, but we will see. Those are fabrics that I'll actually have to purchase!

Details: 5x5" squares, 1/4" seam allowance, 11x11 rows/squares, cotton fabrics

Tips/Tricks: My aunts taught me that if you use a tablecloth with a cotton backing (like shown), the fabric squares will stick to it. It's a really helpful (and inexpensive) trick, especially if you're living in a tiny house like mine!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Craft File: Bumblebee Quilt

Aww...a Work in Progress. I can't tell you how long ago I started this quilt, but looking at Dee Dee's blog got me inspired. I decided to hang this up in my craft space (I have a great before and after of my craft space to show you too!) to inspire me.


We'll see if it gets me back on my machine.



The only problem now is that it doesn't match any of my spaces. I'm wondering if that matters, as it is a quilt-it's supposed to have a little bit of everything and be handed down generations. How do you feel about this subject? Design the quilt around the room, or make it up as you go?

Rachel May