I’ve been cleaning out my apartment one space at a time. Today was my studio. After collecting all my butterfly bobbins of wool, I was confronted with a shopping bag full of random colors. Some people may see this as overwhelming, depressing, and challenging. (What to do with all these random colors?) Well honestly, it filled me with childhood glee! You see, wool is great for crewel–all those random colors? A painters palette!

Sometimes it’s fun to mix things up a bit. Just because you have leftovers from a knit project, does not mean you have to stick with knitting for the leftovers. Those last 3 yards are perfect for a variety of projects and crewel is on the top of my list. It’s freestyle embroidery with with 2-ply wool yarn. I’ve used a variety of fiber types with good results though.

Crewel is a great way to use those last bits, and to me it’s a family tradition. Going back to my great-grandma, we have all preferred crewel embroidery. I’m not sure what it is, maybe the thrifty nature of using up leftovers, the soft texture, or just that it was the late 70′s early 80′s when it was all the rage and my grandma and mom were into it. And of course little girls want to be like their moms.

The first crewel work I ever stitched was a little fisher boy kit. I still have him around and think he’s pretty cute. I had forgotten about my crewel beginnings though. That was until I was in Dekalb, my first year of university, and I saw this great book at the library. It’s called The New Crewel. It sparked my interest in crewel all over again. I thought I had never seen anything like it. It’s funny how in reality, I was surrounded by it my whole childhood. If you haven’t already, check out this great interview with the author of the New Crewel, it was posted on CRAFT last fall.

My grandma made this when my mom found the pattern a bit too much.

And this has hung in the hallway since I was a kiddo.

Here are some great resources for crewel embroidery, starting with the history and ending with some project ideas. I am particularly fond of the coloring book idea, just brilliant.

• A Guide to Crewel Embroidery on Pretty Impressive Stuff
• How Crewel by Elizabeth Creeden from the Caron Collection
• Jacobean leaves embroidery pattern series on Materialistic
• A Crewel Embroidery freebie on Love Stitches
• Sharon B’s Stitch Dictionary
• Jacobean Flower to Stitch on Stitching with a Shimmy
• Free Vintage Crewel Pattern on Two Kitties
• A great idea by two kitties to use coloring book pages for crewel embroidery
• Free embroidery patterns on Craft Leftovers

Armed with a bag full of wool, you will be sure to see some new embroidery patterns coming up on Craft Leftovers.

Taking my lunch to the office has become second nature to me, and part of that is keeping a place setting around the office. It’s just easier than toting it back and forth. But it’s not easier to keep them clean. That is until now!

Check out my awesome plastic canvas box:

That contains…ta-da!

My very own washing kit. I just took a leftover jar and filled it with 1 T. dish soap and topped it off with water.

I rolled up and tucked in a dishcloth, the perfect knit dishcloth worked in two colors of cotton vs wool and cotton.

Now I’m all set!

The really great thing about this box is that I can run it through the dishwasher on the top rack because it’s plastic canvas and cotton yarn.

Here is how you can make your own

::Materials::
2 – Plastic canvas, 30 x 30
3 – Plastic canvas, 16 x 30
2 – Plastic canvas, 6 x 32
2 – Plastic canvas, 6 x 18
1 – Plastic canvas, 18 x 32
20 yards – Cotton yarn, worsted weight
1 yarn needle

::Directions::
Stitch together the lid – Two 6 x 32, 6 x 18, 18 x 32

Stitch together the bottom – Two 30 x 30, Three 16 x 30

I just take my dishes and my little kit to the wash room and wash them right up as needed.

I also use it when Ames C.art has events so we can wash out all our mugs when we finish up. Hot chocolate and tea have become the standing order at all our events.

Have a great weekend and happy washing!

Kristin Roach

More crafty buddies for your stitching pleasure! These cute little guys will jazz up any craft bag, knit basket, or make a nice framed embroidery piece for Your Crafty Buddies studio wall.

You can get the Hand Stitching Crafty Buddy Set here and the original Machine Stitching Crafty Buddy Set here.

And, as with last time, you can always get started with this cute little thimble:

Have a great weekend! Happy crafting!

Kristin

I’m really excited to announce a new series of Craft Leftovers embroidery designs! Crafty Buddies! You can get the first set in the shop today! And to get you started on your stitching, here is a free preview pattern – Your Little Crafty Buddy Thimble! He keeps your finger safe and sound and helps your need have a little extra push. Just right click the image and select “save as…”, print, transfer, and stitch!

I started this series as a set of illustrations, you can see the finished sewing machine on Kro Studio. I’m looking for a local printer to make high quality prints. I think they would be so cute to have hanging in the studio.

A few weeks ago I posted about finding the sewing boxes my great grandma liked to make {link}. They were tucked away in the garage in a box and it was pure treasure when I found them again. After looking at the whole set, the random colors and the pin cushion also made up of little bits Read more →

I was lucky enough to be contacted by Janet of Napa Needle Point about doing a guest pattern for Craft Leftover! Splended! Of course! And I think the fates are aligning because it was while I was working on 2 needle point embroidery kits and then doing the first sketches of my own needle point ornament! Good timing too because needle point is great for leftover yarn and takes a little longer than other ornments. We all still have plenty of time to make our own needle point leaf ornments! Wonderful! And if you change up the colors, it could be a beautiful snowflake too!

Vellus simply means SnowFlake. I thought latin would give a nice twist to the simple “SnowFlake Ornament” title that popped into my mind initially. When I first started this project I mapped it all out on paper, made sure everything fit, and then after stitching the border threw it all out the window and completely changed things around. It was fun working intuitively instead of planning it all out. How it worked out so well was the miracle of working from the center out to keep it all symmetrical. It was a whole lot of fun to make, Read more →

I’ve decided it is high time that I made some Christmas projects. I know that I am well under way into my Christmas knitting and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if that was a common thing. I wanted to make some ornaments that could be made quickly, under an hour for each one. The other thing that is important to me is for them to indicate and denote Christmas, with out all the cheese involved. I have never really been a fan of decorating for holidays though, so I wanted something that could be used for a season. Winter Season. I like decorating for the season instead of the holiday. I guess I feel like it allows me to enjoy what I’ve done a little longer.

This project calls for felt and just about any will work great, but I really like using recycled sweaters and hence the name. I have a stash of old felted sweaters and this just seemed to call for soft white and red cabled felt.

Download the pattern here (pdf)

Now there is an explanation due because I realize I am tardy putting up this weeks pattern. There were several factors conspiring against me and I now realize that I was ridiculous to think I could get anything finished for Saturday. Unrealistic to the end! The main thing was work all Saturday, an all day committee thing on Friday, and a show at the Pleasant Street Gallery Thursday night. It went off without a hitch and we had a really great response. You can see pictures and whatnots here.

Now don’t forget to check back tonight! Craft Leftovers Monthly is going on Sale at Midnight central time! Hooray! I’ll post an update specifically for that with a direct link to the listing and everything!

Have a great Sunday!

All those yarn strands, just a few yards long are filling up all my little containers and what the heck can you do with those except pitch them in the trash? About a year ago I was introduced to crewel needlework and wouldn’t you know it, it’s the perfect thing. It’s traditionally done with 2 ply wool in about a dk to sport weight, but it’s been so fun to play with different textured yarns and see how they make different textured surface. About this same time became interested in the gulf coastal region and borrowed a book from the library about them. Just one of those field guide ones. I’m not sure why but I became obsessed with drawing them. It is from those drawings that I have made these templates. I hope you enjoy seaside creatures and using up yarn bits as much as I do!

Download the pattern here (pdf).

I don’t have an image of them framed with me, but I’ll put them up when get back into town (monday).

On another note. Thank you so much to the generous offers of April of Craft Zombie and Alice of Alice’s House. You both are so amazingly nice! And also thank you to everyone else who emailed and commented with sewing machine suggestions and well wishes. It made the loss of my machine so much easier to bare.

Thank you!

You can embroider them with wool or cotton, either way they are Fancy fricking napkins. Easy enough to make, they add that special something to your fancy fricking dinner. Depending on your dinner, you can fancy them up or fancy them down style.

The pattern also includes a how to on making a crocheted napkin ring. Sewing and crochet! My favorite!

You can see here how it was embroidered by outlining first with the back stitch, then filled in with satin stitch and french knots.
There are few more dish cloth kits in the store and I’m going to make up some more kits tonight. They should be added to the store by midnight. Thank you to everyone who bought kits, commented and sent me super supportive emails about the book. I really appreciate! It always makes my day!

Have a good week! Craft it up folks!