I first saw this book quite a few months ago. I was instantly in love. A book after my own heart. A book I would write if given the chance. There are so many great aspects to the Sweater Surgery that I’ll just start with the physical aspect of the book itself. It’s spiral bound! I love craft books that are spiral bound! There is nothing more frustrating than trying to read directions, knit or crochet or sew, and keep a book propped open. And it also makes the templates in the back all the more easy to photocopy because it will actually lay flat without braking the binding!
Read more →

I wanted to do a follow up post of these little wet felted ornaments after embroidering and putting little loops on them:
Read more →

It’s been quite awhile since I played with wet felting and things, so I thought it would be a good idea for me to get the kinks worked out of my memory before possibly teaching a workshop on it next weekend. 

I grabbed cookie cutters of all shapes and sizes, a little soap, some random bits of leftover roving that have piled up in my stash, a dish to work in (I think pie plates work great for this), and you can’t see it here, but an electric tea kettle full of hot water too.  Read more →

Some bits of craft leftovers and some remaining yarn on a cone = felted basket goodness. Without having weave in all those ends because of the felting, it’s the perfect thing to use up all those scraps. 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!

So I finally did it. I felted. I just had to share too of course! This woman at my LYS where I work brought me in her leftovers from all her felting projects and said “I’m not going to use it, does anyone here want it? If not make sure Kristin gets it because I’m sure she will find a use for it.” Or at least that’s how I heard the conversation went. How nice! So I could resist. Now of course, when I started, I was just “testing out” the yarn so I completely forgot to weigh the separate balls of yarn that I used. The total came out to 4 oz. So I’m apologizing about that in advance.

I’ve been using it all weekend as my bathroom tote and it’s drawn some attention in the bathroom at the hostel. I’m not used to be asked for my web address while brushing my teeth in the morning, but I’m totally fine with that.

Anyway, enough rambling, you can download the pattern here.

Well, I need to take a shower and scoot. I’ll see you all later!