Arm Knitting

A few months ago, I learned how to arm knit. It's so easy, so fun, and so quick. I've made several scarves for gifts, and even taught a few people how to make their own. Maggie Weldon's YouTube {TUTORIAL } was by far the best one I saw.

This was my very first attempt:

It wasn't too bad, but it was a bit too long for my taste. So I just had to make myself another one, and here it is!  I am so in love with the color. Purple - it's my favorite color.

I also had just enough yarn left over to make either boot cuffs or ear warmers. I decided on the ear warmers. I found the pattern for Twistin' the Night Away on {Ravelry}. I love pattern, it was easy, well written, and I had it completed in just about an hour or so. The only thing I don't like is that it messes up my hair when I pull it over my head. If I were to make this again, I just wouldn't seam the ends together and add a button instead.

 I have a feeling I will be making many more of these.

DIY - Spring Wreath

My latest adventure has been to make a new wreath for the front door. I wanted something for spring, something pastel, something happy, and something fun that would remind me spring is just around the corner. I browsed on Pinterest and found some inspiration, so then I set out to make my own.

I had the wreath form and burlap on hand, so I only had to buy the S, the flowers, and paint for the S. And all that was on sale, so I only spent $8 for those supplies. Can't beat that. 

I loved the colors, and I can hardly wait to hang it up for spring. I found this tutorial for the bow {HERE}, and I would highly recommend it. I always struggle with bows, but this bow was so easy! I'm sure I'll be making more soon. 

DIY - Clock

A few weeks ago, I saw this picture on Facebook, and sent it to my friend because it was so perfect for her.

After she saw it, she said she wanted one and asked if I would make one for her. Now, I’ve never made a clock before, but it was a challenge I was willing to accept.

I didn’t see any tutorials that “spoke” to me online, so I decide to just go for it. I had a fairly large white canvas on hand, so I used that as the starting point. Then, I used craft paint to paint it this pretty tan color.

I looked all around for clock arms that I liked at craft stores, hobby stores, and even Walmart, but I didn’t care for any of them. I wanted something a bit more sophisticated. Finally, I settled for  {THIS} from Amazon, and I only paid $3.68 for it, so that was even better, my only complaint was that it didn’t come with directions, but that was okay because I recruited help from my dad. He’s a fountain of knowledge when it comes to random things like that.

After measuring the center point and attaching the clock, we realized that the canvas was too flimsy, and the clock mechanism wouldn’t stay secure. So, he had to improvise a little and cut out cardboard to secure the canvas and the clock parts. Problem solved! I didn’t take a picture of the next step, but I painted the back of the canvas black.

Then, that made me realize how “unfinished” the front of the canvas looked. So, I decided to make a one – inch border around the edge in black before I added the numbers and words. I had some stencils on hand and leftover stickers from another adventure, so that what I used for this.

After I had everything situated and how I wanted it, I sprayed it over with a clear matte finishing spray just to seal everything together.

An here is the final finished product after attaching the arms of the clock.

I attached a picture frame hook on the back of the canvas and it is all set!

Pinterest Project: Travel Map

A friend of mine loves to travel, and she is going so many places this summer before she starts her freshman year of college. One night, I was browsing Pinterest, and I came a across The Dating Diva's DIY Travel Map. It is one of my favorite pins. The tutorial is perfect.

It was super easy and super cute. I also think it is a great conversation starter to hang up in an entryway somewhere. I think I'll make myself one of these. (That gives me an excuse to travel more, right?!)

And now for the pictures...once again, pardon the awful pictures. Eventually, I will remember to take nice ones.

Pinterest Project: Card Table Makeover

Lately, I've been addicted to Pinterest. And I mean addicted. There are so many pins, and not nearly enough time to tackle them all. Most recently, I decided to tackle the card table make over.

We had a very old, very dated card table that was begging for a new chance.

Please pardon the crappy cellphone pictures. I had intentions of going back outside and taking better ones, but the weather didn't cooperate and then I decided to give up. 

With a little bit of spray paint, magic happens:

 And then, a staple gun and table cloth transformed the table itself to this...

 And, sadly, I forget to take a picture of the finished set, but you'll get the idea. 

A few notes:

I looked at many blogs before I discovered a method that worked the best, and I still had to recruit some help from my ever so skilled and handy father. 

Taking the table apart and stabling down the new covering was super easy. Just a few screws here and there and done. Easy to take apart and easy to put together. Sounds good to me.

The chairs, however, were another story. Drilling out the rivets was okay, but the tricky part was putting them back together. No matter what size rivet we used, it just wasn't working.  Then my dad, being as creative as he is, suggested using screws along with this nifty little thing they use for license plates:

Worked like a charm! And not using rivets means it will be super easy to change the chair covers when I decide I'm tired of them and want something different  something spills on them and they need replaced.

These are some of the tutorials I followed for inspiration:

This chair one was great and this pin helped for the table. 

Happy Halloween!

Hello, all!

I have been neglecting my blog, because, honestly, I haven't been knitting lately.

Shocking, I know...

....but Pinterest has been inspiring me! I've been sewing and doing all sorts of other crafty things. Hopefully, I'll blog about them soon.

So, anyway, I will leave you with the most recent Halloween wreath that I made.

At first it looked like this:




 ...but I thought that looked too plain and too much like the one I made for Easter. So I added this...

 

 The web stuff was a pain to work with, but overall, I suppose it turned out okay.

FO: Baby

One thing I can say for sure, is that I have way too much baby yarn. I don't even know how I ended up with half of the baby yarn that I have, but hey , you gotta use it, right?

For some reason, I just have this urge to buy all new baby yarn, but I won't let myself do that. Therefore, I am working through my stash and making as many baby sets and blankets that I can. Then, and only then, I will buy more yarn (hopefully!).

The blanket was just your typical washcloth blanket pattern. It's quick, worked well with the yarn, and it's suitable for a baby boy. You know, a win-win situation. ;-)




The booties, once again, came from my "go-to" pattern. They're really cute and super easy. I probably made both of them in a half hour or less. The pattern can be found at Ooo Baby Knits.

Then I made this hat:





Let me just say that I loved making this hat. I think it is so adorable. And the fact that it has a tie-closure instead of the typical crown decrease? Well, that's just very unique, and it also makes the hat a little adjustable which is always a plus!

The pattern came from Just Another Pattern Blog. Overall, the pattern was very simple and very easy to follow. However, I had a heck of a time with it because it was the very first project that I knitted from start to finish on DPNs. I think once I practice using DPNs more, I would make this hat again. I really did like that pattern, but I wasn't used to using the DPNs and I would usually have stitches fall off of the needles.

I also have many more projects to show, but I'll save those for another time.