Apologies

I do apologize that I haven't posted any crafts in a little bit, I sprained one of my fingers early this week and I'm having a hard time doing any crafts at all. It's starting to feel better so I'm hoping that by next week I'll be back to normal and can post some exciting things for you all! Until then, happy crafting! :)

Mug Huggers

It's dismal and foggy here today so I had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches when I got home for something cozy and warm. You know what else makes me feel cozy and warm? Hot coffee, especially a cup I didn't have to make for myself. Unfortunately not everywhere uses styrofoam cups and the little cardboard things to go around the paper cups aren't always enough to keep my hands from burning. So I like to use mug huggers, or cozies, whatever you like to call them. They're also nice during the summer to keep your hands from freezing with ice cold drinks! There's so many different ways to make these, but this is my personal favorite because it's so easy to dress up by adding a little flower or bow etc. to hide the seam. First things first we'll need to start with a slip stitch. Next we'll chain either the length or width of the mug hugger. You can do either the only difference it makes is in the way the "stripes" go. If you chain the width they will be vertical, the length will be horizontal. I chose to chain the width, so I chained 15. Keep in mind that however wide you want it you'll need to chain 1 extra to act as the beginning of your first row. I accidentally deleted my picture of my chain, so if you need a refresher on what a chain is, yarn over and pull through the loop on your hook, repeat as often as necessary. The stitch I'm working with in this project is called a Half Double Crochet (hdc). Here's how you do it. Yarn over, push your hook through the chain right next to the loop on your hook, yarn over and pull through, yarn over one more time and pull through all 3 loops on your hook. And there you have it, a hdc :) I love this stitch because it's just as quick and easy as the single stitch, but it gets the project done just a tad quicker and you don't have all the holes that come with a double crochet. Keep doing hdc's until you reach the end of your row. Don't forget that you should have 1 less hdc than you did chain. I chained 15, but because the last chain counted into my first row I'll only have 14 stitches in all the rows now. When you get to the end of your row chain 1, turn over and continue doing hdc's. Here's where preference kicks in. You'll now have two loops you can crochet through, but some people choose to only crochet through the first one. I prefer going through both, going through just one creates a pronounced ridge I'm not overly fond of in most projects, going through both hides it a little more. I'll show you pictures of going through 2 and 1 loop, and what it looks like with and without the ridge. In the above picture, if you look at the top/right half of the crocheted piece there's a little ridge that disappears halfway down. The ridge is going through 1 loop, and where it disappears is going through 2 loops. Finish your piece to the length you want it (keep the mug/cup you plan on using it on handy so you can test to see when it's long enough.) Also, make sure to count your stitches at the end of the row to make sure you haven't accidentally added or lost any. When your's is long enough fold it in half. (Mine was about 10 inches) Now we're going to slip stitch both ends together. Make sure you get into each stitch on both sides. The first one was the hardest for me, I had to wriggle my hook in but I got it. When you're done there will be a ridge but you'll just flip that to the inside and it won't be noticeable. When you've slip stitched the last stitch chain one, make the loop big and tighten the knot, cut the loop in the middle and pull out the extra, and tie the two tails together. I usually tie it twice just to be safe. You can either cut off the ends or weave them in. Flip it inside out and you're done! I'll post a tutorial on little embellishments you can add to it later! Here's the last of the pictures :) Enjoy!!

Eggless Cookie Dough

Whenever I work on a project I always want something to munch on. I have carpel tunnel in both wrists so it gives me an excuse to stop for a few minutes and give them a break, and besides, who doesn't like snacking? Tonight I craved something sweet but I didn't want to actually bake anything and I didn't want to freeze my mouth with ice cream or a popsicle. My solution? Eggless cookie dough. I know there's a lot of talk about whether or not it's the eggs or the flour that's actually bad for you, but I've never found a recipe for flour-less cookie dough and I've never gotten sick from eating this so I just keep on making it :) The recipe I've had doesn't specify between using light or dark brown sugar, and all I had in the house today was dark so I used that, it was ok, but I definitely prefer using light brown sugar, it's a little sweeter to me so I guess it would be a matter of preference. I ended up adding a little extra regular sugar and it tasted almost perfect so dark will do in a pinch. Here's the recipe, enjoy :) 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/4 tsp. vanilla 1/4 cup milk 1 cup flour pinch of salt 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Birds Nest Ring

I LOVE this ring! It was supposed to go into stock for the craft fairs my friend and I will be doing but I think I'm going to keep this one ;) Again I need a new camera so it's kind of hard to tell in these pictures what I used for beads, but there's a black dimondy shaped one, a turquoise bead, and a silver bead. I used 24 gauge wire for this ring because of how many small wraps I knew I would have to do, and it was definitely easier than the 20 gauge would have been but I like the way the 20 gauge stays in place better, at least as far as a ring goes. Either way I'm happy with how it turned out! Now I just need to get a ring sizer so I can make more sizes lol :)

Wire Wrapped Ring

Decided to start with a simple ring instead of trying the birds nest right away. I'll tackle that another day for sure, this one was so easy I can't imagine that the birds nest would be too hard! Just a quickie post with a link to the site I found instructions at and a couple pictures of mine. :) Enjoy!!

Birds Nest Necklace

I know the name of the blog doesn't include jewelry but I love making jewelry too! I've just started getting into wire wrapping and found this simple project to try as my first and I love the way it turned out! I apologize that my pictures are a little blurry, my camera isn't the greatest unfortunately, my phone camera is actually better, go figure. Unfortunately I live in the sticks and have to go into town to send pictures from my phone to my email so I can add them here, so tomorrow I'll get the clearer pictures sent and add them to the post. For now here you go with pictures of my necklace: Her tutorial is great, she didn't specify a way to keep the sharp ends from scratching so I used round nose pliers to tuck the ends into one of the beads and so far it's seeming to work well, I'll update on that once I wear it. I'm thinking these may be my mother's day presents this year. I may even try doing this as a ring, just using smaller beads, not sure how/if that would work with tucking the ends into the bead though, I'll try it later tonight after I eat supper and let you all know how it works. Anybody have some neat wire wrapping projects you'd like to share?

Tunisian Crochet Headband

So I got to use my little basket for the first time with this project. I decided I wanted to make myself a headband so I don't always have to wear my hat outside. Sometimes I'm just hanging out with friends and I don't need a lot to stay warm, but my ear muffs have headphones attached and I don't always want to deal with the cords, so a headband was my perfect solution. However, no matter how cheap they were at work after Christmas I wasn't about to buy one when I have plenty of yarn and the know-how to make one. So I hunted for the perfect stitch and I found this little beauty on pinterest (I LOVE that site!). I decided to start with the basic stitch, but she also has tutorials for 3 other versions of the Tunisian stitch and all of them are fantastic! I'm definitely going to be finding projects to use the other stitches for! Each seam was just slip stitching the two ends together, I made the little piece to hide the big seam, kept the little seam on the inside, and stitched it in place so it wouldn't turn around on me. Pretty simple but I like it and it fits very well so I'm happy with it. And it matches my scarf I made myself a few years ago so that's an added bonus! ;) What's your favorite crochet stitch?

Crochet Basket

Well I finished this much quicker than I thought I would; I think all together, actual crocheting time, it took me about 4 hours. Again, I had to improvise, I don't have 4 skeins of 9 colors of yarn or the money to go buy that much, so I used 2 strands of different colors and I think it turned out pretty cool. I also gave myself a little freedom with how wide each stripe was, and I also decided to make it a mirror look. Here's a close up of all the color combinations. From top to bottom: light blue and brown, light pink and gray, red and tan, light green and creme, dark blue and black. Because I only used 2 strands instead of 4 it's not as stiff as the original looks, or as big I'm thinking, but I think it'll be just perfect for me to use for a little project tote so I don't have to carry around my HUGE bag of yarn. Not that I truly need another bag for craft projects but that's ok ;) Anybody else out there take a pattern and improvise it? Did it turn out maybe not quite "perfect" but actually pretty perfect for you? I'd love to see/hear stories :)

Almost Done

Very sorry I haven't posted anything the last couple of days, I was visiting with my brother because he heads back to Japan in the morning and I wanted to spend what time I could with him. He's got about 10 months left and then he'll be home on terminal leave until his time ends, almost to the finish line! Can't wait until he's out and can just stay home with the family, but I'm also extremely proud of what he has accomplished while he's been in the Navy. I may be the older sister but I look up to my brother, he is a hero, MY hero, and I'm glad I get to have him for a brother! Working on this basket, had to improvise a little bit to fit what I have in my yarn collection, but I like it so far! I'll post pictures when I'm done :) Until then, have a wonderful week!

Peppermint Rice Krispies

A little late for Christmas, but it sure feels like Christmas still here in Maine. Just finished one snow storm and we have another one right around the corner. Needless to say I'm drinking quite a lot of hot chocolate, and what is hot chocolate without marshmallows? Mediocre. I went out before the snow really hit this year and happened upon peppermint marshmallows and decided to give them a try. They're fantastic. I love them. So I decided to make peppermint rice krispies. They're still hardening up in the fridge, but the little bit I had was delicious. Will definitely be trying these in other flavors! In case anybody is looking for a quick, easy, rice krispie treat recipe here's the one I used: 3 tablespoons of butter, 4 cups mini marshmallows or 1 pkg (10 oz) regular mashmallows, and 6 cups of rice krispies. melt butter over low heat, add marshmallows and continue stirring until fully melted. Remove from heat and stir in rice krispies. Spread in a 9x13 pan (using a buttered spatula or wax paper makes this step easier but if you use your fingers you can lick them afterwards ;) ) coated with cooking spray. Let cool, cut and serve. Or if you're like me just rip a chunk off ;) Enjoy!!

My Quilt

So I was working on my quilt last night and my cat decided she needed to be involved in it as well After posting that picture on facebook I had a few people ask me for a "progress report" on my quilt. I've "only" been working on it for 3 years now, hand quilting is a much bigger undertaking than I expected it to be, but I've started now and I'm determined to finish it, hopefully by my boyfriend's birthday in May seeing as he's been begging for me to finish it so he can steal it from me :) so here's a few pictures of it so far: The first one is of the pattern as seen from the back, the second one is of the square you can see the pattern clearest in, the 3rd is how I'm doing it, and the last one is the bottom half of the quilt. It's HUGE. I didn't intend on it being so big, but it's really cozy to wrap up in, which I've done on really cold days despite it not being done. Basically how I'm doing the quilting part if it is I'm tracing the pattern onto tracing paper, pinning it in place over each square and stitching through the paper and quilt. I spray a little water on the paper once I'm done the square to help get the paper off easier and voila there's a quilted square! I'm on square #7 and I've got 48 total to do, I'm going to be quilting quite a few of my nights away this winter! Anybody else out there working on a quilt and have a different way of quilting by hand or even by machine? Any quilt patterns you'd like to share? I'd love to see and hear about them!!