ohmygoodknits! // a knitting & crochet blog » crafts

Cross-stitch pendant garden

Lisa — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:24:37 +0000

I suppose I went a little nuts with cross-stitch, a few weeks ago. I’m not entirely sure anyone needs a cross-stitched flower pendant, much less three of them. I just really enjoyed making them. And I want to make more. Stitching on wood felt so much easier than having aida or linen on a hoop. It felt more precise and…natural? I don’t really know how to describe it, but after getting the drawing onto graph paper (some of the flowers in the book I mentioned last time were too big), I just got started and the next day I had a beautiful little flower to add to my collection.

[Scalloped pendants were bought from the workroom & circle pendant was bought from modern needleworks]

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Wrap It for Mom

Lisa — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:49:25 +0000

Mother’s Day is this Sunday! I’m going to plant a rose bush (or 3) for my mom, but every year I also get the grandmas a photo book (standard 8″x11″ from Snapfish) filled with photos of their grandsons. Because who do moms love more than their own kids? Their GRANDKIDS. It’s true.

Anyway, I’ve had the books for a few days and I’ve been trying to think of how to wrap them. I’ve done wrapping paper, decorated kraft paper, and even scrap fabric in the past. This year, I went with vintage silk scarves. I had two sizes. One was a big 36″x36″ square and the other (this one!) was a bit smaller, at 21″x21″. Here’s how I wrapped it:

1. Place the book face down on the scarf with the edges of the book facing the corners of the scarf. Tie a knot with the 2 corners on the short side of the book.
2. Flip the whole thing over and a tie a knot with the adjacent corners. This is the “front.” Optionally, you can tuck in the little flaps on the back knot. If your scarf is little, like mine, you’ll be able to see some of the book poking through, like this. I rather like the texturing coming through from the linen book cover.

Finish it off with a pretty tag. I wrote out the word mom on a piece of cardstock, poked holes with my embroidery needle, then used two strands of floss to trace my letters. It took 10 minutes tops!

Are you doing anything special for your mom or mom-like figure in your life this weekend?

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Make it: Cork & Wool Coasters

Lisa — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:30:39 +0000

It’s been a while since my last DIY, so I thought I would remedy that with a quick cork coaster idea. It’s pretty simple and you can have a set made in under an hour, I bet. Below you will find instructions for both crochet or embroidered coasters.

Supplies:
4″ x 4″ cork squares (I buy 12″ cork tiles and cut them with a rotary cutter)
standard hole punch
DK weight yarn– I used needlepoint wool, but any thin yarn will do
2.75mm (C) hook (increase the hook size if you use a thicker yarn, but make sure it fits through the holes)
yarn needle

template

Use the template to punch holes evenly around the square.

If you crochet, attach the yarn at the center of one of the sides. Single crochet (US) around the coaster, making 5 single crochet stitches in the corners. Slip-stitch to the first SC to end. Optionally, you can slip-stitch through all holes, if you want to fill them (see yellow coaster in title image).

If you haven’t yet picked up the craft of crochet, below is a simple embroidery stitch called the blanket stitch.

1. Insert needle from back to front through a hole. Bring through about 2 yards of yarn and leave about 10″ hanging at the back.
2. Insert needle from front to back through the next hole, making sure to bring your needle through the loop created.
3. Pull snug against the edge of the coaster.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until you get to a corner.
5. At the corners, repeat steps 2 & 3 twice more in the same spot (3 stitches in each corner).
6. When you come to the end, pull the rest of the yarn through the first loop, as shown in last image.

Using the beginning & end yarn, tie a knot and weave in the ends through the loops on the back.

And that’s it! If hearts are more your thing, check out my last cork coaster: Embroidered Heart Coaster. These would make mighty cute Mother’s Day gift sets. ♥ ♥

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DIY: duo-tone macrame bangle

Lisa — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:22:35 +0000

I recently did a little DIY for the Spring 2012 issue of Stroller Magazine. It’s a free publication primarily geared toward moms.

The step-by-step photo DIY is easy to follow and you should have a pretty bracelet in no time at all. This is a fun twist (oh, a pun!) on the traditional macrame bracelet. Gold and bright colors > droppy brown macrame. Go and check it out!

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Cross Stitch: floral pendant

Lisa — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:48:12 +0000

I have had a crush on the wooden cross-stitch pendants for a long time, but seeing Danielle’s projects, two weeks ago, pushed me over the edge. I bought a pendant. ONE. Because I was unaware of how much I would love this tiny project! I racked my brain for ideas–my initial, “mom,” a bunny, etc. Finally, a lightbulb went off and I ran to my bookshelf and pulled out some vintage needlepoint books. It was tough finding something small. I had a lot of beautiful fonts but they were all too big.

I finally came across this book with nothing but floral charts. There’s a whole page with these small flowers. I chose the one I liked most and transferred it to some graph paper, then drew the template of the pendant around it. I had to sacrifice a bit of the edges, but I don’t mind. I am in loooooove!

I am kicking myself for not buying more pendants. I bought them from the same place Danielle did–The Workroom. I am going to buy some more soon. I think they’d be beautiful key chains for Mother’s Day! Psssst! I already bought the floss for my next. Shades of coral for the flower and mint for the background. I can’t wait!

What do you think? Tiny projects are awesome, no? I started this yesterday and finished it this morning. I would have finished sooner if I hadn’t accidentally cut my working thread at one point. Pfffft!

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Make it: washi tape covered container

Lisa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:15:14 +0000

The giveaway winner was chosen and posted in the widget! If you didn’t win, but still fancy yourself a pretty jar for markers, pencils, knitting needles, crochet hooks, branches, or whatever, make one yourself! It would probably be the easiest project you ever undertook.

The only supplies you need are: an empty container (this is a plastic container that had cheap grated parmesan; we eat a lot of pizzzzza), washi tape, mod podge, and a paint brush.

Cover the jar in washi tape and then give it a few thin coats of mod podge. That’s it.

The diagonal lines were trickier than the straight horizontal ones, of course, but it still worked out nice.

Fun fact: my container of mod podge is older than my oldest child (he’s almost 7)! It’s on its last leg and will probably be replaced soon.

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A Month of Craft Photos: Days 21-28

Lisa — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:32:26 +0000

21; crafting companion (orig. #30)
this pillow sits on the top edge of the couch and the kitten likes to nap there almost every time I sit to knit.

22; contrast
a colorwork hat–diagonal shifting stripes. I was in that sort of mood for a few days. I learned– knitting with both of my hands makes them cramp up big time! I don’t usually get any hand cramping problems, but when I’m knitting with two colors, my left hand ends up sore for a few hours.

23; inspiration from clothes
fun, bold colors, patterns, teal, red, etc.

24; up close
I love lace. Orange lace? Even better.

25; when I craft
knitting in the morning; listening to dreams of the little ones while they munch on eggs and toast.

26; organization
really, this is just a shelf of yarn that will get used up soon. my stash is located in bins, but the yarn that will be used up soonish gets put on the shelf. I like looking at the colors–inspiration abound!

27; the wrong side
I finished the hat I was working on a few days ago. It’s a colorwork hat, so the wrong side is all sorts of lovely stripes of wool. I like the floating yarn!

28; simplicity
the crochet looks complicated. I bought the doily for a great price because it has a hole in it. Placed in an embroidery hoop, it’s a simple, yet beautiful, wall adornment.

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Make it: hanging yarn heart

Lisa — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:55:04 +0000

I know Valentine’s Day has passed, but I kind of like hearts. And I LOVE yarn. My scrap jar is one of my favorite sources of craft supplies. This project is so easy, I didn’t take any step-by-step photos.

You start with a wire hanger (mine is coated in white plastic*), shape it into a heart, or circle, or whatever shape you want, untwist the top, thread your balls of yarn scraps around the whole thing, then re-twist the top. Done. No glue means you can re-use the yarn if you find yourself on the path of, say, a granny square afghan.

*My plastic-coated hanger kept its original twist while I threaded, so re-twisting was a cinch.

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Make it: Embroidered Heart coaster

Lisa — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:31:29 +0000

I made heart shaped coasters, but you could switch out the shape with whatever you like. You could give THESE away as Valentines! They’re fairly quick to complete and easy peasy.

Materials
embroidery floss
a needle
double-sided tape
4″ x 4″ cork coaster (I bought 12″ x 12″ tiles and cut them up. 9 per tile!)
heart shape to fit your tile

not shown:
ruler, pencil

1. Adhere your heart to your coaster with a small piece of tape. Mark the “corners” of the heart by placing a ruler across the tile diagonally and making small marks on the edges.
2. Working with a LONG piece of floss (leave the non-working tail connected to the rest of your floss), insert the needle at the bottom tip of the heart, from front to back.
3. Bring the floss back over and insert about 1/8″ from first spot. Continue bringing the floss to the front and stitching at evenly-spaced (as even as you can muster) intervals along the edge of your heart.

4. When you get to a corner, stitch in the spot, then come up along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same space.
5. Continue stitching along this side until you get to the next corner. Stitch into that space, bring the floss back over along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same spot. Continue stitching until you run out of floss. If you get back to the beginning, stitch into the first spot, then knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. You’re done!

If you run out of floss, follow steps 6-7:

6. Cut a long piece of floss from your non-working end and re-thread your needle with it. ON THE BACK of the coaster, bring the now working thread through the first two or so stitches, then start embroidering up the side, the same way you did the first half of the coaster.
7. When you get to your original thread, knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. Now, you’re done!

Like I said above, use them as coasters or little pieces of art! You could use this same method to embroider on cardstock to make a lovely Valentine’s Day card. I’m going to make some for my boys!

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Craft Night: Felt Camera

Lisa — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:10:09 +0000

The night before last, My Girl Thursday and ♥elycia hosted Craft Night! I logged on while they were getting their camera and stream situated and proceeded to cut my pieces during the first few minutes. I followed along with them for about an hour and a half and then had to help with bedtime. I was able to pick up where I left off when I got back and finished all of the sewing that night. I stuffed my camera the next morning and presented it to Andrew.

He LOVES it. I took these photos this morning and you can see where the felt is already pilling. I used the craft-store stuff because that’s all I had on hand. I intended to make it all blue, but…ummmm I ran out. Ha! Oh well. I like the contrasting yellow sides and top/bottom.

Did you participate? Show me!

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Past Valentine’s Day Projects

Lisa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:37:01 +0000

[Knit heart, thrifted garland]

[Cupcake containers]

[Heart crayons]

[Amigurumi heart friend]

[Heart pins]

My husband has been in Las Vegas 4 out of the past 5 Valentine’s Days. He works for an apparel company and so he’s there for the men’s fashion convention, MAGIC (ha). The first few years it really bummed me out, but now I’m used to it. These days, I consider it more of a kid’s holiday. We get to play with pinks! Reds! Whites! Hearts! Cupcakes! It’s a crafty holiday and so I really dig it. How about you?

Do you like Valentine’s Day or do you ditch it? Is it more of a romantic or fun holiday for you?

I’ll be back soon with a super simple under-five-minutes crochet heart pattern.

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Make it: Hanging Card (& photo) Holder

Lisa — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:44:50 +0000

Are you receiving Christmas cards yet? We got our first a few days ago and it’s been hanging out on my shelf since then. This morning, I decided it needed a new home. I wanted something small, but still cute. ALSO, I wanted something I could hang on to past Christmas. Perhaps something to hang my Instax photos from? Mmmhmmm!

Supplies:
random thin tree branch (this one is about 11″ long)
yarn (I used regular worsted weight for stick-wrapping and some fine weight cotton for hanging)
tiny clothespins
cards! and/or photos!
other: scissors, pin or nail to hang the holder from

1. Tie a knot and start wrapping up your branch.
2. After about an inch or so, tie on your second color and start wrapping.
3. Wrap the second color around your branch AND the first color’s tail.
4. Keep wrapping, alternating colors (OR keep it solid OR add more colors). When you get to the end, cut off about 2 feet of your last color and tie a knot on the branch.

5. Your excess yarn should be able to reach across to the other side of the stick. 2 feet is what I used for my 11″ branch.
6. Tie your yarn around the other end of the branch. Trim any excess.

7. Grab your finer weight yarn and cut a piece about 18″ long. Tie a knot an inch from the end. Thread the yarn through the spring of your clothespin.
8. Tie another knot (large enough to not slip through the spring) and thread more pins. Leave about 4-5″ between each pin.
9. When you have about 4″ left, tie your string of pins around the branch.

Make another string of clothespins and tie around your branch as well. Hang and enjoy!

Print it: Christmas Gift tags

Lisa — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:04:21 +0000

One of my favorite things about the holidays is gift wrapping. I like to add personal touches and combine colors and textures. I thought that since a lot of folks put up their Christmas trees and are probably beginning to put presents under them, I would offer these printable gift tags to you.

I have never offered any printables, so if you use them, do come back and tell me how you like them!

The tags are available in 8 different shades. You can download each individual color using the links below, or click [HERE] to download them ALL in one single PDF. Each page has 9 tags on them. They’re pretty large files, so right-click and “Save as…”

{GOLD}
{MINT}
{TEAL}
{NAVY}
{PINK}
{RED}
{GRAY}
{BLACK}

I’m a fan of layers, so after cutting them out, I layered a paper doily over a piece of kraft paper and put the tag on top. A small piece of double-sided tape between the layers is all that’s needed. I left enough space on top of each tag for you to be able to use a standard hole-punch for threading ribbon or lace. I used some lace trim I had. I think it looks pretty lovely on a white box tied up with gold tinsel ribbon.

I free-handed this Christmas tree a ton of times to get it perfect for my Christmas card. THEN, I got the idea to use Photoshop the design and use it as a gift tag. I’ll share my Christmas card soon! Hint: It involves gold speedball paint and my sons looking adorable in blazers…

**These tags are free for personal use only!**

Christmas: layered doily tree skirt

Lisa — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:48:49 +0000

I was sitting in my knitting chair (tell me you have a designated knitting spot!) thinking about how I should make a tiny tree skirt for my tiny tabletop tree. I sighed when I realized that December was pretty much already here and I’d have to settle with a quick felt skirt. Nothing against felt, I just don’t have any of the GOOD stuff around and would have to use craft store felt, which is just plastic-y and gross.

I decided to forget about it and arrange one of my new shelves full of yarn. Upon combing through a few bags (tell me you sometimes store your yarn in plastic bags), I found a little stash of doilies. LIGHT!BULB!ON!

I took the base off my tree and threaded the metal tube through a few of the doilies and voila! A pretty lace tree skirt. No sewing, no gluing, no cutting, no nothing. It took me less than a minute to put together.

I like the messy mound of doily snow. I think it’s perfect for this tree full of little doily ornaments…

Now I need a bunch of tiny presents to put under it. I already ordered my husband’s gift off Etsy. It will be the first. I’m finally finishing up my toddler’s socks and I’ll wrap those up for the tree, too. I need the perfect little gift for my 6 year old, though. Hmmmm. He’s already getting a ton of random crap (I know, I know), so I need something meaningful.

Patch up your woollies!

Lisa — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:40:08 +0000

Please tell me I am not the only one who has passed up wool sweaters, hats, etc. at the thrift store because of tiny little moth-eaten holes. I have done it on a few occasions and now I completely regret it. Last year, I found this big comfy grandpa-ish cardigan at one of my favorite thrift spots. It had the tiniest little hole, but it felt so warm I HAD to buy it. Fast forward to me bringing it out of the closet this year and finding at least 4 other tiny holes.

Booooo! After wearing it a few times and always fidgeting with the small hole near my wrist, I decided I needed to mend my poor sweater. the gauge was too small for me to actually darn any holes, so I found an alternative: FELT it! If you’ve never done any needle felting, don’t worry. This was my first time too! The supplies are very inexpensive (under $10 including shipping, inexpensive) and it’s SO quick!

Supplies:
Felting needle [I purchased mine from hi-fiber kits for $1 a piece]
Small amount of wool roving [I also purchased some from hi-fiber kits and they sent me a little bonus in two diff colors! woo!]
Little piece of foam [THIS came with my needles! Perfect!]
your woolly sweater

Put the piece of foam under the hole and place your bit of wool over it. Stab it with the needle to felt it into place. Yes, STAB! Stab it with the needle to attach it. I was surprised at how gratifying this was. You can make those tiny patches into cute hearts following the steps below:

1. Grab a sliver of wool and stab the center bit right under your hole. You only need to stab a tiny bit to attach it.
2. Shape half of the heart and stab it into place.
3. Shape the other half. Stab, stab, stab all over to secure it completely.

Done. Peel off your foam and wear your adorable patchy sweater with pride.

This patch was made by felting a rectangular piece and then shaping a heart over the top.

Have fun and relieve some stress by stabbing your holey sweaters. You could also grab a bigger piece of wool and felt some elbow patches on them! How cute would heart elbow patches be?