crafts « GOODKNITS // a knitting & crochet blog

D.I.Y. (quick!): tripod hat stand

By Lisa Gutierrez on 07/17/2012

Hello, friends! I’m back with another (quick) D.I.Y. project.

I have seen some beautiful coat racks made with sticks, THIS ONE being my favorite. I wanted something on a smaller scale for me to throw hats on, so I rummaged through my most abundant supply of sticks–my knitting needle jar! I don’t know about you, but I almost never pass up a 50 cent set of needles at the thrift store. Especially the adorable plastic ones in a random assortment of colors! For this project, I used some of my repeat sizes, but don’t worry about your needles because we won’t be doing anything permanent to them.

ANYWAY–onward!

Materials:
3 [13″] knitting needles (OR cut a 3/8″ wooden dowel into 13″ pieces)
~3 yards of yarn

1. Leaving a 6″ tail, start weaving your yarn around two of the needles. Pull tightly with each wrap.
2. Weave in and out of the center and around each needle 3 times, then tie a tight knot with the tail.
3. Put the third needle on top of the stack and start weaving again.
4. Make the same weave in and out of the center around the new needle with each of the first two. Keep your yarn taught! I like to wrap around the new needle, then around one of the firsts, then back around the new, then around the OTHER first needle, then back around the new one…and so forth! You’re just trying to securely attach the needle to the stack while keeping your wraps even. Tie a knot to secure.

5. Open up the needles and make sure they can stand. If you wrapped tightly, you shouldn’t have any problem getting them to balance.
6. Use the remaining yarn to wrap around the whole set, securing your tripod in its open position. It won’t be permanently stuck open, but you’ll be able to put some pressure on top without it collapsing. Firm wraps are key!

And done! Display your favorite hand-knits*. :)

The hat above is Honey knit with KnitPicks City Tweed DK.

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D.I.Y. (quick!): painted lace planter

By Lisa Gutierrez on 06/27/2012

I thought I would share a little series of quick D.I.Y. projects. I know sometimes we don’t have a lot of time to get crafty, so I hope to provide a few little bits of inspiration to help you get something done quick. First up is a painted pot, inspired by lacey scallops.

Supplies:
-clay pot
-1″ circle stickers (I made mine with my Xyron 150, but you can find circle labels at office supply stores)
-paint
-paint brush
-wooden skewer or thin paint brush (not shown)

1. Place stickers along the rim of the planter, very slightly overlapped. I fit 14 on my 4.5″ pot.
2. Paint! I suggest about 3 thin coats. Let the pot dry for 2-3 minutes between coats. Optionally, you can also paint about an inch of the inside.

3. Remove the stickers before the final coat dries completely.
4. Use a wooden skewer or thin paintbrush to add 3 little dots on each scallop.

Let your pot dry, then fill it with your favorite little plant. I chose some of my ‘Black Prince’ echeverias. The most beautiful succulent around!

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Tutorial: Crochet + Leather

By Lisa Gutierrez on 05/25/2012

This is a quick tutorial showing the steps I took to crochet on to leather. If you use felt or other fabric, you can skip steps 1 & 2, because those are preparing the leather for stitching. I tried making this with just a needle and hammer and it killed my fingertips.

You can use this tutorial for general projects that you want to add some leather to the bottom. Perhaps a wallet or clutch or go big and make a sleeve for your tablet. For brevity’s sake, I’m going to use my Kindle as a guide.

The Kindle is about 4.5″ wide and 6.5″ tall with about a .5″ thickness. My case is 5.5″ wide and 7″ tall, measured flat. I used a piece of leather that was 4″ x 6″.

PREPARING LEATHER FOR STITCHES

1. Using a fine tip Sharpie and a ruler, mark your stitch line straight across each side 1/4″ in from the edge. Make your stitch marks 1/4″ from each other, as well. On the short side, omit the very center mark (notice that the 2 on the ruler does not have a notch marked).
2. Make your stitch holes. My husband said when he worked with leather in the past, they would use a hammer + nail to make the holes. I tried using a thick needle and it made my fingertips raw. I looked up leather punches and almost purchased one online when I remembered this rarely used* tool in my crafty arsenal–my Martha Stewart screw punch! I used the 1/8″ tip and punched my holes in just a few minutes.

SEW SIDE SEAMS

3. Fold your leather in half, right sides together. Attach some embroidery floss (or thread of choice) by pulling it through the hole closest to the fold. Leave a 2″ tail and tie a [tight] knot.
4. Sew up the small seam, making sure to pull tight. Don’t pull tight enough to warp the fabric, but you also don’t want your stitches to be THAT visible when you turn it right side out. I stitched up and then back down to the beginning and tied another knot with the beginning tail. Seam up the other short side.

PREPARE EDGE FOR CROCHET

5. Using a 2.5mm hook (or smaller, if you’ve got it) and the yarn you plan to make the top out of (I used Sinfonia– a sport weight cotton), pull a loop through a hole along the long edge, leaving a 6″ tail. Slip-stitch around. Try to keep your stitches loose, so you don’t warp the fabric.
6. When you get to the first edge, make a slip stitch into the seam UNDER the first seam-stitch. Fold your seam flat as you work.
7. Keep going across to the other edge and do the same. When you get back to the very last hole, cut your yarn leaving about 6″ and pull it through. Using a yarn needle, make the last chain stitch through the first, then go back through the last hole again. Tie a knot with beginning tail.

Now your leather base is ready for stitches! Notice how the slip-stitches look like the tops of regular crochet stitches? Well, crochet into them!

I used a 3.5mm (US E-4) hook and my sport weight cotton to single crochet around. There were 44 slip-stitches, but my stitch count was 66 (*SC in first, 2 SC in next* around). I didn’t join at the end, instead I spiraled up for 35 rounds. For round 36, I slip-stitched around and then fastened off.

For the closure, I used a 4.75″ x 1.25″ piece of leather with a brass snap attached to the front. I was also thinking I could use a zipper instead. Maybe next time!

* I originally bought it to make notepads for myself and my kid who loves to doodle in my notebooks, but I used it a few times and put it away.

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Cross-stitch pendant garden

By Lisa Gutierrez on 05/17/2012

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

By Lisa Gutierrez on 05/10/2012

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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