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

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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!

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

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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.

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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!

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

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

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Hook & Needle Organization w/Jordana Paige

So long mason jars, hello organization!

I fell into the trend of using mason jars to hold most of my craft tools. I have no less than 4 mason jars on my craft shelf with various hooks, needles, markers, pens, buttons, and random notions. There is no order and when I need to find a certain something I almost always end up dumping one or two of the jars onto my floor. It’s more than a little frustrating. Even my circular needles are crammed into an old tin box. Oh, the tangles!

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Jordana Paige

When the folks over at Jordana Paige asked if I would be interested in reviewing their newest organization product–the Crafter’s Tool Butler–I visited the product page and seriously gasped. Something that would not only hold my knitting/crochet accesories, but help me ORGANIZE? Yes, please! This is like a crafter’s dream.

Jordana Paige Crafter's Tool Butler

(Beautiful packaging! The back of the box also shows the list of features.)

There is no right or wrong way to organize your things in this. There is even enough space between the zippered pockets to keep a pattern or two. I love that it isn’t craft specific. I could put anything in there! This could be my journaling case with notebooks and a random assortment of markers. Alas, my markers actually look nice in mason jars. My random assortment of needles and hooks are better suited for the Butler.

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It features:
• Six flat pockets for all sizes of double-pointed needles and crochet hooks.
• Four zippered accordion pockets for circular needles with label inserts for custom numbering.
• Mesh pocket for small items such as safety pins, stitch markers and darning needles.
• Knitting needle and crochet hook inventory chart.

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Yes, there are little cards for you to make note of what you are storing. So considerate! I don’t know how many times I’ve emptied jars/bags/whatever looking for something I am SO SURE I placed in there. This totally eliminates ever needing to do that again.

Jordana Paige Crafter's Tool Butler

After fixing your things inside and just relishing in the fact that you won’t lose your most favorite H hook again, you get to zip it up and stare at the beauty on the outside. This thing is pretty. It’s a textured vegan “leather” bound case that measures 10.5″L x 2″W x 6.5″H. I have the bronze case, but it also comes in black onyx, deep red, and eggplant purple. It has a clean, classy design.

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If someone you love is having trouble keeping their hooks or needles organized, this would be the perfect gift! Check out Jordana Paige to see other lovely knitting bags, patterns, or even a directory to locate one near you.

Save the page for July 18 when Jordana Paige will be having an “imperfect” handbag sale benefiting The Pre-Eclampsia Foundation. A new bag will be posted every hour for $50 and ALL of it gets donated. Amazing. Click the image below to see the full blog post on the JP blog.





Disclosure: Jordana Paige sent me the Crafter’s Tool Butler to review. I was not otherwise compensated and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Knitting: Saartje’s baby bootees

lucy's bootsies

Pattern: Saartje’s Bootees [Ravelry link]
Yarn: Aimée, by Louisa Harding Yarns
Needles: 3.5mm (US 4) DPNs
Modifications: Made them in the round, using tips from Hello Yarn, including her superb tutorial for the figure 8 cast-on.

I see these booties all over Etsy. I have for a while, but you know what I saw first? The FREE pattern (right sidebar). I made two pairs (ONE, TWO) for Andrew and a few others as gifts. It’s been a few years since I made my last pair, though.

On Tuesday evening, I went to bed at 8. I don’t know what overcame me, but I was dead tired so I left the kids to my husband and went to bed. 4 hours later, I woke up with the strongest desire to knit. Such a big contrast from when I first began knitting and I would have nightmares about it. Endless rows of purl–I loathed it!

Anyway, I didn’t feel like picking up any projects I already have on the needles; I wanted to cast on! After about 15 minutes, I settled on bootees. The kids were already asleep and the husband was computing downstairs, so I got my yarn and needles and got to work. It took me longer because I forgot my mods, but I had a full bootee in less than 2 hours. I loved that. I went to bed [again] and woke up about 5 hours later to make the next.

I love quick knits. And I am SO glad there’s a baby girl in my family to knit for again. I’m rummaging around Ravelry, looking for the perfect yarn for a February Baby Sweater.

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Knitting: HONEY

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HONEY has arrived! See some more info, a ton more photos on the pattern page, HERE. It’s FREE for one week only (through 6/21). Join the KAL with me in the brand new group: Ravelry: GOODKNITS. Even if you can’t join us, download it and save it for later. Isn’t it time to start Christmas knitting? ;)

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Hat Evolution via instagram


I spent a few days just hanging out with this hat and this morning I realized I just wasn’t in love with the crown. It didn’t really stay flat and it just looked…off. So, I frogged it. I thought I would feel sad or anxious doing so, but I wasn’t. I guess I’ve matured on my knitting path. You gotta do what you gotta do. I re-worked a crown, this afternoon, that I am happy with. I wrote down some notes about it and will try to compose a pattern tomorrow or later this weekend.

You can find me on instagram under the username goodknits. Surprise, surprise! I’m cell-phone-less, but I do have an android tablet that is now getting used for more than procrastination games of Free Cell.