...by the hair on my chinny chin chin...

Phew, my shoulders are aching, my teeth have been clenched tight in frustration and my temper has flared... but that is over now. I've met my deadline of today to finish my hubby's vest for Xmas.

Like I said, phew!

In the post

Received this lovely bundle of fabric from Duckcloth the other day...

I can't resist a sale AND free postage!

The red spotty fabric is laminate - do you know of any good tutorials or ideas that I can use it with/for?  

I'd always wanted to try laminated fabric ... couldn't go past the dots!!

Ta daaa

Ok, here's something positive.... I actually finished something, yay!!

   

About to toss it in the bin...

 This is me, hanging my head in despair.... all my work with so little time remaining & I go and do it wrong, I stuff it up so close to the finish line.

Seedy

I love mustard, do you?  I made some the other day .... it goes from lots of loose dry seeds that you soak overnight...

and the winner is.....

The winner of this fancy (huge!) stack of fabric is.....
K. Rennie.  (I have sent you an email for your postal details).

(drawn via Rafflecopter).

Congratulations, but please note that if I don't hear back from the winner within 3 days, I'll be drawing another.

Thanks to all for entering & Merry Christmas!

at night...

Each night I've been sitting on the couch crocheting these washcloths ...  

I can make one per night ...  now to stitch them up! They are a part of some Xmas gifts that I'm planning.  
Can anyone recommend a good Goats Milk soap that I can purchase to pop with them?

Pattern on Rav here...

Giveaway ... your chance to win!

Hello! I'm happy to join in with Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway day/week this year, I think this is my third year doing it.
Do you like fabric? Do you like to sew? 

The day a toaster met a plant...

This is a story about a toaster, some magic mojo & a plant called pigface.

Taa Daa...

It's brag time for me, what do you think of the vest I made for bubba?

  

Taa daaa

She's done!

Here she is, the angel for the Ornament Swap.
What do you think of her?

Angel making

Here is the update progress of my ornament for the Ornament swap....  
In case you can't tell, she's an angel.

 Starting off with silver wire, she then gets hung outside to be spray-painted gold.

Then I need to keep checking her to make sure there are no paint runs or bugs stuck to her!
I'd love your opinion, how does she look so far?

Eyes and web

Did you know that down here in Tasmania, there is more UV than in places such as Sydney & Brisbane.
Yep, it's true, that means that I need good sunglasses as well as a good supply of sunscreen on hand. 

Doing stuff

I've got a few projects going on the at the moment...

One ball wonders

I have this 'thing' - I always wonder how much  I can make out of something!
For example, take one ball of 50 gram wool, how much does that knit up?
Answer: ..... this much!

It's the start of the vest that I'm knitting for my hubby, I'm actually pleasantly surprised how much it knit up!  (is knit up the right words??)

Do you wonder such crazy things?

Can you tell me this? 
When it comes to fabric, how much does a jelly roll make or charm squares?

How to::: easily knit sleeves & armholes

There comes a time in a vest or jumper, that you can't put off any more and that is the armholes/sleeves.
Yep, I hate them.  That is until my mum told me how to easily count the stitches whilst casting on/picking the stitches for the sleeve as that is the bit that I always found the hardest!  So I've listed the steps below to help you... and to help me when I have to do it again!
Firstly, lay the garment (good side up) as flat as you can on the table - this is trickier than it sounds as it always curls up!

Stick your finger in the approximate middle, fold over from the armhole bottom to the seam (shoulder) and mark it with safety pin (or a stitch markerstitch marker but I can never find mine!).     Basically, what you have done is made it easier to cast on stitches - lets say the length of the armhole (to the seam) is 32 stitches, by marking the middle you know only have to cast on 16 stitches in each of those gaps (a lot easier than trying to cast on 32 evenly).

But lets make it easier, if you fold it in half again & mark it, you now only have to cast 8 stitches evenly - way better than trying to cast 32 or even 16 evenly.   Now do this for the rest (the back to the seam on the same side & of course the other side of the garment too).

 Now let's talk about how we are going to create those stitches to actually knit the sleeve with!

By pressing the garment flat along your fingers between the markersmarkers, you can quickly see where you will put your 8 stitches. If you see below, I'm going to put a stitch on the before the first green stitch (from the left).

Now, I find this bit easier to do with a crochet hook, but you can just use the knitting needle if you have more patience than me!  Gently 'poke' your crochet hookcrochet hook through the two strands that make up the stitch.

 Wind the yarn around the hook and put onto the knitting needle.

Once you have worked your way to the edge of the armhole it should look a little like the below picture. Now, wasn't that easier working out where to put 8 stitches at a time rather than ... eek 32!

Then you can take out all the markers and knit the sleeve according to the pattern on two needles - rather than try using a circular needle or dpns - you then sew the sleeve up at the end.

 AND.... I did this all with a toddler playing 'pony' on my leg! 

Did this make sense? Did this help you at all?
Or do you just not care because you like sewing & have never picked up a knitting needle except to scratch your back with?!!

Oh & by the way, this technique of marking also works wonders on necklines too!

I'd love it if you popped over to my YouTube channel & subscribed to it & even liked some of my videos. Every like, every follower, every comment is like a great big hug! 

If you need more Crafty Inspo, then check out my shoppable lists here....

I utilise affiliate (aff) links throughout my blog as a way to help me keep crafting. If you click on an aff link, I receive a very small amount from it at NO cost to you. So please help me to keep CraftyRie up and running by clicking on my aff links! Many thanks, Rie

It's on!

Eeek, Christmas is a coming and the hectic crafty mayhem begins!

What is that weird looking thing in the photo??

Free Pattern:: Crochet an Easy Peasy Washcloth

This washcloth is easy to make, 

it's simple to master and you'll soon be making 1 to 2 each night!

this blog post contains affiliate links

They make great gifts paired with a nice fancy soap (I gift wrap mine with a local goats milk soap).

Yarn: Worsted weight Cotton yarn - I used this lovely cotton yarn.

I also use two colours - one for the main body of the washcloth & a contrasting colour for the trim.

Click here or click here for other yarn suggestions to use.

Hook: 5mm crochet hook or whatever hook you feel comfortable using with the yarn.

You will also need some scissors for cutting the yarn ends & a darning needle to weave in the ends.

Ok, let's start!

Chain 25, using the main colour yarn.

Row 1:::   Skip first stitch then *1 sc & 1 dc in the next stitch, skip next stitch.   Repeat from * to end of row.

               Turn.

Repeat row 1 for 18-20 rows either until square or it's at the size you like!  (I crochet 18 rows). 

Fasten off and weave in ends.

        

To finish with the trim:

Using secondary (trim) colour, sc around the edge adding an extra chain stitch into the corners to keep the trim flat.

Fasten off & weave in the ends.

Voila, a finished washcloth - see how 'easy peasy' it was!!!

Click here, to check out my Amazon Page for some great crafty inspo and links to some great books to read.

Now, go ahead and book mark this page too, so when you make some you can come back and post a link in the comments section below for Show & Tell!

            

Edited on 27th Oct 2014.....  
please note that several comments (below) state that I should be chaining one at the start (or end) of each row. I don't, it's not needed. In fact, to show you that it is not needed, please click here, it will take you to another blog post that shows step by step how it is not needed.

  
I utilise affiliate links throughout my blog as a way to help me keep crafting. If you click on an aff link, I receive a very small amount from it at NO cost to you.   So please help me to keep CraftyRie up and running by clicking on my aff links! Many thanks, Rie

        

Meanwhile on Rav...

Do you know that feeling of 'what next' when you're already working on one (or two or three) projects?  Well I do, I get it bad all the time! 
So whilst I'm knitting my hubby's secret vest & bubba's vest & a baby hat & crocheting some Christmas gifts & baby booties...... in my 'down' time I'm searching Ravelry for the next projects.
Here are some cute projects that have caught my eye...

A side-step

I've taken a side-step back into crochet (just a little step though!).  I need to do something at knit whilst on the couch sitting next to my hubby, I mean, I can't sit there & knit his surprise jumper with him there can I!!

The secret project

Ok, so you can keep a secret right... hmmm, right???
Remember how me telling you that I was going to knit my hubby a vest & I asked your opinions on which vest to knit... well, I couldn't really make a decision one way or the other but I ended up choosing a pattern from a knitting magazine that I just happened to pick up at the newsagents. You see the strange thing is that I NEVER look at knitting mags, I don't really buy magazines but for some reason, I wondered down the aisle, picked up a mag, thumbed through it & there was a blokes vest. So, I decided fate had chosen this one for me!   

Stripes

Let's talk about a very important issue of late and that is the straight-forward issue of stripes. 

stripes from scraps!

To stripe or not to stripe is the question.... well, it is for me anyway!

Out with the old....

It's spring here in Australia, so I thought (rather than doing actual housework) I'd spring clean my blog!
So it's out with the old blog header ...

Knitta fish

Check out my fish!  Ain't he great!   ...  

another project

Here's another project that I've started on those knitting sticks!

 But wait, you're thinking it's going to be a green & yellow item..... WRONG....

Thrifty nice

Do you like my new casserole dish that I picked up at the thrift store?

The veeeeee

I've arrived at that dreaded part of knitting.... the v-neckline.
Wish me luck, I'm about to dive into it!

Taa daaaa

Firstly, I've been without the internet for about three days now and may I say... arghhh!!   It's not really any better now that it is back again, it's gone to super slow mode and it's slowly killing me!

And now for something brighter.....

and the winner is...

The winner of the super cute fabric is....Lindsay Conner!!
Yay for Lindsay, I'll send you an email for your details.
Thanks to all for entering!

Happiness

Some more happiness in the post ....

but me-thinks my hubby is starting to realise how much yarn I'm buying as he questioned me about the large $ of the creditcard bill last month.... oops.

Yarn-aholics anon ... anyone care to join with me?  (is there such a thing?)

It's coming along nicely!

Check this out, I'm so impressed with myself, the pattern & the yarn. Actually, I'm super impressed with the yarn!
Fingers crossed now, I'm hoping to actually finish this!!
I've added all the details onto Ravelry here for you.

4 Things

Thing 1
Firstly, I'd like to thank you for all your advice regarding the cowl that I made.  I don't know why I made a cowl, I prefer scarves but I think I will end up undoing it and make myself a scarf. Also, the yarn isn't that fab either - it is hard and over-spun. Yes,  the Noro Taiyo is overspun. Who would have thought that paying $20+ dollars for a ball of yarn would give you an overspun yarn, I certainly wouldn't have. In fact, if I wanted over-spun yarn then I would have dragged out my spinning wheel & spun it myself.

Thing 2

When all else fails...

It's happened.
I've lost my Crochet Mojo.
I don't know where it's gone or how long it's been gone for.
I've tried starting different crochet projects but they all just end up with me swearing & undoing them.
So I've started knitting again.