Category Archives: Tutorials

Hooked… on Rug Hooking! Free video tute…

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I should never have opened my Halcyon Yarn email… sigh..  There is an article in there about rug hooking.  Now..a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away…  I needle punched a bedspread to fit my son’s crib.  We called it punch work and used a punch needle to make chenille but it is basically the same thing.  It was the cutest thing you have ever seen.  There was a carousel horse surrounded by a circle of color and ribbons that surrounded the edges. It was lovely.  This was used on the crib for all my babes..      Well.. it was one of those irreplaceable things lost in the tornado..  I have often wondered about taking that craft up again.  It’s only been 45 years… hmmm

This time I would  like to do a few rugs to put beside the beds since I really don’t want (and don’t have) any carpet in my house.   Take a look at the video.   Susan Stephenson  shows the basics of designing your own rugs.

Very tempting for me to run to Hobby Lobby and BEGIN!   lol    Will try to resist the urge for a bit.. at least until I finish a few of my many UFOs.. Or maybe not…

Have a wonderful day.. ;o)

Make Your Own Bath Rug… Easy Video Tutorial

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I REALLY need new bath rugs.  And I REALLY don’t want to go to the big box store and spend money on rugs that can’t be washed unless you just LOVE having all those little pithy balls rolling around in your dryer when the rubber backing starts flaking off.   So… I’ve decided to use this tutorial and make my own… I’m even thinking about making some bedside rugs using this method.

Eco Bath Rug -  Green It Yourself

When I finish mine, I’ll put up some pics.. ;o)

Have a wonderful day!

Guest Soaps… Rose Petals! … Tutorial

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Somewhere on the web, ages ago, I found this idea.  What I’m trying to say this early in the morning is this..  this wonderful idea is not mine!  I cannot remember where I saw it so if you have seen this idea before and know who came up with it.. please let me know and I will give credit to that creative person.. ;o)

I have company coming.  I’ve thought for a long time about  trying this, but with company coming I found this to be just the creative oomph I needed .  So here’s what I did…

I bought a package of meltable glycerin soap,  honey/almond fragrance and packages of red and green rose petals that were found over on the wedding aisle.  A strip of waxed paper was used to place the wet petals on to dry.

I melted one bar of the glycerin soap in a microwave safe bowl.  With my microwave it took about 30 seconds on high… checking every 10 seconds to make sure the soap melted but did not burn.   After the soap was completely melted, I dipped each petal in the clear soap to cover it, lifted it with tweezers for a second to let extra soap run off and placed the petal on the wax paper right side up.   The soap on the petal and in the bowl solidified quickly.  The bowl had to be placed back in the microwave every 4th or 5th petal to remelt the film that cooled across the top of the soap.  The soap that adhered to the  the ends of the tweezers was easily pulled off and placed a back in the bowl with each re-melt.  I found that one bar of  melted soap would produce around 25 petals of soap  with some cooled soap left in the bowl.

A couple of petals that did not come out well were used to test the soap.  I found that each petal could be used multiple times before the soap was exhausted.  It has a medium lather, but it left my hands feeling soft.  All in all… I give this project a 9 out of 10.. ;o)

The finished rose petals turned out lovely.  It took only a few minutes for them to dry, but I allowed about 15 minutes to be sure.  I placed mine in a new soap dish beside some hand knitted face cloths in the guest bath.  You could use an antique cup and saucer, a tiny basket, a few placed in plastic wrap and placed inside a coffee mug … Putting these in a basket with hand knit face towels and home made olive oil/sugar scrub would make a truly lovely and useful gift.  Many, many ways to use this lovely soap.

Well… the sun is up and it looks like it will be another warm day.  Cooler temps are expected tomorrow and for several days after that.  By cooler temps I mean in the 80s… ;o)  We did all our running around yesterday so I have this morning to myself (woo hoo) and this afternoon for the Red River Fiber Arts group.  Gonna be a good day.. ;o)  Hope yours is too..

Embellished Travel Tissue Cover… Free Pattern

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I’ve made tissue covers before but never with the embellishments I used in several of my other projects.. like this needle book…  When I found this pattern by Suzanne Surfass I decided that the plain jane ones I’ve been making were ok, but… I really want to do one of THESE…

The pattern is free and gives straightforward instructions, but remember… with crazy embellishment you never have to slavishly follow instructions.  If you would rather do machine embroidery over those seams…go right ahead.  If you prefer ribbon roses where she has beads…go ahead.  That’s the beauty of crazy embellishment.

We have some of that HOT Texas weather back but all in all… it’s like the guy at check out at Brahm’s said yesterday.. “At least it’s not in the 100s!”   And I shut right up!  ;o)

Have a wonderful day.. ;o)

How I Make a Pom Pom (Tutorial)

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When I put together my little baby cap, I used the first pom pom I have made in a long time.  I know there are little gadgets out in the commercial world that will help with this task.  But…what if don’t have one of those??? …..hmmm…

Years ago as a young stay at home mother, with only one income for the family,  there wasn’t much money for those little gadgets.  So I was taught to make them using only my fingers, yarn and a pair of scissors.

First… cut a piece of your yarn/string about 7 to 8 inches long and lay aside.

 

 

 

 

 

Begin by wrapping the yarn around your  3 middle fingers loosely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue to wrap until you have a pretty full “ball” on your fingers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide the “ball” of yarn off your fingers gently .. keeping them aligned as closely as possible.  Using the piece of yarn/string that you cut earlier, wrap it around the center of the flattened “ball” and pull tightly… tie with a firm knot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It should look like this at this stage.  Do not clip off the string you used to tie it with.  This will be used later to attach the pom pom to your project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using sharp-pointed scissors, slide the scissors into the loops formed when  the “ball” was tied together and begin to clip them open… going completely around the circle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After going completely around you will find that there will be loops that have been missed.  Go around again looking for those missed loops and be sure that you have cut them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holding the thread you will use to attach the pom pom with as closely to the ball as you can, begin to clip the pile into a round ball.  Using the picture as a guide you can see that clipping will firm up the ball into a nice round shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue clipping until the pom pom is in the shape of a ball.  You will probably have made several “rounds”… clip the longer threads, fluff the ball to make any stragglers stand out, clip the stragglers then fluff again.  In the end you will have a lovely little pom pom.

 

 

 

Using this technique you can make them any size you would like.  You don’t need to buy several sizes of gadgets. These little pom poms can be made into almost anything you can imagine.  Make a basketful and then attach them all together in the shape of a doll..  or maybe a puppy… Use tiny ones for buttons.  If you use cotton yarn to make them, they are completely washable and safe for baby.  ;o)

I hope you find this tutorial useful and as much fun to use as I had putting it together for you.  ;o)

We are so enjoying the cooler weather that has been with us for the last few days.  It looks like the 100° days will be back, but at least we’ve had a breather.  ;o)

Have a wonderful day…

 

The Sporadic Packrat… Real Flower Fabric Postcards…

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The Sporadic Packrat  shows us how to use real flowers in our hand-made Fabric Postcards.  They are truly lovely and I personally would LOVE to get one in the mail.  I didn’t want to cabbage onto one of her photos without asking and really wanted to tell you all about these today,  soooo… I just used a photo of one of mine.

While you’re over there ogling her FPCs,  click on her me,me,me page.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

It’s spring out there in our part of the country.  If you have flowers blooming anywhere around you… now is the time to pick them, stick them into your dictionary between two paper towels and press them into beautiful pressed flowers you can use in your own floral fabric postcards.   And besides.. it’s a lovely time to be out for a stroll.  ;o)

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. … free crochet pattern

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Christmas is coming … I can’t imagine where the time goes.  Anyway.. there have been several requests for the Dale Earnhardt, Sr. crocheted afghan.  It took a little searching, but I have found it again.   We should all give Cindy Murray a huge hand for this… I’m sure it was terribly time consuming.    This is a graphed pattern for Tunisian crochet that can be printed off, but I’m sure that it  might  also be used as an intarsia knitting pattern.  Would love feedback on that.

If you would like to learn Tunisian crochet,  Nex Stitch has wonderful video tutorials for it.

This pattern is uploaded in a pdf. format so be aware that you will need Adobe Reader to read it and download it.  If you don’t have it,  here is the free download site.

Perhaps the afghans can be ready for  Christmas..!

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. crochet pattern

I hope you enjoy.

Naalbinding… New Video Tutorials

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I am in heaven… There are 11 new videos showing how to make different stitches, different ways of starting your work for spirals, some for squares… all wonderful.   Here is one of my favorites since I have had a lot of trouble with the spiral start for the Mammen stitch.   Mammen Stitch Spiral Start..  If you look in the right side column there is a list of several other new videos.  And… if you speak English… each video has a place to click that will bring up the English instructions as written directions on the video.

And… even better than that… I am going to meet personally… ta da… Alix Tiberga … whose page here… showed me just how lovely some of the patterns for nalbinding can be.  I have never seen such lovely work as hers.  I can hardly wait… ;o)

Free TW Loom Plans, Spinning on Different Wheels, Second TW Class

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It’s been too hot for most everything the last couple of weeks.  Most of my time has been taken up with spinning and knitting.

The gray and brown are New Zealand wool.  I have no idea what sheep breed, but it is a little scratchier than merino. The gray is a Navajo ply.. 3 ply chain.. and was spun on the Ashford Elizabeth.  I found it a little faster and a bit harder to treadle than my Kromski, but all in all a wonderful spinning wheel. There is about 800 yards (combined) of a bulky knit from those  two.

The green is the merino sent by my son and daughter in law from Earth Guild.  Having never ordered from Earth Guild, I was wondering how this would spin up.  I have to say that it  is luscious.  (Spinning the peach color now and it is even more luscious.  I could hold that batch in my arms and sleep with it!)  This is 3 ply yarn (not Navajo plied) and finished out at 444 yards.

The yellow is merino is from Ozark Mills in Durant.  It’s wonderfully soft… so soft that spinning it was almost like spinning cotton!  The 2 ply yarn was then dyed with a yellow Kool Aid.  This was spun on the Kromski Prelude which is still my favorite wheel with its smooth and easy treadling.  I can’t remember the exact amount of this, but I think it is in the ball park of 250 yards.

Have no idea what to make with this yarn… Suggestions anyone?

The 3rd tablet weaving class is coming up and I’ve not even blogged the second one.. ;o(   The second class was terrific.  The ladies were fun and we did a lot of laughing in this class.    In this class we used 4 cards and made shoestrings.  The two color strings are great for school colors for kids starting back to school.

The last tablet weaving class will be Saturday, August 21 at the Red River Historical Museum.  As always, the class will begin at 9:30am and continue until 12:30pm.  I you are anywhere near to Sherman, you are cordially invited to come and join us… ;o)

I’ve had several requests for the actual plans for the loom we are using in the class.  I have drawn it off and here it is.. ;o)  In the explanations for this plan I have used the word I very often…in truth it should be we.  My sweet DH was wonderful in helping with all of these.

It’s hand drawn so to really be able to read it, you may have to download the picture and then open it in your photo program.   I started with a 6′ long piece of

1′x4′ pine

Cut from one end 4 pieces that are 5 or 6 inches long.  You can either use the length that is left as is or cut it to whatever length is most comfortable for to weave on. Mine is 34″ long.

The next thing I did is totally optional.  I cut 7/8 ” holes in these 4 pieces 1/2 inch from the top and centered on the upright. These are to fit the

3/4″ inch dowel.  The dowel is cut into 4 pieces 4 1/4″ long.

Everything is now sanded until it is smooth enough that yarn will not catch on it.  If you want to paint it, now is the time to do it.  I also used two coats of polyurethane to protect the painted finish.  When this is done and everything is totally dry you can begin to put it together.

Using carpenters glue on the end of the  3/4 inch x 4″ dowels, place them in either in the holes cut for them or just where you want them.  They need to be in the upper half of the 4″x6″ upright.  I pre-drilled holes and then used wood screws to secure the dowels in place.  Prepare both sets of uprights in this way.

Place the sets of uprights at the very end of the 34″ long 1″x4″ with the uprights placed on each side of the board and the dowel spanning the board.  I pre-drilled for 3 screws on each side, then used wood screws to hold them in place.  Repeat this process at the other end of the board.

Screw 2 or 3 eyelet screws into each end of the 34″ long base  board.

Sit back and admire your new loom.. ;o)

If you make one of these looms, I would love to see a picture of it… and some feedback on how it works out for you.

Stay cool.. Smile lots.. ;o)

Update: Build Your Own Mini Great Wheel Tutorial

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Spin-Off Magazine has had a tutorial online since about 2006 to help those of us who are “mechanically challenged” to build our own mini great wheel.  It’s a wonderful tutorial with pictures for almost every step in the process.  I posted about this several years ago and it seems this is one of the highest hit pages I have.  But the thing is…. Spin-Off has changed and improved their pages over the years and that makes the tutorial a little harder to find if you haven’t been there before.  So here is the new link to the tutorial.  Spin-Off Magazine…tutorial for mini great wheel… This tute is in pdf. form and the link for the pdf file is the top line on the page.  Run your mouse over it and it will underline … just click on it and the pdf will come up.  ( I need to add here that the free patterns and tutes site will be seen only after joining the page.  This is not a real problem… You can join with just your email address.  I personally signed up for their newsletter because it always has wonderful information on it. )

It’s still VERY hot here in North Texas with all the trees and plants struggling a bit.  While August is a very hot month for this area, this last couple of weeks are the hottest we’ve seen for quite a while.  The air conditioners and fans are getting a real workout.  But it will only last another couple of weeks then the cool down will begin.

These are the “dog days of summer” here in Texas.  The good thing is that they don’t last long here… only another couple of weeks and the cool down will begin.. ;o)  Hope all have enjoyed their summer and had plenty of time for crafting. ;o)