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TIME OUT! Summer vacation. Time to change the daily routine and try something new — take a vacation, camp out at a different site, catch up on movies.

In terms of crafts, it means exploring a new medium or learning what it takes to produce something we use that we normally purchase ready-made and take for granted. A few years ago, someone gave me a Klutz craft book for kids for a Christmas present. Although it explored a medium I had never tried, I put it aside. (Too simple! It’s written for 10-year-olds, I thought ) But one day I wanted to do something different and looked at it seriously. Then I tried the clearly illustrated projects and, during the course of two hours, I had a wonderful time. What worked for kids surely did work for me.

How to Press Flowers

How to arrange your flowers for pressing depends on the shape. Klutz suggests: Press your flower face down, or sideways. It’s easiest to press daisy-like flowers face-down. Trim off the stem and flatten the back of the flower center so the flower can lie flatter. Press single petals if you want to. After drying you can put them back together to look like the original flower or use them by themselves in original designs. If the flower is thick, cut it in half. And if it is really lumpy, pull out some of the center petals.

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Hat Pins and Stickpins are enjoying a resurgence of favor. Young women wear hat pins to decorate a turned up brim, never guessing that they once were functional, securing hats to long tresses. Other women adorn lapels of suits with stickpins to lighten the look. Here are some custom-made pins, each featuring a different natural material from around the country.

From left to right: large poppy pod with tassel, small chestnut with beads, Job’s-tears pod with silver tassel, oriental nigella pod wit gold button, a live oak acorn with gold ribbon, eucalyptus pod with a gold cord, strawflower with beads, and small poppy pod with an antique bead. 

GATHER YOUR MATERIALS

For each pin:

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Gorgeous Ornaments from Cardboard and Clothespins

Clothespins and cardboard, paste and paint can all add up to great make-it-yourself ornaments. Our projects were originally created by Cici Hughes in 1972 in her spare time. Friends encouraged her to sell them commercially and she did — she made hundreds for Lord & Taylor in Virginia. The ornaments took over her home for two years before she retired from this business to explore other design projects. Below are instructions for making some that Cici shared with us. Why not make several for yourself and a few to give to your favorite collectors?

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Years ago I had the luck to rent a unique garret apartment offering instant patina. Handed down from art student to art student for several years, it was fitted out with antique discards from neighborhood buildings which were being modernized or torn down.

The bathroom contained a slightly chipped claw foot bathtub. Porcelain sink faucet knobs mounted on a weathered board became “hooks” for towels and bathrobes.The previous owner also left me a pile of handmade, slightly irregular red bricks which I used to construct bookcases and tables.

I enjoyed knowing that these carefully made pieces could find new use in my life. I read books to learn how people lived when these pieces were originally used. These artifacts gave my spare apartment character and history. With the help of flea markets and building makeovers in my area, I’ve managed to incorporate a few old building details into all the places I’ve lived since then.

If you’ve wanted to buy old doorknobs, heat registers, iron rails, window guards and other bygone details — but didn’t know what you’d do with them — check out the wonderful book, Salvage Style before passing them up again. It contains 45 step-by-step projects that transform salvaged items into new and different objects.

The authors say, “The skills needed for most of the projects are minimal, though experienced craftspeople will also find many interesting and challenging projects. And, even if you don’t want to pick up a hammer, the projects can help inspire you to find the perfect look for your home.”

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Yarn: Sock weight fingering yarn (Opal, Regia, Trekking, Baby yarn) Skeins: 1 ball Yards: 450 Needles: Addi Circulars: US size 0 for ribbing US size 1 for body Gauge: 9 sts = 1” 12 rows = 1” Fit’s a woman’s 7 ½ shoe size. Add or subtract to heel flap and foot rows for larger or smaller size. Ribbing: Cast on 72 sts. Join in circle careful not to twist sts. K2, p2, k2 to end. Continue for 20 rows.

Skeins: 1 ball Yards: 450 Needles: Addi Circulars: US size 0 for ribbing US size 1 for body Gauge: 9 sts = 1” 12 rows = 1” Fit’s a woman’s 7 ½ shoe size. Add or subtract to heel flap and foot rows for larger or smaller size. Ribbing: Cast on 72 sts. Join in circle careful not to twist sts. K2, p2, k2 to end. Continue for 20 rows.

Yards: 450

Needles: Addi Circulars: US size 0 for ribbing US size 1 for body Gauge: 9 sts = 1” 12 rows = 1” Fit’s a woman’s 7 ½ shoe size. Add or subtract to heel flap and foot rows for larger or smaller size. Ribbing: Cast on 72 sts. Join in circle careful not to twist sts. K2, p2, k2 to end. Continue for 20 rows.

Circulars: US size 0 for ribbing US size 1 for body Gauge: 9 sts = 1” 12 rows = 1” Fit’s a woman’s 7 ½ shoe size. Add or subtract to heel flap and foot rows for larger or smaller size. Ribbing: Cast on 72 sts. Join in circle careful not to twist sts. K2, p2, k2 to end. Continue for 20 rows.

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So you have to take this into consideration when matching a yarn with the pattern that you want to use. This was not the case with Sugar Maple, while I was careful to design a pattern that would work well with this color and yarn; I was able to use a lacey design that did stand out beautifully. I was also impressed with the way the colors when changing softly blended into another. Great examples can be seen in this 2009 video:

Each color was brief enough to produce a nice random speckled effect rather than splotches of color (some refer to this as pooling) here and there.

The reason the colors do not pool is that of the short repeats. Although Cheryl uses  4-7 colors in the sock yarn, which can cause pooling, she does 2-3 repeats.  Sugar Maple has 4 colors with 2.5 repeats meaning 10 colors per skein.  She also tries to blend like colors yarn, so the 2 yellow will create another yellow and when the yellow goes to pink, it creates a nice salmon color.
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I can’t believe so much time has gone by since I’ve blogged. It’s with good reason, though. So much has been going on but I have managed to keep knitting socks through it all. I created a website called Sockamaniac like my blog, where I have filled it with lots and lots of sock information. It was very time-consuming gathering up all the resources for sock patterns, tutorials, dyeing yarn and so forth but now that I sit back and look at it I have to feel that it was well worth it and a job well was done.

I started three sock knitting groups on Yahoo too! One is called Second Sock Syndrome which pretty much speaks for itself. A lot of sock knitters use DPN’s and knit one sock at a time. We may get one sock finished but then are distracted by something else. Like that new yarn we just bought and have to try it out just to see how it looks, then we’ll go back and finish that second sock. Ya right. This list was created to help motivate us and get ideas on finishing that second sock.

Then there’s my Sockamaniac Sock-a-long. Here we knit the same sock pattern as a group project. The difference with this sock-a-long is that all our project patterns are designed by the members. And finally mySockamaniac Socknitters group. It’s a general sock knitting group with some off topic chat. We have a lot of fun besides sharing our sock knitting experiences and funnies. (more…)