Fun Handmade Knitting Needles

I think my biggest problem as a crafter is that I have too many interests. Sometimes I find myself pursuing so many craft projects or trying to learn about new ones, that I sometimes neglect the things I really like to do. Making knitting needles is one of those things. I haven't made a new pair of knitting needles since this summer, but as I finally sold a few pairs on Etsy, my inventory was suddenly dramatically low.

The first thing I realized is that I was not happy with the wooden dowel rods I had bought most recently and wanted to find a better quality wood. Why put all the effort into making a quality handmade pair of needles if the wood is not great? I looked at several different web pages that discussed wood types and decided to start working with birch dowels. The dowels I've bought at the craft store previously were never labeled with a specific wood. They just said "hardwood", but I found the quality varied. I bought several sizes of birch dowels from Woodworks Ltd. this week and immediately noticed a difference. The 3/16th birch dowels had less "bend" than the last batch I had worked with and definitely made me more confident that they wouldn't break easily. Also, the dowels had a smoother, even texture and I didn't need to sand them as long. I was very pleased.

So here is another pair of needles I finished this weekend. I've made smiley face needles before and they are fun to work with, but decided to paint the needle shaft this time, instead of just the bead. Looking at the finished product, I think I won't do that again, unless I change the color. Just a little too much yellow I think.

My favorite are the Froot Loop knitting needles. I made a bunch of the polyclay "cereal" beads several years ago and kept the extras. I've used some as needle toppers before and made buttons for a baby sweater out of some. Here's a picture I kept of the baby sweater from a few years ago (I donated it to a infant resource center).

I thought it was too cute, but a friend warned me about making more, because children might be inclined to try to eat the buttons... True, but it was still cute.

Anyway, I'll post more on my process for painting the needles soon, something I have recently started doing more. Painted needles are a lot more work, but the results can be quite striking.

Spring Break Service Project

My daughter and I have spent part of our spring break working on a fun service project to help animals at our local shelter. She is a animal lover and wants a dog SO badly, but that's not going to happen right now for numerous reasons. We decided she can do something to help dogs though...make homemade dog treats!

I actually got the idea from the education director of our local shelter on a recent trip there with my students. She actually had a recipe ready for us to make, but we ran out of time for the activity. She said they love to get homemade treats for the dogs. It makes the pets happy (which make them more appealing for prospective pet owners) and gives them a chance to reinforce behavioral training (the dogs must sit to receive their treat).

We had a blast with this activity and after looking at many online recipes, we made up our own in two varieties. Check out my new Squidoo lens Great Treats for Good Dogs for the recipes and other info about helping shelter animals.

I got another great idea from Kelly Medina on her blog about making a Dog Bone Label. In the spirit of recycling we took an empty peanut butter container and put some of the treats in it to keep at home for our hamster Twyla. Dog biscuits are great for hamsters anyway and she really likes our peanut butter variety. My daughter helped me design our own label for the jar and voila...a recycled dog (ahem..hamster) treat jar!

We are heading to the animal shelter tomorrow to drop off our treats and spread some love to these great animals.

On My Needles....

I thought I would do a quick post about what projects I have in progress right now. From my sidebar you can see that I just finished a baby hat using sock yarn (modeled on one of my daughter's dolls).


I used Lion Brand Magic Stripe yarn to do a quick preemie hat that I will donate soon. I like self-striping yarns for baby hats, because it makes it look like you did some thing complicated, when it really isn't any big deal. The gauge of this hat is a little looser than I would like and next time I will use the next size smaller needles (I'm not sure if these were 6's or 7's). The hat is a variation of the Ann Norling Fruit Cap pattern that I have practically memorized. I cast on 60 stitches, worked until it looked "deep" enough, then gradual decreases ending in a i-cord top. Cute and easy!


My big challenge right now is to get the baby blanket I'm working on finished. It's one of those projects that has dragged on way longer than it should have. Normally, if I'm knitting a baby blanket for someone, I choose something quick and easy. This time because the recipient is a close co-worker (first time grand-dad), I thought I do something a little more complicated. Ughh! Well, I started this in September, the baby was born in October, and at the rate I'm going, he'll be 6 months old before I finish! Oh well, I know it's the thought that counts and I'm determined to finish. I'm just so use to mindless projects, that anything that requires counting rows and stitches carefully is like work. It'll be pretty when it's finished though.

So that's what I'm up to on the knitting front right now. I got a gift certificate for Christmas to my favorite LYS, so I can't wait to see what trouble I can get into there!

New Year...New Start!

Life hasn't stopped my crafting, but it did derail my blogging for a while. Actually, I did manage to keep my other blogs more up-to-date than this one. Check out the activities of my middle school knitting group, Stitch for a Cause. I've been really proud of the girls this year. We just completed a scarf project for our local women's shelter and delivered 110 scarves just before Christmas.

I'm still trying to decide what we'll start with after the holidays. I have a few of them working on squares for blankets and we'll continue that, but I always like to do something fun in the winter to keep the enthusiam up. This year we don't have any boys in the group and in past years I've had as many as half the group made up of boys. That makes me think I need to come up with a guy-challenge this month... One year, we had a "Real Men Knit" challenge with boys knitting against some male teachers (mostly just one) to see who could complete more squares in two weeks. They beat him by one square and were so excited. Since I don't have any guys coming right now, I think I will start with an "Eye Spy" challenge. Any boy I see knitting each day will get entered in a drawing for something cool. Got to work out the details, but that's my idea for now...


Another new crafting endeavor for me was started by "Santa" this year. Santa brought us a hamster for Christmas named Twyla. My daughter adores her and loves to play with her. I have been reading a lot about hamsters on the web and noticed some people have been making little pouches for them. You can put the hamster in the pouch for some lap time or even put them in cages for a sleep bed. Oddly, you can't find these pouches in stores. I'm pretty crafty, so I put my minimal sewing skills to work and came up with my own version of these pouches and have been calling them Hammy Sacks!

I have put a bunch on Etsy and have supplies to make more. I even made a little logo featuring Twyla. I've seen other people expanding the idea to rabbits and ferrets, but right now I'm sticking with hamsters. Hopefully I'll sell a few! If you are interested in one, visit my Esty store. I'm open to custom orders and am posting new sack patterns (for boy and girl hamsters and owners), so hopefully you'll see something you like.

So, my New Year's Crafty Resolutions are:

1. Increase my completion percentage for my projects (aka, finish what I start)
2. Blog at least once every two weeks
3. Put more time into my Esty shop and hopefully increase sales (so I can buy more craft stuff!)
4. Inspire others to be crafty too!

Happy New Year's everyone!

Organized Living

I had a major setback in my crafting endeavors this summer when my entire craft shelf came tumbling down one day out of the blue. I think it just got a little too overburdened (wonder why?). Turns out that it really had not been put up in the way it should of have been for what it was going to hold. So for a while, my kitchen table looked like this...

After I got tired of the complaints, I went to Home Depot and bought some 50 lb wall anchors and rebuilt the entire unit. The result is definitely better and I don't think anything short of my children collectively swinging on it would bring it down again (I hope!)

This mess actually gave me a chance to rethink how I wanted to organized my "stuff". To anyone but me, it always looked cluttered and disorganized, though I usually could find what I wanted (although not always when I wanted it). Anyway, I went shopping for containers and other things to help me make sense of my supplies. I ended up putting all my acrylic paints in two plastic containers from Walmart. I found a tip somewhere online about storing paints upside-down to keep them fresher and have found that it does make a difference. I also put all my painting tools in trays on the same shelf, so everything is ready to use. Glues, sealers, fillers, tape, sprays, are all grouped together and have a place.

Next were my jumbled up craft drawers. A couple of years ago my husband bought me four Rubbermaid stackable drawers for my crafts. Shortly after that, he went out and bought four more. The drawers have always be stuffed and at one point were generally organized (fabrics, yarns, etc.). After fixing the shelves, I decided to tackle the drawers next, one by one. I pulled everything out, cleaned the drawers and decided what would be going back in and what needed to just go.

I realized that I had a lot of stuff I had forgotten about and still would like to use. I put all my collected patterns, stencils, sketches, etc. in a stack and eventually put them in a expandable file folder. Fabric was neatly folded and put back. I used more plastic containers and put related notions in the same drawers (ie. pins, needles, buttons, etc. went in the fabric drawer). I even had a drawer for works in progress which I put in separate grocery bags. If ever I want something to do, I can pull out one of the bags and have at it.

There's a drawer for glassware (like mason jars I use for Cookies in a Jar) and a drawer for tools (like my glue guns, wood burner, sandpaper, etc...) I also made a box for craft supplies I didn't want anymore and plan to drop that off at Goodwill sometime soon. Not as full as it could have been....

I haven't solved everything yet. I decided to keep the drawers looking somewhat organized, most of the knitting supplies had to come out for now, including the yarn. I don't have a huge stash like some people might, but enough to make a big tangle if I'm not careful. The knitting needles will probably return to the tool drawer, but I want to figure out how to organize them (by size and type). I may put the straight needles in a vase again (like I've done in the past), which can be cute. As for the yarn, I read about someone who used a closet door shoe organizer, and I'm planning to try it. I have the organizer and as soon as I have it up with yarn in it, I'll post a picture.

So, even though I haven't posted recently, I've been busy! I have more projects to update everyone on, so check back. I finished the book purse, which looks great (smells a little too much like glue though--any suggestions?)! I also have finished my Harry Potter hats and a few other things. Still have lots "in progress" though!

Charmed Knits Crafts

It's been another long drought on the blog...sorry. I took one of my little ones out of town for some scheduled surgery. She's doing fine, so I'm back to posting!

I have been helping organize a Charmed Knits for Charity event in my area and am starting to get excited. I'm a big Harry Potter fan and while I've been "rereading" the books on audio cd, I've been knitting for the KAL and working on other stuff for the big day. Namely, I've made Gryffindor robes and wands for myself and my older daughter, made spellbook knitting cases for us, made up some potions and magical props for decoration, and last night made a pair of Golden Snitch knitting needles for decoration.

The needles were a last minute inspiration and I'm really proud of them. They're not totally done yet. I need to work on the wings a little more and then finish the rest of the needle body so they are usable. These may end up on Etsy after the event if I decide I can part with them.

On another note, I've been inspired to finally create a book purse. I've been reading about them for a while, but hadn't ventured forth yet. I made it a little harder though, since I'm very picky and wanted it to be something I'd actually be willing to use. Since I didn't want to cut up any of my favorite books, I took an old college text book and "retitled" it "Black Beauty". This first one is my experiment and I think I'm going to give it to a friend's daughter who is really into horses. I found some straps that are sort of like horse reins or a bridle, and I'm trying to figure out how to add a zipper closure. Again, it's not perfect, but for a first attempt, I'm pleased. Here's two pictures and I'll post more pictures and details when I get it done.

The thing I like best is that it looks like this is an original copy of Black Beauty and not the boring and dog ugly book I started with.

Hats and Handbags

I can knit, and I can blog, but I have to get better at doing both at the same time *smile*. I started another drop stitch scarf with Lion Brand Incredible yarn in Copper Penny. It's really coming out nicely and I'll post a picture soon.

I got going on my Gryffindor hats for the Charmed Knits knit-along FINALLY! I finished the first hat and started the second today. I decided to spice things up a bit and put in little cables on a K2, P2 ribbing. It looks pretty good, but I hope it'll stay on a head well. We'll see!

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about writing patterns. I've made up some patterns and modified plenty, but have never typed up one for anyone else's use, so... I've been working on some felt purse patterns. I love felting and I have a little crocheted wrist bag I use for carrying knitting sometime (pattern here). I like it, but wanted to see if I could make a knit and felted version. I also wanted to do it all in one piece (little or no sewing). After some trial and error, I finally came up with something that worked and looked good! I just have to give it a little shave (it got a little hairy in the wash) and put the lining in and it'll be done.

I decided to call it the Lil' Kipper because that's what I'll use it for (carrying my knitting around places). I need to finish typing up the pattern and will knit another bag following my written directions to make sure I didn't leave anything out. When that's done, I'll put it out there. I'm planning to add a patterns section to this blog soon. Some will be free, but I'll have a couple that will be for sale. Might be a while before I get it all up and going though.