Knitting Bag

As you may have guessed from my blog, I'm a bit passionate about crafting (and cooking...which is a craft of sorts...). Anyway, I love to do the occasional project that combines one or more of my crafting passions - and this was one of those projects.

The opportunity arose when a girlfriend asked me if I would teach her how to knit. Her brother is expecting his first child and she wanted to handknit a baby blanket for the new arrival. I love sharing my obsessions passions with other folks so I jumped on the opportunity to teach her this skill. I wanted to nurture this new hobby a little bit so I thought I would make her a knitting bag to hold her project, yarn, needles and accessories.

I found this fab fabric at the local sewing shop which was perfect for the bag. Those of you papercrafters who aren't sewers might be interested to note that patterned papers and fabrics often echo each other and there are many common designers who do both. The other day I was shopping in the local quilt shop which had some gorgeous little sock monkey fabric and down the street at the LSS they had the exact, same design in scrapbook paper! I find that the same trends seem to run through both industries. Anyway, short story long, the colours and designs out right now in the fabric world are wonderful.

The bag has several pockets designed for holding knitting needles and crochet hooks, a zippered pocket and a large outside pocket (perfect for your pattern). Its a good size for a small to medium size project but probably not quite big enough for a full size afghan/blanket.

I have a few knitting related stamps and I thought I would add them to the bag for a little fun. The patch is knitabella by Stamping Bella. You could stamp directly onto the fabric with a permanent ink but I stamped onto transfer sheet and ironed the image onto the fabric for this project (which is why its mirrored). I cheated a bit on this because I decided to add the patch after the bag was completed so I used HeatBond (a double sided, iron on fabric adhesive) to attach the patch to the front pocket rather than sew it on.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this turned out and I will definately be making more of these bags. I think with some adaptions to the pockets you could use these for a variety of hobbies/passtimes and change the front patch to suit. Let's see...I have bookwormabella, stampingbella, craftybella.... Ah, the possibilities are endless!

Supplies: Fabric (Henry Glass Fabrics), notions (thread, zipper, fusible web, cardboard base, Heatbond), transfer paper, stamp (Stamping Bella), ink (Palette).

You Gotta Try This...

Okay. Tell me this isn't the cutest little hat! I knit this today for my darling daughter who turned 6 months old! I call her my little pumpkin because she was born in October and I've been dying to knit her a little pumpkin hat for ages but just hadn't gotten around to it. I'll try and post a picture of it with her actually wearing it but right now she's fast asleep (thank goodness for small miracles...)

I apologize that Bloglift Tuesday is not quite finished yet so I will post it tomorrow. Hubby was a sicko today so I had to spend the majority of my day upstairs taking care of the two "babies" instead of fooling around in the ol' craft room.

Had to share this with you: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/04/make-your-cupcakes-pop.html. I think I'm going to try this for a "Take on Tutorial". I absolutely adore these! They are super cute and would make a lovely little bite size dessert for a little girls birthday party or a baby shower or just about any other occasion you could think of.

Butterfinger Cookies

Today's recipe is for Butterfinger Cookies. I don't know why I like these cookies so much because I don't really like Butterfinger candy bars... I used to get my husband to buy Butterfingers in the US when he went across the line because I couldn't find them in Canada until just recently. Anyway - these are very simple and good kid pleasing cookies.

Butterfinger Cookies

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/4 cups chunky peanut butter
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 Butterfinger candy bars (chopped fine)

Preheat oven to 350•F.

Cream together butter and sugars in large bowl until well blended. Add egg whites, vanilla and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt and add to butter mixture. Mix on low speed until blended. Add chopped Butterfinger candy and stir until the candy is incorporated into the dough.

Make 1 1/2 inch balls (or use a medium cookie scoop) and place on cookie sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart as these cookies will spread as they cook. Bake for 10-12 minutes - until just brown around the edges. Let cool 5-10 minutes on pan before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Note: Do not use natural peanut butter for this recipe - it will not turn out as nice. I'm a huge peanut butter eater and I only eat the peanuts only stuff - but it just doesn't work in these cookies.

These are packaged up for our great big sale on Saturday (see yesterday's post). Its really easy to put cookies into a nice package for a bake sale or gift, but one word of advice I have about this is to make sure that the packaging you buy is food safe. I purchase all my bags at a packaging speciality store or in Michaels in the cake decorating section. I'm very leery of purchasing containers for food items at the dollar store as its difficult to tell if they are food safe. As a rule - if its not labeled food safe - don't use it for food.

This is the spiral scarf I just finished from this gorgeous hand-dyed Merino I bought in Portland, Oregon. Each of the ladies at our big sale is contributing a door prize and this is mine. I really love the way this turned out - although its more decorative then "winter protecting". The spiral is made by short rowing the edges.

Edumicate Me Thursday - Punch and Die Cut Tips

Hello and Happy Thursday!!! Can't wait to enjoy a nice, long weekend with the family.

Today's project will help you to get more use out of your punches and diecuts. I have an extensive collection of diecuts and punches which I like to use with my stamps. The problem is figuring out which stamps to use with which diecuts. I came up with this system to better help me match them together.

Diecut/Punch Swatch Ring

For this project you will need an assortment of scrap cardstock - the heavier the better. Stampin' Up! cardstock is a good choice. You will also need your diecuts and punches, a binder ring, a pen or fine-tip marker, a hole punch and a paper trimmer.

Determine the sizes of your diecuts and cut squares of cardstock to match them. I cut 4-inch, 3-inch an 2-inch squares. These sizes are suitable for the majority of my collection.

Centre your punch or die as close to the centre of the square as you can and punch/die cut it out. You will have two pieces after this - the positive die and the negative in the square. You will be using the negative image for this project. Put the positive piece away for a future project.

Write the name and any relavent information about the die (location, size, etc.) in the bottom right corner. Punch a 1/4" hole in the top left hand corner.

Keep punching/cutting until you have done a card for each of the punches or diecuts in your collection. You will end up with a punch of square cards like these.

Put the binder ring through the punched holes, keeping like sizes together on the ring.

If you keep your stamped images in an inventory binder you can use the ring to select the best stamp to go with your punch or the best punch to go with your stamp. Simply select the punch/diecut you want to use and place it over the stamp. This will help you determine if a stamp will fit or not. If you don't keep a stamp inventory, simply stamp your stamp on a scrap paper and place the die negative over it.

This works really well for me when I'm putting together cards or projects. One recommendation I have to make this system last better is to laminate each square after you've punched it. I'm planning to laminate my collection to give them more stability.

No cards tonight but here is the felted purse I made my mom for her birthday. I think it turned out pretty well. My mom picked out the colours. Its called a Booga Bag from Black Sheep Bags. The yarn is Noro Kureyon - a Japanese wool.

Along with the bag my mom is getting a frame decorated with rub-ons, a batch of Coconut Macadamia Shortbreads and a custom coffee cup with photos of her granddaughter. I like to make gifts as often as I can - although I have to admit that sometimes my ambitions outweigh the actual time I have available.

Happy Easter everyone!

Ravelry, Happy Mail and SAB Stampin' Up Order is In!

Okay, I got loads of new stuff today so I'm posting it here and tomorrow I promise to have a few projects to display as well.

For you knitters/crocheters out there - I got my invite to Ravelry today and if you haven't checked this place out I encourage you to do so. There is a ton of stuff available for knitters including a place to track you stash, your works in progress and lots of resources like patterns, tips, etc. Check me out - Graphixgirl72.

I got some happy mail today from my Mystery Sistah, yeah! She sent me a lovely package including a beautiful album filled with recipes which she's promised to add to each month of the swap. Also got some embellishments, ribbon and a nice mini album along with a beautiful card. I will post a card made with some of these items tomorrow.

I also picked up my SAB Stampin' Up order today. I was lucky enough to pull February from the hat to be the hostess at my scrappin' club so I got a ton of freebies on my last order including three of the SAB sets! Can't wait to ink up these guys.

My craft room is officially a disaster area. Between recent purchases, multiple swaps and the baby girl I just can't seem to keep this place in any semblance of order. I've got to get it together so I can actually finish my swaps.

Speaking of swaps - here's the ribbon I purchased today for my ribbon swap on SCS. I really like these two - and I hope the swappers who get them do as well. My LSS is blowing out ribbon at 40% off so its a great time to stock up - not that I actually need any more ribbon...oh, who am I kidding...

What I'm Reading Now...New Knitting Books

So I picked up two great new knitting books this week - I'm totally in love with these two books and I can't wait to try the projects in them. The first is called Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. For those of you who aren't familiar with Betz - check out her absolutely scrumptious cupcake pincushions. The book isn't traditional knitting...the projects use felted pieces of recycled wool sweaters. What better way to use an old sweater than to turn it into something fabulous!

The next book is called Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr. Let me tell you that the scarves in this book are amazing - completely unique and just wonderful. I can't wait to try a few of her unique patterns to give as gifts. These scarves are conversation pieces.

Speaking of knitting - has anyone heard of this game called "Hat Attack"? Essentially you join a group, they send you a pattern for a hat and you have to knit it up and send it to your target as quickly as possible. If they receive the hat before they are finished knitting their own they are "dead" and must post their death on the Yahoo board for this group. I totally missed this but it sounds like a ton of fun (sign-up deadline was February 6th). It is modelled on something called "Sock Wars" which I assume is similar.

Bellas, Bellas, Bellas!

Happy mail - I received my order of Bellas today and was very excited! For any of you who haven't had the chance to meet the Bellas visit them at Stamping Bella - there are loads to choose from. I belong to a yahoo group called BellaholicaAnonymous. Some of the girls there were wondering how to get nice, sharp images from the stamp (they come rubber only with no foam underlay or mount). Personally - I mount all my Bellas on EZ Mount and I get perfect impressions almost every time. If you buy a lot of unmounted stamps and use EZ Mount to mount them I highly recommend investing in a hot knife. It cuts through the underlay like butter! I've posted a great video tutorial from the Expressively Me blog on the left side - it shows how to use the hot knife with EZ Mount.
Here's a couple of Bella cards and just so you don't think I'm all about the paper...a few knit projects I've finished lately. I've been doing a lot of small knit projects (hats, scarves, gloves) because I can knit quietly while my daughter takes her naps. Also - I'm trying to use up a bunch of odds and sods of yarn/wool I have laying about the house.