Yarn Along

It's been a while since I joined yarn along...not because I'm not knitting, but because I'm knitting so slowly that I hardly have a new thing to show.

I did have time to whip up this little darling for my baby niece in time for her first birthday.

The pattern is by Linda of Mamma4earth on etsy and is amazing.

The book, obviously, is The Ugly Duckling (that's actually a swan) and is - and has always been- my favourite kids' story.  We had to go to 3 different stores to find it, which makes me very very sad.

It was lost in a sea of Trademarked character books which will remain nameless.  Such a shame.

Joining with Ginny at Small things, for Yarn Along.  Hop on over.

Playing around with gift tag ideas

Yesterday I was working on a blog post for the Rural Creators' Collective, and I think I may have come up with this years' gift tags.  You can see the full post on the link above, but the ideas I think I may work with for myself are here.

I picture these strung on a length of yarn and wrapped around the package.  Each package can have a different word, maybe?

 I am really liking the lady bugs for spring gift tags.

And this may be the idea I use throughout the year...the picture is from an old, ripped picture book and is just modge podged onto the branch slice.  I think I will make up a big batch for all seasons, and then a separate batch for Christmas gifts for the teachers.

Did you work on any quick crafts this weekend?

Linking up with:  Homemade Monday at Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity 

 

A request for a few moments of your time

Help support children's literacy with a moment of your time.

Just thought I would put this out there...We are trying to get some much needed new books for our school library.  If you have a spare moment, would you please consider going to the Indigo "adopt a school"  site and "adopting" our school - it's free, but each 50 adopters gives us one free book for our school library. Enter Hanna Memorial, Ontario in the search.

And, if you happen to have $12.00 to spare, each $12.00 donation on that site also gives us one new book.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Tiny artwork

First, the background:  I am, and have been for a while, getting ready for the school's art show.  The point is for the students to make a piece of art using recycled/ upcycled materials.  Each year that I have run it, I have made name tags for the kids that are participating.  I was pretty stumped as to what to make this year that wouldn't be a repeat of the other years.

Yesterday, inspiration hit while I was sorting books for the used book sale that we are running with the art show...it always makes me sad when we get books so damaged we can't do anything with them but put them in the recycle bin...or can we?  I brought one home to play with.

I made myself a little cardboard template (from an old tissue box) to fit these little wooden rectangles that I have (left over from a game I made for the boys...my very first blog post ever actually).  The wooden pieces were just sliced from a random piece of wood in the scrap pile...just be sure to use solid wood and not plywood or MDF.

I used the cardboard template as a little "window" for choosing the pictures to cut from the book (by the way...there were pages missing, ripped pages and the cover was ripped off - I would not normally cut from a book...just sayin).

 I traced around my little window, cut it out with scissors...

 ...glued it to the wooden tile with Mod Podge and then painted another layer of Mod Podge on top.

 I drilled a hole through the top and laced a piece of ribbon through, but I'm not to pleased with the result.  I had planned on putting the kids' names on the back with "2013" but now I think they would look better as pins.

 I made a couple...

 Every other page was colour, every other page was black and white...

 Aren't they terribly cute?

I'm going to let each child and volunteer choose their own, the one that "speaks to them" and write their name on after.  I'm about half way done (I need about 40) but I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be more of these in my near future because I think they would make FANTASTIC gift tags...personalized to each gift I make.  In fact, I have a few pictures set aside for someone I know already...

Hint: you can use the title of the stories (this happened to be a book of fairy tales and folk tales) for individual words or initials.

So, name tags almost done AND made entirely of recycled/leftover materials.  Yippee.  I hope the kids like them...I know the volunteers will.

Linking up with: Keep Calm Craft On at Frontier Dreams
                         Homemade Monday over at Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity
                         Hop 29 at the Backyard Farming Connection


 

Knitting and Reading - taking it easy

My last couple of knitting projects have totally taken it out of me.  I had to unravel my colour work sock which I had spent hours on because it was too tight (although the colour work itself, I really liked) and after spending two weeks on a project that I had to frog and knit and frog and knit only to have it come out so bad I actually threw it in the garbage can (I couldn't even salvage the yarn at that point), I decided that I needed to spend some time with a mindless project.  No new skills, no paying attention, just grab a ball of yarn and go.

I am calling it my 2 year blanket because I would like to have it finished by next summer.  It takes me roughly 12 and a half minutes to knit one row of this blanket so it will be a long long process, but, I don't even have to pay attention to it.  Right now, that is exactly the kind of project I need.  I will be casting on some more complicated projects shortly but I think I will enjoy having this one sitting around to pick up when I need a break.

I finished Middlemarch on the weekend, and have moved on to "A Rose for the Crown" which is set in the midst of the York/Lancaster battle for the throne.  I am only on the second chapter so far.  It is also exactly what I need right now...something I can pick up and read here and there for pure entertainment.

What are you working on and reading this week? 

Linking up with Ginny at small things for Yarn Along.  Won't you come join us?

In which I am pleasantly surprised...

...a child's homework assignment.

My oldest son (he's 12) received a homework assignment in which he had to write "a narrative".  Whenever he was working on it, he would say he was working on his "book".  It only stood to reason, then, that when it was time to turn it in, he wanted to turn it in as an actual book.
I didn't take pictures of him during the process but I wanted to give the instructions in case anyone wanted to do this with their child...he was so thrilled with the results:

 The hardest part was printing out the pages...and I have to admit, I did have to help him with this step because he is not overly familiar with the features of the Word Processor.

-Basically, you count out the pages on the screen, determine how many pages you will need to print out the entire story, and number the blank pages lightly in pencil.
-Take the numbered sheets and fiddle around with the spacing on the word processor until you get the pages to line up the way you want them.  We printed each half of each page one at a time rather than try to line up, say, page 4 with page 11, etc.  Each page went through 4 times to get the writing properly aligned, front and back.  Some processors will automatically do this for you, but we are not that advanced.

-Mark each page down the middle where you will be punching the holes to bind it up.  He punched each page one at a time using a metal punch.  A nail would work just as well, I believe.

-For the cover, he cut two panels from a cereal box, cut them 1/2" larger than the paper in each direction so there would be 1/4" overlap all around.  He glued them together with Carpenter's glue (we weren't sure if white glue would dry smooth, or make the cardboard all wrinkly) pattern side to pattern side.

-He chose a piece of thin faux suede for the cover (which was cut to leave a 1" border all around the cereal box cover).  He modge podged the entire cereal box cover on one side only, applied the faux suede and applied another layer of modge podge over that.  Note:  it will start to curve, but will fix itself in the next step.

-We had one sheet of parchment paper left from some other project.  He folded the edges of the faux suede back over the other side of the cereal box cover and glued them down...an extra set of hands helps here to get the corners to line up nicely.  Then he modge podged the parchment paper to the inside cover of the cereal box, hiding his overlap of faux suede.  Now, both sides of the cardboard are equally wet, so it flattens itself out.  He let it dry about 10-15 minutes and then we wrapped it in a garbage bag and pressed it with a few heavy books over night.

-He used one of the pages to mark where the holes should be punched in the cover, and punched them with the metal punch.  Note:  a hammer and nail may work for this, but I think a drill might work better...we did not test either method though.

 

Then he threaded two pieces of crochet cotton onto a needle and just sewed up the spine of the book (in one whole, out the next hole - all the way down, and then back up the opposite way) tied it off at the top, and left the long overhang for the bookmark.

Now the pleasantly surprised part...He got it back from his teacher yesterday, so I read it last night for the first time (I didn't even read it while it was printing) and it was really really good.  Now, he's a smart kid, I know, but I kept telling my husband "I can't believe he wrote this".  I laughed out loud at least 3 times.  I am super impressed.  Next time he asks me "what should I be when I grow up" (they both still do, on occasion) I think my reply might just be "an author".  Mama brag over now

And for those of you related to me, you just might receive an email in the next couple of days with this story attached.   

Linking up with Linda at Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday, cuz yes, he was creative!  And with Crafty Moms Share for Sharing Saturdays.

Yarn along and some new growth

Keeping it super brief this morning so that I can get to the farmer's market...did you get that?  I am writing my yarn along on Wednesday for a change.

Oooh, sorry, my kitchen is dark in the morning, but I couldn't take the picture in the dining room where I usually do because N was eating his breakfast in there and this is a surprise for him.  Mr. N requested a new hat (for next fall) and this is the yarn I spun up for it.  The scarf from last week's yarn along is on hold until I can decide what to do with the darn thing (yesterday's post I think).  The book I picked up at the library last night but I haven't started it yet.  It is set in 1881 and one of the characters is Arthur Conan Doyle, but it is fiction.  I will let you know.

And now....look what is happening in my kitchen:

Now I just need to plant it up in some dirt.  Thank you very much to Tricia at Crunchy Catholic Momma for this one.  She has posted a bunch of garden things I have never heard in the last little while.  I just love her blog.

And in the dining room: 

A couple of new things sprouting...one was too small to even take the picture.  I would love to tell you what they are but in true Natalie style I forgot to label a gosh darn thing in my rush to get things planted.  These are to replace the seedlings that I tried to plant early outside under row covers.    Note to self...start them inside next year and then move them out.

And this morning my cat is very happy:

and I caught the boys eating their breakfast:

Where do they get this?  I think this is actually the first time I have caught N reading at breakfast...he is not usually the reader of the family but he loves the new book he is reading.  N is reading Cirque de Freak by Darren Shan and S is reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Joining up with Yarn Along at small things

still in progress...

 I guess I kind of overestimated how much knitting time I would have last night.  I really wanted to share a finished item for a change...but once again, a work in progress...

I am making a mason jar cover for picnics or bike rides so that my glass jar isn't always rattling around the basket all naked and exposed.   Plus, I figure the wool would probably soak up any leaks.  I still need to make the lid cover that will be attached to that part at the top (you can see the opening in the first picture), and add the button to close it all up.

Then I plan to make some for the boys.  If anyone is interested (when it is done) I will share the pattern.  I am having to write it up as I go along.  I think I just about have it, but the second time through will test it at the same time to be sure it is worth sharing.  Hopefully, tomorrow for "stash bash", but more realistically, Friday (pottery tonight, yippee).
Wanna come back to check it out?

The book...oh, the book!  I had seen Animal, Vegetable, Miracle on several blogs in the last few months so when I saw it at the library I thought I would pick it up and check it out.  I must admit, I have already finished it...but I am going to go back through it to take some notes on seed varieties and web sites and things I want to try that she has in the book.  If you have a chance to read this, you really should give it a try.  It's written as a novel more than a how to book, which I really enjoyed, but at the same time, you come home with a bucket of information.

Hopping over now to join Ginny at small things for yarn along.  Won't you join us?

Yarn along...more or less.

It's Tuesday night, so I am writing my yarn along post to join up with Ginny at small things for Wednesday's yarn along.

These are the reasons that I have not gotten much knitting done.
1.   I have been making yarn instead of knitting with it.
2.   The other distraction is the little (and not so little) fabric peg doll gnomes that I introduced on yesterday's post (sneak peak pattern give-away for the peg dolls over here).  I may have gotten carried away with them.  Please excuse the photo...as I said, it is Tuesday night.  There are much better photos of the peg dolls on the link above.

On the reading front...the Upper Canadian Furniture book is out because I think my husband needs to make me this:

...the swift on the right.  I could make it myself but it is gardening season so if I make it, it will be in the fall, and he is looking for a project, and Mother's day will be here before you know it, and I wonder if any of this will convince him :)

The fiction book is "The Outlaws of Ennor" set in the early 1300's.  When I was a few pages in, I realized I have read this book before, but for the life of me I cannot remember much else about it, other than the fact that I have read it before.  It is a very weird feeling.
Plus, not much reading was going on lately because I had a serious problem my brother introduced me to "Jericho" on Netflix and in 2 weeks I watched the entire 30 episodes and may or may not have watched 4 (43 minute) episodes in one sitting.  Yikes!  I loved it, but it totally took over my mind.  I was thinking about it all the time, and I just couldn't wait until evening to watch the next episode (and I have to admit that once I actually went up and watched an episode before making dinner).  I was completely obsessed with it and that has never happened to me before.  I'm almost glad it is all over so I can move on.

Now the kids are off to bed, so I am going to settle in with my book.  And hopefully, for next week's yarn along, I will have something more to share since I now have SIX "current" knitting projects on the go...a new maximum for me, which is leaving me completely overwhelmed...and is probably the reason I am doing everything BUT knitting.

I see some stash bashing in my future

Before I forget...if you haven't yet entered the Give-Away, go here (if you want, of course).

Now...to the future stash bash..

A few weeks I entered a give-away for this book...and I won! 

Thank you very much to Adrie at Fields and Fire for the generous give-away.  It arrived last night.  

I had read about it on a few blogs and was really quite interested in checking it out.

So, I thought I would share with you the first three projects I plan to make, since it is Three things on Thursday.

 First up will be this little gardening apron...once I saw it I realized I need a gardening apron.

Next up will be this hat, or something very similar.  I think my family will be happy to see a hat replace the bonnet that I wear in the yard (and maybe, once or twice, to the beach).  You see, apparently, my bonnet is embarrassing (to them of course, not to me).

And this little guy caught my eye.  I don't know who I will make him for, but I do believe that I must make him.  He's in the queue anyways.

What are you planning to make?