Maureen Cracknell Handmade: A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

Maureen Cracknell Handmade: A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :: *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * It's Fabric Giveaway Friday !   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *...

A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It's Fabric Giveaway Friday!  

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

My sponsor Hypernoodle Fabrics is an online fabric shop dedicated to fresh, colorful cotton quilting prints! Owned and operated by Michelle (The Head Noodle), Hypernoodle started out small on Etsy out of a need and desire in the Houston area for hip and trendy fabrics that were not readily available at local Quilt Shops. That need quickly grew Nationwide and Internationally by a wide margin of customers from Hawaii to Australia and beyond!

They carry many of our favorite designer fabrics, including Camelot Fabrics, Riley Blake Fabrics, Michael Miller Fabrics, Robert Kaufman, and many more! !

We invite you to visit Hypernooodle Fabrics at their --

 SHOP  *  FACEBOOK  *  BLOG  *  PINTEREST 
  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We hope you enjoy visiting their sites!! 

For this week's Fabric Giveaway, Hypernoodle Fabrics is giving away a very generous prize! One lucky winner will receive FIFTEEN full yard cuts of their Fabulous Florals!  PLUS a second winner will receive a bundle of Holiday prints in 1/2 yard cuts equaling another SEVEN yards of fabric!  WOW, that's a lot of gorgeous fabric folks!!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

"ELFIE" The Charity Hat

This year's charity is Elves & More of West Michigan.

We have SO much donated yarn at the shop that people have generously brought into the shop for our charity knitting! We thank you! A lot of the yarn is thinner weight yarns (like fingering) so here is a hat pattern to make use of the thinner weight yarns AND do something nice for charity!

"ELFIE" The Charity Hat

Size: Baby (Toddler, Child, Women, Men) = 

        12 (14, 16, 18, 20) inches in circumference by 

        5 (6.5, 7.5, 8.5, 9.5) inches high approx

Average Head Sizes

·         Newborn 13 – 14”

·         0-3 months 14 – 15”

·         3-6 months 14 – 17”

·         6-12 months 16 – 19”

·         1-3 years 18 – 20”

·         3-10 years 19 – 20.5”

·         Pre-teen/Teen 20.5 – 22”

·         Adult female 21.5 – 22.5”

·         Adult male 23 – 24”

Materials: worsted weight yarn for the brim only

              2 or 3 kinds of any yarn any weight, balled together to knit as one

              10 (6.0mm) 32" cable circular needles for Magic Loop Method

              10 (6.0mm) 16" cable circular needles or DPN

               

Gauge: When combining the various yarns, you want to achieve the thickness of bulky weight or super bulky weight yarn. The hat heights are approx. Everybody's head is different. I like to wear my hats over my ears so I tend to make them longer.

Instructions:

CO 32 (42, 52, 62, 72) stitches with the worsted weight yarn in your preferred cast on method with the circular needles. I use the single cast on or the backward loop cast on. Video on Knittinghelp.com here. This gives a stretchier edge for the hat. And really, do you want a crease on your head? You can also use the long-tail cast on. It still give a stretchy edge. 

Place a stitch marker. Join in the round. Be careful not to twist! You are starting with the solid or one strand of worsted weight yarn. As you cast on, hold your cast on row to the bottom. There are only 52 stitches. You can do it!

Start the brim with a ribbing of K2P2 all around for at least an inch or whatever length you want hugging your head. After you get your desired band width, add your second colorway. 

Depending on the thickness of the combined yarn, you can either keep knitting with the size 10 needles or switch to a bigger size. A bigger size needle will accommodate the thicker yarn but will also make the hat bigger. This will give your hat more of a tam or slouch look. Keep knitting in stockinette until the hat is the desired length. 

To decrease, k2tog until you have about 5 st. You will need to switch to dpns to finish. 

To cinch the top, insert right needle into stitch on left needle as if to knit and wrap working yarn, pull yarn all the way through. Drop stitch from left. You are not creating a stitch. You are pulling the working yarn through the stitch so your project doesn't unravel. 

Another decrease I like to do is to is a spiral decrease. Here is a spiral decrease for the child hat that you cast on 52st. 

Row 1 *k11, k2tog, repeat from *

Row 2 *k10, k2tog, repeat

Row 3 *k9, k2tog, repeat 

Row 4 *k8, k2tog, repeat

Row 5 *k7, k2tog, repeat

Row 6 *k6, k2tog, repeat

Row 7 *k5, k2tog, repeat

Row 8 *k4, k2tog, repeat

Row 9 *k3, k2tog, repeat

Row 10 *k2, k2tog, repeat

Row 11 *k1, k2tog, repeat

On the last row, pull the yarn through the remaining loops to cinch them closed. This method will add more rows to your hat so start the spiral decrease about 2" short of the desired hat height. (Depending on gauge)

Every pattern is a recipe to be tweaked.

Check out my bags for sale at A Grand Skein!

So some of you know, I work at a LYS in Alger Heights called A Grand Skein. As the shop heads into it's 3rd year, we are expanding our offerings and are starting to include consignment items. YAY for local art! 

Here is an Instagram filtered photo of my bags in a rainbow of color, hanging up in the shop. The color wheel in full swing!

Bizarre Bazaar 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013 @

Eastown District on Wealthy

The weather turned out fabulous! You just never know with outdoor events. It was supposed to thunderstorm around 9 am when it started and around 2pm but it never came. The sun was shining and I actually got sunburn!

Sales were good. I have 2 issues with this outdoor venue (I also did the Eastown Street Fair last year): the wi-fi is completely sporadic. My phone goes from 3G, to extended, and searching for a signal without even moving. And after show loading is not organized and everyone wants to bring their vehicles in at the same time. 

Sold these bags at Biz Baz. 

Sold!

Also sold a bear! Stay tuned for more of Marilyn's Bear Factory!

I would love to do this show again!

The Wedding

So one of my very best friends recently got married. She asked me to help because I am crafty and frugal. Here are some unique things we did:

The Brooch Bouquets:

This is the brides bouquet. See separate post for stem wrapping details.

This is one of the matron of honor's bouquets. All the family bouquets had a gold brooch in honor of her grandmother who recently passed. This is a good picture of the wrapped stem.

Close up of the brooches including the gold grandmother brooch.

This is the other matron of honor's bouquet. The gold brooch is on the side to the right. 

This is the bridesmaids bouquet. She had 2 matron of honor (her sisters) and 3 bridesmaids. 

These are wine bottles covered with a black sweater that was used as bouquet holders.

 

Here are the bouquets in the bottles on the head table. 

Junior Bridesmaids bouquets. Purchased on Amazon but I wrapped the stem in white criss-crossed in black. Two brooches and a gold pin for their great grandmother. 

The Arch:

Lighted strings of "grapevine" lights with flowers, 40 yards of tulle, and ribbon to tie it up and make the poofs. I then wove the tulle in the top of the arch like a canopy. 

Here is it lit up at night. Some of the lights belong to the reception place. 

The Toasting Flutes:

See my previous post here on etching glass. Just plain etching on black glass didn't really show up, so I used a silver paint marker to make the etching pop.  

And the sign:

My friend did this one all on her own. Her nephews carried the sign. The picture is priceless.

Stay tuned for tutorials!

Yarn Tasting Glass Etching

At my LYS, where I work, we are hosting a Yarn Tasting this Friday. A fun, etched wine glass filled with yarn "tastings" of various weights and textures. Check out the glass here and here.

Easy to do your own logo on any glass with Armour Etch. Select your logo or picture, use a sticker to attach logo to a clean surface, use a sharp blade to expose parts to be etched, apply etching cream for 10 minutes, and rinse. Do not get on your skin. Results are permanent. Etch away!

Le Poof Slouch Hat Pattern

This pattern was created to help sell Poof by Crystal Palace Yarns that is carried in my LYS (which is also my place of employment). It is a super bulky yarn in an eyelash texture made from 100% microfiber. It feels like fleece. It is super soft and warm people! This pattern takes 1 ball of the poofy stuff and knits up fast. 

Le Poof Slouch Hat

Materials: 1 ball of Poof by Crystal Palace Yarns 47yds/50gr

               10.5 (6.5mm) 16" cable circular needles or DPN

               15.0 (10mm) 16" cable circular needles or DPN

Gauge: This is a super bulky yarn in an eyelash texture. It is not easy to knit tight.

Instructions:

CO 36 stitches in your preferred cast on method with 10.5 circular needles. I used the single cast on or the backward loop cast on. Video on Knittinghelp.com here. This gives a stretchier edge for the hat. And really, do you want a crease on your head?

Place a stitch marker. Join in the round. Be careful not to twist! Poof is hard to see your stitches so as you cast on, hold your cast on row to the bottom. There are only 36 stitches. You can do it!

K all stitches for about 2" (approx 5 rows) or whatever length you want hugging your head.

Switch to 15 circular needles and continue knitting until you have about 24" left. I knitted 23 rows. 

Next K2tog all around reducing the number of stitches to 18. You should have enough left pull the remaining working yarn through all the stitches and cinch it up. Knot it off and weave in your ends. I only had 2" of yarn to spare!

You can make your hat slouchier with 2 balls of yarn or experiment with bigger needles. Instead of 15, try 17 or 19. 

The poof yarn doesn't show stitches very well, so I would really just work on shape. I opted for the slouch hat to create a "one ball project".

Every pattern is a recipe to be tweaked. 

To cinch: Insert right needle into stitch on left needle as if to knit and wrap working yarn, pull yarn all the way through. Drop stitch from left. You are not creating a stitch. You are pulling the working yarn through the stitch so your project doesn't unravel. 

Here are some more pics of the finished project. 

Knit on AmingOs!