Knitted Placemats with Crocheted Border

I chose to make placemats because I had one color of cotton yarn that I wanted to use up. I also wanted to try a new pattern called Basket Weave. When I finished my first placemat, I felt it needed some sort of border. I decided to crochet a border even though I had never crocheted before. It turned out really nice and it was simple to do. So, if you would really like to make these placemats, don’t let the crocheted part stop you. Here is a link to a tutorial on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEhvHkBxYhU

My placemats have 54 stiches, which is 27 pairs. Depending on the amount of pairs you have on your needle, this will determine which pattern you will follow. I used small needles to make a tighter placemat, but if you want a looser weave, choose a larger needle.

K= Knit

P= Pearl

Basket Weave – Uneven Pair

Cased on an uneven amount of pairs of stitches

Row 1: K2 P2 to end of row

Row 2: P2 K2 to end of row

Row 3: K to end

Row 4: P to end

Row 5: P2 K2 to end of row

Row 6: K2 P2 to end of row

Row 7: K to end

Row 8: P to end

Basket Weave – Even Pair

Cased on an even amount of pairs of stitches

Row 1: K2 P2 to end of row

Row 2: K2 P2 to end of row

Row 3: K to end

Row 4: P to end

Row 5: P2 K2 to end of row

Row 6: P2 K2 to end of row

Row 7: K to end

Row 8: P to end

Wedding Favor - Homemade Laundry Soap

This summer I married the love of my life. For our wedding favors I wanted to make something that was a reflection of me (not so much him, but he was okay with that) and that was handmade. My favourite household chore is doing the laundry and hanging the clothes on the line. I love the smell of the fresh outdoors when I bring my clothes inside the house. At the start of the New Year I started making my own laundry soap to save money.  This got me thinking and I decided to tie together the idea of a clothes line and laundry soap. I tried a few variations and with the help of my mother (she suggested the fabric under the lid) I came up with this:

Photo by Emile Olsen.

Photo by Emile Olsen.

Photo by Emile Olsen.

    

         

Photo by Emile Olsen.

   

If you would like to make these jars, this is what you will need:

1 litre Mason jars

Jute twine (heavy duty)

Ribbon

Cotton fabric (light weight)

Thick paper (brown or colour of your choice)

Marker or pen

1" clothes pins

Felt (assortment of colours)

Images of different items of clothing (see below)

Scissors

Pinking shears

Preparation:

1) Glue the clothing item templates onto a durable surface such as cardboard and then cut out. See below.

2) Trace the clothing item templates onto the felt and cut out. For each item of clothing use the same colour.

3) Use inner lid of the Mason jar to trace circles on the brown paper and the cut out.

5) Write the name of each guest or couple on a circle.

6) Cut pieces of twine that are long enough to tie around the Mason jar and to tie a knot.

7) Trace large circles on the cotton fabric. They should be large enough that they create a frill of about two inches. Cut out using the pinking shears.

8) Cut pieces of ribbon long enough to tie around the lid of the jar with a bow.

9) Make the laundry soap. You can find the recipe in my blog post titled : DIY Laundry Soap. 

Assembly:

1) Pin the clothes to the twine using the clothes pins.

2) Tie the clothes line around the jar tightly with the know in back of the jar.

3) Fill the jar with the laundry soap.

4) Place the inner lid on the jar with the fabric centered over top.

5) Place the piece of paper on top of the fabric.

6) Screw the outer lid over the lid, paper and fabric tightly.

7) Tie the ribbon making a bow.

I had a little ornament I bought from Michael's that I strung onto the ribbon, but it would look just as nice without it. I couldn't find the clothes pins at any of my local craft stores, so I ordered them on Etsy. These jars were a lot of work and luckily my maid of honour was there to help me. 

Clothing item templates:

          

                 

Sweatshirt Bears

My husband had a few sweatshirts that he no longer wore and I just couldn't throw them out, just like many of our clothes that get stained or damaged, I save them for crafty projects. I saw this pattern for a bear made from a sock in the book "Sew Me Love Me" by Hsiu-Lan Kuei, and I thought the fuzzy fleece inside the sweaters could work well for the fur for the bear. I enlarged the pattern for the bear and the pyjamas and constructed the bears by hand, even the clothes.  It was time consuming, but I found it easier to manipulate this type of fabric by hand rather than with the sewing machine.

I would highly recommend this book because the patterns are easy to follow which is great for those making stuffed toys for the first time or for novice sewers.

 The pink bear in the middle I made using the sewing machine and decided to use fabric yo-yos for the arms and legs. The body is actually made from flannel and not sweatshirt material.

Romantic Flower Boxes

Flower boxes bring a house to life, while adding colour and warmth. 

Tips:

-Change soil every year

-Use soil specifically for containers 

-Choose the prettiest flowers you can find

-Select a range of colours from deep purple to white or light pink

-Make sure all the flowers have the same requirements for sunlight

-Have one flower as a centre piece or focal point

-Fertilize and water regularly

-Trim off the dead blooms and leaves

Flowers:

Geranium

Mandaville 

Bircopa (small purple with yellow centre)

Euphorbe 

Zinna

How To Make a Fabric Yo-Yo

Supplies

• Fabric – It is best to use a lighter weight fabric for the fabric yo‐yos as it will be easier to make a tighter yo‐yo. 

• Thread – It is best to use quilting thread or button hole thread because it is strong and it will not break when pulling the yo‐yo closed. It is possible to double up on regular sewing thread to make it stronger. 

• Cardboard or thick paper for circle template

• Scissors

• Pencil

Directions
1. Trace a circle, the size of you choice onto a piece of paper. You can glue these circles on a more durable surface like Bristol board or cardboard from a cereal box, and then cut them out again. This is helpful if you want reuse the circles to make more fabric yo-yos. Use the circles to trace a circle on your fabric. You can also use household items such as a cup or plate to trace the circle.

2. Cut out the circle

3. Fold the fabric over about 1/4 inch.

4. Use a thread about 30cms long. Thread the needle then tie a knot at the other end. Start folding the seam (about a 1/4 inch) on the fabric circle you have cut out and insert the needle through the two layers of fabric. You can then use a running stitch keeping the stitches about half an inch apart. Please see the pictures below. 

5. Once you have almost stitched around the whole circle, make sure you leave enough space so that you can finish by inserting the needle almost directly on the starting knot. Please see the picture below.

6. To close the fabric yo‐yo tightly, you can go over the first stitch as outlined in the pictures and diagram below.

7. To finish, pull on the thread so that the seam bunches together forming a small circle. Then, insert the needle at the base of one of the folds as seen in the picture below. Then, tie 2 slip knots just below one of the folds, so that the knot will be hidden.

DIY Laundry Soap

My favourite household chore is laundry. I love hanging the clothes on the line because they smell so nice afterwards, it saves me money not using the dryer and it is good for the environment! I thought about how I could save even more money and so I looked online and found many different recipes for DIY laundry detergent. Luckily, I was able to find the ingredients at my local grocery store.

This was how much it cost me for the ingredients in Canadian dollars:

Borax $5.19

Washing Soda $6.39

Sunlight Bar $2.49 (package of 2)

I calculated one batch cost me about $1.75 and it makes 18 litres. I use about 1/4 cup per load which works out to about 1 to 2 cents per load. 

Ingredients

1 Sunlight Pure Soap Bar, grated

1/2 cup Borax (laundry booster)

1/2 cup Washing Soda (detergent booster and freshener)

4 cups water

Directions

1. Pour 4 cups of water into a large sauce pan on medium heat. While the water is warming up, grate the Sunlight Pure Soap Bar into a small bowl and then add it to the water in the sauce pan.

2. Stir the soap frequently until melted. Remove from heat and pour the soap into a large bowl.

3. Stir in the Borax and then the Washing Soda until it is dissolved.

4. Mix the concentrated soap mixture with 18 litres(around 5 gallons) of water. 

I didn't have a 18 litre container so I divided the soap mixture into different sized containers. I kept empty windshield washer fluid containers, large dish soap bottles, and empty laundry soap containers. I calculated that 3.5 tbsp made 1 litre of soap.

The soap does get a bit clumpy,  but all you have to do is shake it before each use.

For front loading laundry machines, use 1/4 cup per load.

For top loading laundry machines, use 1/2 cup per load.