good things...

1. My painfully shy son, holding a "Star Student" award from his teacher for reading a book aloud IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS!!

2. My baby girl, looking so grown up, posing with her framed creations at her preschool Art Auction fundraiser.
3. A sweet little 2 year old student- the winner of the tree quilt! My son actually cried when he realized we weren't taking it home...."But you worked so hard on it Mommy, won't you miss it?"

4. Rainbow colored knit slippers....I was planning to knit a pair but came across these at a BAKESHOP for only $6.75!!

5. These alarmingly delicious cinnamon buns, also from said bakeshop (they cost much more than the slippers!).


6. This gorgeous grey and sequined (!!!) wool that I bought at the local yarn shop....not sure what it will become yet, maybe this hat?

7. Fandango fat quarters....not that I needed any more fabric...but I so seldom set foot into an ACTUAL quilt shop and it was so pretty in person, I couldn't resist, even at the crazy Canuck prices ;)

Hope you are having a day full of good things!

Tutorial: felted mittens from recycled wool sweaters

Several weeks back, our 18 year old babysitter was over and I noticed her awesome felted wool mittens. I tried to play it cool, though I wanted to rip them off her hands and turn them inside out and dissect them. But the rational side of my brain (the one that doesn't want her to think I am a freak so she will actually babysit again) took control and I showed restraint....though I inundated her with way too many questions to be considered casual!

Anyways, they have been rattling around in my mind since then, so when I saw the wool sweaters at the thrift shop....jackpot!

Now, I know some of you people have been spouting off about SPRING and things BLOOMING (curse you!), but where I live, we have a month or two left of the white stuff.....and some pretty new mitts will certainly help me get over the winter doldrums. They are also a sweet gift for friends (if you want to get started on those Christmas gifts early!). So, let's make some felted mitts!


You will need:
- a sweater made of 100% wool (note: depending on the size, you can get 2-3 pairs/sweater)
- Some bits of fleece for lining, though you can leave them unlined as well. A half yard made me about 4 mittens. I used some Polartec fleece from my LQS. I'm not fooling around- I want WARM mittens! It was -25C degrees this weekend, so I can verify that these are indeed really cozy!
- thread, scissors, paper
- embellishments, if desired
- about 2 hours of time to kill

I would suggest this project for an advanced beginner or intermediate sewer...a few tricky parts, but not rocket science.

Here's what you do:

1. First you need to felt that sweater. This involved throwing it in the wash on high heat, then popping it in the drier with the same. Felting shrinks the wool up, making the weave nice and tight resulting in a nice thick, warm fabric.

2. Make a pattern: Grab a piece of paper and trace around your hand, leaving a generous margin of 1" or more. Go a bit wider than the picture here- the first pair I made were a bit tight. Don't trace around your thumb.
(man, I look like I have old lady hands!)

3. Add a dashed line a few inches from the bottom, or the width of the cuff of your sweater. You will use the cuffs for the wrists of your mittens, but the lining stops inside so you can roll up the cuff if desired- the dashed line is for cutting your lining. Add 3 lines as shown for cutting out the thumb area. (Note- you will use this pattern in reverse for the second hand, so you can trace these lines on the back side of the paper as well to make left/right mirror image patterns).

4. Make a rectangle pattern the width of the thumb area, but twice the length (shown below in step 7).

5. Cut your wool: Line up your sweater on the pattern with the sleeve cuff at the bottom. There will be a seam in the sweater sleeve (I am pointing to it in the photo)- it doesn't matter if you line it up on the thumb side or other, just make sure it is the same for both mittens. Cut- leave cuff intact.

Note- you can make additional pairs of mitts from the same sweater by utilizing the waist ribbing. Just fold it over and cut along one side. Or cut 2 pieces like you will do for the lining (see below). Waste not, want not!

6. Repeat for opposite sleeve in mirror image.

7. Use pattern to cut thumb area as shown for each side. ONLY CUT THUMB PIECE THROUGH ONE LAYER OF THE SLEEVE!

Cut two rectangular pieces of wool for the thumb area as shown (using the pattern from step 4).


Note- this is a good time to embellish your mittens if you would like, before they are all sewn together. I used some buttons, and made some decorative flowers and polka dots using bits of felted wool, Perle 8 thread and yarn. Fun!


8. Cut your lining pieces (if using lining) using the pattern and stopping at the dashed line. Note that you will have to cut a front and back side of the lining, with only one side cut for the thumb (see photo).

9. Assembling lining: Flip the thumb piece up and over. Align and pin thumb area as shown, right sides facing.
This is where you need to be paying attention- Sew it up (adding a curve to the thumb top area), making sure not to sew the thumb portion to the body of the lining. This will require some shifting and pivoting of fabric as you go. You are smart, I am sure you will figure it out ;) Stop sewing at the point where I am pointing in the picture above (aren't I high tech?). I reinforced all my seams with a zig zag stitch. It doesn't have to be pretty, this is only the lining!

10. Sew along the outside curve of the mitten lining, right sides still facing.


11. Try it on for fit and adjust as needed. Repeat for second hand.

12. Time to sew the wool. Flip the cut sweater sleeve inside out. Attach the rectangular thumb piece to the thumb area as you did for the lining, right sides facing (see step 9). Continue on to sew outside curve of the mitten. Zig zag, etc.



13. Flip it inside out and try it on. If you made a lining, slip that on your hand and the mitten body over top to ensure fit. Adjust as necessary for thumb length, etc. Once satisfied, invert mitten body again (lining always stays with wrong side out- that is how you will wear it!). 14. Align lining and body as shown in the photo. Slam a couple hand stitches (or machine stitches) to join the upper curve of the lining/body and of the thumb area. This will secure the lining to the wool to prevent it from coming out when your take your mittens off (how annoying!).

15. Turn mitten right side out, which should leave the lining nicely in place inside. Roll back the cuff to expose the raw lining edge. Fold the raw edge over, and hand stitch in place, being sure to stretch as you go so that you don't constrict the wrist opening.
16. Admire your awesome creativity and sense of style. Go make some snowballs. Rock those mittens!






Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at:

obsessivecraftingdisorder@yahoo.ca

I would love to see your creations! E-mail me a pic of the finished masterpiece, or add your photos to my Flickr site.

Have fun! Tutorial is for personal use only, please, unless you have my expressed consent. Feel free to blog about your creations, but as a courtesy please link back to this tutorial. Thanks!

X-Treme Knitting and the latest quilting projects

You might say I have a bit of an extreme personality.....

When I was into running, it had to be marathons. Then triathlons.
When we had kids, it was 3 in 3 years.
The year we bought our house, I also bought a dental practice and cottage. And renovated them all to extremes. With 3 kids aged 3 and under.
When I got into quilting....well, you have seen the results of that. (my husband is relieved that fabric, though expensive, costs less than real estate)

So, last week I decided I wanted to learn about knitting.

And I have already made 2 hats ;)

The first one is pure crap-o-lah. Intended for The Middle Child to match this scarf, I learned some valuable things.

1. Chunky yarn is not worsted weight. Which I knew. I was just in denial.
2. Bigger is not (always) better. 4 inches means 4 inches, not 6 inches- or else it will fall over the eyes....to about the chin.

Anyhoo, it is a tad big (even for an adult), but The Middle Child loves it anyhow, and proceeded to wear it in the house all day with the rim rolled up, along with her prized Fruit Loop necklace, bathing suit and cover up (even though it is minus 30 again...I guess denial runs in the family). Isn't she cute?
Naturally, this sorta-failure prompted me to start another, about 5 minutes later, with the same pattern but different even chunkier yarn, to test my math/patience/sanity.

This one is made for Last But Not Least, and uses a gorgeous wool/acrylic combo picked up at a local wool store (I am in love!). It features orange, of course, blended with her second and third ranked favorite colors, pink and purple (in case you were curious).
I am redeemed! Perfect fit. The yarn was a dream to work with, it came together quickly, and my daughter LOVES it. Asked to wear it to bed the first night. Tells everyone she sees that her Mommy made it. Adorable! And she informed me it works great for catching snowflakes on her tongue :-)
It originally had a pom pom, but LBNL would have none of that. Too babyish for her mature 3-year-old self, ya know! "Can you cut that off right now?" O-kayyyyyy.
Can't leave Big G out....he has a pretty cool knit hat, too, though it is just bought from The Gap.
Anyways, knitting was fun, will do more, but I have some stash calling my name...back to quilting! This Hello Betty jelly roll for my quilt for the postage stamp quilt along FINALLY arrived yesterday. The one bad thing about living up in Canada...usually 3+ weeks for fabric to arrive in the mail! I guess it will be a quilt-AFTER instead ;)

Not sure how I feel about making a quilt like everyone else's...usually not much of a pattern girl, but I love those little squares and wanted to give it a try. I am alternating it with linen....this may just do me in. Do you know how hard it is to cut long strips of linen straight???
Also starting a little something to auction for my daughter's preschool...more on that to come!

On the needles....

Had my first knitting lesson with Michele last week. I think this may be the beginning of a new addiction.....

Learning about all sorts of new things like gauge, skeins, and all sorts of crazy-ass abbreviations ;) It's a whole new world! Gets me giddy.

Starting with a simple hat pattern for The Middle Child, using a cheap acrylic yarn picked up at Zellers last year. I'll never get through that huge ball!
Also went to a local wool shop and drooled much/bought little. Settled on this gorgeous wool/acrylic blend for my youngest, who of course wants a hat, too!
Isn't it pretty? I love chunky yarns, and who wouldn't wanna hang out with "a riot of colors"??