DIY: Simple Double Necklace

This is a super easy and basic jewelery project that any beginner can do. All the supplies you can find pre-made at the store. (I found every thing at Michales)

What you need:
1 18 inch chain (the chain I got already came with a clasp on it)
1 24 inch chain (this chain didn't come with a clasp)
2 pendants that go together. I chose a bird and a tree.
A pair of Needle Nose Pliers

DIY: FIshtail Braided Bracelet

I love to wear hemp jewelry in the spring and summer. It mixes well with metal and looks great with almost anything. Plus, it's easy to work with.
 

What You'll Need:
Hemp (ribbon, yarn, or rope would work well too)
A button (optional)

DIY Wine Cork Necklace

 
I have an over abundance of wine corks in my house. Because of this over abundance I am always trying to find new ways to use wine corks.

What You'll Need:
Wine Cork
an 'Eye" screw
a small finishing nail
wire (I used copper)
a chain
needle nose pliers 

DIY: Marbled Bangle

Have I mentioned before that I love bangles and polymer clay? This is the third bangle I had made with my little clay experiment. I really like the marbleized look that occurs when you do this.

 What You Need:
Polymer Clay (preferably 3 contrasting colors)
Bangle/Bracelet

DIY: Coil Bracelet

One accessory that I am forever addicted to is bangles. I freaking love bangles! But every now and then I buy a set of bangles thinking that I'm going to wear them with some out fit, then I buy them and realize that no... I will not be wearing those with the outfit I intended for. Well, these have started to pile up.

Now, to stop my bad habit of buying new bangles I'm instead going to re-purpose them into new bangles. Tonight's tutorial is one of my bangle experiments.

What you need:

Polymer Clay (preferably 2 contrasting colors)

Bangle/Bracelet

DIY: Lip Scrub

I suffer from chapped lips all winter long. It seems that no matter how much water I drink or how much chapstick I put on my lips, they are still cracked and nasty. But not anymore! I've discovered the magic that is a lip scrub. 

What's nice about a lip scrub is that you can make it with ingredients found in your pantry and you see results instantly!

What You Need:

Brown Sugar

Olive Oil

Honey

A Small Dish

A Wash Cloth

Knitting Tutorial: The Basic Bind Off

Once you've completed knitting a project you have to finish your work by doing a bind off. What that means is getting your work off those needles so you can finally enjoy all your hard work!

Kniting Pattern: Gap-tastic Cowl

Hello everybody!  I must apologize on the delay on posts lately. I've been busy knitting and getting over a cold. But now I'm healthy again and to celebrate I thought I'd post up another knitting project.

This is a fun and simple pattern to knit. I knitted this cowl for my boyfriends mom for Christmas this past year. This pattern is written by http://www.heyjenrenee.com/. And is available on ravelry as a free pdf download here!

All you need is:
2 balls of heavy weight yarn (approx 153 yds each)
US 13 24 inch circular needle

All you need to know:
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit & Purl (throwing) or Knit & Purl (continental)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Knitting Tutorial: Knit & Purl English Method

I personally don't knit this way because it doesn't come easy to me, but this is another way you can knit. The benefits of this style of knitting is that is easy to learn this method if you've never worked with yarn before. This is also the most common way of knitting, so if you get stuck on a project it's easier to find someone to assist you that also knits this style. The English Method is also known as Throwing or the American Method.

Yarn is "thrown" (wrapped) around the right needle before pulling the stitch through. This is a good method for teaching young children or people with limited coordination since you don't have to really have to hold the yarn in a certain way to make a knit or purl stitch happen.

The biggest disadvantage to this style of knitting is that it is a tad slower to knit this way, but it's a great way to get started!

So here is how to knit and purl english style.

DIY: Dyeing Wool with Tea, Coffee, and Turmeric

 

I recently came into possession of a white ball of wool yarn, and I thought to myself, "Huh, how boring!" So I decided I would try my own attempt at dying yarn. I've never dyed yarn before so I started to do a lot of internet research, and what I found included a lot of crazy toxic dyes, all of which weren't readily available to me. But then I stumbled across this site: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html. It lists a bunch of natural ingredients and what colors they make. For the first time I was starting to think that this will be doable. And you know what, it totally was doable! In fact I entered this idea into a contest on instructables. Click here to Vote on it and help me become a finalist!

Yup, I'm totally being "that" person right now.

What you'll need:
Water
Vinegar
Coffee
Tea
Turmeric
Some bowls
A ball of white wool yarn

Knitting Tutorial: Knit and Purl Continental Style

This is how I knit. I am a continental knitter. It basically means that you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of your right. This method is also favored by many crocheters as how you work with the yarn is similar to crochet. This is also called the German Method or Left Handed Knitting.

This is also a great method for left handed people since you control the yarn with your left hand. However, I am right handed and knit this style. It's faster to knit this way since you don't have to take your hand off the needles to knit. Continental knitters hold the yarn in their left hand, which allows the knitter to simply scoop, or "pick", the yarn with the right needle. This is why this method is favored by crocheters since when you crochet you are always grabbing the yarn with the hook.

The biggest challenge with this style of knitting is the purl stitch, which requires a lot of practice to to comfortable and accurately.

So here is how to knit and purl continental style.

Knitting Tutorial: How to Long Tail Cast on

So I recently got a sweet little HD camera. SO I've decided to make the most of it and start making some knitting tutorials! If you have a request for anything knitting related, let me know and I'll do my best teach you! This first video is a quick tutorial on how to do a Long Tail Cast On.

It is my favorite cast on to do. It just looks really nice and is really sturdy. It creates a good foundation for your work and helps to give it a more polished look. It's also really fast!

DIY: Harry Potter Golden Snitches

Having a Harry Potter themed party anytime soon? Then this will be one of the perfect treats you can serve (and it hardly takes any time). I made these for my friends New Years Eve party, which was Harry Potter themed. We drank butter beer and ate a big feast (fyi... don't eat a big turkey on a night you need to try to stay awake), we also ate jellie bellies (for the every flavor bean), And watch a ton of Harry Potter movies. It was quite fun!

What you need:

Ferrero Rocher candies

White or Gold feathers

Hot Glue Gun

Knitting Pattern: Transverse Cowl

Guess what everybody... I wrote another knitting pattern!!! This one is also for a cowl, but it has a really nice diagonal pattern to it. It's a simple pattern that again is just interesting enough to make sure you don't get bored. The diagonal pattern is created by doing an oblique rib stitch.

What you'll need:
Size 10 - 29" inch long circular needle
Stitch Marker
3 Balls of Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends yarn. (or roughly 260 - 360 yards of some bulky 12ply yarn) Mine is the color called Fern.

What you need to know: (click on the links if you need a video to show you how)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends
You don't have to know this, because the pattern walks you through how to do this, but if it helps, this is a link to the stitch we are doing.

Recipe: Instant Hot Cocoa Mix

A few days ago I posted up a recipe for instant vanilla chai tea mix. On the website that I found that recipe on was also a recipe for instant hot cocoa mix! It sounded so yumy that I decided to gift that to people as well. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:
8 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3 cups sugar
2 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 (4 ounce) packages instant chocolate fudge pudding

Knitting Pattern: Chunky Ribbed Hat

This yet again another present I had made for somebody for Christmas (see, I told you I was busy!). This was a really easy knit and also really fast. And again, I'm including videos for the different stitches you need to know (I might as well make this as easy for you as I can). I originally found the pattern on Ravelry by Groovy Mom. If you click on the link it will take you to the original pattern. I pretty much followed the pattern exactly, except instead of knit I did a twisted knit. The reason I did this is because of the type of yarn I used. I use a brand called Homespun and it tends to be really fluffy. The twisted knit tends to give the hat more structure which was needed with this type of yarn. I also decreased differently so the decrease wasn't so extreme.

So to get started you are going to need:
16 inch circular needle size 10
Size 10 DPNS (for the end of the hat)
A Ball of Bulky/12ply yarn (I used Homespun)
A stitch marker

What you need to know: (click on the stich you need to know to be taken to the video)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle 
Twisted Knit Stitch
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
K2TOG (Knit 2 Together)
P2TOG (Purl 2 Together)
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Recipe: Instant Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

This is something that is great to have on hand for those cold winter nights, but it also makes a great gift! In fact, this is one of the many gifts I mad this year. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

2 cups French vanilla powdered non-dairy creamer

5 cups white sugar

3 cups unsweetened instant tea

4 tsp ground ginger

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp white pepper

DIY: Fire Starters

This is a simple and cheap gift idea for anyone with a fire place or outdoor fire pit. I made a bunch of these for the people I know with fireplaces. I was nervous since I don't have a fireplace to test them out, I didn't know if they would work until Christmas Eve! And yes, they do work! They are very easy to make and also very quick to make a bunch of them.

All you need is:
News paper
Lint from your dryer
Hemp
Pine cones

Optional:
Dried herbs (I used dried orange peel & whole cloves)

DIY: Shimmering Paper Ball Ornaments

After all my ornament making, my tree was still a bit barren. So I had one more ornament to make to help make it complete! I used the same non breakable ornaments since I have cats who just can't resist a ball on a tree.

What you'll need:

Ornaments

Hemp

Glitter

Mod Podge

Book Paper

DIY: Glitter Ornaments

Since I'm going all Martha Stewart on my Christmas tree I decided that I needed some ornaments to help tie in my tree topper. Now, I have cats, so that means I have to have non breakable ornaments, because you just never know when the tree will be turned into a jungle gym. I don't know if you've ever seen a non breakable ornament, but they are pretty simple and cheap looking. Definitely not the look I'm going for. So needless to say my cheap ornaments needed a face lift.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Ornaments

Hemp

Glitter

Mod Podge