Pumpkin Spice Welted Fingerless Mittens

These are definitely my favorite fingerless mittens of the season. The welting adds a layer of warmth and they are so adorable. I love the colors. I meant to make a few more pairs with various color combinations but someone in the knitting group was impatient for me to post the pattern so that she could make them so I did not get a chance to make multiple pairs like I so often do.

The pattern is available on Etsy and also on Ravelry. There are two versions of welting in the mitt. First is the alternating knit and purls and then farther up the mitt is the casing style welting. If you saw the earlier post with the sock puppets these fingerless mittens might look familiar. I actually started with the yarn combination in my head and played with the welting which resulted in the hand puppet.

I named these Pumpkin Spice because of the orange yarn being named Pumpkin and the other colors add a hint of spice. It’s such a lovely color combination and we are almost into December and I have not even switched over to regular mittens or gloves yet because these are still providing great coverage. I just adore them.

Owl Rite Bag/Coin Purse/Key Ring and the 1-2-3 Hat Standard

Say hello to Mr. Owl Rite Money Bags.

Since I tend to make most things I always try to plan and execute all crafted Christmas gifts way ahead of the game. There’s nothing worse than trying to wrap up a gift hours before it needs to be wrapped. Hence, I am happiest when all my Christmas crafted gifts are completed in October. November is doable but I’m feeling the pinch. When I’m still working on gifts in December I get a bit cranky and feeling like my head is going to explode.

I have a family member who is an owl fanatic. I have her main gift done but was looking for some little extras and saw a cute crocheted owl key chain/coin purse. I didn’t download the pattern but I read it. It’s quite basic. Starting with a base of 6 sc it uses the 1-2-3 hat standard start. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of hats over the years. I’m not sure if I can say thousands and thousands but definitely hundreds and hundreds. So it starts out like a mini hat and then when you have it to the height you want you just continue only working half the stitches with steady decreases for the flap. Pretty basic.

I think what’s so cute about it is the stripes and those little tufts on the ears. I don’t remember if the original owl I saw had the tufts. All the little stuffed key chain holder owls I saw had the tufts and I’ve seen that often before. I also used the crab stitch around the eyes to give it that finished edge. The eyes are just basic 6 sc inside magic loop and 2 sc in each sc then the crab stitch and a button sewed in the center. I like the wobbly look so didn’t match them exactly in positioning the buttons. A few running stitches with orange creates the beak.

I attached a clasp and will add a key ring once I find them. I have a whole bag of those buggers and I just saw them a few weeks ago but can't remember where I stumbled across them. Things get put away in a nice secure location... you know how it is. Or I pull supplies out of a place I normally store them and instead of putting them back in that illogical but memorable place I store them somewhere nice and secure... Hopefully not to never be seen again though.

This is how we end up with too many supplies. Right? You can't find something you need and know you had so you go buy another super-sized bag of key rings and use one for a project and then find the other super-sized bag of key rings that was in the box of supplies for the soft-sculpted Christmas ornaments in progress five years ago instead of in the box of beading supplies. Now you've got two bags of key rings and you put them away in a nice secure location...

I just find these cuter than cute and quite adorable. I wouldn’t use them for a coin purse since the coins could easily slide out the corners. It's quite snug and secure but not for coins. If you wanted to add a zipper then it could function to hold coins. Some cash or lipstick or something would fit in there nicely. Don’t worry, the family member won’t see this and ruin her Christmas surprise. If she somehow does she will just be excited and impatient for Christmas to arrive.

Oh, the 1-2-3 hat standard is that when you start a hat it’s standard to work 2 st in every st in second row, then work a stitch and work 2 st in next stitch then work 2 st and work 2 st in next stitch across, then work 3 st and work 2 st in next stitch then start working 1 for 1 after the 3 st between double st row. So, for a hat that starts with 12 dc the next row would have 24 then the third row would have 36 and on and on. For a tight pattern or thin yarn you can work rows with 4 or 5 stitches between the doubled stitches before going to the straight rows but I seldom have to do that. I can do another post with more detail.

Hooded English Brioche Fingerless Mittens in Red Wool

I do a lot of things outside, such as photography, that make fingerless mittens an important tool in my outdoor gear. As the weather is getting colder so is the need to cover up those extremities. It's amazing how cold fingers can get when the mercury dips lower and lower. True, we've had an especially warm fall but at night the temps are still noticeably dropping to crispy cold level. It's been an especially exciting year for Northern Lights this year, more displays than I ever remember seeing in one year. Late nights outside, exposed to the elements, mean cold fingers when setting up the camera to capture the undulating ribbons of color in the night sky.

These English honeycomb brioche fingerless mittens with hood are the perfect solution. I've had this wool yarn for almost a year now, waiting for the perfect project. I love the hint of purple by the same company because these two colors go so well together.

English brioche is a handy stitch to learn. The beauty of brioche is that it's double layered which makes it cushy and warm for winter attire. The English brioche is worked in one step instead of having to do yarn overs and knitting the yarn overs together with the neighboring stitch on the second pass. They knit up as quickly as if it's stockinette stitch because all the extra steps are eliminated.

The stitch is worked in the stitch below the stitch on the needle. This step can be quite scary when doing it for the first time. I recommend a practice swatch. The first few times you knit into the stitch below it feels like you've just tossed aside a live stitch to run amok in your swatch but it's really okay, it hasn't gone rogue like it seems. But it is important to get a good feel for the stitch before starting your project. After a few rows you will see exactly where the needle needs to go and that the extra strands of yarn sliding down the new stitch are exactly what you want.

It's amazing how many varieties of brioche methods I have encountered. This English style is by far my favorite and once learning it can't help but wonder why all the other, complicated varieties even exist. There must be a reason.

I am all prepared for winter and autumn lingers. The same thing happened when I bought a four-wheel drive vehicle several years ago, no snow that year. I was so ready for winter that year with four-wheel drive and cashmere mittens, wool scarves, and cozy chenille hats. Yet winter never came in its normal force. Maybe if I keep knitting all these fantastically warm and delightful winter accessories we will keep having mild winters.

Making Custom Beaded Wire Stitch Markers

I’ve seen tutorials for making stitch markers in many ways. A few years ago I made stitch markers by wrapping the wire around a fat pencil, giving it a twist, and bending the ends to go through the sides of beads. With such thick wire it was a bit of a pain but after the first few I got the hang of it and wrapped several dozen. They were pretty and worked well but then I saw a simpler version and wanted that.

The instructions were to take a jump ring, slide on a bead, and glue the bead over the gap in the wire to cover the rough edges that could snag your yarn. Using a pre-made jump ring is fine, except that it limits you on size. There aren’t many jump rings big enough to fit on a size 15 or 17 or even 50 knitting needle. But you can make your own jump rings so easily.

I used colored wire that is 16 gauge. You could use a 20 gauge wire but I like the sturdier weight of the 16 gauge. Both sizes are easy to find in any craft store or even some department stores that carry jewelry making supplies. I chose black and copper colors but there's red, purple, and blue available as well. Many colored wires are available. You could use any wire but I felt the coated wires would not effect my knitting needles so that's why I chose those. Pure copper and sterling silver will acquire a patina and I worried about that transferring to my Addi needles.

I wrapped the wire around a dowel. I happened to have a set of dowels that I had bought at a department store and I picked the biggest one. I think the set cost $1-2. You could use a pencil also. The wire was about $2.50. I used tri beads that cost between $2.50-3.00 when I bought them a few years ago.

I cut off about 2 feet of wire from the coil and wrapped the wire around the dowel by hand. It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, having a bit of space between the wire wraps made it easier to cut. 

Slide the wire off the dowel and use a flush cutter to snip the wire. I pressed the back of the flush cutter against the end of the wire to line it up evenly with the first loop.

Cut each jump ring from coil.

Slide bead onto newly created jump ring. Twist the jump ring closed. Just like in making jewelry, it’s important not to pull ends apart but use a twisting action to bring ends together. Hearing the ends click against each other is good. That means it’s a nice, tight fit.

Dab some jeweler’s glue onto the gap and slide bead up and over gap. Set aside and let dry completely. There you have it, a completed stitch marker.

The best part of learning this process is that you can custom fit any stitch marker. Just use a knitting needle a size up from what you want the final size of marker to be. You’ll see here a size 17 knitting needle which produces a stitch marker big enough to fit size 15 knitting needles.

I wrapped wire around a plastic size 50 knitting needle. For whatever reason, the plastic seemed to push away the wire, leaving a gap. That means that the stitch marker made on the plastic size 50 knitting needle can also be used for that needle.

I’ve been using the new stitch markers for about a week now and just love them. The beads have a translucent depth to them that make me feel good seeing them decorating the top of my knitting. They are light yet strong and so functional.  I often like simple items and these really work well for me both functionally and aesthetically.

I used Aleene’s Jewelry and Metal glue. Remember, you aren’t gluing the wires shut but gluing the bead over the gap. Pick a glue that will hold a bead to wire and all is good. You can make any size stitch marker that you want. Just be sure to check that the bead fits over the wire. It can get a little snug when the wire curves compared to being straight.

The topaz and amethyst beads are the same size as the aqua but the aqua did not want to fit on the wire once it was curved so only managed to get a few to work. It's the size of the bead's hole that matters. The bigger white beads in first picture are not glued. I just pinched the wire after inserting the ends into the beads. This will work also but will greatly reduce size of knitting needle that they will fit on.

Simple but elegant, custom stitch markers. Give it a try! You'll be surprised at how easy it is and you'll end up making dozens and dozens of these functional little rings of beauty. These would make great gifts for your favorite knitter.

Dress Form Mannequin Pin Cushion

It's amazing how many cute and clever pin cushions there are to be had and to be made. I did a quick search on making pin cushions and was blown away by the variety. Amazing. I'm always so impressed with all the clever people designing new projects.

I stumbled across these dress form pincushions last week and had to give it a try. The video explaining how to make them is done by identical twin crafters. They are so cute.

The process is very quick and easy if you can sew at all. With some down to earth pinning I think even a novice sewer would find these pretty easy to sew. It’s just a matter of sewing the shoulder seams then sewing on the 2 curvy sides. Normally curve sewing is a pain but with judicious pinning this went very well.

Cutting out the foam core board was the hardest thing about this project. Finding the candlesticks took the most time. Such a straightforward sewing project with such an awesome result. I just love the dress maker form pin cushion.

Forgot to take a picture as soon as I added the flowers and you’ll notice that one of the dress forms is missing. It was chosen already and has a new home. A flower definitely completes the look though.

These are the perfect gift for a sewer or even someone who just enjoys fashion though they don’t sew. Best of all, they’ll think you slaved for hours making this awesome dress form mannequin and it really took less than an hour.

With candlestick in hand and fabric decided, I think this took about half an hour from start to finish.

Here’s the link to the tutorial and pattern over at DIY Dish: Dress Form Mannequin Pin Cushion

I definitely have enough pin cushions now! Between the dress form pin cushions and tea cup pin cushions I will have plenty of places to hold pins and needles.

Teacup Pin Cushions, Up-Cycled and Uniquely Fun

I’ve made a lot of pincushions over the years. One thing they have in common is being light which causes them to bounce around just out of reach or slide away across the table.

I don’t remember where I saw the idea of up-cycling teacups for pincushion bases but it was on some show. They didn’t give any details, just the idea of using some fun cups as the base for a pin cushion. Cute idea that stayed with me even though it took a few weeks to get around to visiting the local thrift shops for appropriate cups.

The first two stores I went to didn’t have anything that would work to play with. Well, there was one cup that I got in the second store. They had some super pretty china cups for $6 each but they were too nice and a bit expensive for playing. The third store was just the right one. I found 9 little cups that ranged from fun to pretty. Total price for 9 cups was just under $5. Perfect range for playing with. I don't know about you, but when something is nice and/or expensive it tends to sit instead of being used. When I spend less than a dollar on something I am much more willing to risk total failure in figuring out a new process.

Next, I cut some 1” foam to put on bottom of cup.

I measured the cup diameter and cut out a square double that measurement. So, the first cup was 2” around so I cut out a 4” square. Then I rounded the corners to make a rough circle. No one is going to see the bottom so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Then I sewed big stitches about 1/4” from the edge, just like a yo-yo. Except I think you fold over a seam allowance for a yo-you and you don’t have to do that for this. Use doubled thread. You’re going to snug up the circle of fabric pretty tight and single thread often snaps in the process.

Draw up the circle, forming a pouch. Stuff very tightly with either wool scraps or poly-fill. I used poly. Cinch up that circle and take a few stitches opposite and knot.

Put some glue in the bottom of the cup and place piece of foam on glue. Put some glue on top of foam and around edges of cup, about ½” from the top. Place stuffed circle, sewn side down, into cup and press down. Let dry. It’s a pin cushion!

I used Aleen’s craft glue. To get a more poufy top, cut fabric twice cup diameter plus 1”. So a 3” diameter cup will have a fabric square of 7”.  (3” x 2 + 1”= 7”)

I've heard of using crushed walnut shells for filling but I haven't found that yet. The next time I get out to the farthest side of town from where I live I will check out the specialty pet stores to see if they carry it.

Go ahead and give this a try. I was looking for small cups but you could use any size at all that you want. I've made a few now and have a few more to go. The little blue flowered cup is 2" in diameter at the top and is just as cute as a button. The pretty cup to the right has its foam base ready to go.

Making Pom Poms

There are many ways of making pom poms. There are even tools in the market that you can buy. The ones that force you to thread the yarn through a hole should go out the door right now. That’s just crazy, taking the time to thread and wrap yarn through a hole over and over again a thousand times. Ugh. There are so many much easier methods of making a pom pom and the result is the same.

You can just wrap the yarn around your open hand 80-100 times. Ten times easier than threading through a hole. When we were kids we cut rectangles of cardboard, threaded a length of yarn through the middle and wrapped and wrapped around the cardboard. How big the rectangle is depends on how big a pom pom you want.

My favorite method is to cut 2 Cs out of cardboard. Yep, a C. String a length of yarn through the two pieces of cardboard for tying finished pom pom, then wrap and wrap. It’s the same as the crazy tool on the market that forces you to thread through the hole but you don’t have to thread through a hole because we cut a notch out of the hole, which means just wrap.

Wrap 70-100 times. Depends on yarn thickness and size of cardboard C. How big the two Cs are depends on how big a pom pom you want. You can always give it a haircut after it’s done. Well, it will need a trim for sure but sometimes it gets quite the haircut.

After you’ve wrapped enough yarn then tug length of yarn between two Cs towards inside C and snug it up nice and tight then tie off. Now insert scissors between two Cs on wider outside edge and cut and cut and cut. It’ll take some repeat snipping to get all the strands cut. Pull away cardboard Cs and give the pom pom a shake then a trim.

The pom pom above was made with the hand method. It's definitely going to remain in my arsenal of how to make pom poms. For big, chunky pom poms there isn't anything easier. The main drawback is that there's only one size and it's tough to define the specific size. Sure, you could give it a whopper of a haircut but that's not really the best route. That's where the C template comes in. The C template allows defined sizes.

To make the C template, cut 2 circles of the same size. For instance, 2 1" circles or 2 2" circles. Cut into the circles and cut a circle out of the centers. This gap where you cut into the circle to get to inside will be where you wrap the yarn. Save yourself a few hours of frustration and toss away any templates you have that require threading yarn through a hole.