From fitted sheet to diaper stacker

Diaper Stacker

I've know Jenn at work for a few years now. She and her husband, Jared, are expecting a boy in June. 

A few weeks back, Jenn showed me the bedding she picked out for the baby's room. She said she'd love a diaper stacker. 

I knew I'd never find fabric to match exactly. I had a light bulb moment. It occurred to me I could buy a fitted sheet and cut it up to make a diaper stacker.  

It worked!  I had just enough fabric.  When I make this pattern I like to add a piece of foam board to the bottom to give the diaper stacker some structure. I had enough fabric to make a little fabric sleeve for the foam board. That finishes it off nicely I think. 

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I am not a perfectionist, but when I am making a gift like this, I notice little flaws. 

Here are some pictures of the other bedding items Jenn and Jared's baby will have. I sure like what they've selected. 

This bedding set is called Jungle Buddies. 

Craft Room Organization

CRAFT ROOM ORGANIZATION

I took a little time recently to clean and organize my craft room. 

It doesn't stay clean very long, but I am happy to have the space better organized.

I got these great industrial shelves at Sam's Club a few months back.  They have given me a ton of storage space.

This desk used to be in Zach's room but I am re-purposing it for a sewing table. It's great to get the TV up high like that (out of the way). I enjoy listening to it while I sew and stuff pillows or knit.

I am trying to hide a big box of stuffing and fabric scraps under my cutting and ironing table.  This table was the best purchase ever!

The sun was shining in so brightly, this photo came out a bit dark.  The futon is opened up like a bed and stays that way anymore (as opposed to having it folded up "couch style").  It makes for a great place to knit if I lean up against the wall and the dogs like to pile around me and nap when I knit.  Zach loves to hang out in here too.  He can stretch out, plug in his phone, read, and watch TV.  The doggies also like the futon to be in the flat position so they can look out the big windows to the front yard. 

The cradle is something my Grandpa made.  It must have been made around 1930 and features hand painted flowers. I have all my current knitting WIP's (works in progress) in the cradle in gallon sized zip close plastic bags. 

It's a bit messy but I am trying to stay organized.  Oh, I even got a little inexpensive stereo so I can listen to music in my craft room.  I have a few dozen music CD's I've accumulated in the past 20 plus years and I don't listen to any of them except for my short commute to and from work, so I am enjoying the stereo as well.  Such a cozy space I have; I am grateful for it!

I am slowly plugging along with pillow orders.  Sales are pretty consistent, but not so hectic that I can't also enjoy knitting here and there.  When I organized my craft room, I found an OBSCENE number of UFO's (unfinished objects) and WIP's.  I ended up unraveling a few projects, knowing I was so unhappy with them that I would never finish them.  For now, I am trying to finish up some WIP's and trying my hardest to NOT cast on anything new for a little while.

Happy Crafting!

Watermelon Sockhead Hat

Photo bombed by a Labradoodle!

So I have a wig stand that I can use to take photos of hats; it's down at the knit shop with a one of my hats on display. 

So I apologize. I have to resort to selfies. 

What do you think?  

Do you like my new hat?

Oh, I got new glasses, too. 

And I love them. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Hand Dyed and the color way is "Watermelon."

The pattern is free on Ravelry. It's called Sockhead hat. It's a great to make something other than socks with sock yarn. There are so many great sock yarns out there. 

I am trying to focus on finishing projects. It feel good to finish my hat so I can move on to the next work in progress. 

Bamboozled!

I found this beautiful hank of yarn at my local knit shop on Thursday. The yarn is thick and thin and is called "Bamboozle" by King Cole.  The color way is Heathers. This is the only color way they had at the shop. I would like to see this yarn in other colors, but I really like the shades of lavender in Heathers. 

I am making a cowl. I cast on 120 stitches on US size 9 needles. 

I need to stop casting on new projects. The way it is now, I feel as if I never finish anything. 

Happy Knitting!

Reveal: Yarn Bowls are Done

The yarn bowls are done. The owner of Hobby Hut Ceramics took these photos and I am so glad she did. Many of the bowls were already picked up by the time I got to the shop so I was glad to see everyone's completed projects. 

Here are my bowls.  

Yarn Bowl #1 

Before...

And after...

For yarn bowl #1, I used a glaze called Hot Tamale for the first two layers. The third and final layer had little flecks of white in it.

 

Yarn Bowl #2

Before...

 

And after...

 

 

For yarn bowl #2, I used a glaze called Candy Apple Red on the bottom and on the inside of the bowl. The outside of the bowl is a glaze called Peppermint Twist and it had big chunks of "crystals" which burst when the bowl was fired, giving the bowl a great colorful, mottled, almost drippy look.

 

 

I always assumed the holes in the yarn bowl were for yarn, although I prefer to use the "J-shaped" portion for my yarn. The ceramics shop owner, Teri, told me the holes drilled in the bowl is for knitting needles.  Duh!

Watermelon Head

Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted Fingering Weight yarn in the Watermelon color way.

Sometimes I just don't know what I had in mind when I pick out some of the yarn I purchase.  This is yarn I bought on line; if I would have seen it in person, I probably would not have purchased it. The colors are less vibrant than I expected. This yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Dyed in the "Watermelon" color way.  I actually tried the yarn out in a sock pattern and maybe a scarf pattern as well, but I wasn't satisfied.  This yarn is in my stash and it kept bothering me, so I did a Ravelry search for some inspiration.

A cool function on Ravely is that you can select the "yarn" tab at the top of the screen. Type in the yarn you have and see what other folks have made from the very same yarn. Fun, right!?  So when I entered in Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Dyed, I saw that a number of folks used this yarn for a hat called "Sockhead". This is a pattern I've made one time before and I am curious to see how the yarn pools using this hand-dyed yarn.

Like I said, I knit this pattern once before.  I also used Knit Picks striping yarn for his hat.  Here it is:

Today is a rare, super rainy day in Colorado. Great weather for knitting!

Yarn Bowls

 

Yarn Bowl #1 (front view)

 

I made a yarn bowl at a local ceramics shop last year.  The place is called Hobby Hut Ceramics.  My friend, Mrs. W, paints ceramics there a lot and I have been gifted many great things she's made for me at Hobby Hut.  A few other knitter friends got wind of yarn bowls being available at Hobby Hut and were interested, so Mrs. W helped coordinate a Yarn Bowl Day at the ceramics shop.  It was held yesterday.  Turned out a lot of the folks who painted yarn bowls yesterday are folks I also know from my local yarn shop. It was fun to see them and work on a different craft as we chatted away.

 

 

Yarn Bowl #1 (inside view)

 

I ended up painting two yarn bowls. I learned that there is some lag time between layers of glaze when I painted my first yarn bowl a number of months ago, so it was nice to have two projects to work on yesterday.  From the photos above, you cannot tell what the colors will be and I'll keep that a surprise.  When you pick out the finishes or glazes, you get to see what the glaze should look like, but you are only looking a 1" x 1" tile square. It's like looking at paint samples on cardboard strips at your local hardware store.  You just don't know what it's going to look like until you see it on a larger scale.  So I have an idea what I THINK my bowls will look like, but it will be exciting to go pick up the yarn bowls at the shop after they've been fired.  It must be really fun for the shop's owner, Teri, every time she opens up the kiln after a firing.

 

 

Yarn Bowl #2 (front view)

 

For now, I won't give out any clues as to how I think the bowls will look.  It will be really fun in a week or so, after I pick up the bowls, to show side by side BEFORE and AFTER photos.  For now the bowls have to completely dry before they can be fired.

I'll keep you posted!