Thursday, January 24, 2013

Super Easy Ruffle Scarf

Super Easy Ruffle Scarf

I didn't have much time after finishing my housework to do much crafting and my husband made dinner so I didn't have a recipe to share so I figured I would do something fun and fast. I made a Loom Knit Ruffle Scarf. It turned out like this:
I think since I learned to make these my flower loom has become my favorite. I again used my knifty knitter flower loom and just one skein of Red-heart Boutique Sashay.

If you use all of the pegs there will be too much tension and the yarn will break so I only use every other peg. To make this easier to track I take out the pegs I don't use.
If you look at the Sashay yarn you will notice that it looks like a web with a band along the top. This band is the part to focus on as you knit.

The smaller holes in the top band will slip right over the pegs of your loom. Don't pull too tight there will be holes in between the pegs, that is fine that is where the ruffles come in.
Keep wrapping going around the circle until you have two strands on each peg letting the weave go to the inside of the loom. Knit off.
It will start looking like a tube with just a couple ruffles on the end. That's good. The ruffles are on the inside. 
To bind off I just used a crochet hook to go through each peg and pull the end strand through. Tie the end in a gathering knot. And begin turning the scarf inside out by gently pulling the center ruffles down through the bottom. Keep doing this until you reach the end and your scarf is ready to wear.
I hope you enjoy making and wearing your scarf as much as my daughter likes mine.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Newborn Hat on the Loom


I just love my Loom sets. Another project for today is a simple pattern for a newborn sized hat made on the blue knifty knitter. The size of this hat depends on the weight of  the yarn, for this I used a 6 weight soft yarn.

  • E-wrap cast on and knit one row.
  •  Now do a round of purls. To purl you place your working yarn under the loop and pull it through from the top of the loop then you take the original loop off the peg and put the new one on.
  • Repeat one row each of e-wrap knit and purl. this ends the brim making a non rolling edge.
  • E-wrap knit 16 rows.
  • Take the yarn from the odd numbered pegs to the even and knit off.
  • Cut your yarn leaving a 12inch tail.
  • Thread the yarn through each remaining loop while removing them from the peg.
  • Pull tight and tie off. Trim the extra yarn and your hat is finished.
 
 
 
 

Peach and Apricot Pie

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post last night. I finished my project but was too tired to walk through it last night so to make up for it today I have two projects.


Or rather a recipe and a project. Peach and Apricot Pie. 


The crust
      • 2 1/2 cups flour
      • 1 tsp salt
      • 2 Tbsp sugar
      • 1 1/2 cups chilled butter ( I freeze it)
      • 1/2 cup chilled shortening 
      • 6+ Tbsp Cold water

Mix flour, salt and sugar. Use a grater to grate the butter and shortening in. Toss to coat. sprinkle in water and fold to mix. Shape into a ball. Cover and refrigerate for about half an hour before rolling. Roll dough on lightly floured surface and trim to fit pan. (I made small ones with a special pan I received for Christmas so mine made  4 small pies)

For the filling
  • 15oz can peaches, drained
  • 2 15oz cans apricots,drained
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 3Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon 
 Mix all ingredients and spoon into crust, add top crust seal edges and add a few slices in the top to vent steam. brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes

The mix of fruits is surprisingly good. I hope you enjoy this little treat.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Puffball Headband

Hello again.


Today's project is a very simple one. I loom knit a winter headband. 

I used the Knifty knitter flower loom a single small skein of pompom yarn and my loom tool.



The instructions for this are very basic.


 The first thing I did was remove the extra pegs from my loom. With this yarn I only needed 8 of the 12. Different thicknesses of yarn will make for different width in your project. The next headband I will show is going to use 10 of 12 pegs. 


 I worked a few rows before realizing I should probably show the amount of pegs.
The stitch in here is a simple e-wrap stitch. You just take and wrap the yarn fully around the peg from left to right. (start at the left go in front, out the right, around the back and come back out on the right.) At the end of the row (Peg 8) turn your yarn and wrap pegs 7-1.



Knit off. That means you take the bottom strand of yarn and bring it up and over the first strand and off the peg.


Repeat this now by wrapping pegs 2-8 and knitting off. The amount of rows you do depends on how long you want the headband. I recommend if using this type of yarn to make it the exact size you need as the yarn is not very stretchy. 

Now this next part is harder and I am very sorry I did not take any pictures to show how to do it. Look at the bottom of your band. Do you see the loops where your first stitches are? Bring those up through the inside of the loom and put on corresponding pegs. 

Knit off these loops. 

Now for the final set of loops.
The easiest way to remove this kind of yarn is with a crochet hook. Start at which ever end does not have your wrapping yarn and crochet together the loops as you pull them from the pegs. When you get to the last one add one stitch to it and pull the end of your wrapping yarn through. Pull tight. This should leave you with a knot at the end of your seam. 

Now all that is left is to trim the ends of your yarn and try on your new headband.



I hope you learned at least one new trick today. Stay tuned for the next daily craft. I'm thinking it will be something in the kitchen.



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Welcome to My Blog

Howdy Folks, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day today.

First off since this is my first ever blog post I will warn you that I have no idea what I am doing as far as blogging. But I made up my mind to try something new everyday. That means I want to try a new recipe or make a new craft or at least a new version of an old one every day. I figured there might be plenty of other people out there wanting to do the same or looking for ideas. That is how starting a blog made it onto my list of things to do today.

I like to make things. That is the simplest way to describe my interests. I love cooking and baking. I love to Loom Knit, and am learning to crochet. I like cross stitch but I have a hard time finding the patience to stitch with my 1yr old trying to help me. I sketch, I paint, I sew (by hand because I think my machine hates me)

I plan to try documenting each of my projects as I come to it and will hopefully remember to take pictures as I walk you through my daily craft or recipe. That's right I plan to everyday share a new recipe with you or maybe a new stitch I am learning or whatever strikes my mood that day.

I hope to see you all back here, I would love to hear your ideas on  projects I have done or could try doing.


Micki