Fall is in the air!

I've put a few little autumn bits and bobs in my etsy shop.







This way if you're interested.

More to come.  Maybe even a plushy blue box!

Gifts for Grannie.

Just finishing up some gifts for my MIL.

I made her some Christmas dishcloths.

I really wasn't impressed with the wreath when I saw a picture in the pattern, but it turned out really well.  I had to try a couple of patterns before I found the The starpattern I liked, though I just sc around the outside edge, I wanted it kind of simple. The rest I just looked at the pictures and made it up as I went.

And a tawahsi scrubbie.

K and I made her a pair of earrings.

Mr. Man got us some Trappist jam from Monastery Gifts last year and we have had such a wonderful time tasting it over the year.  The quince is wonderful and the burgundy wine is amazingly bizarre. So this year we sent her some Trappist jam and preserves and a fruitcake made by monks that is fabulous.   I also made her some oatmeal raison cookies, chocolate chip cookies and rum drops. No picks yet, I'm washing tins.

And I'm making some CDs of K.  I think that covers it.

One down, 2,606,300 people to go!

Etsy fun!

My friend Tracy and I are starting to put a few things on ETSY.  Tracy is a talented potter and she's starting make a few pins and pots for sale.  I'll be putting up a few little oddments from time to time.

Just a few of our bits and bobs.

These are available on our ETSY.

These are coming soon!

And this is what I sent!

And here are the goodies I sent to my partner in the Harry Potter Crafts 2011 March Swap. We both chose the Weasley family and my partner Jen, said she liked Ron best. So I decided to send a care package from Molly to Ron at Hogwarts. 


Brown paper and strings of course. 





Inside the larger package was Ron's Hogwarts trunk.  If you look closely at the scene in Philosopher's Stone, just when Harry meets the Weasley's, on platform 9 3/4, you can see that Ron's trunk is very weathered and shabby.  





Inside his box, there were two packages.





Of course, I had to send a little Weasley sweater. She sent me one too, funny! And Jen said she liked my Tunisian crochet book scarf, so I made her one of those too.  I tried to fit Susan in the box, she's been climbing the drapes of late, but she wouldn't fit.





The inside of Ron's trunk has taken quite a beating.  Ink spilled in the corner and I don't want to think about what else.  Poor Ron, all his things are so shabby.  But he got Hermione in the end, so I imagine he's got no complaints.





This was such a fun swap.  K wants me to teach her how to paint a trunk.  I think I'll get her all the bits for Easter.  Shh... don't tell her.

And I almost forgot my favorite part!  Jen is a scrapbooker, so I wanted to send her something scrapbookish, is that a word,... is now.  Anyway, I wanted to make her Molly Weasley's wonderful clock, so Photoshop Elements away!





I found some images of the clock and removed all the hands, then I found images of silver spoons and cut them out.  Printed them all on photo paper and there you go, a DIT Weasley clock!  Just add your own Family Photos, a background page, I can't wait to see if she can use it.

I've done some reading and I think a real Weasley clock, using a twitter feed and robotic drive, might not be all that hard.  Hum...

Peep has a baby brother!!!!!

Remember my little buddy Peep, cute, tough, tiny survivor, well she's home and happy and....... she has a baby brother!!!

He came really early and had some tough times, but he is home, healthy, and cute as a bug. I made him a little something to welcome him to his happy family.

I made up the pattern for the blanket, just a big granny square surrounded by smaller squares. I used Caron simply soft, cause I liked the baby blue. The baby baseball cap turned out so cute. I followed the newborn ballcap pattern I found on Crochetville.

I met the owner/operator of Crochetville a few months ago. We we sitting on a bench waiting for our children during All State Orchestra. We both pulled out our sticks and string and of course, started to chat. Crochet, officially bringing people together since the 1824.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've had a load of hits on my old Valentine's posts, so I thought I'd collect them all in one place. So if you're in need of a last minute valentine, here's three to choose from.

Last year, K and her class were suffering from a severe case of Percy Jackson Mania! K's Valentine's were greeted with near hysteria.

If you are similarly afflicted, you can make your own! You will need:

White pens, cause your labels are white.
Mailing labels, avery 5160
Card stock
Template for backing card
Template for labels
Clear tape

Here is the template for the labels:

Print the labels and put on one the side of each pen as shown, kinda high up, so the clear tape won't be over the label.
Here is the template for the card

Just write your name, cut out the four cards, and tape your pen in place. You and your friends will have brains full of kelp in no time!

Two years ago we made the very cool, though really labor intensive Family Fun rock candy valentines.

These were really cute and the kids loved them. Want your own? Here is what you need for one iValentine.

Tape
1 14-inch piece of white yarn
1 9 inch piece of white yarn
2 Hersheys Kisses
1 (1-ounce) box of conversation hearts
4- by 8.5-inch strip of pink paper
Glue stick
Sheet of white printer paper
Template for playlist
Template for scroll wheel

The templates can each make at least 24, so if you want to make a bunch, just multiply everything by 24.

Cut one piece of yarn about 14" and the other about 9", tied them together so the ends were even and used low temp hot glue to glue the Kisses to the ends. Tape the other end of the yarn to the top of one small side of the candy box. Tape the pink paper around the candy box.

Print the two templates on the white paper, cut out the playlists and the scrolls, and glued them in place. Write your name on the back of the box and they'll be all done.

Last but not least, one year I crochets K and Mr. Man each a heart.

I found the pattern on Pepika. The pattern is free and calls for a size 1 hook and red cotton yarn. Not having a size 1 hook, I grabbed my size 4 hook and Red Heart yarn and they turned out great. Didn't take long either.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

What in the name of sanity have you got on your tree!

Happy Holidays everyone! For Christmas, K and I gave Mr. Man a burgundy bow tie, braces and a Fez, cause, Fezzes are cool. So are bow ties. He has worn the fez for days, even to our neighbors for Boxing day lunch. DId I mention K's favorite shoes are red wellies. Oh yeah, the Doctor and little Amelia live in my house.

We also made our number 11 a little fez and bow tie to hang on the Christmas tree with his Tardis.

We made a few for friends too. :D

And because, every tree needs a fez and bow tie, cause they're cool, we wrote a pattern. Please feel free to make your own, and if you post it somewhere, please mention K and I and let us know, we would love to see!

Fez and Bow Tie On Every Christmas Tree.

You will need:

Burgundy or red yarn, whichever you like best. We used Red Heart Super Saver.
Size H Crochet Hook, our favorite size.

Fez Body:
1. Make a Magic ring and put 6 sc in the ring. Join with slst. (6)
2. Ch1. 2 sc in each sc. Join with slst. (12)
3. Ch1. (2 sc, sc) repeat. Join with slst. (18)
4. Ch1. 1 sc in the back loop of each sc. (18)
Continue working in continuous rounds without joining.
5. 2 sc in first sc. 1 sc in next 8 sc. 2sc in next sc, 1 sc in next 8sc. (20)
6. 1 sc in each sc. (20)
7. 1 sc in first 5sc. 2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in next 8sc. 2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in next 5 sc. (22)
8. 1 sc in each sc. (22)
9. 2 sc in first sc. 1 sc in next 10 sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1sc in next 10 sc. (24)
10. 1 sc in each sc. (24)
11. 1 sc in first 6sc. 2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in next 10 sc. 2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in next 6 sc. (26)
12. 1 sc in each sc. (26)
Fasten off bottom . Leave tail from magic loop to attach little thing on top of fez.

Little Thing on Top of Fez
1. Make a slip knot leaving a 6 inch tail.
2. Chain 4.
3. Slst in back of second chain from needle.
4. Slst in each remaining 2 chains.
5. Yarn over and pull both threads through last loop and cut leaving two 6 inch tails.
6. Pull both tails through hole in magic loop on top of fez. On inside, securely tie tails you just pulled through to the tail of the magic loop.
7. Cut three tails and turn fez right side out.

Bow Tie
1. Make a slip knot and chain 12. Turn
2. Sc in each chain across. Ch 1 .Turn.
3. Repeat row (2) until you have four rows Cut and weave in ends.
4. Wrap about 24 inches of yarn around the center, back and forth till you have a nice center. Tie off in the back leaving enough to make a 4 inch loop at the top for a hanger.


Did I mention, they are also the perfect size to dress up any fur baby.

Fezes are cool!

Tea anyone?

I've wanted to make a tea cosy for years. The Harry Potter House Cup on Ravelry finally gave me a good reason. I followed the basic pattern by Yasmin . I used two skeins of Burnt Pumpkin and placed a stitch marker on one of the skeins to keep the confusion to a minimum. Added a crocheted stem and curl, no leaves, leaves were too much.

My cosy is keeping my tea warm and lovely as I type.

HPC Potions Swap, in which K and I transfigure total strangers.

K and I participated in the Harry Potter Crafts Potions Swap this summer. K had the idea of making a Polyjuice potions kit and we went to town.

Our swap partner is a Gryffindor, so I made her a House Bookscarf, wrapped it around our note and placed it in the packing box, on the top of the wrapped goodies. I found the wooden box at Hobby Lobby, and we thought about stenciling a Gryffindor crest on the top, but it was perfect just as it was. The goblets are from Pier One, about 20 years ago. They were just perfect for potions and survived shipping, now that's magic, that is.

I rewrote the Polyjuice Potion and K provided the new illustrations. The cat was because we put in a P.S. to our note saying sorry if she mistakenly, turned into a cat, cause you know, Miss. Kitty gets into everything.

We wanted our potion to be drinkable and fun so we based it on Poison Punch, which you can find here. We substituted fizzing Koolaid tablets for powder, so she only had to make 3 cups instead of 3 quarts, and added gummy worms, pop rocks, a pixie stick and a rock candy wand, just for fun. All the ingredients came safely individually wrapped, so she could mix and drink the potion without being worried about drinking something sent by a total stranger. All our swap recipient had to add was water and ginger ale. We wrapped each ingredient, mostly origami envelopes, and labeled all the ingredients, adding a few faux wax seals, string, and labels. Oh, and a couple of Tiffany Vincent's Potions stamps. Love those.

We made the kit for two, because everyone knows, only death eaters transfigure alone, so there were two final ingredients, the Extract of the Transfigured Being to Be (OK, it was cake sprinkles.) The pink sprinkles transfigure the drinker into.... Tonks!

Drink the green and you become,... Mad Eye Moody!

Our partner has posted, and posted again, and posted pictures, and we think, it is just possible, she really liked it. Squeeee!