By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog Coffee Pot People.

I’ve been working very hard at finding an upside to the cold weather, which to me has always been primarily an announcement of cold months coming, not my favorite thing. This year, though, I’m enjoying the beautiful colors and scarves. Oh my. What’s not to love about scarves? They have the power to make me glad of chill opportunities to wrap one around my neck!

The scarf above was made from a pair of worn-out jeans, and was a hit with its recipient, who plans to wear it with her denim jacket.

Here’s how to make your own:

Take one pair of men’s jeans (or two pair of smaller sizes), and rip the leg fronts and backs into strips. To do that, just cut the hems off, snip into the bottom of the leg, and tear. Don’t go narrower with your strips than about ¼”, or they’ll break. (I did try cutting, but I liked the rough edge ripping gives better. You may prefer a clean edge, though.)

When you’ve ripped as many strips as you can get from your jeans, tie them together to make one long one, and wind into a ball. Another option, of course, would be to sew the ends together, right side to wrong side for smoothness. I left the ends of the knots free, though, and they created a thicker texture, rather like an interior fringe.

Now take a nice big crochet hook, whatever feels comfortable to you for working this very wide “yarn”, and crochet a chain as long as you want your scarf to be. Don’t worry about the knots in the denim—just crochet around them, and let them add their character.

ROW 2: When you’ve got the chain as long as you want, turn, and double crochet in the fourth chain from your hook. *Chain one, skip one stitch, double crochet in the next stitch*, and repeat that sequence until you reach the end of the chain. Crochet three, and turn.

ROW 3: Skip one stitch, and double crochet in the next one. *Chain one, skip one stitch, double crochet in the next stitch*, and repeat that sequence until you reach the end of the chain. Tie off, leaving a long tail for a fringe piece.

The pattern will look like this:

Now cut about a dozen 10″ to 12″ lengths of the denim “yarn”, and tie half of them to each end of the scarf for fringe.

You’re done, and I don’t know you’re like me or not, but I can’t help thinking it’s just a tiny bit funny to be wearing a pair of jeans around the neck!

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog Coffee Pot People.

What’s not to love about scarves? They have the power to make me glad of chilly opportunities to wrap one around my neck! Here’s a project that yields a big, fluffy, dramatic scarf with a minimum of effort and materials. To make it you’ll need a few yards of bulky yarn, such as the chenille I used, and about ¼ yard of matching fleece.

Cut a strip of fleece 8″ wide across the width of your fabric, so that you have a piece 8″x50″ (or whatever the width of your yardage is). Cutting the short way, cut strips ½” x 8″. If your fabric was 50″ wide, you”ll end up with 100 little strips. Don’t obsess about the number or exact width, though. If you’re off a wee bit, it really won’t make a difference.

Take up your yarn and a crochet hook that’s big enough to give you a nice stitch tension (I used a Boye H, if I recall correctly), and begin a chain. Crochet one chain stitch, and then just lay one of the fleece strips across the yarn, next to the hook, and chain stitch right over the top of it, “capturing” the strip in the stitch.

*Chain one, and capture a strip in the next chain.* Repeat until your scarf is as long as you like, and finish off.

You now have something rather like a big boa, great fun to wear or give, and you’ve done it on the quick. Go forth, and collect your compliments and smiles!

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

This is a very easy redo for a tote bag. All you’ll need for it is a t-shirt with a front or back you like, and a tote bag you’d like to dress up a bit. Your t-shirt front needs to be a little larger than the front of the tote.

First, flatten your tote bag so you can either draw around it to make a pattern, or cut around it, if you’re not worried about snipping an edge.

Now, lay your t-shirt out nice and flat. Put the pattern or tote on top of the tee, and cut, leaving ¼” to ½” extra all the way around to turn under. Turn under the edges to make the tee piece exactly the same size as your tote.

Most tote side edges are top-stitched or bound in seam binding. This makes them kind of separate from the body of the tote itself, which is why this is such an easy refurb. Starting at one upper corner of your tote bag, pin the tee piece right to that edge, and do a tight, close zigzag stitch all the way around.

That’s all there is to it–easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

(Note: My tee shirt front, as you may have noticed, was actually a bit short, so I let the hemmed lower edge be the upper edge, and blind stitched it across the top, rather than zigzagging. If you’re going to do that, make sure the shirt’’s design looks okay upside down!)

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I’m not an embroiderer. Sure I pick up the odd assortment of embroidery floss now and again to add some pizzazz to knee patches or little boy ties, but on the whole, I don’t get around to a whole lot of embroidery. Which means that I don’t have a very good way of storing the thread. Instead, I tend to toss the leftovers from projects in with my ribbon and by the time I need it again, it’s such an unholy mess that I usually have to toss it out and buy more. My kids are seriously into friendship bracelets this summer and that means that, once again, I’ve had to go out and stock up on embroidery thread, but this time, I’m prepared for the onslaught of little colorful bundles of string. I’ve got clothespins. This method of storing embroidery thread is so simple and useful, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Clothespins
• Embroidery floss

1. Open the clothespin and then close it with the end of the thread on the inner part of the top, near (but not in) the smallest holes.

2. Start winding. Wrap the entire length of thread around the clothespin, keeping the thread between the spring and the large hole.

3. When you have reached the end, tug it through the end of the clothespin toward the larger hole. You can open the pin slightly iff necessary but you should be able to pull the string into place without opening the pin in most cases. The pin will hold the end in place until needed. When you want a section of thread simple pull it out from the end of the pin and unwind the length you need before refastening the new end!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

I’ve always been a fan of Clover’s bamboo knitting needles. In fact that was my first pair! Now many knitting and crocheting needles later, Clover is still my first choice and have made some of my other favorite things! They make some of the most ingenious products that makes craft projects look professional, even for a beginner.

Have you ever tried to make a yo-yo by hand? I have, and refuse to ever do it that way again! Watch this video on the Clover Yo-Yo makers and you’ll see why. The Clover Yo-Yo Makers come in small, medium, large and x-large in numerous shapes – butterfly, heart, flower, oval and more.

PS. I also refuse to make pom-poms by hand now too! Thank you Clover!

I recently got a Flower Frill template too. It’s a plastic template where you flip & fold fabric or paper to make a flower! This is what Clover made with the Flower Frill template, just imagine the possibilities!

By Craft Trends Contributor, Trent Jaxon.

Red Heart Boutique Changes

Hello again crafters! Let’s talk yarn! Knitting is one of my favorite activities. And ever since “The Great Yarn Comeback of 2001″ knit, crochet and stitchery crafts have really kept pace with today’s fashions.

2011 will continue this great trend. Yarn manufacturers are getting more innovative than ever in bringing us products that look and feel great and make knitting a breeze.

Sugar N’ Cream yarn is the gold standard when it comes to 100% cotton. These yarns combine softness, durability and great colors that make them good for everything from baby clothes to pot holders and dish scrubbers. This year we have their new Scents line. This fun yarn is also a dose of aromatherapy for the crafter using it. As you work with the yarn a light fragrance is released. Sugar N’ Cream chose smells that are calming and relaxing. Sure to make even the worst dropped stitches stress free!

Red Heart, the leader in yarn crafts has come out with a plethora of new lines in the last year for all styles. Their new Boutique lines are my favorite. Boutique Swirls are wonderfully soft variegated yarns with just a touch of lash that create projects that feel great against your skin while still knitting up easily. Boutique Changes is a truly awesome product! This yarn combines acrylic, wool, alpaca and even metallic yarns to help you create projects that look great and of course trendy. The yarns transition perfectly so while your project looks like you have used 5 different yarns it has actually only been a single skein!

Besides these wonderful specialty yarns there are also some great new classic yarns. Sugar N’ Cream has some awesome new variegated colors as does Red Heart in both their Super Saver and Classic Lines. And for those kid and baby projects make you check out the Soft line and both the Pomp-a-Doodle and Spark-a-Doodle lines.

I hope you all have a (knit) and pearly week! Until next time crafters,

Keep it Trenty!

By Web Design Schools Guide

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crafting stuffed crochet or knit toys that are usually made into animals, dolls and inanimate objects. These stuffed dolls are known for having oversized spherical heads on an undersized body and expressional faces. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert at amigurumi, you always need a pattern to reference and guide you along the way. Thankfully, the Web has tons of free patterns and instructions on how to make these darling toys for less.

Here are 50 free and adorable amigurumi patterns to get you going:

Animals

Animals are the most common type of amigurumi made, and these are the cutest of the creatures.

1. Monkey: This classic sock monkey is designed to be an ornament, but it would make a great handheld toy too.
2. Owl: This adorable wide-eyed owl is easy to crochet and would make a great gift for anyone.
3. Jellyfish: Don’t worry, this soft, purple jellyfish will only sting you with cuteness.
4. Spider: This harmless looking spider is perfect for Halloween decorating or everyday play.
5. Dachshund: Dachshunds make the perfect pups for amigurumi dolls, and this one is by far the cutest.
6. Bunny: You’ll be hoppy, er, happy to crochet this floppy-eared bunny.
7. Cat: This kitty amigurumi will make the purrfect toy for a kid or cat lover.
8. Pig: This precious pink pig is just oinking to be made by you.
9. Beaver: From the buck teeth to the paddle tail, this little beaver is a spitting image of the real thing.
10. Hippo: Challenge yourself by crocheting this happy hippo who is cuter than words.

Video Game Characters

Even your favorite video game characters have amigurumi patterns like these.

1. Kirby: You’ll enjoy crocheting this adorable pink puffball from the Nintendo game Kirby.
2. Pikachu: From the yellow plush body to the lightning bolt tail, this Pikachu doll is a spitting image of the game character.
3. Bomb-omb: This crocheted Bomb-omb from Mario can be a toy or paperweight, but either way it won’t explode.
4. Link: If you’re a Legend of Zelda fan, you’ll love making this adorable Link doll.
5. Invisibility Star: This Super Mario invisibility star is super cool and oh-so-cute with or without a smile.

Holiday/Celebration

Use these amigurumi patterns to decorate for the holidays and for gift giving.

1. Christmas Wreath: Try your hand at crocheting this little Christmas wreath with colorful leaves and a mini snowman.
2. Spring Chicks: These adorable fuzzy chicks would make the perfect Easter decoration or basket surprise.
3. Valentine’s Heart: Give your Valentine your heart, your amigurumi pop heart, that is.
4. Turkey: Everyone will gobble up this amigurumi turkey because it’s just that adorable.
5. Peas in a Pod: Give your newlywed friends something original like these peas in a pod.

Food

These adorable amigurumi foods look good enough to eat, but I don’t recommend trying.

1. Apples: Take a bite at this apple pattern that is cuter than words.
2. Banana: Peel back the layers of this amigurumi banana and you’ll find this sweet face.
3. Cherry Pie Slice: Don’t let this crocheted slice of cherry pie fool you – it’s just for looks.
4. Coffee Cup: Don’t you wish your coffee mug was this cute?
5. Fried Eggs: Fried eggs never looked cuter and more real! Note: Scroll down on the pattern for the English translation.
6. S’more: Just like the campfire version, except for the smiling marshmallow that’s too sweet to eat.
7. Pear: Give this adorable amigurumi pear a try, and don’t forget to add the stem and rosy cheeks as well.
8. Hot Dog: How doggone cute is this hot dog and bun amigurumi pattern? Crochet on some ketchup or relish for added color and taste.
9. Grapes: Try your hand at crocheting these beautiful purple grapes that looks divine.
10. Oreo Cookies: This may be a fat-free version of the real deal, but they are just as much fun to crochet than eat.

Nature

These amigurumi patterns add an adorable twist to nature’s finest.

1. Acorns: These adorable acorns are easy to crochet and make the perfect decoration for fall.
2. Flower Pot: These flowers make a great centerpiece, and, best of all, they won’t ever die!
3. Inchworm: Inch your way through this adorable inchworm amigurumi pattern.
4. Mushroom: You can’t go wrong making this colorful mushroom house.
5. Cactus: There are no spikes on this adorable cactus plant – just a smile and cute bow.

Random

These are the amigurumi patterns that don’t quite fit into any one category.

1. Alien: This googly-eyed alien is too cute not to make.
2. Light Bulb: This light bulb amigurumi pattern is a bright idea and oh-so-cute.
3. Finger: These severed fingers are perfect for Halloween and anytime you want to scare your friends to death.
4. Eyeball: Not only are these eyeballs easy to make, but they are fun to toss around too.
5. Poo: Yep, you read it right. It may be strange, but this is the cutest pile of poo.

Easy

If you’re new to amigurumi, these easy patterns will get you started and improve your skills in no time.

1. Little Miss Peanut: This adorable peanut amigurumi is easy to crochet and can be a plushy toy or a scented sachet.
2. Baubels: These Christmas baubles can be customized for any holiday and look good in any color.
3. Mr. Sour Pickle Man: This sour pickle man is adorable and super easy to crochet since it’s all one shape and color.
4. Mouse: Eek! This not-so-scary mouse is easy to make and plenty adorable.
5. Ghost: This ghoulish ghost can be simplified even further and still look just as adorable.
6. Ball: It doesn’t get much easier than crocheting a perfect sphere in one continuous color like this pattern.
7. Cherry: Check out this simple cherry pattern that even comes with a video tutorial to guide you!
8. Chocolates: These adorable chocolates look just as sweet as the real stuff and are easy to crochet.
9. Tomato: This tomato amigurumi is round, red and easy to make.
10. Beans: These beans come in every flavor and color, but best of all, they’re super easy to crochet!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I love bracelets and I’m always on the hunt for a new one. But with the cold weather outside, I haven’t been wearing one, not liking the chill that I feel when the bracelet gets cold against my skin. The solution? A knitted bracelet!

Here’s what you need:

Bulky weight wool yarn

Size 10 knitting needles

Fabric scissors

Large button

Fabric measuring tape

Yarn needle

1. Measure your wrist and add one inch, this will be your knit length.

2. Cast on 10 sts. Knit as follows

row 1 – K1 P1 across

row 2 – K1P1 across

row 3 – P1K1 across

row 4 – P1K1 across

Repeat this pattern until you are one inch from your length (this is a double, vertical seed stitch)

Now make a buttonhole:

Knit in pattern for 3 sts. Without knitting, cast off 4 sts. Slip the last active stitch to the other needle and use it to make 4 new stitches. Finish knitting in pattern. Turn piece and continue to knit in pattern for 3 more rows. Cast off in pattern.

3. Try on your bracelet and mark where your button needs to be. Stitch into place and try it on!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Oh, wool roving, where have you been all my life? I had no idea how much fun you were. What with the bulky knitting and the needle felting that you can be used for. And now? Felt beads. So fun, so quick, so addicting to make. No really, these are quick and simple and so much fun. You can even make a few in between washing dishes. How many crafts can you say that about?

Here’s what you need:

• Wool roving, colored or not. Whatever strikes your fancy
• Hand or dish soap
• Access to cold and hot water

1. Grab a wad of roving about three times the size of the finished bead you want. If you want to make a bunch that are the same size, it’s best to weight the roving pieces before you get felting.

2. Pull the fibers apart and layer them into a rough ball shape. Run this under a little water.

3. Soap up your hands and start rolling. Don’t press of squeeze and resist the urge to roll roughly as you would with playdoh. It helps to cup your hands slightly to help keep your pressure light.

4 Keep a-rolling, rinsing the ball now and then and adding more soap. As you roll the bead will get harder and harder and smaller and smaller. Once you see that the bead is no longer absorbing much water, it is fully felted. Pour a little boiling water over them to shock them a little and tighten up the fibers.

5. Allow the beads to dry before using them, this can take a day or two depending on the size of the bead.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I’m big on knitting, especially in the winter. And I always have several projects going in my workbasket. Which means that there are several balls of wool, often getting tangled up with each other. And that makes a huge mess. So lately I’ve been separating my yarn balls into little felt baskets. It makes grabbing one project out of the mess easy, keeps the yarn separate and keeps the ball from rolling around when I’m working. And they couldn’t be easier to make. Think back to your kindergarten days when you learned to weave. Over, under, over, under. If you can do that, you can make this basket!

You’ll need

1/4 yard of wool felt
Jar, vase or bowl, about 5 inches in diameter and 5 inches tall (square or circle)
Clothespins
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Fabric Scissors
Ruler

1. Cut the wool into 2 inch wide strips.

2. Flip the bowl upside down and lay the strips across the bottom, weaving them so that they cover as much of the base as possible. Carefully flip the bowl right side up so that the strips are laying around the bowl and the woven part is on your table.

3. Clip all the strips to the top of the bowl with the clothespins.

4. Using more strips, weave in and out around the sides of the bowl until you have reached the top. Clip the excess and glue the ends of each strip together, tucking the join under one of the upright strips.

5. Unclip the clothespins and carefully slide the bowl out.

6. Fold the ends over the top strip, trimming them to be just long enough to tuck under securely. Glue each top strip in place.

Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

It’s not quite October yet, but I’m still getting ready for Halloween! I made these very cute and very quick Halloween decorations with my Clover Pom-Pom Maker. Make some spooky spiders, friendly ghosts and Pumpkin decor out of yarn!

The Clover Pom-pom maker is quick and easy to use. Once you start making pom-poms your mind will start running with ideas on how to use them; they are just so fun. Watch the video below to see how to use the Pom-Pom maker.

For the Pumpkin pom-pom decoration, I used the large pom-pom maker with orange yarn. I used a green chenille stem for the pumpkin stem and curled it to make it cute. Lastly glue a small leaf on top.

I think the spiders are my favorite! I plan to hang these around my front door. To make the Spider pom-pom, make a large and a small pom-pom with black yarn. The small pom-pom is the head, and the large is for the body. Glue these together and add legs out of black chenille stems.  Glue wiggle eyes on last.

This blog post was adapted from a Project Sheet from Clover. Click here to see how to make the Friendly Ghosts!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Why is it that every new pattern I decide to knit needs a size of needle that I’ve never used before? Or maybe I have the size, but it calls for circular and all I have are straights. I think it’s a conspiracy. Keeping track of all of my knitting needles has never been my forte. So between the need for new sizes and styles for every project I do, and my habit of sticking needles I do have in random drawers, I feel like I’m always buying yet another set of knitting needles. Well NO MORE. I am getting organized. And by organized I mean that I made myself a needle case to keep all those needles safe and sound and in one place. So next project I start, well, I wont be buying duplicate needles for it you can be sure. I haven’t quite collected every size known to man so there is always the possibility that I’ll still need to go out and buy more, but at least this time I’ll have a place to put them!

Because I didn’t want to spend time hemming or lining, I chose boiled wool felt for this project. But it was a toss up between the felt and some very pretty oil cloth that I bought the other day for something…I’m not sure what yet. The Felted wool felt won out because when I think of knitting, I think cozy, and oil cloth, not so cozy.  Any fabric that you don’t need to hem (fleece, vinyl, regular felt) would work. Or, you know, you could hem it. But why bother?

Here’s what you need

Fabric – 10″ by 16″ – or whatever size you need to fit the length of your longest needle and lay out all or most of your needle sets
Contrasting fabric – 10 inches by 6 inches – or the same width as above and around 1/3 the length
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Pins
Ribbon – 12 inches or more

1. Lay your fabric out flat with what will be the bottom of your case facing you.

2. Pin the smaller piece of fabric so that the bottom edges line up and the sides are even. Pin in place.

3. Tuck the ribbon, folded in half, under the edge of one side of the smaller piece of fabric so that it is sandwhiched into place. Pin and sew around the sides and bottom.

4. Place a pin to mark the width of each pocket for your needles. You’ll want to think about the size of the needles you have for this. Smaller needles need narrower pockets otherwise they will fall out. You’ll want to make each pocket about the width of three needles set side by side.

5. Stitch up from the bottom to form each pocket.

6. Insert your needles, roll up toward the ribbon end and tie! Now if I can only find a way to keep track of my patterns….

Congratulations to Ruth Ann who was randomly selected as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the  Clover Template Trace N Create Zieman City Bag!  And the Clover Yo-Yo Maker in Large, Extra-Large and Jumbo.

The Clover Nancy Zieman Trace N Create Templates will help you create projects that will give you the status “designer” among your friends. Talk about versatile, these collections have style options from sophisticated to fancy. Choose your favorite fabric, gather your notions and sit down to enjoy the process of creating. The sewing is simple; the results are very rewarding!

Leave it to Clover to create a tool that makes it quick and easy to produce nicely shaped yo-yos. This new plastic tool helps you make evenly spaced stitches to create gathers that in turn lead to lovely circular and beautiful shaped yo-yos. A great way to create decorations, accessories and home decor projects.

Ruth Ann’s winning answer to  ”With summer winding down, what was your favorite thing you did this summer?” was…

“I hosted our Family Reunion at the cabin up north; for a whole weekend! Had a 100% turnout for 40 people! I had tents and campers all around the cabin and 5 people sleeping in my room! It was priceless!”

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

I love Birthdays! My birthday was a few weeks ago, and I received the cutest gift bag from my crafty friend Kim. She made a felted cake with candles, and glued to the front of my card. I loved the idea so much I stole it and used it to make a birthday gift bag.

To start, gather these supplies:

Felt

Roving felt

Felting needle

Foam block

Gift Bag

Birthday Scrapbook paper

Hot glue gun

Optional: Birthday stickers, embellishments, die cuts

To create this cupcake felt appliqué, start with a square piece of felt. The first layer of felt will be the cupcake holder. I cut the bottom piece of felt in the shape of a cupcake. Lay the felt on your foam block, and take pieces of a different color roving felt and make long “snakes” by rubbing them in your palms. Attach the roving felt snakes to the bottom felt with your felting needle. To do this, push the needle through the roving felt into the bottom felt. Repeat this around the edges of each stripe on the cupcake holder.

For the cupcake top, I took yellow roving felt and formed a circle. I laid it on the round part of my cupcake bottom felt piece and secured the yellow roving felt with my felting needle. My cupcake was completely shaped with three small circles.

I decorated my cupcake with a flower also made from roving felt. To make the flower I made another “snake” from red roving felt. I attached one end to the cupcake, made a loop, and attached the other end to make each bloom. There were five loops to make my flower.

After my flower was done, it was ready to be glued onto the gift bag. I had decorated the gift bag by gluing 2 different patterned birthday scrapbook sheets down to make the backdrop. Next I just needed to glue down my felt cupcake with the hot glue gun.

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

My grandma has the most beautiful tea towels in her kitchen that are hand embroidered by her grandma. There are used for decorations and have become an antique over the years. All the towels have their own design of a flower, tea pot or piece of fruit, with a detailed, scalloped edge.  My grandma has had these towels in her kitchen for as long as I can remember, and I’m sure they will make it to my Mom’s kitchen sooner or later.

I wanted to decorate my own tea towels. My great, great grandma is the last one in my family who knew how to embroider, so I had to teach myself!  I went to YouTube and watched tons of videos on beginning to embroider. The video I found most helpful was from Threadbangers. They interviewed Jenny Hart, the designer of Sublime Stitching and she explains how to get started with embroidery.

Jenny gives step by step details on how to get your pattern on your cloth, setting up your embroidery hoop, picking out needles and floss and a beginning split stitch. The video finishes with some DIY ideas from their Austin, TX viewers. I really like the Sublime Stitching Patterns because they are very modern and fun. I think I’m going to try the Sushi Bar pattern first…

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Last winter I went through a felting stage, turning old sweaters into flowers and coffee cup wraps and all sorts of things. But it wasn’t until I’d emptied our local charity shops of all their wool sweaters that I realized that you can also felt felt! Well, you can felt wool felt. And it doesn’t even need to be 100% wool to be feltable. Look for felt with at least 35% wool content for this project and run it through your washing machine on it’s hottest setting, repeating if you think it could shrink up a little more, then allow it to dry flat. Because of it’s thickness, the felt is great for protecting things like cell phones and glasses and cameras (it also helps to keep them dry at the pool, but don’t think that means you can drop it in the water!)

Here’s What You Need

1/4 yard of wool felt
Scraps of another color of felt (wool or otherwise)
Thread
Needle
Fabric Scissors
Yarn
Yarn Needle

Cut the felt to be just bigger than twice the length of your camera and a bit bigger than the width.

Using the other color of felt, cut a basic camera shape and a small circle. Stitch the circle onto the “camera” and then sew the whole thing onto one side of the felt square using a whip stitch.

Fold the square in half and, starting at the bottom corner, stitch with the yarn needle and yarn using a blanket stitch.

When you get to the top corner, tie the yarn off in a loop and trim off the tails.

Enter to win a the Clover Quick Yo Yo Maker in small and extra small, as well as the Clover Template Trace N Create Zieman Bag California! Use these products to create one-of-a-kind bags!

Leave it to Clover to create a tool that makes it quick and easy to produce nicely shaped yo-yos. This new plastic tool helps you make evenly spaced stitches to create gathers that in turn lead to lovely circular and beautiful shaped yo-yos. A great way to create decorations, accessories and home decor projects. The finished Yo Yo is approximately 3/4″ for extra-small and 1.2″ for small.

Clover Nancy Zieman Trace N Create Templates will help you create projects that will give you the status “designer” among your friends. Choose your favorite fabric, gather your notions and sit down to enjoy the process of creating.. The sewing is simple; the results are very rewarding! Zieman Bag California- Package includes 2 templates and instructions. Choose from 6 styles; Monterey, Monterey Petite Plus, Monterey Plus, Carmel, Carmel Petite, and Carmel Plus. The 6 variations of this template gives you option galore.

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please.

Question of week: What is your favorite summer activity?

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

OK moms, Now that Mother’s Day has come and gone and we (hopefully) felt the love, let’s all let out a big old howl of panic over the fact that summer vacation is but a few weeks away from starting. AHHHH!!

Now that we feel better, let’s get to work gathering some summer friendly, keep them busy crafts for the kids in our lives.

First stop…fingerknitting. Remember fingerknitting? And Spool Knitting? I don’t know about you but I spent HOURS making long chains of fingerknitting when I was a kid. And while your child will probably be inthralled by the simple fact that they can make a verrrry long chain of yarn, they might be a little more excited by making their own fall scarf.

Yes, fall is a ways away, but knitting projects can take time, and even if they don’t why not encourage them to make several so that they can give them out as back to school gifts for friends.

With all the fluffy, bulky and downright funky yarns out there, fingerknitting can produce some really cute (I’d wear one!) scarves that are a great project for kids who aren’t quite ready for needles. And because all you need is yarn, it’s also easy to carry along with you just about anywhere.

If you’ve forgotten the how’s of fingerknitting here’s what you need and how to get started. Skien of furry, funky or bulky yarn (I used a slightly bulky weight yarn for this tutorial so you could see the stitches, you want something bigger..and probably harrier)

Start by wrapping the tail of the yarn around your thumb a couple of times, just to keep it out of the way.

Weave the yarn in and out of your fingers then back again. Repeat until you have two rows of loops. Hook the yarn back over your thumb to it is out of the way as well.

Palm up, pull the bottom loop up over the finger it is on and over to the back of your hand. (hint- you should use your non-dominant hand for the yarn and your dominant hand to do the pulling- it’s easier plus you can do other things with your good hand when you need to with out the knitting getting in the way)

Pick up the new yarn and repeat. Once you have a few stitches down, you can unwind the tail from your thumb. Because the knitting falls down the back of the hand it keeps it out of the way should you want to stop and do something else. If you need to stop all together, run the tail of the yarn through each loop and tie it off loosly so that nothing unravels.

Keep an eye out here for more Schools Out Fun every Thursday!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

Now Tunisian crochet isn’t anything new. Well new to me. They go back a gazillion years. Well, maybe not that far, but it is an old technique. But now there’s something new on the market from Clover. It’s the Double-Ended Tunisian Crochet Hook. With a hook at both ends, it allows you to crochet in the round so you can make beautifil projects ranging from a cute little coffee cup cozy (you know, like those cardboard sleeves coffee places use) to hats to a cell phone holder to purses to …. well, you get the idea.

My handmade, reusable coffee sleeve

You can make a whole lotta stuff! Clover’s web site has instructional videos.

Check it out:

The Best Yarn & Needlework Supply Craftie goes to the Boye Electric Yarn Ball Winder!

Boye Electric Yarn Ball Winder is a convenient and quick electric ballwinder that is fully automatic. It eliminates tedious handwinding and easily winds hanks of yarn into center-pull skeins. It will create flat bottom balls that stack neatly. You can rewind messy partial skeins into a tidy center-pull skeins. Wind thin yards together to create custom sizes and colors. Labor-saving motor means less stress on arms, hands and wrists.

Here’s Boye’s acceptance speech they gave while accepting their Golden Glue Gun Award…

It is an honor and pleasure to accept this Golden Glue Gun Award for the Boye® Electric Yarn Ball Winder in the Best Needlework Supply category.  The day I brought home my yarn ball winder changed the course of my crafting experience because of its ease and speed.  I am now able to wind hanks lickety-split creating the perfect center pull yarn cake every time allowing me to get to the fun part – using the yarn to crochet and knit!

Drew Emborsky aka The Crochet Dude®

Boye

 Check out the demo below to see how quickly the Boye Yarn Winder works!