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 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 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.

Cross-stitch is the classic and getting plenty of attention with new and modern designs and patterns. Look for more embellishing in finished pieces especially buttons and charms. Needle punch (or is that Punch Needle?) continues to grow in popularity. This very old needleart has been modernized with cotton and silk threads/flosses in very trendy colors. Most designs have a country, pop art, or family flair, but if you branch out into books you’ll find just about any theme you could dream of. The needle punch needle has been updated and you can customize your needs for 1, 2, 3, 4, and more threads.

Rugs are back! Look for handmade, hooked, and punched rugs in magazines and movies. Everyone loves the warm feeling that these crafted floor coverings offer to our homes. But don’t stop at the floor! Many projects call for rugs to be hung for wall art. Embroidery rounds out this category. Motifs for embroidery have a wide spectrum from bright and sassy for teenagers to classic country for homes. Kits are a great way to introduce and learn about stitching techniques so you can go out on your own for clothing, jewelry, pillows, and more.