As a wee crafter, I spent many a holiday working on little holiday needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns that my mom hoarded during after-christmas sales. The first step (and the one that drove me INSANE when I was young) is to baste the edges of the canvas to prevent fraying. I dreaded doing it, but it was not nearly as tedious as I remember (can I possibly be more patient than when I was 8?). The next step was always to take of the thread from the project and attach to a yarn organizer. Miner were always butterfly shaped. Did anyone ever have one that WASN”T a butterfly? Anyway, i realized that this would be the step to stop adult-me in my tracks. I didn’t have a yarn organizer. With nothing to do all day but craft, and an awesome idea from Carmen, i decided to make my own.

i whipped out a sheet of Brown shrinky-dink plastic and threw together a retro-fabulous sketch of an owl. I planned out where to place holes that I could punch with my circular craft punches.

I made it the size of the entire sheet of plastic, and then cut it out (note pen for scale)

Then I popped it into the toaster oven at 300 until it shrank up (i used chopsticks to pull apart any areas that got stuck during shrinking).

I am really pleased with the holes of varying size – it is very satisfying to put the fat wads of yarn in the bigger holes, and the thread in the tiny holes. I added a rare earth magnet (with E6000 glue) to the center to hold on to needles, and then I got busy!

So busy, in fact, that I completed the whole thing!

The project was a new in package 1972 Caron Crewel 5 x 7 (#6306). The yarn was all wool (in some of the older projects the included yarn is acrylic) and the instructions were thorough. Highly recommended!

Even though most of what goes on here is knitting (and occasionally spinning), I have an interest in all kinds of crafty things. i often sew specialized knitting needle cases for sock knitters, and zippered bags (sometimes embroidered). i enjoy sewing because if you have a design idea, it takes much less time to try out the finished product than with knitting. Lately I have also been making buttons and stitch markers.

Proabably my most favorite crafts that i have worked on lately are my felt-covered altoid tins. I just traced around the edges of the tin to make a template for myself and i cut out a background piece. then I sew on the cuteness. Some more stitching and some E6000 later, Viola!

They are perfect for holding stitch markers and other knitting/sewing notions. And you don’t sound like a gypsy when you carry them around in you bag, because the felt lining keeps everything nice and quiet.

They are also the perfect size for a chapstick and maybe even a few bucks.

By far my favorite is the frozen dinner

but the cute little owl is a close second.

So I will say that the tv-dinner tin is my entry in the whiplash competition this month.

I made some plastic buttons that are for sale in my etsy shop. Perfect for little knitting projects….