To be honest, i designed the whole ‘Week of Weaving‘ idea around my Whiplash entry this month… This month, Whipup is focusing on small crafts, and the Whiplash theme is ‘Zakka.‘ I struggled with this a bit as I never had a good idea of what zakka really meant. I don’t know that I have figured it out, but I was able to see some common elements in all of the examples. To me they seemed to be simple handmade projects often for a practical use, that are occasionally tastefully embellished. I don’t have a lot of free time this month so I thought that I might be able to add a little embellishment to something.

Many of the examples used very natural colors and fabrics, which made me remember a stack of 4 inch weave-it squares that I made out of a natural colored hemp-blend yarn. It struck me that they were the size of petite coasters, but had a fantastic hand to them, more like a cloth napkin. As I examined the cloth I noticed that the fabric looked just like counted cross stitch canvas.

And then it hit me… Cocktail Napkins. I started decorating and couldn’t stop. I ended up making more woven squares so I could try out all of my ideas. Want to make some?

Cocktail Napkins – a tutorial

I made my napkins out of a 4×4 inch square that I made on my weave it loom. You could also use a 4×4 knit square, or fabric. I am also figuring that you have some cross-stitch skills. If not, the only skills required are making X’s and the backstitch (which you can learn about here) This is the perfect starter project!

Tools

• 4 inch weave-it or Weavette loom and appropriate weaving needle
• Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy Yarn – less than one skein. You can substitute another fingering weight yarn, but cotton might be best for the look, and the washability.
• Various colors of cotton embroidery floss
• Cross-stitch needle

Weaving the napkin

This part is really simple enough. Weave a standard square on your 4 inch weave-it or weavette using the yarn held doubled. The fact that the yarn is doubled is part of what makes it look so much like cross stitch canvas. If you only use a single strand of fine yarn, your finished square will be too lacy to support your cross stitch. Make sure that that you don’t wrap the yarn too tightly around the pegs. If you do, it will make the needle-weaving part very difficult. Carefully weave in the ends when the square is complete.

Decorating the napkin
I charted up a few of the drinks I designed to get you started.

Click to embiggen – free for your personal use.

The two rows nearest to the edge of the weave-it square are a little loose. Plan the placement of your design carefully so that you don’t have to cross stitch on these rows. Carefully make your cross stitch x’s making sure they all cross in the same direction, and don’t pull them too tightly.

I used appropriately colored embroidery floss, and I used all 6 strands of it. I outlined the designs with a backstitch using 3 strands of black floss. Secure the floss in the back by running it underneath the completed stitches.

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I made 8 napkins decorated with various drinks. Click through to my Flickr set to see them in detail, and figure which drinks they represent…

View all of the posts in my ‘Week of Weaving’ Series.

I tried to come up with a clever title for my entry into this month’s whiplash competition, but I have failed. I am just saying it like it is. I like to drink beer, and occasionally malt liquor. Frequent readers here may also remember that I like to keep my beer cold, and my hands warm. I also like to make small efforts to reuse materials, or recycle – you know, like taking your own bag to the grocery store… Now I can have it all – warm hands, cold 40’s, and no soggy paper bag to throw in the recycling.

Made from superwash wool to look like a paper bag, this cozy will meet my 40 transportation needs perfectly. It has vertical details that look like the folds on the side of a paper bag. The top edge is pointed like the pinked edge of a paper bag*. Though the fit around the body is snug, a proper 40 sack can cling tightly to the neck of the forty so mine has a drawstring for cinching up. It also looks good when the top is folded down.

I am happy to have this new cozy to add to my collection.

Though i haven’t written up the pattern for this cozy, I do have a beer cozy pattern available for your enjoyment. And if you like to drink forties in your home, you should try participating in Simpson’s and 40’s.
edit:I forgot to mention that I made a flickr group for whiplash participants. Please join! Or visit and look around.

*I had a heck of a time figuring out how to make the pointed top edging. If you are interested in the knitting details on how to get that done, the pattern is below.

Pointed Bind-off:

This is worked in multiples of 5 stitches. If you don’t have an even multiple of 5 stitches, you need to sneak some decreases in somewhere (I have never tried entrelac, but I bet it works something like this).

k1, turn
* k1, turn
k2, turn
k2, turn
k3, turn
k3, turn
k4, turn
k4, turn
k5, turn
k5, turn
Cast off 5 *

Repeat from * to *.

Photo from helloyarn’s flickr stream

The pattern is available on her free pattern page. These have given me a great idea for making cute tiny things…. but more on that later.

Second tidbit:

A sneak preview of my work in progress for this month’s whiplash challenge. the theme: Cozies. Oh, I can make a cozy that’s for sure. I am pretty excited about this one and it is almost done.

The cassette tape cozy was such a hit that I decided to make the Ipod Tape Case Redux. this one is crocheted from a VHS tape instead of knit from a cassette tape.

A VHS tape is essentially bulky weight, so it works up quickly. For inelastic materials crochet is certainly an improvement over knitting. I was motivated to craft this because of the Upcycle contest over at etsy. the contest is sponsored by the good people at Bazaar Bizaare, and some of the prizes include a free table at the Bazaar to be held at the Maker Faire this spring. I want in on that! I attended the Maker Faire last year and enjoyed all of it, including the bazaar. oh, to have my own table there….

Finally to indulge Helen a meme about how weird I am follows

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

I don’t know if I will spread the meme, but I will play along.

1. I don’t let my feet touch the ground. My bare feet to be exact. I don’t walk around barefoot, I hate flip-flops, and my little feet pretty much only ever touch my own shower. Laugh if you will, but as a result my feet smell like roses.

2. I prefer my pop warm. It is fizzier that way.

3. I can twirl fire. BRHS featured twirler 1993-94.

4. I can stuff a mouse. A while ago I took a mouse taxidermy class and learned what I consider a priceless skill. Meet snowflake. I accidentally cut off his tail.

Since I can’t think of any more weird things about myself and there are countless others, leave a comment with a weird thing you know about me.

In fact, when I wanted to find an audio cassette I had to trek myself out to my 13 year old car to dig around for one (it is a bit of a time capsule – with a cassette player). All of the tapes had made their way into the trunk, usurped by my FM transmitter and ipod and languishing in the sun in the back. But i did find one. I started eviscerating it.

And then i started knitting.

The theme for this month’s whiplash challenge is “Alt Craft” and i decided to focus on the ‘nontraditional materials used with traditional techniques’ aspect. I already knew that though I could post instructions for my project, I want mine to be entered in the design category.

Knitting with audio tape isn’t one of the most pleasureable knitting experiences (tips at the end of the post). First, I wanted to liken it to knitting with Red heart Acrylic… But a more evil ribbon form of the yarn that twists up. then i started to get the hang of it. The crackling and crunching of the tape, and the squeaking of it against the knitting needles is actually pretty cool if you think about how its job it is to make sound.

A few inches of garter stitch later, I was finished. I constructed a cozy for my ipod from the innards of an old audio tape. My old and new music together at last.

It knit up into a loose fabric and you can still see the ipod inside. the “fabric” is crackly and really really shiny. I can’t believe how shiny it is. I haven’t seen a metallic brown quite like it.

I added two buttons so it would look like an audio tape, and a loop closure that wraps around the button to keep the ipod snug inside.

If you are thinking about knitting with audio tape, here are some tips:

• Cast on with large needles – I cast on with 4’s and ended up knitting with 2’s the rest of the time.
• Knit loosely – Knit looser than you have ever knit. Take the time to pull each new loop through all the way without stretching the tape. Sizing up to larger needles won’t necessarily be effective because that would just increase the amount of tape in contact with the needles. you don’t really want that since the stuff is kinda sticky and crinkly.
• Try all of your needles – Plastic, wood, metal, give ’em all a go. You might be able to tolerate the feel of the tape against one more than the others. I settled on metal myself.
• Audio tape is not elastic – and it is not forgiving. if you stretch out the tape when you knit a stitch, you probably won’t be able to get your needle through it on the next row. i found it to be much easier going once I stopped stretching out the tape.

The theme for this month’s whiplash competition is Accessories and this tutorial is my entry. I have been wanting to retire my hobo-style fingerless gloves, and find something more fashionable to keep my hands warm at work. I decided to turn a $2.50 thrift-store angora sweater into a pair of toasty handwarmers. I turned the sleeves of the sweater into a pair of fitted handwarmers, decorated with vintage buttons and a crochet edging.

Skills required:
Basic sewing (machine not necessary, but helpful)
Simple crochet
Knowledge of felting/fulling is also helpful

Materials required
sweater for sacrifice made of wool or a wool/angora blend
needle and thread
10 small buttons
A few yards of sock-weight yarn for the edging (i used knitpicks undyed sock yarn since i had some and it matched).

Felting
To turn the sweater into a dense, warm fabric that I could cut up without fearing unravelling, I felted the sweater. This is a process that involves a lot of agitation and temperature shocking of the natural fibers in the sweater (you can read more about it at knitty). For this reason, your sweater should be a NONwashable type of wool and/or angora with a low synthetic fiber content (less than 10%). mine was 60% angora, 40% wool. Keep your eye out at the thrift store for these. most of the angora sweaters that i have found there have already been accidentally washed and shrunk – a great bargain for you! you could also make this project without felting the object first, but you would need to machine sew all the edges to prevent unravelling.

Okay, on with the felting. i don’t have my own washing machine, so i boiled my sweater on the stove with some harsh detergent, then dumped it into my sink and ran cold water on it while agitating it with a wooden spoon. I am sure i looked like a crafty madwoman, but it worked. I then put it in the dryer to heat up and dry. it is very important that your fabric be completely dry before you start, otherwise you may stretch it and distort it while you work.

sweater after felting. you can see how it shrunk more in the vertical direction and is a little short looking

Cutting
The wristwarmers only utilize the sleeves of the sweater. the cuff of the sweater will become the cuff of your handwarmer. stick your hand up the sleeve to get an idea of where you will need to cut.

Chop off the sleeve above your fingers.
Put a pin in the fabric to mark the space between your thumb and your hand.

Snip above the thumb:

Trim off the excess fabric as you make a cut down to the pin to define the thumb of your handwarmer:

Cutting Complete (for now. don’t put away the scissors)! Now it is time for a bit of sewing.

sewing
We want to accomplish two things in the sewing section:
1) secure the raw edged to prevent fraying (just in case)
2) sew the side seam to close up the handwarmer.

The photo below illustrates where this is going to happen:

The blue lines indicate where first you should stitch over the edge to secure the fabric. this is probably unnecessary if it has been fully felted, but just in case…. Make sure you don’t sew the finger and thumb openings shut. Next turn the fabric so the wrong side is out. Stitch a seam where indicated by the red lines. When this is complete, you should have a loosely fitting fingerless glove! I folded down the finger edge and pinned it down (to be secured later). this way it will extra thick and toasty when i tuck my fingers in. to create a more fitted glove we will next cut open the other side… get the scissors.

More cutting and attaching buttons
Snip all the way up the edge of the handwarmer on the side opposite the thumb.

make sure you cut all the way up!
If you want, you can stitch over this edge as well to prevent unravelling. Remember how you folded the finger edge in and tacked it down with a pin “to be secured later”? Now’s the time. i just hand sewed a few stitches that disappeared into the angora fuzz.

The newly cut opening will be folded over and secured with buttons. Turn the mitt right-side out. Put on the mitt, fold over the freshly cut side edge until it is fitted to your liking, and use pins to mark the location of 5 approximately evenly distributed future button locations. Mine is folded over a lot more at the wrist edge than at the top (obviously since my wrist is narrower than my hand) and it makes a diagonal line of buttons that looks very nice on the finished product. Sew on your buttons where marked with pins.

So close to the end…. you can make it!

Crocheted Edging

The final step is to crochet along the edge to make a decorative edging complete with buttonholes. Keep in mind that I don’t really crochet. there may be more elegant ways to do this, but the final product works and looks good.

Use the crochet hook to puncture through the edge of the felted fabric and SC along the edge. When you reach a button, chain 5 stitches (maybe more for larger buttons) the reattach with a SC after the button. this creates the buttonhole. I found that i was able to just work along and eyeball where to add the buttonholes. You may want to mark this with pins before you begin. Once you have crocheted all the way up the edge, sew in your ends (yarn and thread) and you have completed your frist handwarmer.

Repeat everything for the other hand, and you will be done! make sure to invert the side for the thumb. Also pay attention to make sure that the buttons are placed on the opposite side so that the two handwarmers will be mirror images of each other.

I thought I might answer some of the questions posed for socktoberfest, but was afraid they might be a bit boring so be warned!

• When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I made my first pair probably about 3 years ago. it was with yarn that I bought at stitches west. How cute and naive it was of me to not even understand how self-stiping yarn worked!

• What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

They were made from a Lana grossa self-striping yarn, and have help up well!


• What would you have done differently?

They are knit too loosely. I would use smaller needles. My awareness of gauge is much greater nowadays

• What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

The ‘Socks that Rock” that I am using on the current WIP socks is by far my favorite. Louet gems is nice too, but that is some tiny stuff. Oh! And blauband Maxiringel is fabulous.  I love the matching reinforcing thread.


• Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

Knit them on two circs

• Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

My current favorite is short row, and afterthought is a close second. I LOVE toe-up socks. I cannot imagine doing them any other way.

• How many pairs have you made?

i currently have one sock abandoned due to second sock syndrome, but i have 4 pairs.

Probably the best representation of my sock history reveals itself if you choose Socks from my tag cloud in the sidebar… Now back to work on those Socks that Rock….

I am thinking garage sale of a friend, Ross impulse purchase, random hand-me-down… but i can’t really pin it down. I hate the color, and the fit is a little too loose for a cute little blazer. The only thing it really has going for it is that it is made out of a stretch corduroy. So i decided to hack it up for this month’s whiplash challenge. And since the final product will be a much awesomer jacket, I will enter it in the embellish/decorate category.

And to not agonize you with the details yet, I can show you that it turned out better than i expected

Now – the details… (click through to see larger photos)

First I had to get rid of the hideous color. so I hit the jacket with a strong dose of RIT dye

While that was stewing, i got busy on quilting some lining for the jacket. I wanted to add a little bit of insulation so the jacket would actually be warm. The secret inside every good jacket is a silky lining, so i had to have one of those. I figured it would be easiest to make the lining and trim it to fit later.

Unfortunately I decided to remove the buttons and pockets after dyeing the jacket. So there are the light shadows of the packets on the chest of the jacket, but I think it gives it a nice vintage jacket look. and dang did i have a time figuring out how to get those buttons off.

Snipping the lapels of the blazer changed the whole look of the jacket. It let the collar be free, and made an asymmetric opening for the front of the jacket, that i love.

I took the lining material I had made and sewed it to the seam allowances in the inside of the jacket so the stitching wouldn’t show on the right side. not too shabby.

here is where the real work began. to get a shaggy/faux fur (not FUN fur) to attach to the collar and cuffs, I made a knitted fabric. Using the loop stitch and a big fat skein of red-heart off-white yarn, i went to town. for several evenings. it took a while. actually a long time. i am totally not over how long it took. whew, am i glad that knitting is behind me. and it was totally worth it!

(good god. remind me to brush my hair once in a while) I LOVE the jacket. i love how the original stitching didn’t take the dye. I love how the lining and insulation filled in the jacket and now it fits like a dream. It is such an impovement! Instead of never wanting to wear it, i want to wear it all the time.

Begin All About me Content

Hey it’s my birthday (well, actually it was yesterday, but close enough)! I went to the beach to celebrate.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes internet friends!

Sweatshirts are standard wear on a northern california beach year round. In fact, I saw some kids in sweatshirts “swimming.” We were also the only people there without a kid or a dog. Until the hippies showed up… But they had a drum which is kind of the same.

Cheryl had a meme that i was kinda curious about, so i thought i would give it a go. It is a list of things that you may or may not have done. Click ‘more’ if you really want to see mine.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins — unlikely, the ocean is the world’s toilet.
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg — and when doing so hopped on a nd floated away from shore….
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment – me and church kinda don’t get along. from stations of the cross to my brothers 8th grade graduation… i get kicked out all the time.
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse — i bet on a lot of losing horses while drinking the world’s best bloody maries. i guess you are not supposed to pick them based on the color scheme of the jockey’s clothing.
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster— woo-hoo Cedar Point!!
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking — i think i am always a fine dancer, but sarah says this one applies to me
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving – i hope that sarah b can help me out with this one.
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving — see #02
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain — nice warm midwest summer rain. not the stuff out here.
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business Master of half-assed craft businesses since i was a child
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight – we are not going to talk about this one
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest — I was a sequined unicorn.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo – anything permanent is a bad idea
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” — It is only a matter of time….
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark — my list of strange foods contains: turtle (accidental – chinese restaurant), Bear, moose, musk-ox (delicious).
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship — see #02
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over –
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse – summer horse camp
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat – and i am about to do it again!!
127. Eaten sushi – i have to think that if i would have finished grad school in a reasonable amount of time that this might never have come true.
128. Had your picture in the newspaper — front page of the ‘westside messenger’ baby!
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school — i have been in school continuously since i was 4.
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach – not only that, I encouraged visitors to COSI to pet them as well.
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey — in the original ancient greek even.
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions — not intentionally, but so far yes.
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language — what the hell does this mean? do they mean written code for an existing language??
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ – DJ Beatnik fly, WBUR
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

Now you should take a minute to bookmark whipup.net because there is always neat stuff going on over there. And check out the requirements for this month’s whiplash challenge.