Where have you been?

I'm embarrassed to see the date of my last post.  Truly I am.  My excuse is that it is baseball season here in Ohio (not that the weather has cooperated).  I have three boys, they all play, and I have anywhere from 6 to 12 "baseball viewing opportunities" each and every week.  Add to that 2 new perennial beds, 10 yards of Sweet Peat to spread, and you have my life these last 8 weeks.

My Vitamin D is in ample supply with all these outdoor pursuits but I have still been working a bit indoors.  These are tape measures that are embellished using recycled wool and vintage buttons.  The petals are hand-cut and then inserted using a proddy tool normally relegated to rug hooking.  I love Craft Crossover.  It's one of the reasons I am constantly trying new things.  You never know when you'll discover some incredibly useful technique.

I'm using these as teacher gifts this year.  The tape measures are the round ones with the push button to retract the tape.  I find them for $1 each at Hobby Lobby.  I cut 4-inch circles of two different wools, make a sandwich, and stitch it up using the zipper foot.  Then I take a scrap and cover the end tab of the tape.  Finally, I sew on the vintage button and proddy the petals, making sure the push button is on the plain side of the work.  Otherwise the button and flower would block the only means of retracting the tape.

I hope you enjoy.  Happy spring!

Two quick updates -- A second recycled t-shirt bag and new buttons for the Clock Towers

You may remember a few weeks ago I tried my hand at working with recycled t-shirts.  I finished one bag and had nearly enough for a second bag.  So, back to my drawer I went and scrounged up two more t-shirts that had seen better days.  Here is the second bag from recycled shirts.  I've been seeing a lot of grey in the stores this spring so I decided to make the top of the bag in shades of grey.  This also enabled me to put the darker colors at the bottom where the bag is more likely to get dirty.  I kept the ends visible on the top of the bag but buried the ends (where I changed color) on the bottom.  Again, because the bottom of the bag sees more dirt.  I may string some beads on these tails but the bag is already pretty heavy and it may not work.  Maybe I'll look for some wood beads rather than glass.

The bag is lined in the same fabulous floral as the bag below.  The handles were my one expense and were a significant one at that.  These handles are distributed by Jimmy Beans Wools, a great online knitting source.  They're made by Grayson B.  I've used them on probably 10 different bags.  Very high quality but not cheap.  I think these were about $35.  But, when the bag wears out, you cut the handles off and re-use.

So what am I going to do with the first bag?  Well, I'm saving it for one of my son's teachers.  He has three different main teachers.  They got lace scarves for Christmas so I'm doing bags for the end of the year.  More on the remaining two bags another time.  I finished one of them yesterday and it's great but I have reaffirmed my dislike of wooden handles.  Another story for another time.

Here's a shot of the new buttons I found for my Clock Tower tape measures.  I think they make a huge difference in the finished product.

All 11 tape measures are ready to be sewn and finished up.  I bought 15 tape measures so I have 4 extra to embellish in another way.  I think I'm going to do a couple of them as basketballs.  I have a fair amount of orange wool and I thought I could do the lines around the ball in a black satin stitch on the machine.  Cute, yes?  And, I guess I'll need a baseball as well since all three of my boys play.  Stay tuned...

End of an era

This is the Clock Tower in my town of Hudson, Ohio.  It's a famous landmark locally.  It was paid for by our town benefactor, James Ellsworth.  I grew up in a another small town with a benefactor.  Redlands, California was the pet project of the Smiley Brothers.  Smiley Library, Smiley Heights, Smiley School, etc.  Hudson is much the same.  Our downtown has underground utilities, thanks to Mr. Ellsworth.  Many of the houses sport red Spanish tile roofs.  My understanding is that Mr. Ellsworth was so enamored with the roofs after a visit to Spain that he offered to pay for anyone in town to re-do their roof in Spanish tile.  That's the kind of small town story I love.

Hudson is a GREAT town for raising kids.  Small enough that you know lots of people but big enough to have a downtown.  People help each other in Hudson.  I had some ankle surgery about 18 months ago and was on crutches for 9 weeks.  For six of those weeks, I had meals delivered to my house 3 times a week.  Unbelievable.  The same drill happens if you have a new baby or some other sort of family crisis.  I really can't imagine living anywhere else right now.

The schools here are excellent.  My oldest son (HS freshman) goes to an all-boys school about 20 miles away.  We're big fans of single sex education.  Next year all three of our boys will be going to the same school.  This means 2010-2011 will be the first year in ten that we don't have a son in the Hudson schools and, to me, that is a Big Deal.

You may remember from previous posts (search Small Gifts) that I like to make things for teacher gifts.  I usually have about a dozen Small Gifts for secretaries, music teachers, coaches, etc.  I like coming up with a different project each time and, I think, everyone likes seeing what I've come up with.  Since this June is our last in Hudson, I wanted to do something with a Hudson theme as my end-of-year goodie.  So, I came up with the Hudson Tape Measure.  Silly, I know, but that's kind of the point.

I love these little push button tape measures.  If you find the right source, they're about $1 each.  You see them on Etsy and other venues dressed up as sheep (you KNOW I have 2 of those!), clowns, snails, etc.  I've turned them into flowers and penny rugs.  Well, this spring, they're going to be Hudson Clock Towers.

I started with red wool plus some black and white plaids.  I made a small cardstock pattern of a tower.  The tape measures are just 2 inches in diameter so you have to really watch your sizing.  Here's a shot of my wool circles (4 inches in diameter) and my little pattern.  The red will end up on the inside of the wool "sandwich" so I traced my pattern onto the red.  I am doing a reverse applique on these.  I stitch onto the red then turn it over and cut away the plaid to reveal the red Clock Tower.

Here's the two pieces of wool ready to be stitched.  For the other half of the sandwich, I have two more circles.  After this side is completely finished, I stitch them together almost all the way around, insert the tape measure, and finish with a zipper foot.  In the final stitching you pull out some of the tape so it doesn't end up sewn inside the circle.  I also take a scrap of fabric and cover the plastic end of the tape measure.  It's easy to sew right through the tape.  Just take a small rectangle, fold it over the plastic end, and sew on three sides.  Cut away the excess.

Here's the finished tape measure.  I'm using a heart-shaped button in place of the clock face.  These buttons are not quite right.  If found some perfect buttons on Etsy and I'm hoping those are with the postal service as we speak.  I ordered a small flat circle button with a heart carved in the center.  These shank buttons sit up too high but the flat buttons will be perfect and will look more like a clock face. 

When you make tape measures, give some thought to the button that you push to retract the tape.  I am careful to put that little button on the undecorated side of the finished tape measure.  That way it's easy to find.

I'll post a new picture with the final button once they arrive.  I have 11 little clock towers all ready and waiting for buttons.  I'm hoping my gift recipients will love their little taste of Hudson.

New Baby

My son's teacher had her baby on Sunday.  Early.  Mom and baby are doing just fine.  Eleven weeks early, but he's doing fine.  Some of the moms have been working on some fun things for the kids in anticipation for a small classroom baby shower in April.  All those plans are still in place.  The kids are excited.

My consistent gift for new babies is a hat.  I've made more hats than purses over the years and that truly is saying something.  When my youngest was born, he spent 15 days in the NICU with tachypnea, a breathing issue.  On his first birthday I took 15 preemie hats up to that same NICU to thank them for watching over my baby.  Nate was anything but a preemie, though.  He was 6 days late and weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces.  He looked positively huge compared to the other babies. 

My son's teacher's son is about 3 1/2 pounds.  My normal baby hat is 16 inches in circumference and fits a baby up to about 6 months old.  Obviously, that's not going to work for a baby less than 4 pounds.  I looked up some statistics and a preemie baby head is about 10 inches in circumference instead of 14 inches.  10 inches.  Wow.  Take your tape measure and see what that looks like!

I decided on 12 inches.  This baby is going to grow fast and strong.  I prefer to knit baby hats in the round so there's no seam.  But, the smallest circular is 16 inches.  They make one that's less, but it's really cumbersome.  So, I decided to use 2 circular needles, a technique made popular by sock knitters.  Easier than double-pointed and still no seam.  It's still awkward, because the hat is so darn small.

On size 8 needles, I used 55 stitches.  My favorite, all-time, best-ever knitting pattern is Welting Fantastic which appears in the very first Barbara Walker Stitch Dictionary.  Truly, if you don't have at least one of her volumes, you aren't a true knitter.  I have all four.  Thousands of stitches and no repetition.

Anyway, Welting Fantastic is done over a repeat of 11 stitches and creates a wonderful chevron pattern that looks great in almost any color combination.  I chose baby blue and buttery yellow.  Happily, since my yarn re-organization yesterday, finding the yarn was no trouble at all.  I started the hat last night and finished this morning, in time to run it over to school for a teacher friend planning to visit the hospital after work.

I hope she likes it.  And, I hope the baby wears it in ever-better health.  Welcome to the World!