Worst Sewing Idea Ever...

We have a winner folks for the most disgusting craft project...The Placenta Bear!!!

Yep, it's a bear that you make out of your very own leatherized placenta. The best part is, you get to make it yourself! (blech).  The company sends you a kit and you get to get straight to work.   Now your little one can cuddle it's very own internal organ!  No, that's not creepy at all.  

"Hello Clarice...."

Free Crochet Pattern

I've been teaching Oldest to crochet and she's finally starting on her very first actual project, a doll blanket, for her baby doll.  We even went out and bought her her own crochet hook (a size N.   Larger hooks are easier for smaller hands to work with).

She's getting slightly annoyed by the flash on my camera.  It's apparently affecting her ability to concentrate.

A bit more aggravated...

And finally, FED UP.  XD

hee hee hee.

In the title of this post I promised a free crochet pattern and I wasn't lying.   This is a pattern for a doll diaper.   You have kids?  They have dolls?  Well, now you can have reusable doll diapers!

This is a modified pattern.  You can find the original here. 

Using a size H hook and worsted weight cotton yarn (if your doll "pees" cotton is best.  If the doll doesn't pee than any worsted weight yarn will do).

Ch. 22

Row 1: DC in 3rd ch. from the hook.   DC in each ch. across.  Ch 2, turn.

Row 2-6: Sk 1st DC.   DC2Tog.  DC in each DC across until last 2 sts.  DC2Tog.  CH. 2, turn.

Row 7-9: Do not skip 1st DC.  DC across.  Ch. 2, turn. 

Row 10-15: dc across, 2 dc in turning chain.  Ch. 2 at the end of each row (except row 15) to turn.

bind off, weave in ends.



add 2 buttons and use holes between dcs as buttonholes.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy :)

Ugh Writer's Block

It seems like we've been busy these last few days but haven't done anything worth blogging about.   So I got onto one of those websites that gives you prompt questions to answer on your blog.   My prompt question went like this
"What's your favorite quote and why?"


My favorite quote is   "As novices, we think we're entirely responsible for the way people treat us. I have long since learned that we are responsible only for the way we treat people. "


Rose Wilder Lane
 
I'm not sure why that's my favorite quote right now and it will probably be replaced by a new favorite quote sometime in the near future as I'm always changing my mind about those sorts of things.   I like it, I suppose, because it illustrates personal responsibilty, humility, balance, and puts into perspective what we can and cannot control.   We can't control what other people think about us or how other people treat us, we can only control what we think about ourselves and how we treat other people.   Simple, timeless wisdom.
 
Well, that's it.   I've got nothing else for today.   Not the most exciting post ever.   Here's a funny little picture to make up for it.

Bracelets

I decided that I needed something to do with the extra beads that I had left over from my knitting needle making extravaganza.   I headed to my garage and found some "magic" elastic cording for bracelets, rings, ankle bracelets, etc.  

I made these two bracelets out of the smaller beads in my bead packet.

While on Etsy a few weeks ago I found these really cute Abraham Lincoln brass charms.  They were only about $1 for a set of four of them.  After shipping they came out to be about a dollar each.  Worth it because I like them so much.  ANYWHO, I decided to put ol' honest Abe on one of the bracelets and I also made a necklace out of one of the charms (I may get a picture of that up at a later date). 

Oldest now wants an honest Abe bracelet of her very own so that will be my next jewelry making venture.   We can go out with matching Presidential effigies.  

I also finished my knitted prayer square for a prayer square swap I'm participating in on Ravelry.   Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of it before I sent it out.   Oh well, I'll have to remember that for next time.  

Mmmm...muffins

I haven't been doing much crafting the last couple of days.   We have family coming from Florida so I've been preparing food, and lots of it.  
I picked two more buckets worth of apricots today for jam and apricot butter (you can get a decent recipe for apricot butter at The Independent.

I also made and froze two loaves worth of bread dough and picked several onion, tomatoes, peppers and herbs from the garden for salsa.   Tomorrow we'll be going out and picking several ears of sweet corn from the neighbor's.  

Since we've been working our little booties off preparing to have company, I thought it would be nice to treat the kids to one of their favorite breakfast treats, peach cobbler muffins.   Our recipe is from my mother's cookbook but it's exactly the same as the one listed on that website.

Good stuff :D

Thrifty Thursday (on Friday again)

Do you like to knit?   Do you hate spending all that money on knitting needles?   Well, now you can make your own.  

I made a few size 6 bamboo knitting needles out of 12 in. bamboo skewers and a few beads.   The skewers cost me $1.99 for 100 of them.  The beads I had on hand, but you could pick up a bag of beads for about $2.99.  One set of 12 in. bamboo knitting needles would cost you anywhere from $5.75 to $8 or $9.   Custom knitting needles can cost you anywhere from $10 to $20. 

The only other thing you need is fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the points and some of the rough spots on the bamboo.  

The first step is to pick out to skewers that are nice and straight and are the same length. 

Next, smooth out the points and the rough edges with your sandpaper.

Then pick out two beads that have a wide enough hole to fit at the end of the skewer.  If it's a tight fit you can get away with just twisting the beads on, but if there is a bit more room then clue the beads on with craft clue or E600.

Wait for your glue to dry and then, tada!  you have custom knitting needles!

If you want different sizes or different types of wood then you can always use wooden dowels.   You would just need to create a point using a standard run of the mill pencil sharpener.  You can customize them further with paints or wood stain just make sure to pick a paint or a stain that isn't going to come off onto your hands or your project.

The World's Fastest Knitter

Check her out.  It probably takes her all of a couple of hours to knit a hat.  It takes me like two weeks. LOL.

Happy 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July.  Grilling, spending time with family and friends, and then watching the fireworks, it's all awesome. :)

The kids harvested two of the onions that they planted in their garden this spring and it looks like the rest will be ready in the next couple of days.

DH is grilling hamburgers up right now as I type this and their onions went into his special hamburger sauce.   They were really excited about their harvest being used in one of our 4th of July recipes. 

We also spent about 2 hours out in the orchard picking apricots this morning so that we could grill them (I maintain that you can grill just about ANYTHING). 

These ones are very small, about bite sized but really tasty.  

After supper, we'll be heading off to see this:

Hope everyone has a good 4th of July!