Scrabble Markers

I finally got around to finishing up another project that had been in the works and waiting to be done for quite a while.  I made Scrabble tile crochet markers.  They are letters that correspond with crochet hook sizes.  When I start a project, I simply place the hook size marker on my project.  Then, there are no worries about losing my hook and not knowing what size I was using.

I collected letters of sizes I use most often and a few others.  There are several of each of the more commonly used sizes.  I used a few different sizes of clips for different thicknesses of yarn.  And, they store nicely on a ring to keep them all together.

I'm not sure if I'd seen some like these already made up or if I got the idea from other things made with Scrabble tiles.  Either way, I started searching for and collecting Scrabble tiles a few years ago for this project.  

Hubby helped me build a tiny jig to put the tiles in one by one to drill and get all the holes in exactly the same spot.  It was fun using the drill press!

It'll be nice using these and not worrying quite so much about my hook getting separated from my project or setting it down next to another hook only to forget which one I was using.

Yay!  Another project completed that's been in the works.  And, another project for my Create 52 challenge.  This one makes number 28 and keeps me caught up.

Latest WIPs and FOs OR Creating with Deals and Stash

Since I'm behind on posting, I'm behind on showing you what I've been up to with my Create 52 challenge.  So, here are some photos of some things I've been working on over the past few weeks...

I love thrift shopping and found a little package of tiny, unused bottles with cork lids and loops to hang them.  I think the cost was twenty five cents for both of them.  I recently filled one with lavender buds and made a necklace out of it.  I thought it would be fun to fill the other one with teenie, tiny sea shells.  I went through a jar of shells I have and found just enough tiny ones that were small enough to fit.  I crocheted a triple cord to hang it by and I have a beachy necklace.  :-)

I also like going to rummage sales and found this huge table cloth for a couple dollars.  It's in perfect condition and I thought it would be fun to crochet a fancy edge on it.  That's when I realized how HUGE it really is.  It took quite a while to stitch around it!  I made it around twice with crochet thread I had in my stash.  I had to buy a new ball of thread to keep going to make the fancy edge I had in mind.  Even though the new ball seemed to match when I bought it, the colors were really different when I started crocheting.  The new red really didn't go with the fabric at all.  It was a cooler, more blue red.  So, I ripped out the start of that third row and decided that this was enough trim.  It did fancy it up a bit.

You may already know how much I'm in love with cotton yarn and that I have a weakness for Sugar N Cream.  Especially when it goes on sale!  I've had some ideas in mind for the ever growing stash of colors I have but when it went on sale a few weeks ago I just had to buy a few more colors and get started on one of my ideas.  I'm making a bunch of the "African Flower" motifs to sew into something.  I figure I'll keep making them until I'm tired of them.  I'll make a blanket if I end up making a lot.  If I get tired quickly of making them, I'll use them to make a bag.  There are so many great ideas on line for this versatile little motif.  It's fun playing with all these colors!

I often long to knit or crochet just for the sheer pleasure of it.  It gets frustrating when I want to stitch but just can't find a pattern I love.  I end up spending a lot of time pattern searching.  I thought I'd found one last weekend and got started.  It was SO nice to just work on a simple pattern of double crochets.  It was like meditation and was SO relaxing.  Ahhhh!

However, I soon realized that I wasn't going to be very happy with the result as it was so bulky that the shawl I was making wouldn't hang nicely.  So, I ripped it out!  After searching for so long for a pattern to use this leftover yarn in my stash (another yarn I've fallen in love with and it comes in SO many pretty color combos!), I decided to just make up something...a scarf.  So far, I think it's working up nicely.  And, I still have something relaxing to work on in between other projects that take more concentration and brain power.

I usually have several projects going on at the same time.  That way I can switch to something different if I need a break, want to work on something easier, or feel like tackling something more challenging.  Since I went through that finishing frenzy a few months ago and finished up so many projects, it's seemed a little weird to not have several projects to go to.  So, why not start another new one?!  I've been wanting to try to move beyond shawls, scarves, cowls, hats, and other simple stuff and learn to make garments.  I finally decided on a top pattern last week and got started using some stash yarn.  It's a bit challenging because the yokes require some lace knitting....something I'm a bit challenged at.  But, I'm figuring it out.  Yay!  I hope this project works out because I have several things in my wardrobe that would work great with this orange top.

This post seems to have developed a theme of budget shopping and de-stashing!  Here's another project that started with a deal.  Over the weekend I found a skirt at a thrift shop for just $2.  It was a gathered, mid shin length, size 18 skirt.  With a little cutting, stitching, and use of parts from a pattern I recently bought, I transformed it into a knee length (just below) wrap skirt.  I like the colors and pattern of the fabric and thought it would look so much cuter this way.  I think I'm happy with it.

I have so many things I want to create!  If only I had more time and I could finish them more quickly to move onto the next!  But, these projects and my small accomplishments are fun!

What have you been working on lately?

Almost Free

Thrift shopping and bargain hunting are things I love to do!  I like to stretch my dollars as far as I can.  That can sometimes involve a little creativity.  That's the case with this apron.

I found the start of it at a rummage sale.  It was a rolled bit of fabric that was wrapped with a piece of masking tape and marked twenty five cents.  All I could see was the bottom of the apron and I thought it would make a great dish towel.  When I got home and opened it up I found that it was an apron kit.  Directions were printed alongside the apron pieces.  It just needed to be cut out and sewn together.

I completed the project by only using supplies I had.  I liked the challenge of keeping it cheap and using what I had to de-stash my supplies a bit.  I used buttons from my button jar, white thread, and some left over cotton yarn to make the ties at the neck and waist.  Ta da!  A brand new and cute apron for just a quarter and some time!  :-)

Create 52 Challenge

I've challenged myself to creating a minimum of 52 things this year...one for each week of the year.  The creations can be crafty, yarny, cooking, etc.  Within that goal, I'm trying to push myself outside of my normal box and try new things.  That can include new techniques, making things I've never made before or making them differently, new recipes, etc.  I had originally thought I'd use Pinterest as my inspiration but I've found inspiration in so many other places too.

Here's what I've created so far...

I fell in love with Caron Cakes yarn and just had to give it a try.  I just couldn't resist these colors and that I wouldn't have loose ends to tuck in at each color change.

The new thing I tried with this shawl project was knitting a triangle from end to end.  The pattern was on the label of the yarn.  I used two balls of this yarn and size eight needles.  It was a lot of fun to knit up.  I found myself knitting pretty fast on it as I would always want to knit to the next color.

I knitted up a pair of boot cuffs.  The new-to-me on this project was that I'd never made boot cuffs and I'd never worn them.  I thought they were pretty cute, could keep me warm, and was something I could make with some leftover yarn I'd acquired from a knit friend.  They knitted up quickly and were fun to make but I wasn't thrilled with how they felt or looked when I tried them on.  I ended up turning the photo black and white in an attempt to like the photo.  I may give them to my daughter.  I think she might enjoy them more than I will.

I've been noticing crocheted jewelry online for a while and finally gave it a try.  I tried making earrings.  It took a few attempts and was surprisingly not as easy to crochet onto the wire as I thought it would be.

I made myself a "pussy hat".  I didn't march in any of the protests as I was sick that weekend.  But, I felt strongly about a lot that was going on.  And, I just love these hats.  It was a fun project to make and to wear.  I found a pattern on Ravelry that was knitted in the round.  I love this color!  And, the hat is really comfy.  It's fun to wear little ears too.  Makes for funny shadows too.  lol

I crocheted a wavey scarf with some yarn I had leftover from my Taos vest.  The pattern is Nanci's Waves Scarf from Ravelry.  I liked how a few people had crocheted the pattern lengthwise I and decided to do that too.  The wave technique was new to me and fun to make.

I crocheted some fun tassels for the ends with little circles.

I made a Pussy Hat for my daughter.  She didn't want it in pink.  So, I knitted it in gray.  I embellished it with a little pink heart.  I've been wanting to embellish some of my projects.  This is a tiny start.  I did it with some pink yarn and duplicate stitch.

I'd knitted up a few gnomes last year and I guess they must have been fun because I just had to make another one.  lol  This time, I made it as a leprechaun.  I bought him a little hat, gave him a shorter beard, a little belt with a felt buckle, knitted stripes for socks, and used the same color for his hands instead of another color for gloves.  And, it was done before Saint Patrick's Day!

I made up a bunch of wool felted balls a few years ago and had been meaning to decorate some and use them for drier balls.  I finally got around to making one.  It's a simple design on natural, multi-color wool.

I got a little fancier with the next one.  I decided to make a desert scene on it.  I started out by making one scene on one side but decided to go all the way around.  It was fun needle felting little cactus.

My daughter was home for spring break and we all found ourselves enjoying an entire day outside on the back patio to enjoy the incredible weather we had that day.  While I was out there, I decided to harvest some lavender from my yard and make a lavender wand.

When my daughter went back to college, I went with her and spent a week there.  There's a great little thrift shop in town that I always go to when I'm visiting.  This time, one of the things I found was a package of tiny glass jars with cork lids.  When I got home, I added lavender to one of them and put it on a chain.  It's cute and I can take a whiff of that lovely scent anytime I want.  It's like aroma therapy on the go!

That's 11 projects and I should be up to number 13.  So, I'm a bit behind on my challenge.  However, I have several projects in the works.  I should be able to catch up with no problem.  I'll try to post the new projects as I finish them up.

You can also follow me on Instagram.  I post on that a lot more often.  You can find me there as acorntooak

FO Friday - Halloween Decorations

It's FO Friday and I don't any crochet or knit projects finished to share but I do have some smaller, crafty projects that I've made this week.  Halloween Decorations!  I love Fall and I've gotten more excited about Halloween over the past few years than ever before.  There are so many fun things you can do to decorate and have fun with this holiday!

My daughter and I made some paper bat cutouts last weekend.  She found a template online and printed it out.  We used black card stock and had a lot of fun making them.  We even drew and cut out little baby bats and some larger ones.

Then, we used poster putty to hang them.  I think that's what it's called.  It's a putty like stuff from 3M that you can use to hang posters, pictures and other things on the wall.  It's removable and reusable.  She's been using it for years.  I even found some in an off-white color (instead of the bright blue we'd always seen before) that would work better with our wall colors and be less likely to show.  My daughter hung her bats at the condo she rents near college.  Her roommates loved them!  I created my very own colony over our fireplace.  I love how they turned out!...

I hung the larger ones in another area...

When we went to Michaels for some black cardstock, I found a set of card stock strips with Halloween prints on them to make a paper chain.  I remember doing this at Christmas time when I was a young child.  It was a lot of fun!  It's fun now too!

We also found a set of rat cutouts while we were Michaels.  I'd seen them years ago on the Martha Stewart Show.  And, my daughter had seen them on Pinterest.  How fun to find them at the store and have some of our very own.  I used putty to place them around the house.  Fun!

I think Penelope likes Halloween too!  She "helped" me add a ribbon to my new, vintage-like Halloween wreath.  I was so excited about this find.  I'd seen some like it at a specialty store last year but they were around $40.  I got mine at TJ Max for under $20.  It's hanging inside on my front door.

I still have some decorations to put out but I've got a good start and had so much fun making some new ones.  I'm finding that it's fun to put a few more out each day.

I also made a fresh, new, "No Soliciting" sign to put in the window by our front door.  I painted a frame black, made a sign on my computer, printed it on brown paper and voila!  However, it may be cute and stylish but it doesn't show up in the window quite as well as my bright yellow one did.  Oh well.  I'll wait a while and see how well it works.  Although, most people tend to not see it or ignore it anyway.  But, it's worth a try.  I'm amazed at how many people come knocking on the door to sell this or that and of all the fliers that are left on our door.

Happy Autumn, everyone!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Easter Bunny

My daughter may be 21 but she's still my little girl.  So, I had to give her a little something on Easter morning, like I always have.  But, this time, instead of a basket or container full of goodies, 

I gave her a skein of yarn she's been eyeing at the yarn shop for a while...with a twist.

I thought it might be cute to turn it into a bunny...

I had tucked the yarn away in hiding and forgot to turn it into a bunny until this morning.  Oops!

I quickly drew some ears, a face, and some feet and cut them out. 

I added a little pink to the ears and cheeks.

And, ended it all with a fluffy pink tail.

She loved it and can't wait to get started on the project she's been planning with this yarn.

Happy Easter!

Simply Beautiful

Ahhh...warm, sunny days of summer...fresh cut roses from my garden...in a vase I made myself...simply beautiful!

Cherry Sheep

What do you get when you mix fruity scented Kool Aid and wool yarn? Something that smells really weird...like cherry sheep! It's not a good combination!


But, you also get some pretty yarn...


I played around with Kool Aid dying last weekend for the first time. I've seen yarn dyed this way by fellow knitters for a couple years now. I'm not sure what took me so long to try it. It's easy, quick, cheap and fun!

I found some directions on Knitty. For yarn, I used an eight ounce skein of Lyon Brand Fisherman's Wool in the natural color. I split it into two four ounce skeins, tied them, washed, rinsed and soaked them. Meanwhile, I mixed 3 packages of black cherry Kool aid, 1 cherry, 1 pink lemonade, and 2 lemonade in a pot with some water. I placed the yarn in the pot, added water to cover the yarn (although, it kind of floated), turned on the heat, stirred and pressed the yarn down occasionally, and let it cook until it was almost boiling and the water was clear. That was the amazing part...the water became CLEAR! From deep, dark, red to clear! At that point, I turned off the heat, allowed it to cool down and washed and rinsed it in water that was the same temperature so I wouldn't shock and felt it. Then, I squeezed out the water and hung the yarn to dry.

The directions called for one package of Kool Aid for each ounce of yarn. Being the stubborn person that I am, I only used seven packages for my eight ounces of yarn and it turned out a lot lighter than I had hoped. But, it is very pretty. It has some variation in it too. Some of that might be from the skeins being thick and the color not getting all the way into the sections that were tied (even though they were kind of loose). I'm not sure about the extra dark parts or how to avoid that next time. I'm hoping the variation will add to the "prettiness" factor when it's knitted up.

I'm excited to try this again. There are so many possibilities!

Signs of Christmas

We really enjoy making gifts. And, lucky for us, our family seems to like receiving them. We've even been told that when we don't make them, they miss it. How cool is that?!

We've made lots of different things over the years...baked goods, flavored olive oil and vinegar, gift baskets, quilts, crochet and knit items, wooden toys, etc, etc.

Three of the gifts we gave this year were signs made of wood. My husband and I come up with the ideas and designed them, he cut out and sanded the wood, did a lot of the painting, and I painted the letters.

We made this sign for his aunt and uncle. They love spending about half the year in Idaho and when they're home they can't wait to go back. So, we thought they'd enjoy this. Hubby even made a metal arrow for them to move as the time gets closer to leaving for their summer destination...


This one was made for my husband's grandma. She's almost 90 and still plays bunco regularly. I think she's been playing with the same group of ladies for over 20 years! She loves her sign and can't wait to show the ladies when they meet for bunco at her house in a couple of weeks...


This one was for hubby's grandpa. He's 90 and loves his beer! We saw a sign with this saying on it and thought it was funny. He doesn't drink this much but we thought he'd enjoy it...

Shower Flowers

One of my knit friends is about to have a baby boy and we decided to turn this week's knit gathering into a baby shower. We've been busily making gifts (more about mine in the next post). A couple of us decided we needed some extras for the shower. So, she brought a balloon and she asked me to bring flowers. I wasn't sure I wanted to bring real flowers and an idea popped in my head...I wondered if I could use baby socks or washcloths to make flowers?! The idea was so exciting that I had to go for it!

I didn't find any socks that I would work but I did find a set of little washcloths that I liked. I also bought some paint to match the green on the washcloths as well as ribbon, a fancy piece of textured card stock paper for the leaves, a vase, and some shredded blue paper. I painted bamboo skewers for the stems. I folded the washcloths into thirds, turned down the top edge toward the bottom corner (on each end), placed a skewer inside near the end, and rolled it into a bud...


As I neared the other end, I folded it over to hide the edge. I then tied ribbon tightly around the bottom of each bud to hold it together and tied a pretty little bow.


For the leaves, I made a pattern, cut out one for each stem, punched two holes in the bottom of each, made a slight lengthwise bend in each leaf (to give it more dimension and a leaf-like shape) and slid a leaf onto each skewer...


I put shredded paper into a glass vase and arranged the buds. I cut the ends of some of the skewers to make some shorter so I could create a more pleasing arrangement. I then packed a little more shredded paper around the edges to hold the stems in place. Here's the result...


I'm really happy with how it turned out. The buds are so cute...


This project was fun, inexpensive and, unlike real flowers that will wither, these flowers can be put to good use.

Framed - Tacky

This will be another component of my inspiration wall. It's a simple tack/cork/bulletin board from a discount store...


It came with a black frame and I dressed it up with red fabric and a vintage trim that I simply stapled into place. It's going to add a great punch of color to my inspiration wall!

The size of this one is 22"x35". I'm not sure what the total cost was because the frame was a gift a few years ago and I dressed it up shortly after I received it. I can't remember if I purchased the fabric or if I had it. The trim was from my ever growing collection of vintage trims that I've been buying for decades. I usually pay almost nothing for a bag of old trims...maybe ten cents or a quarter. I imagine that the total cost of this project would probably be $20-$25.

As with yesterday's post, I'm only showing a close up so you can see the detail. I'll show you the whole thing when I get it up on the wall. :-)

I'll soon be posting another "Framed" story that is at least as exciting as yesterday's...possibly even more!

Framed - Extreme Makeover

I've been working on some projects for my craft studio for a few months now and I think I'm at the point that I can start sharing what I've been up to. The projects are almost all complete and ready to hang up to create my "inspiration wall".

I scored this frame last November (or, maybe it was the year before) at a church rummage sale for only $5! I couldn't believe what I had found and that it hadn't been snatched up already. Especially, as I carried it out the door and people were gasping at what a great piece it is! I have to admit though that it took a while to work up the courage to paint it. I always wonder if it's ok to change something like this and if it will diminish it's value or specialness. But, in the end, I went for it! After all, this gold finish is a little gross and there were some chips and dings (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them and get a better look at the details)...


There is a lot of detail and that required careful painting, several coats and touch ups to get all that gold covered up. I used black craft paint and satin, water based craft varnish for this makeover...


Look at it now! It's amazing! All those dings and chips have completely disappeared! It went from dingy and ugly to sophisticated and elegant. It looks even better in person! My husband put a piece of galvanized metal into it so I can use it as a magnet board...


The frame is just over 33"x33". The total cost of purchase and makeover supplies was about $35.

Why did I paint it black? And, why did I add galvanized metal to such an elegant frame? You'll have to stay tuned to find out. :-)

P.S. I'm only posting close ups right now to show the detail. If I post a picture of the whole thing, the details wouldn't show up very well because it's so large. I'll definitley show the whole thing when it's up on the wall with everything else I'll be showing you. :-)