"Fancy a Spot of Tea?" - FREE Dishcloth patterns

One of my favorite dishcloth designers (KrisKnits) seems to have stopped designing dishcloths and blogging. I hope this is temporary because I've always loved reading her blog and knitting her patterns. I have quite a few of her sets of patterns and would love to have seen more.

Anyway, it was mentioned in a forum on Ravelry, "What would you like to see in a new set of dishcloth designs?" One of the subjects mentioned was a "tea" set. So, here we go, my third pattern to go on Ravelry is a four pattern set of "tea" related dishcloths. These are free and the link to the pattern can be found by clicking HERE. You will find both these charts and written out directions for all four cloths.

I hope you enjoy these and your comments are welcome. As with the dishcloths from Kris, these are knit on size 3 needles with Lily Sugar & Cream yarn. I usually cast on and off with size 4 since I am a tight knitter and this makes the edges not pull in. Finished size approx. 5 1/2 to 6 inches square. I'm sorry I don't have photos posted yet of the finished cloths. But thanks to the work of two awesome test knitters, I can verify that these patterns are both mistake free.

Bookmark Scraps

Today was kind of a slow day at work and since I'm the church librarian in addition to the church secretary; I decided I would make some free bookmarks. I love to do something creative everyday and this was the perfect thing.

I have a ton of scrapbook/cardmaking paper, so I took the box along. When you have a lot of paper, it's difficult to know where to start and what papers to choose, so I just started with the first solid color paper I found and then the first patterned paper that went with it.

Some papers were already the perfect size for bookmarks, but some needed to be cut down. Most were around 6 inches long and between 1 1/2-2 inches wide. I then laminated them so that they would last.

Lastly, I posted to Facebook that people were welcome to stop by the church library and check out one of the new books we have added and while they were at it, they could pick up a new bookmark too. I know these will go quick, so I'd better make more.

(By the way, my favorites are the two orange ones with the cut bottoms and the two green ones with the pink hearts. I just might need to snag one of these for myself.)

DIY - Money Cuff Tutorial

I came across a tutorial the other day about making a cuff to hold change for a child. It incorporated lots of velcro and sewing. Then I came across  tutorial about making these darling little pouches from the cuffs of men's dress shirts and thought that these two ideas would be great together. I don't profess to be the first person to come up with this idea, but I haven't seen it before.

First, you need a shirt with cuffs. Cut off the cuffs as close to the sewn on cuff as possible.

Second, button one of the cuffs, laying it flat, deciding how much of a flap you want compared to how deep a pouch you want. Lay this on top of the other cuff. (You might want to try to on at this point to be sure you like where the pouch is positioned on the cuff as it will button around your wrist.) Mark lightly or place a pin where the folds are and open it up.

Third, sew through the two cuffs across where the bottom of the pouch is and where the top flap will fold over.

Fourth. sew the side seams of the pouch. Do not sew across the flap, leave that free to button closed.

Though this wrist pouch is not big enough to hold an ID for an adult. It will hold change or bills and would be perfect for a child or times you just need to carry some money.

Sky Scarf, July, 2012

We have made it through the hottest July on record here in the United States. Here in Michigan, I think they said it was the second hottest. Either way, it was a scorcher.

I finished the Sky Scarf for the month of July. Since we take our two week vacation the last week of July and the first week of August, it through me off a little. We didn't go too far away from home so I just made note of the sky where we were and went with that. I didn't take the scarf on vacation. Only five months to go and the scarf is just over five feet long.