Category: Crafts

Winter Mitts

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Since Inktober is over, I’ve decided to start another project. Not a daily one, this time, but a weekly one. I’ve done so little knitting this year that I’ve decided to make a pair of mitts a week now through Christmas.

I decided to start with this yarn I had leftover from a Christmas present I made a few years ago that I had wanted to make myself mitts from since I finished said present. I didn’t use a pattern, but I based the design on the pattern I used for those original mitts.

It starts with a garter knit band around the hand, and then had an arm part that I couldn’t remember, so I just knit in ribbing, with a bit of a thumb gusset, until it fit the way I wanted.

These I’m keeping for myself, but the upcoming ones are going to be headed for my Etsy shop. Just a way to get myself making more things. Especially things that are simple and can be taken along when I go places, since my current cross stitch project is a bit of a pain to drag along.

Quick DIY Spider Costume

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Halloween is five days away. If you still need a costume for yourself or a little one, here is my formula for a quick, DIY spider costume. Unfortunately, I didn’t take process pictures, but this seriously went so quickly that I didn’t think about it beforehand.

Materials:

  • Correctly sized T-shirt
  • Long-sleeved shirt that is two-three sizes larger
  • Socks the length of your arms
  • Thread
  • Stuffing
  • Felt (optional)
  • Serger (optional)

Instructions

  1. Serge (or hand-stitch) hems of t-shirt and long-sleeved shirt, making sure the inner shirt is against the right side of the outer shirt. I did right sides together, so the inside of the costume is the outside of the t-shirt. It was unintentional, but it works well if you have shirts with tags to sandwich the tags.
  2. Flip the shirts so the long-sleeved one is on the inside, and whip-stitch the two together at shoulder and under-arm to hold in place.
  3. Stuff between the shirts to create a puffy middle. Hand-stitch the collars of the shirts together, stretching the smaller collar to match the size of the larger collar.
  4. Stuff the socks so they match the length of your arms, or the length you want them to reach. I used a Soffe big boys’ small long-sleeved shirt and Hanes womens’ size 5-9 crew socks and the lengths matched perfectly. If you are making an adult size, you may either need knee-length socks or cut one sock off at the toes and sew it to another sock to get the right length.
  5. Hand-stitch the socks to the sides of the outer shirt, spacing them evenly down the sides.
  6. Take a length of thread, doubled, to connect the arms and tie a knot at the bottom. String through or sew to a small square of felt, or you can sew it to the under side of the bottom sock-arm. Thread it through the first sock, and repeat the process (leaving some space between arms, however much you feel lets it hang appropriately) with the second sock-arm and the underarm seam of the long-sleeve shirt (placing the felt inside the arm if you are using that method). Do this at the middle and end of each side (more places if you are doing a bigger size).

    7. That’s all there is to it. Add some black pants, perhaps a black hat (I’m making one with red felt eyes) and you are a spider.

Patience

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Basically, I have none. I have a ton of things I want to do, but I want to be able to get them done instantaneously and move on. 

It’s why I’ve started my current cross stitch project four times now. I get tired of doing small bits of color and decide that I totally can count ten spaces out from my last stitch and put one in the right place. No, no I cannot. You would think I would stop making that mistake by the five thousandth time, but I’m pretty sure I’m on time six thousand sixty-three.

So, considering I am now on the last strip of this roll of fabric, I am going to use every last ounce of patience I can muster to take it slow. One patch at a time, never more than three spaces in a line or two diagonal spaces between the last stitches and the next. Let’s see how long that lasts.