Category Archives: Crafts

Crafts, Knit & Crochet, Knitting, Patterns

Slouchy Pom Pom Hat – A Free Knitting Pattern

November 19, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

Being a lifelong craftaholic I’m no stranger to the pom pom. Memories of yarn-covered tin can pencil holders and ricrack come to mind.

But lo and behold, again my childhood craft projects are becoming popular again (remember friendship bracelets?) Yes, the pom pom is this season’s biggest accessory trend. So I’ve decided to stay on board the pom pom train and offer up a delicious, fluffy, slouchy hat pattern. It’s got extended ribbing in case you want to fold it up for a thicker brim.

Slouchy Pom Pom Hat | A free pattern from Alaska Knit Nat

Slouchy Pompom Hat

If you’re wanting to knit this pattern with a different needle size and different weight yarn, I am unable to adjust the pattern for you. This pattern is written for a specific needle size and yarn weight.

What you’ll need:

1 skein each Loops & Threads Wool to Wash in pink and grey or any worsted weight yarn

size US 9 circular and double pointed needles

darning needle

pom pom maker or large serving fork

stitch marker

Continue reading Slouchy Pom Pom Hat – A Free Knitting Pattern →

Crafts, Crochet, Knit & Crochet, Knitting, Uncategorized

Dear Knitting and Crochet Followers…

October 19, 2014 alaskaknitnat 3 Comments

I realized that lately I’ve only been writing cooking-related posts and I just wanted to reach out to all my fellow knitters and crocheters. I’ve been a busy little bee with my needles and hooks, so stay tuned. I’ll have something for you soon!

Xoxo,
Natasha

Crafts, Patterns, Sewing, Tutorials

Tokyo Tie Bag — Free Pattern and Tutorial

July 12, 2014 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

A few years ago I went sewing machine crazy and sewed a couple dozen Tokyo tie bags. I was inspired by a pattern on Darling Petunia’s blog. I never got around to posting my own pattern because I was too caught up in sewing them. My pattern, which I tweaked slightly from Darling Petunia’s, sadly sat in my craft pile for a few years until someone from Mexico emailed me last month and asked if she could buy one. I sewed it, shipped it and was reminded how easy and fun it was to make.

So here I am, three years later, ready to offer a full tutorial and pattern for the Tokyo tie bag. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I do!

Tokyo Tie Bag

An easy sewing project that can be completed in an hour

Materials:

3/4 yard each of lining and outer fabric (100% cotton is recommended)

fabric scissors

rotary cutter and board (optional)

Tokyo tie bag pattern 1 & Tokyo tie bag pattern 2 printed at 100% to match the indicated dimensions, cut out and taped together

Directions:

1. Iron your fabric and cut out two pieces of the pattern from the lining and outer fabrics. If your fabric is directional (meaning it looks different upside down) be sure you cut your pattern so the bottom of the pattern is on the same edge for both pieces. You should have four pieces.

2. With right sides together, sew each edge of the lining with a 3/8 inch seam allowance. Repeat for outer fabric.

3. Iron open the seams.

4. Turn your lining right side out and slip it inside the outer fabric.

5. Make sure the seams from the outer and lining fabrics match up in the middle and pin all around the top edge and handles.

6. Sew all around the top edge, along the handles and back down again. Your seam should end at the same place you began as you’ll be sewing in a giant loop.

7. Trim the corners of the handles so there is less bulk.

8. Cut notches at the center curves so the seam will be more smooth when turned right-side out.

9. Turn the bag right-side out and use a chopstick to push out the handles. Stuff the lining down into the outer fabric. It should now look somewhat like a bag but with the bottom unfinished. Iron the whole bag flat.

10. Lay the bag flat so the side seams are now in the middle. Make sure these seams line up on the bottom and then iron the bag flat.

11. Using a rotary blade, cut the bottom edges of the bag so it’s all even. Sometimes things just aren’t lined up well and a good fresh cut will make it turn out better. This step is optional.

12. With the bag right-side out pin along the bottom edge, starting at the center seams so they line up on both sides. Sew along the edge with the shortest seam allowance possible.

13. Trim closely along this seam and turn inside out.

14. Pin the now sewn shut bottom edge again and sew a new seam with 1/4-inch seam allowance. You have now created a French seam. Hurrah!

15. Turn your bag right-side out and iron one more time.

16. Join the two handles by tying a square knot.

17. Admire your work. You’re a super sewer!

Crafts, Sewing, Thrift Finds, Tutorials

Thrift Store Skirt Refashion — Free Tutorial

May 16, 2014 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Floral prints are all the rage these days and I’m always finding skirts at the thrift store that have pretty patterns, but they are just too long for my stumpy legs.

You’ve probably come across these types of skirts — they are from the ’90s, ankle-length and look as though a church lady might wear them.

If you have basic sewing skills it’s pretty simple to shorten a skirt to a more youthful length. It only took me 45 minutes and I went from bake sale mom to hipster mom for $2.50. You can too!

Materials:

One thrift store skirt in your size

Ruler

Straight pins

Chalk or pencil

Fabric scissors

Sewing machine

Iron

Step 1: Iron your skirt if it needs it.

Step 2: Determine how much length you’d like to cut off. I wanted the skirt to fall just above my knees, which was about 10.5 inches from the original hem. I subtracted 1.5 inches to account for the new hem. For me, 9 inches was how much I needed to remove.

Step 3: If your skirt has buttons down the front, unbutton it and lay it flat, wrong side up. With a ruler and chalk or pencil go along the bottom of the skirt and mark 9 inches all around. I didn’t do this accurately at all and it still worked out fine. My skirt had a slight arc to it so I eyeballed it here and there.

Step 4: Cut along the measurement lines you made.

Step 5: With your iron, turn under 1/2 inch from the edge all across the skirt.

Step 6: Turn under 1 inch all around and iron down, pinning as you go. *NOTE* if your skirt buttons in the front, make sure your ends match in the front. Mine were really off so I had to re-iron and eyeball it till it worked. Doesn’t need to be perfect, especially if it’s a flowing skirt. No one will notice if the back is slightly shorter than the front.

Step 7: Sew a seam along the hem 3/4 inches from the folded edge, backstitching at the beginning and end.

Step 8: Trim all threads and run an iron along the hem one last time.

Step 9: Put on your skirt and admire your crafty awesomeness.

Crafts, Flowers

Quick Craft: Coffee Filter Flower

May 1, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

I stayed home sick today and I hate wasting my time in bed, so I decided to mildly craft out. I really love tissue paper flowers but I don’t like spending a ton of time cutting out paper. I found this neat tutorial last year for making coffee filter flowers and I thought I’d take it a step further. I dyed the coffee filters with food coloring and water, let them air dry, and then made them with pipe cleaners as the stem. By using coffee filters I didn’t have to cut the paper to shape. I just shaped the petals, which is far quicker. They really turned out splendidly, don’t you think?

Materials:

White coffee filters

Red food coloring

Liquid medicine syringe or eye dropper

Scissors

Pipe cleaners

Floral tape

Floral wire

Directions:

You’ll be using 12 filters per flower. Fill a small cup with water and about 7 drops of food coloring. Place a few filters at a time onto a plate. With the syringe or eye dropper randomly drop the water all over the filters. Flip them over and do the other side. It’s up to you how much white you want to leave. Hang dry them. Or I guess you could use a hair dryer, but I don’t own one.

DIY Coffee Filter Flowers | Alaska Knit Nat

When filters are dry, take six at a time and fold them in half three times and cut out a heart shape to make the petals. I cut more off of one set of six. These will be the inside petals.

Rough up the edges of the petals with your scissors. Cut a teeny tiny bit off the point of the filters to create a small hole in each filter.

DIY Coffee Filter Flower | Alaska Knit Nat — Inner petals (left) and outer petals

Repeat with second set of six filters, but don’t cut off as much. These will be your outer petals.

Take your pipe cleaner and create a little nub at one end. Take one sheet of your smaller filter and thread it up to the nub. Wrap the bottom of the filter all around the nub to cover it and secure with floral tape. This way you won’t be able to see the center of the flower.

Thread the next filter onto the pipe cleaner and scrunch it around the nub. Repeat with one filter at a time till you’ve put on all the small filters.

Scrunch around the base of the flower and wrap with floral tape. You’ll now have a small flower and you could call it a day, but I want a huge peony.

Take one larger filter and thread it on the pipe cleaner, but don’t shove it all the way up. Give it a little space so the outer petals are just a little longer than the inner petals. Repeat with the remaining filters. Scrunch up around the base of the flower and secure with floral tape.

Cut a 6-inch piece of floral wire and fold it in half, or just use another pipe cleaner. Stick it to the main stem and continue wrapping with floral tape. This stabilizes the stem. Keep wrapping all the way to the bottom.

Break tape and wrap the bottom of the stem. Ta-da!

These flowers look cheery on a window sill year-round. Peony season is on the way, but I just couldn’t wait. These will definitely do in the meantime.

Crafts

DIY Necklace Holder

April 27, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

This morning my husband was cleaning up the yard. Amid the brush and rubble I found a lovely stick that would be just perfect for a necklace holder. It looked like this:

So I turned it into this:

Here’s how.

Materials:

One stick, 12-18 inches long, about 2 inches thick

Acrylic paints

Painters or masking tape

Small paint brush

Power drill

4-7 Screw-in cup hooks (found at the hardware store)

Two long wood screws

Feathers and embroidery thread (optional)

Directions:

Clean off any dirt from your stick. Mark the stick with painters tape to set up your stripe pattern.

Paint the stick to your liking. Let dry about 15 minutes and peel away the tape. Let stick dry completely.

Determine where you’d like to drill through your stick on either end. I held up the stick against the wall to find the places that were most flush against the wall, about two inches in from either end. Drill holes the same size as the wood screws through either end of the stick. This is where I let my husband help me because I’m really terrible at power tools.

Determine where you’d like your hooks to go. I used a 12-inch ruler as my guide and pressed the end of a hook into the wood every three inches. You could eyeball it. Hand-screw each hook into the stick.

If you’d like, tie some embroidery thread around a couple of feathers, leaving a foot-long tail of thread. Wrap around one end of the stick for decoration.

Figure out the placement of your necklace holder and drill the wood screws into the previously drilled holes. Tighten screws and make sure it’s secure. Hang necklaces on your new, awesome hippy craft.

Crafts

Nifty Thrifty: Jell-o Molds ===> Easy Wall Decor

March 31, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

I struck thrift store gold last week. I found some choice additions to my wardrobe, some cool stickers for my son, but I truly enjoyed rifling through the kitchen section because by the looks of it, someone had cleared out her bakeware collection and donated piles of cake pans. There were sheet pans in the shape of Big Bird, cats, Christmas trees, Barney the dinosaur and tucked away were three old Jell-o molds — the kind your grandma would have used to make savory aspics or Jell-o salad.

I needed these molds, but I’m not one for Jell-o. It occurred to me they would look pretty great hanging on the wall like glimmering metal flowers.

I just used nails for the two hollow molds and a springy plate display hook for the smaller one. I think they look pretty neat! I wasn’t sure if I should leave them in their original state or paint them fun colors. What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Crafts, Tutorials

Quick craft: Soda Bottle Kitty Planters

March 31, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

This was a perfect crafting weekend. Between family dinners and birthday parties my friend Kelly and I had just enough time for small crafts.

I’ve been hauling around some two liter soda bottles in my car for several weeks with the intention of creating kitty planters I saw on Recycleart.org (original post from Brudiy.com).

It took no time at all to cut the bottle to shape, paint it and plant some lovely soleirolia in it. Here’s our version.

Materials:

one, two-liter soda bottle

scissors

permanent marker

acrylic paints in black, white and pink

paintbrushes

glossy finish spray (optional)

small plant

extra soil for planting

Directions:

With sharp-tipped scissors, cut the top off of your bottle. Also poke some drainage holes in the bottom if you think of it. Clean and rinse the bottle. Note how deep your potted plant is to determine how tall your bottle planter should be. Also note where the “paws” are to determine where to place the ears. I didn’t think to do this so the black cat looks like his head is turned to the side, which is OK with me. With a Sharpie, draw the cat’s ears on the bottle. Cut around the ears and the back of the bottle. It should now look like a clear cat shape.

Paint two coats of desired base color on the outside of the bottle. Place your fist inside the bottle to make it easier to paint all around. Hold it up to the light to see if you missed any spots. I used a sponge brush and dabbed all over to give it more texture and eliminate any brush strokes. Let fully dry.

Paint on the ears and nose in pink. Paint the eyes and whiskers. Let fully dry.

Spray on an even coat of glossy finishing spray. I only did this because I was afraid watering the plant might cause the paint to chip over time. It’s probably not necessary. Let gloss dry.

Place a plant of your choice in your kitty and enjoy how irresistibly cute it is.

Crafts, Photography, Tutorials

Homemade ABC Book — Free Tutorial

March 19, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

My son is starting to pick up on the alphabet and lately he’s been into ABC books. I was browsing Pinterest and came across a great idea. A homemade ABC book using personal photos.

With some basic Photoshop skills and a trip to Walgreens and Michael’s Crafts I was able to make a fantastic photo book for only $5.50.

You can use phone, Instagram or digital camera photos as long as you size them well. I’m a self-taught Photoshop gal. Here’s a step-by-step guide to how I made my book, but I’m sure my techniques are not exactly textbook methods — but they work!

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop. I encourage you to make all your photos the same resolution — one of a printable quality — so that they all look more uniform. My personal photos come in several different sizes and resolutions depending on what camera I used. I made them all the same so the font size would be the same on each photo. A 140 pt. font on a 180 dpi resolution will look a different size from 140 pt. on 300 dpi.

Step 2: Go to Image<Image size and take a look at the size of your photo. If the dpi is 180 or more, you’re good to go. Most of my Instagram and iPhone photos are really low resolution, such as 72 dpi, but really large in dimension, such as 45 inches wide. If you were to just resize the photo and leave a low resolution they wouldn’t print well.

Step 3: Click the crop tool and enter the dimension and resolution you want for the photo. I selected 12×8 with 300 dpi to maintain as much data in the photo as possible (it will print better this way). Crop the photo the way you would like it.

Step 4: Make sure your background layer is unlocked (double click the little lock next to the layer name). Create a new layer. Choose the font you’d like. I selected Helvetica bold. Type in your letter. I used 140 pt. font. Add a new layer. Type the word you want. I used 90 pt. font. With the selection tool, position the letter and word where you’d like them. If your photo is dark consider making the letters white. Leave enough space between the edge of the photo and the words in case the printers cut the photo funny.

Step 5: Save your photo as a .jpg and make 25 more!

Step 6: Upload your photos to a photo printing site such as Walgreens and print 26, 4×6 prints. Search for online coupons. I saved $1.50!

Step 7: Purchase a “brag book” at a craft store. It’s just a floppy plastic photo album that holds up to 36, 4×6 photos. I had a coupon for Michael’s so I saved $1!

I don’t think I need to explain the rest. But you’ll end up with a personal ABC book that hopefully your child will love. Our child already recognized several familiar people and objects in his book.

Crafts

Quick Craft — DIY Teabags

February 19, 2014 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

My cupboards are packed with high quality, loose-leaf teas that I rarely drink because I’m too lazy to fill up a tea strainer. I also don’t have a tea strainer at work so I’m unable to use up the tea when I’m not at home.

Why not make my own tea bags so I’ll actually start enjoying my nice tea? Ok, it’s simple!

Just grab a few coffee filters and plug in your sewing machine. I already had half the work done because my machine was plugged in and ready to go.

Fold your filter in half and sew seams across it so it’s divided into thirds. Make sure to make double seams so you can cut between them. Place a heaping teaspoon in one pouch and sew it shut. Do the same with the other two pouches. Then cut up your tea bags. I love 2-minute crafts!