Tag Archives: crafts

I’ll have a glue, glue Christmas — #4: Soda bottle kitty planter

December 9, 2014 alaskaknitnat 3 Comments

All right, now it’s time to start making some crafty gifts that hopefully don’t suck. I’m so over homemade bath salts, soup in a jar and t-shirt pillows. Let’s shake it up a bit and give the gift of creative recycling.

My best friend Kelly and I made kitty planters last spring out of 2-liter plastic soda bottles. Somehow, despite my brown thumb, I’ve managed to keep it alive. This craft is easy, not too time consuming and cute as hell. It requires minimal artistic ability, which is a big plus for me.

DIY Soda bottle kitty planters: No. 4 on Alaska Knit Nat’s DIY Holiday Craft Guide

What you’ll need:

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

Click here for the full tutorial.

Isn’t she lovely? I call her Beatrice. I have a friend whose dog is called Jack (same name as my son), so I figured I should name my fake pet after her daughter.

Crafts, Holiday, Paper

I’ll have a glue, glue Christmas — #2: free wrapping paper

December 7, 2014 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

I just received a huge box from my mother-in-law and it included wrapped presents and several yards of crumpled up craft paper.

Free wrapping paper | DIY Crafty Holiday Guide from Alaska Knit Nat

No more packing peanuts, thank goodness! When I see all this paper, I instantly think, “What can I make out of this?” It seems a waste to toss it. So I flatten it out, roll it up and use it as wrapping paper. Yay, free!

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.

Knit & Crochet, Knitting, Patterns

Simple Striped Baby Blanket — Free Pattern

March 8, 2014 alaskaknitnat 75 Comments

Knitting a blanket isn’t difficult. It can be a bit monotonous and seemingly endless. I much prefer knitting hats where there’s a definite start and end and it can be completed in an afternoon.

That being said, there is something special about giving someone a hand-knitted blanket. It shows you care enough for the person to spend a lot of time and sometimes money on a thing she will hopefully cherish for years and years.

Here’s a pattern for a lovely baby blanket that measures approximately 29″ x 32″. I recommend it to knitters of all levels. I used a worsted superwash wool so no matter what temperature the gift recipient washes it in, it will not shrink.

I based my pattern on two different designs from Altadena’s Baby Designs and the TLC Channel’s website (who knew they had knitting patterns?) You can make this pattern on whatever needle size you like and make it as long as you like. I randomly selected the color pattern and width of the stripes, but what follows is the exact rows and combinations for this particular blanket. Make the stripes the way you want. This is more of a guide.

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.

Materials:

Long size 8 circular needle (mine is about 38 inches)

2-3 balls Ella Rae worsted superwash wool in light grey (I used exactly two balls, so you may want three just in case)

1 ball Ella Rae worsted superwash in limestone green

1 ball Ella Rae worsted superwash in moody blue

darning needle

Directions:

Except when you’re bringing in new color, slip the first stitch of every row.

Cast on 144 stitches. Knit in garter stitch for 16 rows.

Row 1: Knit across

Row 2: K8, P8, *K4, P8*, repeat * until 8 stitches remain. Knit 8.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 while following this stripe pattern:

14 rows grey, 6 rows limestone, 12 rows blue, 6 rows limestone, 26 rows grey, 4 rows limestone, 4 rows blue, 10 rows grey, 8 rows limestone, 30 rows grey, 12 rows blue, 10 rows limestone, 8 rows blue, 4 rows limestone, 20 rows grey, 6 rows limestone, 6 rows grey, 14 rows blue, 6 rows grey, 12 rows limestone, 6 rows blue, 6 rows limestone, 14 rows grey.

Knit 15 rows in garter stitch and bind off using the stretchy method.

Now the fun part! Weave in all ends. This is the downside to stripes. A whole lot of ends. I don’t have any scientific method of weaving in ends, so do what works for you.

You could also block your blanket, but I figured this one won’t be shrinking much so I didn’t bother. If you have a good reason why I should block it, please leave me a comment. 🙂

Hope you find this pattern helpful and good luck knitting a blanket. You’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment and relief when you’ve finished.

-Natasha

Here’s baby George all bundled up and cozy with his new blanket:

Crafts

Quick Craft — Homemade Mini Calendars

December 23, 2013 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

There’s something so wonderful about miniature things: Mini Coopers — cute, teacup dogs — adorable, Mini Me — freakishly endearing.

When my dad opened up a small package of miniature calendars the other day, my mini “awwww” reaction kicked in and so did my crafty brain.

I’ve been stashing away some 1960’s McCalls Craft magazines for several years now, not sure what to do with them. Now I know: mini calendars for stocking stuffers.

Here’s what you need:

Mini self-adhesive calendar pads.

Heavy card stock (I used file folders)

Magazine clippings

Glue stick

Double-sided adhesive wall-mount stickers (found in the Scotch tape aisle)

Scissors

Ruler or straight edge

Directions:

Find some small photos or magazine clippings for your calendar background. Cut out a piece of card stock the same size as your clipping plus the size of the mini calendar pad.

Glue clipping to card stock. Remove the adhesive strip from the back of the calendar pad and stick it where you want it.

Turn mini calendar over and adhere one side of your double-sided mounting tape to the back.

Use as a gift topper or stocking stuffer.

baby, Crafts, Tutorials

Quick Craft — Felt Christmas Tree

December 13, 2013 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

We recently put up our Christmas tree and I’ve discovered that my year-and-a-half-old son enjoys dismantling the lower part of the tree as often as possible.

So I made him his own tree for about $5. His tree is 2-D, felt and has occupied about 30 minutes of his attention — which is a lot!

Here’s what you need:

1 yard green felt

chalk

scraps of felt in many colors

fabric scissors

masking tape

pinking shears (optional)

Directions:

Fold your green felt hotdog style and make half a tree shape along the fold. Cut out your tree shape and tape to a wall at toddler height.

Cut out various shapes from the other felt — hearts, diamonds, circles, ovals, stars, etc. Use pinking shears for decorative value.

Hand the shapes to your toddler and watch him go to town. The felt sticks to the felt.

Obviously not decorate by a toddler. — Obviously not decorated by a toddler.

Crafts, mexican

Mexican Oilcloth Dining Chairs

March 10, 2013 alaskaknitnat 1 Comment

Every time I am down in Mexico I’m attracted to the long rolls of colorful oilcloth. Adorned with fruits, flowers or fake lace, oilcloth is durable material that could be used for myriad projects. I just never know what to do with it. I’ll get a meter here and a meter there and sometimes try sewing with it or gluing it to old cans.

I finally decided on a decent (and super easy) oilcloth project. Since we have a little one and mealtime tends to be messy, I thought that recovering our dining chairs would not only brighten our living space, but cleanup would be a breeze!

I’ve already posted a tutorial on reupholstering furniture, so feel free to check it out here or here. But look at the vast improvement!

Here’s a brief tutorial of the process:

Cut oilcloth with enough of an edge for it to wrap around the cushion and still have a couple of inches worth of an edge.

Try to fold the corners in an elegant way so it’s not all bunched up.

Use a staple gun to secure the oilcloth all the way around.

Crafts

Retro Craft: Felt + Glue = Soft Baby Book

October 22, 2012 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

I’ve been a crafty lady — three blog posts in one day! This craft was the result of my crafty brain not shutting off in the wee hours of the night. I started it at 11:30 p.m.

Baby Jack still isn’t into books — reading them, that is. He loves tasting them and drooling on them. I thought it would be fun to make a felt book with no particular story, since he really doesn’t care at this point. It was fun. I even got my husband involved. He proved far artsier than I, which is why I saved his page for the very end.

Felt always makes me think of crafting in the olden days — back when all I had access to were arts & crafts books from my school library where the copyright date was around 1974. It included projects with toilet paper rolls, ric rac and dried macaroni.

This project definitely brought me back.

What you’ll need:

Felt

Fabric scissors

Tacky glue or fabric glue

Darning needle

Embroidery thread

Cut your felt pages to the size you like. I used a CD. Sew them together using embroidery thread. Then cut out shapes and glue them to the pages. Let glue dry. Give to baby. Let baby drool on it and eat it. See how long book holds up. I’m giving it a few days.

alaska, Flowers, weddings

Late Summer Alaska Wedding

August 25, 2012 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

My little sister’s best friend from childhood got married last Saturday in Talkeetna, Alaska. Talkeetna is considered “the country” of south central Alaska. They have a bluegrass festival each year. People have cabins and fish in the Susitna River. As my dad describes it, “It’s a funky hippy town.”

It was a last-minute wedding and the bride asked me last minute to do the flowers on the cheap. That’s my specialty, so it was my pleasure to see what I could whip up. Her colors were blue so I decided on orange and white for the floral arrangements.

But before I made it to the floral shop I decided to stick to the bride’s Alaska roots and gather the flora and fauna of our childhood neighborhood. I decided on wild yarrow for arrangement filler. Alder and birch sprigs and wild ferns were the greens. The mountain ash is setting into fall mode with clusters of bright red berries.

The biggest treat was the pink yarrow that has grown in the same spot every year across the street from my parents’ house. Nowhere else have I seen wild pink yarrow and it was perfect for the bridesmaids’ bouquets and mother corsages.

I snagged wild forget-me-nots from my parents’ back yard and little sprigs of plants I don’t know the name of from around the street we grew up on.

The biggest benefit to using wildflowers? Free! I saved the bride a lot of money by using plants in our back yard.

At the flower shop there weren’t many stunning blue flowers that were sturdy and affordable, so I decided on orange and white carnations with orange roses. Orange is complementary to blue so it’s really a great combination. An unusual combo is orange and pink, but I really love them together in the bridal arrangements.

For $90 I got 26 roses, 60 carnations, a bunch of spray roses (the mini ones), and a bag of flower petals for the flower girl. Keep in mind we live in Alaska so prices are higher.