~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
The winner of the two fabulous books is Mary! An email is on its way to you!
~~~~~ For all who didn’t win, you can get The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot
And now onto this week’s edition of {pretty, happy, funny, real}.
{pretty}
So I finished my knitting needle keeper and I thought you’d like to see it. The photo at the top of the post gives you the scale, with my mug there. It’s not small!
I haven’t attached the ribbon yet because I’m not sure exactly where to do that. I figure if I use it a bit it will become clear.
You can sort of see how this is constructed, right? Get your two fabrics (and choose something sturdy, with body, like twill or canvas or both, as in this case), sew them together, and then fold over the ends, making your storage spaces. You can sew parallel lines to make the pockets and customize them for your items.
I just made this up as I went along, using various examples found on Pinterest as a guide.
Everything is from my stash. The twill was a happy choice, because having the stripes makes the sewing lines easy — no measuring or drafting straight lines — just sew along the stripes!
And the lining is painter’s drop cloths. Of course I saved the pieces left over from making my Roman shades. They’ve come in pretty handy for various projects, I must say! Out of some of the bigger bits I made Roxie two mats for sleeping on (we throw them on the sofa or bed) — I used an old polyester blanket as a batting for those.
The weight of the two pieces — the drop cloth and the twill — is just right for this project, without needing any filler.
I used my needles as a guide. I knew I wanted enough pockets for my sets of double-pointed needles so that they could be tucked in, in order of size. And for the circulars, I decided on larger pockets and fastened the loops of the longer ones with these clips, as you see.
I bet you have a better idea for this! Hit me with it!
These little clip-on markers have the sizes of the circulars… but for some reason the set came with an unreasonable number of size 2s and not enough 7s, or perhaps it’s my collection that is out of whack, but I ended up peeling off the labels of some and just sharpie-ing on the number I wanted. They are something like these
It probably would have been better to buy interchangeable circulars, but — too late!
The shorter ones don’t need clips to fasten them, but just get tucked into pockets without.
I have a pocket for my needle gauge, which I am assuming I will not use as much now!
This pouch contained a Rosary, given to me by a friend. I love tucking it in my carry-on when I travel, with my stitch markers, tapestry needle, and crochet hook. Very portable that way.
So there you have it. All done!
{happy}
I’m pretty much in hibernation mode here. Fire going, me staying, snow falling. Snow snow snow snow snow…..
{funny and real}
Really, the concern right now is the giant icicles crashing down and ice melt seeping in the door. There is just no where else for it to go! I wish I had a picture for you of the Chief out there in a hard hat trying to remediate! But seriously — danger above!
Loading InLinkz ...
Happy hibernating!! Snow is falling, snow on snow, snow on snow . . .
I hope to have mine ready a little later this morning. A hard hat while working near icicles reminds me so much of “A Christmas Story” – “…those things have been known to kill people Ralphie”.
Warm sunshine will come soon, and you can always come down South for a visit if you need!
Also, I love the needle keeper!
Lovely! What a sweet knitting needle keeper! Love it! And wow! the snow! I can see where you would be hibernating and having fun with your crafties!!
Wonderful! Love the knitting needle keeper. I never have the confidence to just try to make things – I always want a pattern. Maybe I should just give it a go.
The thought of tackling icicles in a hard hat makes me chuckle.
Enjoy your hibernating. :)
Your fireplace looks so inviting! I wish I could come and have a cup of tea with you!
I have an idea for the circulars. Could you sew thin fabric strips that could wrap around them and then snap together? So you would have a piece of fabric maybe half an inch wide and three inches long or not that long–I’m not sure how big circulars actually are. One side of the strip would have one part of the snap and you sew that side into the keeper and then have the other side with the other part of the snap loose for you to wrap around the circulars and snap them into place in the larger pockets.
Really like how your needle case turned out and especially how you used improvisational sewing to guide you. The rosary pouch is so sweet! Stay warm!
I like your circular needle solution. I’m inspired. I love the stripey twill you used.
I admire your creativity for using up your stash, Auntie Leila! What a gorgeous pouch for a Rosary- I might track one down for my mother for her birthday next month!
Can anyone chime in about fasting during lent while nursing? I’m still nursing my 8 month old quite a lot and it makes me absolutely ravenous. I’m trying to figure out how to approach this, since Ash Wednesday is less than a week away!
Dear Caitlin, this page (last question) should answer your question definitively — nursing moms excluded from the requirements! http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/questions-and-answers-about-lent.cfm
No fasting!
Of course, there are so many ways to do penance! Here is a post from last year with one little suggestion: http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/2014/03/a-suggestion-for-lent/
Now is the time to pray and ask the dear Lord what he wants to have from you. But I can tell you — it’s not giving up eating! :)
Thank you Auntie Leila! I have to tell you that your nursing posts have been such an encouragement to me!
Your icicle situation reminds of the scene in “Farmer Boy” where Almanzo and Royal are sent out to get snow to melt for bath water (kind of puts things into perspective) and the boys start joyously whacking down icicles for the tub instead, alarming their mother by all the hoopla they’re making.
I should probably use up my fabric stash and make one of those handy needle pouches, but right now my knitting organization works for me. I keep all my new needles in their original packaging. The circulars are stored in a vintage felted handbag, the straights in a small, lined fisherman’s basket and the crochet hooks in an old leather binocular case. I keep them all hung on the wall in my bedroom (away from boys who think pointy sticks are nifty and useful for other things besides knitting). I keep the straight, metal knitting needles in an old cookie jar with a missing lid. I probably should get rid of them since I love using bamboo, but every once in awhile I need them.
Love the needle organizer! I can’t believe there isn’t a bigger market for these! I finally found one on clearance at Joann’s or something that sort of meets my needs but yours is so much better!
I agree! I use a Vera Bradley travel jewelry case, but my collection is not nearly as large as Auntie Leila’s. She should send her prototype to VB and get a royalty or something.
I love your needle keeper. Especially the fabric/ribbon combination you chose.
that needle keeper is fantastic! I know my mother would love something like that, so I may have to give one a try myself.
It looks like you need a roof rake also known as a snow roof rake. You use them to a) save your roof from the weight and b) minimize ice jams which tear up your shingles.
Being from the upper midwest I just assumed everyone knew this, until I lived in central New York where one winter we had the most snow fall for the state, beating Buffalo, and there were major problems with roof collapses and damage from ice jams.
I love your needle organizer!! You make it sound so simple to make- perhaps I can get my mother (she always helps me with my mending- not a small task with a family of 10!) to help me make one.
We live in MA too and have been busy trying to knock all the icicles down. They attract my kids like magnets- but some of them are so huge – so dangerous. I fear one of my children will be pin to a snow mound! And my boys seem to think they make great weapons. They give this mama nightmares. I won’t even begin to mention the river of water trickling INSIDE the French doors from the ice dam. I’m so ready for summer. At least it is beautiful when it is coming down.
Beautiful pictures of the snow! I wish we had a little snow here to go with our cold temps, but I do not miss the icicles, we had so many last year.
Lovely craft! And just wondering…what does Auntie Leila drink in the winter? I don’t suspect there is iced tea in that lovely bubble mug! ;)
LOL, Mary — I have only in the past few years given up iced tea in the winter! Just because well, yes, it’s cold! Duh.
So I drink hot tea.
But very soon… very soon…
All that beautiful snow. We need snow here in CA, preferably on our mountain tops, to help with our drought.
Your needle keeper is just wonderful!
I’m so sorry about all that snow! I’m sure you are heartily sick of it. And we are getting our first big snowstorm tonight.