A Great Way to Spend 5 Minutes

I was going to start this post with the proverbial ‘OMG!!!!!’, but I thought that this might have seemed just a little too much like I was 14, so I refrained. (But my inner 14 year old still aches to burst through.)

Why?

Because today’s creative journey found me enjoying the beautiful food photography on foodgawker, which then led me to click on the link that said 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake (who wouldn’t? Seriously – if you can make any kind of chocolate cake in 5 minutes, I want to know about it – don’t you?), which led me to make the cake, which led me to eat the cake (well… all of the cake), which finally led my inner 14 year old to want to scream ‘OMG!!!!!’.

Get it?

This cake is phenomenal. It is a have-a-bad-day-need-something-special-for-me kind of cake. It is a love-my-husband-but-have-no-time-or-energy-to-do-anything-nice-for-him kind of cake. It is a oops-forgot-about-the-company-coming-over-tonight kind of cake. And the best part? It is such a phenomenal cake (yes, I said the word twice) that no one will ever know it took less than 5 minutes to make.

And that is 5 minutes from the moment you get the recipe out to the moment you are digging your spoon into this heavenly treat. 5 minutes.

So – here is my best ‘be creative’ suggestion for today: make this cake. If you want to be even more creative, especially for Valentines, sprinkle the top with cinnamon hearts or grab some whipped cream and a cherry or put it in a lovely pink cup and set it on a heart lined plate. (Or you could be like me and throw this recipe together in whatever large-ish mugs you have an devour it in an instant without the need for further creative endeavour.)

Enjoy!!! (I know I did – this is definitely one recipe that is going on my fav list.) What a perfect way to spend 5 minutes on a cold Monday in early February?

(oh… and do you know of any other recipes like this one?)

Smiles in Strange Places

If you are a follower of this blog, and/or have read just a little about me (in the about me tag), you will know that my main reason for running this blog is to (hopefully) inspire someone, anyone, to bring just a little bit more creativity into their lives. I don’t believe that you can ever have too much creativity.

However, I know that life is busy and times are hard, and being creative isn’t generally on the top of anyone’s ‘to-do’ list. But… and I say But, creativity does not have to be time consuming or expensive.

The reason I say this now, is that besides offering ideas and patterns and things to do to be more creative on this blog, I also like to share opportunities to use your creativity to help others or to become more involved in community. Today, however, I wanted to share something just a little different. I came across this post, and was reminded again just how often we look the simplest ways of  – dare I say it – ‘thinking outside the box’ or infusing the doldrums of everyday life with a little creative and compassionate mojo.

A little note left at an ATM.

That is all it is. Simple. Straightforward. And completely out of the ordinary. This is a smile – a goodwill gesture – in a very strange place indeed!

This post, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, is fantastic. She has also included a little video showing these ATM ’smiles’ in real time. Check it out!

But what if leaving messages at the ATM just isn’t for you (or maybe it is, would you ever do anything like this? There are lots of comments on Amy’s post, everything from great idea! to but this is unwelcome litter… . And as this idea has become strangely controversial, what do you think? Are there other spontaneous and out-of-the-ordinary ways to bring a little creativity into your busy day and a smile to the face of some unsuspecting someone?

Needle Felting: Adding Colour

Have you ever tried something – some sort of project or craft or creative endeavour – and just sorta got carried away? Well – this is what happened to me with the whole needle felting thing. (And I say sorta, but there is no ’sorta’ about it. I got carried away.)

This needle point felting is really really really really fun.

Now, to be fair, I do have my scars and sore fingers to prove just how dangerous the needles can be, but the fun is really worth all the pin pricks that happened when I got so wrapped up in what I was doing that I (once again) forgot how sharp the needles were.

In yesterday’s post, we learned how to do basic needle felting. It was super easy, and really, I don’t know about you, but I had it mastered right quick and before long my mind was wandering into alot of ‘what ifs’ and ‘how abouts’ and before I knew it, my work table was covered with some really funky stuff (at least I thought it was funky, but then again, I was particularly biased at the time).

Since I was working with natural coloured wool, I really wanted to add a little colour. I had read a post from eHow on dying wool with food colouring and I had wanted to give that a try, but I was lazy and didn’t want to go turn on the oven and wait for the dye to heat set and all the stuff that went along with that (I still want to try it in the future though – I think that it is an awesome idea) so instead, I grabbed my watercolour paints and a paint brush and did some work marbling colour into the yet-to-be-felted roving. (Please note, that this is really only good for greeting cards, scrapbooking or any other felted wool application that won’t be washed – the watercolour dyes may not be permanent if washed.)

This is really not that tricky, but it is messy – I opted for painted hands, but it really is probably a better idea to use gloves. Using a fairly wet brush and some really wet watercolours, brush lines across your roving as you desire.

Then, working with your hands, blend in the lines and smooth out the colour more evenly across the wool. But be careful here – the colours may not look strong now, but once they are felted, the colours will be exaggerated. Once you have all the colours in as you wish, felt the wool.

Once the wool is felted, press the wool to set the dyes – using a med heat iron with no steam and a pressing cloth to protect your wool from melting to the iron.  Done!

But this is where I just had to try it all…. I wanted to see what marbled felt would look like done in a lattice smocking finish… so cool! (want to know how to lattice smock?) What would you try with some marbled felt? What colours would you use? Have you had any success with any other dyes?

Learn Along: Drypoint Needle Felting

The very first thing that I have to say about needle felting is probably the most important – those needles are sharp – very, very, very, very, very sharp. I knew this before I started out on this learn along, but I guess I didn’t really believe it until I stabbed myself the first time. Now I believe, and I have some scars to prove it. Needle felting is not for the young or the clumsy. Those needles are sharp.

But once you get past using the sharp needles, this is one really fun way to be creative. It is fast and it is easy (and it is a great way to take out the frustrations of the day). Simply put, you layer your wool roving and backer fabric on top of your foam slab or bristled brush and you take your needle in hand and lightly stab the wool into the fabric backing.

And that is it – the whole story.

Now, having said that, there are some things that I have learned. So, here is what I did in pictures:

I layered my wool roving on top of some recycled heavy-weight cotton (an old dress shirt) and put them both on top of my bristled brush (the brush worked fantastically, and I would highly recommend you try this if you are used to working on foam).

Then, I grabbed the mid sized, 38 gauge, felting needle and stabbed through all the layers. The trick I learned here is that there is no reason to stab hard. Light movements are great and work more effectively in the long run. And this is fast – I felted a piece of fabric approximately 2″ x 4″ in five minutes or less.

So – what to do with the finished fabric? Remember yesterday when I said that I was going to try something simple just to practice this technique – so a Valentine’s card it is! When the complete piece of fabric was finished being felted, I flipped the fabric and drew my hearts onto the back of the fabric, and cut around my outline.

Then, I did a little blanket stitch around my hearts to finish off the edges, but this was entirely a personal choice – no stitching is required or you can finish it in another way.

With a quick watercolour wash to my card blanks, I was ready to assemble my card. Two brads hold my felted hearts in place, and the card is all done. Fun, easy, and so very creative!!!! But this is only the beginning… there is so much more to learn about needle felting (just wait and see what is up tomorrow! And remember – those needles are very, very, very sharp!)

Learn Along #2 – Needle Felting

First the needle felting needles crossed my studio table. Then the gorgeous all-natural, pesticide-free wool roving from Cedarview Farms came in. After that, I was just counting down the days to today – our very first day of the Needle Felting Learn Along. And I am so excited to get started!

But where to start? Do we want to felt a fabric piece or a 3-D object? … There are just way too many options here!!!

I did a quick little internet search to see what other needle felters were doing for their projects, and all I can say is Wow!!! (If you aren’t familiar with needle pointing or the type of things you can create with this art form, check out Glenda Bailey’s needle felted postcards or Gerry’s beautiful Needle Felted Pet Portrait Sculpture – two very different, but awesome ways to work with needle felting) (oh… and just another note… Gerry’s site is also a fantastic reference for anything how-to about needle felting. I highly recommend it!)

So – after much reading and searching and thinking, not only am I even more ready to grab my needles and get to felting, I am seriously thinking that I am going to start small – sort of a first mini-project in this whole larger Learn Along. What do you think? Will you join me to make a felted greeting card? In any case, that is what I will be working on tomorrow – the basic steps to making a needle felted fabric to fit a pre-made card form – and then from there, I am thinking that we should try a 3-d shape.

Do you have anything that you would like to see us try together? (This Learn Along is for all of us, so if you would like to try something specific, let me know and we’ll see what we can do!)

Before we get to the real work tomorrow, this is what you will need:

1. needle felting needles. I am using the Fiber Trends multi gauge felting needle kit:

2. wool roving. My wool roving is natural (Ontario grown wool from Cedarview farms is available from Daylilies) with no colouring so colour will be added during the project. Colour will be added by paint and/or food colouring, but we will test things as we go with this project:

3. backing fabric. This is entirely your choice, the piece of fabric doesn’t have to be that large – the card itself will be approximately 3 x 5″. I am going to use a medium weight, tightly woven fabric.

4. Dense foam – a 4 x 4″ square for felting. I am also going to try using a dense household scrub brush (I read somewhere that this is a good alternative, but we will see!)

5. blank card forms. The cards I am using are 3 x 5″, but I might choose a larger size once I get working on the design tomorrow. (Felting card kits and blank cards will be available on the Daylilies site tomorrow)

Gather your goods! Comment on this blog and let me know what you want to learn along with me about needle felting! See you tomorrow – I can’t wait to finally get my needles felting, can you?

There can Never be Too Much

I sit here writing my blog today, I am very pleased to say that I am wearing the very first sweater that I have ever hand-knitted for myself from start to finish (why is it that I always knit for everyone else first?).  And I love it. I am aching to sit down and peruse the latest knitting patterns to see what I would like to do next (the pattern search is almost as much fun as the actual knitting – gotta love day dreaming!).

There is a fantastic new two-button cardigan by Canadian designer Vadis Designs that just recently came into the Daylilies studio, and I am thinking that this might be the one I try, but then again, I am blessed to have a whole box of vintage workbasket magazines to go through (do you remember them?) – and I am sure that there is a must-knit in one of those magazines too… (decisions, decisions, decisions…)

But I digress. There must come a time when you have just knit everything you need but want to knit anyway. I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but how many scarves and sweaters can you give as gifts before your friends and family wish that you would put down the needles? It really must come to that at some point, right? And then what do you do? Is this the time to pick up another hobby, or is it time to delve into the craftivism scene?

What do you think? Can there be too much knitting?

I have to think that the right answer is no – and that the recent rise in Craftivism shouts loud about the good that crafters can do when they share their talents. (What is Craftivism?) There just simply can never be too much – because there is always someone in need.

I came across this information about Angel Hugs – an organization in Mississauga, Ontario that looks to be a great place to give your love of knitting or crochet space to run free and to help those in need (if you live in this area – even better!). Check out their site here. If you are looking for other options or ways to use your knitting needles (or crochet hooks) to make this world a better place, check out the Creativity for a Cause page at Daylilies.

And, if you know of any organizations that help in this way, please let me know by adding a comment here! I would love to add them to the Daylilies site (and maybe even donate a little myself).

The needle felting learn along starts here tomorrow – see you then!

Hearts to You! Quick, Tasty and Gorgeous Valentines in 30 Minutes or Less

If you have been following along with the learn-along (either by loom knitting along with us or just reading along to see what we have been doing), then you know that this past learn along (our very first) was both a good and bad experience for me. I loved working with a knitting board. I didn’t enjoy working with the single knitting rake. Not at all. In fact, I found that finishing the single knit potholder was a test of my endurance – so I was definitely looking to do something easier and a lot more fun as I start this new week.

And Valentine’s is coming!

With only 14 days more to go, I am still looking for some great ways to recognize my Valentines this year, but as I said last week, I can’t think about Valentines without thinking about chocolate. And hearts. Cheesy, I know, but really, what is Valentine’s Day if there isn’t a little ‘cheesy’ or ’sappy’. Isn’t that the joy of this particular holiday?

So, as I take a breather from complicated loom knitting stitches, and start to get ready for our next learn along (we are starting a new learn along with drypoint felting this Wednesday), I brought out the chocolate wafers and the cookie cutters. As it turns out, cookie cutters make great chocolate molds (I suspected but never really knew for sure).

To make a stacked chocolate Valentine for your Valentine, grab different sizes of heart shaped cookie cutters (or if you don’t have them, you can try taking a piece of licorice or tin foil or something to form the outer shape of the heart and use as a cookie cutter – you could even leave the licorice around the outside of the heart ’cause that would look fantastic!) and lay them out on a piece of waxed paper or tin foil. Melt chocolate and spoon into cutter shapes. Let cool. Remove from cookie cutters, stack and wrap with ribbon. To get the different colour hearts, experiment a little – I started with a pot of melted red chocolate and then added a little white chocolate the next time I needed more chocolate and then a little more white, etc.  until I ended up with an almost-all-white-pot of melted chocolate. (Plain chocolate would be really great too.)And if you have time or have kids that have time, nothing would finish this little creative endeavour off like a hand-made card. For your Valentine from your heart and hands. There is nothing better!

Have fun with the chocolate – and I hope you will plan to join us as we learn how to do some drypoint felting later this week. And – if there is something that you want us to cover in our learn-alongs, please let us know!

Learn Along: Completing the Single Knitting Loom Potholder

arggghhh.

Yup. arggggghhhh. That, (and a few other words I will silently mutter to myself) is all I have to say about this project.

I loved knitting on the knitting board (double loom knitting). I HATE this single knitting on the knitting loom thing.

For one thing, I found the tension to be really hard to master. For a second thing, I am not certain that I love the ‘ladder’ effect that happens in between stitches. And thirdly, the stitches themselves still seem convoluted and awkward even after I have completed this potholder project 6 times (I just wanted to see if things got better if I practiced more).  I even liked the look of the double knit-knitting board potholder better (the one we finished on Wednesday).

But I digress. We need to finish this potholder so that you can decide for yourself if you like single knitting on a knitting loom. To catch up with what we have done so far, check out the casting on blog and the knitting blog. And the pattern that I have been working with is available for your to try free from Daylilies. Today, though, we have to talk about purling and binding this project off.

The real problem I have is with explaining the purling stitch online here, right now, is that I can’t seem to find a way describe the stitch to you in words or in pictures that does the stitch any justice. Just when I think that I have found a way to explain it, I realize that the explanation still isn’t any clearer than mud. (This is where, if I had digital video for this blog, I would get out my loom, my picker, and some yarn and show you how I did this thing. But I don’t have the technology yet.) The stitch is easy enough when you get the hang of it – it just doesn’t sound easy at all when I use words to explain.

So, I am going to apologize that I can’t explain this one, but I am going to link you to a video from VideoJug that will help you. This is the same site that I linked to yesterday, and because it is that good, I am doing it again. (I don’t know who the instructor is to give her credit, but she is good.)

Casting off your potholder project, however, is something that I can help you with here. To cast off, follow these steps starting on the same side as your ball of yarn:

1. take loop off peg#1 and put it on peg#2.
2. wrap peg #2 in en e-wrap as you would if you were knitting (above the other loops already on the peg). Lift the bottom 2 loops over the recently wrapped loop and off the peg leaving only 1 loop remaining on the peg.
3. repeat steps 1 and 2 across the remaining pegs until only 1 stitch remains. Cut the yarn from the ball of wool and pull the tail through the loop to form a knot.

Once you weave through your ends, block and steam, your potholder is all done. (And I, for one, was glad when this project was done.) It really is a nice potholder – and a great addition in almost any kitchen, but… and it is a big BUT…. my work on this knitting loom was fraught with dropped stitches and tension problems (and a lot of frustration).

What did you think of this project? As for me, I think that I am going to stick with the knitting board if I knit with a loom at all. What about you?

Learn Along: Working on the Single Knit Loom Potholder

Yesterday we completed the double knit potholder done on the knitting board (or double rake or double sided knitting loom) and today, we are going to go back and work on the potholder done on the single knitting loom. Last week we went through the basics of the cable cast on. If you missed it, or just want to refresh your memory on this, find that post here.

Today, now that we have learned the basics of the cast on (if you are still having problems, please email me – I would love to help out!), we can start on the actual knitting. And like the knitting on the double loom, it is all about winding the yarn in the right way (and I speak from experience when I say that it seemed really awkward and convoluted until I was well practiced).

To single knit on the knitting loom (or rake), it is important to remember that you never knit on the first stitch of the row (you always start on the second peg in), and that the edges of your knitting will curl unless you purl the edge stitch(es). So, to  help you learn the stitches, let’s get started on the potholder. To download the free Daylilies pattern I used, click here. (If you are using a different pattern, please send me a picture of your potholder when you are done.)

There are many different ways to knit on a single loom, and I recommend that you try all of them if you continue to knit on a knitting loom, but after much trial and error I felt that the e-wrap was the easiest way to knit on the loom.

After casting on right to left, you are now ready to knit your first row – this time from left to right (going back up the loom). To use the e-wrap style knit stitch, skip the first peg and wrap the yarn around the second peg as follows (the tails of the yarn are wrapped around the back of the loom facing away from you):

and continue wrapping all the pegs on your loom. When you reach the last peg, lift the bottom loop over the top loop and off the peg. Now, go back and lift the bottom loops over the top loop on all the remaining pegs. Your first full knitting row is done. To knit the second row, you will be knitting from right to left. Everything is basically the same, but the e-wrap will look like this (the tails of the yarn are still wrapped around the back of the loom facing away from you):

So – that is the basic e-wrap knit method (I have also heard it called the twisted single knit), and the basic knit stitch I used in my potholder.  For further help, I suggest that you take a peek at this video posted on videojug. The instructor in the video illustrates how to do the e-wrap knit stitch, another knit stitch method and the purl stitch.

Before we can finish up this potholder, we’ll have to work on the purl stitch and the bind off – and this will be tomorrow’s blog. I hope you are enjoying the learn-along, and if you have any questions, just ask. I am here to help.

Learn Along: Starting & Finishing the Knitting Board Potholder

Last week you and I learned what it meant to cast on to knit on the knitting board (or double rake or knitting loom). If you missed it, check it out here - I added diagrams and pictures that might help you – I know that they certainly helped me!

But today, now that we have learned the cast on, it is time to finish the potholder. And I am pleased to say that this is an easy project that takes 45 minutes or so and looks absolutely fabulous! To get the pattern I used for this project, download it free from Daylilies. (If you have another pattern that you would rather use, please send me a picture of the finished project! I would love to see the work that you are doing!).

To start, I cast on 12 stitches just like I cast on in last week’s Learn Along blog. And knitting is very much the same as the cast on except you only do one pass at a time. Row 1 winds the yarn as in the cast on from left to right and then starting at the last peg you wound, lift the bottom loop over the top loop and off the peg. Repeat with the remaining pegs before winding the yarn as in the cast on from right to left (back down the loom) and lifting the loops from the pegs. Continue on for 20 rows.

It is that easy (or at least I thought that it was that easy – what do you think?).

The trick with this pattern, however,  is to use two strands of your bulky wool (which can get a little confusing when you are learning cause 1 strand is really 2 but it is better for the potholder). After finishing the potholder, I realized that it needs the double thickness to ensure that this potholder will do its job and save your hands, table and/or cupboard from the heat.

To bind off, follow these instructions (It sounds alot more tricky than it really is – just try it one peg at a time and you will have your stitches bound off before you know it!):

1. Bind off as follows starting on the same side as your ball of yarn:
2. Take loop from peg #2 and put on peg #1.
3. Wrap yarn from ball, as if knitting, on top of all the loops on peg#1.
4. Lift bottom loops over the single wrapped loop and off the peg (#1) leaving 1 loop remaining on the peg.
5. Take loop off peg #3 and put onto peg #5. There should be 2 loops on peg #4.
   Remove remaining loop on peg #1 and put this loop onto the now empty peg #3. There should be 1 loop on peg #3.
6. Take all the loops (so there are none remaining) off peg#4 and put them all onto peg #3 with the existing loop. There should be 3 loops on peg #3.
   Wrap peg #3 as for knitting.
7. Lift bottom 3 loops over the wrapped loop and off the peg. There should be 1 loop remaining on peg #3.
8. Adjust the tension by pulling the fabric to feed more yarn through your bind off and keep tension loose.
9. Repeat steps 4-9 first using pegs  #5 and 6 (removing the single loop from peg #3) and then repeating through the remaining pegs. Finish by snipping yarn and pulling through last remaining loop to form a knot.

Weave in your yarn ends and steam in shape and you are done!

Let me know how this project goes for you. I really enjoyed my time learning the  basics of the knitting board – and I can’t wait to experiment a little more. But how about you? Did you find it fast, easy and enjoyable or did you not enjoy it?