E-reader Cover

My brother's birthday is coming and I was running out of ideas for cross-stitched gifts to give him. Then he told me he bought an e-Reader, one of the lesser known brands that he got for a really good price. So a perfect opportunity for creating a pouch to protect it. I found the dimensions online and it's very close to one of the Kindles. So I whipped up this version based pretty much on the tutorial at Junie Moon. I left off the pocket since I don't think my brother will use this to listen to music. I had planned to make a cross-stitched card with a cute Margaret Sherry design, but in the end I decided to sew the design onto the pouch instead. I just turned the edges under and used Stitch Witchery to fuse it to the pouch. Then I edge-stitched on the machine to be sure it staid put. I think the pouch is a bit big, but better too big than too small. Since I didn't have the reader in hand to check out the fit, it was really my only choice. It's nicely padded with a velcro closure so I hope it will be good for something if not the e-Reader. Next time, I would taper the flap on the sides since it kind of sticks out a little funny. I keep telling myself that's the charm of hand-made items!





Big thanks to Nia for helping me find this cute as a button design. My brother loves crossword puzzles. I just changed the words in the puzzle to be more appropriate than the original 'Nice Cross Stitch'.



On another note, I had a wonderful surprise at our local Farm Women's Market last week. I met a lovely woman who owns a 'farmette' in Mt. Airy, Maryland, where she raises 'fiber animals' including alpacas, llamas and angora goats. For January/February she has rented a stand in the market where she is selling her hand-spun and hand-dyed fibers. These products are in the most glorious colors that you can imagine. For any yarn I pointed to, she could tell me the name of the animal that produced the wool. It made it so personal.

Take a peek at her website, Avalon Springs Farm, if you get a chance. She also has an Etsy shop where you can buy some of the pretties online:
Avalon Springs Farm on Etsy.

Diamond Wrist Warmers and Elephant Coin Purse

With a whole ball of yarn left over after the last set of fingerless gloves, I decided to knit a second pair with a thumb gusset. This pattern was designed for a much larger hand than mine, but I didn't feel like ripping it out after I had finished the first one and made this discovery. So I just knit the second glove with fewer stitches cast on and it came out perfect. One of those patterns you have to concentrate closely on to ensure you don't mess it up. Still find I have some large holes to stitch up where the thumb joins the base. Maybe I'll figure out why that happens eventually. These are the Diamond Hand Wristwarmers by Micah Hazlett.




I recently discovered that a friend of mine collects elephants (not live ones thank goodness). Always wondered why she had a giant plush elephant on a chair in the living room, but I never noticed the curio cabinet behind it that had the most amazing collection of figurines. As a little New Year's gift, I crocheted the Crochet A Little elephant again, this time in pink. I made a quick little zippered change purse and sewed the motif on the front. On the back I sewed another of Wendy's tatting motifs. It has just enough batting to give it a little body.

Fetching Fingerless Gloves

We were very lucky in the DC area to escape the monster snowstorm that wreaked havoc along the East Coast. But it has been very cold with extremely high winds. So I am delighted that I finished knitting a pair of fingerless gloves to cope with this weather. I love wearing them at the keyboard, when I'm reading and when I do needlework. They make me feel warm all over.

I used the free Fetching pattern from Knitty.com. This is a very popular pattern among knitters and I can see why. It's fun to knit and fits pretty well. The name is based on the fact that the cables on each glove twist 'fetchingly' toward each other. I love the picot bind off edging at the top too. This is my first foray into gloves knitted in the round on DPN's. The thumb was the trickiest part and I still need to work on that. These are done in Knit Picks worsted weight Swish yarn, Amethyst Heather.




I signed up to grant a mini-wish on the San-Man board. One of the members wanted a heart-shaped coaster. I planned to crochet one, but I didn't like the results. So I stitched this little freebie heart from Mausimom and added a crocheted rick-rack border. The fabric is a piece of hand painted 18 ct Khaki Aida from Sassy's Fabbys. I'll back it with felt or maybe fun foam.

Harry Potter Altoid Tin

Teenage boys are never easy to stitch for, but I had an idea for a Harry Potter lover who read all of the books faithfully as soon as they came on the market. Hope he hasn't outgrown the franchise!

I started this Altoid tin top by stitching a cute little Harry Potter cartoon-like design. My first plan was to stitch it over-two on 36 ct linen. But it came out exactly the size of the top and looked way too big for the space. So I went back and re-stitched it over-one on tea-dyed Monaco and liked it much better.




For the inside, I stuck with the over-one approach and stitched the Hogwart's Crest. The crocheted owl is a motif from the Crochet A Little blog and makes a great Hedwig. I added the ribbons since I plan to enclose a little Hewlitt-Packard (initials HP, just perfect, huh?) flash drive and it will get tucked under the ribbons.



For good measure, I crocheted a teeny little golden snitch that can fit in the box as well. The pattern is done in knitting worsted. I used #10 thread instead.



I couldn't let the bigger version of Harry go to waste, so I made him up into a companion bookmark.



All of these patterns were freebies and there is a link to each one in this post. I'm so grateful to all those designers who are so generous with their talents.

Little Lulu Bag

I finally got around to finishing the Little Lulu cross stitch piece. I made another one of those simple zippered sling bags that I find so useful. Hope my friend will feel the same. I modify my method each time I make one, but I'm never 100% satisfied with the results. This has some extra batting. I thought my last one was a bit flimsy. The two tatted motifs were part of the gifts I received from Wendy. I've beeen keeping my eyes and mind open to ways to use them and I think they look nice this way. The fabric color is somewhere between what you see in the two photos.




My Jazzercise friend Maggie tucked a cute little package into my hand the other night just before class started. I didn't open it at the time and I've yet to thank her, but it turned out to be a sweet little holiday ornament. I don't think Maggie is a stitcher so I'll be interested in finding out where she picked this up.


The other fun thing that happened was I reached the 20 class attendance goal that meant I got to take home this cute Jazzercise patent leather zippered clutch. Of course, my incentive to attend classes in this cold weather is gone now. I'm hoping I can continue to rally!

Knit/Crochet Fingerless Gloves

My hands are freezing at the keyboard as I type this. It's a great winter for those trendy fingerless gloves, whether for texting on the subway, working at your desk or even for stitching. Before I dared try the double-pointed needles, I made this pair for Kirsten. These are a combination of knitting and crochet. They are stitched flat and seamed on the side leaving a space for the thumb to poke through. I first saw them while watching the Knit and Crochet Now tv show. You can find the pattern on the site, but you have to register. It's shown on Episode 222. The pattern as designed included beads at the cuff, but I omitted those.

They are done in Knit Picks DK weight Swish yarn in Marble Heather. This is a soft super-wash wool. I'm becoming quite a fan of Knit Picks.

They turned out a little large, but Kirsten has worn them already outside so I guess they stayed on! The hand in the photo is mine, not Kirsten's.




I sent them with this holiday card made from the Sweetheart Tree design in the JCS 2010 Ornament issue.



Yea for the international mail! This package took less than a week to go from DC to Germany.

Signs of Winter

Seems like every blogger is showing photos of early snowfalls this year. It's cold here, but we haven't seen the first flakes quite yet. So this altoid tin top I stitched will serve to keep us on the lookout. This a Bent Creek design, one of the four for each of the seasons. Not sure if I love it in the over-one stitching on the tea-dyed Monaco or not. But I know I like the crocheted penguin inside. This one is just tailor made to be another winter survival kit with some Burt's Bees goodies added to fight the winter dryness.

Holiday Cards

Over the years, I've stitched a variety of small winter holiday designs, just to have them ready when I needed them. I used to make little gift tags and small ornaments for co-workers when I went to an office every day. Now I was wondering if I'd ever use what I stitched. So I picked four of them up and turned them into greeting cards. I felt like I was working on some kind of assembly line, but it was fun to finish them up and be able to finally use them.

This was from a Sam Hawkins book of holiday designs. I don't know why I didn't use this earlier. It looks so cute to me now.




Not sure where this design came from. A web freebie maybe? A magazine design? Anyway, I like cute Rudolph's.




Here's another design I can't place. But he's a sweet little bear, I think.



And the final one is from a Donna Kooler book of designs. I've stitched a ton of designs from that book, and I can never resist a cute snowman.

Bent Creek Flatbed Fridgie & Altoid Tin

I just discovered the adorable Bent Creek Flatbed series of little designs when I was searching for a cute turkey to stitch for Thanksgiving. This Flatbed Turkey looks so unaware of the fate that lies ahead. I feel kind of sorry for him. He's on my fridge at the moment merrily rolling along on sequined wheels, stitched on off-white Monaco.



One of my friends just passed her U.S. citizenship test and I thought that called for a little stitchy gift to help her celebrate. The Flatbed Uncle Sam was perfect for an Altoid tin top. I used button wheels on this one. Not sure what will go inside. I'm thinking red, white and blue hair accessories like barrettes and elastics topped off with a bit of chocolate. This one is stitched on Bay Rum Jobelan.

Consumed by Gifts

There is something so special to me about Brittercup designs. Those sleek kitties that don't require a lot of stitching to get the effect are just so darn clever. I loved the colorful ornament in the JCS 2010 issue. It's stitched here on 32 ct bone Lugana with some DMC color variation substitutions. Finished with more hand-crocheted rick-rack.