Teacup Potholder Set

I am so thrilled to share this fun project. I made this set of potholders for my eldest sister for Christmas. I have a similar set I bought ages ago and still use all the time. The little teacups are especially useful for getting hot bowls of soup out of the microwave.


All the fabric is recycled from old clothes, and the flowers were embroidered using this wonderful embroidery blog for guidance. The multicolor yarn was a Christmas gift from my SIL, and the leaves are from recycled yarn from an old scarf.

Isn't it just so fun? I think I might make a few more of these to put in the shop.

I have more to share still, so stay tuned!

Two Knitted Hats

I bought this brown wool/mohair yarn in 2004 when I first moved to NYC. I was thinking of knitting a hat for my sister. FIVE years later I finally get around to it! I really kinda made up this pattern - I call it the February Beret.

I cast on (long tail) and ribbed for a few rounds. I used EZ's gull pattern from the February baby sweater pattern (Knitter's Almanac) to knit the next 10 rounds or so until I needed to start decreasing. At this point, I began stockinette - the decreases left a lovely star pattern on the top.

It looks awfully dramatic in front of the painting doesn't it? I look like an "artist" - hehe.

This next hat is for my sister's husband. I remembered that he liked the fishtrap pattern from my mom's sweater, so I figured I'd try a fishtrap hat. This is made from my freebie yarn, which honestly I value more than paid for yarn. Go figure. This yarn is so soft and lovely - I do need to add an inch or two as a border since that hat falls a little short. Gotta keep them ears toasty!

I worked on this hat in the car all day long in Columbia when H was doing his mediation training.

It was alternately cozy/nice and cramped/frustrating. Anyway, I hope I won't be doing it again anytime soon. At least I had EZ's fishtrap pattern to keep me alive and entertained :)

More to come!

New Kitty

Say hello to Pipsqueak, our new cat! He has been hanging around our apartment building for over a year now, and we finally got permission to bring him inside :) He's already been neutered and declawed, so all we had to do was get his shots and flea/heart worm treatment. It has been quite an adjustment having a new member of the family, but it keeps getting better. Here's a video of him attacking a pom pom:

Christmas Place Mats

I finally get to share the Christmas presents I made! My mother is crazy about place mats, so it seemed like great fun to sew her a patchwork set. These are made using the salvaged fabric from wallpaper sample books and other hand-me-down fabric from family members. The whole idea started with a way to make the most of that beautiful cardinal


I started with the patch above - I was so thrilled to work with festive, Christmasy patterns. It was ridiculously fun. It was also much harder than I anticipated picking out fabrics from such a limited supply, and working around very limited sizes. It made me realize what quilters in the 30's were going through - the origins of patchwork coming out a scarcity of materials. When that is actually the case, it really makes each patch so much more valuable (and mistakes that much worse!!!) The place mat below, you can see some squares of fabric with a log cabin and bears - that was from the extra special wrapping around a bar of soap! Mom gave me that a few years ago and thankfully I hung on to it :)


This squirrel place mat changes up the overall patchwork pattern because I was running out of stuff to make my stars. This way though, I was able to use the scraps from the other mats and have two odd mats in the group of six - helps to keep it exciting :) This bird was the other odd mat:


For the backs, I decided to use a beautiful green woven fabric from Belgium my mother has had for years and years. She recently gave it to me to do something with - and here it is:


With lovely fabric on both sides, these are reversible. Here's a shot of the place mats in their natural habitat - they match her Christmas table theme so well!

I also made some place mats for H's mom - pictures of those plus other gifts coming soon :) It's like Christmas all over again!