Swirly ear warmer

Posted by louisa on Thursday 29 November 2012 in crochet & knitting, making | 0 comments

No more cold ears while dog walking for me – I made myself an ear warmer band from an abandoned half-finished beanie this afternoon.

I’ve got an ear-flapped woolly hat for really cold days but this is small enough to fit in my pocket (for days when I’m not sure if I need it) and under my hood (for when it’s raining).

I wrote a little more waffle about it on my personal stuff-and-nonsense blog – it looks brown over there, yellowy over here, it really is an odd sludge colour but if my ears are warm, I don’t care ;)

Have you made yourself anything to keep the chill at bay this winter?

Craft procrastination = Procraftination

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 19 January 2011 in making | 4 comments

Except for the crochet blanket that I started at the weekend, I’ve not done anything crafty for ages. And I’ve not finished anything for even longer – probably my water flask holder in September. I’ve had writer’s block for crafting.

To combat this, I’ve come up with a procraftination project for myself: 15 super quick projects to beat the meh.

The criteria I’ve set down for myself is:

• They must not take more than a couple of hours each in total from start to finish
• They must cover a range of skills/techniques because I heart variety
• They must be do-able from the sofa because I’m lazy and there is often a dog, cat & blanket on the sofa and I like spending time with all three.

Most of them are also practical or upcycling/revamping something I’ve already got but that’s more of a coincidence than something deliberate.

1. Make a new purse (crochet or sew)
2. Embroider fun retro designs onto some boring plain knickers
3. Crochet a bookmark/book thong
4. Revamp turquoise handbag – replace white leather strip with copper wire
5. Remake/revamp my dangly button earrings
6. An hour of drawing
7. Finish sewing the dot-to-dot patterns I bought ages ago from Leethal FINISHED!
8. Crochet some mini storage baskets
9. Knit the ribbed hat I saw on CRAFTzine a few months ago
10. Make a pot holder/oven mitt thing
11. Upcycle/lengthen my stripey polo shirt that’s been in my sewing pile for months
12. Crochet some butterflies
13. Make some more wire bugs
14. Spin some more yarn
15. Make new black bead earrings based on necklace pattern

This post is more for me as a to-do list than for everyone else – but if anyone has any other suggestions of things I can add to my list, let me know!