More Krazy Kool Wool Kolors

April 27, 2013 by mymateriallife

You’ve just got to try this; it’s so much fun!  I just started to teach beginning knitting at my daughter’s school with our school librarian again and this time we decided to use wool yarn.  The great thing about that, of course, is that wool can be dyed using Kool-Aid.  (Also, we were thinking that the wool, being springier than cotton, would be a little easier to learn to knit with.)  I sun-dyed these brilliant colors (blue raspberry, peach mango, […]

Categories: Kid Stuff, Knitting • Tags: dying yarn, knitting, kool-aid, kool-aid dye

Spool Knit Wrist Warmer

March 19, 2013 by mymateriallife

This is a wrist warmer that I made with a homemade embroidery hoop and popsicle stick spool knitter (similar to the larger knitter used to knit the poly cord drawstring bag).  Isn’t it exciting to see another accessory* that we can create with our spool knitters that will actually work for us humans as opposed to the many things we can make with our knitters for dolls – not that I have anything against dolls.  In fact, I may just […]

Categories: Clothing & Accessories, Crochet, Knitting • Tags: crochet, diy, embroidery hoop spool knitter, french knitting, knitting, knitting nancy, spool knitting, wrist warmers

A Blanket for Birthday No. 9

February 27, 2013 by mymateriallife

Last week I made the decision to tackle all the uncompleted projects in my rather large knitting basket.  Luckily, I had a long car trip to look forward to (very useful for knitting as long as you’re not the one driving) and with Samantha’s birthday approaching, I decided to begin the task by finishing this blanket that I started for her at least five years ago.  It’s a project from the book, Greetings From Knit Cafe.  I really like the […]

Categories: Celebrations, Kid Stuff, Knitting, Sweets • Tags: greetings from knit cafe, home, key lime pie, knit blanket, knitting, yarn dogs, zucca trendsetter yarn

Valentine’s Vignette, Hearts, Flower

February 14, 2013 by mymateriallife

Happy Valentine’s Day 2013!  I had a few things I wanted to try this year, like the scene above.  Here you can see two more champagne chairs – one with a few beads, one without (the red cap is from a bottle of Lambrusco I bought to go with a pizza we had last week).  The table is made from one of those plastic things you find in your pizza box to keep the pizza from getting crushed and a […]

Categories: Embroidery, Kid Stuff, Knitting, Miniatures, Other Holidays, Paper • Tags: champagne chairs, crafts, diy, embroidery, knitting, miniatures, mobiles, valentine's crafts, valentine's day

An Arne & Carlos Christmas Ball

December 23, 2012 by mymateriallife

     Last year I found this book in the library called 55 Christmas Balls To Knit by two guys named Arne and Carlos.  I thought, “Is this a joke?”  Whenever I hear the term “Christmas balls” I can’t help but think of that old Saturday Night Live skit with Alec Baldwin.  But this is no joke.  Arne & Carlos are knitwear designers who live in the mountains of Norway (see their home and story here) and they are serious […]

Categories: Christmas, Knitting • Tags: arne and carlos, diy, home, knit christmas ornament, knitting, style, winter

Toilet Paper Roll Knitting Nancy Idea #7: Felted Chair Boot

December 1, 2012 by mymateriallife

Thanks to my friend Jill, I had the opportunity to introduce toilet paper roll (tpr) knitting to a very nice group of home school kids this week, so all kinds of spool knitting ideas are back front and center in my brain and I have a lot of different projects I hope to share with you here soon. When I found this post via Pinterest I knew that this was a job just made for the tpr knitter.  But I […]

Categories: Knitting, Uncategorized • Tags: french knitting, spool knit chair boot, spool knit chair cozy, spool knit chair sock, spool knitting, toilet paper roll knitting

Spool Knit Monster High Accessories

October 10, 2012 by mymateriallife

Are you familiar with Monster High dolls?  They’re very popular in some circles.  These are the dolls Frankie Stein and Lagoona Blue.  Most Monster High girls are the teenage daughters of famous monsters.  When Samantha told her cousin, Julia, that she was going to be Lagoona Blue for Halloween, Julia said that one of the kids she was a counselor for in summer camp had a mom who actually designed the accessories for Monster High dolls.  I thought that was […]

Categories: Kid Stuff, Knitting • Tags: clover wonder knitter, french knitting, monster high dolls, spool knit doll accessories, spool knitting

Another Weekend, Another Baby Wash Cloth

September 10, 2012 by mymateriallife

We’re going to have a bumper crop of babies around here very shortly; I attended my second Sunday baby shower in a row yesterday.  I didn’t intend to make anything for this shower gift, but I found some yarn I couldn’t resist while visiting Yarndogs with my friend Susan last week and I thought maybe I’d have enough time to knit what I call a baby lap robe before Sunday and well, you know how that goes.  It was just […]

Categories: Kid Stuff, Knitting • Tags: be sweet bamboo, hand knit baby wash cloth

A Little Wool With Your Kool-Aid?

September 5, 2012 by mymateriallife

This is so much fun and so easy.  I read about dying yarn with Kool-Aid in the book, Kids Knit! Simple Steps to Nifty Projects by Sarah Bradberry.  The thing is, I was sure I could make it work with cotton, so last summer I set about boiling some white Sugar ‘n Cream in Kool-Aid and water and I pretty much ended up with … white cotton.  My college motto was “learn by doing” and I find that I still […]

Categories: Kid Stuff, Knitting • Tags: kool-aid dye