Sun, Sickness and Selling

This week was tiring. After finally getting over the cold that Dom passed on to me last week, he came down with various...um...digestive troubles. Having a cough is one thing, a stomach bug is a whole other story. I feel so bad for him. Especially since he's been super healthy his whole life, to get hit with all of this in a short period of time must be confusing to him. Anyhow, things could be worse I suppose. We just have a TON of laundry to wash now (yayy laundry.)

Here's last week's picture: Week 9

Am I proud to be using Instagrams as my "One creative picture of the week"? No, but it's this or nothing. I love this. Even though it's like, woah, you got a lot of wrinkles going on there! 

Week 10 is all about Sunshine!

We finally seem to be emerging from winter here in Germany. From what I read, "the darkest winter in recent history." We got a lot more pretty snow than last year, but it was extremely long, and once the snow melted.... depressing. Needless to say, We have spent our days this week trying to soak up some magical sun!

Probably the most exciting development in my crafty world is that our local craft store is taking consignments. I can actually sell some of my stuff now! It's hard sometimes, making crafts and buying supplies just to make things for yourself. It's really satisfying to feel like you're crafting for a purpose. These are my first offerings, six little coin purses. I love them, and I use mine all the time (Euros are very coiny.) 

Here's to hoping other people like them too! :) 

Link to the coin purse pattern at the bottom of THIS POST.

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A Place To Rest My Legs

I know I said "tomorrow" a week ago, but here we are, seven days later. Finally my WIP is finished and ready for unveiling!

My apologies to anyone who doesn't like feet, but it IS a foot rest, and I thought this dude's cute baby feet are way more acceptable than mine. 

I'm very short, and I have bad knees. I recently realized that since my feet rarely comfortably reach the floor while I'm sitting on grown-up sized furniture, I sit 'indian style'... a lot. I have no doubts that it is not the best position for my already angry joints. I need a place to rest my little 'ol legs! 

 In my little world, knitted ottomans have been popping up everywhere. After coming across one at a store here for 80euro, I was like "Challenge Accepted! I'm making one for cheap!"

They are super easy to make. Time consuming, sure, but not difficult in the least. 

You will need:

about 600 yards of super bulky yarn

size 15 knitting needles

a men's medium t-shirt

Some sort of stuffing (Blankets, towels, poly-fil, take your pick)

Sewing machine

  

There are tutorials for these around the internet:

 http://www.pickles.no/puff-daddy-knitted-stool/

My one problem with this tut is the filling. I don't have duvets just lying around to stuff random things with. Here's my unique bit of genius:

A men's t-shirt. It's not pretty, but it works like a charm to cover up whatever ugly old stuff you have laying around, or pick up from the thrift store, to fill this thing. I just turned it inside out, sewed the arm holes shut with the sewing machine, and turned it right side out again. No need to cut the excess sleeve material off. 

I took a piece of yarn, ran it through the bottom hem like it was a casing, and tied it up super tight. There's an opening still, so I stuffed in a piece of fabric that was larger than the hole to keep everything inside. 

I filled it through the neck hole, (I used poly-fil because my friend gave me a ton of it for free, i used A LOT [ approx. 9lbs ] so it probably isn't the best option if you have to buy it, for the sake of cheapness) Once it is nice and full, use the collar of the shirt as a casing, and cinch it shut. You will have weird pointy corners from the shoulders, so just squish them into the center and stitch them in place. It really doesn't matter if it's pretty. 

Now you have your form. Feel free to use it as a foot rest while you're knitting the cover. 

To knit the cover:

CO 40

knit every row, slipping the first stitch of each row 

until the piece is about 5o" long. 

I ended up with 164 rows. Periodically hold your knitting up to your form to check how large you need it. Depending on how full your shirt is, it could take more or less length. 

TIP: When you need to add a new skein of yarn, start it on an edge. the finished piece gets kind of stretched out, and a change/woven in ends would be very obvious in the middle of a row. 

Once you reach your length, cast off, and join the two short ends together. I use this method. 

When you slip the first stitch in each row, you get a little bump. I stitched through each bump, then cinched the long ends closed as tight as possible. Place your form inside the cover, and repeat on other end. 

You will have a small opening, like on the t-shirt. I stuffed another fabric scrap in there to make the hole look neater. 

There you go! My living room has a happy new addition! 

Dom totally thinks it's a toy :p

MY Total cost:

3 skeins of yarn = 15 euro

men's thrifted t-shirt = 50¢

Poly-fil = FREE

Can't beat that! 

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