Knitted Cabled Bottle Koozie

My latest koozie design is knitted with cables and a button flap closure. It also has a full bottom, unlike the crocheted bottle koozies.  I'm planning to write up the pattern, but I might make a few changes first.

iPad cover made from a fabric covered text book

 When I got my iPad, I started looking for a unique and visually appealing cover.  I found a great one on Etsy (here), but didn't want to pay the price.  So, I decided to see if I could make my own version.  I was able to find the same yellow bird fabric and already had grey fabric, white ribbon, and white elastic.  I also found an old text book from college - analytical chemistry, and bought some spray adhesive and got out my glue gun.  Here is the text book and the iPad before I started.

I cut the binding along the spine so I could remove the pages while leaving the cover in tact.  I ended up covering most of it in paper using spray adhesive since the cover was dark and showed through the fabric.  Then, I covered the outside, much like you would do with a paper book cover and attached it using spray adhesive.  I used spray adhesive to add the grey fabric to the spine and hot glued the ribbon on to cover the unfinished edge where it meets the yellow.  I used a separate sheet of fabric for the inside and just tucked the edges under and tacked them with hot glue.  I cut another piece of cardboard for the part underneath the iPad and covered it with a layer of batting, and then a layer of white fabric.  I hot glued the elastic to the back of the cardboard and then hot glued the whole thing to the inside of the book cover.  Finally, I cut a strip off of an old fridge magnet and glued it on the cover in the area where it wakes up and puts to sleep the iPad.  You can see it in action in the video below (which of course I recorded sideways so it looks funny, but you get the idea).  Here is the final product.

Spinning fabric - selvage and scraps

I tried spinning some selvage edges from my quilting and sewing (and some other scrap strips) into fabric yarn.  Turns out it is pretty hard to join fabric strips by spinning, so I had to tie them together.  I'm not sure that the spinning was necessary.  I think you could just tie them together and knit or crochet with it.  I am thinking I will eventually make a rag rug out of this, but I will probably need more yardage for that!

Black and white yarn scarf

Remember this post when I started with wool from two different sheep, one white and the other black and then made some black, white, and grey yarn?  Well, look what I finally made with it!

Here are the two different piles of raw wool:

I separated the dark wool into black, dark grey and medium grey, then mixed white and medium grey to make light grey, and used some plain white.  I made a bunch of rolags and spun them into a big bulky yarn.
Here are some rolags:

This was a long time ago!  It was probably in August of 2011.  I just couldn't decide what to do with the yarn.  I tried knitting with it, but it was too bulky and not lofty enough so it made a stiff, bulky fabric that was not working out no matter how big of needles I used.  So, it sat and sat until I saw someone at work with a yarn scarf just joined by zip ties!  I decided that would be a perfect way to use this yarn.  But, I used yarn to tie it in 3 spots instead of zip ties.

The black wool is a little coarser than the rest and makes it a little scratchier than I would prefer, but I am pretty sensitive to wool and I can wear it all day close to my skin with minimal annoyance.  I had just enough yarn for two, so one is going up for sale in my etsy shop.

Art yarn scarf sewn with dissolvable interfacing

Several years ago I saw someone with a scarf that was made just of yarn sewn together.  They told me their friend had made it using dissolvable interfacing.  I had that in the back of my mind for a long time and recently saw the technique again in a recent issue of Spin-off magazine.  I decided to finally try it out on my yarn that I made while trying out my drum carder.  You can read all about making the yarn here.

After the yarn was done, I arranged it and sandwiched it between two pieces of dissolvable interfacing and pinned it to keep it all in place.  Then I sewed back and forth on my sewing machine.

Finally, I just ran cold water over it to dissolve away the interfacing and hung it to dry!

Yellow scarf and yarn bowls

I made this yellow scarf for a former co-worker's husband in exchange for these yarn bowls that he made me!

Master Charles Hat for Owen

Here is another Master Charles hat I made back in March of last year, but never posted. Previous details about the Master Charles hat were posted here and here.  This was the 4th one I made.  I still love this pattern and seeing this, I kind of want to make it again!