Spring and Taking it Slow

I haven't been designing a lot lately, but I did have fun making this wedding gift:

So far this year, I've been taking my projects slowly and trying to avoid "deadlines" since they sometimes make knitting, crocheting, and crafting in general slightly less relaxing.  It's been really wonderful.

I've also been mostly using patterns written by other designers, which I'm keeping posted on my Ravelry page. I do have a set of bulky yarn crocheted cowl patterns I'm hoping to share with you in the next months, though!

Hope you're having a lovely end to winter and that you're enjoying the hope of warmer weather.

"Recycled Crayons"

We made some new crayons using old crayons, thanks to the help of this blog post at Lil Blue Boo:
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/03/recycled-crayons-a-tutorial.html

We had WAY more broken and unwrapped crayons than I thought.  For this entire project, I only used about half of what I ended up with here.

These silicone ice cube trays come in fun shapes and can be found for only $1! I also put foil underneath on the cookie sheet since it was one of my "good" ones. Don't forget to preheat the oven. I used the lowest setting on mine, which was "warm".

Little Miss R just had to peel more wrappers off. It was good help since she really wanted pink crayons.

 

I used a sharp knife and carefully cut the crayons into very small pieces. I think next time I try slightly larger pieces to see how the finished product looks.  They key, either way I think, is to put colors together that can go together.  Too many colors = brown crayons. Also, the washable ones leave a white wax on the top of each crayon, so I tried to mix washable with regular.

 

I tried to heap a pile in each spot, but in the end I could have used even more.  They really melt down, so pile it in there!

 

I checked on these often and left them in the oven until I couldn't see any more un-melted chunks. Once they were all liquid, I SLOWLY put the cookie sheet on  cooling rack until they were...

 

CRAYONS!

 

 

It's Been a While

I just realized I haven't made a post in almost a month. Sorry!

In early February, I discovered that I'm expecting.  Yipee! The first few weeks of pregnancy have found me pretty tired, and I haven't really crocheted or knit in weeks. I do have a couple of projects I'd like to wrap up, though, including making some Chemo Caps for a volunteer project I found on Ravelry: http://www.skrapyram.com/2012/01/please-join-me-for-special-project.html. The photo here is one of the hats I finished for the project.






Since I don't have any new patterns to share, I thought I'd post some recent photos:

By Erica Knudson

By Erica Knudson

By Erica Knudson

(Mississippi River)
By Erica Knudson

Making Posts...

The Baby Flower Headband has been my most popular pattern by far.

Happy Sober Mama mentioned my Baby Flower Headband pattern in a post, so I thought I'd share it here: http://happysobermama.blogspot.com/2011/10/quick-baby-crochet-headband.html

If you'd like to make it, too, you can find the Baby Flower Headband pattern here:
http://handmadebyerica.blogspot.com/2011/05/baby-flower-headband.html

I'm so appreciative of my upbringing and just wanted to take a little moment to thank my parents.  I haven't figured out whether my ability to enjoy the simpe things about life and creativity is hereditary or learned, but I credit it to my parents either way, and I hope my children catch it, too.

A post on Lil Blue Boo, a blog I'm really enjoying lately, just had a post in which the author explains her family background and how a passion for creativity has remained strong through several generations.
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2011/09/vintage-barbie-handmade-style.html#comment-20525

Since the post started with vintage Barbie accesories, I'd like to add that my mom made me a Barbie doll house from cardboard when I was little, and it included furnishings - it was amazing.