The Hook Up

 

To organize my knitting and crochet supplies, I decided to make a crochet hook holder.  I found a free pattern on Raverly which called for crocheting with two strands of alpaca yarn to create a large rectangle that would be eventually washed and felted to a 7" x 15" rectangle.    

I finished my crochet hook holder in one day by skipping the creation then felting of the large rectangle by re-purposing a purse I had felted in 2007.  The purse had been stashed in my craft closet waiting for a new zipper and interior lining. 

The Steps

I ripped out the lining then cut the seams (because the purse is felted, it is similar to a heavy cloth and won't unravel). I used a straight edge to cut off the sides in order to create the 7" x 15" rectangle.

The last step was to follow the pattern to crochet a lacy strip that was hand sewn across the middle of the rectangle.  I crocheted two more thinner bands to go across the top and the bottom of the rectangle to keep the hooks from falling out.

 

The holder rolls up to a cylindrical shape and is held closed with a button and a short crocheted chain. It's very portable, easy to store and I have all of my hooks in one place.  I know now I have duplicate hooks that I can freecycle or give to friends.

Let me know if you need an F or G aluminum crochet hook.

Queen for a Day

My friend recently celebrated her 50th birthday by hosting a large card party.  I re-purposed an empty rice container (a good way to avoid recycling plastic containers is to buy items in bulk and use refillable containers).  For this plastic shape, I had two over-sized playing cards that I had gotten through a swap many years ago.  The card fit with minimal trimming.  For the other two sides, I cut up box tops and added pieces of playing cards and book paper.  Around the lid, I applied ribbon using heavy duty glue dots.  The top of the lid was covered with a circular disc cut from paper and layered with a circular playing card. The container could be used to hold small items on a desk top or to store small items.  For the party, it served as the collection bin for thoughtful notes her guests had written in celebration of her big day. 

Love Never Ends

Steve and I visited my friend Betti who recently moved.  Her home had such a clean, uncluttered feel that I had to ask her what did she do with all of her stuff.  She said in the process of moving, she and her husband decided to get rid of a lot of things they didn't need or use.  Fortunately for me, Steve agreed that we could do some reducing of stuff.  We have one closet that we haven't used because our daughter has stored  items in it for the past six years.  We decided to begin our purging by cleaning out this closet.

We began by having Cassandra decide what she wanted to keep.  She told us everything, except for a pair a jeans and a shirt, could be given away.  Thus, the closet was empty and could be used for storing winter coats, blankets, and extra pillows.

Before filling the closet with different items, I wanted to cover up the marks on the wall.  I found green planet paint left over from painting Cassandra's and Michael's rooms.  I worked evenly up all sides of the closet from the baseboard with the blue paint until I emptied the can.  After it dried, I used blue masking tape to create a horizontal line around the closet.  Next, I painted green from the top of the blue tape to the bottom of the shelf at the top of the closet.  After the paint had dried, I used large foam rubber stamps and black acrylic paint to press letters spelling "Love Never Ends" along the blue/green border.  I used a hand carved Adinkra stamp Steve had bought in Ghana to add decorative symbols. With some remaining green paint, I added color to the open spaces of the letters and the symbols.

With the coats hanging in the closet, the words aren't seen, but I know they're there.

Jelly Belly Balm

During a conference, I visited an exhibitor's booth that was handing out Jelly Belly candies in small kidney shaped tins.  The candies were stale and very hard to chew so they had plenty to distribute to attendees.  I picked up three of the tins and wish I had gotten more.  The tins are so cute and they close very tightly so they're great for holding small items.

After watching an episode of "Simply Beautiful", a cable program than "explores the world of natural beauty and fashion", I decided to use one of my kidney bean shaped tins to hold an all natural, home made lip and cheek balm.  On the show, the hostess uses three simple ingredients to make a product that adds color and moisture without chemical additives (click here for her recipe Beet Red Kiss).

With insightful advice from a friend's daughter, I was able to make a vegan version of the lip balm by replacing the recommended beeswax with edible shea butter.  She also noted soy wax could be considered as an alternative to beeswax. 

Here are the ingredients

• Two capsules of beet root (look for this in the vitamin and supplement section)
• One tablespoon of shea butter
• One half teaspoon of cocoa butter

Begin by melting the shea butter and the cocoa butter in a double boiler or very carefully in the microwave (when it melts, the oils become very hot and can splatter).  Break open the beet root capsules and sprinkle over the oils.  Stir to combine then pour slowly into a vessel.

Meant to note the need to thoroughly clean whatever container you are reusing to hold your balm.  I washed my tin with soap and warm water then dried thoroughly.

Leave the container until the butters have cooled and become solid.  I added four capsules of beet root to get a deeper color.  This created a grainy effect because all of the powder did not dissolve.