2010: The Year of Finishing Begins

Here it is over halfway through the first month of the year and I'm just getting around to sharing a project I finished on January 1st or 2nd! Yikes. Maybe 2011 should be the year of timeliness.

So I ended 2009 by whipping up a draft stopper for our front door using the leftover fabric from Braydon's stuffed animal carrier and well, there was plenty more fabric and corn cob (even after my first ill-attempt which resulted in a tube so small it got stuck under our basement door and Mike couldn't get in the house).

I did what any good crafter would do, and I started the new year off by making a more complex version of the first. This time the door in question was our basement door in our kitchen which leads to the side entrance which we use almost exclusively. We live in an older house that has had some upgrades to it, so the small, old door has a bit of a gap at the bottom which surely lets more cold air into the main house than we'd like to think.

So learning from my first ill-attempt (see parentheses above), I decided that the only way a draft stopper would work on such a heavily used door was: #1 if the tube was significantly larger than the uneven gap, and #2 had tubes on both sides of the door that were in some way connected.

Mike didn't see how I was going to accomplish this, but I had a plan. Being a frequent craft/home blog reader for several years now, I knew I had seen someone tackle this same problem before (not martha, it turns out). So I sent my mind to work and devised my own way to use what we had on hand, took a few measurements and was off to the sewing room.

Lined again with the hideous brown & pink flower fabric I somehow ended up with several yards of, I made an approximately 8 inches wide by 2 feet long sock. I marked the center and measured out the width of my door from there. Then I sewed the sock into thirds (the long way) and filled my outer two thirds with corn cob and then sewed the open end closed across all 3 thirds.

Wah Lah! I had a draft stopper that easily slip under the gap of the door and covers it on both sides. The door can easily be opened and closed from both sides without losing the functionality of the draft stopper - which is perfect for the main door of the house, it is used all day, instead of only when we're home. And surprisingly Nibbler doesn't find it tempting, despite loving popcorn and gobbling up all the corn cob I spilled with trying to fill this thing alone. Hopefully one day she doesn't get bored enough to tear into it just for the fun of it.

I still have enough fabric and corn cob for at least another stopper, so perhaps I'll make one and put it on etsy or something, that way I can truly "finish it up" because the only other thing I can think of to use the corn cob is tas "brown" matter in my compost bin.

The Easy Way.

Project #46 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Set of 5 Super Chunky Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar

I admit, I took the easy way out this year.

Instead of devoting a weekend to baking Christmas cookies to give out as gifts, I took inspiration directly from Rachel Ray Magazine and layered the ingredients in pretty jars and made my friends & family do the work.

I like to think I'm giving those friends and family members a chance to make cookies at their leisure because if they're anything like me, they come home from every event with a package of more cookies than they should be eating.

Plus they get an awesome jar!

I should send a shout out to the cashier at Hobby Lobby for considering the 3 I bought there as "decorative glass" and giving them to me for 50% off.

Project #47 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Set of 8 Felt Christmas Bows

You can kind of get a sense of my wrapping scheme this year as well by looking at the line of jars. I wrapped the majority of our gifts in brown kraft paper (until I ran out the night before we left and had to run to the grocery store and grab the cheapest non-blatant Christmas paper available) and wrapped a few strands of deep red yarn around instead of a ribbon. Simple, crafty, and very much the vibe I wish to give off at Christmas. Then a lucky few received a handcrafted felt Christmas bow in a deep forest green.

I saw a blog post by Twig & Thistle earlier in the month taking a tutorial by How About Orange for making package bows out of magazines and using felt instead, and I thought it would be an elegant way to finishing my simple packages. I had grand plans of making one for every package we were giving out, but alas, I started only on Monday night and then forgot to pick up more sheets of the craft felt sheets when I ran to Michaels on Tuesday before craft group. Oops.

I ended up topping each of the cookie mix jars with a bow and then placing one on a package for my mom, sister & mother-in-law figuring they would most likely actually reuse them which was the intended dual purpose.

They're super easy to make, especially assembly-line-style, plus they gave me an excuse to break out the hot glue gun which doesn't get much use around these parts. I'm thinking I might use some of my stashed craft felt to make some more. None of my colors are really Christmasy though, so I'm not sure how much use I would get out of them. They might actually become clutter in a different form. Maybe I'll just put that idea on the bottom of the list and if I need something to do, the idea will be there.

No, I Can't Buy You a Dishwasher.

Project #43 in '50 in 2009 Challenge'- Homer Simpson Dishcloth

Several weeks ago when I asked my brother-in-law what he would like for Christmas, his response was a dishwasher. I told him, surely you know I can't buy you a dishwasher, but I did get an idea of what I could give him - my most favorite cleaning device ever - a pot scraper* (like seen on the left of the second image in this post).

So I didn't end up only giving him a small 89 cent piece of plastic for Christmas (ok, plus the magazine subscription he requested), I decided to knit him up a couple of dishcloths to make a nearly complete dishwashing system.

Plus it would give me a chance to use some of my cotton stash as I've decided 2010 will be the year of finishing things (including my stash of yarn & fabric - I've finally realized that I will almost buy new materials for a new project), so why not give myself a bit of a head start.

I really enjoy doing patterns like this Homer Simpson dishcloth because with every row changing, it holds my attention and I don't tend to space out and make mistakes. Weird, I know.

I started with one of my mid-size balls of left over cotton, thinking I could surely get an entire dishcloth out of it. But as you can see, that didn't happen! Man, my eye for estimation is going out the window. And the funny thing is it happened again with the next color. A good thing for the stash busting though.

Project #48 in "50 in 2009 Challenge" - Chinese Waves Dishcloth

And since one dishcloth certainly could not be enough, I had to make him a second. Actually, I would have preferred that there had been a third as well, but considering I was knitting the Chinese Waves the morning of the day we left, I just didn't have enough time. You may notice that it's a bit squatter than what you may normally see with a dishcloth. That's because I decided I needed to have it done before we left so I could work on the last two projects of the year during our drives, so I could actually make it to 50 this year. It's probably easier to handle as well. I mean, it is only a dishcloth. There are no real size requirements.

The Chinese Waves pattern confused me a bit. You were only given four rows of the pattern, but when I went to repeat the 3rd row (the 4th was just a straight knit), it messed up the look of the pattern. I must have messed something up, but I couldn't figure out what I did wrong, so from there on out I just repeated rows 1 & 2 until it was large enough to stop. I say, oh well, it's only a dishcloth to be used on gross, dirty dishes. It doesn't need to be perfect.

I see a lot more dishcloths in my future. As I mentioned before 2010 will be my year for finishing things (so no '50 in 2010' - I need a break from the stress of trying to make it to the magic number). Though I'd like to say I'm going to clear out the yarn stash I have, I know it's not practical, I'm just not that fast of a knitter. But I do think I can clear out the stash of cotton I have, so it is very possible that everyone will be getting dishcloths next Christmas. Though then again, maybe all my cotton won't yield as much as I think it will.

We shall see. We shall see.

*I can't remember if I've touted the amazingness of this cheap piece of plastic before. We got ours at Ace Hardware, seriously 89 cents. Gets all the burned on crap off without having to use sponges or copper scrubbies, and you just throw it into the utensil basket to clean it right up. Copper scrubbies are great, but can get disgusting really fast, making me want to toss them before they were fully used. I cannot recommend the pot scraper enough, a much more environmentally-conscious method for cleaning dishes (I also find I don't need to use as much running water to rinse & scrap as I did to rinse & scrub). And hey, some hand knit dishcloths don't hurt either - I find them to be much more effective than store bought ones.

Green Pup

Project # 20 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Reuseable Treat Bag

Not only does Nibbler have a new, stylish travel bag, I also outfitted her with some matching reuseable food bags, helping us eliminate the need to use ziplocks or our tupperware.

Not completely green, but a much greener option than what we were using. And every little step you can take helps.

Project # 19 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Reuseable Travel Dog Food Bag

These were worked up with the scraps from the travel bag, and then I bought some oilcloth to line the inside so the fabric doesn't get greasy. Each closes with some velcro, so really they probably work just as well as a ziplock (especially the cheap ones we buy).

The same idea could be applied to make little snack sacks as well, for chips or pretzels or something when you pack your lunch. We don't have a lot of snacks in the house but I still think I'll work up a few. I mean, I bought like a full yard of oilcloth, so I have plenty that'll need to get used eventually.

Nibbler seemed to like the bags, especially when I let her eat the food I was using to model the shot. I didn't get a picture of her with the bag on her nose trying to get the last kibble out, but it happened and I take it as a positive that she didn't run off with it or try to destroy it.

One for Me, One for You: February Fabric or Miracle Cleaner

My February Choice - Alexander Henry's Juicy Lemon



Darcy's February Choice

Finally a day of relaxation.

Second draft (the tight one before it goes to press) was off to our client yesterday…exactly at five.

Despite the long hours this past week, it was still a rush until the end because my printer would not cooperate. I started printing at 3:30 and was still printing up until 4:54. It seemed to be going great, I even thought I might be able to head out early…and then my printer laughed in my face.

Oh well, it's done.

And after falling asleep on the couch last night at like 8:30, I was up relatively early and finally got to clean up our house which has been neglected the past couple weeks with both Mike and I working long hours.

During my clean up I discovered a miracle cleaner! So tough that it was able to cut through the grease and dust build-up on our stove hood (something I last unsuccessfully tried to clean at Thanksgiving).

And what's even better is it was homemade (and therefore cheaper) and much greener than anything I've bought at the store. The only initial cost was about $3 for a box of borax because we had everything else on hand - and that's going to last me an eternity.


Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner (courtsey of Mrs Clean)
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Borax
- 1/2 tsp Liquid Soap
- 2 c Hot Water

Mix all ingredients in 16oz spray bottle, shake well and fight the grim!


How's that for a twofer post, not only do you get to see the latest 'One for Me, One for You' fabric but you get a recipe for cleaning success as well! Just in time for spring cleaning.