Yarn Wrapped Candy Cane Ornament

Time for another quick ornament. 

Have you been keeping up?

This one starts with a piece of heavy wire.

I use rebar wire from the fencing section of home improvement stores.

You can also use an old wire hanger.

Cut the wire and bend it into a candy cane shape.

Then I used hot glue to glue the end of some heavy red and white yarn I had.

Then I wrapped it continually around the wire, gluing every so often.

When I got the whole thing covered, I  glued the end to the candy cane.  

Once the glue was dry, I trim the end with scissors.

I make a mixture of hot water, coffee and ground cinnamon.

 I soak the ornaments in it for about 30 minutes.

  I remove them and hang them over a drying rack in my garage until they are dry.

Now they are ready for the tree or a package.

Thanks for stopping by...

Arm Knitting Infinity Scarves

Ok, so I have been known to get a bit obsessed when I learn to do something new.

I fall in love with the process or the finished product and go a little crazy for a while.

I must say...

Arm knitting recently became one of those obsessions.

Have you seen it?

They look wondrously complicated.

They are NOT....

I bought a scarf that I loved in December.

I had heard of arm knitting but had not seen it.

About a week after I bought it, I saw a cool wreath on Hometalk where she finger knitted to cover a wreath form....

While I was watching the video for the finger knitting, I noticed one in the side bar for arm knitting.

Which led to a new Pinterest board....

And two days of watching the videos.

And then a yarn run....

And then a night of trying it out.

I had trouble casting on for the longest time.

Then I made three the first night and ripped them all back out and started over.

So after 5 days I had no scarves.

The next night I made 3.

And so it began.

I love that you can really change the look by doubling/tripling the wraps.

As you can see here.

I like that people can wear them however it suits them best.

Long.

Or short and cozy.

I also love how using different yarns gives you an entirely different look.

These are all arm knitted using the same method.

I have big hands and wrists so my loops are big. 

I cannot make them small.

But I have seen others that are much smaller.

I do different lengths.

Sometimes this is on purpose.

Sometimes it is because that is how much yarn the skeins have.

I learned that 5 or 6 weight yarns work the best.

The yardage per skein varies so check that when you are buying your yarn.

For most, I double the yarn.

You can make a scarf with only one skein but you need to double it.

That seems like a lot of work to me, so I just buy doubles of each color/kind of yarn.

Makes the doubling easier.

I don't have to unwind the whole ball that way.

Lion brand has a great Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn that I learned on for these.

They have so many colors.

I love the cozy wool.

It is a blend so it is not scratchy.

There are also acrylic blends which are much softer.

And sometimes offer even more color choices.

Pattons also makes this neat Cobbles yarn.

I do not double this one. 

 It is so thick, you don't even need to.

Some of the yarns are mixed within the skein...

Love that!

I did mention the word obsessed, right?

I think you may be starting to see what I mean...

This next one was an experiment with some funky yarn remnants.

It is very quirky.

It reminds me of being stuck in a snow flurry...

I have kept a couple of different colors and styles for myself.

And I sold a couple dozen locally before Christmas.

I will be adding several of these to my Etsy shop soon.

I find it super relaxing and fun.

It is a great diet exercise.

While I am watching TV, my hands are busy so no mindless snacking....

I am off to make a few more colors...

Thanks for stopping by....

Linking up with these great blogs...

Studio Reorganization...Making Headway....

So last week I showed you the top of my cupboards. 

They were overflowing with yarn.

  

I know, scary.

So over the weekend, I got the top of the cupboards looking better.

First, I got all of it down.

I cleaned out a bunch of neat containers...inside and out.

I put a couple dryer sheets in each to make sure they did not start to smell funky.

I sorted the yarn and stuffed those containers full.

Pinks and Purples.

Neutrals...

Heavy, thick wool yarn.

Blues....

Pure wool yarn.

How does someone who does not knit have so much yarn?!

Then I reorganized the tops of the cupboards with the new storage.

These cool suitcases without handles came from a junking trip last week.  

They have a couple small cracks but up there no one will see the damaged parts.

I rolled some burlap bags up and put them on top so I didn't waste any space.

Next I took the mason jars of buttons and gave them a new base.

I used an antique tin tray to corral them in one area.

Underneath I gave the tray support with some scrap wood blocks.

 I had to make sure the next suitcase did not stick out because of the ceiling fan.

This cool old cardboard suitcase was hidden under the dry sink in another part of the studio.

  I like it better here.

More burlap sacks, some dyed burlap and some cool rolls of corrugated paper.

   

Next is another tray of mason jars.

  There are some zippers and other goodies in these as well as buttons.

Last, but not least is an old blue round suitcase with a tin of buttons on top, an old typewriter case, and a basket I got junking a couple weekends ago.

They are all full of yarn.

Whew.

Looks better. 

Just another couple photos so you can see the change.

You can see my fair ribbons on the cupboard doors.

Every summer we enter lots of goodies in the county fair....

mostly flowers and herbs...

flower arrangements....

sewing projects....

crafts...

and art pieces....

It is a ton of fun.

I love my ribbons.

The premiums check usually goes for some sort of fun new supplies.

At one point while I was working on this, my daughter came out and gave me the look that says,

"Why, with this whole mess, are you doing that?"

Easy.

Because this is a small area that I can see an improvement quickly.

I can also see if from everywhere in the studio so when I feel overwhelmed, it is a glimmer of hope.

See....you only see what I show you....

Here is what she sees......

Yup!

I have some work to do.

  I will show you more later.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Reorganizing the Studio

I am lucky enough to have several spaces devoted primarily to my art.

This is good....

and bad.

I have lots of stuff.

I like to do lots of things so I am always on the lookout for supplies or possible projects.

I reorganize each year. 

This year I am determined to get my spaces looking good. 

I want to sort out what I can really use and cull the rest.

This is my goal.  

We will see how it goes.

To stay on track, I am going to show you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Here is my first challenge.

Above the cupboards in my garage, I keep my yarn and fibers.

When I started, they were in little plastic baskets and looked nice.

Then time went by.

I bought more yarn.

And more yarn.

And more yarn.

Now they look like this.

Sigh. 

 So I am rethinking how I am going to store things up there and show you the results as soon as it is done.

  Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.