How to stencil with freezer paper | How About Orange.

Craftzine.com blog : Free Coin Purse Pattern From Cotton And Cloud.

Cloudy Crochet: Brioche Stitch Explained. Thank goodness.

Where on Earth can you find BORING fabric? | Ask MetaFilter.

I have this thing about winter hats, they never quite cover my earlobes. I forget all about this until I'm out in the cold and then it's too late and I end up tugging the hat down trying to keep my poor ears warm. Even the Calorimetry, which I love, doesn't quite cover my whole ear (maybe I have freakishly large ears?).

The hat shown here is my rough draft and is riddled with mistakes. I closed the short rows on one side incorrectly, I missed when to cable and did some at every five rows, some at six and one a seven. Despite this it's still my favorite functionally warm hat. And I have enough yarn to make a more polished one. It's pictured here on a styrafoam head that is considerably smaller than my own head.

The hat shown pulled down over the forehead.

I was telling a friend, Maggi, about this and my requirements. I didn't want to have a staggered cast on (I like tubular for hats), I didn't want to have tie anything under the chin, I didn't want to go back and knit ear flaps later on (they don't seem to do anything but hang there anyhow). Then Maggi, all effortless like, suggested short rows. She is a genius. I've only just wrapped my head around how short rows work so I gave it a shot.

The hat shown pulled back a bit.

I made the short rows on this hat like you would do for a sock heel (each row was shorter than the previous), and the result was that they curl inward and hug underneath the ear, a nice unexpected outcome. I used the Chunky Cabled Beanie pattern from Stitch Cafe as a starting point. (Here found at the Internet Archive after it disappeared during a site redesign sometime in the last two days.) I added a pattern repeat, for a total of seven cable/rib sections, and placed the short row areas centered over cabled sections closer to the back of the head, if you are counting from the join at the back of the head they would be over sections 2 and 6.

The hat is shown above flat. On the left is the hat from the front, and on the right is the hat from the side (if worn one's face would be pointed to the left). I'm trying to show how I didn't center the earflaps but set them back a bit, they seem to be well placed for me.

(I'm no good at getting photographs of myself in a mirror, this is the only one that shows the hat well enough.)

There are a few short row earflap hats already out there including this very tidy one from QueerJoe's Knitting Blog, the Brioche Helmet Hat from Interweave Knits, Earflap Hat from Sunshine Knit Designs, and Cameron's Cap by Sarah Peasley (note: that link is to a PDF).

I'm not sure if it uses short rows but I like the cabled had from Rebecca shown by Action Hero in her roundup of winter hats. Another ear covering hat that comes immediately to mind is the Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap. On Ravelry I found the Mimipita Earflap Hat, which is written in Japanese but uses a universal chart, and the Cabled Earflap Hat which is sized for a baby but easily made larger using a larger gauge.

There are also plenty of cute earflap hats that have chin ties that I wouldn't mind having: Cabled Chullo, Snowboarder Hat That Rocks and 18 Seconds to Sunrise.

One last note, I still really like Japanese short rows. The best tutorials I've found are at nonaKnits and for Japanese short rows in the round Adorabubble Knits works through it nicely.

p.s. My project is here on Ravelry in case you're interested: red cabled short row earflap hat.

Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off, Fall 2009. It's here! I learned this at Sock Summit and you can learn it now too.

angry chicken: screenprinting on fabric made easy (really!). With a discount for EZScreenPrint, a good excuse to try it out.

all buttoned up.: The New Stitch Magazine and My Perfect Cookie.. The thermal pot luck carrier is fantastic!

lovelydesign: perfect boxes + drawer dividers. With instructions.

swissmiss | Inkjet tattoo paper. For DIY temporary tattoos. Must keep in mind for future Halloween projects.

I recently came across the concept of reversible cables, what a lovely and tidy thing, especially for a nice thick scarf that won't curl in on itself and you won't have to worry about having the correct side facing out. I used the free pattern Palindrome, which is very easy, and added a pattern repeat. I'm using Berocco Comfort Chunky yarn on size #8 needles to keep the ribbing nice and tight. I bought four balls of yarn and I'm half way through the third ball, the scarf is long enough that I might make a hat using the same reversible cable pattern.

I did a 2x2 tubular cast-on and it's rounded edge makes me happy.

Lucky me, just as I'm discovering how much I like reversible knitting comes out a book: Reversible Knitting: 50 Brand-New, Groundbreaking Stitch Patterns. I'm looking forward to seeing what is in there.

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Make a Craft/Tool Station And Organizer.

design is mine : isn't it lovely?: portland local : more from ink & peat.. I love the velvet wrapped pumpkins here.

How to make a ruffled felt pillow | How About Orange.

Marimekko Blog » Marimekko: From Sketch to Printed Fabric.

Kitchener Stitch without a tapestry needle :: Rebecca Blood.

This is cool, as part of the new Repro Depot stuff for Chronicle Books they are releasing two different surface pattern books with a CD containing patterns you can use to make your own stationery, crafts and anything you can think of. They have Folk and Flora, both with a foreword from Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge. The collection also includes stationary, notecards and a journal.

Hipknitism.com | Lesson 4: Sherman Heel.

knitbot, by Hannah Fettig » Kindred Knits Collection: Zip Up Cardigan. This is a good mens' sweater, dare I make one for Scott?

Obsessiondujour: Reversible Cable Scarf.

Clover Extra Large Pom Pom Maker. I knew about the small and large pom pom makers but not this extra large one. Pom pom rug here I come.

Posie Gets Cozy: Free Embroidery Pattern at Sew, Mama, Sew! This is lovely and might just get me to attempt an embroidery project again (last one was in, gulp, high school).

craftlog » spoonflower marketplace. Looks like you'll be able to order other people's Spoonflower designs, neato.

Yay, Amy Karol's second book, Bend the Rules with Fabric, is officially out. I have a copy and I really like it.

The book talks about all the things you can do to decorate and personalize fabric for purposes of clothing, accessories and toys. The beginning of the book talks about supplies and techniques, and I was especially pleased to find that none of them require you to buy a huge amount of expensive equipment.

She covers things from dying fabric to printing on fabric using your home computer printer. One of my favorites is using freezer paper to put silk screen like effects on fabric. I like these sheets:

The book is full of simple but stunning ideas for decorating everyday things including undies:

and shoes:

and some simple stitching to make a plain shirt into something that looks very nice indeed:

I've focused on the projects that appeal immediately to me, but the book is full of projects for kids and ones you can do with kids, including transferring drawn images onto clothing and making custom printed dolls.

Amy Karol's blog is Angry Chicken where she documents life and gives instruction all sorts of great projects. Her first book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing, is equally as awesome. I talk about more here.

I'm happy to let you all know that Kristen Rask (she who owns Schmancy and curates the annual Plush You! show) has a new book (it's a kit too) coming out in mid-September called Creature Crochet. To celebrate she is giving away a copy to one lucky reader. I got a look at the copy she brought to the summer UCU but, sadly, wasn't able to rip it own and play with the yarn inside.

To enter simply leave a comment with this post. If you want you can tell us the creature-centric crochet project you've ever taken on, or if you've never crocheted in your life. The Fine Print applies. I'll be closing comments and letting the random number generator choose a winner around 10 am on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd, PST, so you've got a week to enter, good luck!

I've been experimenting with oh so famous the Martha Stewart tissue paper pom poms as decorations for our upcoming post-wedding reception in Ohio. (You know what is so brilliant about theses? You can ship them mostly assembled but flat and just poof them out when you get there.) I discovered that these smaller ones, shown here as napkin ring decorations, made with larger rounded ends make for especially charming faux flowers.

To make them I followed the usual instructions using four sheets of tissue paper cut into 4" by 6" rectangles. I folded in roughly 3/4" accordion folds and trimmed the ends like so:

Separate the layers and you can use a bit of floral tape to attach them to a floral wire stem. These are currently gracing my dining room.

Riot of Daisies » Blog Archive » New Stitch Markers. Plastic coiless safety pins to use as stitch markers for knitter, an alternative to the Clover locking ring markers.

Kitchener stitch dog tag - Patternworks. Dorky, but useful.

Dolce & Gabbana Ruched Nylon Knitting Bag. Love it but what a price tag.

Cardigan Empire: How to Hem Jeans in 3 Easy Steps. Via Mary Sheely on Twitter.

Short row heel vs. heel flap [Archive] - KnittingHelp.com Forum.

Knitty: universal toe-up short-row sock formula.

Flickr: thedailypurl's sock knitting bag.

Look at that, I have a heel on my sock. I only needed to rip back four times to get it all right. That dark line of thread you see is a lifeline that I got a whole lot of use out of. I used the Japanese short rows from nonaKnits which explains the basics, but I found this tutorial for Japanese short rows in the round at Adorabubble Knits to be the most useful. Though, I turn, slip, then add a pin. That difference didn't seem to affect how the gaps closed on the last go around. I will try the turn, add a pin and then slip next sock to see if there is a difference. I've also discovered that stringing pins on my yarn ahead of time, just like you would if you were knitting with beads, saves a lot of frustration when I'm in the midst of short rowing. Thanks again to Amy Singer for her excellent Favorite Sock Recipe, I suspect I would have given up on other forms of short rows.