TTMT #154 - jewells68 - December 29, 2015 - Wide Necked, Too short, Puff...

TTMT #153 - jewells68 - December 22, 2015 - Mmmmmmmmmm, Cookies!

In which I find way more to talk about than I planned... but what else is new? Some holiday cookies, some secret projects, some garment construction... this video has it all! Well at least I mention it all, lol.

TTMT #152 - jewells68 - December 15, 2015 - Flip It and Bag it Up

In which I can't show what I'm working on, but show a couple of attempts at a sleeve for my new Asus Flip, and some pictures of our recent snowfall from this past weekend.

TTMT #151- jewells68 - December 10, 2015 - Serging to the Finish

In which I show my 12th and final Project Linus donation for the year, A sweater recon I did for my daughter, and my new flannel Fitbit cuff.

TTMT #150 - jewells68 - December 1, 2015 - UFOs Continue

Maybe something to show next week...

TTMT #149 - jewells68 - November 17, 2015

TTMT #148 jewells68 November 10, 2015 A Star

In which I talk briefly about my upcoming Project Linus donations/projects, Phebe's PoD, and that's about it! Royalty-Free Music by Kevin McCleod,

incompetech.com "Monkeys spinning Monkeys"

TTMT #147 - jewells68 - November 3, 2015 - Zoo Boo!

In which you see a tiny craft from me, and then some video clips I took at the Zoo this past Saturday. We are so fortunate to have 4 healthy Tasmanian Devils. And fortunate to have a really great Bio Park (zoo, botanical garden, and aquarium), much nicer than you would expect for a city our size. Royalty-free music by Kevin McCleod of incompetech.com .

TTMT #146 - jewells68 - October 27, 2015 - Twinkle Twinkle

Happy Birthday to my niece Nicole!



In which I show off another Project Linus quilt top, talk about goals for the rest of 2015, and TEASE on upcoming stuff. :P

TTMT #145 - jewells68 - October 20, 2015 - It's Me... in HD!

in which I show off a couple of quilt tops for Project Linus, a finished granny ghan, and a bit of a fat quarter splurge... also my first video with my birthday present, a new fancy schmancy camera so now I get to greet you in HD... better run for the hills, lol!

TTMT #144 - jewells68 - October 13, 2015 - Quilts!

In which I show off TWO count 'em, TWO finished quilts, and the awesome fun prize I received from Rainey. And if you make it that far without falling asleep, you actually might hear a TINY amount of singing. Because... everything I do relates to me somehow in a song... what can I say I was born this way!

Also, I don't even mention the hand embroidered label. I did mention it the first time I recorded, but forgot it this time around... but I really liked the way it turned out, I'll definitely do that again.

TTMT #143 - jewells68 - September 29,2015 - Just a little Bit

In which I show something fun I got in the mail and A little of the finished Wonky Monkey quilt.

TTMT #142 - jewells68 - September 22, 2015 - Crafty Solutions

In which I demonstrate why people like us are called "crafty".

TTMT #141 - jewells68 - September 15, 2015 - Swappity Swap and other Stuff!

TTMT #140 - jewells68 - September 8, 2015 - FINALLY!

In which I show a crocheted granny-ghan that I'll be turning in to Project Linus this Saturday, along with a new quilt top and a finished PoD top. #productiveweek

TTMT #139 - jewells68 - September 1, 2015 - So Close!

In which you'll see part of a very-nearly finished Project of Doom quit top, and the teensiest swap-tease. Have a great week!

TTMT #138 - jewells68 - August 25, 2015 - Holding Pattern

In which I show you NOTHING. But thankfully I don't ramble on like I did last week.

TTMT #137 - jewells68 - August 18, 2015 - Time for a Stroll!

In which I talk about visiting my Local Quilt Shops, my Project of Doom, and secret surprise mail. Sorry it's so long. I'm a ramblin' gal today.

TTMT #136 - jewells68 - August 11, 2015 - A Little Bit of Crafty

In which I show a finished Project Linus crocheted blanket which I donated this month, and a Rail Fence quilt in progress, for no purpose whatsoever. Babble babble.

TTMT #135 - jewells68 - July 21,2015 - Short One for Once!

I don't show you anything! But I do talk about finishing my daughter's Project of Doom blocks and my plan with regard to putting titles on the books.

TTMT #134 - jewells68 - July 14, 2015 - "Mulligan"

Didn't win the June ttmt.livejournal.com prize? Maybe you did!

TTMT #133 - jewells68 - July 7, 2015 - June Prize Drawing

Find out who wins the June drawing for ttmt.livejournal.com! Also some talk about Project Linus finishes (and starts!). And remember those dreaded granny squares? They're baaaaaaaaaack!

TTMT #132 - jewells68 - June 30, 2015 - Retreat, Monkeys, and Prizes, O...

Probably my longest video to date, sorry about that. I talk (a lot!) about the uber-awesomeness of crafty retreats, show off a quilt top and some PoD blocks, and FINALLY show off the options for the June TTMT Livejournal community prize.

TTMT #131 - jewells68 - June 17, 2015 - Out of Breath

Haha, nice face for the still frame.

TTMT #130 - jewells68 -June 9, 2015 - Rearranging & June Prize

Nothing finished but some quilty progress. Also a bit of rambling about the June prize on TTMT.livejournal.com, of which I am the sponsor.

TTMT # 129 - jewells68 - June 2, 2015 - A Hat, a Cat, and a Monkey

TTMT #128 - jewells68 - May 26, 2015 - A bit of PoD, and bit of Not... c...

2 finished blocks for my daughter's Project of Doom quilt and a bit of babble about sickness and baby quilts.

TTMT #127 - jewells68 - May 19, 2015 - 5 minutes of not much

Little in the way of crafting this past week and weekend, but I do now have a daughter that is a HS graduate! Maybe some actual craftiness next week.

TTMT #126 - jewells68 - May 12, 2015 - A Quilt, A Log Cabin, and a PoD B...

Sorry, but it's a long one. The title is pretty self-explanatory this time.

Log Cabin Closure

What's this? a real blog post with words and pictures and everything? Not just a link to my TTMT video? What could possibly warrant such an occurence?

I did it people. I FINALLY finished the scrappy log cabin I started in February of 2009. Yes 2009. The last blog post I made about it was this one in April of 2009 although I did actually mention in an October 2009 post that I was working on it again. So I dug around through my old posts a little more trying to figure out what made me stop working on this project. Turns out it was a combination of 2 things: learning to crochet and my arthritis. Knitting was really starting to bother my elbow quite a bit. My left elbow. Early in 2009 I started teaching myself to crochet. I use my right arm more than my left when I crochet. So the bigger the blanket got, the heavier it got, and the heavier it got the more time I had to rest in between days I worked on it.

Then of course that was the year of the moth infestation, in which I lost hundreds of dollars of beautiful wool and alpaca and even acrylic yarn to the bastards. They got into the project bag for this blanket and got into the skeins of yarn, but the blanket itself showed no signs of infestation, however, just to be on the safe side, I packed it up in a space bag with some moth balls "for a while" to make sure. That turned into a year, and another year. And another year. At the beginning of each year I would take out all my UFOs and make a list of which ones I wanted to finish that year. For a while the scrappy log cabin was on the list, but I really had gotten to where I preferred crochet so much more than knitting that I just couldn't bring myself to drag the sucker out. So it sat there... in the UFO bag under my cutting table, or got moved to the corner, sometimes on a shelf... taunting me. Every time I would rearrange in my project room I would say "I really need to do something with that blanket!" And then I would move it out of sight and forget about it until the next year. Well no more.

So what happened to get me to FINALLY do something with this forgotten UFO? Well, this month Project Linus kind of snuck up on me. I think because our annual volunteer appreciation brunch was just a couple of weeks ago, I thought I had a little more time. I have a crochet blanket in progress, but haven't been working on it lately. So I realized early this week, Tuesday when I was making my video for TTMT, that I had nothing ready to turn in this weekend, and I was already behind for the year in my goal of 12 blankets... I only had 3 turned in so far this year. So I thought, what could I realistically get done by Saturday morning. And then it hit me. The SCRAPPY LOG CABIN. When I started it I intended to make one that was big enough for our queen sized bed. But clearly that was never going to happen. Well it was already at least big enough for a toddler comfort blanket or maybe even a pre-schooler. So I thought... you crochet now... crochet a border around it and call that baby done! I took it out of the bag and inspected it again. No signs of moths. Washed it to get rid of the moth ball smell and make doubly sure it was ok. It was fine. So I took some white Caron one-pound yarn and a size H crochet hook, did one round of single crochet around it (that took several evenings... very painstaking), then one round of half double crochet, and then I switched to black and SC backwards around it for the final edge last night. This morning I took it to my monthly Project Linus meeting, wove in the ends and sewed the Project Linus label on with just 20 minutes left in the meeting, we were already over halfway through with show and tell. 

And now it's done, done done! And gone gone gone! Woo!

Here's how it finally ended up:

Done and Done! and that plus the teddy bear panel quilt I backed with fleece this week (also something that's been hanging around in my fabric bins for a few years) make a total of 5 blankets so far and it's May, so I'm right on track for the year. Yay!

Have you had something hang around as a UFO so long that you felt it was never going to get done? Don't give it up, there's hope. Find something to inspire you. For me that was knowing I was NEVER going to knit on this heavy old thing again and some child would love it. They can race cars around the stripes and have a blast. They can snuggle under it. It will bring them joy, and that's a heckuvalot better than taunting you every time you see it, right? So if it's been languishing, get it out and give it a good honest look. And then find a way to let it go. Man does it feel good to be GONE!

TTMT #125 - jewells68 - May 5, 2015 - PoD and Possibilities

3 more Project of Doom blocks for my daughter's quilt, and a test block for a possible future project.

TTMT #124 - jewells68 - April 28, 2015 - Happy Birthdaaaay tooo Youuuuuu...

Lots of Happy Birthday Wishes for Someone Very Special... also includes Project Linus stuff, Fabric, and a finished block for Phebe's Project of Doom quilt.

TTMT #123 - jewells68 - April 21, 2015 - Something's Different

A new sewing set up, a new cutting set up, and a new Project Linus quilt top and crochet blanket: these are the ingredients for a RLV... really long video!

TTMT #122 - jewells68 - April 14, 2015 - Knitting??

In which I show a couple of things I knit over the weekend. Sorry no PoD update this week!

TTMT #121 - jewells68 - April 7, 2015 - A Bit More PoD

In which I show my current in-progress crochet blanket for Project Linus, my first three rows for my 2011 PoD done and sewn together, and the most recent blocks finished for my daughter's 2015 PoD.

TTMT #120 - jewells68 - March 31, 2015 - Slowing Down

I am kind of whispering because my daughter is on Spring Break and she's asleep in the next room, so I'm trying not to wake her. In this video I show my embroidered titles on my most recently finished blocks from the 2011 Project of Doom quilt-a-long, and how I'm going to need to add some background fabric to make them the proper size.

TTMT #119 - jewells68 - March 24, 2015 - 2 Rows Down!

In which I show off my most recent embroidered titles for my Project of Doom, the latest block for the 2015 PoD quilt-a-long, and that's about it. Maybe I'll do something non-PoD related in April. ;)



Also, thanks youtube... love that crazy-eyed freeze-frame, lol.

TTMT #118 - jewells68 - March 17, 2015 - And even MORE Progress!

In which I show off my first row of my 2011 PoD, latest finished embroidered block, latest 2015 QAL block for my daughter, and my awesome Feb TTMT on LJ prize from Snowie44.

TTMT #117 - jewells68 - March 10, 2015 - A Little More Progress

In which I show off another finished 2015 PoD block and another PoD block from 2011 with the titles all embroidered. And some other stuff. Jan, don't watch this. ;)

TTMT #116 - jewells68 - March 3, 2015 - More Fabric?? Okay!

In which I show two more finished blocks for my daughter's Project of Doom quilt and some newly purchased small cuts of fabric just purchased to use in the same quilt. I swear I'm working on something other than the PoD but can't show it until the recipient has received it.

TTMT #115 - jewells68 - February 24, 2015 - A Stitch This Time

In which I talk about transferring titles onto my PoD blocks and show a couple finished embroidered blocks.

TTMT #114 - jewells68 - February 17, 2015 - More Doominess

In which I show off finished blocks, talk about a home made light box for tracing, and also talk about painting fabric.Sorry it's a bit rambling. I really need to start having notes with me to keep me on track.

TTMT #113 - jewells68 - Still "PoD"ding along

In which I show off my finally finished block 1 from my original 2011 PoD, blocks 4 and 5 from the 2015 version I'm making for my daughter, and an experiment with pens on fabric.

TTMT #112 - jewells68 - February 3, 2015 - Cross THAT off my list!

In which I show my last 3 blocks for my 2011 Project of Doom quilt and a new, already complete embroidery project. How great does it feel to be done piecing my PoD blocks from 2011 you ask? Pretty great, I must say.

TTMT #111 - jewells68 - January 27, 2015 - More PoD Adventures

In which I show 2 more completed Project of Doom quilt blocks... that's pretty much it, I think, after editing half of it out. My goodness do I ramble.

Jewells' Java Jackets

Well what do we have here? An actual crafty post? With a pattern no less? It's been a long time for sure...

Ever since my shoulder surgery a few years ago I haven't been doing much knitting. I picked up the needles again over the holidays only to remind myself WHY I stopped knitting in the first place? Ah, the shoulder, yes, it aggravates the shoulder WAY more than crochet. I don't understand why it would, but it does, so there you go. However, I stuck it out long enough to create a new pattern and test it no less than a dozen times. Presenting Jewell's Java Jackets, the pattern *drum roll*

Printable PDF version of the Pattern in the sidebar

Jewells’ Java Jackets

I wanted a quick gift that I could knock out in the evening after dinner using leftovers from other projects. After a bit of experimenting I hit upon the following knitting recipe for a coffee sleeve to fit paper to-go cups similar in shape to the cardboard sleeve you get at Starbucks, but taller to protect your hand a bit more. I tried two different versions, one just slightly taller than the cardboard sleeves, and one even taller in case, like me, you have a taller, ceramic coffee tumbler shaped like an XL paper to-go cup. I used cotton so it would work well for hot OR cold beverages.

Materials:

small amount (about ⅓ oz) of cotton dishcloth yarn (I used Lily Sugar and Cream)

size 7 circular needle (9” or 12”) or set of size 7 dpns

2 stitch markers

Pattern:

Using long tail method CO 34 stitches, placing one stitch marker between stitch 17 and 18 and the other marker at the end to mark the beginning of each round.

R1-5: K1P1 across

R6: Kfb or first stitch, K to marker, slip marker, Kfb of first stitch after marker, K to end (36 total stitches)

R7-9: Knit all stitches

R10-17: repeat R6-9 two times (40 total stitches)

R18-22: K1P1

Bind off loosely in pattern

Slip your Java Jacket onto your to-go cup or your reusable tumbler and head out the door!

For a taller sleeve, insert a third repeat of rounds 6-9 before starting your 1x1 ribbing (42 total stitches).

Give it a try, let me know what you think!

TTMT #109 - jewells68 - January 13, 2015 - Finish it in '15

In which I ramble on WAY too long wrapping up 2014 and discussing my plans/goals for 2015. I do reward your patience with some project photos and a bit of silliness, so there's that. Pattern for the "java jackets" is coming soon, I just need to pretty it up a bit.