My new favorite listing on etsy

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19852075

(fwiw, I bought a DIY I Spy bag kit from aebaby, and it was wonderfully done, and just right for my pre-reading daughter. I highly recommend her stuff .... although I'd prefer a lower price on this one!)

It's just so pretty

And it's cashmere! swoon

Feeling all smug in a MacGyverish sort of way

Lazy Husband was just getting ready for bed and discovered a rather troubling steady drip of water that is coming from the top of our bedroom window frame and splashing loudly on our windowsill every 0.65 seconds. Aside from the hideous mold this leak is probably causing in our walls and attic, the sound is enough to drive you insane while trying to go to sleep.

Putting down a towel on the sill didn't help, it just made it into more of a splat than a plink, and at the rate the water is coming out the towel would be completely soaked before morning, anyway. Lazy Husband was about ready to give up and sleep in the guest room tonight when I had a brain flash.

I grabbed the leftover (organic, unbleached, undyed, ridiculously expensive) cotton yarn from this hat, taped one end to the wall above the leak, ran the length of it so it touched the drippy point on the frame, and stuck the other end in a plastic pitcher. Once I wetted down the yarn along its length, the water ran (silently!) down the yarn and into the pitcher.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, craft gods, for helping me get some sleep tonight. Because I'm going to need it when calling repair people tomorrow ...

Update - look how cute the legwarmers are as fingerless mittens!

All I did was add a large buttonhole to the side as a thumbhole, and voila! Fingerless mittens that look really cute on a 13-yr-old! Gotta go make some of those for me ...

Little Legwarmers now available

Just a quick note to let everyone know that you can now buy my Little Legwarmers EXCLUSIVELY at Above the Barre dance studio in Berea, OH.

The legwarmers all feature decorative ribbon bows at the top and double-overcast edges at the bottom (which look a little different from the ones in the photo, but trust me, they're even cuter with the new lettuce hem). Great as legwarmers for young kids, or armwarmers for older kids or adults! Each pair is individually made by me, and comes packaged in a cute cello bag with care instructions on the tag. A steal at only $8 a pair!

Get them while you can - I sold three pairs before the owner had finished reading the consignment agreement I wrote up!

If they sell well at the studio, I may try selling them at additional venues, so let me know if you have any suggestions of places who might be looking to sell kids' clothing.

Wifebeater bag

Lazy Husband left a pile of t-shirts sitting in our bedroom, waiting for the next run to Goodwill. I snagged one and turned it into a reusable shopping bag, ala the much superior ones that fellow Clevey zJayne makes.

In order to make the bags, you first have to cut off the sleeves and the neckline of the shirt, then fold in the sides of the shoulders to reinforce the handles. When you do that, you basically turn a poor, unsuspecting t-shirt into a wifebeater, which got me giggling. And when you make the bottom of the bag and gusset it, you end up with this sort of wifebeater-torso bag, which is going to make me snort every time I use it.

Note to self - when making subsequent bags, a unisex XL makes a bag that's really too huge to be practical. I could stuff most of a week's worth of groceries in there, if i didn't mind them squishing each other into a pulp before I got them to the car. Or maybe I'll just go buy one from zJayne ...

Some projects that aren't socks

This past summer I made a cotton skirt for Lazy Kid, who managed to outgrow it before she tired of wearing it. After a couple of months of her showing everyone her undies unintentionally, I finally got around to adding a couple of inches to the hem. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

The hem is a mixture of a lace pattern from a pair of socks I made ages ago, and part of a lace edge on a collar in a recent issue of Knitty, so basically it's a one-off that's never going to happen again. Shame, because the ruffle effect is pretty cute. Might have to practice that on another skirt to see if I can get the ruffle again. In the meantime, since she's been the same waist size forever and her legs are growing like weeds, I'm saving the rest of the lace pattern for later. I figure I can pull the cast-off edge and just keep going when I need to make it longer again :)

And, once the socks were all done - ALL DONE! - I knit myself a hat and a pair of mittens to celebrate. It goes nicely with the scarf I made earlier this ... er, last year.

Awww, aren't I cute? Also cute - the hat, and the button on the brim that I found in the button box. The mittens are only felted because they turned out freakishly large - they didn't fit Lazy Husband, and he's got giant hands - and I still need to add some elastic to help cinch in the cuffs. But they're close enough to finished for a photo, right? I had so much fun felting the mittens that I've already cast on for a pair of Fuzzy Feet, which I hope to have finished by the end of the weekend.