A Snuggy Built for Two

For a while, I have been buying yarn in a yummy yellow color that was going to be knit into a gorgeous cabled afghan and draped beautifully across my couch. Gone would be the rumpled up fleece throws that litter the couch. But reality set in when I had knit about five rows. This afghan was going to take a long time. It was banished to the drawer (under all the other throws) for the past few years as I happily cranked out sweaters, hats, and socks.

But I still dreamed of that perfect throw....so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to test my Ultimate Sweater Machine. I made two panels - each 305 rows long. Then, I hand-knit seed stitch borders around three of the edges and seamed them together up the middle.

The resulting afghan, while not covered in cables, is a lovely 65-inch square - big enough for two to snuggle under, warm, lofty, light and even covers your feet when taking a nap. Winter's not so bad after all.....

New Toy

I have a gadget that is cooler than anything my kids have! Using birthday money, coupons and buying an "out-of-box" piece of merchandise, I was able to get this Itouch for a reasonable price. This toy allows me to sync my Outlook calendar so I actually have a calendar in my purse and it enables me to listen to books.

This gadget needed a safe home, so I whipped up a belt that will hold it securely while working, cleaning house or doing laundry.

40th

Cleveland, in Northeast Ohio, is the 40th cloudiest city in the United States. (And seventeen of those 40 are located in Alaska.) Yes, the Great Lakes produce a lot of moisture – and a lot of clouds. Somewhere around the middle of November I realize I’m in for a long stretch of sunless skies.

Thankfully, I am lucky enough to surround myself with beautiful colors and beautiful fibers at http://www.contemporarycloth.com/. These metallic beauties caught my eye.

With two teenage daughters in the house, anything pink and green is always welcome and these vibrant colors were a welcome counterpoint to the never ending grey skies.

Since a woman can never have too many bags, I set out to make a simple tote and selected a Butterick pattern.

The pattern was fairly simple to follow. It required craft weight, sew-in interfacing. An inside pocket was sewn to the lining.


It was not long after I began this project that I was surprised to see blue skies and sunshine. We were thrilled to have several clear days in a row, although accompanied by sub-freezing, arctic air.


The result?

Two fun bags, one satisfied Mom, and a happy

“Miss Pink”

and

“Miss Green”

Winter Lace

Jane

No More Snow.

Here in Ohio, the weather is very unpredictable. One day it was 10 degrees outside and today it is 40 degrees outside. Me and my mom were ice skating on Friday, and by Sunday the snow, the ice, and the cold wintery air was gone. All that was left was mud and puddles. If you were wondering, what ice rink, my dad makes an ice rink in our back yard every year. Sometimes we rarely get out, due to weather, but this winter, we went out a lot. We were really lucky. Some winters we get one or two skates in but this winter we got in too many to count!!! We really enjoy it. It's a lot of hard work, but it is totally worth it.

We haven't made much in the past few days, but my mom did make this really soft, blanket on her knitting machine. I don't have any pictures right now, but when we get a chance we will post. She made this HUGE blanket on our knitting machine so fast, I couldn't believe it!! She was going to knit it by hand, but we knew that would take forever so she found out she could make it on the machine. Hopefully we will have some more cool days to use that blanket!!

Annie

The Ice Rink, Friday, February 6, 2009

The Ice Rink, Sunday, February 8, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to our crafty world! Maiden Jane is a little crafty business that we just started because we have so many cute things we want to show you! We have done a few craft shows and are probably going to do an Etsy, so tell your friends and family about us! Maiden Jane is my mom, Jane, who will be posting some of the time, and of course I am Annie, who will post too. When we look in the newspaper, and see all of the people who have done so many crafty things and made a lot of money, we think "we could have done that", but never got the chance. So here we are starting out here. Newbies. Not knowing what to expect. Here are some photos of our crafts so you can get an idea of what we make. Enjoy!

Annie

Metallic Bag

High School T-Shirt Quilt
Home-made Aprons

Home-made Bags