Tutorial: Yarn-Yos

How to Make a Yarn-Yo (Yarn Yo-Yo)

I have no idea if anyone else does this, but I discovered the idea while I was making pom-poms for my crocheted scarf. Here we go. Let's make a yarn-yo!
Materials: yarn, scissors, needle, thread to match yarn, button or bead, pin backing.

Step one: Hold the end of the yarn between your index and middle fingers

then slightly separate them as you start to wrap the yarn around your fingers.

Maintain at least a small space between your fingers, because you will need it later.

After you've amassed a pretty good amount of yarn, go ahead and trim the end,
leaving at least a 6-inch tail.

With about an 8" piece of the same yarn, loop that under the loops,

between your fingers,

then secure the center of the loops with a granny knot.
You can carefully slide the yarn off your fingers

to make a really secure knot.Spread out the edges of your yo-yo to create a full pattern.

Then take the ends of the yarn through your thread and make a few stitches to secure the middle of the yo-yo. You'll need to do that thing where you make a loop stitch and then pull the needle through it to create a knot.

Using matching thread, sew your button or bead
into the middle of your yarn-yo (if you want).

For a wearable creation, sew a pin on the back.

Other uses for yarn-yos:

1. Sew three onto a scrap of fabric and sew that onto a barrette for a fun hair accessory.
2. Use them to embellish a hat or sweater.
3. Put thin ones onto your scrapbook pages.
4. Add them to the straps of your sweet fabric handbag.
5. Sew fabric onto the back, and superglue a magnet to it.
6. Make minis for drop earrings.

Any more ideas for yarn-yos?

Artist Trading Pins?

Hello! Yes, you read correctly; They're pins. I made a batch of Artist Trading Pins (ATPs) for an online swap I heard about through SunSpirit Studio. I am excited because this is my first craft swap!!!

There will be four participants in the swap (including myself). I had the idea to do a crocheted pin with beads and I went through a few ideas before settling on one.

This is what I've come up with so far...

Prototype 1: Black, navy, and green yarns with green cube beads and quartz chips.

Prototype 2: Black, white, and green yarns with rose beads and quartz, cat's eye, and pink chips.

The winner! Black, strawberry, and green yarns with beads as described above.

I'll be sending my pins to Bisbee, Arizona in a few days! I'll post what I receive when I get them.

Christmas is right around the corner!

...Well, not really, but I did make this table runner and napkin set for the holiday.

I got the awesome fabric

at Valley Fabrics in Northampton, MA, months ago.

It's a great store with an amazing coffee shop next door

that I'm sure my blog buddy Carolyn would appreciate!!

Apron

Live and direct
from my craft studio
I present to you
My latest creation
A.P.R.O.N!


that's the top


that's the bottom


and that's the side.
*SNAP*


and here's the little thing I made it on
with no pattern.

But here are some free apron patterns from Tip Nut!

Art, Like Craft

Much to my surprise, some crafty people on the web were having the same "Art vs. Craft" debate three months before I started my blog. I shared some thoughts about this idea in my earlier blog posting, "Glossary". It's interesting to think that somehow we're all wrestling with the same questions about this thing that we do.

I am not one to throw around the term "art". To me, art is a high form of creation, perhaps the highest form. So it's sort of ironic that I sometimes consider myself an artist these days. I'm constantly ambivalent about it. Why is art such an elusive label? Should it be? Most of me truly believes that art shouldn't be elusive, but the common paradigm is ingrained in me. It is learned and would need to be unlearned. Fernd brought up a good point that traditionally, work done by men was considered art, whereas much of "women's work" has been relegated to craft. So, I pose this important question that I haven't heard in the online debates yet: Where does gender come in?

Perhaps, like Jung's Thinking - Feeling & Introvert - Extrovert continua, or Kinsey's Gay - Straight continuum, there is an Art - Craft continuum. Perhaps I, and by extension, perhaps all creators, vacillate between artist and crafter, with stops in between on the continuum. Could this be a psychosocial breakthrough? You heard it here first!

Regardless of the debate, the answer (or no), I thought that the "She's Craft" episode of SSK Podcast was really interesting. The podcasters, Shannon and Stephanie, (who knit) were both of the opinion that what they do is craft because they aren't creating patterns. They like what they do, and they may change little things, or choose beautiful yarns, etc., but implicit in their conversation was the belief that in order to call their knitted creations art, they'd need to have designed it.

I only listened to the podcast once, but that's what I got out of it. Listen for yourself to see exactly what was said.

The Stash Conundrum/Crafter's Block

So you spend your life amassing beautiful and amazing craft supplies. You have paper in every color, various and sundry glues, more rubber stamps than one can imagine, and a plentiful supply of gorgeous inks. Marbles, patterned scissors, fabric & thread, as well as yarn, oh! and paint begin to round out your collection.

You might feel a little empty without these items, but you have them for a reason. The reason is so you can CRAFT. The reason is so you can breathe in art in all forms, created by you! It's not there to be stored away, lost, mourned, or forgotten.

Yet, alas, that is exactly what happens to a lot of this treasured stuff!

Personally, I need to be more productive so I can get these crafts going, open my etsy store, and have special, hand-crafted items on hand for gifts.

My problems are only a few.

1. My stash is divided between two countries! When I moved here from Chicago, I took four suitcases. Three were filled to the gills with craft supplies, and one contained other stuff like clothes, shoes, and toiletries. It's been almost two months and I still haven't returned for the remainder of my stash, and almost every day I think of some supply that's still back in the US. *sigh*



2. I am surrounded by inspiration, but I can't seem to find an adequate medium to express what I am feeling. Moving to Mexico has been amazing! Every day I see something new. Everything is new to me. And Mexico City has an abundance of gorgeous public art, museums, architecture, and artisan festivals... Inspiration everywhere! One frustration is that I think that thick, colorful paintings would be a joy to produce, yet I have no training in paint, and no painting supplies to speak of.

See what I mean? How gorgeous is that?

3. Related to number two, with such a proliferation of shapes, colors, ideas, and new knowledge to process, I get what I call "saturated" easily. The ideas swim in my consciousness, and I want to create, (maybe even something for which I have supplies here, and ready) and I get started, then stop. Or I plan it, then stop. Or the ideas come in such great numbers to my head that I lose a few, even though I am journaling and taking inspiration pics...I saw all these gorgeous, colorful things
in one day! I know, right?

4. I'm seriously addicted to crafts. I want to do them all! I was totally in love with paper crafts (and I still am), but, as evidenced in my most recent post, there are gorgeous, awesome beads here. And they're cheap to boot! Yet I can't create a lot of awesome jewelry because... see above. My jewelry supplies are in Chicago. I left them there because I hadn't done that in such a long while. And then, of course, there's ravelry, which makes me love yarn, too!

So, enough complaining. What am I going to do about this?

1. I'm photographing my stash and putting it up on Flickr. This is more of Ravelry's influence! I am hoping this will help me keep my supplies fresh in my mind and inspire me to pick up a craft when I have some time on my hands.

2. I'm tuning in to more crafty podcasts! Portable inspiration- you really can't go wrong here!

3. I'm (as Alison of CraftCast says) "getting my butt in the chair". I'm going to craft!!!

I See Bead People!

If you ever get to Mexico, don't forget to visit Taxco, an enchanting mining town with gorgeous silver and beautiful beads! This is my "blair-witch-like" video of the marketplace with so.many.gorgeous.beads!

Check out this video: I see bead people!



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Idea Box

My sister asked me to whip up a little idea/suggestion box for her work.

After cutting a little hole in the top for the suggestions to go through, I covered it with "Fresh Paint" brand paper, using simple Elmer's glue for the adhesive. I put felt on the bottom. And finally, I used the Cuttlebug (with cuttlebug kids dies) to make the title: CAJA DE IDEAS.

Do you have any crafty ideas for me?

My Ravelrous Creations

Have you heard of Ravelry? You can tell by the smile on my face that I have!

Ravelry is a social networking site for fiber artists, focusing specifically on knitting and crocheting. The site is AWESOME, perhaps the best social networking site I've ever been to, because it's focused around this specific interest.

It's in its beta phase now, so the "powers that be" are keeping the membership small and manageable. I believe that the ultimate goal is to open the site publicly, but they're taking their time with that.

In order to gain access to this amazing fibrous world, you need to go to the Ravelry website, and request an invitation. I put in my request, and I think I was lucky, because about four weeks later, I received an invitation to join. That made me think that I'd better start to crochet! :o)

Since then, I've been listening to fiber podcasts like SSK, Unwound, and CraftBorg. I have to tell ya, knitting is the shit and crochet is da bomb, y'all!

So here are picks of my ravelrous creations. I've been posting on Ravelry, so I kinda feel like I've been neglecting my own blog!

Chunky Scarf (as seen above) a la Craftivity.

Coffee sleeve (with the word "cafe" topstiched across it)

My fabulous mom with her fabulous coffee sleeve (My sister got one, too.)

Cute, neat, and so discrete. Tampon cozy

Yeah, I'm not so sure about this one...

<3 - shaped keychain.

The At-Work Crafter

The At-Work Crafter

Do you have an office job? Are you virtually chained to your desk? Are you a resident of cube-world? Does your spinny office chair have two little grooves in it from your butt cheeks? Do you need to find inspiration in your every-day life? Do you carry art kits in your briefcase? When you look at a file folder, do you see potential stencils & card-making materials? Do you want to take a paper punch to your labels to make stickers?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have the potential to be an at-work crafter. Let's be honest: this may be the only time you have to do this anyway. Work is busy, but you are entitled to the odd fifteen or twenty minute break here and there. Think of it as your "smoke break". And, during lulls, less obvious crafts can be prepared or carried out in full. All you need are the materials that surround you.

Office Supplies:
scissors, glue stick, those thin, freebie magnets sent by vendors, customers, etc., stapler, white-out (both wet and dry), paper of all colors, file folders of all colors, office supply packaging, ruler, post-its, tape, binder clips, etc., pencils, pens, teabags, hole punch, envelope opener (the long, thin kind).

Portable Craft Supplies:
self-stick embellishments, paper/chipboard punch-outs, hypotrhochoid kit, vibrant markers.

Here are a few ways to work your crafty magic at work:

1. Origami. Memorize a few forms, or bring an origami book to work. During your down-times, pull out some scrap paper and get to folding. You can make cute magnets, or little friends to populate your cubicle!

This is a basic rose, made with a Ready-Made mag subcription card and a yellow post it. I added a magnet to the inside and now I have a unique office deco.


This is a crane made from one of my Tazo Teabags. Such cute paper, and free! (I tried to make him into a magnet, too, with less luck. Finally I gave up and just taped him to the cabinet.


2. Cut-out magnets. I love my little coffee mug!


(i loved it more before I tried to cut out the inside of the mug handle...) Very simply, I cut the image from a Starbucks holiday catalogue and backed it with a manila file folder. Yay, gluestick! Finally I added a little flat freebie magnet and viola!

Same deal with the green snowflake. I had a chipboard cutout of a snowflake in my purse and glued it to my teabag. Then I added some slim magnets. CUTE! (above).

Also, I found this cool teapot on my teabag. I just cut it out and stuck on a magnet.

3. Pieced flower. So I got really crafty when I saw the empty paper package lying on the shelf. What mad thing could I do with this? After hearing all about making flowers on CraftyPod, I decided to morph the package into a six-petal bloom.

I made a petal stencil out of a file folder, traced, and cut out six petals. I arranged them to make a sweet flower, and figured out that I could adhere them by just using normal desk tape. Then I punched out various dots from the blue and purple post its and put them in the middle. And to add a little *something*, I cut thin strips of red paper attached them and curled them forward. Finally, I added a random pink gemstone found in my pocket (yes, really) into the center.

4. Fleurs de hypotrochoid.

Fun with spirographs! Very simple, just drew a pretty hypotrochoid on some copious green scrap office paper and colored it in with various awesome markers. I added some stiff paper to the back, and of course, a magnet.

Ahhh. It is so wonderful to view these little creations every day and to know that I can make things virtually anywhere!