Really good craft tutorials

I usually spend most of my online time scouring the net for good craft instructions, crochet patterns, or cool paper printouts. Here is a good one for making a pencil case using oil cloth. You could use this tutorial for anykind of pouch. This one is easy and has good photos.

DIY Oilcloth Zippered Pencil Case

I have so many printouts that I try to organize them into colored folders. At times I want to refer back to where I found them but fail to copy the web page addy on the pattern. So I’ve been copying the web address and place it under the title, especially when I am cutting and pasting in a document to keep.

Pattern for Rib Stitch Water Bottle Snuggie

Water bottle snuggie

Hope these instructions are understandable. The picture shows one alternating colors every 6 rows.

I’ve been making more stuff. Made a tent to fit on top of my grandson’s bed. He tried putting a small tent on top but being so flimsy, it soon fell apart, especially since he was putting blankets on top. My daughter asked me to make one out of pvc pipes, the white kinds. They have t’s and elbows so I thought it would be more sturdy. We decided not to glue it and just fit them together. It took me almost a day to figure out how long to make lengths, how to make a roof with a pitch, and where to put the bottom braces so he could easily come out.
Then when everything was fitted together, I tried it on his bed and it fit perfectly between the mattress and the wood frame. Then the next thing was to make the tent part using spare material and sheets. Cut the sheet in half lengthwise and fitted the material to the top. Pinned the sheet lengths to the top and sewed it, making the opening in the from with overlapping panels.
He was so overjoyed when he came home, he said it was awesome!

New Computer

My other computer is dead.  Had to buy another cpu from Office Depot for 300 and change.  No bells or whistles though and Windows 7.  It’s okay just different lookin and sometimes had to look for stuff I usually use in xp. 

Christmas came and went, bought a bunch of stuff for Kawika.  New Years Eve at mom’s house wasn’t too eventful either.  Some people that usually came didn’t.  We still had a lot of fireworks since next year it will be illegal.  Only regular, red paper firecrackers with a permit will be allowed.  Should have bought extra this year.  50 plus year of fireworks at new years have some to an end.  So sad.

   My friend bought this at a craft fair and I loved it!  Didn’t know what stitch it was, didn’t look exactly like crochet, loved the thickness and the strap.  Make several prototypes, different types of stitches and still didn’t look like what it supposed to.  I even had to take a picture of it so I could look at it better.  I must admit I was obsessed with this.  Finally I looked online for different types of crochet stitches and found it!  It is called the rib stitch!  I made a pattern for it called the Water Bottle Cozy.  I even made it in different yarns, cotton and regular acrylic yarn.  The acrylic version held up better but the cotton soaked in the sweat of the water bottle better and dispersed it and evaporated better, even though the cotton yarn did get out of shape faster.  The best part was the handle, I didn’t even think of that!  It was so much easier to carry around !

Here is the picture:

First 2 are made from cotton yarn, last one on right is acrylic. 

Will post the pattern when I write down the instructions, or rather find them. 

It’s been so good weather here!  Especially when I see what the weather is like on the mainland.