How To: Make a Knitted Pouf

I am totally going to make one of these.

Go here for step-by-step instructions. If you can knit and purl, it actually looks incredibly easy. And even though it requires 18 skeins of super-fat yarn plus stuffing, it'll still cost a heck of a lot less than the $800-$1,600 Flocks Poufs at DWR.

There's a smaller version, too.

(From Norway's Pickles blog -- don't worry, the instructions are in English -- via Tikoli's Twitter, via Craft, via CasaSugar.)

How To: Make a Holiday Wreath from Vintage Books

Blog reader Mary-Ellen Kelly (she of last week's snowflakes-and-pinecones window hanging) was kind enough to share another super-simple holiday craft project with us:

You’ll need:
• Wire hanger
• Old book pages in various sizes
• Stapler
• Hole punch
• Ribbon

Instructions:
• Unwind the handle of the wire hanger so that you have an opening, but be sure to leave the top of the hanger in a hook shape. Carefully bend the body of the hanger into a circle, rounding out the corners as best as possible.

• Tear 50 or 60 pages (total) from a variety of books; pages of slightly different shapes and sizes work best.

• Roll a single page in half from top to bottom (not left to right).

• Staple the edges together where the top and bottom of the page meet.

• Punch a hole through the center of the rolled-and-stapled page. Tip: Once you get going on the pages, try hole-punching purposefully left or right of center to slightly vary the pages’ position on the wreath.

• Thread the open end of the wire hanger through the hole you've punched in one of the rolled book pages. Repeat with a second rolled page.

• Secure the two pages by stapling them together. (Staple from the underside of the top page so the staple doesn't show.)

• Repeat until the wire circle is full.

• Bring the first page and last page together at the top of the circle with your last staple. Make sure that the hanger hook is hidden behind the rolled book pages.

• Re-twist the open end of the hanger around the base of the hook to close your circle.

* Hang the wreath on a small nail or tack. If you wish, you can mount a decorative ribbon above the wreath so it appears to be suspended from that.

Finis!

Thank you so much for sharing this fun project, Mary-Ellen!

(Readers: If you have a simple DIY project to share, send me photos and instructions and I'll be happy to feature it here.)

How To: A Snowflake Window Hanging Variation

More Ways to Waste Time reader Mary-Ellen from Memphis, Tennessee, just wrote in to show me the window hanging she was inspired to make after reading yesterday's tutorial on creating a snowflakes-and-oranges hanging.

I love the petite pine cones in place of the dried orange slices, and think the results are absolutely beautiful. Well done, Mary-Ellen!

How to: Make a Snowflakes-and-Oranges Window Hanging

I'm off to run a bunch of errands this morning. (Ugh -- DMV, anyone?) In the meantime, I'll leave you with a rerun of a fun and simple holiday craft project from last year, in case any of you missed it:

Atomic Garden, one of my favorite shops here in Oakland, has the prettiest window displays. Just like the store itself, they're simple, natural, and lovely.

The eco-friendly housewares-and-clothing boutique's current window candy is a clever and beautiful assemblage of crocheted snowflakes, yarn pom-poms, and dried oranges hung from a gently gnarled tree branch.

Here's how to make one of your own -- perfect for dressing a window for the holidays or simply brightening up the view during the dreary winter days ahead.

You'll need:
* A tree branch measuring three-quarters of an inch or more in diameter and about the width of the window you want to hang it in. (Pick up a fallen branch the next time you're out for a walk or a hike, save one when you trim your trees, or buy one from a floral-supply shop or online.)

* Two to three ceiling hooks for suspending the branch. (You could also slip the branch into wall-mounted curtain brackets.)

* A spool of fine twine, waxed cord, or fishing line.

* A large, sturdy needle, such as an embroidery or darning needle.

* A selection of crocheted snowflakes. (You can create your own if you're especially crafty or simply use cloth doilies -- I spotted several for a couple bucks apiece at my local fabric store yesterday -- paper snowflakes made from medium- to heavyweight paper, or snowflake-shaped ornaments.)

* Fabric starch or craft glue.

* A section of golfball- to tennis-ball-sized pom-poms. (Make your own with yarn, craft them from tissue paper, pick up a bag of fuzzy pom-poms at a craft store, or simply substitute a few white ball ornaments.)

* Dried orange slices. (They're easy to make at home, or you can buy them from a specialty grocer. Dried pineapple slices would also work.)

Instructions:
* Screw the hooks into the ceiling, making sure they're anchored well. Loop lengths of twine, cord, or fishing line over the hooks, tying them securely. Tie the other ends around the tree branch so that it hangs across the top of your window. (Or simply remove the curtain rod from the window and slip the ends of the branch into the curtain brackets.)

* Depending on the width of your branch and how many snowflakes, pom-poms, and oranges you want to hang, tie several lengths of cord around the branch with the ends trailing down. Vary the lengths randomly so that the longest hits the bottom of the window and the others are shorter.

* If you're using cloth snowflakes or doilies, douse them with laundry starch or dab them with craft glue mixed with a bit of water and pin them flat so that they dry stiff.

* Once they're dry, tie the snowflakes onto the cord at varying heights.

* Using your sturdy needle with the cord threaded through, hang the pom-poms at varying heights. If your window is wider than it is tall, one pom-pom per length of cord is fine. If the window is tall and narrow, hang a few pom-poms from each cord, spacing them out randomly and tying the cord beneath each to keep it in place. (If you're using ball ornaments, simply thread the cord through the loop at the top of the ornament and tie it securely.)

* Finally, thread the remaining lengths of cord with orange slices. Poke the threaded needle through the flesh of the orange near the top and tie the cord to hold the orange slices in place.

Enjoy!

(Thanks to Jamie and Erin at Atomic Garden for walking me through this.)

Readers: If you have a simple DIY project to share, send me photos and instructions and I'll be happy to feature it here!

How To: Make a Paper Insect Mobile

I was delighted when More Ways to Waste Time reader (and fellow blogger) Colleen Casey of Marietta, Georgia wrote in to share her homemade version of the pretty paper mobiles for sale on Etsy that I featured last week.

Not only are Colleen's mobiles wonderful, but I was charmed and touched to discover that someone was inspired by something she saw here, and that she used that inspiration to create a beautiful thing for her home.

Here's how Colleen did it:

* One day during a thunderstorm, Colleen and her two young daughters "set about doing what we do best: Making a mess and calling it art."

* They started with a lonely window, then found an old thrift-store book and began tearing out the pages.

* Colleen used a die-cutting machine (available at fabric and craft stores) to create several identical insect shapes at once from the book pages. (If you don't have a die-cutter, you could simply fold the pages in half and use scissors to carefully cut out shapes for butterflies, dragonflies, birds, or any other creatures that strike your fancy. Or, even easier, you could order one of the die-cut insect kits this crafty mom put together for others who want to try a similar project.)

* She then cut crochet yarn -- though any fine twine, string, or yarn would work -- into 60-inch lengths, folded each of them in half, and tied a knot one inch from the fold, creating a loop.

* Colleen used a small hole-punch to make two petite holes in the insects, and then she and her daughters began stringing several insects onto each doubled-up length of yarn, being careful to keep the loop at the top.

* Once that was done, they left the strands of yarn as they were -- but you could also tie pretty beads or buttons onto the bottoms to help weigh them down a bit.

* Finally, they laced a tension rod through the loops at the top of each length of yarn, mounted the rod in a window, and have been enjoying the insects fluttering and twirling gently in the breeze ever since.

Thanks so much for showing us this simple and lovely project, Colleen!

Have a DIY project of your own you want to show off? I'd love to share it here. Just e-mail me a snap or two, plus simple, step-by-step instructions.

How To: Make a Knitted Cushion Cover

I feel like a little kid rushing home from school with my first, imperfect art-class project: Look what I made! Now, I know all you hardcore crafters are probably laughing at just how rudimentary this little project is, but I am so not crafty that to actually make something from scratch and not have it be a total disaster is a huge accomplishment for me. So don't be too harsh, OK?

Anyway, as I mentioned awhile back, I've learned to knit. My needle skills are pretty basic at this point, but I can at least cast on, cast off, knit, and purl. With those astonishing skills, one can make ... scarves. Lots and lots of scarves. And since every member of my extended family now has a hand-knitted scarf of his or her very own (and since it's not exactly scarf weather anymore), I needed to figure out what else I could do -- without having to kick it up a level by learning how to increase, decrease, knit in the round, cable stitch, or any of those other fancy maneuvers that sound complicated enough to make brain hurt.

I've long been a fan of Lauren Saunders' absolutely gorgeous knitted pillows, and for the first time in years we actually own a working sewing machine, so I decided that I'd try my hand at a knitted cushion cover (albeit a much simpler version than Saunders'). Plus, my mom's birthday was coming up, so that was the kick in the pants I needed.

The project was easy enough and it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. (Just don't look too closely at the seamwork, Mom! And if you do, let me remind you that this is pretty much the first thing I've sewed since high school Home Ec class.)

Here's how I did it:

* Choose two contrasting shades of the yarn of your choice. (I used a skein of Misti Alpaca Chunky in Copper Melange, plus a half-skein of Misti Alpaca Chunky in Natural Cream, because that's the color scheme in my mother's living room. Misti's baby alpaca is absolutely my favorite yarn on the planet -- because, you know, I am such a yarn connoisseur. So soft! I knitted on 14-inch, size 13 needles, but in retrospect I think I should have used size 11 so the stitches would be a little tighter.)

* Cast on enough stitches to make your piece about 20 inches wide.

* Alternate knitting and purling, switching off after each row -- umm, I think this is called the stockinette stitch -- until the skein is finished or until you've knitted a rectangle that's roughly 20 inches wide by 13 or 14 inches long.

* Switch to your contrasting yarn, and continue knitting and purling until you have a 20-inch square that's about two-thirds one color and one-third the other, and then cast off.

* Cut two 20-inch squares from a half-yard of the fabric of your choice. (I used an ivory linen that matched the lighter shade of yarn.)

* Pin the knitted square, with the "good" side up, onto one of the fabric squares. Sew them together around all four edges, using a relatively tight stitch on your sewing machine. You now have a fabric backing for the knitted portion of the pillow cover.

* Place the knit-and-fabric square on the other fabric square, with the knitted side down and the "right" side of the fabric-only square facing up. Pin them together about an inch in from the edges, and sew them together on three sides and about half of the fourth.

* Trim off the excess knitting and fabric around the edges on the three sewn sides, and turn the pillow cover right-side-out.

* Roll up a 16-inch-square pillow form (I got one for a few bucks at my local fabric store) and carefully slide it in through the opening on the fourth side. Then open the rolled-up pillow and adjust it in the cover as needed.

* Fold the excess fabric and knitting on each side of the opening in toward the center, and pin it closed.

* As for the final step, I'm sure there's a "correct" way to do this (I told you I'm not a crafter!). But I simply shoved the edge of the pillow into the sewing machine and sewed it closed, trying to keep the stitches as close to the edge as I could.

Finis!

P.S. If there are any knitting or sewing wizards out there with tips for improving upon my totally improvised instructions, please feel free to add them! And if anyone has suggestions for fun variations on this pillow project, I'd love to hear 'em. (For my next trick, I'm actually attempting a three-color cushion cover -- woo hoo!)

P.P.S. Have a DIY project of your own you'd like to show off? I'd love to share it here. Just e-mail me a snap or two, plus simple, step-by-step instructions.

Green Thumb: Flower Arranging With Laurel

Today's flower arrangement: Calla Lilies in Glass Bowl, by my 9-year-old.

Instructions:

* While your mom is catnapping on the couch, expertly navigate the on-demand cable offerings -- the ones your parents can't figure out at all -- to call up a Martha Stewart flower-arranging special. (Trust me, though you may be only 9, you live for this stuff.) Watch the special with laser-like focus, taking notes as you go.

* Your mom is still snoring on the couch, so go out in the yard and gather up some calla lily blossoms, plus a bunch of muddy gravel and some rocks. Bundle them all up in your mom's favorite white linen tea towel and bring them inside.

* Use the kitchen strainer (you know, the one your parents drain the dinner pasta in) to rinse the mud off of the rocks and gravel. Don't worry about the extra mud and gravel all over the counter.

* Find a circular, clear-glass bowl in the kitchen cupboard. Be sure to leave the other ten bowls on the floor, in the exact spot they were when you pulled them all out in your quest to find the most perfect one.

* Put the gravel in the bowl, and fill it with water. Decide that the gravel wasn't rinsed enough, and that the water is too muddy as a result. Dump the whole thing out and start over again.

* Once you're satisfied that the water in the bowl is crystal clear, arrange the rocks in the gravel just so.

* Take a calla lily stem, bend it into a circle, and place it in the bowl so that the bloom rests above the surface of the water. Repeat with the other lilies until they form a blooming ring.

* Carry the bowl into the living room, being careful to only slosh a little bit of water out onto the floor, and find the perfect spot for it on the coffee table.

* Gently nudge your snoozing mom awake, and present her with your masterpiece.

* Make your mom cry. And not because of the mess in the kitchen.

Next time: Inspired by her other idol and culinary muse, Sandra Lee, Laurel bakes up a storm with canned pie fillings, colored sugar, and melted candy bars.

How to: Make a Felted Bowl

I think Katie Egeland, who has a wonderful blog about knitting and other adventures called If Time Exists, got tired of me swooning over felted bowls on Etsy and recently wrote in encouraging me to try felting a bowl myself.

When I confessed that I had no idea how to felt, and that I'm a newbie knitter to boot, Katie assured me that it's pretty straightforward and thoughtfully provided these step-by-step instructions:

"Any natural animal fiber will work for felting. Wool is the most commonly used material and will give you nice results for a felted bowl. Just make sure the wool hasn't been treated to be machine washable (called 'superwash'), because then it won't felt.

You can use any weight of wool, though bulkier wools will make a thicker, sturdier bowl. You'll need needles that are a few sizes bigger than normally recommended for the yarn you're using. For the bowl pictured above, I used Freedom Wool (a bulky weight) and size 15 needles. You'll be using 16-inch circular needles as well as double-pointed needles in the same size.

You'll need to know how to cast on, make a knit stitch, knit in the round, knit on double-pointed needles, and decrease your stitches using 'ssk' (slip slip knit) and 'k2tog' (knitting two stitches together). If you're unfamiliar with some of these techniques or with using different types of needles, check out Knitting Help, which has tons of free, helpful, step-by-step videos that will bring you up to speed.

Cast on 45 stitches using your circular needles. Join and work in the round. Don't turn the work -- simply knit the stitches in a circle, creating a tube as you go. Knit until the tube is six or seven inches long. If you want a deeper bowl, continue knitting until your tube is a little longer. Keep in mind that the felting process shrinks the fabric more length-wise than it does width-wise.

Decreasing:
Round 1: *ssk, k5, k2tog. Repeat from * to end. 35 stitches remain.
Round 2: Knit.
Round 3: *ssk, k3, k2tog. Repeat from * to end. 25 stitches remain.
Round 4: Knit.

Now switch to your double-pointed needles. Put ten stitches on the first needle, five on the second, and ten on the third. Use the fourth to knit stitches off of each needle (one at a time).

Round 5: *ssk, k1, k2tog. Repeat from * to end. 15 stitches remain.
Round 6: K2tog 7 times, k1. 8 stitches remain.

Cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches with a tapestry needle. Tighten and weave in ends. Now you're ready to felt!

The keys to felting are agitation and hot water. You can felt in the washing machine -- Knitty has a really good article about how to do that. But I live in an apartment building with coin washers, so I felt by hand in the sink.

Start by filling the sink about halfway with really hot water, adding a little dish or laundry detergent. I wear rubber gloves so I don't destroy my hands.

Then have at it! Swirl your bowl around, rub it, squeeze it, beat it up. Sometimes I use a wooden spoon for variety. Just be really rough with it. You'll know the felting has started when the wool begins to fuzz up and blur the stitches.

Periodically during the process, fill a bowl with ice cubes and cold water and soak the knitting in there for a minute. Then refill your sink with fresh hot water. The drastic temperature changes help the felting along.

It usually takes at least a good half hour of work to felt a piece of knitting to the point I like for a bowl. The more you felt, the less visible the stitches and the stiffer the resulting material will be.

When you're happy with the amount that your bowl has felted, squeeze out the excess water without twisting. Roll the bowl up in a towel and step on it to get more of the water out. Then take it out and stretch it into shape over an upside-down bowl. Leave it to dry -- and voila, a felted bowl!"

Thanks so much, Katie! I need to head over to Knitting Help (which really is an awesome site for beginning knitters like me) to study up on those decreasing techniques, but I'm definitely going to attempt this. And if any of you try your hand at a felted bowl, please let me know how it goes!

(P.S. Have a D.I.Y. project of your own you'd like to show off? I'd love to share it here. Just e-mail me a snap or two, plus instructions.)

How to: Make Silhouette Portraits

My sister-in-law, Valerie, and her husband, Jack, are two of the most creative people I know: Jack makes movies (and awesome birthday videos for his nieces and nephews), and Valerie builds bookshelves from scratch, makes her own upholstered headboards, sews the most amazing quilts, and creates the lushest container gardens you've ever seen.

Seriously, these two inspire me to live more creatively, adventurously, and thoughtfully every single day. I'm so lucky to have them in my family.

Here, they share step-by-step instructions for their latest DIY project: Making Photoshop silhouette portraits of their four furkids ... uh, I mean cats. But you can follow these steps to create silhouettes of just about anything you choose -- your pet, your kid, even an inanimate object (I might try my mouse at a few botanical silhouettes, for instance):

"* Using a digital camera, photograph your subject from the side. It's best to shoot against a white wall or a white posterboard to make it easier to digitally remove the background during the next step.

* Open the picture in Photoshop. Use the Magic Wand tool to select the background for removal. Once clicked, the background will be outlined and highlighted. Go to 'edit' and click 'cut.' The background will disappear.

* Now go to 'image' and click 'adjustments.' Select 'desaturate' to remove all color.

* In 'adjustments,' select 'brightness/contrast.' Lower the brightness and increase the contrast until your image takes the form of a silhouette.

* If the image isn't completely silhouetted, use the Paintbucket tool (with black as the color selection) to fill in as needed, placing the cursor dead center and clicking until your desired effect is achieved.

* Using the Image tool, select 'image size' to set your desired dimensions.

* Save your silhouette as a JPEG file.

* Burn the file to a CD and take it to your favorite photo-printing or copy shop (or simply use on online printing service like Shutterfly or Kodak Gallery), printing it on whatever paper or card stock you choose.

* If you want greater depth or thickness or a different background color, augment the printed image with paint.

* Trim the edges of the finished silhouette as needed and place it in the frame of your choosing. We used the black oval Ung Drill frame from IKEA that we then painted gold."

Thanks so much, guys -- I love how digital cameras and photo-editing tools can help even us non-artistic types unleash our inner creative spirit. (Next, I want a how-to for making that beautiful headboard ... )

Readers: If you have a simple DIY project to share, send me photos and instructions and I'll be happy to feature it here!

How To: Create a Paper Circles Mobile

Embroidery loops.

Fishing lure.

Wallpaper samples, etc.