EASY Ruffle Infinity Scarf--Sewing Tutorial

I stumbled across this fun ruffly fabric at Hancock's today and thought, hmm...I see a scarf! I also realized it has been far too long since I wrote a tutorial...so here you go!

I did not note the brand/name/sku of this fabric. I've not noticed it before, but the only way I can describe it is ruffly. My store had it in the middle racks (where they put the 'new' fabric they are trying to sell). It was 9.99 a yard but I had a 40% off coupon and lo and behold there was exactly one yard left on the bolt. There was white, pink, blues and grays. Very pretty colors.

Anyhoo, take your one yard and lay it out unfolded.

Decide how wide you want your scarf. I chose around 8 inches wide. Cut lengthwise to make strips of 8 inches (or your desired length). I got 5 strips out of the yard.

Put the right sides together of the end pieces and serge or sew them. I used a zig zag stitch since its more 'giving' than a straight stitch. Since this is a ruffly, messy scarf, it's not necessary everything be perfectly lined up and "perfect".

Decide if you want your scarf to be two strips long or three. If you chose three, repeat previous step til you have three strips sewn together at the ends. Then, check that the fabric isn't twisted, and right sides together, sew up the remaining "open" ends. This completes the infinity scarf!!

Seriously, it was that easy. Took me maybe ten minutes including cutting time and vacuuming up the floor prior to laying the fabric out!

Here is the "long" scarf..with three strips. (and my little helper)

Here is one that is just two strips, for a snugger scarf.

And that's that. An easy, quick, fun spring scarf!!
ENJOY!



Don't fee like making yours?? Find mine, ready to ship from my shop SeauxComfy!
~~Amy

Feel free to pin this tutorial, giving me credit! :)

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Crochet Kindle Cover--Free Tutorial

Hey all! This is my FIRST EVER crochet pattern! So, please, be kind! And PLEASE, PLEASE feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, corrections, etc! I will be doing this again with a different yarn to make sure it doesn't make a tremendous difference. Keep in mind, I've only been hooking since the summer.. :)

Basically the stitch is from Coats and Clark pattern found HERE. If you can do this stitch, you can alter this anyway you need for your E-Reader, Tablet, etc.

I chose to line this with some scrap felt because even though it was a gift for a friend who rarely takes her Kindle away from home, this stitch does leave little 'holes' in it, and I thought the felt would be an extra touch of protection. The stitch itself is quite fluffy so that helps a lot. Again, the lining is optional.

This is intended for the original keyboard style Kindle, I do not know the dimensions of the other kindles, nooks, etc. But you can easily adjust the pattern for your item.

This pattern is free, and please feel free to share (and correct if it's wrong.) And by golly if you can make some money selling these bad boys are a derivative there of, go for it. A link back would be nice yarn karma for you though :)

Let's Get Hookin!!

Yarn: Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand. Any Worsted Weight should do fine.
Hook: US Size H
Gauge: I admit, I never look at, read, or care about gauge. I'm crazy like that. My Kindle was my gauge. According to the original pattern I based this on:
GAUGE: In pattern, 5 puff sts = 5”; 9 rows = 4”. CHECK YOUR
GAUGE. Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.

*Special Stitch Notes:
Puff Stitch: Puff: Work (sc, 2 dc) in same st.

Chain 17. (this is based on MY original Kindle. If you have a larger or smaller device, you should do a few rows and hold it up to your device to check gauge.)

ROW ONE: 2dc in the 2nd ch from hook.
*skip next 2 ch, puff stitch in next ch;* repeat from *across to the last 3 ch, sk 2 ch, sc in last ch, turn.

ROW TWO: ch 1, 2 dc in 1st st. *skip 2 dc, puff st in next sc.* Repeat from * across, skip last 2 dc, sc in turning ch, turn.

Repeat row two until you reach Row 36 OR your desired height.

You are making one solid piece of 'fabric' that you will fold up and 'around' the kindle, allowing for a flap. For my Kindle, yarn, hook, and crochet style, I did a total of 36 ROWS. Please check this against your kindle, you may need to add or take away a few rows.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

At this point you can decide if you want your side seams showing, or on the inside. I wanted mine in the inside.

Lay your piece flat down and make a 'pocket' for the Kindle by folding the bottom up to about Row 14 or 15. You can adjust this for your preference, you are merely deciding how far down you want your flap to go. By "folding" on Row 15 or so, that leaves you about 6 rows as your "flap".

SS or SC the side to close your pocket on one side, about 30 rows. I did the SC. Fasten off and weave in.
Repeat on the other side to make a pocket for your kindle to slide into. (do not fasten off yet)

I wanted my SC seams to be on the inside, so I then turned it all rightside out. (this stitch looks pretty from both sides).

Since you didn't fasten off, you can now SC along the edge of the flap (OPTIONAL). If not, you can fasten off and weave in here.

OPTIONAL LINING:

I chose to insert a felt lining because this was for a friend, and this puff stitch is beautiful, but does leave little gaps. Should she spill something on the kindle, I wanted that little extra protection. I used felt because A) it was easily available in my home B) it doesn't fray much C) I could hand sew it all and didn't have to drag myself off the sofa.

Cut a piece of felt or similar fabric to fit inside your new crochet cover.

I folded mine and hand sewed a blanket stitch along the long side and bottom. Use any hand stitch you feel comfortable with.

Insert the felt lining directly into your crochet cover. Using a blanket stitch or similar hand stitch, hand sew the lining in the crochet cover. You can sew all the way down the sides and bottom, I did not, I only sewed the 'top' portion around the flap.

Secure the ends of your thread, and you're almost done!

Decide the placement of your button the OUTSIDE of the cover. Thanks to the stretchiness of this yarn and the looseness of this stitch, you have buttonholes inherently in your yarn! Find a good place for the button and hand sew it on! (Tip, when hand sewing shankless buttons, place a pin in between the two holes as you sew the button on. Remove the pin when you're finished sewing the button and you now have a little more 'room' for the button to move, without making it unsecure.)

Weave in any yarn, insert your kindle and go!! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE feel free to leave any corrections, comments, oopsys, "you're totally wrong" comments!! If I did something wrong in the pattern, I really do want to fix it. Like I said above, it is based solely on the scarf pattern by Coats and Clark. I merely adjusted it to fit a kindle. This is a beautiful stitch pattern and can be used in a variety of ways!

Find me on Ravelry!

Happy Hooking!! :)
~~Amy

How To Use Pinterest

I am in love with the site Pinterest. Seriously,  I could forgo all work for hours and just surf the net "pinning" things.

But how do you pin, you ask? First, get invited. If you want an invite, message me at www.badgereels.etsy.com with your email address and I'll invite you! :) Find my board at: www.pinterest.com/mamaslilmonkeys

Okay, so you signed up, now what?

**Fill out your profile and privacy/email settings just like you would on any social site. Now to pin!

**First off, add the "Pin It" button to your browser bar. (I use firefox.) To do so:

Go to your Pinterest.com.
Click "add a pin"
See the little thing tell you to drag that "pin it" symbol to your browser bar? Do that, literally, dragging it up into your browser where your most visited sites are.

Now the "Pin It" bookmarklet is in your browser. So any time you are on a website with any images, you can just click "pin it" and it will automatically lead you to pin the item.

(nice swagbucks I got there, eh?)

Okay, now what?

**FIND YOUR FRIENDS!! Pinning is most fun when you connect with your friends and repin what they find awesome.
From Pinterest.com, look at "people" in the top right sidebar and find friends. Connect your facebook or twitter accounts and find your friends. You don't have to do this, but I find it fun.

**Organize your boards. Pinterest gives you some automatic boards but I found them boring so I created my own.

When you pin something to a board, think of it as a bulletin board for online life. You can click my Organize board and see all the links I find interesting. Keep clicking til you get to the actual pinned item and it will eventually take you back to the original site, whether I pinned it or RE-pinned someone elses find.

**Give credit where credit is due when pinning!! There is a space for a description, use it! If you find the tutorial on a blog, or the item on etsy, credit the artisan!! This makes it easier also should the original post disappear, if you have written "blog.mamaslittlemonkeys.com" under the pic, the reader knows to go find my blog at least if they are faced with an ugly Server 404 or "your stuff ain't der no more" sign.

**Think outside the box when creating boards. What makes you happy? Sad? What do you want? Need? What do you have that is great and you want to share with others? Self promotion is fine but try to keep it to one board and don't forget to share the love!!

**Update who you are following. I don't know if this is a glitch, or just the way it works, but it seems, for example if I'm following my friend Merry. I follow all of her boards. But if she ADDS a board later, it seems it won't automatically show me those pins unless I "unfollow" and then "follow all" again. This could be a glitch, could be I'm not noticing the new boards, I dunno. Either way, just for kicks, from time to time, I go unfollow friends then follow all again just to be sure I'm getting everything they pin. Because, well, my friends are awesome, and I wanna see what they love!

**Pinterest is growing. I do find from time to time the servers are busy. Hang on and bear with them. I get the feeling they never knew this site would take off as it is.

Enjoy and happy Pinning!!!~~Amy

Impatient Craftaholic Series--Non Skid Socks

Hey gang! This one is UBER easy.

Know those nifty socks you see for sale for kids that have the little non skid things so your toddler doesn't slip and bust his teeth as he's careening through the house? Well they're cute but something you CAN make yourself.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Puffy Fabric Paint (found at just about any big box store, craft store or online. I happened to have Tulip brand on hand)
Toddler/Kids socks
Work Surface

HOW TO:
Lay your socks so the bottom of the sock is flat on your work surface so you can easily draw with your puffy paint. (excuse my dirty socks, I just used existing socks!)


Then just dot and draw whatever you want on the bottom of your socks!

Let the paint dry 24 hours or so and that's it! Follow the instructions on the paint for washing and drying, but generally they suggest turning the item inside out when washing and drying.

Then let your child loose on a tile floor and let them run like crazy....with less slip ups!

~~~Amy