yarn help? knot in the middle of the ball...

[silverkeys7.livejournal.com]

i'm working on my first large knitting project -- a scarf -- and as i approach the middle of my first ball of yarn, i've noticed that there is a KNOT in the yarn. it looks like the fiber must have broken during manufacture, and someone tried to remedy the situation by tying the broken ends together. the result is a small fuzzy ball where the ends of the yarn have frayed around the knot.

what should i do? the knot is small enough that i could probably try and knit it into the scarf and hide the frizz by trimming, but at the same time i wonder if that would be bad for the strength of the knitted fabric? i'd rather not have to trim the knot out and then treat the rest of the ball like a new ball of yarn...namely b/c i'm not very good at switching yarns...but if that's the best solution, i'd appreciate some tips on how to make that process easier...

thanks.

Keeping cookies fresh

[bitchygrrl.livejournal.com]

I plan on baking cookies for my holday gift baskets this year. Some of these have to be mailed, and I was wondering how long will the cookies keep fresh? Also does anyone know if it is safe to shrink wrap them? I use shrink wrap for other things like soap but I have no clue if it should come into contact with food. Thanks :)

Edit: Thank you all for the help I will use bread and shrink wrap the tins

and what is more sofisticated

[sabbitha.livejournal.com]

than a knitted martini?

it was for an exhbition in store windows, this went into a funky 50s kinda barbers shop.

(no subject)

[halofire.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know where I can buy a single music movement (the little wind-up music boxes) and turn table? A few of the online sites I've found all have crazy high minimum order requirements and I just need one itty bitty music box and one itty bitty turn table for a silly christmas gift I'm concocting, I'm not trying to start a small business!

Any retail haunts you might know to check out would be great, but if I can order single pieces online without outrageous shipping, that'd work too!

Haha, the only craft I've gotten done lately was my Halloween costume, and that burned me out a little, I'm regenerating my crafty powers before tackling Christmas gifts.

( One last Halloween straggler! And you thought it was safe to go back into the LJ, didn't you! )

(no subject)

[alustrialcrafts.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone! It has been quite a while since I posted here. I've had a lot happening in my life, including a divorce and moving from South Florida to San Francisco Bay Area. Phew. I'm all settled down and re-claiming my life again...and finally taking time out to craft for myself :)

A few weeks or so ago I was helping my boyfriend go through his closet sorting out clothing for keeping, donation or tossing. We came across a rather beaten up black t-shirt with a crinkly looking Daruma print on it. It was about to go in the toss/donate pile when I thought about using it to create a wall hanging - so my boyfriend gave it to me. I cut the Daruma out and put it aside until I had time to work with it.

I had ideas of using some of the vintage indigo fabric I had to create a wall hanging and had a perfect long, but narrow piece of indigo with raw edges that would work well. I was determined to not use my sewing machine and hand sew the entire thing to keep with the hand crafted and rustic feel. I cut the fabric into three even pieces and spent a few hours carefully hand stitching it making sure the raw edges showed. By the time I was finished - my hands were dark blue from the indigo dye - so I decided to soak the body of the fabric overnight to try and remove some of the excess dye. In the morning - the water was pitch er, blue... and when the fabric dried - it dried with a fantastic crinkled texture. I decided to keep the writing on the back of the wall hanging - mainly because I had no idea what it said - but also I felt the solid white of it at the front would detract from the Daruma too much.

I then hand stitched the Daruma on and the asanoha fabric at the top and voila! I'm quite happy with how it turned out and I especially love the fact that it is not 100% perfect. I fought against my natural urges to make sure I measured everything so it was completely even and worked with flow of the fabric instead. I also like the subtle hint of the writing showing through to the front. It now hangs above one of the windows in our house.


Another View

I think this is quite possibly the first thing I've actually sat down and sewn just for myself - rather than for everybody else and I'm glad I spent the many hours hand sewing it. I put a lot of love into making this, and I think it shows.

Cross posted to harunoame & alustrialcrafts

Triangle Men!

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I was looking at some leftover felt and noticing how I had two perfect triangles in all my colors....and then TMBG's "Triangle Man" got stuckin my head, so...

Flowers

[licking-suntan.livejournal.com]

I worked on Christmas presents last night. I glued pinbacks to flowers to make nice pins for the scarves I'm in the procress of finishing.

Snip, snip. Glue, glue. ( Read more... )

The Making of a Marie Antoinette Costume

[bonniegrrl.livejournal.com]

Sure Halloween has come and gone, but you can't beat this elaborate Marie Antoinette costume created by Elyse Regan for the ILM-Lucasfilm-LucasArts 2006 Halloween Costume party. It's an amazing feat and detail in crafting. CRAFT friend Bonnie Burton got a chance to talk more with Elyse to find out how she created her elaborate look.

Read my interview here with Elyse about her costume here:
Let Them Wear Wigs!
The Making of a Marie Antoinette costume

Yay! Jewelery!

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

sorry for two posts in a row from me, but this morning/afternoon I finally got to work on a few jewelery items i was commissioned to make over the summer. Basically, a friend and I were walking through the Ann Arbor art fair in July, and his sister mentioned there was a stand for this one jeweler she really liked, so he and I headed over, and he intended to get her Christmas present there....only this woman had outrageous prices that do not fit a college student's budget! So...I told him if he bought the supplies, I'd make him gifts for his sisters. I sent him over to Jewelry Supply and he looked through their DIY projects and he picked the Three of Green necklace and this Memory Wire Bracelet, only he wanted the bracelet in different colors, since his sister isn't a light purple kind of girl.

Anyway. The 3's of Green came out really pretty, and since it only called for 10 of the peridots, I made matching earrings.

The memory wire bracelet proved to be a bit harder, as the potato pearls he picked out didn't have a hole large enough to fit on the memory wire...so, I gave it some thought, and replaced the potato pearls with hematite beads (and really, it looked better), then paired the potato pearls with some silver beads I had laying around to make a necklace.

( here's the results )

Sorry if you already looked at these on craftster!

(no subject)

[anteriority.livejournal.com]

What I did today:


( more pictures )

Question about Amigurumi

[tracyland.livejournal.com]

I've been looking around trying to find some pointers on embroidering faces onto crocheted amigurumi animals but I'm having no luck. My first amigurumi animal was a total disaster. It was more of a psychotic bear with googly eyes and a dilapidated nose than a cute kitty. :( Well, hopefully some of you with more experience than I can give me some pointers on what to do and what not to do. Thanks for anyone's help and sorry that this doesn't contain any pictures:)

I need ideas!

[pampiperez.livejournal.com]

Greetings Craft Divas and...whatever the male counterpart to that would be!

My best friend recently underwent a multi-visceral transplant. Basically, she had her whole digestive system PLUS a couple of other organs replaced with new ones from a donor. She's doing surprisingly well for such an invasive procedure, so I wanted to do something fun for her. Not only has she just undergone a wicked stressful surgery, but she is currently living in a recovery house several hundred miles away from everyone she knows, and I wanted to send her a "Get Well Kit" that has a theme about her organ transplant. I really want it to have some fun/funny things in it so that she can have a laugh (since it is the best medicine and all) about her situation. I've thought of the game "Operation" and possibly the movie or book "Silence of the Lambs" since she got a new liver. However, I'm running out of ideas. I'm also worried about crossing from funny into tacky, so I'm going to have to be careful so that she doesn't think I'm making fun. Everyone here seems to have such great ideas about everything, I just wanted to ask and see if you guys could help me out! I'd appreciate any ideas you could give me.

Cloth Pads

[whycantibeajedi.livejournal.com]

Mods, feel free to delete this if this isn't quite your standard.

So, I've made up my mind. I want to use cloth pads, and I don't have any trouble finding/making them. My question is, seriously, how bad is the smell? How often do they need to be changed (obviously cleaning them after use)? How long are they good for? I suppose my main concern is smell. I freak out about the smell. But any other usage stories would be greatly appreciated :)

(no subject)

[unicornstories.livejournal.com]

Here are some of the projects i've been working on lately!

( ici )

beaded handles

[una-may.livejournal.com]

i tried my hand at some fancy beaded handles for a purse today. they actually look really good, but i don't know how to attach them to the bag. right now i have a d ring attached to the bag and then the wire that the beads are one wrapped around the d ring. but that looks a little awkward. any ideas?
nona-lou

BeJewler Crystal Fire - Hot Fix Swarovski Crystals

[wolfden.livejournal.com]

I need help. I bought Crystal Innovations Bejewler Crystal Fire to apply Hot Fix Swarovski Crystals to my daughter's skating dress. I went to use it tonight and I didn't have any luck. I plugged it in and let it heat up. But when I tried to stick the crystal to the dress it wouldn't come out of the tip of the heat tool. I thought maybe the crystal was lacking adhesive so I poked it out and tried again. Again no luck. I was using 4mm crystals and the 4 mm tip. Has anyone ever used this thing successfully?

I don't think I have the receipt to return it anymore. Any advise on adhesive to stick the flat back crystals to the dress if I can't get the heat tool to work?

Thanks.