Have you seen Craftzine? I believe it’s from the Make people. It looks pretty new. I found it while searching for things to make for Christmas presents. In their blog, I found two links that made me glad I found them:
1. Knitting, How to Cast On. Do you know how many times I’ve looked this up and had to search for what felt like forever? It’s one of those things I keep forgetting in between my urges for knitting (every winter). The post is by Brian Sawyer at the Instructables website and includes great photos. Next, Cast Off? (hint)
2. Make Your Own Blank Books. I’ve made books a number of times but this is the first time I’ve heard of using old game boards for the covers. Brilliant! Pretty nice step-by-step by Firefly at the Craftster.org website. Firefly uses a homemade wheat paste where I’ve always used a thinned glue or a decoupage glue, but it’s basically the same thing.
For Christmas presents, I’m usually looking for things that can be mass-produced and don’t take longer than about an hour/per since Joe and I both have such large families. We’re talking about 30-40 people all together. The book doesn’t fall within that timeframe and I won’t be using it for this Christmas but homemade books make great wedding gifts, if you’re crafty and looking for something special to make.
Okay, this would be extremely, uncannily timely if it were a video for how to pick up stitches along the edge of a blanket. A blanket that one has been knitting for (no lie) eight years, and could potentially finish tonight if I knew how to apply the edging.
Any advice?
sorry. no idea. but good luck!
0. Yes, Craft is by Make, and yes, it’s amazing. (Disclosure, I work for O’Reilly, the company that publishes both magazines, but Craft is my absolute favorite O’Reilly product.)
1. Thanks for the feedback on the “How to Cast On” Instructable. I’m glad it was helpful. Perhaps I’ll rustle up the time to do one on binding off at some point. That’s a great idea on another one of those pesky basic topics that are hard to grasp or remember once you’ve learned it.
2. So, you’re into binding books, eh? My other Instructable should help you our with that too! (Previously published, in shorter form, in Make magazine.
3. This pattern (and book) might be right up your alley for mass-produced handmade gifts: http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2006/11/craft_pattern_podcast_speed_kn.html
4. Picking up stitches is always hard for me too. I could use an Instructable on that!
Anyway, thanks for the post!
(Screwed up my comment attribution bits in my previous comment … reposting just to fix.)
Craftzine looks very cool! I will have to spend some more time checking it out. My creative talents are limited but I do love to try new things as well as stick with what I love which is needlepoint. I am itching to gwet myself a new pattern and yarns…..might have to do it as a christmas gift to myself.
Michelle, needlepoint bracelets are covered in the premiere issue of Craft. 🙂
Last Christmas I made magnets that I learned how to do on your website. I even printed out mini logos for our company and made magnets for my boss. I always feel the compulsion to make things at this time of year. What’s that all about?
oh *sigh*
i wish i was crafty. i mean, i have a bfa from a 4 year art school for god sakes.
i was helping some friends of mine make a website recently, and in their home there are projects going everywhere, and they each have a desk covered with bits of this and that because they are always having craft time. the website is to sell one’s homemade jewlery and the other’s leather work [wallets, wrist cuffs, etc]. i was just so JEALOUS.
i took three bookbinding courses in college and loved it, still have a box of all my glue and threads and tools and board and paper, but haven’t touched it since school. i seem to have no motivation to do things without an assignment behind it.
anyway, go you!
also, i’ve always wanted to learn to knit, just because i think i would enjoy such repetitive activity between my hands but i looked at those photos and just went “what…?”
First time commentor but someone said “knitting” so here I am… hehe
I found this website to be super helpful: http://www.knittinghelp.com
I taught myself to knit but not before I found that site – I could never decipher the pictures in books or online. Now I’m teaching all my friends to knit and I’ve even made actual stuff from yarn and knitting needles.
stephanie,
I always get a little depressed visiting the crafty blogs with the beautiful soft focus photos on the pristine white background and the captions like, “here’s this little felted pilgrim village I crafted for thanksgiving out of some organic sheeps wool that was just lying around and that I colored with homemade vegetable dye…my five year old helped embroider the harvest vegetables and after we ate our lunch of raw crudities and goat cheese, we worked on world peace.”
meanwhile, my kids are watching the all-day Spongebob marathon and eating potato chips with miniature marshmallows.
I guess we all have different gifts.
Leah,
Great. Just great! Now that you’ve brought these tutorials to my attention, and the wonderful websites that go along with them, (although I knew about Craftster) I’m never going to leave the house. Ever.
I cannot rest until I’ve soldered together a charger for my iPod made from 2 AA batteries and an altoids gum tin.
But seriously, this is great. I’m on such a tight budget this year, and couldn’t figure out what to get my best friend for her birthday and Christmas. We’re both obsessed with notebooks, so making her a book is the perfect project.
You rule, even though it’s your fault I’m going to quit my job so I can dedicate my life to making things with duct tape and beer.
kyran, thankyou. i am cracking up 😀
and lily, thankyou, i will check it out, it sounds like hopefully i can follow in your footsteps, i’m lost looking at those diagrams! plus, since i don’t want to make anything more complex than a scarf, since it’s more about just occupying my hands much the way tetris does, i feel there is hope for me yet.