T-Shirt Blanket

Last Christmas I made a fleece blanket for my little guy, this year it was the big boy's turn. I decided to try and make a blanket for him out of his very cool, very beloved, yet very outgrown t-shirts.

I cut out the logos with my rotary cutter and made them into 14X15 inch squares. Then sewed them together, strip style, like a patch work quilt. I then laid the completed top over a piece of polar fleece. (I purchased 1.5 yards and that was the perfect amount for 12 t-shirt squares.)

Once it was thoroughly pinned down, I stitched "in the ditch" vertically for each row of squares and then stitched around the outside to fasten the top to the bottom. (again machine quilting style) When the top was fastened to the bottom fleece, I trimmed around the whole blanket with pinking shears to give it an inch and a half border.

Presto!! A t-shirt blanket. I think it turned out pretty cool. I went ahead and gave it to him last night when it was finished, since he knew I was making it and it wasn't going to be a surprise.

And he was very happy.....

A little bit of Crochet

My 14 year old says to me the other day, "Mom, you need to use up the wool you have before you buy any more." Since when is a 14 year old boy the voice of reason??

But, he does have a point, I have a lot of yarn, especially half used up skeins and it is kind of everywhere.

I had an inspiration. I saw this vintage afghan pattern on another blog a long time ago and loved it. I think it is really pretty. the pattern can be found at Bella Diva - http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/2006/11/vintage_vertica.html

It seemed like a great way to use up my scraps. So, far it is turning out really pretty. We will see as the colour variation dwindles. I have made a vow to myself to not purchase any yarn to complete this afghan. We will see. I might have to.

I have to add, I am not a crocheter. I knit a lot, but crochet very little, so this has been a good experiment in elementary crochet.

My verdict on the project - the jury is still out, we'll see how it looks when it is finally finished.

Felted Dryer Balls

I love, love, love, these!!! They really are the perfect companion to the home made laundry soap. The clothes were already coming out of the dryer softer and now with the dryer balls there are almost no wrinkles, even cotton dress shirts. Again, huge bonus, because I hate wrinkled clothes and do not have enough time to ever catch up on my ironing. Supposedly they cut down the drying time as well, but I can't say that I've noticed a difference in that respect.

Very easy to make. You need 100% wool yarn. I had some Patons 100% wool yarn left over from a couple projects, but that did not go very far, so I bought a skein of Lion brand Fisherman yarn. It has to be 100% wool and not superwash, because you want it to felt up into tight balls.

I just wound the yarn into old fashioned balls, about the size of a softball. Then I cut off the leg of some old tights and stuffed the ball into the leg, tied it off (with acrylic yarn), stuffed in another, tied it off, etc, etc. I felted 4 at a time. It should look like a string of sausage when it is ready to go in the washing machine.

To felt them, I washed the tied up balls with my towels, one cycle with the temperature on hot wash/cold rinse, then threw them in the dryer. End product, nicely felted dryer balls!

I made 10 and put them in every load I dry. Winner!!!