I need help!

I recently decided that I wanted to knit a pair of fingerless gloves for myself, following the Fetching pattern from Knitty.com. I knitted the first one up using Malabrigo yarn (a yummy, super soft merino wool) and I love how it turned out:

However, I don’t like the fit at all My fingers feel too bare and they feel awkward. So I guess fingerless gloves aren’t for me. But I really love how they look and I want to make them into mittens.

Does anyone know how I can do that? I have never made mittens before, and wouldn’t know where to start!!!

Not professional - well, not yet atleast, but I’m headed in that direction - but any one who has crocheted a ripple blanket before, particularly the “Soft Waves” pattern from Jan Eaton’s ripple book, if you could help me I would be forever grateful. Seriously. I can not figure this thing out and it’s driving me bananas. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

Heather and I deduced that maybe the pattern is wrong, since the hills and valleys aren’t lining up and after a few ripples, the next few become one even ripple (since, according to the pattern and counting, I’m increasing on the valley and decreasing on the hill). So if there is anyone out there who could help me, I can not tell you how grateful I will be. I’ll send you some yarn or hooks or something as a thank you. Leave me a comment with your email address and let’s start the crusade to save my sanity!

UPDATE: This is me, sitting in the corner with a dunce hat on A couple things to remember when working a pattern: 1) it helps to write it out, step by step, and check them off as you complete them until you get the hang of it. And 2) Don’t watch TV while trying to do a pattern for the first time. No matter how much you tell people, and yourself, that you can multitask. It probably will jack up your project. So thanks to all who helped, and an additional thanks to Jennifer for clarifying a few other things that would’ve been future problems had I even gotten that far!

I received this cute orange speckled yarn in a swap and am looking for a pattern that calls for only one skein. Does any one have suggestions for one skein wonders?
(Knitting only please, I’m not quite a crocheter yet!)

It is: 100% cotton mercerized, 100 grams, 140 yards

My poor, neglected craft corner. I haven’t sat down at it in over three weeks and I’m about to pitch a fit. The hubby and I have been working our fingers off trying to spruce up the outside of our house. So while I wanted to be doing stuff like this, I was transforming this:

to this:

While we love the way the house looks, it’s not completely done but done enough to where I can busy my hands crocheting instead of painting. But now I’ve got so many ideas - seriously, it feels like a storm is brewing over my head - of things I want to make, I don’t even know where to begin and just trying to decide takes most of my energy that I would need to do it. So, any of you crafters out there who feel like you’ve got too many ideas stuck in the noggin’ too, how do you organize them quickly and easily so you can begin to complete them?

I previously posted about going nuts with the no-sew bond to make my bags stiffer, and thus was eager to try the roll hanging next to it on the rack at the fabric store: iron-on vinyl. My first attempt was on a bag for a swap partner who likes to carry her groceries home in her own bags.

I ironed the vinyl to the entire piece I had cut out for a large bag lining, then sewed the bag together. I thought it might be good for carrying home cold groceries so the moisture wouldn’t soak through the fabric bag. (Let me know swap buddy if you have found this to be a good idea.) This might work well also for lining diaper bags since I know I have spent much time cleaning up spilled juice or a busted hand sanitizer bottle from the bottom of the bag. It is easy to iron on and the result is waterproof and very shiny!

I thought I had a brilliant idea to make diaper changing pads; cut a square, iron on my vinyl and serge the ends, but the vinyl cannot be machine washed, so obviously that won’t work. But I must find something else! What have you used iron-on vinyl for? Any ideas that have worked well for you or things I could try? (I have 2 yards of it left!!)

It’s really hard for me to learn something by just reading instructions. If you show me, I will get it quickly and retain it forever. But teaching myself how to do certain crafts is nearly impossible. This is why I tend to stay away from how-to books b/c I feel it’s wasted time and money. However, I’ve recently been intrigued by crocheted items and wanted to move away from knitting and into the arms of crocheting. After flipping through Jen’s copy of Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet, I decided to get my own copy and tackle some of the projects. But first thing first - I need to learn how!

I’m a lefty, so naturally I’m already having difficulty as this book is written for righties. But after surfing the internet, I found a video tutorial that was very clear (still for righties, tho) and I was able to do everything backwards and produce a few rows of single crochet. A HUGE step of progress for me. It gave me so much confidence, I can’t wait to do more.

One thing tho: why is my UFO turning into a trapezoid? The ends are decreasing slightly - is this normal? And if anyone knows of any video tutorials for lefties, please let me know and you will be my new BFF.

ETA: For those interested, here is the website I found with the video tutorials. They’re short and to the point - hope you find them helpful!

This is the yummiest acrylic yarn I have found in a while. I was in Florida for my brothers wedding a couple of weeks ago and thought I would look through the craft section at the Walmart there. I was so excited to find this. It was 50 cents a skein!!! It feels a lot like the Angel Hair yarn from Joanne’s. Yeah I pretty much bought every one - I love it! I’m trying to decide what to do with it tho. I mean I can hardly think of anything but a scarf cause it is sooo cozy, but knitting a scarf in April?? Come on! Any ideas?

This orange bag is one of the first bags that I have attempted to sew and I have to say I’m pretty proud of myself. I still have some questions about lining and better construction, but pretty proud. I did make the lining a tad smaller in width than the outside fabric so that when I pinned it to sew, it did not line up all the way around. My husband though came up with a clever solution- I readjusted it so that there is a small pintuck in the front center of the bag that is hidden by the flap. (He often is the brains behind my projects!) I sewed two buttons together for more color and I like the way that turned out.

My next mission was to try and make some bags that were reversible. I am enjoying my sewing machine again (it comes and goes) so I whipped up this brown bag. With this second one again I thought I cut the 2 fabrics the same width and yet when I sewed them together there was still more of the outer fabric. Since I love the idea of making these I am now seeking outside of myself for further help. Do you cut both fabrics the exact same size when making it reversible? Does adding the handle between the 2 layers throw it off?

The second challenge I wanted to face was to find a way to make the bags stiffer no matter what fabric I choose. I bought some Iron-on Bond stuff to strengthen my lining and ironed it on the little piece of fabric I had left for the strap. I made the piece of iron-on too wide so when I folded the fabric together it bonded to itself and I had to leave the strap with the seam visible on the outside. Oops! Needless to say I did not want to iron-on to my main fabric. Any tips or feedback?

For those of you who don’t know, I don’t have an actual craft studio. As much as that bums me from time to time, I do have a craft corner which works perfectly for our house and for my crafting needs. I just recently decided to redecorate the dining room (which is where my corner is located) and switched around some of the artwork on the walls. I am now left with a blank spot that is located just above my workspace.

How can I be inspired to create when there is nothing to look up and inspire me? I love this idea from the Purl Bee, but I’m just not a fan of embroidery hoops adorning my dining room walls. I thought about covering canvases of different shapes and sizes of my favorite textiles and then hanging them there. I dont really want shelves, nor do I want just one basic piece of artwork. So I am asking for suggestions. What do you have hanging above your work space that inspires you? What would you like to have there?

My husband took time last weekend to frame in and add walls around my craft area in the basement, making it a full fledged room.  Yay!  The problem is, my crafts are out of control and my room is reflecting that.  With all the yarn, fabric, threads, felt, scrapbooking supplies…it looks like a craft store exploded in there!

I’m looking for some organizing tips!  I need help getting this under control.  How do you store your scrapbooking supplies?  Your yarn?  Fabric?  Miscellaneous craft supplies?  Beads?
Thank you for your ideas, and I’m sure my husband thanks you too (he’s tired of looking at the clutter in there )