We love handmade gifts here at the CraftSanity Headquarters, so it’s no surprise that Abby was thrilled to received a crocheted Mario on her 8th birthday from Christy Ackerman, my mom and Abby’s “nana.”

My mom made this excellent gift on an extreme deadline using this awesome pattern posted for FREE on the Wolfdreamer blog.

I told my mom about this pattern the week before Abby’s April 23rd birthday. I was busy weaving a house with all the kids at her school, so mom grabbed her crochet hook and got to work. Crocheted Mario is a man of many pieces, so his completion required a lot of late nighters. As a budding crafter and crocheter, Abby really appreciates all the effort that went into making crocheted Mario. She loves him and says he has moved into first as her favorite Mario toy. Yay!

High five, Mom! Now I know where I get my late-night crafting skills. : )

After a couple weeks of feeling exhausted and inspired, reality is setting back in and I’m being reminded that I can’t solve every problem with community art projects no matter how hard I try. More on that in just a bit…

On a very positive note, Amelia and I did a segment yesterday on WZZM Channel 13′s “Take Five” show about the massive school-wide weaving project we just wrapped up her and Abby’s elementary school. The station aired footage they shot of the unveiling which was really cool. You can check out the clip here.

And my column about the final installment of the project was published today on MLive.com, too.

I have a few more large pieces of student weaving to remove from the looms and then I will start filling the looms up again with help from Abby and Amelia. We’re aiming to have another house woven by the June 10 opening of the Fulton Street Artisan’s Market. I’m also working on a tentative plan to possibly create a collaborative woven installation and community weaving project at Maker Faire Detroit in July which will be fun. (Please get in touch, if you’d like to be part of this project.)

I’ve met some really interesting and inspiring people during the last couple days, and I will be telling you about many of them soon. Unfortunately, I also felt a hairline crack spread across my heart this afternoon when I heard what the little girl who has been bullying my daughter said today. If it’s your way, please send a prayer up for my daughter and her classmate. They both need love and support right now. Parents, hug your kids and ask them how their day went. Dialog is key to helping our kids through difficult times. They need to know that we love them no matter what, no matter what anyone says. Sigh.

This was one of those lucky shots. It’s not a great photo, but it’s one of those funny photos that is all about timing. I happened to have my iPhone nearby when my cat, Justine, decided to start poking her paw through the giant weaving project I’ve been working to remove from my looms.

At first it was just her paw poking through, so I grabbed my camera to capture her antics. And then she poked her whole head through which was absolutely hilarious. I had to reweave the corner of the square she bothered, but it was worth the laughs. Justine is a character with great taste in crafts. She seems to enjoy getting tangled up in what we’re making around here.

I posted the photo in Instagram, a photo sharing service I started using almost daily last month. I can’t say enough great things about this app that allows users to upload photos, apply fun filters and share them with the world. I really enjoy it.

However, I do wish the program allowed users to watermark their photos. (I use ImageWell to watermark photos on my blog.) I also wish I had a tiny waterproof camera that I could bring along when I run. I see so much cool stuff when I’m out running and I would love to be able to snap photos along the way without having to carry my phone. (Let me know if any of you know of a cool camera that would fit the bill.)

If you want to check out my Instagram photos, you can follow me under the name “CraftSanity.” I’ll post a couple more below, so you can get a flavor of what I post. (Don’t worry, I keep the cat photos to a minimum.)

I posted the photo above yesterday as I’ve been drilling a lot lately. I got a bad batch of  loom frames a while back with holes too small for the pegs I pound in, so I’ve been re-drilling them to fit the pegs. It’s annoying work, but it made for an interesting photo. It’s such a beautiful thing to be able to capture images documenting how we spend our days. I wish I had images like this from my childhood.

I shot this weaving photo in my driveway last weekend. Before I started removing all the fabric the kids wove off the looms, I couldn’t resist a photo shoot in natural light. I love the randomness of the squares and the way they look in mass. The neighbors seemed to like it, too, and came across the street to get a closer look. I love it when art draws people in.

I use Instragram most often to document the stuff I’m making on a daily basic and I share the images on Twitter. It’s fun. You should try it if you haven’t yet.

Ok, I have to get back to work. Have a great day!

We did it! We took the lovely squares woven by more than 500 students at my daughters’ elementary school and we fashioned them into a woven house measuring 7 1/2 feet tall. Check it out!

The students in grades K-5 thought they were simply weaving a large rug, but I decided to surprise them with a house before I removed all the fabric from the looms. We unveiled the house during a school assembly on Friday and the kids erupted with cheers. It was awesome.

You will be able to read all the details next Sunday in my art & craft column on MLive.com. You can read about the project leading up to the unveiling in the first installment of this two-part column series here. And tune in to WZZM Channel 13′s “Take Five” morning show Thursday morning (May 3) to see footage from the unveiling of the house. (Thanks for coming out to shoot it, Dave!)

After the unveiling, many students lined up to go inside and look for their names on the tags identifying the creators of each square. It was a super fun day.

And now that I’ve had a couple days to catch up on sleep, I’m happy to report that I’m back running, making looms for my shop and working on the summer issue of CraftSanity Magazine. The patchwork house project was a hiatus I just had to take.

I had a blast working with my daughters and their school mates on this project and plan to go bigger next time. Stay tuned for details about how you can get involved. In the meantime, please save me your old t-shirts. I’m going to need a lot for my next community weaving project. : )

If I could afford to keep doing inspring work for free, I would do it. In a heartbeat.

I’m wrapping up one of the most rewarding and exhausting weeks of my crafty life and I didn’t make a dime. In fact it cost me money. But the money I spent making a new batch of large patchwork rug looms was completely worth it.

Since last Thursday I have spent every day at my daughters’ elementary school working with a small crew of volunteers to teach more than 500 kids in grades K-5 to weave. I’ve been telling the kids that we’re making a giant patchwork rug for the school library, but what I realized after my first session is this project is way bigger than any rug we piece together. The kids, the parents, the teachers and I – we had some awesome moments this week. We worked together, we kept the momentum going and we got a lot done.

 For days I’ve watched little hands stretch loops across looms and kids beam when the final over-under pass was completed. And these pieces are so, so beautiful, folks. The kids picked their own colors and it was a blast to watch them delight in seeing how their squares turned out and watch them walk around the room to check out the handiwork of their classmates.

This morning I watched two kindergarten boys raise the small loom they shared high above their heads like it was a trophy. “Oh, yeah!” they said, smiling like little leaguers when the weaving was done. I snapped photos of the celebration, doing what I could to encourage the showboating. (I will add a photo of the boys if I can track down their parents for their permission.)

In the next session a boy a couple years older in the school’s special education program completed a large square by himself, simultaneously exceeding his expectations of what he could accomplish and conquering his fear of the unknown. His teacher told me afterward that he told her he did not want to come to the workshop, but he ended up doing great. It was a truly beautiful thing to see students who struggle more than their peers completely rock the looms. I hope to weave with that class again sometime soon.

I’ve given so many high fives this week that I’m sure I’ve set a personal record. My hands are aching from continuous weaving and I’m starting to fear that the bags under my eyes are permanent from staying up way too late connecting squares several nights in a row. But the experience has been worth the sleep deprivation.

I laughed, I cried (not in front of the kids), and I had a great time.

Sure, we had some flashes of reality in the form of very minor misbehavior and behind-the-scenes organizational stress, but even that couldn’t steal my joy this week. The best part is that my daughters both participated in and helped prep and run the workshops. I’m so glad that I was able to have this big craft adventure with them. (Abby & Amelia, you girls are THE BEST!!!)

Many thanks to the moms and grandmas who volunteered to cut up a boatload of t-shirts to make loops and the moms who helped me run the workshops and transport my kids and supplies back and forth to school. I didn’t have a bunch of volunteers lined up when I pitched these Earth Day inspired workshops, I just took a leap of faith that they would appear. And they did. Thank you so much!

Tomorrow, I’m going to attempt the grand finale of this project and I think it will be great if we can pull it off. But even if this last part is a bust, I will chalk this week up as a wild success because we taught the whole school to weave in five days and that’s just plain awesome. : )

The next time I do a workshop like this it will be easier because I won’t have to make multiple huge looms on deadline. It will also be a paid gig because unfortunately I can’t buy groceries with joy and inspiration. (Wouldn’t that be great?!)

So if there’s someone out there in this big ol’world who would like to help me fund my dream to teach the world to weave (and do many other crafts, too) get in touch. I think it’s time that I apply for a teaching grant and maybe open a small and local CraftSanity Loom factory because I believe great things could happen if I can get more looms out there into the schools, especially in the most challenged districts.

I’m not sure what will happen next, but I do know that I’ve found a new calling to add to the rotation. I’d love to take my looms to more schools and give more kids a chance to weave together. I’ve declared my intentions. Your move, crafty universe.

P.S. A very special thanks to all the CraftSanity supporters who have put up with my radio silence this last couple weeks. I owe several of you emails and some of you have been patiently waiting for me to restock my loom shop. I will be back to making looms for sale next week, so the wait will be over shortly. Thanks so much for your patience. This extreme weaving experiment is just something I had to do.

Earth Day is coming up April 22, so I thought I’d pass along some easy, kid-friendly project ideas for crafting with recycled materials. (I’m going to demo these during my craft segment on today’s “Take Five” show on WZZM channel 13 at 9 a.m. here in West Michigan.)

Since my TV appearances are one of my unpaid gigs, I operate with a supply budget of $0 which leads me to be very resourceful when I plan my segments. My recycle bin is a frequent source of my materials and this practice of crafting on a shoestring has led me and my kids in some fun creative directions. We’ve learned that you can make LOADS of cool stuff with what can be found around the house.

Security Envelope Mini Books

I have hoarded paper scraps since I was a very small child toting around an overstuffed purse loaded with… yes, you guessed it… paper scraps. My parents could tell you stories, but we’re just going to skim over those for now and get on to the projects.

The mini-books above were made with the patterned security paper from the inside of bank statement envelopes and strips of paper that were cut off the printed copies of CraftSanity Magazine. (The magazine is an 8×8-inch square, and I couldn’t help but ask for some of the paper headed to the recycle bin at the print shop. The good news is that I’m not carrying wads of it around in an overstuffed purse. I take this as a small sign of progress.)

To make these little books, all you have to do is make a stack of scrap paper, fold it in half and cut a piece of an envelope or other recycled paper for the cover. The only “new” part of this notebook is a single staple to hold it together on the fold line. My kids enjoy making these books and then doodling in them. I left a really tiny one out for the Tooth Fairy to use to write a note to my daughter the other day, and we were all thrilled that the Tooth Fairy digs recycled notebooks, too.

Envelope Bookmarks

Another thing you can do with recycled envelopes is cut the corners off to make instant bookmarks. My daughters and I have been having some fun adding ears and animal faces to make the bookmarks appear to be animals peeking out of books. (By the way, if you have not read the “Ivy & Bean” books written by Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, you should go do that right away. My 6- and 7-year-old daughters LOVE them. We have read all of the books in the series aloud together and have thoroughly enjoyed the wild adventures of these unlikely friends. More on Ivy & Bean later.)

You can make very colorful corner bookmarks, but for some reason I made my sample with pencil. Perhaps I was feeling a bit timid and reluctant to commit to this bunny. Do yourself a favor and go brighter, my friends.

Cardboard Slotted Building Disks

This project is so much more fun than it looks. Yes, it is tedious to trace a bunch of circles onto the inside of your cereal boxes and other cardboard food packaging and then cut them all out. But do it for the kids in your life. Chances are good that they will get a kick out of building with them.

To make the notches, pretend you’re looking at a compass and simply make half inch cuts at North, South, East and West. Then give them to your kids and challenge them to make the tallest structure they can. This project has potential to be good for a few moments of parental peace and that is worth cutting a bunch of circles out of cereal boxes. I’m going to carry some of these in my bag so we can pass the time waiting for our food at restaurants and entertain the patrons sitting nearby with our mysterious cardboard disks. (Don’t tell anyone, but I happen to think these disks are really fun for adults, too.)

I have a couple more recycled crafts to tell you about, but I’m going to do that after I get home from my segment. It’s late and I’m getting tired. Unfortunately, I’m in the habit of crafting very tired on live TV. So if my eyes look puffy during my segment it’s not because I had work done, it’s because I have bags under my eyes and this is what happens when you don’t listen to your mother and go to bed at a reasonable hour. (I love you, Mom!)

Let me know if you try any of this stuff. I’d like to hear how it goes.

Have a great day. More in a bit…

UPDATE: Video of segment is now online

Hello! I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. I may have eaten a few too many Starburst jelly beans (love those!), but I didn’t completely lose control. Today I’m coming to terms with the fact that spring break is over and looking ahead to spring projects on the horizon.

I want to let you know about a fun weaving class that I’m teaching at A Grand Skein here in Grand Rapids, Mich. The class slated for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 19 is a 4-hour fun intensive session that will teach students everything they need to know to weave on wooden peg looms with yarn, fabric yardage, recycled linens and t-shirt loopers they will learn to make themselves.

We will be working on the wooden peg looms I make, you know the ones reminiscent of the old potholder loom from your childhood? Yes, those!

And this class will cover basic techniques required to weave hot pads, coasters, placemats, table runners, rugs, bags and basically anything you can think of that can be fashioned out of a square or rectangle. Students in this class can expect to learn the skills necessary to weave on their own while making a double layer hot pad and coaster set before moving on to a larger in-class project of their choice.

One of the things I love about peg loom weaving is that there is no waste which means you can get maximum milage out of your weaving materials. (Unfortunately, this is not the case when I warp my floor loom.)

Every student will leave my peg loom weaving class with a 17-peg potholder loom (included in the class fee) and I will have looms in smaller and larger sizes on hand for students to use in class. The 17-peg loom is my favorite for making hot pads, but it’s also great for making rugs, too. I made the one below by connecting squares made of vintage sheets.

Class Prerequisites: None (This is a great class for beginning weavers and experienced weavers looking to get into portable loom weaving.)

Skills taught:

• How to select yarn as well as prep cotton yardage and t-shirt loopers for weaving
• Basic plain weave
• How to weave multiple layers at once using a continuous strand of yarn and/or fabric
• Join squares to create large rugs and blankets

Materials:

• 3 skeins and colors of worsted weight cotton yarn (Cascade Yarns “Sierra” or Sugar’n Cream cotton)
• 3 t-shirts in colors you want to weave with (Bring more if you have them on hand.)
• An old sheet or two from your linen closet
• A pair of sewing scissors
• A notebook
• A size “J” crochet hook
• Bring a lunch or funds to pick something up at nearby JB’s pizza or Real Food Cafe.

Date(s) and Time(s): Saturday, May 19; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cost: $100 includes a 17-peg CraftSanity Loom

To sign up, call (616) 551-1322

If you live too far away to take this class, I might be able to come to you and teach your guild or craft group how to weave. Contact me for rates and availability.

Have a great day!

Mini Crocheted Basket

By Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

These mini baskets are lovely party favors for everything from Easter to tea time, wedding and baby showers. Whip some up and line them with cupcake liners and fill them with chocolate for your guests. Yum! Download these instructions in PDF form. (Please email me if you have an questions about the pattern.)

Yarn: Cotton yarn in the colors of your choice (I used Sugar ‘n Cream and Bernat Handicrafter Cotton.)
Hook: Size “H”, 5 mm

Abbreviations:
Ch: chain
Hdc: half double crochet… To create a half double crochet stitch wrap the yarn around your hook and pull a loop up as if to do a double crochet, but instead of working off two loops at a time, draw the yarn through all three loops on the hook to complete the stitch.
Sl st: slip stitch
Sts: stitches

Begin with a magic loop OR ch 4 and sl st into first chain to form a loop.

Round 1: Make six 6 hdc stitches into ring. Sl st into first st to complete round. (6 sts.) Ch. 1.

Round 2: 2 hdc in each st around. Sl st into first st to complete round. (12 sts.) Ch. 1.

Round 3: 2 hdc in each st around. Sl st into first st to complete round. (24 sts.) Ch. 1.

Round 4: * Hdc in next two sts, 2 hdc in next st. * Repeat from * to * around. Sl st into first st to complete round. (32 sts.) Ch. 1.

Round 5: Hdc in each stitch around, working only in the back the back half of the sts from previous round. This will create a ridge along the bottom edge of the basket. Sl st into first st to complete round. (32 sts.) Ch. 1.

Rounds 6-8: Hdc in each st around. Sl st in 1st st. of round. Ch 1.

Basket Handle
After completing round 8 do not cut off yarn. Ch 1 and do 3 hdc, then ch 1 & turn. Repeat * 3 hdc, ch1 & turn * 15 times to create handle. Do not chain 1 at the end of the final row. Just cut the yarn leaving a 12” tail and fasten off. Use a yarn needle to whip stitch the handle to the basket.

* This pattern is copyrighted 2012 by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, CraftSanity Magazine Publisher, art and craft columnist, podcast host and blogger at CraftSanity.com. You may use this pattern to create items for non-commercial sale, if you credit CraftSanity.com as the pattern source. Please don’t distribute copies of this pattern, but feel free to refer people to this link. Thank you!

I’ve been wanting to try dyeing eggs with silk ties for a couple years now, so I thought it was time to cut up the ties I’ve been tripping over in my craft room and my daughter Amelia agreed. So we recruited Amelia’s sister, Abby, to help out, experimented at home and then headed to the WZZM Channel 13 studio to share our findings (and a bunch of other crafty stuff) with the folks at home.

And before we get too far down the road, I want you to know that this dyeing method has been done by many lovely people before I decided to finally give it a whirl. From the skilled crafters on the Martha Show to resourceful people upholding beautiful family traditions in kitchens across America, this project has been done several times before with beautiful results. I recommend that you try it, too –  especially if you have a pile of ties stashed away that you would be willing to sacrifice in the name of holiday craft.

While our silk dyeing experiment did not result in super vibrant eggs, it was very fun to see how the pattern of each tie transfered to the egg shells. And, yes, it is well worth the hassle of deconstructing a dozen ties to get to experience this fleeting excitement.

Read on for some general instructions to get you started.

Supplies:

* 100% silk ties, blouses, scarfs (Some people use silk boxers, but that totally creeps me out. For this reason I can’t bring myself to recommend the boxer option, but go for it if you don’t mind cooking Easter eggs wrapped in old underwear. This fact would make for a lively conversation starter at the family party as you pass a plate of beautiful eggs dyed with your hubby’s old undies to Auntie Myrtle who just so happens to be a germaphobe. Hmm… could I be warming up to this idea? No, but I am very amused but this scenario.)
* Glass pot to cook the eggs
* 1/4 cup of vinegar
* Scraps of white or off-white cotton fabric cut into roughly 7″ squares. (The pieces have to be large enough to wrap around an eggs and secure with a twist tie.)
* twist ties
* scissors and/or seam ripper
* vegetable oil

Step 1: Use scissors or a seam ripper to deconstruct the ties. Remove and discard the lining fabric. Cut the silk ties into pieces large enough to wrap around the eggs. (No need to measure your pieces or square them up. Just eyeball it.)

Step 2: Place an egg onto a damp piece of silk with the printed side of the fabric facing the egg. Wrap the silk around the egg, then wrap with a square of cotton. Secure the fabric with a twist tie. (Note: We noticed that if the silk is damp when you wrap it around the egg, you get a better pattern transfer.)

Step 3: Bring all the wrapped eggs to a boil in a glass pot of water with a quarter cup of vinegar mixed in. After the water boils, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool.

Step 4: When the eggs are cool enough to touch, unwrap and polish with vegetable oil for added shine.

If you’re looking for more Easter crafts check these out:

* My egg cozy and felted egg tutorials

* Not Matha’s papier-mache Easter eggs

*Oh, and before you dump out your egg dyes, consider using the extra to dye some wool.

As you prepare for Easter festivities, be sure to check out the new Spring Issue of CraftSanity Magazine. Issue 6 is full of fun projects including Maria Stout’s felted chick basket on p. 3. I really like how my chick basket (above) turned out and have plans to whip up a couple more before Easter. I interviewed Maria for the current issue and she also contributed a darling Flopsy bunny basket pattern, too. I’m a big fan of Maria’s work and admire the way she has applied her craft skills to creating handmade toys and learning aids for children with special needs. Check out her Etsy shop to see all her wonderful handmade products.

And if you’re looking for a great basket weave crocheted basket pattern, be sure to check out the one Maria wrote for CraftSanity Magazine Issue 2 (available in print here or as an instant download PDF on the left sidebar of this page.) The basket is unisex in design and remains one of my absolute favorite go-to Easter basket patterns. LOVE it!

Ok. I’m off to have some Spring Break Staycation Fun with my kids. Have a great weekend!