Ice Cream Cozy... in two takes

Dear Shayne,

A few weeks ago, I decided to make an ice cream cozy -- you know, something to put around the pint of ice cream so that your fingers don't freeze while you're digging in? That is, if you're uncouth enough not to use a bowl... which I, of course, am not... er... yes, yes I am. I eat the ice cream straight out of the pint. Sue me.

While it seems exceedingly simple to make (a knitted tube oughtta do it), I actually have a book that contains a pattern (Knit Wit by Amy Singer, the founder of knitty.com) so I decided to try that.

Yeah.

I probably should have gone with my original "tube" plan. Here's my first attempt, straight from the pattern:


A little bit short. And, in my opinion, thin (even though I used the recommended yarn [Cascade Fixation] from the pattern -- for once!)

So I doubled up the yarn, made some adjustments, and voila:


Also, the pattern calls for knitting a bottom on it:


Which I find unnecessary. I mean, I guess there's a possibility of dripping condensation, but it's not at all humid where we live, sooo... eh. (Plus, every time I tried to knit the bottom on my second version, it kept making my tube pop off of my pint.)

So I said screw it and just left it as a tube:


Works great!

love,
kelly

Summer Yars!

Dear Shayne,

After some successful yars (yarn + jars) and some that weren't so great, I present to you... The Yars of Summer:



Blue skies + puffy white clouds = Summah-time!

love,
kelly

Advertisement

Dear Kelly,

A couple of weekends ago, I shared a booth at a craft fair about an hour away. Traffic was slow and I didn't sell much, but I wasn't expecting to...the fair was part of the county historical society's Heritage Days. Historical Society and Novelty Kitten aren't the best mix.

However, one of the few things I sold was very, very exciting for me...Robot Prom! (3 out of 4 remain available.) And it means that someone else in the world has some of my handiwork displayed in their house. Besides you!

Love,
Shayne

Honey Pot o' Buttons

Dear Shayne,

I've been crafting, but failing to take photos of stuff in good light. In the meantime, I thought I'd share my latest crafty find with you...

I've always felt that my sewing area was missing a jar of random buttons (everyone else who sews seems to have one -- do you?) (If you don't, I can now send you one... keep reading...)

Since I am a total crowd-follower, when I saw this giant jar of buttons at the Alameda Antiques Faire last weekend, I just had to jump on it:


It was on the half-off table, so I got it for $10. How could I resist? It's super huge. I don't know if you can tell from this photo that it's huge, but it's about 9" tall and weighs a ton. Plus, it came in this sweet-ass jar! Check out this cool label:


Hrm... what is it about honey that causes people to leave the "f" off of the word "of?" (Bit o' Honey, Blade o' Gold, etc.) Do you think it's cause their lips are stuck together?

Next step: Pouring out all of the buttons and sorting them! Let me know if you need any...

love,
kelly