Advent Pouches

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FitzBirch Crafts shares a tutorial for making small pouches for observing Advent or simply counting down the days to Christmas.

Charming Advent Pouches

Pin Looms

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Those who attended the Fiber Fest may have seen the demonstration that Laura B. held on Pin Looms.

The small looms are quickly becoming popular. Berroco's photo tutorial shows the steps involved in creating fabric on a pin loom. It will appeal to those who want to refresh their memory or try a new craft.

Cleaning Handwoven Cloth

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One of the most frustrating situations an artist can experience is soiling an article that took months or years to create. 

Interweave recently shared tips on Keeping Cloth Clean. While it addresses handwoven cloth, some of the tips can be applied to hand-knit or crocheted items as well. 

Reading Charts

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Pocket Prayer Shawls

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Prayer shawls provide comfort to those who make them as well as to the recipients of these special gifts. However, it can take a long time to knit or crochet a shawl and some people, although they appreciate the gift of one, don’t ever wear shawls. 

Pocket prayer shawls address both of those issues, allowing crafters to quickly work up comforting handmade squares that any recipient can carry at any time for constant comfort. These small squares can be knit, crochet or sewn.

Find more information on the Pocket Prayer Shawls on the Lion Brand site.

Converting Patterns

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Tackle those UFOs

Weavers, spinners, quilters, crocheters, knitters - work on a variety of projects, and from time to time some projects become stalled or are forgotten.

Let's be honest: we all have unfinished projects (UFOs) tucked away in bags, boxes, and baskets. It might be time to come up with a plan to tackle them and to gain some room in your closets or project bags. You may want to find a new home for some projects, salvage supplies from another, and finally complete those that you love.

McCall's Quilting's blog published a strategy to deal with Projects in Bags, and maybe it will give you the nudge that you need.

No-sew zippers

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Adding zippers to knit or crochet wear can be frustrating, but TECHknitting shares a technique and type of zipper that makes it easier.

Find information on this TECHknitting post.

Organizing Patterns

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Is your collection of patterns out of control?

WEBS yarn store gives some tips to organize patterns. Find the tips on this post - read the comments for even more tips.

Fabric Scraps Memory Game

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Use some scraps to create a fun memory game for someone's Christmas stocking.

The simple directions can be found on Skip To My Lou.

Left-leaning Decrease

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Looking for a smooth left-leaning decrease for your knitting?

Yarn Sub explains a decrease that that is smooth, attractive, and nearly invisible on this post.

Twining Turns

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Twining rugs on a loom is relaxing. Turning at the end of a row is often the step that is confusing to the beginner.

Country Farm Home prepared a step-by-step tutorial on the process.

If you're interested in twining, you may want to bookmark the tutorial.

Spinning Wheel Maintenance

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Birkeland Brothers Wool (British Columbia) invited Richard Ashford (New Zealand) to their shop to speak about maintaining a spinning wheel.

Richard Ashford's maintenance tips are shared on this post.

Loading a Longarm Frame

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Guild members who are quilters may be interested to see how the longarm quilting frame is loaded.

We All Sew shows the steps involved in the process.

Handspinning Video

Enjoy this creative look at the Revolution of Handspinning. The characters and background are  needle-felted, and it's fun to watch.

Katheryn's Bag

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Guild members have long admired Katheryn E.'s knitting bag, and now they can make one of their own.

So Sew Easy shares a free pattern and a source for purchasing the handles.

The bag pattern can be found here.

Fall Leaves

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Crochet some leaves to decorate the Thanksgiving table or to add a touch of color to the coffee table.

The Painted Hinge offers free patterns for decorative leaves:
     Maple Leaf pattern
     Oak Leaf pattern

Turning the Corner with Knitted-on Border

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According to Roving Crafters, "It's difficult to find explanations on how to turn on corner with a knitted-on border because the specifics will be different for every border. A lot of what you do will depend on the pattern/motif you’ve chosen for your border. If you are tackling this on your own, you’re going to have to make some judgement calls."

Roving Crafters website provides specific information on the various techniques for turning the corner and how to make those judgement calls.

The tutorial can be found here.

Wired Ribbon from a Shirt

Wired Ribbon is used frequently in decorations and displays, but sometimes what is sold is just not the right color or type of ribbon desired.

Sadie Seasongoods (aka Sarah) shared how she made an Autumn wired-ribbon from a thrifted flannel shirt. The complete process is shown in a tutorial on her blog.

Making Buttons

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No doubt the recent winds brought down some tree branches and limbs. Before throwing the wood into the compost or recycle bins, look at their potential.

Mark Montano shares a tutorial for making buttons from branches.

Helpful Resources

Cowgirl Yarn in Laramie, WY shares some helpful information on their blog.

Fiber-related resources can be found on this blog post.

A list of free pattern sites can be found on another blog post.

Check out Cowgirl Yarn's other blog posts here.