Giveaway Winners

Just a quick post to announce the giveaway winners!  (drumroll please!) 

The glass magnets go to Grace Wong and the envelope pouch goes to Laura.  Congratulations!  I will be in touch re: mailing addresses. 

Thanks for playing along!

Olympic Accessories

If you live in Canada I'm sure you've seen the red Olympic mittens.  For those of you reading from other parts of the globe these red mittens are the "must have" souvenir of the 2010 Olympic Games. So I thought I would finish off my doll sized Olympic wardrobe with a pair.

Doesn't it complete the outfit?  (Yes, I know she's missing shoes.  My talents do not, as yet, run to shoemaking!)

If you'd like to make a pair of your own I've posted a pattern for the mittens below.  When you've knit them cut a little maple leaf from felt and sew on!

Doll Mittens - Tutorial

I made these into Canada/Olympic mittens for a Cabbage Patch Kid but they could be used on any soft doll in the 16" - 20" range.

I used Cascade 220 and 4.5mm needles.  You could always vary the yarn weight and needle size to make the mittens bigger/smaller!

Cast on 22 stitches and join in the round. **

Knit the body of the mitten:

Rounds 1-6:  K1, P1 rib.

Rounds 7-8: knit

Round 9: K2, K4 onto waste yarn, knit to end with regular yarn.

Continue knitting in the round until the mitten is 3 inches from the edge of the cuff.

K1, K2tog for 2 rounds

K2tog for 1 round

Cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and sew the end in.

Make the thumb:

Unpick the stiches on the waste yarn and put on to two needles, picking up an extra stitch at each end of the hole (10 stitches total).

Round 1: K3, K2tog. Repeat.

Continue knitting for 5-6 rounds.

K2tog, K1 for one round.

Cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and sew the end in.

Sew in any remaining yarn ends and knit the matching mitt!

**I used to have a hard time keeping the stitches tightly together when joining in the round until I read about this trick: Cast on an extra stitch (23 for these mitts).  Divide the stitches onto three needles as normal.  Without using the fourth needle knit the first stitch onto the last needle and cast off one stitch.  Now you should have 22 stitches on three needles.  Pick up your fourth needle and continue as usual!

Blogiversary Giveaway!

Betula`Loo is 1!  When I started I wasn't sure where this blog would be a year later, a few times during the year I wondered if I'd still be blogging, but Betula`Loo is still here and I feel like I've built up some blogging steam the last couple months.  As a thankyou to everyone who reads my randomness I thought I'd celebrate by hosting a giveaway!  There will be two winners - someone will win a set of glass magnets with chiyogami paper...

...and someone else will win an envelope pouch.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by midnight on Wednesday Feburary 10.  I will draw the names on Thursday.  Good luck!

Olympic Mini Book

This is the album/book that I alluded to here.  Inspired by Elise, I'm really excited about how this book turned out and am looking forward to filling it up on my trip! I think there's a good mix of papers, a few envelopes and clear pages to slip things into.  Since it's 4x6 it will be easy to add photos - just punch holes and they're ready to go!

  

 

  

Permanent : GOventures

So taking things literally, when I first heard the prompt for today's GOventure challenge the first thing I thought of was Sharpies.  Then I thought I'd try and get a little deeper and began thinking about things that are permanent, however I came to the realization that there is very little, if anything, that is truly permanent.  So back to Sharpie's it was!  I read a tutorial somewhere where they used Sharpies to colour on an embossed, stamped image so I thought I would try that.  Note: turquoise Sharpie doesn't show up on gold embossing and instead turned into an accent on the parts of the image that are not embossed. 

Doll Sized Olympic Excitement!

Doesn't every doll need her own Olympic gear? No, I'm not heading towards complete madness again, just a few outfits to give to my cousin when I see her in February. (These dolls, my dolls, are modeling the gear - which they won't get to keep.)

I got these done in less then a day as I was able to use patterns I'd already created rather then drafting new ones.  And because there were only two colours there was minimal changing of thread in the sewing machine.

These shirts were appliqued like my scarf and then put together like 1) a t-shirt 2) a combo between t-shirt and a hooded towel.

I did some freezer paper stenciling to create the logo and added some letters with mini alphabet stamps and acrylic paint.

This one uses freezer paper stenciling only.

All this talk of doll clothes reminds me that there are still some tutorials/patterns in that area that need to be written/posted.  Christmas kind of took over and they got forgotten.  oops.  They're coming, I promise!

Invisible - GOventures

I was a little puzzled by the word invisible at first.  Then I spied some dots (punched out of a variety of papers) sitting on my desk and decided to do something with them.  Do you see it?

Now you can!

On my desk

This past weekend I set up my desk to make a mini album for my upcoming trip to the Olympic Games in Vancouver. 

I saw this idea on Ali Edwards' blog and was itching to try it.  I have tried scrapbooking on the road before - without much success - but I think this time it may happen.  Points in my favour: the album is 4x6 so if I get a chance to print some photos all I need to do is punch holes and add them; I'll have regular access to a computer to review, crop and choose photos; and journaling blocks are all set to go.

I got the album done in a morning!  Except for the hole punching and binding (I needed to make a quick trip to Staples to buy binder rings) which is why there are no pictures yet.  I didn't get out till the evening, after all that nice photo friendly daylight was gone.

I'm super excited about it and can't wait to show you!  Stay tuned for that as well as news about Betula`Loo's first blogiversary.  I feel a giveaway coming up!

Wander with GOventures

The ladies over at enJOY it and [i] LoveLife have a week's worth of word prompts for crafting and creating.  Today's word was wander.  This is what I came up with.  Part of the challenge (which I forgot when I was creating this) was to try something new.  This photo magnet is something I have done before but worth doing again for sure.  The picture is one taken last summer when I was in England.  Although we were on a path we didn't really know where we were going or what it would be like getting there (it turns out there would be lots of stairs involved).

Tomorrow's word is invisible.  Care to play along?

P.S. There's a Flickr Group for you to share your creation.

In the Moment - February

My favourite February quote comes from one of my favourite authors, Miss Read.  One of her characters welcomes February "because you can have a walk in the light after tea."  (from A Peaceful Retirement)  So this month I am looking forward to:

• Being able to go for a walk in the light after tea (or roughly when I get home from work).

Also special to February this year:

• The Olympics!!  And I am going!  It's the first (and likely only) time I have gone/will go to the Olympics and although it will be busy, crowded and a little chaotic but I am so excited!