this is the finished rag bath mat for my new black and white bathroom, which is made from one half of a duvet cover, and 2 contrasting pillow cases. i created the 'yarn' from the duvet/cases using the rag bath mat tutorial then knit up the mat using the pattern below. you could just as easily use sheets or old tshirts for this project as well. in the end, the mat is super plush, and a great way to recycle your old linens. and, you get a fresh new look for your bathroom floor!
to make this, I only needed 1 side of a king size duvet cover and 2 pillow cases (and still had leftovers). when making them into 'yarn' i kept the pillowcases separate to easily make the fair-isle stripes, and 1 continuous ball for the main color.
to knit, i started with my main color, used 1 pillowcase for the first stripe, carried over my main color for the middle stitches, joined in my second pillowcase for the 2nd stripe, then again carried over my main color for the last set of white. since there is a fair amount of carrying over, i made sure to keep my yarn loose, and always carry over on the wrong side. the knitting on this is pretty simple -- just stockinette stitch with garter stitch borders (on all edges).
Striped Knit Rag Mat Pattern
Gauge: Varies - determine your own gauge to custom fit your mat
Needles: size 19
Yarn: made from sheets/duvet cover and pillow sheets
Finished mat size: 27" long x
CO 22 stitches
Bottom Edge
row 1(right side): k2, k4 in main color A, k3 in contrast color B, k4 in color A, k3 in color B (by joining a second skein of B), k4 in color A, k2
row 2(wrong side): knit across row, making sure to knit with contrast yarn B as you come to it, and carrying your main A yarn in the back of your work
row 3(right side): knit across row, continuing your contrast yarn vertical stripes
Middle
row 4 (wrong side): k2, p til 2 sts remain, k2
row 5 (right side): knit across row, continuing contrast yarn vertical stripes
repeat rows 4 and 5 until about 1.5 inches before desired length
Top Edge
row 1-2: knit across row, continuing constrast yarn vertical stripes
row 3: knit across entire row ONLY using main color A (discontinue stripes)
BO all stitches
CO = cast on
k = knit
p = purl
sts = stitches
BO = bind off
i've been etsy perusing. found lots of purses. since i've self-imposed a purse buying ban on myself, i thought i'd post here instead! for shopping, for inspiration. it's a bit of a mix between handmade and vintage, i love them all. i just wish my closet would hold more purses.
i have a sickness. a starting-blankets-that-I-never-finish sickness. i seriously don't know what's wrong with me. BUT, I did rip out (or I plan to rip out) a feeble-attempted-start of a crochet blanket, in order to start this new one, so they pretty much cancel each other out. this all started when in my new bedroom linen planning, i saw an old hudson bay blanket on ebay. it was perfect. and, i waited patiently for 7 days watching people slowly bid on it, with 1 problematic person who kept outbidding everyone as soon as someone new would come along. in the final 20 minutes, i got scared of this person's desperation and thought that they could possibly win it, so I needed a backup plan blanket. so, i went on ravelry, and started hunting down similar looking blanket patterns that i could knit to ease the anxiety. i started this blanket here.
so, i sat there knitting this thing (more like casting on) while the ebay countdown happened, telling myself who needs that one when you'll have this nice handknit one. you don't have to win. of course, i won the blanket, and now i can't stop knitting this one...so i'm going to have a knit replica of a hudson blanket. how does this happen??
i came across a baby blanket from purl soho that they made replicating the multicolored hudson bay blanket, and thought i'd try a regular sized one, in just black and tan. the only downside....it's garter stitch. making a full sized blanket in garter stitch is mind-numbing. however, i never knew i could knit so fast. and it's really easy to do while i do other things (watch tv, ride trains) so i'm not really complaining too much. i was a little scared thinking it would look sort of beginner-ish (associate garter stitch with new knitters) but I kinda like it's basic-ness. the stripes help too.
lately i've been obsessed with anything lemon (yogurt, pie, pasta, lotion, candles, soap) and I was just reminded that we have a tart pan hiding in the cupboards that we've never used, so i decided to try making a lemon tart. i've made pies before, but never tarts, and i'm not even entirely sure the main differences? other than they look a little different.
after doing a quick search on the internet, the first recipe I found had cream cheese in the filling and piled high with whipped cream. i'm pretty much on the other side of the fence...i was looking for minimal, straightforward tart without the fluff, and with extreme tart-ness. i found what i was looking for with the tarte au citron on david lebovitz's blog. i like his cooking aesthetic. basic and very tart.
when i was putting together my shopping list (which surprisingly almost everything to make this is already in my pantry!) i realized david's recipe is for a 9 inch tart pan, and mine is 11 inches. there's nothing like a good math problem first thing in the morning (did i mention my love of math??). first, by digging up the formula to calculate the volume of each tart pan, then determining the percentage increase in volume, and multiplying that times each of the ingredients, I came up with the recipe below.
apparently, the way of cooking this dough is unusual (i don't know since i've never made one). but i found it super duper easy to make. though, my dough wasn't as cohesive as david's and not nearly as pretty in the end, it tasted pretty good.
here's my modified version for an 11 inch tart pan. when you're scaling up, the proportions on everything look a little weird. just go with it.
Lemon Tart Recipe
Tart Shell
11" tart pan
4.65 ounces (about 1.12 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
a few months ago, i started and finished my very first quilt. it was a present for my best friend's second baby, so i didn't want to ruin the surprise by posting it on the internet before giving it to her. i wanted an easy pattern for my first quilt, and baby-sized seemed appropriate too. i love geometric shapes and found an amish shadows design in a book. it looked pretty easy to make without the pattern in hand, so i drafted up my own pattern. i used 10" squares with 3 colors evenly spaced diagonally on half of the square, and muslin on the other half.
at the time, we didn't know if it was a boy or girl so i went with some minty green colors, which now actually look more blue. it was a girl - oops. i actually wanted to do red, pink, orange and yellow with beige but the fabric store in savannah was really lacking colors (they kept pushing me to buy these horrible "marbled" fabrics to hide the mistakes that they thought would automatically happen on my first quilt...I told them I'd rather not make the quilt at all).
in the end, I think it turned out pretty well! I definitely learned a lot and my quilting stitches dramatically improved from the start to finish of this one. the quilted hearts are a bit cutesy, but it is for a baby so I thought it was appropriate.
to make the quilt, i bought 2 books, and asked a few questions to my boyfriend's mom, who is a wonderful and very experienced quilter herself. the books, especially the Complete Guide To Quilting by Better Homes and Gardens was AMAZING.
it explains every step, in detail with reasons why on everything, with pictures and text. EVERYTHING related to quilting is covered - picking out materials, fabrics, thread, techniques on cutting, piecing, how to use the rotary cutter and ruler to make perfect strips, templates, appliques, machine piecing, hand piecing, machine and hand quilting, needles, batting choices, basting, binding techniques, etc. it's pretty much the bible of quilting, in my opinion. it even explained the difference between ironing and pressing - who knew??
the other book (It's OK if you sit on my quilt, book), I admit, I bought almost because of it's title...and it's cover. and it was $2.50. it also had great reviews. it's not nearly as comprehensive as the other book, but it is an EXCELLENT supplement. it covers in detail a 'new' approach to piecing together your squares. it takes a more holistic approach and it explains how you can save sooo much time by chunking your piecing rather than stitching together individual shapes. some of this technique is covered in the Complete Guide, but Mary Ellen goes into more detail. she also covers how to visually think about a quilt to come up with some pretty interesting designs. AND she includes hundreds and hundreds of square patterns for you to mix and match into your own quilt design, which is worth the $2.50 alone. together, the complete guide covers all of the basics and serves as an excellent reference book. and once you read through that, mary ellen's book is an excellent way of rethinking quilt designs by focusing on the piecing part of the process.
right now i'm working out the designs for another quilt...more to come on that soon...
