This is the last post in the winter wool projects series. Below are a few links to some knitting projects meant to challenge. I understand that it is very cold down south. Mum’s pipes froze and she went without water. Minus five. I don’t miss that. So if you’re down south, you probably don’t want to hear that it’s still t-shirt weather here. And I tend to feel the cold. So when I was drooling over the sock patterns, thinking that I wouldn’t mind a new challenge, I realised that I’ll probably only be able to wear them for a couple of weeks. Oh well. 

In the last post I added some links to online yarn stores. Do you find yarn expensive? I guess if your hobby provides you with something functional afterwards, then you’re getting double value for your dollar. However, I found these step by step instructions on reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters at Chaotic Crafter which would massively reduce the cost of knitting.

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The first thing that I remember knitting was a little tank top for Mr Mousey. Short and sleeveless. In pink. Lucky Mr Mousey.

Knitting isn’t really a craft I do often, though. At the moment I am knitting up some new dishcloths and in the past I have made the usual scarf and even the odd jumper. Recently I decided to teach myself the continental method of knitting, essentially the yarn is held in the left hand rather than the right. As I am a lefty, I find it easier to switch between knit and purl this way.

A few years ago, there was a knitting revolution. All of a sudden it was hip to be seen with a pair of needles and apparently all the celebs were clicking away. As a result, a plethora of books on modern knit patterns were published and yarns in every colour and texture appeared on the market.

Knitting is the other meditative yarn craft. Knitting your own stuff will probably not save you much money, but it’s another possible skill to learn and another source of industry and pride. If you’re wanting to learn how to knit, there are a lot of videos on the net but I find cyberseams videos easy to follow even though they are silent.

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I said in my last post that a little crochet goes a long way – I have to retract that after looking at some of the projects completed by members of Ravelry. There is a whole other level of crochet that I didn’t even know was achievable (like Tunisian Crochet).

Below are a few random crochet projects that will (I hope) inspire and excite. I really didn’t believe a granny square rug could look so good until I saw the picture of the Stockholm Afghan by Stitch Nation.

Aside from the sites from which the patterns below come from, All Free Crochet is also a good source of crochet patterns.

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It’s finally resembling something like winter here and my fingers are itching for a wool project. Oh, there are the quilts I’m working on, and the dishcloths, and the long list of projects ‘to do’ but I have a hankering for some wool work.

I love having a hand project on the go. On one hand the repetitive nature of crocheting or knitting or hand sewing is relaxing and meditative. On the other, it make TV time seem more productive. I hate sitting idle in front of the telly.

Part of being frugal is living more independently, relying less on others to meet every single need. Being able to make some of your own clothes and household goods means that you are to some extent at least less reliant on big business (most of us still have to buy the wool, after all). Not that you have to learn to crochet in order to live frugally.

If you haven’t tried knitting or crocheting but want to learn, I’m going to be unconventional and say: try crocheting first. When you crochet, you are only working with one stitch at a time so you don’t have the problem of dropping stitches or trying to work backwards to fix mistakes, like you do with knitting.

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I’ve done a skirt roundup, and a top roundup, so I the next obvious step is pants. Now I just have to find the time to make some (but I think I still need to start with a skirt first!)

While there are hundreds of tutorials on the interwebs for kids pants, I found it difficult to find adult pants tutorials. Some of the kids ones can be translated into adults ones though, I’m sure.

The Katherine Hepburn pants tutorial is unfortunately incomplete, but it does show how to take your measurements and how to draft your own pants pattern. Couple this info with the links on how to alter pants patterns below and you can make endless pants designs.&

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Refashioning clothes is my next step in learning to sew. If it’s an old shirt off to the charity store, then I wont be wasting a whole heap of money on material and patterns if I don’t get it right.

Here is a collection of top refashions. Some of these websites have several refashions (it was hard to choose) so don’t forget to look around when you get there.

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I previously wrote about how I was preparing for a frugal baby, listing the absolute bare minimum essential things that I thought I would need. Then we brought the little fella home.

I never expected that I would be bottle feeding so to the list of essentials we added a breast pump (I was trying for a few weeks to bring my milk in), bottles, formula and steriliser (as I expected to breast feed, we started out boiling our bottles on the stove top. A steriliser was an expensive but oh so wonderful convenience purchase). We also ended up with a pram (for nanna really), a bath and a bouncer, both of which get a pretty good work out.

Apart from the essentials, I also did some less essential crafting before the new arrival, that I wanted to share with you. Despite being non essential, we use the items below on a daily basis. As a quilter, I have quite a stash of fabric from my cashed up days, so everything except the fabric and notions for the bag was made from what I already had on hand (no extra money spent).

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Image and pattern from Dreadlock Girl.

Who would have thought that there were so many different patterns for the humble knitted dishcloth? The ones below only touch on the variety that can be found on the internet.

Knitted dishcloths make a great project for the beginner knitter, or a way of trying out and exploring new patterns for the more experienced knitter. Or they could serve as an outlet for creating your own knitting designs and patterns. If you’re wanting to make some of your own dishcloths (they are excellent to use by the way), below are some patterns to get you inspired.

As well as knitting patterns, there are also some crocheted dishcloths if you prefer, as well as some scrubby patterns and a Tawashi pattern.

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I made these placemats for mum as part of her Christmas gift. They were inspired by some that I saw at the shops, only mine didn’t cost $12 each! If you’re interested in making some, I’ve included a tutorial below.

Apart from a little blanket stitch and a bit of practice, this is the first time I’ve done any embroidery, so this is very much a beginner project. It used satin stitch, and if you can ply a needle, you can do satin stitch.

I created the embroidery design using GIMP, but you can download any embroidery design off the net, create one by hand or copy one out of a book.

You can download the leaf design here.

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GIMP is a graphics manipulation programme very similar to Adobe Photoshop. The major difference between the two is that Photoshop costs around $1,500 retail and GIMP is a totally free open source software programme.

The easiest way to create your own satin stitch embroidery patterns using GIMP is to download and install some free brush sets. GIMP recognises brush sets designed for Photoshop, so there are hundreds to choose from. In the spirit of free and open source, please don’t use these free brushes for commercial purposes.

You can download GIMP here.

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