Monday, September 30, 2013

Handmade Especially Donation

At the end of another quarter we've made another delivery of scarves to the local shelters. I made a total of 15 scarves and together with my friends we were able to donate a total of 22 scarves. I didn't take them directly to a shelter this time, but to our area coordinator while they figured out where the scarves needed to go.

Here is a photo of the scarves I made. Thank you again for your donations to my blog, every time you donate, I am able to make a scarf for the women's shelter. I have a few more scarves to make before I catch up to the number of donations made this month. THANK YOU!!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Home Improvement Binder - Free PDF

A dear friend of mine was overwhelmed with the renovations needed in their newly-acquired home. Sound familiar? I have had some home-improvement experience growing up and I cannot wait until we are ready to buy a house to get working! Hopefully next year! Anyway, I wanted to create something to help her organize the budget, plans, to-do's, and everything else involved in renovation. She had a good sized house and a growing family. I created this binder for her to organize her home improvement efforts.


This is what is included:

  1. Title page (page protector)
  2. Contractor list: to keep track of any contractors and their contact information
  3. Room Guide: print one for each room. It has a to-do list, budget, paint, and notes section all at a glance. I wanted to keep it all in one page because sometimes it's nice to see all the information for one room all together.
  4. Project Budget (page protector): This is to keep track of overall expenses, and total the entire renovation project.
  5. Inspiration (Page protector): insert photos that you would like to show contractors for those "I want it to look like this!" moments. It keeps the ideas organized. You could print one out for each room if you wanted!
  6. Estimates (page protector): insert estimates for quick organization and retrieval.
  7. Receipts (page protector): insert receipts in case you need to return, order more of the same item, etc.
  8. Before and After photos (page protector): Take photos before, during, and after and store them in here so that you can be inspired through the hard times during renovations!

I personally kept pages 1 and 4-8 in page protectors, as they were for storing items and keep things divided and easy to access, while pages 2-3 were not because those are the most used pages that get the most frequent use and therefore would be a hassle to take in and out of page protectors. But you can use page protectors as you would like.

Click here to download


Here is what mine looked like:











Thursday, September 5, 2013

Emily's Scarf - Free Pattern

 
I had the idea for this scarf several months back when I first designed the Spring scarf. However, with other patterns having priority, this design hit the back burner. I received an email from Emily, who kindly thanked me for my efforts. She explained that she was once a victim and that these scarves really do help. I offered to make a scarf in her honor, and she requested the Spring scarf. I felt I could do more. I pulled out my idea and finally wrote it out for Emily. That is where it gets the name. I hope that you will love this pattern and make one to send to the Handmade Especially organization. There is too much abuse; there is a need for an outpouring of love, and it can be from you.
 

Materials:
Size K crochet hook
Soft yarn (medium weight)
Sewing needle
 
Gauge:
Initial chain should measure about 2-2.5"
Pattern:

Ch 9
Row 1: (3dc, ch 2, 3dc) in 6th ch from hook, dc in last ch, turn
Row 2: Ch 3, (3dc, ch 2, 3dc) in ch-2 sp of previous row, dc in the third ch of the ch-3 of the previous row. Turn
Repeat row 2 until project is the desired length (about 60 inches), ending with an odd number of motifs (squares, diamonds, shells, whatever you call them!) so the edging is even.
Final row: ch 6, sc in ch-2 sp, ch 6, sl st to first sc.

Edging:
Round 1: Ch 1 and sc in same stitch. Working along the side, 2 sc in each dc sp, 1 sc in the top of each dc. In the corner chain space: sc 2, ch 2, sc 2. Sc once in the space between the motifs, repeat corner chain space, and continue working along opposite side as described. After the last corner, sl st with first sc.
Round 2:  *sk 2 ch, 5 dc in next ch, sk 2 ch, sc in next ch, repeat from * until you reach the corners, then: 8 dc in the ch-2 sp, sc in the sc, 8 dc in the ch-2 sp of adjacent corner, and repeat entire row again. Fasten off by attaching to first dc of the first shell.


Please let me know if you find any problems as this pattern has not been proofed.