New Project: Learning how to knit!

Hey y’all,

So I have started a new project today! I am going to teach myself to knit. In the past, I have never really been into knitting. My grandma tried to teach me when I was about ten, and I started a scarf. All I knew how to do was a simple knit stitch and I have spent the past 9 years or so working on this scarf which is about a foot long now. Today I gave up on that and used the yarn and needles I have to re-learn the basics.

So I took to Pinterest to find some tutorials and I found this link here to be very helpful and straight forward. Today I worked on casting on, re-learning the knit stitch, learning the purl stitch, and casting off. I think for the next few days I’m going to spend a bit of time practicing these basics before I attempt a real project. My first attempt went really well. I remembered the knit stitch and the purling was a little tricky but I think I got the hang of it. Casting off was definitely rough so I’m going to spend some time on that.

These are some photos of the progress I made today!

A few rows of plain knit stitches

Followed by a few rows of purl stitches

I’m going to post some updates of my progress and any projects I actually start! Do any of you knit? Any tips and tricks for a newbie?

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Halloween Decoration DIY

Hey y’all,

Today I wanted to share a little craft I did for Halloween. In the past, my pumpkin carving experiences have mostly been messy, frustrating, and just generally unsuccessful. So this year I decided to switch it up and try something new. I got mini pumpkins and decorated them like little spiders, bats, and mummies. No carving necessary!

Supplies needed:

• Mini pumpkins! As many as you like (I did 6, 2 of each kind)
• Black paint (make sure you use acrylic, I started out with kids paint that was washable and it just peeled when it dried)
• Paint brush
• Googly eyes
• Black pipe cleaners
• Cardboard
• Toilet paper, gauze, or something similar
• Hot glue gun
• Black marker

1. First off I washed my pumpkins, they were a little dirty. Let them dry before trying anything.
2. Second I painted 4 of them all black and left them to dry. Like I said before, acrylic paint works the best. Anything washable will crack when it dries and peel off, not to mention wash off if it rains.
3. While the black ones were drying, I did the mummies. I used toilet paper because it was readily available. I used strips long enough to go around my pumpkin once, and ripped it in half longways to make it thinner. I glued these to my pumpkin. I made a small rip in the toilet paper to make room for the eyes to peak out. I glued the eyes on with hot glue and used a marker to draw on a mouth.
   
4. I cut out my bat wings from a cardboard box and painted them black, and left them to dry as well.
5. Once the black pumpkins were dry, I used a wooden kabob skewer to poke 8 holes for the spider legs. Then stuck my pipe cleaners in. Glue on some eyes and you’re done. Add more than two to make them extra creepy.
   
6. Finally I hot glued the wings and some eyes onto the last 2 pumpkins for the bats. Note: this is tricky, I found it easiest to fill a groove in the side with hot glue and put the wing in that, as opposed to trying to glue it on the flatter/rounded parts.
   

Overall this is a super easy craft! I had much more success than I have had with traditional carving in the past. There are so many different ways to approach this idea and the possibilities are really endless. It is definitely something you could do with kids as well.

Are there any certain crafts you do for Halloween? Did you do pumpkins? Let me know!

Have a wonderful day!