It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday- insulated thermos cover... with a tail!

You know something like this has to have a story, right? Well, it does :). My brother in law likes go out on his front porch in the evening. Lately there's been a skunk hanging around the front of the house at night, so he's been worried about being sprayed while he's out there. My niece (his daughter), who is such a fun & funny person, couldn't resist pulling a prank on him with her boyfriend. They took a realistic stuffed animal skunk, attached fishing line to it, and strung it through a tree. When they moved it around, my b-i-l panicked and tried to get in the front door. They locked it. And video taped it. LOL!

Anyhoo, they had asked me a while back to make a cover for his thermos, since his coffee was going cold too quickly. Because of the handle and strap, I used a cardigan, so it could be buttoned around the handle.



I couldn't resist adding the tail ;).

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make an insulated water bottle cozy!

Did you know that wool is naturally insulated & moisture wicking? That's what makes recycled wool an excellent choice for water bottle cozies! Your water will stay cold, but your hands will stay warm. The texture of the wool helps you keep a better grip on your water bottle, and the condensation will be wicked away, so you won't be left with a soggy cozy. We've been using recycled wool cozies on out steel water bottles for a long time now, and can't live without them! Ready for the super easy tutorial?

Take a felted (not too felted, so there is a bit of stretch left to it) wool sweater sleeve, and place it on your bottle, to determine how long you want it to be. Mark it, take it off the bottom, and cut straight across. Don't follow the pattern of the sweater when you cut (if you are using a patterned sweater), because the patterns can run at a slight angle. Then cut a circle that is the same circumference as the bottom of your cut sweater sleeve bottom.


Now turn your sleeve part inside out, and place the circle on the cut end, wrong side out.


Now sew the circle to the sleeve.


It should look something like this when you are done...


Now flip it right side out, and you are done!


Now we are ready for summer!

P.s. These are washable too! I've washed my son's cozies a dozen times. Just wash on cold, so they don't felt further. I just threw them in cold cycles in the washer, but if you want to be extra careful, just hand wash cold and lay flat to dry.

and the winners of the boys clothes giveaway are....

orange monster patch jeans - Megan
owl patch jeans - Siana
monster patch jeans - Anna
sweater - Leslie

I will be contacting you all shortly!

Recycled wool boy's clothes giveaway!

Since I haven't been posting much, how about some giveaways! I feel a little weird about doing a giveaway with my son's outgrown clothes, but these are all one of a kind. The jeans especially were very popular on Pinterest!

The rules? Please post which item you want (in the comments section of this post). Don't forget to leave an email (so I can contact you, if you win). Blog/tweet/Facebook about this giveaway, and you can post again for each (total of 4 posts max per person)! I'm sorry, but this giveaway is limited to the US. This giveaway ends at midnight (central time) on Friday, May 25th. I will use random.org to determine the winners.

Ready for the choices?

1. A super cute recycled wool sweater made by Victoria Velting. It fits a 2t-3t.
(there is no spot on the bottom of this sweater... my camera lens has a scratch on it).


2. A merino wool baseball style shirt made by me. We used this as a night shirt. Wool is naturally fire retardant (without chemicals!), dust mite resistant, moisture wicking, and temperature regulating, so absolutely perfect for pjs! Approximate size is 4-5t. If you don't win, you can make your own from the tutorial here!
(there is no spot on the bottom of this shirt... my camera lens has a scratch on it).

3. 3 pairs of size 6 jeans (all slim fitting styles), patched by me.

- Gap jeans original fit, size 6, with handmade recycled wool orange monster patch, made by me.


- Faded black wash Gap jeans boot fit, size 6 slim, with handmade recycled wool monster patch, made by me. The other knee is threadbare, and will need a patch soon too. I accidentally washed these on warm, instead of cold, so it is slightly bunchy around the patch, but it didn't deter us from using them ;).


- Gap jeans original fit, size 6, with handmade recycled wool owl patch, made by me. The other knee is threadbare, and will need a patch soon too.


Good luck! :)

Free wool!

I am clearing out some space, and need to destash. I have the following free for the cost of shipping! :


Gone: Box of felted wool (and some cashmere) scraps (6 lbs, 12 oz.)...


some lightly felted to felted (except the scenery one) low wool content sweaters (5 lbs, 12 oz). For content, most are here. The black one on the far left is 60% alpaca/40% acrylic, and the navy with fair isle is felted, and most likely 100% wool, but is missing it's fiber tag.


Gone: and lastly, a box of felted seams (3lbs, 8oz)...


To calculate what shipping will be for them, just go to the post office price calculator, and plug in 60134 as the from zip, yours as the to zip, and the weights above, and it will give you the costs for shipping to you (hint: click on the "Priority options", as well as the "other options" tabs, to see the cheapest shipping options).

What should I do with these tea towels?

While garage saling this weekend, I found these fabulous vintage calendar tea towels, 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968. Aren't they fabulous? Now, what do I do with them? I have the book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel on hold at the library (surprised they even had it!), but it hasn't come in yet, so I need ideas. I'd like to use the whole towels, if possible. What did people use tea towels for anyway? They don't seem absorbent or practical for anything, but I am sure they served a purpose.

I saw these ideas on Pinterest:


Super cute, but I have no stools to recover.

So cool, but I have no upholstery skills or patience to learn.

These little dresses are adorable, but I have no girls...

What would you make out of them?

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make a no-sew recycled wool tea bag organizer!

I have recently been diagnosed with gerd (reflux), so my diet has gone through some major changes. One of the biggest was switching from coffee to tea. Since I have not been a tea drinker in the past, I have been trying lots & lots of different teas to see what I like best, but now I have tea everywhere! I Googled around looking for a diy tea organizer, but didn't really find any, so I created my own! This is so quick & easy, and there is no sewing required! Ready for the tutorial?

Remember when you felted a sweater so stiffly that you couldn't use it for anything? Go get that sweater! You will need some heavily felted (the stiffer, the better!) wool, and a container. I used a small organic lettuce container. It seemed like the perfect size, I like that it was clear, and I liked that I was reusing something. Now, cut a piece of the wool to the length & height of your container. If the bottom corners of your container are rounded, make the bottom corners of your wool pieces rounded.


Now cut a slit halfway through the height, in thirds. Just measure your length, divide by three, and cut. For example, if your piece is 6", you will want to make a slit every 2".


Now cut 2 pieces to the width & height of your container, then cut your slit halfway, in the center of each.


Now you just slide these 2 pieces over the longer piece, marrying the slits together (slits will be facing up on the longer piece, and down on the smaller pieces. Place this inside the container.


You are done! It will look a little wonky like that until you put the tea bags in, when it will look like this...


You don't need to, but if you don't like it looking wonky while empty, you can simply reinforce it with a few hand stitches, and it will look like this...


The clear container allows you to see what is in there from every angle.


The beauty of using recycled wool, instead of something hard, for the dividers, is that they can form to space you need for each section... a little more than full, or a little less than full. I really love this, and I will make another, so I have one for the caffeinated, and one for the herbal decafs.

I hope you find this as useful as I do! As an added bonus, wool is moisture wicking, and will help keep your tea fresh!


And now, a shameless plug for a referral code :) ! I buy most of my tea, along with natural hair products, and health foods from Vitacost. They seem to always have the lowest price on what i'm looking for, they often have free shipping deals (shipping on orders over $50 is always free), and with referral credits, are cheapest by far! If you order through my referral code, both you & I each get a $10 credit with no minimum to purchase! For your $10 credit, simply click here!