SpiderWomanKnits

Free Pattern! Drop Stitch Cowl

Remember when I mentioned I had another freebie pattern to share? This past fall I knit up one of these cowls and it has become my favorite knitted accessory. I wear it all the time, with or without my coat! For knitters, it's a very simple and gratifying project using a conservative amount of your yarn and your time. Grab your size 15 circs, a ball of super bulky yarn and cast on! In no time at all you’ll have a stylish accessory that will quickly become one of your most treasured possessions. I've went ahead and written up the pattern for you. I'm sure you can whip one up this weekend and I really hope you do! 

Here is the direct link to the PDF Download Drop Stitch Cowl which can also be found on Ravelry too. 

I love offering patterns for free, in turn, I humbly ask that you direct people who are interested in purchasing a cowl to my Etsy shop. Thank you so much! If you are not a knitter cowls are available in my Etsy Shop right now. 

Enjoy!

xoxo

Spidey

preserving cherry tomatoes

I am getting about 1 gallon of cherry tomatoes every day. That's a conservative estimate. This year I planted Sun Gold Cherry Toms. We are really loving them. I always freeze a bunch whole to be used for fresh pasta sauces in the winter but this year I am also slow roasting them with cloves of garlic. Oh.My.Wow. These are truly amazing and will be a warm, rich and comforting companion in winter stews, soups or just smothered on a piece of toast.You will have to use all of your will power not to just eat these on the spot while you are filling your jars.

To slow roast cherry tomatoes (or any small tomato) preheat your oven to 250 degrees. I have a convection roast option on my oven which works wonderfully. Wash your tomatoes, sliced them in half and place in a roasting pan (or pans if you have a bazillion like me). Separate whole cloves of garlic from the bulb but leave the skin on and scatter them in your pan. I like to use one clove per jar and I always roast extra. Drizzle olive oil over your pan and sprinkle kosher salt to taste. Place in the oven and roast for approx. 1 1/2-2 hours. I like to set my timer at 30 minute intervals and just keep checking or rotating pans so they roast evenly. You want them to be slightly browned and almost dehydrated though there will be some thickened juices. Fill 4oz Ball jars, leaving 1/2", and add one clove of garlic squeezed from it's skin to each jar. Let cool, cover and freeze!

If you want to just freeze your cherry or grape tomatoes, just wash and dry them. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment in a single layer and set in freezer until they are solid. Transfer to zippered freezer bags.

Enjoy!

 

a very quick necklace or bracelet project

My love of fabric knows no bounds these days. Even the scrap pieces that fall to the floor are making themselves useful. I found myself with a few skinny lengths of vintage calico and decided to braid them together into a necklace. I love, love braided rugs and I feel like I am carrying that love with me when I wear this around.

All you have to do to make one is gather three pieces of any fabric you love. Cut them (or pull them from your scrap pile) into 1" W x any length strips but make sure they are about 1 foot longer than your intended necklace. Loosely knot the top and start braiding, evenly and tightly, until your necklace is the desired length. Un knot your top knot. Trim your two ends so you have about 1/2" on both sides. Hold your two ends closely together so they overlap just slightly and secure with a few back and forths of a zig zag stitch as close to the braid on each side as you can. Done! Wrap around your wrist a few times to wear as a bracelet.

You can use larger widths of fabric for a thicker braid or use more than three pieces. Mix colors or use the same. These lengths would be great for decorative trim on sewing project or bag handles or belts or pretend play horsey bridles, etc. Anything! What colorful fun!

PS. The scrappy, straggly piece around my neck is just a 'cutting room floor' piece from one of my pillowcase totes and please ignore the pizza boxes in the fireplace.

i'm back and feeling better than ever

{lots and lots of laughter, margaritas, great food, crafting, bananagram-ing, jelly beans, girl talk, sleeping, antiquing, strolling and even some goat cheese making}

Oh my gosh, my weekend was amazing! Really, I am still on Cloud 9. To say I needed this time would be an understatement and to say that the time I spent with my friends was just what I needed would also be an understatement. It was so much more than that. I just love these women so much, I feel blessed to call them friends and that my kids call their kids friends and that our husbands all made this trip possible.

The trip was months in the making and I honestly don't think a single one of us let out a breath until we were all in the car and on our way. The week before there was lots of sickness, some pretty crappy weather and anyone who has a family knows the 1,000,000 little things that could possible crop up that would keep a mama at home. So, even as the days approached and we started figuring out who was driving, who was bringing what food, what crafty projects we'd bring along and how long we'd actually let each other sleep it didn't really feel 'real' until we sunk into those bucket seats of my friends Alexa's and Michelle's cars and hit the road. (By the way, it turns out that none of us could really sleep in, years of motherhood have really re-programmed our bodies.)

But man, oh, man. I don't think there was even five minutes of 'decompression time'! As soon as we hit that road it was our road. And that made the weekend spectacular. My friend's are all blogless, so no linking, but they are all amazingly talented, sweet, funny, honest and stupendous mama's so I wish you could peek into their lives a bit.

The photos are all mine but that cheese in the making and margarita credit goes to Amy who made some goat cheese for us to snack on and served up margaritas (thank you!) during our games of Bananagrams, which I am now addicted to (the Bananagrams not the margaritas, don't worry).  Laura is responsible for that beautiful cupcake which I took over 35 pictures of. She is also a very talented quilter and a local bib maker extraordinaire. If your baby is wearing a handmade, quilted bib in our area (and even other areas) chances are she made it. I keep singing the praises of Etsy to Laura but honestly her bibs and quilts sell just about as fast as she can make them so the best place to check out her stuff is on her Facebook page. Alexa takes the credit for the fajitas in the making. Eventhough I can't take a picture of it Michelle has to take the credit (although I know she won't) for keeping us all grounded in a way that is immensely comforting, perhaps even more than she can know. And we are all collectively responsible for the unreasonable amount of jelly beans that were consumed over the course of two days.

These women all make me a better person and a better mom and it was a huge gift to get to spend this type of uninterrupted time together. We are already talking about doing it again.

On a totally different note, I am completely back-blogged (?) when it comes to my knitting posts! I am so excited to share them. I hope soon. In the meantime, it's starting to get spring-y around here and for me that means chicks! Over the next few months people start and add to their chicken flocks. If you are thinking about doing either make sure you check out the link in my sidebar (top right) which will take you to my Brooding 101 post that covers all the basics you need to know if you are thinking of keeping chickens. I hope you find it helpful!

FO: Free Pattern for Peekaboo Mitts

Just some last minute gift knitting.

And a wee bitty gift FOR YOU! Here's the pattern for the Peekaboo Mitts! I wrote it up and turned into a neat and tidy PDF.

  Download Peekaboo Mitts

or queue it on Ravelry

****PLEASE UPDATE YOUR PDF TO THE LATEST VERSION AS OF 10:30pm 12/16****

there were some wonky areas in the first one but they are all set now

These will fit basically any man or woman, use a wee bit of worsted, and take just a wee bit of time. Maybe you can whip up a last minute pair too? They are so basic but make a great unisex gift. These are going to Jorn's guitar teacher but in the past I've knit them for the postman, friends, and family.They are always appreciated. I always have a pair on myself. Let me know if you find any quirks in the pattern or have any trouble with the download. Enjoy and don't forget to let me know if you knit a pair!

oooxx

Spidey

Starting Your Backyard Flock: Brooding 101

Keeping chickens is immensely satisfying and surprisingly easy. It makes good, common sense that it would be otherwise farmers would have abandoned keeping chickens long ago. But with relatively little time and money you can start your own backyard flock of chickens and have the invaluable reward of knowing where your food is coming from, perhaps even supplying others with locally raised food, along with the pleasure of simply keeping chickens since watching your flock forage around you will bring peace and joy to your heart. It will.

Like a new or first time parent the idea of being responsible for new life can seem daunting and overwhelming. When you place your first chick order you aren't just expecting a 'baby' or two, you're probably expecting at the very least a half dozen! But don't worry! Your chicks (and you) will be fine as long as you provide them with a safe place, a warm light, soft bedding and some food and water. Unlike human babies you will watch your chick babies begin to thrive and grow in an unbelievably short amount of time which is a good thing because you will know right away if what you are doing is working or not. 

To begin brooding baby chicks you will need a few things:

1. A Brooder. You can get as crafty, thrifty or MacGyver as you want here.

Basically you need a box with sides to prevent drafts and I highly recommend that your box have a cover. We have two brooders. One is a large Rubbermaid tub (pictured left). We simply cut the inside of the lid out and replaced it with chicken wire so that it still snaps on securely. This size brooder will accommodate up to 10 chicks for the first month or so depending on the rate of growth. Our second brooder (pictured right) was designed to hold at least 60 chicks for the first month or so depending on the rate of growth. You will know when it is time to move your chicks out of the brooder but generally it's after the first 5-6 weeks.

A lid is essential if you have small children and/or pets. Most of the time we brood our chicks in the Rubbermaid tub inside our house because we like hearing and seeing them. But chicks make A LOT of dust. So you may want to keep your chicks in a mudroom or the garage or some other place that you don't mind getting really dusty.  The cost of your brooder will vary with the materials you use to make it. The Rubbermaid tote brooder was about $25 for the tote and the small roll of chicken wire. The chicken wire is simply stapled on with a staple gun and has lasted through three kids, two cats and three flocks of chickens. Here is a closer look. It's a great way to brood a small amount of chickens, easy to clean and when you are done brooding you can store all of your supplies in it! We used salvaged particle board and hardware to make our other brooder along with leftover chicken wire from the first brooder so it cost next to nothing.  Look around you, what do you have? Can you turn it into a brooder? Go for it!

2. Pine Shavings.

We line our brooders and our coop with pine shavings and buy them in a huge bale at our local feed store. We have had great success with pine shavings. The only downside is that the chicks will kick it into the water and food but they will do that with any material you put in. Pine shavings are inexpensive and readily available. Our big bale costs $6 and lasts until the chicks move into the coop. You will know when it is time to change the shavings. The more area you give your chicks the less frequently you will have to change the shavings. Rule of thumb is to put down a 3 inch layer in your brooder.

3. Heat Lamp and TWO RED bulbs.

Heat is the most important element to keeping your chicks healthy during the first few weeks so the heat lamp is your most important supply. You can find the lamp at your local feed store, Tractor Supply and probably at a hardware store depending on where you live. You can buy clear or red bulbs. ALWAYS buy red bulbs. Chickens are prone to cannibalism so having the red bulb over saturates their environment making it difficult for them pick on a chick that may have gotten a peck for spending too much time at the food trough etc. With our last flock we neglected to have an extra red bulb on hand and when our bulb blew the closest feed store only had clear bulbs available. We purchased one, put it in the lamp, went about our day and night only to wake up to a chick with half of her wing pecked to an open wound. It was horrible. So, that day I drove further out to get a red bulb and that simple switch kept her wing from being pecked at any more and her wing healed just fine. Always buy a red heat bulb and always buy two. When one goes, replace it and get another extra to have on hand. The lamp will cost $15-20 and the bulb $5-8.

When your chicks first arrive you will need to keep the heat lamp directly over your brooder about 1 to 1 1/2' above them. Ideally this will keep an area of your brooder @ 90-95 degrees. It is very important that your chicks have a place to go that is not hot though so position your lamp to one side of the brooder. Each week you will raise your lamp a few inches until your chicks are 'feathered out' or the temperature is about 70 degrees. Watch your chicks! If they are always huddled together under the lamp you will need to lower it. They are cold! If they are huddled together on the 'unheated' side they are probably too hot! Time to raise your heat lamp!  Happy chicks mill about the brooder. 

PLEASE BE AWARE THESE LAMPS ARE VERY HOT! You will need to run the lamp 24 hours a day so make sure it is in a place where nothing can catch on fire! Always check the chord to be sure it is not touching the lamp itself and please do NOT let children touch or play with the chicks near the lamp.

Right now we have our lamps on chains hanging from a hook which makes it really simple to raise and lower it as needed. We have also clipped a lamp to a camera tripod, a door, etc. Look around you. Do you have a good spot to position your brooder to accommodate the raising and lowering of a heat lamp?  Can your pets or kids knock it over easily? Is it close to a wall or flammable objects? Take these things into consideration when deciding where to place your brooder/heat lamp.

4. Food and water.

You will need a poultry drinker and a trough feeder. Both of these things are available at feed stores or Tractor Supply. Don't bother with a mason jar drinker. It's a base that you can just attach a mason jar too and while it is absolutely adorable they will outgrow it in a week and you will be cleaning it every hour so you'll just hate it and toss it in your garage. A gallon drinker is suitable for a backyard flock of 10-20 chickens. We have both galvanized metal and plastic ones like the one pictured above. It's a matter of preference and finances. We buy the plastic ones for $5 and use them only with our chicks.

A trough feeder like the one pictured above is nice to look at and keeps the birds from jumping onto the feeder and pooping in it. But, you can also just use an egg crate, a bowl or anything else you may have around so it's not an essential purchase.

When your chicks first arrive (assuming you have ordered them by mail and they are day olds) you will dip each one of their beaks into water/the poultry drinker as you transfer them from the box they arrived in to their new brooder. To do this just grab your chick in your hand and dip it's wee little beak into the water. They should take a little gulp right away and maybe even just start drinking on their own as soon as you set them down. At this time we also inspect our chicks and make sure they have arrived safe and sound. Wait an hour or so before offering them food. Although, our last batch arrived ravenous so we just waited a little while before placing their food in the brooder. Just give them time to settle in and take the time yourself to make sure they are healthy.

You will need to feed your chicks 'Chick Starter' mash. Chick Starter usually comes in 25-50lb bags and should be stored in a metal pail with a tight fitting lid. You will have many options for chick starter but most contain antibiotics. We are an organic operation so ours does not. I can't speak for certain about medicated feed but I think that you begin by feeding the entire bag of medicated feed and then switch to a grower mash. (Someone correct me if I am wrong) In our case we start by feeding organic chick starter for the first 5-6 weeks then feed organic grower pellets until our hens start laying at which point we switch to a layer mash. In any case, you will need a bag of chick starter mash, medicated or organic. Organic feed is considerably more expensive than conventional feed. A conventional bag will cost $11-15 while an organic bag will cost you $22-25. Yeah, it's really that much more.

Some chicks can become 'pasty' which is a somewhat polite way of saying that poop sticks to their butt. It can block the exit and cause problems. If this occurs simply use a warm, wet paper towel to wipe the poop away. We've only done this once and of course it was with our first flock which we worried and fretted over like first time parents but I haven't wiped a chicks butt since! If you are concerned that you have a pasty chick do NOT google 'pasty chick' with your kids in the room. I warned you.

And that's it! To recap:

Before your chicks arrive you'll need a brooder, pine shavings, a heat lamp, a bag of chick starter mash, a poultry drinker and something to put their food in.

Once they arrive, dip each of their beaks in water, turn on your heat lamp, observe them and then offer them food. 

After they arrive, make sure they have fresh water and clean food every day. Switch their pine shavings as needed. Once a week raise your heat lamp a few inches but observe your chicks! If you are brooding in the summer you may need less artificial heat. And enjoy them while they are small. They only fit in the palm of your hand for a short while!

a wee bit of sewing and a winner!

I've been sneaking in wee bits of sewing here and there. This was the quickest, simplest project! But the results are adorable and fun! I simply took four fat quarters and sewed them together. Then I pulled some spring green flannel from my stash, faced the 'top' and the flannel right sides together, sewed around, leaving an opening to turn them right side out. Then I turned them right side out, top stitched around the outer edge about 1/4" in being sure to close that opening. Instant lightweight, spring-summer baby blanket!

Then I decided, in true Spidey fashion, that I wanted to personalize the back. This would have been much easier to do if I did it before I sewed the blanket together but what fun would that be? I just cut out a letter 'R' (hand drawn) and used embroidery floss to sew it on being sure not to poke through to the top layer. R is for baby Reverie! Isn't that the most beautiful name?! She's the newest baby in the family group at Jorn's school.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Thank you all for your tremendous response to the giveaway. I had SO much fun reading through all the giveaway comments about your favorite vintage! It was torture not being able to comment on each one. This was lots of fun, I can sense more giveaways in the future. Head on over to see who the winner is!

oooxxx

Spidey

time for tea

I am not a tea drinker at all. But I find myself inspired by tea quite often. This little cup has been lingering around the house for a while so while I was writing up the pillowcase tote tutorial I decided to turn it into a pincushion! I move my supplies around a lot while I am sewing and so far this is an easy way to do that. Before this I had been using the very first thing that I ever sewed on a machine years and years ago which was just a square that I stuffed. It was inevitable that I would always get stuck with pins. I was tired of it.

I saw this idea somewhere (where? does anyone know?) I know Martha has filled stray vintage tea cups with candle wax. (Am I the only one who finds her site incredibly difficult to navigate?) I love that idea too! I am a sucker for stray, adorable, vintage tea cups.

All you do is wrap a good sized bundle of poly-fill in a piece of fabric and hot glue it into a tea cup or at least that is what I did. I really overstuffed it so it is nice and sturdy. 

We're on 'vacation' right now, whatever that means in a house with three kids, 58 chickens and two alpacas to take care of, two home based businesses, house guests and one sun-of-a-gun fox that has me sprinting outside and across a field a few times a day! Whew. So, I may be a bit quiet here for the rest of the week or at least I am going to try to be but honestly this blog is a very comforting space for me to take a break from it all, so we'll see. Perhaps I should sit down for a spot of tea? ;)

oooxx

Spidey

Vintage Pillowcase Grocery Tote Tutorial

Did you do your homework? Good, if not, don't worry you can always make it up. A few weeks ago I was completely inspired by these bags made by this lovely lady. So, right away I pulled a pillowcase from my stash and got sewing. In 15 minutes, and I know this because it was 15 minutes before Lost came on and Greg was worried I wouldn't make it back for the start, I had the most adorable grocery tote there ever was! Right away I contacted Heather to thank her for the inspiration and to ask if it would be ok to write up a tutorial. I could tell we were making ours differently, I completely winged the bag, but you know how it is. I wanted to be sure. Neither one of us is inventing the wheel here, there are lots of pillowcase bag tutorials out there, I just hadn't seen one and wasn't basing this bag on one.

So I pulled most of the vintage pillowcases from my shop except for a few (because that would just be greedy) and got sewing! I've made a dozen of these now and I just can't stop. Last year was 'the summer of head scarves' from Weekend Sewing. This year, I predict, will be the summer of vintage pillowcase grocery totes! They take so little time and with yard sales coming up you can really stock up. What's so great about this tutorial is that you will use up ever single bit. There won't be one tiny scrap to add to your "burden", I'm sorry, I mean stash. Plus once you finish one tote you can use it to haul all the other vintage pillowcases you'll start hoarding. So, maybe they will indirectly add to your "burden'";)

So, here you go! I wrote up a tidy PDF for the Vintage Pillowcase Grocery Tote!

download vintage pillowcase grocery tote tutorial

 It's yours for the taking and hopefully using! I also set up a Flickr group for you to add your totes too because I can't wait to see all the different pillowcases. As a collector of vintage that is really the most exciting part for me. But really, you could make these out of any pillowcase and it would be just as great! I hope you enjoy making them as much as me! Once you have a set of cutie pie totes like this you will never forget your reusable bags again! I'd love to hear from you if you make one and also if you need or think that any part of the tutorial should be clarified. 

Oh, and, if your not feeling crafty you can find ready made bags that I have sewn for sale in the handmade section of my Etsy Shop! I add more whenever I can. xoxo Spidey

 

 

your weekend assignment

I have a weekend assignment for you! It's really simple and I promise great reward. Find one pillowcase that you adore, vintage or not, just make sure it is lovely. Don't go to any trouble, just pull one from your linen closet that hasn't seen the light of day much or one from your fabric stash that you've kept aside. Then, meet me back here on Monday for a very simple, very gratifying and very addictive tutorial about what to do with that one pillowcase. Ok? See you then!

oooxxx

Spidey