Wrap it up Thursday - Knitted Jam Jar Cover

These beautiful glass jar wraps are from Leigh Radford's, One More Skein and were shared via a post on Design*Sponge.  They are covering up a mayonnaise jar, a peanut butter jar and a jam jar.  They kind of remind me of my faux knitted vase but all the better - the real thing.  And because there is glass inside they make a great flower vase.  These knits remind me of getting ready for fall but, with some bright blue cotton, I created the jar cover for my spring giveaway.

 I improvised following the beginning of her pattern for a lace jam jar.  (The third pattern on the design* sponge post) To make my cover I used a pretty, bird egg blue cotton yarn  and US #4 needles.  (Leigh's pattern calls for  #9 needles - but for my little jam jar this worked the best )  You begin by knitting in the round, starting at the bottom of your jar cover.  Once I had completed the portion that made up the circular bottom, I just continued with the stocking stitch in the round, for my body,  until my cover was tall enough to cover up the glass jam jar.  Then I just finished with a simple bind off.

There is still time to enter the draw for the wrapped up jam jar and the three spring pencils.

 If you would like to enter the contest, add a comment here.

Finally, thank you to all of you for taking the time to enter and for all your lovely comments.  It really, really means so much to me.

Giveaway - Springy Pencils

In honor of the amy power's spring 2012 inspired ideas magazine, I thought I would giveaway the spring pencil project that I did.

 The prize includes the three pencils shown - bluebird, grey and brown branches and the cream and blue nest.  I am also throwing in a light blue knit covered mason jar to keep them by your computer.

What do you need to do - you say?  Well, although not required, please spread the word about my blog and the magazine and if you are so inclined become a helana and ali follower (see the right hand bar)

Required:  Add a comment to this post letting me know your name 

(I also ask that if your email is not associated with your comment name ie google sign-in etc. that you include it in your comment, or email me, so I can let you know if you won)

Winner will be randomly selected Monday April 2nd at 6 pm. EST 


We have a winner:  AprilsArtisticAvenue - email me with your address and your prize is on it's way!

Here are a couple of the pages from my springy pencil spread.  Here, I give you all the details on how you can make your own spring desktop - but if you win - you won't need to :)

The magazine is loaded with all sorts of adorable spring projects so if you want to see more, order your own magazine here.

It's nice to know spring is just around the corner, don't you think!

Wrap it up Thursday - Decorating with Pom Poms

After decorating gifts with nests I wanted to do something different.  Maybe finish up my teacher gifts but I am still gathering supplies.  So here is another bird inspired gift.  This is for a friend who is celebrating a significant birthday.  She plans on taking a very personal spiritual journey after the holidays and so I thought it would be nice to give her a journal to take along.  I added a feather pen, a blue crystal pencil and a blue watercolour pencil.  All inspired by the Thomas Paul slipcovered journal and the wonderful robin's egg blue that lines the inside covers.

I guess you could say that this is wrapping without the wrapping.  The book itself is so lovely I couldn't bear to cover it up.  I was completely inspired by Ez's pom pom video tutorial at Creature Comforts.  And she is definitely right ... those pom poms are the cutest after a haircut.