Dyeing Your Aida With Tea

    I was rummaging around in one of my stash drawer when I found a neglected piece of used-to-be-white Aida.  I picked it up at the Cancer Society Thrift Store a couple of years ago and realized when I unrolled it that it had some staining on the part that had been on the outside of the roll.  And there it stayed collecting dust.  

    

    That is until I remembered it could be dyed.  It took me until today to think of dyeing it, duh!  So, I grabbed it and four Bigelow green tea bags--we've had these in the cupboard forever so I don't think anyone was going to drink them. If you want to make the tea stronger for a darker dye, just use another bag or two.

Just bring the tea to a boil then remove it from the heat.

    Immerse your fabric in the tea using tongs, or whatever implement is handy.  Remember to stir it around and turn the fabric over a few times during soaking for even dyeing.  Leave it in the tea until you are happy with the color of the fabric, but keep in mind that it will lighten a couple shades when it dries.

    Keep your tea until you've washed the fabric to make sure your Aida is dark enough.  Fill your sink with a few inches of warm water, you just need enough to fully submerge your fabric, and add a little laundry soap. Carefully, remove your fabric from the tea, mine was cool enough to gently wring it out before I put it in the soapy water.  Work all the tea out of the fabric, rinsing a few times to get it all out.  If it isn't yet the shade you would like, soak it in the tea a bit longer.  Finish my rinsing the soap out of the fabric and wringing lightly.

    At this point you have a few options you can lie your Aida flat on a towel to dry, put it in the dryer on the "fluff" setting, or use your iron, set on low, to dry it.  I iron dried it because I was feeling particularly impatient, and it helped get most of the wrinkles smoothed out. 

    I was having a really hard time getting the peachy color to show up in the photos.  The final color is most like the photo of the wet cloth with some faint marbling.  

    I have a few small projects in mind for this fabric all ready, can't wait to get started.  I would like to try some other methods of coloring fabric still, so maybe in the future there will be some other cloth-related tutorials.

Happy stitching!

Freebies!

I have a couple of cute freebies for your stitching enjoyment!  The first two cross stitch freebies that I'll be listing here.  Excitement, right?

First up I have these teeny tiny animals:

available here

Just to give you an idea of what could be done with these little guys, here is the chart I just designed for my mother-in-law's Christmas present (got to get a jump on that right?):

I just wedged them in there any old where and added some flowers, hearts, leaves, and randomness to make it more circular.  I may still tweak it a bit before I start stitching it, though.  

Also, I have this adorable, if last-minute, Easter chart that is part of a larger calendar pattern I'm currently working on:

available here

Hopefully you enjoy stitching these as much as I enjoyed creating them.  Please let me know if there are any problems with the links.  To see more of my charts, you can visit my DeviantArt gallery.  Until I find somewhere else to list my charts for sale, that is the only place they are on display.  

Ideas?  Suggestions?  Feel free to contact me.  And, as always, happy stitching!

Two New Hat Patterns

Here are two brand new beanie patterns--available for free on the "Patterns" tab--perfect to whip up for this colder weather (or beautiful holiday presents).  The first is more time consuming but totally worth the effort, the Wickerwork Beanie.  It uses worsted weight wool-acrylic blend yarn and 5mm double pointed needles.

The second is knit in Deborah Norville Serenity Chunky yarn on 6mm needles and is done in just 40 rounds!  So get busy!  Keep your, or your loved ones' heads warm.

Happy knitting everyone!

Knit Doll Pattern

I finally did it!  I designed a quick, cute (if I do say so myself) doll pattern that I can easily customize into different characters/themes/requests.  First up had to be a super hero as per my son's request.  

So what do you think?  I think I might translate my scribbles and doodles into some sort of recognizable pattern and put it on Ravelry soon.  

Super T was knit in worsted weight yarn and stands roughly 13 inches tall.  It is knit from the feet up and doesn't take that much time...really.  This little guy was based on one of the simple doll sketches I designed recently and my son picked the colors he wanted for the test knit.  I have a ton of ideas I'm excited about executing!  I just have a few kinks to work out of the pattern, but overall I'm happy!  

Let me know what you think, if you'd like to see this pattern come to Ravelry, share some ideas for characters that I should make...Jump into the comments! 

Lots of New Things

I just remembered today that I haven't taken time to update this blog in ages!  I have been busy moving yet again (ugh!) and designing plenty of new cross stitch charts for all of our entertainment.

I will be updating the current listings in my shop so that all the patterns will be instantly available after purchase.  Also, keep checking back because I will soon be adding a new tab for free cross stitch designs.

I'm currently hooking a set of three-dimensional, stuffed Pacman and ghosts that will probably make their way to the shop along with other geeky knit softies.