Fleece tug toy

My grandmother has a little poodle named Coco who destroys toys. There are only a few which are left whole and stuffed at the end of the first day of play. Those which have no stuffing or stitching tend to hold up better, and a braided fleece toy in particular has not been shredded. It is the type of product which you look at and immediately understand how to make.

This is how I made Coco's braided tug toy:

You will need:
A rotary cutter and cutting surface or scissors
A ruler
A sharpie
A rubber band
A weight

3 3" strips of polar fleece cut from selvedge to selvedge

I used 3 colors of fleece at 60" wide. The bolt should be labeled with a width when you buy your fleece. A width of 54" or more is best for this project.

Fold your fleece in half matching selvedges. Measure a 3" wide strip and cut so that the folded edge is facing you and the selvedge is away from you. You should end up with one strip of fabric. Do this 3 times so that you have enough strips to braid. Keep them folded in half.

Line up your three folded strips with the fold end towards you. Measure 10" up from the fold and mark with the sharpie. Push aside the top layer of fabric and mark the lower layer as well. When you unfold the strips, there should be 2 marks on each (approximately) 20" from each selvedge and eachother.

Line up ends and find your sharpie mark. Pinch at the mark and rubber band here. The rubber band will not be centered, put the shorter tails away from you.

Place a weight above the rubber band to hold everything in place while you braid. Braid until you reach the next mark. If you are using different colors, make sure your strips are in the same order that they started in.

Remove the rubber band. You should now have something like this - a centered braid with two loose ends. Look at the braid, it has a direction where the fleece makes up pointing or down pointing Vs. These Vs need to be pointing in the same direction, if they are not, flip one end of the braid horizontally.

Match the colors and begin to braid them tightly as if each pair of strands were one.

Grab the ends of your braid and tie an overhand knot near the ends. It might seem like a bulky knot, but it will work. You will see that a loop has formed on one end to serve as a handle for either you or your dog (or cat?).

Take each piece of fleece individually and pull to tighten up the knot. It is now unlikely that a dog will untie it right away.

Trim the ends to a uniform length, and it's ready!

Make sure that if the fleece does start to fall apart that you take the toy away from your pet. Fleece is non digestable, so do not let them eat it.

Happy dog time

you know what day it is

☥ GET SPELLBOUND ☥

I was listening to spellbound by Siouxie and the Banshees and had this idea for something punk-ish and cropped.

Spellbound is a summery tee with a laddered v-neck which can be worn in the front or the back. The alternate side is a plain crew neck. It is knit in two pieces with shaping in the shoulders. The silhouette is inspired by an old cutoff tee, well worn and loved. Instructions for a longer, fitted, babydoll style bodice are included as well.

Bust Measurement (from body, sizing is based on this): XS (30-32”), S (34-36”), M (38-40”), L (42-44”)

Width: XS (14”), S (16”), M (18”), L (20”)
Length: XS(19”), S ( 19.5”), M (20”), L (20.5”)

Yardage: XS-580, S-680, M-780, L-890 Add 70 yards if using alternate bodice.

Yarn: Patons Grace or another sport weightcotton. See chart for yardage allow an additional 70 yards for alternate bodice.

Needles: Size 6 (4mm) needles.

Gauge: 22 stitches and 28 rows for a 4” square of stockinette stitch.

Other Materials: Row counter, sewing needle, 2 stitch holders, 2 markers.

 buy it on ravelry

perfect polishes part 1

Everyone seems to be obsessed with nail polish right now. Though it is great that you can find any color of the rainbow in the cosmetics aisle, getting every color that you want is pretty expensive - especially when precious metals are involved.

This is an easy recipe for gold flake polish which uses actual gold bits. The texture is more organic in shape, size, and distribution because the metal is irregularly cut by hand.

You will need:

A bottle of clear nail polish
3 sheets of real gold leaf (per .5 oz)

 a sheet of printer paper

scissors

a funnel

You can find gold leaf in most art supply or craft stores. There are also less expensive metals available, but they may oxidize over time and alter the color and consistency of the clear base polish. Think of what happens to the color of your finger when you wear a cheap ring.

Put a piece of printer paper on your work surface and lay out a sheet of the gold leaf.

Gently fold the sheet of gold leaf into a roll and chiffonade (cut into strips) the metal with a pair of sharp scissors. If you have trouble with the gold sticking to your fingers, wash and dry your hands or wear a pair of cloth gloves.

Snip the ribbons of gold leaf into little flakes keeping everything contained within the borders of the printer paper. The flakes should be smaller than a half nail before they are proper glitter,

Place your funnel on top of your nail polish bottle. Mine was able to balance/stick on top of the polish bottle. Pick up the printer paper and fold it in  half, gathering the gold into a stream in the center. pour the flakes into the funnel. Some of them may not go down, you can use a toothpick to help push everything in. 

Ready to use plain or layered.

Lovely Lawn

I just have to say that grass lawns are so boring.  

My father has always made sure that, along with grass, our lawn has wild flowers, wild strawberries, chives, and moss naturally growing in patches.

 It's pretty.


More people should let their lawns go wild.