New Year, New Craft

What better time then the new year to pick up a new hobby? If you haven’t tried your hand at jewelry making, here’s your chance! The Urban Jungle necklace pattern comes from Not Your Mama’s Beading – an oldie, but a goodie from our jewelry making line. Click the cover above to view the pattern.

Irish Knits Giveaway Winner

Many congratulations to Juliane, the winner of the Contemporary Irish Knits givewawy. My huge apologies for the delay in both selecting and posting the winner. The school holidays and kid wrangling got the better of me and I’ve just now been able to get in and wrap this up.

Free Knitting Project — Preppy Bobbled Hat

We hope everyone is able to enjoy some downtime this week and recover from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. What do we recommend to unwind? Knitting, of course! This knitted bobbled hat uses elastic yarn and is basically just a tube cinched at the top with a crocheted chain. (The elasticity will ensure a snug fit.) Click here for the pattern.

Have a fun, safe weekend and we’ll see you in 2012!

Craft Book Giveaway Winner

Congrats to CARMEN! I’ll be contacting you later today to receive your contact information and your book choices for your customized Craft Library!

Wiley Craft Gift to Our Readers and a Free Project

For the final entry in our free project 12 days of crafting craziness, I have somethign of a grab bag – but stick with me till the end, I promise, it’s worth it.

First, I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite Wiley Craft knitting books, Knit Green. If you’re not already familiar with the book, not only is it an outstanding collection of projects, it is also packed full of great information to help you make informed choices about your hobby. It’s empowering, not preachy, and I know if you check out some of the patterns, you’ll love it as much as I do. So – to whet your appetite, click this link to get instructions to Ploughed Acre Socks.

If you’ve stuck with us this long, it’s time to reveal the final giveaway. If you leave a comment on this post, you will be entered to win a mini-library of Wiley Craft books. The winner will be able to select any 5 titles from our Wiley Craft library, as our thanks for following Wiley Craft! Happy Crafting. Enter now, the winner will be selected on December 28th.

Free Project – Handmade Underground Jewlery

Are you still looking for one last gift? One final, yet special present? This bracelet is the perfect combination of high-impact and low effort. Choosing just the right beads is the hard part. Once you have that part down, putting it all together is a snap. For the free project, click on the link below the photo.

Handmade Underground Jewelry Sample Project

Contemporary Irish Knits Giveaway!

Today’s post falls squarely into the category of our gift to you. On my desk I have enough yarn to knit up the Glengesh Cable Wrap from Carol Feller’s Contemporary Irish Knits. If you are a knitter and have not yet checked out this book, you’re really missing something. Carol put together a clever and compelling collection of garments that give a nod to traditional aran knitting but feature modern shaping and design. She truly achieved the best of both worlds while honoring the current woolen mills in Ireland. The icing on the cake is the lush photography of the stunning Irish countryside, taken by her husband Joe Feller.

To get a feel for her collection, check out her video

And now for the giveaway. Leave us a comment telling us your favorite thing to knit these days and you’ll be entered to win this gorgeos yarn, courtesy of Studio Donegal. We will be picking a winner on December 22nd, so enter now to win!

Free Kids’ Craft Project — Felted Wool Marbles

Got kids at home who need something creative to do over the winter holidays? Here’s a simple but super-fun project from Jennifer Casa‘s Teach Yourself VISUALLY Crafting with Kids. Wool roving and soapy water are all you need to form these felted wool marbles, which you then string with embroidery floss or fishing wire. Make a colorful set of napkin rings as a last-minute gift for Grandma, or use the balls to form a festive garland or whimsical jewelry–the only limit is your kids’ imagination! Click here for the project instructions: Felted Wool Marbles Project.

Free Crochet Project – Preppy/Hippy Scarf

With only ten days left until Christmas, crunch time has officially arrived! If you’re anything like us, you’ll be spending this last weekend making trips to the craft store and putting the final touches on your handmade gifts (or let’s be honest, starting some from start to finish!). Today’s free scarf pattern is from Not Your Mama’s Crochet by Amy Swenson and is ideal for using up leftovers from other projects. If that isn’t tempting enough, its fringe secures all the ends from your single-row stripes; no ends to sew!

Click here for the pattern: Preppy/Hippy Scarf

Free Jewelry Project — Cosmic Crystal Drop Earrings

Earrings make great last-minute holiday gifts — though you can put them together in a flash, the end result can be quite elegant and expensive-looking. Chris Franchetti Michaels’ Cosmic Crystal Drop Earrings from her book Teach Yourself VISUALLY Jewelry Making & Beading are a great example. One special crystal bead makes this simple earring a real eye-catcher. These would really sparkle at a holiday party! Or, if crystal isn’t your thing, you can adapt this basic pattern for a wide variety of beads. Click here for the instructions: Cosmic Crystal Drop Earrings pattern.