Little Projects

New Ebook

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:56:00 +0000

Presenting our first ebook, "little projects, Fast and Easy Crochet", a collection of crochet accessories and garments. It contains 10 patterns (27 pgs) including 4 single skein projects and 2 unisex projects. Make great gifts for your loved ones or for yourself!

Black Friday Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:53:00 +0000

Black Friday Sale on Ravelry
25% off individual patterns through Sunday
10% off ebooks through Sunday
Join Now!

Black Friday Sale on Etsy
10% off everything through Sunday
use coupon code: blackfriday

Website Up

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:39:00 +0000

Website back up!

System Down

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:27:00 +0000

Our main website is temporarily down. To purchase patterns while we are restoring the website, please go to www.littleprojects.etsy.com or http://www.ravelry.com/designers/josephine-woo if you are a raveler. Thanks!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Felted Stitch Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:28:00 +0000

I was so happy when this idea came to me and I want to share it with you. I was knitting something that needed a whole bunch of stitch markers and ran out so I used yarn scraps and tied a circle with them, then my project had all these scrappy ends sticking out. Fast forward and I was working on the Pleats Purse and spit splicing a new skein on and remembered the scrappy ends and it came to me. It may sound silly but it's like when life gives you lemons ... well there was bunch of yarn scraps and now they are stitch markers. I love stuff like this.

So first, get your scraps of feltable yarn, like 100%wool.
Hold the ends and wrap them around your finger, here it's my pinkie finger, the finished markers will be the size of this finger.

Then take the ends and wind them around, in and out of the circle, like you did with grass when you were a kid to get a ring. Btw, this is a great project to do with kids.

Then place it back on your finger and wet the yarn. Or if you want to spit-splice it together, spit on it.

Now start to roll it back and forth using your fingers. This will cause friction and felt the yarn.

Keep going. It may take a few minutes.

Keep going until the yarn looks like it has felted together.
Now take it off and voila! Press it between a towel to dry.
Place them on a larger needle or dowel to block in a circle shape until dry.
Felted stitch markers. I hope this makes you as happy as it makes me!

Spiral Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Here's a new pattern for Spiral Ornaments. Easy, quick and fun!

Slouchy Sunburst

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Snowed in today so it's a good time to catch up. Here's my latest hat pattern, Slouchy Sunburst. I love this motif and when combined with the new slouchy looks tres chic!

Pleats Purse - Knit Version

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:18:00 +0000

Here is the knit version of my Pleats Purse pattern. After the original crochet version came out, there were some requests for a knit version, so after many hours and revisions I am proud to present the Pleats Purse - Knit Version. It uses a fun cast on and is a fairly quick project with great results! I am grateful to have it tested by legknit aka Sue, StarKnits aka Allena, and TrulyBlessed aka Debi from the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry.

Fortune Cookie Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:34:00 +0000

I'm so excited that my Fortune Cookie Bag is being published in Interweave Crochet Fall 2009! I'm thrilled that it's featured in the five projects Inside This Issue. It's a fun little project - a simple shape is felted then cleverly folds into a bag. Pre-order now or on newsstands October 6, 2009.

So Good English Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:40:00 +0000

Wow, these turned out so good, I just had to post. They are beyond anything available at the grocery stores, and really exceeded my expectations for homemade. I was expecting good but these are really delicious. There are lots of pretty recipes out there and with the food pron and blogging, sometimes when I try a recipe, it ... ahem ... falls a little short. So imagine my delight when these turned out better than expected.

The recipe is Dan Lepard's Cider Vinegar Muffins from The Guardian in the UK so you know it's authentic. I used half white wheat flour from TJ's and half organic AP from WF, and used only half the apple cider vinegar and subbed the rest with water as recommended in thefreshloaf.com. Next time will try all the vinegar since I couldn't detect it at all and maybe all wheat. I rolled the dough and used the cutter but with the leftover edges, I just rolled it into a ball and flattened it and it came out fine so don't worry if you don't have the wide cutter as the recipe recommends.

Pleats Purse

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Here's a new purse pattern, the Pleats Purse. Wanted a pleated purse for a while now and thought about sewing one in canvas or leather, then I thought why not a felted one. I knew exactly what I wanted, just had to work out the dimensions and stuff, took three tries to get it right, can't frog, ya' know. It turned out great, will be my fall purse.

Gnocchi

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:57:00 +0000

A couple of old potatoes sitting in the bowl, gotta make something before they start growing or turning green. This gnocchi from 101 Cookbooks recipe sounds good, may be a little finicky since I've never made gnocchi before, just thought about it a bunch, oh what the heck.

I boiled the potatoes and after they drained and cooled enough to touch, peeled and pushed through a sieve since I don't have a food mill, worked great. Didn't add the egg since it held together okay, ended up making it the way I make fresh Chinese noodles or any pasta and it worked fine.

The part with the fork is a bit tricky but practice makes perfect. And oh these taste perfect, wonderful tender little pillows of yummy potatoes in your mouth.

Spaghetti Pie with Goat Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:27:00 +0000

I love Spaghetti Pie, aka baked spaghetti, and this one is extra good with the addition of goat cheese. This makes a small casserole, just double it for a larger one.

Ingredients:

8 oz spaghetti
around a cup of your favorite spaghetti or marinara sauce, maybe a little more
3 oz goat cheese
1/3 cup finely shredded parmesano reggiano

Cook spaghetti noodles until al dente, then drain.

In your baking dish, place cooked spaghetti, crumbled goat cheese, and finely shredded parmesano reggiano. Lightly toss.

Add spaghetti sauce and lightly mix, don't overmix because you want the goat cheese to still be noticeable, not totally blended in.

Add a little more sauce to the top and sprinkle with a little more parmesano.

Cover and bake in 375 degree oven until hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

Aurora

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:34:00 +0000

Has anyone else been feeling sluggish? Not sure if it's this weather or what I've been eating but I've been feeling sluggish and just icky for the last couple of weeks and forgot to post this. Anyways, here are photos of my latest shawl, Aurora.

This project came together in an interesting way. I used a similar stitch pattern for a traveling scarf and when it was complimented my friend Cerdeb suggested that it would look good with Noro. Anyways many months passed and I was thinking of what to make with some Noro Silk Garden that I had bought to make a shawl. Sometimes I see these lovely variegated yarns and they are so pretty I just want them but don't have anything planned. So I but some, sometimes just one or two skeins, sometimes a little more if I have a general idea on the type of garment, and then it arrives home and sits there for a while. Especially with variegated yarns, it's harder to figure a pattern because of the possibility of pooling? So I wanted to make something that deals with all these concerns, showing off the color, quantity of yarn.

You can take just about any amount of yarn in your stash and make a lovely kerchief, headscarf, scarf or shawl with Aurora.

Giant Eco Ball

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:14:00 +0000

Cascade Eco Wool wound into a giant ball. Those are really big skeins. And surprisingly soft too.

Chevy Cap

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while. Problems all year with the computer but tg that's fixed now. Anyways, here's a cute new hat, the Chevy Hat. When I made the Chevy Bag, as I was crocheting I kept thinking it would work well as a hat, I even put the bag on my head. Like the Chevy Bag, it's based on the chevron stitch and uses two colorways to create the stripes. It's funkier than I'm used to wearing but it's such fun, it's my new fav.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:55:00 +0000

Merry Christmas to all!

The Leaf Collection pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:24:00 +0000

Three new scarf patterns are available now that I think of as the leaf collection. Not sure if three constitutes a collection but it's how I see it in my head. Thought I would write about each of them here.
The first is Foliage. This design had been floating around in my head but it hadn't fully gelled yet, the yarn, how to make it, etc. I had been frustrated with variegated yarns and how they pool and read on Ravelry others felt the same. I love the beauty of variegated yarns, all the different colors and the way they transition but sometimes the way they work up on finished items doesn't do it justice with the pooling and the way they stripe.
Around this time, my swap buddy sent me two skeins of Noro Silk Garden in a swap, been wanting to try this yarn for a while, the colors are really lovely. While I was looking for a pattern for the yarn, my head put two and two together and Foliage came together pretty quickly after that. I love the way the colors pool and it shows off the yarn and the wearer of the scarf.

More Overdyeing

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:15:00 +0000

I overdyed four more skeins of the Cascade Jazz. This colorway, 315, is mostly lavender and blue. I wanted something darker and richer so I dyed it in violet. I tested with a blue shade and the results were very close. This is more of what I expect from a $19.99 yarn. This time I took before and after pics. Before:After:

Overdyeing

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:41:00 +0000

Webs is having its summer sale and Cascade Jazz was only $2 a ball, 100g a ball. It was described as a thick and thin yarn, comparable to Colinette Point Five, normally retails for $19.99 each. Well, I always wanted to try Colinette Point Five so I thought I would try this, at $2 a ball a great deal even though I wasn't nuts about some of the colorways. I ordered 15 skeins, 3 colors, hopefully enough to make a throw.

It arrived pretty quickly, I was excited to open the box. The yarn is so soft, the softest thick wool I've worked with and the colors are, well, okay, not great. After crocheting a ball of #319, its pretty too much pink for what I wanted so I decided to try overdyeing some of the skeins. I wanted to tone down the brightness so I overdyed a couple of skeins in some brown, that was better. The other two skeins I overdyed with red, #319 has mostly pink and orange with a little purple and blue, so the red wouldn't turn everything a dark brown. The wool took the color beautifully. Here's a pic :
I was really happy with the results so I decided to overday #320, which is mostly primary colors, yellow, green, red, a little blue, think pretty bright basic crayolas. I tested a couple of alternatives and decided to go heavy with the green. It turned out a little dark and felted a little but still a big improvement. Here's the result.These turned out so nice and the yarn is so soft, I wish I had ordered more, a steal at $2 a ball.

Multi-tote

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:10:00 +0000

Oh why are the simplest things harder than we expect. My latest bag pattern, the Multi-Tote is an easy pattern. But it was not so simple to make it work! Conceptually it seemed very easy, but I had to frog it so many times to get the lines and proportion right, so that it would fold properly and in the right place. But all that extra work paid off, I'm so happy with the bag, love using it, especially with the felted purse organizer.

Purse Organizer

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:22:00 +0000

The new website and blog is finally up! Thanks for your patience during construction. To celebrate, I'm posting this new free pattern. It's simple and easy, and so functional. I've noticed that unless I sew a pocket into the lining of purses, for the most part they are one giant bag. Well, I have a bunch of stuff, cell phone, lipstick, lip balm, hand sanitizer, biz cards, receipts, and more and it all gets jumbled together. I remembered seeing a purse organizer on tv and found it on the internet, then thought it would make a good felted project. It was so fast and easy to crochet it up, then I threw it in the washer a couple of times, blocked it and it was good to go. It works great. I can load all my stuff in it, roll it up and stick it in my purse, easy. Plus, it's so easy to change purses now. Don't know how I lived without it before. Download pdf instructions here.

Under Construction

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Well, this blog was looking a little crowded and dated, so it was time for an update. I found this great template at eblog and am working on adapting it to my content and making it functional. My favorite section is the live traffic feed where it shows where you all are from. Links to all the old posts should still be working. Thank-you for being patient while this site is under construction.

The Hand-dyed Yarn Swap

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:50:00 +0000

I received this wonderful package from Stephanie yesterday. 200g of bulky alpaca/wool in my favorite blues and greens! So soft and light, I want to hug it and keep it all for myself. Maybe a hat and neck warmer ....

She sent me not one, not two, but a whole book of fast and easy knitting patterns. Wow. Perfect for this novice knitter. Those mittens are really cute!

And for noshing while knitting, she sent a bunch of premium Scharffen Berger chocolates for snacking. Yum!

Luv it all and can't wait to get started!