My Knittn’ Kitten Project! Plus a couple of other things…

It’s time for my Kitten project! Lined Zippered Knit Coin Pouches! Closed:

And opened:

They use a variety of different crafty materials and tools, all available at Knittn’ Kitten!

The specific materials I used for each of my 2 examples (not showing: zippers, sewing+knitting needles):

I had fun combining knitting and hand sewing together in this project, and seeing the different pouch types you can get from different gauges.

I played around with some freeform wool embroidery on my first pouch, and tried out a small version of Diane’s woven appliqué idea! So fun!!

This isn’t exactly a quick project, with all the hand sewing (at least not for me!) but it’s so satisfying when it’s finished and looks all neat, with the bias tape and lining. Use them for coins, crafty bits, or whatever else you can stick in there…

So locals, head over to the Kitten this week for the free project sheet! Yay!

In other local Portland news, there’s a rad event happening on Friday at The Woods – An Evening of DIY, with Julie Sabatier, of the awesome Destination DIY!  The event will include (copied from the Woods’ site)

live demonstrations and interviews about how to make radio, how to make a terrarium and how to make bacon. Delicious sweet and savory treats will be served. A silent auction will include many fine items to enhance your DIY projects or spark a new one. The show will be book-ended by performances from musician Leviethan and musicians/visual artists Billygoat, who will show off their gorgeous stop-motion animation and give us a window into how they do what they do themselves.

Sounds fun!!

And one other thing worth checking out – this one’s for everybody – 6 of my favorite craft designers just released a collaborative ebook!  Crafty Tree Trimmings features projects by Diane Gilleland, Susan Beal, Linda Permann, Kayte Terry, Betz White, and Patricia Zapata, each with their own personal crafting style!  I love the idea of a collaborative self-publishing project!  From Diane’s blog post:

We also wanted to create a truly indie publishing effort – one that would delight crafters, do some good in our community, and compensate each contributor for her work. It might seem odd, saying that one of our goals was to get paid. But it’s a fact: a whole lot of traditional print publishing these days is based on people contributing projects for free. I’m really proud to show that it can be done differently.

Heck yeah!!  I think fair compensation is a major issue in our field – in knit/crochet designing, tutorial writing, selling things we make, etc – and finding new, independent ways of making a living doing these things, without having to sign unfair contracts or do hours of work for nothing, is freaking fantastic!  And, on top of all the awesomeness of the book, they are donating a percentage of each sale to Project Linus, which “collects handmade blankets for children who are suffering from illness or trauma, or otherwise in need.”  Don’t these crafters rock so hard? Yes.  This ebook is totally inspiring me to try some kind of group self-publishing… maybe in 2010.