Handmade Sekret Exchange: A Guest Post!

Happy New Year, friends!  We're just back from a week of visits and visiting, and I look forward to catching up on blogs, but in the meantime, I have a wonderful guest post for Audrey's Holiday Handmade Sekret Exchange!  I signed up for the exchange thinking that it would be fun to send and get things in the mail from amother blogger, and then panicked when I started to think I couldn't possibly be good enough or crafty enough to send something to one of the fabulously creative people on the list (more about THAT in a post to come ... and about thinking differently in 2012).  Suzanne sent me a truly amazing package with a tea cozy, tea, and a lavender neck warmer, all of which I'm using today on a blustery day in my little world.  Thank you, Suzanne!! :)

Without further ado, here's Suzanne!

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Hi! I'm Suzanne from bebehblog, my corner of the internet where I write about my two red-headed kids, our adventures, what I cook, what I knit, what I take pictures of and what I love. I've been online friends with Audrey for a really long time now, so I was excited to participate in her Holiday Handmade Sekret Exchange.

My crafty skills have definitely improved over the years, but stop just this side of my sewing machine. AND YET for some reason I decided a knitted gift just wasn't going to be enough. I happened to have a gorgeous bouquet of dried lavender a friend gave me from her garden and I've been looking for something to do with it. I saw this DIY heating pad floating around Pinterest and figured it couldn't be that hard.

HA. No wait, it actually is a super easy project. I am just incompetent when it comes to any kind of sewing, especially the part where I have to thread and set up my machine. After a few attempts, some frantic tweets and a few extremely bad words I finally got it to work.

It is definitely not the prettiest sewing project you've ever seen, but I'm proud of myself for finishing it.

To go with the heating pad, I knit up a quick cup coozie. I searched for a pattern online but couldn't find something easy enough and ended up making my own.

Easy Button Cup Coozie

Yarn & gauge doesn't really matter, just pick something washable in case of spills. I used a few yards of worsted I had sitting around and knit on size 9 needles.

Cast on 12 stitches
Knit for 5 rows (garter stitch)
Next row, knit 4, cast off 4, knit to the end of row
Next row, knit 4, cast on 4 (I used the backwards loop method), knit to end of row
You should have 12 stitches again
Continue knitting every row until it measures about 10 or 11 inches - remember the yarn stretches and you want it to be tight around your cup to avoid slipping.
Cast off and sew on a button about an inch from the end

I figured I'd cheat a little on the "handmade" part and throw n a box of tea to make it a relaxation kit.

I really hope J enjoyed her gifts - the pillow smelled fantastic even if it WAS shoddily made. And thanks again to Audrey for setting up this super fun exchange!