Monthly Archives: February 2014

Also Better: Adding Cabochons as Ornaments

Posted on by
4

As I mentioned previously, ornamenting your felted bags need not be time-consuming or expensive. I have taken a liking to cabochon rivets and use them to decorate bags, my ready-made clothing, my knitted coats, my boots.

They are a nice, quick way to add both interest, sparkle, and a pretty cool look to almost any bag. Here, I’ve used them in an off-set pattern on the front of the little bag we’ve been visiting for a couple of days now met. This is, in my opinion, like the flower we saw yesterday, an example of better. And for some bags, this would be the BEST.

2014-02-10-17.09.25While you can go hunting for specialized tools with which to set these special rivets (and I even sprang for the expensive tools, I confess, but didn’t like using them and found the setting process to be frustrating and laborious), you don’t have to. I have experimented with a few different methods and find that superglue works really well to attach these rivets.

Here’s what you do:

Get a little bottle of Locktite Superglue. I prefer Extra Time Control. Place all the rivets where you want them and satisfy your eye that they are just right. If not, re-locate. Snap the front cab part (the female part) to the back (the male part) and wait for the click. They are placed, at this point, but not set. To set, I twist off the cab front, put a drop of glue in the receptacle and click back in place. Hold for a few seconds. I work systematically so I know which rivets are done and which are not.

Let sit for a bit and you are done!

Where do you get Cabochon Rivets, you might be wondering?  Noni has cabochon rivets in 3 finishes: antique brass, gunmetal, and nickel (pictured above). Call to place your order.

Better: Adding a simple flower to a tiny bag for a big statement

Posted on by
Reply

 

Red-Bag--better-with-flower

Above you can see our little red bag dressed with a single Camellia flower. I love this look. Simple, big statement, quick knit. If you’d like to knit this flower yourself, you can buy the pattern from the Noni store or buy the pattern now on Ravelry To make the flower as pictured, I used a size 6 needle and a single-strand of worsted weight feltable yarn. I made 5 larger petals (as written) and then 4 smaller petals.

Check out my post about another Better dressing idea for this little bag.

Good, Better, Best . . . Dressing a little bag for business cards

Posted on by
2

Sometimes I don’t have time to go back to a particular bag and dress it the way I would like. I tend to like little bags that are crusty with beads and flowers and ribbon in swirls. Such ornamentation takes time. And, well, for the knitter looking at my bag, such ornamentation might be a bit off-putting or intimidating.

But ornamentation need not be intimidating or time-consuming. My aim with Good, Better, Best is to show how easy it can be to turn a bag from “It’s nice,” into “I love it!” into positively “WOW!”

Here is a picture of a cute little bag that is perfect for business cards or those tiny fold up into nothing glasses that fit in a tiny case. Right now, it’s fine. It’s good.

naked-red-bagTomorrow, I’ll show you better. . .

 

 

 

 

Beguiling Gold Finches

Posted on by
4

I have a series of bird feeders that I can see from my kitchen window. This year, I am concentrating on luring Goldfinches to these feeders. I have, according to the FAQ I recently read about attracting them, done everything right: I have a feeder specifically for Goldfinches that has a bright yellow top and is full of nyjer, a feeder of black sunflower seeds, a feeder of “Finch Supreme” mix, a water source that I keep free of ice . . . but no Goldfinches.

likely-Goldfinch-AmericanThere was one the other morning and I was so excited, creeping toward the kitchen window to get a better look, no sudden moves to catch its attention and scare it away. It ignored the Nyjer (is the seed too old?). It lept from the fence to the big hook that holds the feeder. It tested the Finch Supreme mix but seemed unimpressed. It lept back to the fence and hopped down to the hardy Jasmine vine, worked its way along the vine toward the big ceramic pot that holds my mosquito fish and is heated to the point that it steams like a dragon’s nostril on cold mornings. There is even a water lily sending up leaves to the surface. Earlier in the season it held two frogs that would cool their backs in the frigid air. I hope they left for their soil cocoons when we turned off the heater during cool days that stayed above freezing.

The Goldfinch lept to the lip of the pot and looked down at the water as if to say, “How am I going to manage to drink from this?!” but it quickly figured things out and It worked its way around the lip of the pot to the place where the black cord goes into the pot and down into the water to the pond heater. It hopped to the cord and inched its way down to the surface of the water, took a drink. A second drink. Then off it flew with a thrum of its wings.

I whisper, “Bring your friends . . .”

But the feeders are lonely of Goldfinches. Throngs of sparrows fight over the Finch mix, Cardinals and Jays like the sunflower seeds. My Nyjer must be past its day. How do they know without tasting? “At least taste,” I think to myself. Maybe they do when I’m not looking.

My friend Beth say she has “mobs” of Goldfinches. Never has the word mob sounded so lovely to me. I want mobs of Goldfinches, too.

I think of those stacks of knitted yellow sunflowers I’ve got from the days of working on the book of knitted flowers, Noni Flowers.

I get to thinking. Would a Goldfinch be beguiled by a knitted sunflower? And in the middle of Winter?

Let’s see. . .

I’ve got my plan. Join me here next week for a plan update.