Author: Bronwyn Hahn

  • Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas November 2016: For the Home

    Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas November 2016: For the Home

    I have to admit that I don’t decorate much for Christmas, or throughout the year, for that matter. I put up a tree and hang a wreath on the door, but that’s about it. A few years ago, I started collecting the LEGO Winter Village sets (Some people collect ceramic houses; I do LEGO.), but I never get around to setting up an actual display. Maybe this year will be different.

    I came across a video a few weeks ago for how to make pumpkin pom pom garland. I’ve seen a similar technique for making several pom poms at once, but this is pretty clever. First, wrap lots of yarn around two poles several feet apart. Then, securely tie short sections at equal intervals. Finally, cut between the ties to create individual pom poms; for garland, though, keep one strand intact all the way across so that the poms are strung along the length of it, evenly spaced. To trim and shape the pom poms, hold the long strand out of the way while you carefully snip around. (more…)

  • Indie Designer Gift-A-Long 2016

    Indie Designer Gift-A-Long 2016

    With Christmas just over a month away, it’s time for all you knitters and crocheters to kick your crafting into high gear if you’re planning to make hand-stitched gifts. If you’re still looking for just the right pattern, now is a great time to support independent designers like me. It takes a lot of time and hard work to put out quality designs, so we all really appreciate every pattern sale. The Indie Design Gift-A-Long (GAL) is a Ravelry-wide knit-along/crochet-along (KAL/CAL) that showcases knit and crochet designers who self-publish their patterns. Without wide exposure from magazines or yarn companies, indie designers are left to fend for themselves. This GAL is an excellent way to discover fun patterns from new-to-you designers. The event begins with a pattern sale running from tonight, November 22, at 8 p.m. EST (New York time) through Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 11:59 p.m. EST. Hundreds of designers (335, actually) have created “pattern bundles” on Ravelry to highlight their 5-20 designs that qualify for a 25% discount. Use the universal code giftalong2016 in your shopping cart to take advantage of the sale. (more…)

  • Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas October 2016: Busy Bags for Kids

    How about something for the kids this month? Choosing from a wish list on Amazon is awfully easy, so I’m certainly happy when that’s an option. Sometimes, though, I like to give a small handmade gift, as well, to show that I’ve put a little more thought into the gift.

    When my son was a toddler, I ran across the idea of busy bags**. These are little learning activities that young children can handle with little to no supervision — a necessity if Mom wants to get dinner made. Some activities are portable enough to be used while waiting for dinner to be served in a restaurant. (more…)

  • Gathering Rosebuds

    Gathering Rosebuds

    I’m so excited to release my new shawl pattern today! Gathering Rosebuds is a shallow crescent, one of my favorite shawl shapes. I love the long tails that can wrap around my shoulders when worn as a traditional shawl, and when I wrap it around my neck like a scarf, the center isn’t so deep that it feels like I’m wearing a lobster bib. The increases are worked all the way through the border in order to maintain the elegant curve of the crescent. This means that the tails cascade gracefully rather than being lopped off at the ends.
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    I designed Gathering Rosebuds to be knit with just one skein of fingering weight yarn. I chose a gorgeous skein of MCN (Merino/Cashmere/Nylon 80/10/10) dyed by Jeanette of Sun Valley Fibers. (Mine used about 92 g in the Moody colorway.) She has some of the most beautiful semi-solid colorways. If you have extra yarn, I’ve included additional instructions for knitting two more rows of rosebuds. Charts and written instructions are provided in the pattern.

    What’s in a name? (more…)

  • Rope Baskets: Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas September 2016

    Rope Baskets: Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas September 2016

    Time is flying! I still haven’t settled on my handmade gift for everyone this year. I just keep collecting ideas and dabbling, but nothing has lit my fire yet. It could be that it’s hard to feel the pressure of Christmas when it’s still 85 degrees, but now that fall is officially here, it’s time to get on the ball. Christmas is only three months away!

    To create a rope basket, I found several methods to choose from. First, using hot glue to adhere the coiled rope to itself. No thanks. That seems like it’s just inviting disaster (while making it or while using it). Second, crocheting the rounds of rope together (like this and this). This method definitely has potential, but it takes longer. Third, and the route I chose, using a sewing machine to zigzag the rounds of rope together. (This one is absolutely gorgeous! If you subscribe to Creativebug, they have a good video tutorial.) A variation of this is to first wrap the rope with scraps of fabric or even yarn just before you zigzag. (I like the look of the baskets shown here.) (more…)

  • Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas August 2016: Nutella Powder

    Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas August 2016: Nutella Powder

    Every year, I tend to choose one unique gift to make and give the same thing to everyone. Last year, I finally got around to trying something I’d seen on Pinterest (this post) a few years ago — Nutella Powder. It was a big hit with my family and friends, so I thought I’d share it with you.

    So what is it? Nutella (the creamy spread made with hazelnuts and cocoa powder) is combined with tapioca maltodextrin powder (a tapioca-derived starch that is used as a thickener, filler, or stabilizer in foods) to transform it into a treat that can be sprinkled rather than smeared. Without getting too technical, the tapioca maltodextrin absorbs the fat in the Nutella and transforms it into a powder. (more…)

  • Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas in July: Luggage Tags

    Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas in July: Luggage Tags

    For this month’s handmade Christmas project, I was inspired by my summer vacation. What? I know. I know. Bear with me.

    Last week, my family got back from an 11-day road trip. We’re calling it Dino Drive 2016. (Our first one was in 2013.) My son is 8 and has loved dinosaurs since he was an itty-bitty thing. He’s slowly losing the passion for prehistoric creatures, so his predicted career path has been evolving from paleontology to video game design. I imagine those plans will further evolve over the 10 years between now and college. (Yikes! Only ten years?!) Still, he’s our only child, so we cater to him. We also happen to like dinosaurs and science-y things. So we embarked on a 3400-mile, 59-hour drive across the country. We went to Denver, CO; Vernal, Price, Lehi, and Salt Lake City, UT; drove through Idaho (and 6 minutes in Wyoming) to get to Bozeman, MT; and finally, Billings, MT. We went to ten museums and two zoos. Whew!

    The best deal of the trip was that we got in free to most of the museums. We have a family membership to our local Peoria Riverfront Museum; one of the benefits is free or discounted admission to a long list of other museums around the world. Our $95 membership saved us $254! If you’re thinking of traveling to museums over 90 miles from home, a membership to your local science center or museum is definitely worth checking out. Similar reciprocal programs exist for zoo memberships, too, so be sure to investigate that, too.

    So what does all this have to do with Christmas? Well, with all the traveling we did, we lugged (get it?) lots of suitcases around. That made me think that it would be nice to have a pretty luggage tag. Whether you need to spot your suitcase among a hundred others on an airport baggage carousel, distinguish yours from your husband’s matching bag, or even add identification to your knitting project bag or tote, a luggage tag is a good idea. And if it’s something you’d like to use, then your friends and family might appreciate it, too. You can even use the luggage tag as a gift tag for another handmade gift. Even better! (more…)

  • Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas 2016: Trail Mix Bites

    Bronwyn’s Handmade Christmas 2016: Trail Mix Bites

    It’s hard to believe that the year is half over and that Christmas is only 6 months from now. Holy cow! If you know me from my guest appearances on Knitting Pipeline podcast or follow the KP group on Ravelry, then you probably know that I love to give unique handmade gifts. I typically find one or two items that I can produce en masse and give to everyone at Christmastime. Pinterest has made searching for ideas both easier and overwhelming. Pinterest also makes it easy to save ideas throughout the year, sort of like a knitting pattern queue.

    Finding something that will appeal to everyone can be challenging, but once I choose the project, I can usually save money and time by making a lot of them at once. For instance, I might want to package my gifts in Mason jars, typically sold by the dozen. Buying a whole dozen jars only to use seven of them means I’d have five jars sitting around until next year. It’s not such a big deal if it’s just a few jars, but it’s a different story for ingredients with a shelf life. The ever-popular handmade bath and body products use oils and butters that can turn rancid after a while; being able to use up more of the bulk ingredients reduces leftovers, and therefore, waste. Simply planning the number of people to give the items to and/or tweaking the recipes can reduce waste as well as cost per gift. That’s something to keep in mind. (more…)

  • 7 Years a Knitter

    7 Years a Knitter

    Today marks my 7th anniversary on Ravelry. It also marks the approximate date I started knitting. The specifics are a little fuzzy about when I cast on my first stitches, but I know that I started my first project, this pair of shorties for a cloth diaper cover, on June 20, 2009. I watched videos on knittinghelp.com to learn everything I needed to know. I remember researching diaper cover patterns online before buying yarn at Ewe-Nique Yarns in Morton, IL. When I was in the shop, I saw a sign about joining Ravelry; I signed up as soon as I got home. Of course, back in those days, Ravelry was still in beta testing, so I had to wait a day or so to get my approval email. The agony! I had no idea seven years ago just how much that simple sign-up form would change my life.
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  • Windswept Forest

    Windswept Forest

    Windswept Forest is my latest knitting design — a cowl knit in the round using a simple lace pattern. For around $8, Quince & Co. Finch knits up quickly into a deceptively inexpensive gift for a friend or for yourself.

    The inspiration for this cowl came from a design challenge put forth by Frenchie, a.k.a. ArohaKnits. The challenge began with creating a mood board inspired by one of three themes: ocean, mountains, or forest. I focused on images of forests. I found lots of really cool photos of dense forests but was most intrigued by the windswept trees — trees with branches bent backwards at crazy angles. It’s amazing that some of these trees can possibly remain rooted in the ground. (more…)