Easy Yarn Swatches

Ok, so I have a problem.... I'm a crochet-aholic! I'm addicted to everything relating to crochet!! From hooks to patterns to... yarn! I find myself pulling out my bins of yarn over and over to find the perfect colors for almost every project. That turns into a big mess. So I've come up with a solution and its helped me several times!

I've made myself some yarn swatches!! Perfect for matching colors, taking to the store to restock or even take to craft fairs for customers to see what choices you have to offer. With a few dollars, you can make swatches for all your yarn easily!


What You'll Need:

1. Glue Gun and extra glue
2. Plastic or cardboard bobbins
3. Permanent marker
4. Yarn
5. Yarn needle
6. Scissors
7. Metal Rings
8. Chocolate ~ as long as your not working with white yarn! He he, in my case, yarn and chocolate always seem to go together!

Step 1) Preheat your glue gun.

Step 2) Write the name of the color/brand of yarn on your bobbin. This can be done after but is easier to do before wrapping your yarn.

 Step 3) Taking a small amount of yarn, loop it around one slit at the bottom of the bobbin. Wrap it 5-7 times. (More times for thinner yarn, less for thicker.) From the back of the bobbin, loop the other end around the opposite slit.

Step 4) Using your yarn needle, weave the yarn ends behind the wrapped yarn just as in picture shown to the left. 

Step 5) With the glue gun ready, place a small amount between and around the ends. This will secure it.

Step 6) Let the glue dry.

Step 7) Snip the ends to give more of a neat appearance.

Step 8) Insert bobbins on metal rings. I have mine according to brand and weight. 

Keeping the colors somewhat together give a nice appearance as well! 

And there you have it! Just don't forget to eat your chocolate! 

Until next craft....

National Sewing Machine Day!

 I would like to give tribute to what I personally think is the best invention in history. The Sewing Machine has been a staple in the world for over 150 years. First introduced around the Industrial Revolution Era to help decrease the amount of manual sewing being done in clothing companies. However the first electric sewing machine was first introduced by Singer Sewing Co. in 1889. Sewing machines became very popular in households over the years as mother's made their own clothes and blankets for their families. The more creative their minds got the more uses they found for this handy machine. Now days you can find that people use the sewing machine to make and design toys, house hold decor, and even homemade cards.

This past Christmas my husband bought me my first sewing machine. I have to say that I was so surprised with how much I fell in love with sewing. He had learned to sew at a much younger age. So seeing how he was at least experienced he sat down and taught me the basics, I read the manual and took it from there. Lately I have been working on smaller projects like crochet hook holders for my friends and very slowly working on a quilt but I am on hold, I am missing something for an accent and so there it sits till I get some inspiration. So like most of you sewing machine fans out there, I just couldn't let it sit there. One of my favorite types of quilts are storybook quilts. So I have started making a National Monument Storybook type quilt for my son and I am so excited about it.

 Tomorrow is National History Day and I will be featuring on my other blog (Smalltown Dreamz) part of the process that I have done for this quilt. It's a great beginners type quilt for anyone interested in starting to sew.

Happy Sewing!
Stephanie