How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew (16 page)

Step 1:
Gather your supplies: some long wooden matches, a few broad sheets of newspaper (preferably pages you’ve already read), some skinny sticks (aka tinder), some huskier branches (aka kindling), and two or three dry, split, seasoned logs about 12 to 18 inches long. Optional (though highly suggested): a bag of marsh-mallows and a long stick on which to toast them.

Step 2:
Ball up a few sheets of newspaper, and place them in your fire pit. Don’t crumple them too tightly, or oxygen won’t have room to circulate and your fire will fizzle.

Step 3:
Stand your tinder on end to form a pyramid over the newspaper.

Step 4:
Gently lay three to five pieces of kindling against or atop your structure.

Step 5:
Without toppling or smothering your beautiful structure, carefully lay a couple of logs on top.

Step 6:
Summon your inner pyromaniac (it will likely not be difficult), strike a match, and, starting in the back of the pile, light the paper’s bottom-most edges in several places.

Step 7:
Rub your hands together, and then hold them toward the fire to get toasty. Turn around and push your bottom closer. It’ll feel even warmer if you give it a little shake.

• If you’re building your blaze in a fireplace, don’t forget to open the damper first or your home will fill with smoke! If you feel cold air whooshing down your flue, light a piece of newspaper and hold it toward the back of your firebox. As the air heats up, it’ll begin to rise and fight back the wind.
  

• Hardwoods, like oak, birch, cherry, and maple, burn longer, hotter, and cleaner than resin-heavy soft woods like pine or spruce, which can also increase your risk of chimney fire.
  

• Logs aged for 6 months to a year burn best. Newer, greener wood has more moisture, which means more smoke and a higher risk of chimney fire. To identify seasoned logs, look for lightweight wood with cracked and often darkened ends. Bat two pieces together. If your hear a
  clunk
  , it’s ready to burn. If you hear a
  thud
  , it’s still too new.
  

Step 1:
Choose your yarn, considering its material (wool is toasty but alpaca is as soft as all get out), color (you can never go wrong with red), and bulkiness (the fatter the yarn, the quicker the knitting). You’ll also need some needles. Just check the yarn’s label for the recommended gauge (or thickness) of the needle. The chunkier the needle, the faster the work.

Step 2:
Take a deep breath and follow each of these steps bit by bit. Knitting can sound complicated, but you’ll pick it up very quickly. For a great video tutorial, visit
KnittingHelp.com
.

Step 3:
To cast on (or get started), hold your left hand out, palm down, as if you were about to shoot someone with your finger, and drape the tail end of the yarn over your thumb and the ball end of the yarn over your index finger. Secure both ends against your palm with the remaining fingers of your left hand. Holding a needle in your right hand, poke the tip through your fingers into the loop and press the yarn against your needle with your right index finger. Pull the yarn down toward the palm of your hand to form two loops (one over your thumb and one over your index finger). Swoop the tip of your needle up along the outside of your left thumb to come up
through the thumb loop. Keeping the thumb loop on your needle, move the tip of the needle over to your right loop, press it down through the top of it, pull it back through your now-giant thumb loop, and let the yarn slip off your thumb. Pull your needle toward you to tighten the stitch (not too snug!), slip your thumb back underneath the yarn to resume your starting position, and repeat until your scarf is as wide as you’d like it to be. Count your stitches. You’ll probably have somewhere between 12 and 25.

Step 4:
Get ready to knit! Hold the stitch-covered needle in your left hand with the loops on the left side. Poke your left index finger under the yarn and wrap it once around. Then, keeping your index finger extended, grasp the needle between your thumb and your middle, ring, and pinky fingers. Poke the tip of your right needle through the front of the outermost loop on the tip of your left needle. Using your right index finger, gently hold the loop against your right needle. (You’ll know you’ve done it right if the tips of your needles cross, with the left needle on top of the right and the tail of yarn out the left.) Dip the tip of your right needle underneath the new yarn, pull it through the loop, and slide the stitch off the left needle. (You’ll now have a new loop on your right needle.) Repeat until you reach the end of the row. Check your work by counting the number of stitches now on your right needle. If you get the same number of stitches that you cast on, you’ve done it right. Move the needle with your finished stitches to your left hand and repeat until your scarf reaches the desired length.

Step 5:
To finish your scarf (or to bind off), you’ll play a game of leapfrog with your yarn. After you knit the first two stitches of your last row, use the tip of your left needle (or your fingers) to pick up the first stitch off your right needle, leap it over your second, and pull it off the tip. Then knit one more stitch, pick up the first, leap over your most recent stitch, and slip it off the end. Repeat until you bind off the entire row.

Step 6:
Using a large yarn needle, hide the dangling tails at both ends of your scarf by weaving them through your stitches.

Step 7:
Roll the scarf up, wrap it in paper, attach a big bow, and give it to a loved one. There may be no better gift in the world than a hand-knit scarf!

• Use thick-and-thin yarn for your first project. Its varied texture helps hide any mistakes.
  

• Go slow to start. It’ll become second nature in no time!
  

• If you poop out early, either set aside your project for later or cast off and congratulate yourself for making one amazing pot holder.
  

Step 1:
Gather your supplies: a basket’s worth of fabric scraps (of any size or material), a stack of 12-inch squares of muslin (you’ll need 12 blocks for a 3-foot by 4-foot baby quilt, 40 for a 5-foot by 8-foot twin quilt, 72 for an 8-foot by 9-foot full or queen-sized quilt), backing and batting the size of your quilt, a measuring tape, straight pins, a quilting needle, quilting thread, a thimble, an embroidery needle, embroidery thread, crocheting thread, and scissors.

Step 2:
Thread your needle, matching the ends of your thread at the bottom. Knot off the thread end-to-end at the bottom, and then start building your quilt, block by block. Crazy quilts are insanely beautiful because they follow no pattern. You can just make it up as you go! Start by placing one fabric scrap, right side up, in the center of a muslin block. Then place a second scrap, right side down, on top of the first, lining them up along one edge, and pin. (The fabrics can be different sizes and shapes, so long as they share one border.) Sew along this common edge (through both pieces of fabric and the muslin). Snip and knot your thread, and flip the top piece of fabric over. Next, take a third piece of fabric, big enough to connect to the first two pieces along a common edge, and place it, right side down,
on top of the other pieces. Sew the common edge, trim off any excess (more than ¼ inch), and flip. Repeat until you have the whole square covered. As you work, you’ll notice that each square will become easier to complete. Be patient. It may take you days (or even weeks) to finish all of your squares, so have fun with it. Put on some music, invite some friends over to help you, pour some wine (or put the crazy in crazy quilt and make margaritas). Whatever floats your boat!

Step 3:
Make it last and make it fancy. Now that your fabric is attached to the muslin squares with simple stitches, it’s time to really secure it and add a bit of flair. Thread an embroidery needle with whatever color of embroidery thread you like, and stitch over each seam. For a basic cross-stitch, sew diagonally along the seam in one direction and then return in the opposite direction to “x” each stitch. Once you master that, you can get creative. Some crazy quilters embroider flowers, leaves, feathers, you name it, to secure their fabrics. Feel free to experiment! Go wild! Let your crazy quilt live up to its name!

Step 4:
Now that you have all of your crazy blocks finished, it’s time to sew them together. Select two squares you’d like to live next to each other and match them right side to right side. A quarter of an inch from the edge, sew them up with a double-threaded needle. Repeat, until all of your squares are connected. For a 12-patch baby quilt, make three rows of four. For a twin, make five rows of eight. For a full or queen, make eight rows of nine.

Step 5:
Wash and iron the backing fabric, and lay it flat, right side down. For a warmer, winter quilt, add a layer of batting (or even an old cotton blanket) on top. Lay your finished quilt on top, right side up.

Step 6:
Line up each side, fold the top and bottom layers inward by ¼ inch, then pin and sew together with a double-threaded needle.