Upcycled Project

A while back a neighbor was remodeling his house and replacing his doors. I looked out my door and saw all the doors with glass door knobs laying in the lawn. I couldn't believe that he would throw them out so I asked him if I could have the knobs - one day he came to the door with them.

The knobs sat in my basement for quite some time. I knew that I wanted to put them on a board so I could hang things, but I wasn't sure how to accomplish that. I came across Becky from Charis Notes and Gifts on Facebook and asked if she would help me with this project. I gave her the knobs - she had a cabinet door that was painted. She asked me if I wanted the sign to say anything - I immediately thought this may be nice piece for the knitting studio - so I asked her to paint Knit & Purl on it.

I found a great pattern to make hanging bags. Here is the sign that hangs in our knitting studio. The bags hold buttons that I frequently use - so it is a functional piece.

Thank you Becky for making this wonderful work of art for us! 

Summer Flower Wreaths

Crocheted flowers seem to be pretty popular in the fashion and design world. You see flowers on hats, headbands, pillows, afghans and many other items. Another popular fabric this summer is burlap. 

Donna and I have put both burlap and crocheted flowers together to make some very pretty summer wreaths. 

Take a look at the daisy wreath I have on my front door.

Here's how we made the wreaths.

First you wrap the burlap around the straw wreath and fasten it with a staple gun.

Here is the wreath all wrapped up and ready for the flowers.

Here is a sample of some of the wreaths we have created.

These wreaths will be an item of the week later on this month at the Swissvale Farmers Market that takes place every Saturday from June through October from 9a - 1p.

Every Thursday I will announce the items of the week on our blog and on our Facebook page. 

Stay tuned Thursday, June 4 for the item of the week for this Saturdays farmers market. 

Donna's Kit Corner

Every Monday - until we run out of kits - Donna is going to showcase some of the kits she has made through an online club she belongs to through Paradise Fibers.

Sometimes Donna doesn't like the suggested pattern the group is making so she will use the yarn for something else. That is the case with the first item we are going to highlight.

We have been searching for a pattern for Yoga/Spa Socks for quite some time and we didn't seem to like any of the patterns. So, Donna took parts of a couple patterns and came up with her own design.

As  you can see, the project turned out well. 

My nail polish even matched the yarn - what a bonus!

Making a Come Back!

Mason Jars are making a come back. It's an all American product after all. Anyone who knows me well knows that I try to buy as much as I can that is American made - but that can be very hard.

While doing searches for new things to make I found that many people are using mason jars as drinking glasses and that many people use cozies with them. I thought that would be a great thing to make for the upcoming farmers market in Swissvale. I mean what is more farm related than the mason jar.

So here is the process I have went through for this project.

Donna and I went to see Mom on Easter and I know she has a lot of canning jars so I brought some home and washed them up.

Then I started to make the cozies. I didn't want the cozies to have any seams so I am knitting these on double pointed needles.

I am using cotton and wool yarn for these cozies. Notice what the Lily Sugar' n Cream yarn label says: 100% USA Grown Cotton!

Here are two finished cozies in cotton yarn.

Now for the wool cozy I used local yarn from Underhill Farm in Hollidaysburg, PA.

Here is the finished cozy with the wool yarn.

The Mason Jar cozy will be an item of the week during the Swissvale Farmers Market. The market will be held every Saturday from 9a - 1p beginning in June.

Making the Towels

Anyone who has been to one of the craft shows we participate in know that we always have scrubbies, dish cloths and towels.

These are the ever popular towels. Another crafter couldn't believe that someone still makes and sells these. I guess they remind people of a simpler time. We sure do get a lot of requests for these.

The secret to our towels is this - We always use quality towels and we use cotton yarn at the top as cotton keeps its shape better than acrylic yarn.

I am going to show you the process we follow to make these.

The first thing we do is cut the towel in two and sew the raw edges. 

The next thing we do is prep the towels by sewing the yarn to the towel and knitting needle and then knit it and sew on the button. 

If anyone reading this wants to learn how to make these towels - we could teach you. Just email us at pamdonnaknits@yahoo.com.

Here are some towels we will have available this summer.

May Events

It's a double header weekend for Knitting by Pam and Donna. We have two shows coming up. 

On Saturday we will be at the Home Economics Building at South Park for the Spring Fling Craft Show benefiting the Windover Hills United Methodist Church. The hours for the show are 9a - 3p. The address is 3738 Buffalo Drive, South Park, PA 15129. 

On Sunday the Pump House Season begins.

The Pump House is located at the Waterfront in Homestead. The hours are from 10a - 2p. We will also be there on Sunday, May 18th.

Let me show you some of the products we will have at these two shows.

It's time for spring cleaning. We will have our line of scrubbies, scrubbers and flower scrubbies as well as dishcloths.

Now for something new - hair scrunchies.

So when the weather gets warmer you will want to pull your hair back with some colorful scrunchies.

Of course we will have new towels to decorate your kitchen.

Later in the week I will be doing a blog on how we put these towels together. I will also show you some new towels we bought.

Hope to see you at one of our events this month!

April Events

This is going to be a very busy week for Knitting by Pam and Donna. 

We have two big events this week.

We will be at the Bi-Annual Book and Bake Sale at the Swissvale Library on April 10, 11 and 12.

On Saturday while Donna will be at the library, Pam will be at the White Oak Athletic Association Spring Craft Show. The hours for that show will be 10a - 3p.

We will have fan favorites at both shows like the scrubbies and towels.

Donna is working on refilling her animal basket.

So far there are Minions, an owl and some penguins. She is working to add some pigs and perhaps a couple Easter Bunnies.

We are bringing back one items that some people have asked us to bring back. This is a grocery bag holder. We sold these a few years back.

We have a few light weight scarves that are perfect for spring.

This scarf is made using bamboo yarn held together with a ribbon yarn.

Donna has been busy crocheting these scarf necklaces using all kinds of yarn with bling.

I hope you can make one of our events.

This year is shaping up to be very interesting. We have some new events this summer and fall and we will update you on these shows as we get closer to the dates of the events.