Author Archives: Jennifer Ofenstein

Unknown's avatar

About Jennifer Ofenstein

Owner of sewhooked.com and fandominstitches.com. #quiltforgood advocate. Quilt designer, instructor, Talk to Me Tuesday founder & contributor, cat mom, and craft enabler.

Candy Corn Hat

6 Replies

Candy Corn Crochet Hat
As seen on Talk To Me Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Printable Pattern

Add to your ravelry queue

also on cut out + keep

As I walked around my local craft store last week, I noticed little Halloween displays all over the store.  Almost all of them had candy corn.

 I spent the rest of that trip repeating to myself, “You do not need candy corn!  You do not need candy corn!”

I guess you can see why I jokingly refer to candy corn as Halloween Crack!

Mellowcreme pumpkins?

One bag of those + me = sugar coma.  Danger, danger, danger!

I created an homage to those last year with my Mellowcreme Pumpkin Earrings.

To continue the homage to my favorite Halloween candies, how about a candy corn hat?  It’s easier on your teeth, works up in a jiffy and isn’t particularly hard on your yarn stash, either!

It sure as heck is easier than taking candy from a crafter baby!

You’ll need:

  • small amounts of worsted yarn in bright orange, white and bright yellow (Red Heart used in example)
  • J hook

Round 1: With white, ch 4, 11 dc in fourth ch from hook.  Join with sl st at top of beg ch 3.  (12 dc)

Round 2: sl st to the sp between the next two dc , ch 3, dc in same sp (cluster).  (2 dc) in between each dc around. (12 clusters)

Round 3: sl st to the sp between the next cluster , ch 3, 2 dc in same sp.  (3 dc) in between each cluster around. Finish off white. (12 clusters)

Round 4: With orange, join with sl st between any cluster.  ch 3, 3 dc in same sp, ch 1, (4 dc, ch1) in between each cluster around. (12 clusters)

Round 5 – 10: sl st to ch 1 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same sp, ch 1, (4 dc, ch1) in between each cluster around. (12 clusters), finish off orange at end of round 10.

Round 11:  join yellow in any stitch, ch 1, hdc in same st and each st around, including ch 1 sps.

Round 12: ch 1, hdc in same st and each st around.

Round 13: ch 1, hdc in same st , (2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next st), repeat ( ) around.   Finish off.

Easy as candy!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!

Photobucket


vlog: TTMT – Candy Corn On My Mind

1 Reply

In this week’s TTMT:

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

vlog: TTMT Too Much For One Week

2 Replies

In which I show the crafties I’ve finished up the last week, along with my starknuts challenge prize!

http://www.sewhooked.org
http://blog.sewhooked.org

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

paper piecing: Quilt For Your Inner Genius

4 Replies

Pi 5" paper pieced pattern!
5″ Pi pattern only on etsy

Living in a house full of incredibly smart people, it was only a matter of time until their interests started bleeding into my crafting.  There have been cross-overs before with all sorts of fandom paraphanelia, from Star Trek to X-Men.

Now, it’s math.

I mean really, who doesn’t need a paper pieced Pi?

Alright, alright, it was my 11 year old son’s idea!  Happy now?

And for the curious…

From Wikipedia:

Pi or π is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle‘s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. The symbol π was first proposed by the Welsh mathematician William Jones in 1706. It is approximately equal to 3.14159 in the usual decimal notation…

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Give Paper Piecing A Chance

3 Replies

Wingless Wyrm - original paper pieced design

Wingless Wyrm available in the sewhooked shop

Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I am a paper piecer.

And a paper pieced designer.

And I teach paper piecing online and in real life.

And I talk about it on my blog, vlog, and to anyone that will listen.

And I run several paper piecing communities and belong to several others.

Okay, how about a paper piecing addict?

It’s true, it’s true, I love paper piecing. LOVE. Capital, bold and highlighted, burn-your-eyeballs-out-huge-flashing font love!

What is it about paper piecing? I can’t speak for others, but I can speak for me.

Paper piecing is, as you may or may not know, a quilting technique that produces a perfect mirror image in fabric of whatever pattern you may be attempting.

When I say perfect, I mean perfect. Whatever you see on the pattern is what your fabric will be when it’s done.

I love the intricacies of paper piecing, the way I can choose to make my design appear any way I want, how I can tweak this line or that to make the appearance of the finished pieced express whatever it is I want to express.

Mostly, I just love the control I have over the art I’m creating.  Traditional patterns are great, but I loved to be tested, pushed and challenged.  I love to be different and to bring all my friends, old, new and not-yet-met along for the quilty ride.

For years, I worked on Harry Potter Paper Piecing as a fan of J.K. Rowling’s work.  I cut my teeth on those patterns.  They have been a gift to me as much as they have been my gift back to the fandom that has given me so very much.  These days, I feel a bit like the Mother of HP Paper Piecing, beaming with pride every time I get an email saying “I’m learing to paper piece just to make your patterns!”  or there is a new designer that starts creating their own patterns after trying mine.  There’s no way to express how amazing that feels!

Since 2007, I’ve been working on a book of original, never-before-published designs.   The manuscript is in rough draft stage and every block and sample piece is completed.  I’m insanely proud of the work as being not only fun and whimsical, but original and interesting, too.    I was briefly contracted for my book, and then the recession hit and ripped my contract right from under my feet.  Since then, I’ve been sending my proposal to an increasingly longer list of publishers, with one negative after another.

It has, in a word, been frustrating.  Paper piecing is what I do.  I love other crafts, but it owns me.   I make it, teach it and share it.   It’s the one craft that I could not live without.

Will I give up?  Heck no!  I’m exploring other options as I continue to plow through the list of publishers until I find one that fits and sees my work as new and exciting instead of “not mainstream.”

How to Paper Piece

vlog: TTMT – Molly Takes Over

Leave a reply

Molly Weasley visits TTMT this week to give ofenjen a rest.

With apologies to real Brits, cosplayers and anyone that can act.

The Linus Connection

Molly sweater made by from this pattern. Go here if you don’t use ravelry.

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

video: Pineapple, Pineapple

Leave a reply

One of my very favorite fruits is fresh pineapple.   I’ve gone a bit crazy over the last couple of years and have planted every pineapple top that has crossed my kitchen.  Not all over them have made it, but most have.

This is how I top, peel & slice my pineapples.  It’s not the only way, but it is my way!

Pineapple…yum!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Strings Attached Shoulder Bag

4 Replies

Strings Attached Shoulder Bag

add to your ravelry queue

Printable Pattern

This fun little bag was a way for me to use up all those odds and ends of yarn that were too small for much else.    Because of the random nature of the yarn colors, it’s very forgiving.  I used two different base colors because I ran out of the first, and it still worked out perfectly!

The best part?  No ends to weave in!

Odds & Ends Yarn Ball

First thing’s first, take your tiny, mismatched yarn bits and tie them end to end, making one big random yarn ball.

You’ll Need:

  • Odds & Ends Yarn Ball (see above)
  • Dark worsted yarn
  • K Hook

Notes:

  • work with two strands throughout, one of the dark worsted yarn and one of the Odds & Ends
  • try to keep all the yarn ends on the outside of the bag
  • Ch 3 = first DC throughout

Ch  24 (chain more or less for a bigger or smaller bag)

Round 1: dc into the 3rd chain from hook 7 times, dc in each ch across, dc in last ch 8 times, working on the back side of the foundation ch, dc in each loop across.  sl st to the top of the first  st.  Mark the center of each end (between the 8 dc) with a stitch marker or piece of yarn.

Round 2: Ch 3, working in the back loop only of each stitch, dc in each stitch around, sl st to the top of ch 3 to join.

Round 3 – 14: Ch 3, dc in each stitch around, sl st to the top of ch 3 to join.  Do not finish off.

Strap:
Strings Attached Shoulder Bag

Use the stitch markers on Round 1 to find the centers on either side of the top of the bag.  Starting three stitches to the right of center, join yarn with a sl st.

Row 1 – 37 : Ch 3, dc in each of the next five stitches.

Cut yarn, leaving about 15″. Starting three inches from center, whipstitch strap in place, knotting the yarn at the end.

Optional Pocket:

Strings Attached Shoulder Bag

ch 15

Row 1: dc in 3rd chain from hook and each ch across.

Row 2 – 8: ch 3, dc in each stitch across.

Cut yarn, leave about 1 yard attached to pocket.  Position where desired (inside or out) and whipstitch three sides of the pocket.  Knot off yarn.

Finishing:

Making sure all yarn joins are securely knotted, trim to approximately 1″, leaving ends visible.

Strings Attached Shoulder Bag

Add your Sewhooked photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!

Photobucket


Shop | FB | SHFB | Flickr | Twitter

a featured project on Cut Out + Keep, October 2009

vlog: TTMT – Gifts, Gifts, Gifts

Leave a reply

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.