The Purl Stitch

Now that you have mastered the knit stitch, it is safe to say that you are ready for the purl stitch.
1. Cast on a small number of stitches, (ten to twenty), to practice
2. take the needle with the casted on stitches and place it in your left hand needle.
3. Instead of inserting your right hand needle into the first loop and making sure the right is behind the left, you will be going through the first loop with your right needle to make the right needle be in front of the left hand needle.
4. move the string connected to the ball of yarn to the front of your needles, and wrap it around the right hand needle which is in front of the left hand needle.
5. Now slowly pull back the right hand needle and poke it through the loop that connects the two needles, just as you did for knitting, you will now do this for purling just, poking the needle through the loop from the bottom instead of the top. Now you can pull the stitch off the string!
6. Continue doing so until you have reached the end of your row, and trade needles between hands!
Knit and purl stitches are the most common and combinations of the two can make beautiful patterns! It can be difficult to transition between knit and purl stitiches in the middle of a work, and the most common mistake is the placement of the string that is connected to the ball of yarn. once you have done a knit stitch, take the string and go around the right hand needle, to the front to do a purl stitch.  The same goes for a purl stitch to a knit stitch, after you complete the purl stitch, take the string and bring it back around the right needle and do the knit stitch.

The Knit Stitch and common knitting problems

The most basic of all stitches, and the first one everyone usually learns...the knit stitch.
1. First cast on a small number of stitches, (between ten to twenty stitches), to get started.
2. hold the needle with the casted on stitches in your left hand.
3. Using your right needle, go through the first loop on your needle, the right needle will be behind the left needle, and both will be holding the loop
4. Now taking the string connected to the ball of yarn with your right hand, wrap it around the right hand needle which is behind the left needle.
5. Here's the fun part: with your right needle, pull away from the left needle a bit , and you will see the loop that you first stuck your needle through. You will once again go through the loop by sticking your right needle into it. Now you will see the right hand needle is in front of the left hand needle.
6. You can now pull off the stitch from the left hand needle, congratulations



you have just completed the knit stitch!
7. Continue the stitch until the end of the row, and when the row is done, all stitches will be on the right hand needle, simply trade needles between your hands and start knitting again!
In case of severe confusion/tangles in the stitch: anytime something looks strange or seems tangled all you will have to do is pull the stitch off whatever needle it's on, and pull the string connected to the ball of yarn slowly, you will observe the stitch undoing itself and returning back to a simple loop.  Take this loop and place it on the left hand needle to redo the stitch, hopefully with better results!
 What to do if you run out of yarn: Do not panic, you might be out of yarn, but you're not out of luck! In case you are in the mood to knit and you find that you are now out of your yarn, the solution is very simple and practically unnoticeable.  What you first need to do is buy the exact same yarn you have been using, (if you want to, you can use different colors), I've always found it very useful to take a piece of yarn from my old ball of yarn to the store with me, so I am very sure that I have the same color and texture yarn to continue knitting with. Once you have the yarn take out the end, the do a simple knot, (cross and under knot, like what you do when tying your shoe in the beginning), do this twice. With scissors cut off all but about two centimeters of string on both ends of your knot, this cannot be too small of length of string because if it is, it will pull apart when you are trying to knit and ruin your work.  Now continue knitting as usual, working in this awkward knot that will be unnoticeable in your work, unless you are using very tiny string, then it will probably show up a bit more.

Braided Bead and Chain Necklace

On Pinterest I found a braided bead chain necklace...for forty dollars.  I decided to make the same type of bracelet for under ten!
Materials:
Small beads, (any color)
Wire (not too bendable, but just a little)
Crimping beads
Lobster clasp, or any other clasp that you want
Silver chain
Bead pliers
All of these materials can be found at Michael's 
You can decide how long you want the braided bead part of the necklace to be, once you have decided this, measure all your wire this same length plus about two inches for the wire you will lose braiding the wires and crimping them
Steps:
1. You first need to take two lengths of wire and bind them together with a crimping bead
2. I recommend getting a string of beads, not just a box so you won't have to one by one place your small beads onto the wire
3. Take the string of beads, pull it straight at a down ward angle
4. With your wire, try to follow the string, lacing the wire through all the beads, this is difficult, so just do it as best as you can, it gets a lot easier with practice!
5.  Once you have an entire string of beads on your wire, leave some room to secure the wires together, and since you have to do another strand without dropping the first you have just completed, I recommend taping the end of the wire, making the bottom too thick for the beads to fall out, (speaking from experience I dropped two strands of beads before I had the sense to tape the ends
6. Once you have strung the beads on the second wire, make sure the two wires have the same length of beads on them, with place a crimping bead onto both of the strings, and using your pliers, press down securing your first strand of the braid
7. Repeat steps 3-6 two more times so that you now have three strands of beads, each with two wires
8. Use another crimping bead and take all of the strands, (there's six!) and secure them all together
8. Now tightly braid all of the strands together, keep it neat!
9. When you have completed the braid, crimp the rest of the ends together, and now you're ready for the chain
10. Measure out how much chain you will need, and place a crimping bead on the six wires
11. loop the wires around the first link of the chain, and then go through the crimping bead, use your jewelry pliers to secure the bead
12. Do the same to the other side of your necklace
Watch out for wires sticking out of the crimping beads, they poke!  If you do accidentally end up with poking wires, you can dull them by taking a nail file and running it against the sticking out wire.

Valentine's Day Card

Instead of doing another do it yourself blog for kids on Valentine's Day crafts, I'm doing a bit more difficult, and dangerous blog for readers a bit older.
Materials:
One piece of white construction paper
One piece of red construction paper
One piece of pink construction paper
Glue, (I used Mod Podge)
Hot glue gun
Three different sizes of pearls, large, medium, small
Scissors, straight, and curvy/wavy kind
Steps:

1. Cut an eight by ten inch white rectangle
2. Fold white rectangle in half
3. Take an inch off the measurements of one side of your white square length and width wise, and cut that measurement out of the red construction paper with your curvy/wavy scissors
4. Center your red construction paper on the side of your white construction card and glue it on with Mod Podge
5. Because the glue will make your construction paper bend, what I recommend is putting the paper in the middle of a textbook, and allowing it to be flattened for about ten or fifteen minutes
6. Fold your pink construction paper, now we will make the hearts
7. Make the size of your first heart about four and a half centimeters, and make it a longer, skinnier heart, cut five of these
8. Now you will cut the medium size hearts, five of them slightly shorter than the large hearts, but wider
9. Cut out seven small hearts only about two centimeters in length
10. Your paper may be too small for these hearts, but it is very easy to simply cut a small portion of the hearts adjusting them to fit
Now for the dangerous part:
11. Take a large pearl and position it in the upper left hand corner, not necessarily right in the corner, but in that region making the center slightly off the middle
12. What I do first is position all of the hearts before I start to glue, you will want to adjust the larger hearts first in a flower like pattern around the large pearl in the center
13. Place the medium size hearts in the middle of the larger hearts
14. To finish off this flower like pattern place the smallest hearts in several places, one in the upper left corner, and two in the lower left corner, the last of your small hearts place them leading to the lower right hand corner
15. Hot glue all of the hearts down
16. Place the medium sized pearls close to the medium sized petals/hearts of the flower, and the smallest ones above the smallest hearts/petals
17. To finish the card off, write an inscription on the upper right hand corner to personalize it for whoever you want!
Get crafting!

Valentine's Day Craft for the Younguns Continued

Heart Caterpillar
Another fun Valentine's Day craft you can make with kids, (or by yourself) is a heart caterpillar.  So easy to make and very cute, you'll love it!
Materials:
Two sheets of different colored paper, (I used red and pink keeping in theme with Valentine's Day)
A sheet of regular white paper, preferably card stock so the Elmer's glue doesn't misshape it too much.
Elmer's glue
Googly eyes
A thin sharpie
Let's get down to business:
1.  Cut a rectangle from your piece of white paper, this will be where the caterpillar will rest, so if you want a larger creature, leave more room.
2. fold the two colored pieces of paper you have selected.
3. Draw half heart along the folded edge of your papers, (thus creating hearts when you cut them out), decide what color you want the head of your caterpillar to be, and when you draw the mark for the head, make it significantly bigger than the body. For the caterpillar I made, you will draw two hearts for the body and a larger heart on one sheet of colored paper, then on the other, draw three hearts for the body, and two very tiny ones that you will use for the antennas.
4. Cut out the half hearts, giving you eight hearts of multiple sizes.
5. Glue the largest heart, (the head), at an angle on your rectangular white piece of paper.
6. Alternate colors for your caterpillar's body, and for the first segment, overlap the point of the large heart.
7. With a different color heart, continue to over lap the hearts just a little until you are out of body parts.
8. Glue the tiny hearts above the head, over both curves of the heart.
9. Wait until the Elmer's glue dries completely before moving on!  Glue the googly eyes onto the head of the caterpillar, don't be afraid to use different sizes, I did and I think it makes the caterpillar look even cuter!
10. Now draw the lines from the head to the tiny hearts above the caterpillar, forming the antenna. Also draw a mouth on your caterpillar, and legs too!
Now you have a cute, creative creature for your friend or family, this is a great craft for kids, I'm sure they will love them! If any of my directions are unclear, just refer to the picture and I'm sure all will be clear!
Go be crafty!

Valentine's Day Crafts for the Younguns

I'm not usually a fan of Valentine's Day, jacked up prices for flowers and tacky pieces of heart jewelry. I'm not bitter, just not a fan of the concept of what Valentine's Day has become. Anyways, even though I'm not a fan, Valentine's Day is an excellent opportunity for crafters! So get ready for a s*** load of hearts and love on craft paper!
1. Thumb Hearts
This is a fun Valentine craft that will allow kids to get their hands messy while making the cutest Valentine's day crafts for their friends or parents!
Materials:
A piece of white paper, preferably card stock so that the Elmer's glue didn't cause the paper to bend too much.
Red or pink Tempera paint or you can use pink or red puffy paint, but don't worry, both of these washes off your hands/clothes.
A skinny and a thick black sharpie.
Scissors! 
Alright, let's do this:
1. Cut a square piece of paper off your white sheet of paper, when you are deciding what size to cut think about how many heart people you want to put on your sheet, (If you think I'm crazy saying "heart people" just check out the picture of the finished craft to understand what I mean...it's labeled)
2. On a separate sheet of paper, (again preferably card stock so the paint doesn't leak through), place a small dot of paint, barely dime size.
3. With your the thumb of your dominant hand, (right for me), place it on the paint, and move it sideways and up and down to spread the paint, and before you make the first mark on your paper, I recommend doing a couple practices on another paper. You are aiming for a nice oval with a personal touch, your finger print!
4. To complete the heart, place your thumb in the paint once again, make sure not to have too much paint on your thumb, and place it at a diagonal angle to the first print so that the two prints have the same starting point, but go different directions making a heart.
5. If you mess up it is very easy to take your pinky, dip it in the paint and correct whatever is wrong.
6. Make sure the paint has dried completely before you move on, with your thin sharpie create the eyes of your masterpiece, winking, surprised, flirtatious, whatever expression floats your boat. You can also use the thin sharpie to make a smile, but if you want an open mouth smile use the thicker sharpie, especially if you use puffy paint instead of the Tempera paint.
7. Now that you have a face on your heart people, you can create arms and legs!

8. Finish off the art with a "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY" message and a dedication to a loved one.
If you are doing this craft with kids you might be babysitting, or are related to, you might want to guide their thumbs if they are below the age of seven.  Speaking from experience, the hearts might not be perfect, but that's part of the fun! Plus if you are babysitting these crafts made by the kids, dedicated to their parents are adorable gifts that will influence them to bring you back for more fun!