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Microcrafts

Microcrafts introduces readers to a world of miniature arts and crafts-each of the 25 projects are no larger than a spool of thread! Simple step-by-step instructions, color photographs, and hand-drawn illustrations provide everything you need to craft scraps of fabric, yarn, and recyclables into tiny treasures.

You'll find tips and tricks for micropapercrafting, microsewing, microcrochet, and even microgardening, plus whimsical ideas for modifying microcrafts into accessories you can wear. No previous crafting experience or pricey materials necessary, just a love of all things small!

Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz, and Friends form a collective of crafters obsessed with tiny things.

Posted by impart

Crafting with Cat Hair

Got fur balls?

Are your favorite sweaters covered with cat hair? Do you love to make quirky and one-of-a-kind crafting projects? If so, then it’s time to throw away your lint roller and curl up with your kitty! Crafting with Cat Hair shows readers how to transform stray clumps of fur into soft and adorable handicrafts. From kitty tote bags and finger puppets to fluffy cat toys, picture frames, and more, these projects are cat-friendly, eco-friendly, and require no special equipment or training. You can make most of these projects in under an hour—with a little help, of course, from your feline friends!

Posted by impart

Knitted Icons

Sometimes you just want to cuddle up with a handmade doll of Mr. T! With Knitted Icons, you'll find patterns for creating dolls of the world s most beloved personalities everyone from Madonna and Jackie O to Chairman Mao and Che Guevara. Each doll measures a substantial 10 inches tall suitable for posing on your desk, bookshelf, or other doll display.

From Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley to Gandhi, Queen Elizabeth II, and even King Kong, Knitted Icons is full of memorable personalities and easy-to-use patterns. Every finished doll is photographed in glorious full color and accompanied by a brief biography, along with memorable quotes from the icons themselves.

Go ahead knit yourself a legend!

Posted by impart

Museum of Kitschy Stitches

"The Museum of Kitschy Stitches’s hilarious tour through the annals of yarn history is a not-to-be-missed comedic cautionary tale.”-Debbie Stoller, author of Stitch ‘N Bitch

Hideous hats, ridiculous wraps, embarrassing neckties, and more-they’re all on display at The Museum of Kitschy Stitches, a photographic gallery of knitting and crocheting horrors. Want to see sci-fi inspired headgear from the 1940s? Gender-bending sweater sets from the ’50s and ’60s? Groovy outerwear from the ’70s? Museum curator Stitchy McYarnpants has sifted through decades of vintage catalogs, patterns, and advertisements to assemble this astonishingly awful collection. Along the way, she provides sidesplitting commentary about the models and their very unfortunate fashion choices. It’s essential reading for knitters and nostalgia buffs!

STITCHY MCYARNPANTS is the nom de plume of mild-mannered computer programmer Debbie Brisson, who has made a splash on the Web with her “confessions of a husband-neglecting, cat-shooing, yarn-hoarding knitaholic” blog and Museum of Kitschy Stitches. She lives in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

Posted by impart

Field Guide to Knitting

Julia Roberts does it. Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Hilary Swank all do it. We’re talking about knitting, a fiber art as old as time, and people across America are rediscovering the joy of stitching.

But how do you tell your knits from your purls? Your k2togs from your ssks? Your daisy stitches from your double basket patterns? All these answers and more can be found in Field Guide to Knitting, a comprehensive reference with more than 200 stitch patterns and variations. You will learn the history of each stitch, the best stitch gauges for getting pattern definition, great ways to use the pattern (scarves, sweaters, hats), and more. Chockful of useful instructions and more than 200 photographs, the compact Field Guide to Knitting belongs in the yarn bags of knitters everywhere!

JACKIE PAWLOWSKI is a Manhattan-based writer and knitwear designer. She writes about knitting at www.yarnish.com.

Posted by impart

Cube Chic

Tired of working in a bland, boring, office cubicle? Interior designer Kelley Moore has the solution with Cube Chic, a hip, irreverent style book with inspirational cube designs for every taste, from Tiki to Zen. With dazzling full-color photography and helpful decorating tips, you’ll learn how to create:

• The Garden Cube: Rather be gardening? This cube features bright grassy greens, floral prints, and a desk covered in bright gerberas.
• The Cabin Cube: Like a ski lodge at your desk, this cube features dark wood tones and creature comforts aplenty.
• The CEO Cube: Get on the fast track to the executive lifestyle, and create a corner office in your own space.

And that’s just the beginning-there’s also a Hip-Hop Cube, a Pub Cube, a Safari Cube, and even a Cubism Cube. With so many eye-popping design options to choose from, Cube Chic will inspire office drones of all ages!

KELLEY L. MOORE is a lifestyle and entertaining expert with a simple mission: to empower people to connect and build relationships through the environment they create. She has a regular entertainment column in Northwest Home & Garden and writes feature design and entertainment articles for Seattle magazine. Kelley appears regularly on Seattle’s morning television show on KING 5 News, contributing to design, style, and entertainment segments.

Posted by impart