Holiday Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Winner will be announced 1/1/15~

Hello everyone and welcome to my very first...

 Giveaway info:

• You're entering to win the wood turned sea urchin ornament pictured above, handmade by me.
• You can enter 3 different ways:
• Youtube: You must be a subscriber and then simply leave a comment on the video where I announced the giveaway, RIGHT HERE.
• Twitter: You must be a follower and then retweet THIS TWEET that contains the photo above with the hashtag #chezlin2014xmas.
• Blog: Leave a comment down below. Don't forget to leave a valid email so I can contact you if you win!
• Giveaway ends 12/28/14 and winners will be announced 1/1/15

Giveaway rules:

• Anyone can enter, but if you're under 13 you'll need your parents permission.
• It's only necessary to enter through one of the methods listed above, but your name will appear in the pool for each entry method. Only one entry per method will be counted. That means if you enter through each one, your name will be in the pool three times!
• If you do not claim the prize within 48 hours of me getting in contact with you/announcing the winner it will reset and I'll draw another name.

Good luck everyone!

Sea Urchin Ornaments Part Deux

Yesterday I posted a video of me making an ornament with a sea urchin using a lathe to turn the parts for it. I realize not everyone has access to a lathe, so I decided to put together some sea urchin ornaments using materials that a lot of crafters would have but also would be easy to find at your local craft store. A little video summary will follow!

I will be doing a giveaway for the wood turned ornament from yesterday, so if you're interested in that, click here for more information.

I made two different kinds of ornaments.  One using a drawer pull I bought at my local craft store, and one using beads.

Drawer pull ornament:

This is by far the easiest method. You're basically just screwing the drawer pull together around the urchin.

Hover over or click on the photos for instructions.

Bead ornament:

Hover over or click on the photos for instructions.

I hope you all enjoyed! If you have any comments or suggestions for future projects, please let me know!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Winner will be announced 1/1/15~

And don't forget to enter for your chance to win a wood turned sea urchin ornament made by me!

Wood Turned Sea Urchin Ornaments

A few months ago my husband bought a lathe, so I decided I'd learn how to use it. I've learned what I know from a combination of him teaching me and watching youtube videos so there might be some things I'm doing wrong or could do better. If anyone has any tips for me, please let me know! My most recent project on the lathe was a finial and topper for a sea urchin ornament. I decided to take video and share it with you all! This isn't a tutorial video or anything, but if you're interested in  the other ornaments that make an appearance at the end, I'll be posting a tutorial for those tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed~

Knitting Up a Storm

Christmas is just around the corner, so what does that mean?  It's time to bust ass on your crafting projects so you can be done in time to give them out to all of your appreciative family and friends.  I hadn't knit anything in a while until recently when a friend asked me to teach them how to knit.  I've been working on knitting projects every day since.  I just thought I could write up a quick post and show you guys what I've been working on lately! This is a close up shot of the scarf I knit first.  I used a pattern I found off Ravelry.com but unfortunately even after digging around for it, I can't find the exact one I used.  If I come across it later I'll definitely post it. I actually messed up reading the knitting chart, but it still ended up working out.

I absolutely love how this one turned out.  It was my first attempt at blocking, and I think it worked out quite well.  I didn't really measure anything out, I just stretched and pinned, so some areas are kind of wavy but overall it looks good.  I used the Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf pattern I found on Ravelry.  Personally I think it looks more like owls than tigers.

This is my current project.  I found the pattern on, you guessed it, Ravelry, but I actually couldn't find the Ravelry link in my history- I could only find the direct link to the pattern.  So here it is!  It's actually grown about two feet since I took this picture.  It's quite a fast and easy knit.  I like how it's turning out so far.

Here's a close up of the knit.  It reminds me of rice. :)

I like to consider myself as an intermediate level knitter, I've knit some scarves, gloves, socks, hats... but there's one thing that will always scare me.  Sweaters.  It is my goal to knit a sweater soon.  Here is the one I'm going to attempt to knit: Hundred of sheep, but I decided that I won't start a sweater until after Christmas so I can use my time to knit more gifts for people.  Here's hoping I won't chicken out!