DIY Life

I have finally fallen victim to the cupcake craze. They are everywhere, on everything. But cupcakes don't irritate me like past crazes, like the flip-flop trend. (Which we still haven't seen the last of, it seems.) No, cupcakes don't irritate me: they make me smile.

I, and quite a few of my friends, go thrift-shopping and garage-saleing seeking out old sweaters to chop up and recycle into various things.

There are a great many things you can do with old sweaters. You can repurpose them into just about anything, like scarves, gloves, cozies, and stuffed animals. But here's another one: cupcake pincushions.

You'll need an old sweater (a striped one gives you wonderful, colorful options), a sewing machine, thread, a hand sewing needle, a scrap of felt, and glue. This project is pretty simple, especially if you are coordinated. If not, rolling the different layers up may be a bit daunting. I had a bit of trouble with it, but I was born accident-prone and uncoordinated.

Seriously, this project is really simple, involves minimal sewing, and is done in a jiffy. But I will warn you: you'll be tempted to eat up these adorable and delectable pincushions!

It's the beginning of the month, and web-savvy knitters know what that means: a new issue of MagKnits to check out. This month, there are only five patterns, but they all look good.

There's a pretty short-sleeved horseshoe lace cardigan, Rainbow Socks that exploit the properties of self-striping yarn by using short rows to turn the usual stripes into arcs, and a lace headband. The Lása Shawl Headband is basically a short, narrow lace scarf; you can choose your level of difficulty, and it would probably be easy to modify if you wanted something longer. A good beginning lace project on the easiest level, a way to practice more advanced techniques if you'd like to, and a nice gift.

That covers the wearables, but what about everything else? The Burridge Lake Afghan is a beautiful, symmetrical Aran showpiece, designed to be interesting to knit (there is minimal reverse stockinette stitch, which is ordinarily so common in Aran designs). Also, the pattern uses Trinity stitch, which is worked on the wrong side, so you won't zombie out every other row. I mean, afghan rows are long.

Finally, Bitty Boo is the issue's "whimsical" pattern: a tiny felted ghost for Halloween!