Love Letter Tutorial by Elyse Major

M is for …

If you like letters-as-décor then this project is for U

By Elyse Major

Single letters and numerals made of unfinished wood or paper mache are available at craft stores. Try your hand at decorating one and you may soon find yourself moving onto full monograms and mottos. Use to spell-out MRS and/or MR as gifts to brides and grooms or decorate as table numbers to add charm to your celebration as easy as 1-2-3.

What you’ll need

Unfinished letter or number

Decoupage medium

Foam brush

Scissors

Scraps of fabric

Gather scraps of fabric and cut or snip-and-tear into strips; next trim again into smaller sizes.

Piece by piece begin to cover the letter on all visible sides by brushing light strokes of decoupage medium to it and affixing and gently smoothing the scraps in place.

Continue until the letter is covered.

Secure any loose pieces or corners with a little touch of glue.

If your letter is not furnished with grooves or hooks for hanging, suspend with a narrow strip of fabric, ribbon or twine tacked to the reverse.

Elyse Major is the author of Seaside Tinkered Treasures and Tinkered Treasures (CICO Books). Visit Elyse at tinkeredtreasures.com

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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