Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

The Gathering

by

bikinimaninthemoon

For glass bead makers The Gathering of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers is the event of the year. Well it’s coming up and if you haven’t gone to one you really need to. I have to say it’s been way too long since I’ve gone to one but every Gathering I did attend was informative and a blast! There are demonstrations and festivities and a bead bazaar and people that love to talk about beads and beadmaking. You’ll learn new techniques and about any new materials and tools that have become available. The more I write the more I wish I was going.

The event is being held in Miami this year which should make for a very tropical event. On-line registration is now closed but you can walk up and register if you like. The event is being held from July 23rd-26th and for all the information you need you can go to their web site at isgb.org.Go if you can, but if not make sure you attend next years event in Rochester, NY. I know I’ll be there.

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).