Tag Archives: mason

Brighten Up the Canning Jar

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ScannedImageAs the season warms and welcomes late evenings and barbeques, my crochet tends to become a little lighter (in fabric) and sometimes a little smaller (in projects). My latest design fits that bill.

In the June 2015 issue of Crochet World Magazine, you can find my Candle Shadows. Now , when I bought my home over a decade ago, it came with a root cellar filled with old canned goods (the “freshest” being over thirsty years, and the some with dates in the 1930’s). So instead of just tossing all these old mason jars filled with over aged fruit, we have slowly cleaned them all up. Finding uses for them all is the more interesting undertaking.

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Candle Shadows- Crochet World, June 2015 Photo courtesy of Annie’s

You may remember from an earlier post that I turned some of the mason jars into pendant lights in my kitchen (if you missed it here, it is), some of the jars will be used as cups and center pieces at my sister’s wedding later this year, and some I have enjoyed using as a little outdoor lighting with my latest design.

The principle behind the design is pretty straight forward, a stitch pattern that offers a nice negative space (for the light to shine through) and that repeats in just the right amount to come evenly fit around the jar. Then adding in some great color and there is a lot of fun added to my outdoor dinner (or maybe even my indoor bubble bath). Using battery operated flame-less votive candles makes them even easier to use, and safe for kids!

My New Kitchen Lights

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ScannedImageI usually chat about crochet, and how crochet has influenced my life, my designs, and my way of life, however today I am sharing another project, my new kitchen lights.

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My Mason Jar Pendant Lights

My husband and I have been working on refurbishing our older home. It was build in the 1920’s (by California standards it is almost historic), and over the last ten years, we have added such modern conveniences such as insulation, and current electrical wiring. Along the way we have attempted to keep the older charm.

Along with the house we obtained a root cellar full of canned goods. Now most of these items were canned a good thirty years ago, so they were not on a list of things to be consumed, but we found many of the jars interesting, and after cleaning them up an doing a little research we learned that a vast majority were from the 1930’s. Many ideas for their use came to mind, but one that was settled upon, and that my husband helped me to execute was to create pendant lights.

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Mason Jar Lights at Night

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Mason Jar Pendent Lights during the day

Fortunately my husband has tinkering skills, likes working with tools, and fabricating things, so together we managed to make the vision into a reality. We are pretty happy with them. So even though it is not in any way related to crochet, it is still related to the principals that I believe crochet holds, to create, to share, to enjoy.