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How-to: Seed Starter Valentine

January 28, 2013 Leave a Comment

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Valentines are an excuse to show your appreciation for someone just for the sake of showing it. If you want to give your Valentine something unique this year, try giving them a seed starter that can later double as a votive holder. Wondering where this idea came from? February is generally when I start planning my spring garden, so as I planned my Valentine’s Day-related projects, I had seedlings on the brain. Why not combine my love of gardening, the husb’s love of Michael Jackson (this will make sense in a minute…), and our mutual love of basil into a Valentine worthy of more than the paper recycling bin?

Supplies

mini mason jar
rubbing alcohol
potting soil
seeds for your Valentine’s favorite plant
coffee beans and/or small pebbles
glass adhesive, heart-shaped stencil
glass paint
stiff bristle paint brush
small piece of cardstock
thread
scissors
hole punch
spoon

Directions

Clean the jar you’re going to paint with a little bit of rubbing alcohol and place your adhesive stencil. I used the new Martha Stewart glass paint stencils for this project because they stick right to the glass itself.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Dab the glass paint over the stencil with a stiff-bristle brush until the stencil is filled completely. If your jar is see through, you can  turn it around to ensure full coverage of the stencil.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Let paint dry completely before carefully removing the adhesive stencil. If you use the Martha Stewart glass paint, it will air-cure over the course of three weeks and become dishwasher safe.

Now for the fun/messy/gardeny part. Cover the bottom of your jar with coffee beans or small pebbles. This facilitates the drainage necessary for seeds and plants. Mason jars aren’t necessarily the best container to start seeds in since there’s no drainage at the bottom of the container. Making sure to have pebbles/beans for drainage is therefore really important. I used coffee beans because coffee grounds make good fertilizer due to their high nitrogen content and because I had coffee beans on hand.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Next, add potting soil to your jar, leaving enough room for your seeds and the soil coverage they require. Check your seed packet to see how deep to plant your seeds, how many seeds to use, and how much soil to cover them with. My sweet basil seeds needed a decent amount of space, and 1/4-1/2 inch of fine soil coverage.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Give your seeds a good watering, but don’t overdo it! Different plants all need different amounts of water, but a good soaking is the first step to seed starting. Don’t completely saturate your poor plant. You first of all don’t want to be giving your Valentine a cup of mud as their gift. Secondly, a good rule of thumb – if your jar is see through – is to pour enough water so that just the soil is moist (not sopping) throughout with a little bit of water along the bottom with the beans/pebbles. My potting soil was really dried out, so I had to use a decent amount of water to get everything moist.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Finally, cut a little card out of some cute cardstock and punch a hole in the upper left. Valentines are the one medium in which it’s totally okay and encouraged to make lame puns, so to round out this Valentine, I added “You wanna be startin’ somethin'” to the tag. You can, of course write whatever message you like inside if you’re not as much of an MJ fan as we are. ;) If your Valentine is completely lost when it comes to plants, you might want to also include some instructions on the basic care and keeping of seeds:

  • water regularly but not too much
  • keep in a warm, light-filled area
  • remember to transplant to a bigger pot with good drainage once they’ve sprouted

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Tie your card to the jar with some embroidery floss wrapped twice around (once around just looked too thin to me), and secure it with a cute bow, trimming excess string from your bow tails. For easy transportation, put a lid on the jar, but remember to let your Valentine know that lid needs to come off asap to avoid a moldy jar of dirt.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

PS: After the seed has sprouted and been moved to a bigger pot to thrive, you can clean out the jar and have a cute votive candle holder to last year round.

How-to: Seed Starter Valentine | HandsOccupied.com

Filed Under: How-to, Valentine's Day Tagged With: glass paint, martha stewart, michael jackson, seed starter, valentine, valentine's day, wanna be startin somethin

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
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Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
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During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
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Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
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These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
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I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
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In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
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Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
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You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
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Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
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Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
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Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
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Image descriptions available in alt text. 
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#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
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P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
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Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
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