convenience crafting

Little Man attended a birthday party for one of his preschool friends tonight. The honoree was a girl turning five. Since I have absolutely no clue what the cool gift for girls at this age is, I asked my mother-of-three-girls-neighbor for some suggestions. A few days ago Little Man & I headed to the local Le Tar-jay and picked up some Polly Pockets based on my friend's comments and LM's ideas (he wanted something with animals in it so we got a set with dogs & cats...I think the doll is supposed to be a vet?).

I wanted to use one of my already purchased little totes for a gift bag, but it looked soooo boring as is. It needed some gussying up!

I sewed up a couple of "yo-yos" from scrap fabric pieces and added vintage buttons. Originally I was planning on embroider the little girl's initial on the bag, but after about six tries I gave up. I was attempting to put Monkey Boy down for his nap and did all the sewing in the rocking chair in his room (getting up every 10 minutes to tell him to close his eyes and go to sleep). You can probably tell how distracted I was by the somewhat wonky embroidered stems:

Whew, that's some mighty messy stitching! Oh well, I still think the bag came out pretty cute. And the project lasted long enough for Monkey Boy to finally fall asleep- how convenient!

love thursday & a crafty FO

this week I'm loving-

-the silence that befalls our house after 8pm when the small men are in bed and snoozing (can you tell that the Dearest is still out of town?)

-ice cream 'staches:

day 74 of 365

-linear thinking:

-my new foundation from Meow Cosmetics (try it, you'll like it! And samples are only $1!)

-being blessed with a funny, sweet and supportive extended family

-the local library's online catalog...I can put all my books on hold and pick them up at our local branch. No more searching thru the stacks for me!

-banana chocolate chip muffins....with the banana and some whole wheat flour, these might actually be a little healthy....right?

-my new traveling bag, made in a frantic haste the night before leaving for San Francisco (because you HAVE to have a new bag when traveling! And what possesses me to start crafting the night before I'm supposed to leave???):

the front


the back

I've been eyeing the tape measure fabric for weeks and finally purchased some not too long ago. Love the pattern, but I wasn't sure what to use it for...it turned out perfect for straps and a pocket on this little bag.

The beige twill material is some clearance linen-like stuff I had in my stash forever. It's quite thick and I think it's cotton. I tried to get a good shot of the interior of the bag, which is lined in a contrasting fabric, but the light wasn't cooperating with me. :( There are two large pockets inside- big enough for keys and a cellphone (or BART tickets and some extra change). The lining is lightly interfaced, but I probably could have done without that since the beige twill is quite heavy.

I didn't follow a pattern for the bag, just kinda threw it together. I wanted something quite deep and not too wide so things wouldn't fall out while I was walking around SF. The bag turned out perfect- my camera, wallet and phone fit perfectly with room to spare for a map and bottle of water. We even threw some sticky buns in there while walking through Chinatown.

The big button is vintage from the stash G'Ma O gave me last year. There was a funny pucker at the top when I finished topstitching the bag and I covered it up with the button...which also happens to close up the top perfectly.

I like this bag so much that I've been using is in lieu of my normal diaperbag/purse since getting back from San Francisco even tho it's a bit too small for that. I might just have to make another, bigger one for everyday use.

the party 'bot

Robot, that is:

I've been seeing lots of crafty bloggers making cool tshirts with double-sided fusible web (sold here under the name "Wonderunder") and wanted to try some myself. So I pulled out the scrap basket and made Little Man a 'new' tshirt with a robot appliqued on the front.

After ironing the pieces onto the tshirt, I embroidered around the edges. Since I'm still a total noob at embroidering, it's not the neatest job but Little Man thinks it's perfect. I like the how the shirt turned out too. As soon as LM saw it, he said "That robot is wearing a party hat! It's a party robot shirt!"

I see some more projects using applique and fusible web in the future.

monday musings

Bloggers are the nicest people around- I got some kind comments and emails after my whiney post yesterday. I almost feel like apologizing for whining- so many people out there have much worse problems than mine. That's why I rarely post 'bad stuff' here...not to say that my life doesn't have its ups and downs, but I try to keep looking at the upside even when I'm frustrated or out of sorts.

And just to be clear, I'm not going to get a nomination for SuperMom of the Year any time soon! There are plenty of days where I lose my temper and do my fair share of screeching at my small ones. There are days where I don't want to pull out more play-doh or paint and make another mess to clean up. There are days where I count the minutes till the afternoon naptime/quiet time, when I can have an hour of peace & no one is demanding anything of me. Days where I'm exhausted at 9am and wondering how the hell I'm going to make it to 6pm! Being a momma is hard hard hard work- 95% drudgery, 3% soul searing fear and 2% overwhelming joy.

I just try really hard to keep 'bad days' to a minimum & to make them few and far between. I try to remember how deep my blessings run and how lucky I really am. I live for that 2% of joy & hold onto it for dear life when it happens. And hopefully I'll raise some loving, confident and thoughtful human beings in the process.

Anyhew on to the crafting (which is why you're here, no?)-

Lots of good bloggy vibes were sent my way after my whine, which is probably why I was able to sit down and complete a sewing project yesterday afternoon:

It's a tote bag+pencil/sketchbook case for my newly-turned 3yr old niece, Little Red. The pencil case is based on the tute from One Red Robin. I had made the pencil case previously, but still had to complete the tote bag before the party.

Monkey Boy wasn't keen on taking a nap due to the time change so I slipped a DVD in and retreated to my room to do some super quick cutting and sewing. Here's the pencil case outside:

and inside:

I used Crayola Twisteables because they're easy for little ones to use without breaking. The sketchpad is 8x6.

The tote bag was just a simple patchwork- I only had about an hour to make it so it's not lined. Monkey Boy heard the sewing machine and came looking for me after about 20 minutes of watching the DVD. So I had a little helper- he 'pushed' the fabric through my sewing machine & pressed the button that raises the needle. Here he models the finished tote bag:

The straps were a little wonky due to Monkey Boy's 'help', but I think it still turned out ok. I put some cute little books into the bag along with the pencil case. Then we were off to the party, where we took lots of pictures, ate lots of sugary stuff and otherwise enjoyed ourselves.

I hope Little Red enjoys her tote bag and pencil case. Little Man saw the case and wanted one of his own made out of pirate fabric. So I guess I'll have to make another!

blooming feet socks DONE

After much ripping, some cursing and about three sets of toes, I finally finished my Blooming Feet pal's socks!

These were are a simple twisted rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. My pal had warned me that she had big feet (size 10) so I was nervous about knitting something lacy or complicated for fear that I wouldn't get done in time. The ribbing was easy enough (a two row repeat), and I jazzed it up by using some of my own handspun. The orange handspun is BFL from Dicentra Designs. I picked up the purple/orange handspun from LPK for contrast and because the completely orange sock incarnation of these was just too ORANGE.

It's really difficult to knit a pair of socks for someone when you can't get them to try the socks on as you go. I had my pal's basic foot measurements and I'm confident the socks match them, but you never really know if they're going to fit till the recipient puts them on!

I had to rip the toe of the first sock out three times, and the toe of the second sock twice due to some silly mistakes on my part. Plus I wanted the socks to be perfect because they were for someone else. If they had been for me, I would have had no problem with the mistakes I'd made....but no way was I going to send them off with 'oopsies' in them!

Now that the socks are done, I can look for some fun little surprises to throw into my pal's package before I mail them off. And I can't wait till I get my own pair of Blooming Feet socks from *my* pal!

quickly crafted

The Dearest and I had tickets to the Ducks' game on Sunday night. I'm *always* freezing at hockey games, so I had a plan to make a patchwork scarf to help keep my neck warm. Remember this fabric? Saturday night was spent cutting, sewing and quilting while watching "Monster In Law". Here's the result:

I made the scarf 60 inches long so I could wrap it around my neck doubled if I wanted. It's five inches wide- just perfect to keep the back of my neck nice & warm.

All of the fabrics are from Amy Butler's line. The backing is yellow chenille...nice and cozy against the skin.

I didn't really follow a pattern for this- the original inspiration was the patchwork scarf in Denise Schmidt's book. But I made mine up as I went along. The only thing I should have done was pay more attention to how the fabrics were lining up at the ends. Not too happy with how they are a bit too matchy matchy.

The scarf worked really well to keep me warm during the game. We were sitting way up in the nosebleed seats, but it was still fun.

crafty FO

Monkey Boy's train-themed quilt is finished:

I ended up using 6 inch squares sewn together with green and yellow borders. Since Monkey Boy really likes to play with the tags on his 'lovey' blanket, I sewed a couple tags into this quilt as well.

These are placed at the top, near his head so he can find them easily. I also sewed one smaller tag into the foot of the quilt just for fun. I also wanted to personalize it, so I got daring and tried some embroidery for the first time:

It's not quite that wonky in real life- I promise! LOL Everything went together really well- the only problem I ran into was mis-measuring the green border fabric. I ended up not cutting enough and not having enough fabric to go all the way around the edges (I was barely 6 inches too short- ughhh). After thinking about how to salvage the border, I came up with adding small patchwork squares so they would be the right length.

day 51 of 365

I'm sure that the more experienced quilters out there are rolling their eyes at my noob mistake- but I was pretty happy that I was able to solve the short borders pieces without too much gnashing of teeth on my part. And the result turned out quite cute IMO.

Monkey Boy was really excited to get his train 'pinkie' and wanted to use it right away so I guess it is a hit!

birth day

-Saturday night dinner with the Dearest, followed by a massage at the local chi-chi day spa (heavenly)

-not having to do the dishes AT ALL- for one whole day

-uninterrupted craft time so I could cut and arrange this:

-wearing my new Noro Silk Garden Light socks while knitting with good friends at LPK:

-smooches and tickles from Monkey Boy (who is finally feeling much better).

-"birthday gift flowers" picked by Little Man himself:

All in all, a nice way to spend a birthday!

FO report- Veste Everest

FO Report: "Veste Everest"
Started 03/06, finished 01/16/07
Pattern: "Veste Everest" (size 40in) by Veronik Avery in Fall 2005 IK
Yarn: My own handspun; Brown Alpaca and silk plied with Chocolate Cherries roving handdyed by Lori Lawson (alpaca, silk & merino). Approx 850yds of light worsted weight yarn.
Needles: Addi Turbos for the body, Knitpicks Options for the neck and arm bindings
Pattern Talk: Like most Interweave patterns, this one was well written and easy to follow. The cable was a simple series of repeats. I had no problems following the pattern, or making modifications to it.

My Mods: I lengthened the body by about 2 inches by doing extra repeats of the cable pattern on the front. The pattern calls for cabling on the back, but I figured that would be waste of time & effort (plus I'd have to spin more yarn) because no one looks at the back of a piece. So instead I did a simple 6x2 ribbing across the back. I fudged the math a little to make the back the same size as the front, but it all worked out. Since I changed the back, it took me *forever* to finish- I had to do more math to make the neck and shoulders fit the front correctly. I'm so math-adverse that I put the work aside for months instead of just jumping in and finishing it. If I'd done that, the vest would have been completed within a couple of months of starting it, instead of taking nearly a year to finish.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the way the vest fits. The cables look great in my handspun, too.

With all the silk and alpaca, this vest is super warm. I don't know if I'll be wearing it with any long sleeved shirts any time soon! I do like the finished product a lot, though, and it's really cool to have produced a complete garment from my handspun.

FO report- Visiting the Drive Thru again

FO Report: "Drive Thru, aka Quicko Cheapo" sweater from Wendy at Knit and Tonic
Started 01/02/07, finished 01/15/07
Pattern: "Drive-Thru" sweater by Wendy at Knit & Tonic, Size 2yrs
Yarn: Swish superwash in Sand Dune, Jade, Aloe and Dublin
Needles: Clover dpns for the sleeves and collar, Knitpicks Options circ for the body

I've knit this sweater once already, so most of the info regarding modifications and pattern talk can be found here.

The only real difference between this sweater and the one I made for Little Man is the collar: I didn't rib this collar at all. Instead, I did the short rows on the back and then finished it off in stockinette so it rolls a bit:

Also, I had some difficulty with mattress-stitching the armholes shut. For some reason, there was a lot of puckering around the armholes this time. I didn't run into that with Little Man's sweater. When I was trying to fix the first armhole, I accidentally unknit part of the sweater (woops!). My 'repair' is kinda ugly, but it's on the backside of the sweater so I'm not going to stress about it too much. If it really bugs me while Monkey Boy is wearing it, I might end up tearing out the ugly grafting I did and reknit the area. But I have a feeling that MB will outgrow this sweater before I get too worked up about the patch.

ETA: More photos of Monkey Boy actually wearing the sweater. I couldn't pick just one cuz he's just too cute LOL

fits perfectly!

other views:

FO report- Pirates Hat!

Little Man is really into pirates. He has a bunch of Playmobil pirates and a pirate ship that he plays with on a daily basis. The dialogue he makes up for the pirates is always fun to listen to- one pirate is usually a bad guy and another pirate is the good guy. They swordfight, swing from the ropes of the ship and eventually make friends so they can dig for the treasure together.

With LM's interest in pirates, I knew I had to make this hat as soon as I saw the pattern:

FO Report:
Pattern: "We Call Them Pirates" by Helloyarn, one size
started 12/15/06, finished 01/08/07
Yarn: Knitpicks' Telemark in black (master color) and cream (contrast color), one ball of each
Needles: Knitpicks' Options, size 3 circ. Balene size 3 DPNs
My Take: This was my first ever colorwork piece. It was actually pretty easy once I got the hang of knitting with the master color in my right hand & the contrast color in my left. I normally knit English, btw. It was difficult in the beginning to know how much yarn to leave for the floats on the back of the work. Plus my tension when knitting Continental is pretty wonky. So there are some pucker-y parts....but I think it looks alright anyway.

The pattern itself is well written. It calls for a provisional cast on at the brim, then you knit in 1x1 rib for a bit, then start the colorwork. Decreases (k2tog and ssk) are done in pattern at the top. After the hat is completed, you pick up the live sts on the provisional cast on and knit a lining on smaller size needles, which is finally tacked to the inside of the hat.
My only complaint is that the colorwork chart is SUPER confusing since it is in black and white: the master color is shown as white squares and the contrast color is shown as black squares. Unfortunately the MC I used is black, & the CC was white....so it was totally opposite of the chart (when I saw white squares, I needed to use black yarn). There was a lot of cussing before I finally decided to scan in the chart, reverse the colors and reprint it so white was white and black was black. MUCH better.

My Mods: Different yarn. Decided that the provisional cast on /lining was a lot of extra work & not really needed in So.Cal. (never gets that cold here anyways). Instead I did a cable cast on, knit in 1x1 rib for an inch or so and then started the colorwork.

I was running out of black/master color by the time I got to the top and so I had to skip the in-pattern decreases. Adding a few rows of plain white/contrast color enabled me to finish the hat with about one foot of black yarn to spare!

Originally I thought I'd have to felt the hat a bit to make it fit Little Man's head, but he has such a huge noggin that it fits just fine as is. It's quite stretchy and even fits Monkey Boy (tho it has a bit of a conehead effect):

All in all, a fun and pretty quick knit. This pattern is a great introduction to two color knitting, and it's easy enough for any intermediate knitter to follow. If you don't know how to knit with one color in each hand, this would be the perfect pattern to learn on.

truth in advertising

Wendy over at Knit & Tonic has a cool pattern for kids called the "Drive-Thru" sweater. The pattern says it's a quick & easy knit- something that's great for kids because they grow so fast. I really liked the intarsia-ish yoke because it's not too girly but still provides some fun color. So I bought the pattern and the yarn and after about a week of knitting, produced this:

(the serious pose)

FO Report:
Started 12/08/06, finished 12/19/06
Pattern: "Drive-Thru" sweater by Wendy at Knit & Tonic, Size 6yrs
Yarn: Swish superwash in Copper, Baby Blue, Capri and Deep Ocean
Needles: Clover dpns for the sleeves and collar, Knitpicks Options circ for the body

My mods: I pretty much followed the pattern as written. It's knit from the waist up, then you knit each sleeve and add them onto the body (leaving a hole at the 'armpit' area that is later mattress stitched together). The colorwork is super easy and the most fun part of the whole sweater. Luckily I know how to knit both Continental and English at the same time, allowing me to knit with one color in each hand so the colorwork went very quickly. But even if you don't know how to knit with two colors, there's only a few rows of color knitting involved so it's not that difficult.
Had a couple of issues with my short rows on the back- I'm never good at short row-ing on the purlside of a garment. There were some pretty ugly holes that I was convinced I'd have to duplicate stitch over, but somehow they disappeared when the whole thing was washed. Yay!

The only difficulty I really had was binding off loosely enough for the sweater to fit over Little Man's enormous noggin. My first try at binding off (done with a needle two sizes bigger than the one called for) was way too tight. So I tried again with an even bigger needles and leaving lots of yarn with each cast off stitch. That seemed to work and it fit snuggly over LM's head. I went ahead and washed the sweater last night. Then, when I tried to get it on LM this morning for the photos, it wouldn't come anywhere close to fitting. Evidently it had shrunk a bit in the wash. While he was away at school, I picked out the cast off edge (and noted that Swish, even tho it's superwash, still felted a bit at the CO...it was quite a chore to pick out) and cast off a third time with the lace castoff. This gave me a very stretchy bind off and it fit with no problems over my small man's huge blockhead (he takes after me in the big-headedness dept.). Wendy's pattern does say that one should bind off "very loosely"....and she means it!

All in all, a great pattern and I'm already working on a second sweater for Monkey Boy in different colors. The Swish yarn is great- I love that it's superwash. It's quite soft and it hasn't pilled or fuzzed after two washes (I partially machine dried the sweater then laid it out to dry completely). Little Man says he really likes wearing it, too. It's "soft, not itchy":

This is going to be his Christmas Eve sweater....I'm still working on Monkey Boy's (stuck on sleeve island LOL). If I get MB's done in time, I'll post the photos of the small men wearing them together.

all i ever knit is socks...

...and it makes me happy:

the sock siblings, hanging out together on the couch


lil' tiger strype socks for Monkey Boy


'indian corn' socks....named by Little Man's swim teacher. I was knitting while he was swimming and she said she thought I was holding an ear of indian corn.

The tiger strype socks were made out of Opal Tiger sock yarn from their Rainforest line. I had made Little Man a pair of socks out of this yarn earlier this year. There was plenty left to make some socks for Monkey Boy as well. When I finished the first sock and slipped it on MB's foot to make sure it fit, he didn't want to take it off. Then he got quite upset when he realized that there was only one sock. He immediately grabbed the ball of yarn and a knitting needle out of my basket and commanded me, "Mommy, do!" And I did.

The indian corn socks are also made from leftover yarn. It's mystery yarn, tho- the ball band is long gone and I have no idea where I bought it. I had *just enough* left to complete both socks. It's a good thing I used a contrast color for the toes because I had literally two feet of yarn left over when I was done.

FO Report:
Indian Corn Socks-started 11/02/06, finished 11/14/06, for Little Man
yarn- unknown, looks like Koigu but ??
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in a 4x2 rib. Slipstitch heel.
notes- fits perfectly and is super comfy (according to the wearer).

FO Report:
Tiger Strype Socks, started 11/18/06, finished 11/24/06, for Monkey Boy
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 46sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in 4x2 ribbing. Slipstitch heel.
notes- I didn't do the 3 needle bind off for the toes of these socks. I just decreased down to 8sts and pulled the yarn through to drawstring the toe shut. This will probably be fine since MB will outgrow the socks before they wear out.

FO Report

Well I finally did finish my final pair of Socktoberfest socks.....

FO Report:
Started 10/15/06, finished 11/02/06
Tiger Stripe Socks for Little Man
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in stockinette. Slipstitch heel.
notes- these socks should have taken me no time at all, but I misjudged how much LM has grown. I ended up having to rip out the first try at these socks and starting over. The original sock only had 42sts....it wouldn't even fit over LM's ankle. Bumping the stitch count to 52sts worked much better. In the future, the kids' socks will be made with some type of ribbing. I think they fit more nicely and stay up better if the socks are ribbed.

Little Man is supremely happy with his "tiger stripey" socks. He insisted on wearing them out yesterday even though it was 90F at noon!

And *what* is with the weather in So.Cal.? Yesterday was insanely hot- we even had to run the A/C all day. It's NOVEMBER, people! I'm supposed to be wearing sweaters, not tank tops!

Wot!? Another FO for Socktoberfest!

And here y'all prolly thought I'd up and died or something. Nope, it wasn't anything serious keeping me from blogging this past week. Just a lot of little things like school for Lil Man, lots of work for the Dearest, etc.. I've also been getting back into digiscrapping. I usually blog while Monkey Boy is napping and LM is off at preschool, but this week I pounded out a page a day of scrapping while MB napped. It would be so nice to be totally caught up with all my scrapbooking and at this rate it might just happen. Here's another page I did recently:



And I DO have some knitting to show for my absence-


FO Report:
Socktoberfest socks #2
Waving Lace Socks, Spring 2004 IK
Yarn: Austermann Step, Color 10
I followed the pattern exactly (what a change!). Though I think I did the toe decreases my usual way instead of how the pattern goes. It's easy to remember the repeats and after a few rounds I didn't need to look at the magazine anymore.
The finished socks fit perfectly, tho I thought they were too tight at first. The lace stretches nicely and they don't fall down so now they're just right.

I'm also getting started on what will be my 3rd pair of Socktoberfest socks...if I finish them in time!