17 Jul 2011
Amid our summer escapades, I have been knitting. Remember “reality check” with too many pink booties? Well, I did finish a boyish pair.
They are too cute. My neighbor was nice enough to let me dig through her buttons until I found some cute mismatched ones that worked perfectly with the yarn. I was so excited to finally be on the right track that I added a baby hat to make it a set.
It did come out cute, even if I do say so myself!
Happy Knitting!
16 Jun 2011
Joining Ginny a bit late this week for the Yarn Along…
Reading: A book for Griff from his Mimi. “Trouble with Trolls” by Jan Brett came to our house from Mimi a few months ago. Griff has been obsessed with it ever since. It’s a beautifully illustrated story about a young girl who is smart enough to outwit trolls who are trying to steal her dog. It’s a fun and charming story told in the words as much as the Norwegian themed illustrations. Jan Brett also has a fantastic website for anyone looking for coloring pages and activities. A link worth checking out.
Knitting: Summer is here and I have been trying to “downsize” my projects. I like small, light and portable projects. I am about half way through my lap throw, but it’s getting a bit heavy and bulky at this stage. I decided to start another quick pair of Saartje Booties. I love this pattern. These are a gift for my neighbor who is expecting her first great granddaughter. It’s a fantastic way to use up left over sock yarn and they are quick, usually done in about one sitting.
What have you been reading/knitting/crafting?
11 Jun 2011
For that wonderful Bug Birthday Party we attended last weekend, I made handmade gifts. I have tried to make them handmade gifts each year. I really think they appreciate them and love that something has been made special just for them. This year I made reusable snack packs.
I had a bunch of fabric squares saved for this project. I made sets of 3 for each twin.
One batch “girl-centric” and one “boy-centric”
I had a chance to use almost all of my fancy stitches. I don’t have too many on my old machine, but the ones I do have I love. I love making these little bags. They are super quick to make using my quick tutorial. I actually had to reference back to it myself!
We bundled them with complementing ribbon and made some handmade cards to accompany them. They are 100% cotton and machine washable. I hope they get lots of use of them. It’s nice to know you are using one of these bags instead of a plastic bag. Every little bit helps, right?
Happy Sewing!
9 May 2011
Sewing has been more and more of a passion for me lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love my knitting. But sewing is a different beast. I like the fact that it is all consuming. With knitting, I can still veg in front of my favorite shows on TV. With sewing you are forced to be in your studio, but yourself, focusing only on the project at hand. My mind doesn’t seem to wonder much and I find my focus relaxing. The Pick-A-Pocket purse was a sewing goal I had this year. Something with pockets and interfacing. The project proved a good starter one. So, I started sewing on Cinco de Mayo and had my margarita in tow, of course.
Then I had to have a second margarita and I didn’t think that having a second and operating heavy machinery was a good idea, so I waited until Friday to finish it up. I love the picture below. I love the anticipation before flipping your project right side out!
And…tada!
A super easy project. It is a good size, I’d say a small to medium size bag. I can fit my camera with the zoom lens just snug.
I plan on making this my Summer knitting project bag. The colors match the needle case my Mother made me perfectly.
If you sew this project- please come back and post your links. I’d love to see what others do with it. On a side note, I also made a cover for the nook inside this weekend. I’ll be posting that later this week!
Happy Sewing!
20 Nov 2010
Handmade Holiday 2010 is in full swing at our home. This is a spoiler alert for my close friend and family members. I don’t think they will mind terribly if I put my ideas out there for other “Handmade Holiday” members. For the kids, I got so many requests for the star crayons that I decided to make them for the kids in our lives. I have been setting off the smoke detector in our home daily trying to melt enough crayons to make the demand of gifts. Yesterday I also got a chance to choice the fabrics for all the little guys (and gals) on my list.
I will be up to a lot of sewing the next few weeks. These bags are going to be so darn cute and I am sure a big hit with the kidlets.
1 Oct 2010
I was delighted to receive an email this week from my Sister-In-Law. This great email also included these precious pictures of my newest niece Hannah in the Just Right Baby Hat I knit for her.
This hat is SO precious. She looks so adorable in it! I just love baby knits! Happy Knitting!
20 Jul 2010
This is my latest original pattern. It is a newborn hat I call “Off the Vine” Sweet Pea hat.
I had been tossing around baby hat ideas in my head for a while. I really wanted to participate in the KnitMore Girls newborn/preemie hat challenge. But nothing I was working out was coming out the way I was planning. Then my search for a sweet pea hat happened when a friend wanted to commission me for a “pea pod” hat for twins that her friend was having. Then it clicked together for me.
My inspiration was from this sweet pea image I found:
I thought this was so cute and simple. I used size 8 dpn’s with Lion’s Brand Organic Cotton yarn. I wanted something to give it an organic look. This is what I came up with…
I added the picot edge to make it sit sweetly on the new babies face.
I wanted to make it simple. The baby is the key to this hat. I wanted it to look very organic and used a heavier weight cotton yarn to give it a natural feel. I wanted the baby to look like they were just picked off the vine.
The top is decreased with a long icord that is tacked down to make it curl without adding any wire or something to stiffen it. It is soft and simple. It really came out like a pea pod top. I am very happy with it. I plan on writing up a pattern soon. What do you think?
10 May 2010
I knit up this beautiful sachet to hold potpourri or soap for my Mother for mother’s day. I used the Lace Sachet pattern by Eunny Jang, downloadable for free on Ravelry.
I had some left over fingering weight Pizazz yarn from NH Knitting Mama. This is a very light weight merino wool. It’s so soft and just lovely to use. I used single point needles instead of DPN’s. I worked row 1 in lace and purled row 2. I worked this pattern for about 3 and a half inches, then switched to straight YO and knit to have a different lace on the top section. I knit this for 3 inches then sewed up the seams. This picture was taken before blocking. It’s amazing what blocking does.
While it was blocking, I worked on the mesh insert. I purchased some toule, cut it to size and sewed up the sides. I wanted the top to have a more finished look, so I added ribbon.
Once the knit bag had been blocked, it was time to assemble it!
This yarn blocks out so nicely. I steam blocked this. As soon as I block it, all the stitches come right out and makes it look amazing. I added the ribbon to the top between the two lace patterns.
And inserted the liner.
This was a great little project with big reward and my Mom loved it.
