Don't Eat My Son, Please

Happy Belated Halloween, Folks!

This year, as Halloween approached, I questioned my children every day, several times a day, as to what they wanted to be this year. At first Kai wanted to be a lollipop, so I set out on a mission to find the things I would need to create such a costume. Good thing I didn't actually buy anything, because as we drove home from school one day he informed me that he no longer wanted to be a lollipop. The kids at school thought it would be weird, he explained, and he was starting to think so too, so he wanted to be a vampire instead. Our first case of peer pressure. Lovely. On the plus side, we already had most of what we would need for his costume hanging in his closet, but it was still hard to see him cave like that. I was hoping Zeke would come up with something fun for me!

Every day it was something new for Zeke. Every minute it was something new for Zeke. For days he was spouting off random things with no actual desire to be any of them. Driving home from school, "I want to be a stop sign. I want to be grass. I want to be a house. I want to be a tree..." At home, "I want to be a table. I want to be fork. I want to be a cup. I want to be pizza..." Wait! Stop! Pizza!!! I could do pizza!!! Since he told me he couldn't decide on anything else except for that he didn't want to be the banana I made for Kai when he was 4, we decided that he would be pizza.

Off to the fabric store I went, coupons in hand, to stock up on felt, interfacing, thread and glue gun sticks. I had a general idea of what I would be doing, though I still had to make the final pattern. I ended up tracing Zeke on some paper and then drew around it to make the pizza shape. It wasn't precise and it was hard to tell where his head and arms would go. I didn't want it to be uncomfortable or difficult to move in, so there was a lot to think about. I ended up with a pattern I thought would work, so I got to it. After cutting all my pieces, I ironed on extra-firm interfacing to sections to help keep the triangular shape and then I sewed the pieces together, a front, a back and two sides. I also attached some adjustable straps that I salvaged off a backpack our lovely dog decided to shred. These were a great way for his shoulders to support the costume and to keep his head free and mobile. After finishing the "bones," I was able to move on to the fun stuff!!!!

I used my pattern to make a cheese shape, put sauce under the edge and hot glued everything down. I cut a hole for Zeke's face and then large X's for his arms. I cut out all the toppings out of felt and slapped those on with the glue gun as well, with only two blisters as a result. Go me! I couldn't wait for Zeke to try it on! When he did, he laughed and laughed at himself in front of the mirror. It was so cute! He wore it to school the next day and then again trick or treating last night and almost everyone who saw him made a comment about how yummy he looked or how much they loved pizza. Only two people thought he was something made with strawberries. I'll take it. :)

Love it! And Kai wasn't half-bad either, for something "normal." :) At least I got to do his hair and make-up and, with three boys, that's not something I get to say often. They both had a great time and came home with a decent haul. Of course, it's too early to think about next year for them. They'll change their minds a million times before then. But maybe I'll start thinking about something fun for me... Hmm... ;)

It Was A "Hit"

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandma Schulz's 90th birthday with a family get-together. We had such a wonderful time, it was so good to see everyone. For the occasion, I made a pinata. I know, it needs a squiggle over the "n," but I don't know how to do that. Just know that I know that it goes there. Anyway, I spend a couple days making it and it only took mere moments to destroy, but it was totally worth it. Knitting or sewing, it isn't, but I still put it together and it's my blog, so really, I can post whatever I want. ;)

Making a pinata is relatively easy, but a bit time-consuming. It really isn't bad at all if you can watch some TV or a movie while you work. They really don't require too much intense concentration. I made this one with a jumbo balloon, newspaper, homemade paste (flour/water), tissue paper, Tacky Glue and twine. If you'd like more specific instructions, just ask! Otherwise there are directions all over the internet on the basic pinata.

Here is my work of "art" being smashed with a baseball bat by my niece. It made it through most of the kids before being ripped wide open. Overall, I would say it was a success.

A picture taken at the party of (left to right) me, my Grandma and my sister.

I also have one completed sock. It is waiting patiently to be blocked, but it is done! I'll post pictures when that part is done, because let's face it, there may never be another one.

Next on the agenda is Zeke's Halloween costume. I thought I had until October 31st, but then remembered about the school party almost a week earlier. ACK! So, guess what I'll be doing tonight...and the next few nights. I hope it turns out as nice in real life as it looks in my head! I'll get pictures up as soon as I can, regardless. Ok, maybe not regardless, because if it's really horrible, it'll be hidden away and Zekey will be a ghost with a sheet thrown over his head with holes cut out so he can see. I don't think we even have any white sheets, so let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Time to get busy!

Making Lemonade AKA The Packer Pixie

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Or, in this case, when Purewool sends you two skeins of yarn that clearly aren't from the same dyelot, you make a hat instead of a pair of pants. I have been looking forward to making these "Packer pants" for a while now, so I was pretty bummed and a little ticked when the yarn wasn't a match and I wasn't sure what I was going to do.
As if on cue, a good friend of mine pointed out an adorable pattern to me, the LTK Giving Pixie Hat. Oh, the cuteness!!! And I could still make my little guy something to go with the nifty Packer onsie my mom got for him. I wasn't sure how the sizing would be and while the pattern was telling me I should probably go for a Medium, I went with the Small. I mean, this kid's head isn't that big. I then proceeded to knit to a smaller gauge. Brilliant. Soooooo... As soon as I was done knitting hat #1, I began hat #2. You live, you learn, you follow the directions...sometimes. Regardless, it was a pretty quick knit and pretty darn simple. Moving the stitch markers in and out of the work to do the decreases was kind of a pain, so after a few rounds I just pulled them out altogether and remembered where to decrease instead. It turned out great!

If we could just get him to keep it on his head... Notice how his father is holding his arms down in the first two pictures? Yeah. All of my hopes and dreams of Phinny being a baby hat model have been shattered.

And you will all (yes, all 5 of you) be shocked to hear I have started to work on Josh's socks again. I'm not sure what came over me, but I was digging through the yarn I haven't looked at in months and saw that sad, lonely, incomplete sock looking all pitiful. I couldn't just leave it there like that, so I found my double-point needles (hate those things) and got to work. Since I haven't worked on it in ages, the gauge is different from when I started, but it's just a sock and can't say I care too much. I have the ankle and heel completed and the foot started. I'm hoping to finish one tonight and start on the next one, but we'll see. I decided I don't like socks, even ones that knit up "quickly" with a worsted weight yarn, but I might change my mind for a non-solid yarn that has some pattern to it. It's always more fun to see how that type of stuff turns out. Oh, and when Josh came home and saw me working on said sock, I was laughed at. Yes, folks, laughed at. With an apology yet to be received, ownership of said sock is still pending. I hate to take this public, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Oh, and sorry to those who have been sitting here for a month, hitting the refresh button, waiting for me to post pictures of the art smocks. I would've if I would've thought to take a picture, but it got pretty busy around here and they really weren't all that interesting. Maybe I'll take a picture of them at the end of the school year when they're covered in whatever they use in 1st grade art class. That should jazz it up some.

Well, Folks, that's all for this addition! I'll be back soon...I hope.

Imcomplete Projects, It's What I Do

Whether my fault or just bad luck, I don't complete a good chunk of what I start. Most recently, I started a dress to wear to my brother's wedding. It was my first attempt at altering a pattern and *think* I did a pretty good job, but wouldn't know for sure because, big surprise, it didn't get finished. I made a muslin of the bodice and that turned out great, fit me well. Then I cut out all the pieces for the dress, 6 pieces for the bodice and 3 for the skirt. Got down to the 4th piece of the skirt and there was a HUGE flaw in the fabric. GAAH!!! I tried every way I could to fit the piece in the correct direction and miss the flaw or at least minimize it's impact on the length of the skirt, but it just wasn't doable.

Off I ran to the nearest Jo-Ann in hopes they still had the fabric. No luck. So then I go all the way across town to the next closest Jo-Ann, and they did have it, but a different dye lot so it didn't match mine. That would be the point where I gave up. With only days until the wedding, there was no way I could hunt down the fabric in a matching shade and have the dress made in time. Off to the mall I went. *sigh*

And as you may or may not be wondering, no, I didn't finish my dress form either. We moved and it got put on the back burner. Once I confirm that it is still my size, I will be assembling it. I almost posted the pictures of the actual form portion being created, but me wrapped in duct tape looks a heck of a lot like me, silver and naked, so I couldn't bring myself to do it. I may change my mind and post them once the project is completed and I post the rest of the pictures, I am totally covered after all, it's just a weird thing to see yourself like that.

So on my updated, short-term agenda, I will be finishing my dress form, but before that I will be doing a couple art smocks for Kai and his cousin Malia, just like the ones my mom made for me and my siblings when we were kids. These shouldn't be too difficult, just dress shirts with shortened/elasticized sleeves so the kiddos have something to wear for Art class at school. We have a deadline though, so I know they will get done. I'll post pictures when I'm done because while they won't be anything exciting, at least they'll be finished. :)

Until then...

Should've Seen It Coming...

Here it is! My wonderful hooded scarf! It's hard to get a good picture of something when you aren't doing it yourself, but my husband isn't nearly as cute as I am in it, so this will have to do. :) I have another of it wrapped, but I can only stand so many pictures of myself, so use your imagination. It really is cute, so I'm almost sad that Spring is on it's way. Almost.


As for seeing it coming...the dress. I really should've expected this... I searched high and low for a sleeve that refused to be found and then I lucked out by finding the same fabric at the store I purchased from a year ago. Even they said I lucked out since it's a closeout shop. So, I was thrilled and set to work on my dress. I finished the sleeves and the band around the waist, just needed to hem it. I was too excited to wait, so I tried it on... and it didn't fit and never will. I have measured myself and I'm about back to my normal size everywhere, but the band that is supposed to run under the bust makes it's way directly across mine. Awesome. I'm not surprised, really, I have had this problem with shirts and dresses in similar styles, so I don't know what I was thinking. It's beyond any alterations I can do, so It's now back on my desk, waiting to be hemmed, but I can't bring myself to put the work into something I can't even use. But this brings me to my next project...

A dressform. I will not be buying a dressform. One of the reasons I like to make things is because it's fun, another is because I can make something unique, but another is that I don't have a lot of money to buy a wardrobe. Dressforms, if you haven't looked into buying one, are expensive. So I, with the help of my husband, will be making a dressform. I found directions on the internet and will be getting most of my supplies today, so I'll be sure to post the results soon. I'm excited about this one! Not only will I get a clone of myself (there really should be more of me around :P), I will be able to alter my patterns to fit ME, thus wasting less of my time and money and stuff that ends up not fitting. Brilliant!

Mini Update

I really could've waited for this, but why would I want to? :) I finished my hooded scarf!!! I actually finished it a few days ago, but it is finished, wearable, wonderful and I'm so happy to have finally finished something for myself. I have a bad habit of starting and not finishing those projects for Me. I'll be sure to get pictures up soon, I really don't know why I haven't taken one already.
Next up on the agenda is to finish the dress I started for Easter last year. When I realized it wasn't going to fit my quickly expanding, pregnant frame, I put it on hold for other projects and just left it there. I started hand-stitching the inside of the waist, have a little machine sewing to do before I can finish up by hand, but in order to do that I have to find me a sleeve. I have no idea where it went or how, but I either have to find it or dig out the fabric and hope I can find the pattern piece. This is what I get for not finishing in the first place. I'm just hoping after all this that it will actually fit. I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but still nursing, so my size isn't quite what it normally is, if you know what I mean. :)
Well, that's what we have to expect in the next week or so, a picture of a scarf and a dress that could very possible be way to tight in the chest to actually wear. Back to searching for a sleeve!

Well, I tried...

I really did... One project a month. Doesn't sound hard at all...unless you have a baby that just looooooves being held. :) I did manage to get the hood portion and well over half of the scarf done for my hooded scarf and I bet I can have it done by the end of the week. As long as I get something else completed by the end of the month, I'm hoping to stay on track. So until then I'll have to make up for my lack of projects with a picture of a finished one from a month or so ago. A close friend of mine had her beautiful baby girl, Jillian, months ago and being me, it took me way too long to send along the gift. I wanted to make her a hooded towel and it was actually why I decided to go ahead and make some for the boys. I figured that while I was at it, I might as well. Jillian's was a little more fun though...

Isn't she a cutie? And making something pink is always a nice change of pace. :) I hope she gets a lot of use out of it.

Happy New Year and Finished Projects!

Happy New Year, Everyone! :)

Our family had Christmas in Wisconsin again this year and except for the part about passing illnesses to one another, we had a wonderful time! We brought along a few things that I made for my boys, my nieces and nephew and something for my future sister-in-law, Chelsea.

First up, some fun little tutus and ballets skirts for my nieces. These are mostly no-sew, just a lot of tulle cutting and tying. The elastic is sewn together, but you can also use ribbon (or so I hear). Here they are after completion...

...and here they are on the girls! Malia is on the left and Kaelana is on the right. I had taken pictures of Zeke trying them on so I could send them to my mom to give her an idea what they would look like. Poor little Zeke loved them SO much, he insisted there had to be boy tutus, too and he wants one in Spiderman colors. Any ideas? lol

These are some simpler ballet skirts made with ribbon, tulle and thread. Nothing over the top about these, just simple and pretty, made prettier by my beautiful nieces.

This one was so fun, I just had to make it for my nephew August. The pattern, found here shows X's for eyes and that creeped out my sister, so I went with a plain dot. I used Caron Simply Soft and it worked out great. I am already thinking of a few other kids who would look cute in this hat, so I'm pretty sure I'll have to keep an eye out for some yarn sales and stock up!

Here it is on Aug Dawg! Just love this hat!!! And he knew what it was before he even finished pulling it out of the paper, smart little dude.

Meet Chelsea, my lovely sister-in-law to be. Chelsea is definitely on the tall side. I don't know the numbers here, even though I'm sure she has told me, but I am thinking somewhere in the 6' range. Anyway, tall equals long and my brother Nate told me she has a hard time finding hoods that fit her correctly, so I knew I wanted to make her a nice, hooded scarf, despite the fact I couldn't find a pattern I liked. I measured, tweeked and figured out which stitches I wanted to use and finally came up with this. Doesn't she look adorable?!?! You can't tell from this picture, but I tried to make it long enough for her, over 6', so it wouldn't look puny on her. It's nice and soft too, made out of JoAnn's Sensations Rainbow Classic in white. I hope she is able to get a lot of use out of it!

And finally, my own kids, including Phin in his (late) debut on here. Here they are modeling the hooded towels that I made for them. A friend of mine sent me a link one day for hooded towels that were simply made out of hand towels and bath towels and then personalized with fleece. Sounded easy enough, but tell that to my sewing machine! Lots of layers to sew through meant it took a little work, but they turned out very nice and I'll probably be making them again sometime, maybe try doing some edging or something. These are all made the same size with a decent sized bath towel and a halfed hand towel for the hood.

And that's about it. I have one more gift going out in the mail tomorrow that wasn't intended as a Christmas gift, it's more of a really, really late new baby gift for a friend of mine. :) Once she gets it, I'll be sure to get pictures up. I'm already thinking ahead to Christmas 2010 and how I'd like to put a few more people on my list, so it'll be a much earlier start for me. In the meantime, I need to figure out what to do next. My sister and I both want hooded scarves now, so that's on the list. More fish hats perhaps or a pair of longies for Phin? Or maybe those socks I never finished for Josh. Yes, those socks. I know, I know... I still want to do all the things on my "thinking about doing" list, too, and that list is growing in my head every time I go looking through patterns. Well, it is a new year and I'm going to try and do at least one project a month and see what I can get done. I should probably put that on my calendar or something so I don't forget! :)

I guess that means I need to get started on something new so I can have a post up by January 31st! Until then, have a great start to the new year!!!

And She's Off!!!

Less than a month until Christmas and that means I have some very busy nights ahead of me! Project after project, knitting, tying and sewing! I have almost all the materials I'll be needing, a few things have been started and one gift is all done. Not a bad start! There is still plenty to do, though, so I hope Phin will cooperate with me the next few weeks. I am so excited about these things, I can't wait to see how everything turns out! The only bummer? No pictures until after Christmas and everyone has their stuff. :)

There is a napping baby in my house and this time can't go to waste. There is tulle calling to me! :)

My last big project for a little while...

At least I think it will be. It's a carseat organizer I made for the kiddos, since we moved them to the back of the van. I wasn't even sure I wanted to start it, but I was able to complete it in just a couple days. I also replaced the elastic in some diapers and I'm just waiting on one to be re-waterproofed so I can fix that one, then I can pack up my sewing stuff for a while and get ready for the baby.

So here it is...super fancy. :)

That's all folks! Nothing too exciting, but it's nice to get things done that you've been procrastinating on. This was definitely something I had been waiting on a looooong time. Now let's just hope I"m not waiting on this baby for much longer. :) Until next time!

I Did It! I Did It! The Newborn Diapers Are Done!!!

If it hasn't been made clear, I finally finished my newborn fitteds! It was a pretty time-consuming process, but that's mostly because I have to make everything as complicated as humanly possible.

These are all made with the Darling Diapers pattern. The first three pictures are of the Tiny Newborn size and the outers are stretchy or at least somewhat stretchy cotton knits that I found at JoAnn. The second group of three are the Newborn size and are all made with woven, non-stretchy fabrics also found at Joann. For all of these, the hidden part of the diaper and underside of the soaker are made with Bamboo fleece and the inners are Bamboo Velour. Bamboo Velour is SO, so soft and it dyes up really well with Dylon, as you can see. You can also see that while counting my pieces and figuring out which ones would be which colors, I messed up somewhere. I switched up the sizes for a red soaker, so two are mismatched and the left diaper in the bottom row was suppose to be all yellow inside. Whoops! At least the blue kind of matches. :)


The inners of the Tiny Newborn size...




The front of the TN size...



The back of the TN size...

The center diaper in the bottom row is probably my least favorite of all I made. With the mismatched inner, tabs that match the diaper, but not the inner and then the wrong colored thread used to stitch the tabs...it's just craziness. My favorite of these would probably be the Hawaiian print on the top left. It's just so cute!!! I saved some of the fabric to make undies for the big boys, too. :)

The inners of the Newborn size...

The front of the NB size...

The backs of the NB size...

I like all of these, for the most part. Not crazy about the natural soaker in the otherwise red inner of the top right diaper. I particularly like the Snoopy Flannel and the Packer and space wovens. The Packer inner is actually mismatched on purpse, so no mistake there. :) I also got extra of the planet fabric to make the boys undies with.

A more close-up picture of the fabrics I used, except for the plain blue and red stretch knits...

Overall, I'm happy with the work I did, especially since this was my first try at diapers. This won't be my entire newborn stash. I have a bunch of prefolds as well as a couple little pockets. From here I'll be going to mostly pockets and I also have a bunch of small fitted pieces cut out and ready to go, but I am short on materials and time right now, so those will have to wait a bit. The next items on the agenda are some nursing pads and I'm also going to be replacing the shot elastic in some bumGenious! pockets. Busy, busy! If only I could do it all in my recliner. :)

Brynwood Needleworks

My cousin has a blog that I have recently begun to follow through Facebook. It is so great to see what she's been up to with her crafts and sewing, very inspirational to a novice like me. :) Today is her 100th post and with it, an opportunity to win some fun stuff! Check out http://www.brynwoodneedleworks.blogspot.com/ to find out how you can be entered in her giveaway, but more importantly, to take a look at some of her nifty projects.

Looking forward to the next 100 posts, Donna!!! :)

So, it's been a while. And no, I never finished the socks...or a single sock, but I have more important things to do now. It's time to start making some baby things, folks! I have quite a few projects on the agenda for the upcoming weeks, including a boatload of cloth diapers. But I already got a few knit projects done and ready to show. None of these have been washed or blocked yet, but they look nice enough as they are, so here are some pictures...

First up, 2 sleepsacks. I didn't really follow a pattern for these, so I hope they work out. They are both made with Purewool, I can't remember the colorway of the one on the left, bought it years and years ago, but it's single-ply and super soft. The one on the right is 3-ply Mesto.

Next are two pairs of longies, both made with 3-ply Purewool. On the left is a newborn pair in Biarritz and on the right is a small pair in Tiatucura. I'm not thrilled with the heavy gold hue of the yellow or the pooling in the body of these, but they'll be useable.

I'm putting these up last because they're my favorite. :) A newborn pair of shorties in 3-ply Purewool in Firmament. Love these!!!

That's it for the time being! I'm used to pulling out the knitting needles in my free time, it's going to be weird sitting at the sewing desk for a few weeks. I have some really cute diapers to make though, so hopefully I'll have pictures of those up soon too. Like I've said before, I work so much better with a deadline. :)

Sock update and King Gus

I finally started on Josh's socks! That was last Saturday, actually. I finished the leg/ankle of one and when I got to the heel, I took a break. A weeklong break. :) I will get back to it, just need to find the motivation, I supppose. So far, so good though!

And here is a picture I received from my sister of my nephew Gus. He's sporting his new crown and playsilk/cape. The crown is made from the LTK pattern out of Patons Classic wool in New Denim and Burgundy. I did have some trouble with felting and sizing it correctly, but I was able to make it work and I'm so glad it did! I really only gave myself enough time to get it right the first time, which is really nothing new for me. :) I did buy yarn at least a year ago to make my boys some crowns too. One more thing to add to my project list!

Kai Will Love Me Forever

Christmas was almost a month ago and I'm still waiting on pictures of my gifts on or with their recipients. I decided would just go ahead and post the pictures I have. Of course that means Kai is modeling two girlie hats, which he wasn't fond of wearing to begin with. I'm sure he'll be super excited to see them on the computer. :)

Here is the first one, a gift for my niece, Malia. This hat was made with RYC Soft Lux in Powder. It's a pale pink worsted weight yarn, shot through with a gold metallic fiber. Just a little sparkle, not too much. I got it to match a metallic gold coat that my mom was getting her for a Christmas gift. The pattern is called Petal and can be found here. I thought I had the correct gauge, but the small size turned out quite wide for me. It wasn't a big deal because I wasn't sure on size anyway, but in case anyone else gives it a try, watch your gauge. It is a really cute hat, I'd like one for myself if I ever get around to it.
I also made a set of mittens to go with the hat, nothing spectacular, just some plain mittens. I also had enough yarn left to make a long, lacey-type scarf. It was actually a little too long, but it still looked nice. Hopefully I'll get some pics to put up soon.

Next is a hat I made for my younger niece, Kaelana. I saw this pattern and knew I had to make this hat for her. I had a bit of trouble finding the perfect colors of yarn, but found an acceptable frosting and cup color at JoAnn in easy-care acrylic. My first attempt at this hat can be seen in the second picture on the left. It's cute, but when I put it on Kai and Zeke's head the "frosting" part hugged quite tightly to their heads and you couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be. It was definitely cuter sitting on a table or bench that it was on a head. I decided it needed to be puffier on the top, so you could tell it was a cupcake whether it was off the head or on. So I added stitches and used a smaller needle to make the ribbnig so it would still be snug on the bottom. The top picture is the result and it looked much better. Since I really didn't like the first hat and I was running short on time, I just snipped the "cherry" off hat number 1 and put it on the new one. So imagine the top hat with the red pom from the second picture. If I ever make this hat again, I may try adding "sprinkles" or something for fun.

Here are the playsilks!!! I dyed them myself and they turned out pretty decent. I'm not too fond of the first one, which was actually not the first one I did, but I've learned my lesson on wrapping my fabric too tightly. The dye just couldn't get in there.

My first attempt was the fushia/purple one and it turned out so well, I was thrilled. I made it specifically for Kaelana, so I was very happy it turned out. After doing the rest I decided to give the red, yellow and blue to August, my nephew. I also gave him a crown, which I don't have a picture of. Hopefully I will soon.

Now I need to get to work on Josh's socks. Poor guy has been waiting for those darn socks for over a year and I have been asking him to remind me since after Christmas. I really stink at getting started when I don't have a deadline. I'll get them started before the weekend! Maybe. :)

I have some catching up to do.

What can I say, I'm just not that great at following through. But I'm going to make up for it, darn it!!! Just give me a while here. :)

I think the first project I finished after my break was an Easter dress for myself. After a few days and surprisingly few dollars I sewed myself a lovely, lavender Easter dress. It was so pretty. Too bad I could never wear it. I tried it on and looked like a sausage. It was too small so I let it out a tad, which was a huge pain and left the dress looking less than perfect. I realized it was still far too small, let it out more and it looked even worse this time around. Still too small. At this point I read the pattern package, angry that they made such a huge sizing mistake, but alas, it was all my fault. Not only did I make the wrong size, I had the wrong size pattern all together. Note to self: Pattern sizes are not the same as department store sizes. I knew it before, but it didn't really register until the Easter dress incident. I think I'll try again next year, if I can find the same pattern. It was such a pretty dress, I'd really like one that fits!

That was about the last thing I did for a long time, but Halloween was going to be the project that would get me back on track. Malachi decided he wanted to be a banana and I thought, "Hey, I can do that!" I made up a pattern, got myself some fleece and went to work. It wasn't the easiest project ever, but I did it and he looked pretty great! We had some problems with the face hole since my subject wasn't as cooperative as I would've liked, but it wasn't a big deal. You can tell from the second picture it's a bit awkward around the face, but he was still hilarious and cute and he was really impressed with himself in it. He got a lot of compliments and he was all smiles the entire night. :) In this first one the bottom of the banana hasn't been stuffed yet, it wasn't that deflated looking when it was done. It looks better in the second picture, but this was the only profile shot I got.

After Halloween I moved on to my next project, which was jammies for Kai. Zeke had enough to make it until we got them for him as a lame Christmas gift, but Kai would need a couple in the meantime. So I rummaged through my fabric box and pulled out some flannel that I've had hanging around for a couple years and some fleece. They didn't really match, but I didn't care. Kai got two pairs of PJ bottoms, one red and one blue, one yellow fleece top and one neon green. That last one was from the giant piece I had left after the Super Why costume. The Pants turned out great. I sewed the pockets to the back in one pair and had to fix them, but they still look fine and I ran out of thread for the green shirt, so the arms and waist aren't hemmed, but it's fleece so I'm not worried. I'll fix it when/if I get the chance. Otherwise the only thing I didn't like was the length on the shirt. It is just too short, really. And the neck hole, a V neck, is kind of huge. Kai loves them though and wants to wear them all the time. He is also very concerned that something might happen to them. "Don't spill! These are the pajamas my mom made me!" So cute! I'll get a picture up of those sometime, if anyone wants to see.

Next up, I've been buying yarn and working on Christmas gifts, but pictures will definitely have to wait on those! I'm working on a hat, a felted crown, a hat/mittens set and some playsilks. I have most of my materials, my silks, dyes, some yarn and most of the needles I need. I still need some dying supplies, some yarn I ordered and possibly a size 10 circular needle. That is for the crown and I don't know if I want to use no tension with the 8's I have or borrow a 10 from a friend. I'm so impatient, it's actually a tough choice. I better decide soon! I'm thisclose to being done with one of the hats. I actually knit two, the first just wasn't what I was hoping for and I think the second might be better for the kiddo I'm knitting it for.

I just have so much I want to do! After the Christmas gifts are done I want to knit socks for Josh. I want to finish the tunic I never fished for Kai and which will probably end up going to Zeke, only fair considering everything I've made for Kai lately. I have all kinds of patterns I want to try out! I wish I had this kind of enthusiam in summer. Oh , well. I'll just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

A Miracle!

I found my camera, took some pictures and actually uploaded them. And to make things even more amazing, I am almost finished with 3, count 'em, 3 gifts! Sweet! Of course, there are no pictures of those yet, I'll wait until they are completed and received first, just to be safe. ;) But here are some pictures of the longies I finished months ago and the robe I gave Kai for Christmas. The pants are already getting pilly from wear, sorry, and I don't have any action shots yet because I keep forgetting. Shocking, I know. Oh, and please don't be jealous of my stellar picture-taking abilities. It takes years to develop skills like these.


Longies with elastic waist in Earth and Sky colorway from Tykie Knits. The leg isn't actually crooked or anything, I'm not quite sure what I did to it when I layed them out.



















McCalls pattern 9638

































ETA: And I totally forgot, I made those scarves for the boys and never took pictures of those either. I like Kai's, not too sure about Zeke's though. The ribbing makes it too skinny, so I may frog it and start over since he doesn't use it anyway. Should take pics of those. I'll get right on that...