Yarn yarns pt2

MORE forgotten knitting..

A Kaia Babydoll for Lexi - 

A pair of Doodlepants longies that I was meant to make while pregnant with Eli..

Yttrium for the knitted periodic table project - 

(Y? Because I could, lol!! *groan*)

A Pinny for a playgroup Dolly -

(plus new denim pants & shirt)

Mini hotshots -

Chunky beanies for sale -

A Dolce Beret for Lexi -

A Spring Butterfly & Poppy hat set for a friends baby -

A Little Winifred tunic -

still to be continued!!

Yarn yarns pt1

I haven't done any knitting in a couple of months, at least! Just lost the mojo entirely, but I'm sure it'll come back soon enough.. luckily it turns out I have over a years worth of projects unblogged.. oops.

Like....

A Hotshot for Eli -

A Puffy Sleeved Shrug for Maia - 

A Sprout hat, which I sold (was a test knit for a designer who had already published, but needed feedback)

( that kid is 2 now!)

An Andalucia crochetted skirt -

A Daisy Sue babydoll - 

A Gail shawl for our playgroup fundraiser (sold for $100!) -

to be continued lol...

My big boy

My little big boy is starting kindy this week!! Funny to think that I announced being pregnant with him, on this blog all those years ago..

He needs a basic bag for kindy to hold a spare change of clothes, and a piece of fruit, so I made him this little drawstring backpack -

This is with a spare t-shirt & pants inside -

It's the perfect size for a 2-4 year old, and easy for them to open & shut.. It took me a couple of hours to sew, but most of that was the applique (exacerbated by my machine constantly skipping stitches & breaking the thread!! Methinks it needs the timing adjusted..). But it was dead easy and very simple, and does the job perfectly! I hope he like it...

Here's the tutorial link on Pinterest!

The first (and second) day of our Advent Calendar

Our Advent Calendar is a series of activities & outings, rather than gifts or chocolate..

The first day - Make our Advent Calendar!

(yeah, ok, that was just because I was too disorganised to have it done in time..)

Each peg has a tiny card with the activity for the day written inside it, and gets opened up & re-pegged each day.

Day 2 - Decorate our Xmas tree!!

(Yes, we have a fake tree... it was $8.47 at Kmart eight years ago.)

We have quite a few homemade decorations on our tree, but making more features quite heavily over the rest of the month (shhh!! secret.)

I'd love to see other people's activity based advent calenders too!!

Rawrrr...

Eli's 3rd birthday cake!

We got him some wooden african animals for his birthday, so a matching cake was in order..

I must learn to keep things simple in future, cos they always come out better if i don't go overboard with lolly decoration!!

Crochet Caps

as cool as that sounds, crochet is (allegedly) having a massive renaissance!

and, well, i think it can be pretty cute when used properly!!

the one is a "Shabby Hat" for maia, using Wool Company "sky" and scraps from my stash

i crocheted a little flower to decorate it too-

paul thinks it looks like a '20s baby hat!

and another for eli-

this time a brimmed beanie, using the same yarn as the babydoll dress i just made maia :-)

see? it isn't all bad is it??!

the rare Lesser Hooded Eli

Ages ago i finished Eli's winter hoodie!
(ie back in winter)

it's the Vestee pattern from Knitty, but using the hood & long sleeves options-
i needed to upsize it for a skinny 2 year old, and wanted to knit it in the round, so i cast on the combined front & back stitches rounded up to a multiple of 3 (to get the right stitch pattern) and joined it in the round, and knit up to the arm pits as one piece, adding quite a lot of length - i find the suggested length to be *really* short. i then knit both sleeves at the same time using magic loop, and joined them onto the body & knit the rest as per the pattern :-)

it's taken me so long to post about it since i was trying to get a good shot of it being modeled... but i failed - this is the best i have been able to get-
oh well...

but it fits really nicely, and i really recommend this pattern for a fast & simple jumper!!

thumbs in the thumb place...

we have a little song that we sing at our playgroup during the winter months that goes-

Thumbs in the thumb place,
Fingers all together,
That's what we do in mitten weather.
Hats on our heads,
Scarves round our necks,
Warm boots, warm boots,
So we don't get wet!

and since i am evidently one of those "why do i have to wear a jumper just because my mum is cold?" kind of mothers, it was definitely time for mittens!!

luckily for me, two very talented ladies i know have just released kids mitten patterns! Both are for fingerless mitts, but it's pretty easy to adapt :-)

The first is-
Shortly's Milo Mitts!
i knit these in double stranded 4ply sock yarn, in size 4. the mods on how to do the closed in fingers & thumb are on my rav page.

the second is-
Sam's Easy Kids Hand Warmers!
these i knit using yarn that i dyed oh so very long ago, using the last scraps, and added a tiny twisty cable, closed in the fingers to match big sis' ones, but just crocheted around the thumb hole.
the kids are very happy with them, and i'm very happy that my kids are toasty hands!!

thanks guys for writing such awesome, easy & FREE patterns!!!

the forgotten files

the Kids Clothing Week Challenge reminded me that i had a pile of sewing done previously that i hadn't added to the archive!

firstly, a little cape & crown set-
on a forum that i occasionally frequent (so should that be "that i occasion"?? ;-) ) one of the members was having a rough time, so a whole bunch of people got together to put together a package for her & her kids!
so these went winding their way to a wee 3 year old boy, who i hope has enjoyed them since!

and for lexi-
a tie-top summer dress

some stripy 3/4 pants-
(ironing?! pfft.)

some peasant tops, i particularly like the ladybird fabric-
(blogger/picasa sigh..)

another summer dress-
covered in butterflies, and with a *zip* in the back! i'm so proud every time i have to use one of those..

and a couple of pairs of dress pants for my little guy-
and now i'm just working on a stack of winter knitting, and finishing off the list of to-do sewing left over from KCW!

my little big boy

my little guy was about to get a whole year older (it happens overnight you know) and so i decided he needed to join in on our first proper family birthday tradition - the felted crowns.

so i started with some wool-
(yes it's pink & purple, it was left over from lexi's so-long-ago Tigger Cardi (look how little she is!), and the only feltable stuff left in my stash!)

some food colouring & vinegar,

and some of this stuff-
and.... ta da!


the butterfly theme was because we inherited a couple of monarch caterpillars a month or so ago from our playgroup, and we've had a constant stream of them to look after ever since! Eli absolutely loves them, and has been finding the process fascinating, so i thought it would be a fitting theme for his crown :-)
i think he likes it!

i was incredibly proud of lexi too, who was inspired by my efforts to make eli a present herself as well! she decided to make him a toy horse, which turned into a unicorn, so i cut the basic shape out of felt (i like minimum 70% wool felt), showed her how to do a whip stitch, and off she went! I did the eyes for her, and threaded her needle, but the rest was all her work, even choosing the colours (it's red on one side, purple on the other ;-) ).

(there was a minor controversy on eli's birthday when she decided she actually wanted it to have a short mane, so hid behind the lounge curtains to give it a haircut without asking first, but really since it was her project she had to be forgiven!)

and of course there was birthday cake... not one of my sleeker efforts to be sure *blush*
but it tasted good & the kids loved it, so i'm happy!