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!!

My baby's baby

I finished my first proper waldorf doll!

Not the best photo I'm afraid, but here she is-

Since she was for my youngest's first birthday, she has a lovely soft bamboo velour body, with just the head & upper torso fully formed under her 'clothes'. In the traditional waldorf style she is made from 100% natural fibres - cotton stretch skin fabric, the bamboo velour, carded wool fleece for stuffing, and a strange but very cool feeling wool/soy blend yarn for her (immense amount of) hair! 

I knit her a little dress to wear, and crocheted a blanket too, which I haven't got a photo of yet.

I'm rather pleased with how she came out, except that the velour has a tendency to 'wick' the stuffing out :(

I'm working on a second one now, for our kindergarten's gigantic Advent Fair!

Oink.

I made a pig.

Off the needles...

I'm still playing catch-up since bub was born!

a few things from the toy department-

a pocket elephant for one of eli's playgroup friends, who just turned 3 years old-

a Spring Butterfly cardi for one of lexi's babies, for lexi's birthday-

and a green "rainbow dress" for another of lexi's babies, as a little present when maia was born!

i'm going through a really busy knitting/crochet phase at the mo, so there will be lots more over the next few days!!

*bubble* hoooo....!!

After his run-in with our washing machine - lightly felted, slightly fuzzier, and half an inch smaller!

Just the right size to be a handful of hoot for a 5 year old..

(though the whole household is fighting over guardianship!)

secret.

i have to keep a secret.

i made something last week that took an outrageous amount of time, with copious amounts of hand sewing, for a present....

the present has been handed over to it's birthday girl, BUT one of my friends is planning to make a bunch of similar style things for sale at xmas, so i'm not going to publicize the idea just in case someone else beats her to it!
but this is the little wooden finger puppet doll that went with it lol..

paul painted her face & hair, and i dressed her in a cute scrapbook paper dress, coated lovingly in layers of Mod Podge, just recently available round here!!

but it's gonna be a while before i can share pics of the background ;-)

the spirit of winter

to me winter is all about hibernating - it doesn't get that cold here, but it does get wet, so i like to stay inside - and staying inside, with kids = simple crafts!

inspired by MamaMoontime's Winter Wattle Fairy, i decided to make us a winter fairy too!
i used colours very prevalent at the moment - pale blue skies littered by clouds, and dark, early evenings, and she has lovely shiny silk hair, and barely visible opalescent blue wings :-)
(they're made from bondable Angelina fibre, just to give away the secret - when they catch the light they are amazing!)

and of course a little doll was commisioned by alexis-
and a wee fairy girl for eli too-
(cos he has to be just like his big sis!)

fun, cheap & and very very quick!!

the "Miss You" dress

On our last trip up north Lexi left one of her two precious babies behind.

Oh doom and disaster!!

So to stem the tide of tears somewhat (because 2 weeks is a very long time to wait to see your baby again!) i immediately set about making a little welcome home present for Melie (inspired by amelia)
i started off with the doll size rainbow dress mods created by the very clever Megan (of Little Rocket fame) and twiddled them slightly to make it into more of a party dress (details on my rav page)

Needless to say, pink party dress = happy little girl.
(the absurdly observant amongst us will have spotted that it was 'borrowed' for a recent birthday party)

Returned baby (a week early even!) + pink dress = VERY happy little girl!

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!

the Real Reason why doll play is good

because they have birthdays too.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

prep time: 10 minutes | cooking time: 20 minutes | makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
5 Tbsp vegan margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana, mushed well
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 180°C

Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl, mix well.
Add banana, stirring well to combine.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, stirring well with a whisk.

Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with 1/2 cup soymilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back easily when touched lightly in the center. Allow to cool, and frost if desired.


Recipe from the awesome Post Punk Kitchen, the people behind our much loved Veganomicon, and such other fabulously titled books as Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar!

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!

Lexi's 4th birthday!

within a month doesn't count as late blogging!

due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel lexi's party, but we still had a little get together with lexi's aunty, uncle & baby cousin, which lexi was more than happy about!

i made a few things for it, firstly a Little Rocket (designed by a very clever friend called megan!)
(auto photo rotating grumble grumble)
made out of scraps of yarn from lexi's earflap hat & felted slippers (not bad value for an $8 200g hank from the titirangi markets!)
and a special new birthday dress (two years running now!)
i'm rather happy with the detail, the buttons are the same as her Spring Butterfly
modelled with the crown & cape that were handmade for her birthday by her nursery teachers(!!!)
and a very silly alien cake-
i think she enjoyed her birthday!

february isn't too late...

for xmas stuff, surely?

just a couple of things that had slipped through the blogging net... first, an Elefante-
pics taken on xmas eve, hence the shocking lighting!

seriously fiddly, but pretty cute, and all from stash!

and a funny little activity i did with the kids, making xmas felt wreaths!
i simply cut some holly, or xmas trees depending on who you ask, out of green felt and marked two holes on each leaf... then the kids threaded some thin elastic through the holes in each leaf once, in from the front then from the back, then through again, forming a loop, this time going from the back first, then in through the front, threading red buttons or felt circles occasionally as they went. if that makes any sense.

some peoples looked slightly more haphazard when worn...
but it was a fun & easy way to keep them happy for a while, and have been a welcome xmassy addition to the dress-up stash!