Monday, December 27, 2010

Hats

So, right... hats have been my thing this fall and winter.
 
These hats are the ones I knitted for my nieces (Hannah on left and Laila on right)... I had them delivered so that Dad & Grandma could put them under the tree for Christmas... so fun to get a picture of them wearing their hats!

I counted and since October I have made eight hats... I'm working on number nine and have two more in queue... fun, fun!
 
Want on the hat list?  Just shoot me the style you're wantin'.  ;)
 
erin

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Hat Finished!

We had some friends over for dinner tonight, and after dinner, we played Dominion (Adam's new game that he got for Christmas)... yes... I actually learned a bit how to play... but, while playing, I put the finishing touches on this hat... kinda sad that I'll be seeing this one go to a new owner, but I really enjoyed it and looking forward to giving it away... and to eventually making one of my own!
 
erin

So much fun!

The cabling is done... now just to finish the rest of the hat!  I was surprised by how quickly this worked up and I love how it is turning out... I may just have to make one for myself!  Yay!
 
erin

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

the $75 purse...

Well, I bought this awesome book by Amy Butler, Style Stitches, which has a myriad of purse patterns. This past fall I also bought some fabric from my beloved hometown quilt store, Pine Needles to make one such pattern... Uber-awesome Moda home decor fabric in a fall color I just love, plus interfacing, hardware, etc... Total bill for purse? $75.

Pattern seemed easy enough, only 17 steps... OH WAIT.... 17 steps in the pattern, with multiple substeps and oh by the way you must repeat some steps... UGH ... Time to make? (I hate to even ADMIT this) it took about 10 hours over 2 separate weekends. But last Sunday I finally finished it. And of course its way bigger than I thought it would be, even having SEEN the picture in book. Oh well. I have to use it now, it cost me $75 and 10 hours of my life!

Friday, December 17, 2010

I am cabling!!!

Ha, ha!  I'm so excited!
 
So Stacey said it was easy and to just do it so finally I just did it and she is so right, it is SO easy.  I love it!  YAY!
 
This project is another gift... fun, fun!  I have all of my Christmas gifts done, so this is a "whenever" gift, and that means no deadline and no stress.  Pure fun!  Yay!  I'm about one-third of the way done, so that is a good feeling... the more you knit, the faster you get!
 
Thanks, Stacey, for continuing to tempt me with cabling and convincing me to give it a shot! 
 
erin

New Hat Project!

Woohoo!
 
I started this around 8 pm last night and with a coupla hours today, I finished it... such a quick project!  Super Chunky yarn on Size 13 needles... sweet.  It's a gift, and yay for it being done already!
 
erin

Monday, December 6, 2010

Hooray for hippy skirts on cute little girls!

Here's my peanut with the skirt I got completed while in AZ over thanksgiving break.  Finally got all the ends sewn in last night so of course I made her wear it to school even though its high of 16 degrees here ANd was a spring skirt....  But isn't it cool now to wear skirts over pants?  :o)  Here's the pattern I used, i finished a size 8.  My next project is a gift and will hopefully be much shorter than this month-long one!

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Most Wonderful Gift

Do you get one of those gifts each year that is THE best gift and it feels like it might be THE best gift you've ever been given in your entire life?

I received one of THOSE gifts last night.

Once a month or so, I meet up with a dear friend of mine in Coralville for some knitting... we chat, we drink, we knit.  It is wonderful fun.  It provides us a way to stay connected even though we are miles apart.

As mentioned, part of this evening involves knitting, and I needed a couple more pairs of needles last night that I didn't have... I was ready to drop a good load of money... we got to looking at the interchangeable needles... *ah, a dream*... gorgeous and plentiful and satisfying 40 different sets of needles... but alas, way too expense for a whim purchase...

... next thing I know, my dear friends (another gal joined us last night) were deciding to purchase this set for me for Christmas (and my birthday next year, and you know, every year after that... HA!). 

How do I even thank these gals for this gift of kindness and generosity?  Maybe knit them something... ;)  Who knows.  All I know is that I have two of the bestest friends a girl could ever ask for... and not just because they bought me a wicked awesome gift.  I know they love me and want the best for me and would do a lot for me... and THAT is truly the best gift I could ask for.
 
Love you girls!
erin

Saturday, October 30, 2010

BabyLegs

Maybe you've heard of BabyLegs... not real cheap ($12 a pair) knit "legwarmers" or footless leggings for kids... well, we have a few pair of them, but they are SUPER easy to make.
 
My friend in CA, Katie, inspired/reminded me to make some BabyLegs today. I had some Halloween socks (adult women knee socks) that I bought to turn into BabyLegs. Socks? $1.99 a pair. PLUS, the toes are GREAT doll undies!

erin

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Halloween... Who's favorite holiday?

Oh yes, that would be MINE!  Here's something I bought.. several years ago and finally decided THIS was the halloween i was going to get it done! 

Monday, October 18, 2010

Challenge Block

I believe that the more you create, the more creative you become.  Like math... or, ha... excuse me... I have a super fuzzy brain today and cannot think... what I'm trying to say is that the more you use certain brain cells, the more the brain cells "enjoy" being used... the dust is shaken off and their intended purpose is once again realized.

Case in point... this block.  Our quilt guild has had a number of challenges over the last few years, but either I'm not feeling creative or I have something else going on and I find myself not getting around to doing the challenge... and mostly it goes back to me not feeling creative.  Let's face it, before this last week, I haven't been ON creatively for some time... and even though I am using other people's patterns, the physical act of sewing and knitting causes those neurons to start firing away.

So when I received these three paint chips at quilt guild about two weeks ago, I gladly accepted them but gloomily wondered if I would actually DO anything with them.  (My friend Nancy picked out two pairs of three because I was speaking while the basket of chips was going around and I had a choice between these and a green-blue-purple trio... I picked these because I knew I had orange and yellow hand-dyeds at home...)  The challenge is to make a block that contains three of the colors (one from each paint chip) plus you could add another color.

I didn't know WHAT I would do...

... but, then I was working on the baby quilt and happened upon the green lattice fabric with white daisies...

... and, I recalled an episodes of Sewing with Nancy that I watched part of at my mother-in-law's house in late September on the Dresden Plate...

... and, like that, those little neurons starting going insane and an idea was born.

I had always wanted to do a Dresden Plate but they LOOK so hard so I never have, but I figured, I could do ONE, right?

So, off to the quilt store I shot to see if they had a Dresden Plate template... and they did...

... and then back home again, and honest to Pete, in less than one hour, I had a Dresden Plate block completed.  SO easy.  SO fun!  Now I want to do a whole bunch of them!  And, I think I fulfilled the challenge rather well, dontcha think?  :)

erin

Thursday, October 14, 2010

ROOOOOOAR!

My hat model is asleep so you'll have to make due with a picture of the finished product sans cute girl.  :)  No matter; this hat is for a boy anyway.  Heh.

If you haven't guessed, it's been a busy week for me craft-wise, but the more time I spend crafting (mostly after the kids are in bed or during naps!), the more whole I feel.  So, it's been an AWESOME week for me this week.  :)

This hat came out of a Google Chat session combined with a Facebook link... technology, I tell you what.  Originally I saw this hat on a blog (Tot Toppers) after following a Facebook link posted by a friend.  Discussion with another friend who thought that her son and the son of a mutual friend of ours would be cute with Dino hats led to us searching on etsy.com and eventually led to me remembering this hat through Tot Toppers and finding the pattern on etsy.com.  Too fun!

The hat is very basic but the spikes were new for me; I've done spikes, but these are "double-sided", or done in the round... on double-pointed needles... holy cats.  I actually like DPNs and have done full small projects on them, but... it would help if I had lighter-weight and sharper-pointed DPNs in the size I needed for these spikes considering how small they are, but I made do with what I had, knowing that making this hat wouldn't require purchasing new needles.  (To do the next one, I will probably purchase a new set of wood DPNs!  Ha!)

Very fulfilling to complete this hat tonight and ship it off tomorrow.  I hope the eventual recipient (who won't receive it for a few weeks yet) has a roaring good time with his hat.  Grin.

erin

ps.  I'm learning more and more that I need to find a much better place to take my pictures... outside, most likely... too bad I'm always finishing stuff and taking pictures at night!

Ghosties





Today after breakfast, Julia and I made little ghosts, or ghosties. I remember making these out of Kleenex and cotton balls when I was younger, but today I chose to use some cheap white cotton I had lying around. Julia put the cotton balls on the fabric, and I scrunched up the neck. Then she would help me tie the bit of yarn around the neck and I would give it a little pizzazz with a bow. We now have about four "big" ghosties and eight "baby" ghosties, and I plan to string them together and then use them as a decoration. Very cute and just long enough of a craft to hold her attention. :)






erin

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Miss Lena's Sweater FINISHED!

Yay!  So excited to post this tonight that I finished the sweater.  I hope that the recipient loves it!  I'm really happy with the look... with how it turned out!

Though, I have to say that I did something unorthodox and I hope that it turned out okay... I didn't know the button size or how many to put on while I was stitching, so I didn't stitch in button holes, and then I realized that I had to figure out a way to put button holes in a knit piece.  I found a few ideas online and tried one of them and it seemingly worked, but I'm afraid of a possible integrity issue and I really hope that's not the case.  Also, I didn't have the EXACT same color thread as the yarn.  Whoops.

Regardless, I'm really proud of the end product and after trying it on Julia, I'm positive it will fit Miss Lena. 

erin

Buttons

Umm... aren't these buttons simply... DELICIOUS?

Here's another "If you know me"... so, if you know me, you know that I LOVE buttons.  So, it was pretty exciting when Miss Lena's mom suggested I use buttons from Miss Lena's Great-Grandma for Miss Lena's sweater... and the buttons arrived today.

I am in Button Heaven.

As you can see on the card (the ORIGINAL CARD with ORIGINAL TISSUE), they are made in Austria.  The second I opened the package I thought "edelweiss", which became familiar to me after our trip to Germany in Fall 2006.  So I checked online and I certainly do think that the flowers are edelweiss.  (Ah, to have that song stuck in my head now.)  That makes them extra special to me, considering my heritage.

The best part?  The BEST PART?  Miss Lena's mom said I could KEEP THE BUTTONS that I don't use on the sweater... umm, what?  How SWEET is that?  Yes, I am truly in Button Heaven today.

So... I will place the buttons on Miss Lena's Sweater tonight, take another picture for the webs, send the sweater off, and clutch the rest of the buttons in my grubby little fists.  (Okay, that is a bit gluttonous.  So, I suppose I will dream of a project on which I can use the remainder.  YES!)

erin

Monday, October 11, 2010

Project: Owl Quilt

Here is a sneak peek at an owl quilt on which I'm currently working... it goes to the quilter's on Monday (NEXT Monday, the 18th), so I need to finish it by then, but it's going swimmingly so far, so with a few more nights of the kids going to bed "on time", I'm sure I will be able to finish it...

erin

Project: Miss Lena's Sweater

Lately I've been blessed with the desire to work on projects (needle-related), and while my house may be suffering a bit, my creative side is on fire and spitting like a madcat... in a Happy Madcat sort of way.  :)

This picture is of an almost-finished sweater (it is waiting for buttons only!) for a friend's daughter, Miss Lena.  My first sweater attempt didn't turn out so well... well, the sweater turned out beautifully but it was the wrong size (by a long shot), despite following the gauge, and I was severely disappointed in the finished product after the amount of time I spent on it.  But, I was wanting to try another and offered to make a sweater for a friend of mine's daughter, and while again the sweater is a little larger than expected (and again, I followed the gauge), I'm really happy with how it turned out and it will fit well enough that it won't be an issue.

I found the pattern through a sweater search on Ravelry.com and it ended up being a free pattern through Lion Brand
 
My friend picked out the yarn after I suggested another of blends and colors through KnitPicks (this yarn in color Planetarium).  I think that I barely have about 50 inches left of the yarn that I purchased... just enough to put the buttons on. 

I'm excited to receive the buttons, which are heirloom buttons from the friend, and she graciously is allowing me to keep the rest of them... so wonderful of her!  I will post a finished project picture as soon as I have one!

Erin

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

American Girl triumph!!

Well, I ordered this pattern months ago, and it was just waiting for my craft room makeover to have time to work on it :o)  Of course Bella selected the Ariel dress first.  But it went pretty smoothly even though the fabric for the side puffs was a b*tch to sew (my machine kept trying to eat it.. ugh!)  Bella was very excited this morning to come down and see her doll all dressed up and waiting for her at her breakfast spot!  Although it appears her doll got a nice tattoo on her forehead (will be hitting that with the Magic eraser directly!)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Raven's Dress

This morning, the first thing I did when Raven woke up was to bring her downstairs and try on her dress.  It's a bit big in the chest, but otherwise I am very happy with how it turned out.  And she seemed perfectly happy to wear it and toddle around in it so, I say, Score!

Monday, August 30, 2010

A Dress for Raven

Back when Raven was very, very small... maybe two months old?... I decided that I would knit her a sweater for her first birthday pictures.  Not knowing what size it would be (and neglecting to think about the fact that September is still HOT in Iowa and one-year-olds don't need to be covered from head-to-toe in 80-degree weather), I knitted a rather large sweater.  And... even though my gauge was correct, the sweater ended up being Way. Too. Big.  In fact, I don't doubt Julia could wear it.

Thank goodness I tried the sweater ON Raven a few weeks ago.

That left me wondering WHAT in the world I would put on this child for her pictures.  Julia's pictures were special in that she was sitting in (her) great-great-grandma's rocking chair... I really wanted Raven's pictures to be special too.  Especially considering that there is little doubt that the second child get somewhat less attention than the first child did... i.e., poor Raven often gets the shaft.

I searched online for a dress befitting her beauty, and found a wonderfully cute one and it was ON SALE at crazy8.com, but two days after ordering it, I received an email saying that they were sorry, but the dress was sold out and la-dee-dah.  So, the search began again.  I found these dresses...  Dress #1 and Dress #2, and while neither one truly said "Raven" to me, they gave me an idea and hope.
 
So, I packed the kids in the car two weekends ago and took them to Des Moines to Joann's, and after some searching, I found fabric and ribbon to make Raven a dress.  I used one of the dresses I know fits her well as the pattern, and went to town.  Part-of-the-way through, I tested it to make sure it would fit her, and I finished it tonight after she went to be.  Voila!  I am VERY happy with the results!  It took everything in me to keep from waking her up just to see if it fit.
 
Looking forward to having Raven's pictures taken in this dress... yay!
 
erin
 
 

Thursday, August 26, 2010

My friday shirt...

I totally love the t shirt transfers...  And I have always loved this design from Ravelry, which I have pilfered for my own wearing pleasure.

My updated craft room

Here's how I spent my last weekend....  I've made my own little crafting/sewing sanctuary in our basement spare room.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

fabric

What will this turn into...?  Eventually you will know!  (My stack is on the right; my friend Nancy's is on the left.  YAY!)

Monday, August 23, 2010

I Heart Hot Glue


















I've told two people today that I was going to name this blog post, "I Heart Hot Glue", so there you go.




A few weeks ago I saw this great blog tutorial for a pettiskirt... it is calling my name it and it is definitely on the "to do" list. But, besides the skirt, I was drawn to the satin flower headband... it looked easy and yet pretty and elegant... and I hoped she would write a tutorial for how she did the headband.

Well she did.




Now... I felt I needed a reason to make these headbands for the girls, and Raven's up-and-coming 1-year pictures were the perfect excuse. I had found similarly cute headbands on http://www.etsy.com/, and while I loved many of them, they were all a.) $12 a piece or more and b.) simple looking enough that I KNEW I could make them.




So, while pondering what to have Raven wear for her pictures this last week, I decided a trip to Joann Fabrics in Des Moines was in order and that I would be making these headbands... and yay, here they are!




And, to be honest... I think the total time I have into both of them is an hour... maybe even less? The cost? WAY cheaper than the $12 + tax per headband... and, there is one left over for mom to wear in HER hair too on a bobby pin. Yay!




Picture descriptions:



Picture #1: My "tools"... satin, scissors, a lighter, and a circle-generating object.


Picture #2: Another asset... and the love of my life today... a HOT GLUE GUN!


Picture #3: The "accessories" to my flowers... pretty buttons and beads.


Picture #4: My flowers, completed!


Picture #5: Attaching the flowers to the headbands (I used stretchy lace.)


Picture #6 & 7: Headband Model... JULIA!


Picture #8: Headband Model... RAVEN!


Picture #9: Julia and Raven together -- Mom, we LOVE our headbands!


Picture #10: Complete!