Little Gnome

Thanks to Kristin, I got to spend a relaxing afternoon with a group of lovely women learning how to make these little guys. I think more are needed for the stockings don’t you?

Super Seth!

To tell you about Seth’s Halloween costume I have to take a step back to July for Seth’s birthday party. Which is good because I’ve been having mommy guilt over the fact that I never posted about it. He wanted a superhero birthday party and that’s just what he got. There were only 3 activities, one of which I completely forgot until 2 days later. The thank you gift was part of the 1st activity – superhero dress up. The 2nd activity was a water gun fight, which I have conflicting feelings about. I don’t allow play guns in the house, but somehow can’t say no to water guns on a hot summer day. The 3rd activity, which I forgot to get out, was decorate your own super hero mask. Unfortunately, I had gotten the masks so far in advance I had to hide them because Seth wouldn’t leave them alone. I apparently hid them from myself too. Out of sight, out of mind. The kids didn’t seem to mind. And although it was unseasonably cool and therefore the water guns weren’t used much, they didn’t seem to mind that either. Besides there was cake.

So why did I need to tell you this in order to tell you about Seth’s halloween costume? Well, the dress up portion, of course! Steve and I freezer paper stenciled each child’s first initial onto t-shirts. Honestly, Steve did most of the work with this one. I found cheap t-shirts on sale, each a different color and size. Would have been easier to do all the same color, but the huge size differences in the kids made that impossible.

While Steve was stenciling I was making play silk capes. I kool-aid dyed more silk scarves as before only in a slightly smaller size. Then I made 2 folds on one of the edges and sewed a longer strip of  bias tape to make the collar edge. Love pre-packaged bias tape, all folded and ready for you. I was nervous about the sewing as I always am with sewing but it was a breeze and no-one could tell or would even mind that I can’t sew a straight line. Finally I added a little strip of iron on velcro to the ends of the bias tape. Easy on, easy off and no potential strangulation possibilities – just how I like it. They turned out great, if I do say so myself. And as a bonus they pack down really small for putting away at the end of the day. Or shoving in a corner as the case may be.

This all made for a very colorful backyard of kids.

Seth had no problem picking out his halloween costume this year – a superhero. He was set at least a month if not 2 before and never wavered in his choice. Whenever he was asked what he wanted to be, they always followed with the question “which superhero?” To which Seth gave them an odd look and either ran away or stated defiantly “Super Seth!!” He doesn’t really know a lot of the traditional superheroes, so to him this was a ridiculous question.

I finished off the outfit by dying one of those masks I had set aside to match his cape. And since t-shirts don’t fly in Minnesota at Halloween we added plenty of warmth with long johns, sweats and gloves. Unfortunately, although Seth liked the mask I made him it and wore it on several occasions, he couldn’t bring himself to wear it trick-or-treating. He found his swimming goggles much more appropriate.

Of course, even those didn’t make it the whole evening.

Puppy!

Eleanor love, love, loves puppies. And when asked what she wanted to be for Halloween there was no hesitation – a puppy. Granted every 5th time I asked her she would change the answer to crab, but I think that was just to tease me.

I have fabulous memories of home made halloween costumes -lady bugs, witches, princesses…. I also remember my mom staying up terribly late sewing. I don’t have the energy my mom had. I admit it. And I’m not as proficient with the sewing machine. So my approach is  a toned down version and so far I’ve been able to modify store bought clothes to get the costumes my children are interested in. In this case it was an all brown outfit with some blobs of tan felt quickly sewn on and a funky hand sewn fake fur made-up-as-I-went pull on tail.

The ears were from her birthday party and I just realized all these shots were before she put her collar on. It’s made of red ribbon with a puppy charm on it and was also made for her birthday back in May.

So in the end I paid $7 for a brown sweatshirt and 62 cents for some fur for the tail. I used what we had on hand for the rest. The great thing about halloween costumes is that even though I sewed I didn’t have to sew straight or even very well. Knots on the back of the fabric and puckers in the patches were ok. She wore the shirt 3 times. It’s not an heirloom. She can use the tail and even the shirt for dress up and I wont’ be concerned if she rips it.  Or maybe I’ll take the patches off. We’ll see how it does in the wash. I think she might be mad if I take them off.

Jack ‘O Lanterns

Currently the highlight of our night is lighting these beauties.

Day time:

Night time:

2 things to note with this picture – 1) He wanted me to take his picture, very unusual; 2) Of the half a dozen shots I took, this was the best smile.

Vest to Hat

Finished this vest up last month but couldn’t get a model at 1st during the warm temps. Now it’s the perfect weather for it.

I did make a fortuitous mistake in the beginning when I did one repeat too many of one of the center cables.  I had been fretting over the fact that most children’s sweaters seem to be too wide and too short and was worried that this pattern was no different. I kept thinking I should have altered the pattern and was seriously contemplating ripping the whole thing apart and starting over. Then I realized my mistake and the fact that my mistake actually compensated for the too wide/too short issue. Perfect! I continued the mistake through the rest of the pattern.

Details:

•  Pattern – Pembroke from Petite Purls (a cute little online knitting mag)
• Yarn – Ella Rae Classic Superwash
• Ravelry details here

Skills learned:

• Cabling without a cable needle (thank you Jess & Sarah!)
• V neck ribbing
• Reading charts! (really, this was my 1st time)

What I would change:

• Keep my extra middle cable repeat mistake
•  Knit in the round vs. panels

About a week ago I was under the weather and found a a little more than a day to myself with only enough energy for couch activities. I bumped something and a ball of yarn rolled out from under the end table. It turned out to be the left over yarn from this vest. I had recently seen this post on Chickpea Sewing Studio and happened to know a little girls who’s birthday was that week and who happened to be a Harry Potter fan. It was meant to be, right? Apparently, because it whipped up in no time flat and was a complete success. I even included a picture of Hermione wearing the hat in the gift bag to ensure comprehension. The fact that it cost me absolutely no money was a complete bonus.

Pattern – Hermione’s Cable & Eyelet Hat by JL Yarnworks

Modifications – 12 rows of 1×1 twisted ribbing to start with as suggested by Chickpea and Sketchbook.

Skills learned:

• 1×1 twisted ribbing – nice pronounced ribbing that I swear knits more quickly than normal ribbing
• Cable cast on – awkward and slow, but stretchy and totally worth it 

Seth very reluctantly modeled the hat for me. It was a teeny bit small on his giant head but fits the recipient perfectly. Afterwards, he took it off and sat staring at it for a bit. 

Seth “This is the same yarn as the vest you made me!”

Me “You’re right!” (feeling very impressed and flattered)

Seth <sniffle> “It matches my vest.”

Me “Yes”  (a little more tentatively this time)

Seth <more sniffles> “I want you to make ME a hat that matches my sweater!!!” <tears>

He’s never asked me to knit him something before. You don’t think I could say no to that do you? Today I showed him several other potential hat options. He emphatically declared that he wanted that hat – same color, same yarn, same pattern. Looks like I’m headed to the yarn store tomorrow. And guess that 1st hat really did cost me a ball of yarn.

Birthday Love

Look what my mommy made me for my birthday! Knitted and fulled mittens with needle felted flowers embellished with a little embroidery and beading. Not only that, but she even used roving from last years wool dyeing pARTy. They’re very toasty with enough wiggle room to wear some glove liners inside. I even wore them this morning. Granted it was only in the car, but that steering wheel can get mighty cold.

And I now have to admit I think I have a problem. Japanese craft book addiction. It’s sad but true. I’ve been admiring them from afar. I adore the book club posts at icewerks and have been ogling others online. I had been really good at resisting until Jen got me this crochet book for my birthday.

Uh, oh. I’m not sure I can hold out much longer. I mean look at these cute slippers.

What’s worse, is that I only crochet a couple times a year and would by no means claim to be good at it. And if I’m that enamored of a japanese crochet book, how can I resist others? Logically I know it’s the beautiful photography and the clean layout, but logic won’t stop me from hitting the purchase button.

Thank You

A big thank you to everyone for their support of the walk-and-roll-a-thon. Be it monetary or words of encoragement, it all counted and it all helped.

Even though it started raining a third of the way in and he got soaked my dad made it through. And I’m very happy to say it was their biggest turn out ever. 

No, these photos have nothing to do with my words.

My Anniversary and a Special Request

Today is my 17th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been that long or so wonderful. Yesterday we played hooky from life while the kids were at school. We went to a rummage sale, out for breakfast and lunch, to a movie in the middle of the day and to a bookstore. Not very romantic, eh? But if you have little ones, you know the luxury of doing that sort of thing child free.

And now on to my request…

17 years ago my youngest sister rolled down the aisle of our church as my bridesmaid. A little over a year ago, she unexpectedly passed away. Tomorrow, my father will be completing a 5k in her memory as well as 3 others who had spina bifida and have now passed. Please consider making a pledge today sponsoring my father that will benefit the Spina Bifida Association of Illinois. Even just a $5 donation would be very much appreciated.

• Click here for the brochure about the event, the association and those it’s honoring. 
• Click here to make a pledge as well as see a cute picture of my parents.

Thank you for listening. I don’t particularly like fundraising. However, I know exactly how much this association helped my sister as well as my parents deal with the challenges of spina bifida.

Folding Laundry

Why is it I haven’t asked the kids to help fold laundry before? Seth could fold washcloths perfectly with no instructions.

Eleanor being 2 1/2 years younger needed to be shown how a couple times and aren’t as neat and tidy but who cares? They’re kitchen and bath washcloths for heavens sake. Though it was a bit aggravating that she wouldn’t stack them. Apparently each cloth needed it’s own space.

Of course, where Seth can fold a stack and keep on task, Eleanor has a limit of about 5 or 6 and then she starts doing things like rolling them.

Green Vans

What do you do when the only pair of slide on shoes you can find in your 5 year old’s size are bright white vans? Keeping in mind I’d been shopping already for 4 hours and he needed them in 2 days for school. He’s required to have some sort of slide on indoor shoe/slipper for school. And this is NOT the time of year to go slipper shopping.

Why you buy them anyway and dye them green of course. A blueish green as prescribed by said 5 year old.

I have new found respect for those that make custom color dyes. I prefer mixing paint colors where you see the progress you’re making. Not peering into a bowl of black liquid that could in fact be just about any color in the end. Phew – that was way more than I bargained for.