Heart Crayons

A little over a week ago we melted a bunch of crayons down for a little gift to go with Eleanor’s valentines. It’s not really that we had a bunch of broken crayons but more that we had a disproportionate amount of blue, purple & yellow. Of course, Seth wanted a green one, of which we had VERY little. And Eleanor wanted orange, again not a lot of extra orange but a bit. The kids had a hard time helping take the paper off though they tried. The mold is a $2 ice cube tray purchased a year ago at Ikea. Since it, of course, does not state that it’s microwave safe I was too chicken to try. So I microwaved the crayons in little batches in pyrex. This meant the kids really could only direct vs. participate but we still enjoyed it. It also meant that mixing colors was a bit more challenging. I do think it would be more fun if they got to arrange the crayons in a tin and I just popped it in the oven. I’ll just have to keep my eyes open when thrifting. You never know when a funky metal candy mold or some tiny muffin tin might turn up.

Kick Off

We kicked off our week of hearts and pink  this weekend.  After some painting with tons of red paint and a little pink the bathroom sink needed a good scrubbing. Seth really had the best intentions trying to help clean up, but… So when he ran off to play, I cleaned up his sister’s paint brush and gave the whole sink a good scrubbing. It looked so shiny and clean I decided it needed some new soap. Heart shaped soap. Handmade by my sis. They were a little lonely so I added the flower one, also made by her.

We also pulled out the heart matching game I made last year. Now I just need to find time this week to help Seth make his Valentine’s Day box and the rest of the cards. And don’t even get me started on the felt bean bags with hearts that last year I swore I would make for this year. Or the crocheted heart chain garland. Or…or…or…

One Fun Evening

Making cards with friends.

Creativity, wine, laughter.

It’s the best.

Now I have a great stash for any occasion.

Thanks Jen!

Pomanders

One of my favorite winter smells. I found that by poking the holes for her with the pick that comes with the nutcracker, even my 2 year old could enjoy sticking the cloves into the oranges. Neither one of them completed a full orange to the extent I like to see but that wasn’t the point now, was it? They worked hard and enjoyed themselves for a good 20 minutes or more. I didn’t pay too close attention. I was busy with my own pomander after all.

Fingerless Mitts

I got on a big fingerless mitts knitting kick in December. I knitted up a pair so quickly in November that I decided I could make a pair for each person coming to visit me for Christmas. I’d love to show you that 1st pair, but not only is it difficult to photograph but it hasn’t been given to it’s intended yet. Maybe sometime soon. If you’re a knitter, you really should make a pair or two or three as the case may be. Easier than a pair of socks, more challenging than your average scarf or wash cloth. They’re also a fabulous fashion accessory or comfort item.

First up, a pair for my younger sister. Owlings by Kerrie James. Knit from some squishy Kathmandu Aran tweed. I added little black beaded eyes on one owl for each mitt. I also altered the pattern by adding 3 rows of seed stitch to all edges to prevent the rolling that might naturally occur if left as is. I know the color is a bit funky here. It’s because I always forget about white balance when taking pictures in the snow. The true color is more like the dark purple on the right. (Ravelry here)

Next up, a pair for my father. I really liked the way the Jacoby pattern looks in the intended yarn. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that particular yarn and it was only 2 weeks before christmas. Since I had my heart set on this pattern, I found a replacement yarn. And though I’m fairly happy with the results, I wasn’t as thrilled with how easy the yarn was to knit with. I do have plenty of yarn left over. Enough for 1 or 2 more pairs in fact. And guess what? Seth has requested a pair to match his grandpa’s. So it looks like I’ll be downsizing this pattern in the near future. (Ravelry here)

Finally, a pair for my mother. As I had already gone over budget with her gifts I decided to look through my stash. I pulled out 2 skeins of a nice dark, dark green Mission Falls merino. I’m fairly certain I got these from Martha when she was unloading some of her stash. (Thanks Martha!!) The pattern, Warm Cafe Latte Wristies, knits up quick. So quick that I finished in just a few days. However, I wouldn’t recommend knitting them that quickly as I ended up having to take ibuprofen to ease the pain in my forearm. Unfortunately, the pattern is only available if you have access to Ravelry. I like the pattern. My only complaint would be the thumb gussets. It’s too roomy in the palm and curls in at the top edge due to the stockinette stitch. If I did it again, I’d slow down the increases and finish off the thumb edge in one of the pattern repeats. Oh, and this is definitely intended for someone with long fingers. Had I done the number of rows it suggests for the thumb you wouldn’t be able to see any of my mother’s thumb at all. (Ravelry here)

Can’t you just see snuggling on the couch with a pair on, reading a book? Or going for a walk with them on a crisp fall or spring day?

Neck Gator

Steve and I chose not to exchange gifts this year. The kids each got us something so it’s not like we weren’t going to get anything. And technically we pay for those gifts anyway. By doing this our money can go toward a lovely little spring project of a new front and back door on our house. Unfortunately, this decision was made after I had purchased and started knitting him a little gift. So I gave it to him anyway. It was pretty small after all.

Plus I had wanted to knit this up ever since I saw Christina’s last year. It didn’t hurt that when I had pointed out the neck gator to Steve he had immediately asked me to make him one. I just followed her simple directions and finished in less than two knitting group get togethers. Easy peasy!

Hat #2

Seth really liked the hat I had made for the neighbor girl from the left over yarn from his vest. I tried to convince him that a different pattern, color or yarn would be a good idea but he didn’t buy it. The first hat I had made barely fit on his head. Any growth what so ever and it would pop right off. So without consulting, I made the woman’s size. This is basically the same hat with one extra repeat for added length. Had I to do it over again, I would have increased the width by one repeat and only increased the length by 1/2 a repeat. But I’ll leave it as is because this way I can wear it too.

In order to prevent confusion over who’s hat is who’s on play dates I crudely embroidered his initials on the inside. In green, of course.

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

Ravelry – here

I’ve heard him, no less than 3 times in the last 2 days, exclaim how much he loves his hat. So nice to be appreciated. If only he felt that way about some of the bigger projects I’ve made him, like that vest. I had a hooded vest planned for him but maybe I should stick to smaller projects for now.

ORIGAMI wrap sweater

As soon as I saw Martha’s ORIGAMI wrap sweater I knew I should make one for my sister. It looked comfy and stylish. Just perfect for a teacher.

The pattern is simple. Deceptively so. At the same time, I’ll admit it took me a while to wrap my head around it. That is, until I tried to do the folds with a kleenex as another commenter on the post mentioned. Then it all clicked into place and wallah!

OK, maybe not wallah.  I was really nervous about cutting a really long straight line. Wish I had a good rotary cutter, but I don’t. I made my mother sit in the room with me as I cut for moral support. I also had left it to the end as I busily knitted away at other gifts. So 2 days before Christmas, a half hour before my sister was to arrive I sat down to sew the 3 short seams. My son, trying to be ever so helpful kept running upstairs to see if she had arrived. I hurried along and was able to finish just as she was pulling up in front of the house.

Well, sort of finished. It was inside out. Oops. I wrapped it up anyway and gave it to her Christmas morning letting her know I would fix it that day. Which I did. I ripped out the seams and sewed it up better than the 1st time. I think it looks lovely on her. Don’t you?

Cheater Gingerbread Houses

Who cares if it’s after Christmas and we’re making our little cheater gingerbread houses now?

Amber over a Kids Craft Weekly had issued a challenge back in November to do some sort of activity advent calendar for December. I was inspired by the idea of focusing on the little things and accomplishing all those little holiday activities that seem to slip through my fingers year after year while I’m busy shopping or cleaning. I even came up with a design involving used office supplies and a list of what holiday activities I really wanted to accomplish. Unfortunately, I never followed through with my calendar.  However, the list remained. It focused me and I’m happy to report we got through many of the items on that list.  There were a few that weren’t done before Christmas, but then I found myself at home with the kids for a few days on their winter break and so I thought – who cares if it’s after Christmas? We can still hit a few more of those items on my list! So we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, a tub of frosting and random holiday candy I had picked up for this purpose weeks ago.

I made the little house forms up myself. I tried to be sneaky and do it while they were busy elsewhere but they caught me. My intention was to let the frosting set a bit so the houses would be more sturdy for little hands. However, they were having none of this waiting business. So I set them to filling bowls with candies and bringing those to the dining table amidst constant request from them to test out the little candies. Eleanor was constantly watching her brother for how to react to this bazaar occurrence of bowls of candy in our house. Certainly not our norm. All things considered, I was surprised by how little candy we actually did eat. It quickly became the focus of decoration instead of food.

First I demonstrated how to use the frosting as glue asking the kids for input on which candies to use then I set them loose. Seth loved making all the decisions himself and mastering the plastic baggie of frosting.

Eleanor scoured the mostly red, white and green candies picking out every last hot pink hard candy she could find. She then had me covering every little inch of her roof with dots of frosting. I’m surprised the thing is still standing under all the weight. See it tipping there?

I have always wanted to make little “gingerbread” houses out of graham crackers so this made me incredibly happy. Maybe next year we’ll try a wonderful cardboard one like this!

Want to know a few more activities we really enjoyed over the last few weeks?

• Cutting paper snowflakes – Seth LOVES this
• Watching christmas movies while eating loads of popcorn
• Teaching Seth how to draw triangle christmas trees and circle snowmen. I would say things like “draw a green triangle, now put a little brown square underneath – what do you see?” You should have seen his eyes when he realized he had just drawn a christmas tree. For a boy who used to think he can’t draw and is now finding out that he can this was a perfect activity while waiting for our dinner at a restaurant.
• Making our own holiday cards (yet to be mailed)
• Reading piles of holiday books – to me, christmas is also a time to explore other religions and cultures. And reading books adds a fun element to finding out what a latke is for instance. Even better when it’s a bit of tongue in cheek like Lemony Snicket’s “The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story” or Sandy Lanton’s “Lots of Latkes: A Hanukka Story“.
• Driving around to see fantastical, and sometimes obnoxious, holiday lights and decorations
• Putting up a christmas tree
• Baking cookies (even if they were the pre-made dough kind)
• Making orange pomanders – just love that smell

No matter how you spent the last month of the year, no matter which holidays you choose to partake in – if any, I hope you had a good one and took the time to enjoy the little things with the people you love. They are what matters.

I wish you all a happy New Year!

Thneed

Finally, I can show you some of what has been taking up all my time – namely knitting gifts and merry making. Though I can’t reveal all as some items haven’t reached their final destination.

To start the big reveal, my first piece of lace work. Actually, this was given a month ago but I’ve been too busy with the holidays to document it. I made this scarf/wrap/cowl for my sister. And in a funny twist of fate my mother  also made her a scarf. Only hers was white and fulled with fancy needle felting.

The fun thing about this piece is how many ways you can wear it. To see more views, take a look at the pattern. Fortunately, she liked it! Especially since it was like knitting with thread and took a bit longer than I expected.

Pattern – Wisp by Cheryl Niamath

Yarn – Cascade Kid Seta, used only 1 skein, but had to cut the pattern short

Ravelry – here