a tale of two hats

I'm on my third attempt at this qiviut hat for my husband (In the back).  First try was way too big, second try, sized down to smaller needles was looking like a newborn hat, and this third time around (after a year's intermission) I forgot some of the pattern notation and ended up ripping out a sizable portion of it. This hat and I, we are not best friends, to put it mildly.  It was slated for a Christmas present, then a birthday present, and now with only a few rows left to go, it's looking like it might be a good Valentines Day gift.  But for some reason, known to and understood only by knitters, I decided to start making another hat in the interim.  Because you know, with this really tough stretch of balmy winter temps we've been enjoying, I'm sure you can't have enough hats.  Maybe this spring-like weather just made me long for some colorful yarn... yes, that must be it.  All that qiviut knitting was starting to make my fingers sweat anyways. 

warming

I'm having a hard time believing that this is indeed Alaska in January. Yesterday it warmed up to close to 40 and rained off nearly all of the fluffy white stuff that has adorned our yard since November.

I'm not complaining...really.  It feels downright balmy out, and on Thursday there was great fun to be had building snowmen, and yesterday the road was clear enough that I actually took the kids for a walk with the stroller.  It feels like spring time, but we all know just what kind of a trick that is.

It has the chickens fooled.  They are a happy bunch and have been steadily laying more and more eggs.  Today there were 7; even the first much anticipated blue one from "Sweety" our only Ameraucana hen.

The weather forecast is calling for at least another week of this. 

Stay asleep trees!  There are months of cold ahead yet. 

Speaking of sleep, I was able to make Sadie's new big girl bed a duvet cover this week.  

 

She calls it her patchwork fairy and butterfly garden. 

Can you tell that my soul just craves bright colors on these short winter days? 

I just loved this piece of fairy fabric from Hawethorne Threads, and I made the bright patchwork so it was reversible (per Sadie's request).  This turned out to be a quick project with the help of my trusty serger.  This is the second "quiltish" thing I've sewed with it, and I have to say that as long as you aren't sewing anything complex or small this thing makes the projects just fly.  The kids had lots of fun helping me with this, rearranging the entire contents of my sewing room, and also the arrangement of the patchwork squares so many times that I have no idea if the final product even closely resembles the one I thoughtfully put together during nap time. I also discovered that Eli really likes to lap sit and watch the sewing process. It's a little nerve racking at times because his curious little hands get waved closer and closer to the needles as he shouts "round and round!" with glee. 

 It made for some interesting seams, and one Amish style mistake that I left in rather than rip out a whole seam of serged stitches and re-adjust all my binding pieces.  

oh well.  No duvet covers are perfect.

But this one works just right to warm up Sadie's big girl room.  Now I just need to build her bed frame, finish painting her shelves and sew some curtains.  Oh, and figure out how to arrange everything with some groovy feng shui. It'll get there.  Eventually.

jellyfish dress

I got this fabric from spoonflower over a year ago. 
Sadie has been admiring it, off and on since then.  I finally decided to make her something out of it... a winter "twirling dress" to replace the much-loved summer one she wore into rags. I kind of made up the pattern loosely based on a favorite t-shirt.  It's nothing fancy.  The rest of the fabric is organic cotton knit jersey from fabric.com, I think--It's been in the stash for quite a while.

If you've never checked out spoonflower, you should.  They have a pretty innovative business going on.  Their organic cotton jersey knit is some of the most lovely fabric I've ever run my fingers across, but it is not cheap.  And oh, does it fade.  The original fabric is pictured above, and the dress below is after only one wash.  I was kinda bummed on this one, it faded more than usual, or, probably because of the darker dyes the fading was more noticeable.

 I understand that this is the life of the water based inks they use to print, combined with the fact that the knit fabric stretches while it washes and allows the ink to escape more, or something along those lines.  They suggest hand washing in cold water and line drying, but I really can't commit to that when using the fabric in a child's garment.  Oh well.  Sadie loves her dress anyways.  Loves it.  And her new red up-cycled sweater mocs that I can NOT get her to take off her feet...day or night.

Faded fabric, faded petunias, already faded memories of summer on these cold fall mornings. Who can complain of a cozy jellyfish twirling dress to warm you up from neck to ankles right? It does go so perfect with my little water moon child at least.

crocheted qiviut hood

 Woke up to snowflakes falling this morning... a perfect opportunity for Sadie to try out the crocheted qiviut hat-hoodie I made for her back in August, when it was way too warm to be modeled.

 This is made from a ravelry pattern, which can be found here.  Overall, it was a very simple crochet project...it took less than a week of here and there working.  I did alter the pattern as I saw some people mentioned the hood in the original pattern was kind of shallow and didn't come forward far enough on their kids' heads.  I added 8 or 10 stitches evenly spaced across the bottom of the hood to accommodate for ponytails and my kids' giant noggins (because I figure when Sadie is done with it Eli can wear it). This alteration made the hood plenty big (as you can see above) Not quite as excessive as, say, the hood of Emperor Palpatine from Starwars, but almost.  Although, all mama biases aside... pretty sure the face peeking out from this hood wont give anyone bad dreams ;)

Nope, just sweetness there! However, it is pretty funny when your kid is old enough to try posing every time you get the camera out.

 

I tried to sneak a couple of candids though...Here is how the hood should be worn...under a nice winter jacket where the lovely yoke serves as a scarf too (but attached, so one less accessory to keep track of-yay!)

Happy fall time to you readers... may your necks and heads stay toasty warm!

felt!

I have a confession. 
I've been having a mini love affair with felt this summer.  It's the real reason I haven't finished knitting that sweater I wrote about... that, or possibly the fact that after chasing two kids all day my craft-time has been relegated to 10 or 15 minutes stolen here and there.  I cant always knit, right?
So I've really been making a dent in the giant stack of felt I impulse bought last fall.
And I've been making Christmas ornaments.  In summer.  That's right.
You gotta get an early jump on this business when you have small kids.
I started with these (Christmas present spoiler if you happen to be one of my nieces or nephews, and can read, read no further!)

 

I wanted to make the kids a Christmas ornament every year so that when they grew up they would have a unique, handmade set of ornaments imbued with all their magical Christmas memories to put on their own tree.  I also want ornaments that are unbreakable and wonderfully soft and textured.

sooooo..made these little wool felt friends and they were so cute I decided all the kids in the family are getting one for Christmas this year...

I wont put pictures of them all yet... because I haven't finished making them.  I got side tracked in July with this birthday crown (okay, technically, it's a tiara) for my big.

 This might also be a new birthday tradition for nieces and nephews. 

Then I got side-tracked again with these fun matryoshka dolls to depict the seasons.  This has been a collaborative effort between Sadie and I.  She is picking out all the felt and thread colors for me.  I like her taste, I must say!

so far we have done summer and autumn.

 

Now the pressure is on to finish up winter and spring.  Sadie is worried I might not get them done in time for Christmas. She has her felt all stacked up and ready to go, and my embroidery floss is all in a tangled pile, or as Sadie says, "all raveled up."  As you can see, my embroidery skills, are um, rudimentary.  But I'm learning as I go.  And my audience is very forgiving.

 my two favorite little sewing helpers.  They keep things lively for me, that's for sure!

 

vegetable dyed easter eggs

Sadie and I tried out some vegetable dye ideas for our Easter eggs this year--I love the way the colors came out on these.  They really aren't hard to do either; they just require a smidgen of patience, because they need to soak in their color baths for about 15 hours.  But it's so sciencey and fun--and the unveiling of the final colored eggs was well worth the wait!
The basic dye "recipe" which is really more of a process is this:

2 cups water 

1 T. vinegar

coloring agents:

blue: 5+ red cabbage leaves, 

yellow: 3T. Turmeric, 

Purple & Grey (same dye, one egg was white, one egg was brown to start) 

2 whole beets+1/2 cup wild blueberry, 

Khaki Brown: 1 red onion skin +2T. Dill seed, 

orange (light & dark): 3 yellow onion skins, plus 4 green carrot tops

Add water, eggs, vinegar and plant material/spices together in a sauce pan, bring to boil, simmer for 11 minutes.  Carefully pour all of the ingredients into a mason jar.  Add eggs in last, with a spoon so they don't crack.  Let sit on the counter till cool, then put in fridge for the next 15 hours or so.  Open jars, scoop out beautiful eggs.  Let dry on paper towels (don't scrub or wash!)

Have a very happy Easter!

for the birds

Sadie has been after me to make a bird feeder for all the chickadees that have been flitting around our porch.  I saw this quick and easy idea for a pine cone bird feeder in a book we have, and we decided to give it a try.  It is a perfectly textural and messy project for a 2-year-old.  All you need is a pine cone, birdseed and some peanut butter.  I didn't have peanut butter so I mixed coconut oil and a little bit of almond butter--I'm sure you could use suet or any other sticky fat that birds would dig.

Directions:

1.) Tie a piece of twine (for hanging) around your pine cone before you slather it with the nut butter. Believe me, it is easier to do this way.
2.) Glop the nut butter all over the pine cone (you may need to taste test it first)
3.) Roll sticky messy pine cone in birdseed
4.) Apply a few lingonberries to make it festive.
5.) Hang in trees and wait for birds to come eat it (or squirrels, OR moose and bears according to Sadie).

Happy Holidays to our backyard friends.

summer sewing

This week I have been trying to balance our outside playtime with a little bit of inside sewing (and knitting).  It seems like Sadie has pretty much grown out of all of last summer's clothes, and its almost time to put away all the wool and fleece.  This year I have made it a goal to make most of Sadie's clothes--not only to save money, but because it makes it more meaningful to put love and time into things myself.  Not to mention quality control.  There is nothing more disappointing than cheaply made children's clothes--and it seems to be the norm more than the exception these days. If ever there was a population that could really put a garment to the test it must be kids ages 2-7.

I started out with this sweet little summer cardigan (pattern here on Ravelry) This should probably get a blog post all to itself, since it is only the third ever project I have finished knitting. I usually roll with the crochet--but after getting my stash of qiviut back from the mills I have made it my goal to become a more worthy knitter so I can tackle some big projects in the fall. Honestly, the sweater turned out super cute.  Sadie picked out the buttons herself, and it is just perfect to take the chill out of these not-quite-summer mornings. (knitted with superwash merino wool)

n

Next up, the "super easy linen shirt" pattern from Sewing for Boys--made out of quilting cotton scraps.  Notice Sadie accesorizing with her "Bow like Emmaline."  (Our neighbor's baby has an amazing collection of bow & flower headbands that have become a major fascination for Sadie) This one is made from braided, upcycled t-shirt material and a kansashi flower that my mom made.

And of course, no outfit would be complete without some pants.  These harem pants are made from upcycled shirt sleeves.

The best thing about these pants it they are ridiculously quick and easy to sew (like a 30 minute project--no joke) because all the sewing is pretty much done for you.  Plus, you can't beat the price.

up next... I plan to tackle some of these beautifully soft organic cotton knits that I procured from the amazing (and wallet-shrinking) Spoonflower.  When Sadie saw the one with the horses she points to my sewing machine and goes, "mama, sew."  So maybe she'll get a dress out of that--but I also have plans for some clothes for our newbie--I guess I better get a sewin' since the countdown is on.  30 weeks tomorrow--how the time does fly!

My first Waldorf Doll...and maybe my last.

Sadie's 2-year-old birthday is coming up in a couple months, and this year she is suddenly wise to, and intensely fascinated by, all things birthday.  That means I have to actually get it together and throw her a party.  While we aren't generally big party people, and definitely not into showering a kid Sadie's age with a bajillion toys and thingamajigs, I did want her to have a special present. I have been admiring the beautiful handmade Waldorf-style dolls on Etsy for some time now--and I actually ordered the materials to make my own months ago (as a Christmas present) but at the time I was too busy, and morning sick...and Sadie wasn't really into dolls yet.

Fast forward 4 months, and Sadie is all about dolls, and pretend play.  So I decided I better get on this project, in case it was going to take me two months (it actually took me 3 days).  I used the Little Amigo doll pattern from the Sew Liberated book.  I love that book, by the way.  If you are reading this, and interested in making your own doll--Weir Crafts is a great online place to one-stop-shop for all your doll making needs. Anyway, this is what I came up with:

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out for a first attempt...and I have to say, there is a reason these dolls sell for upwards of $100.  They are truly a labor of love.  I had ordered some extra materials thinking I might make a few other dolls to sell at a local shop here, and I already know that isn't going to happen.  I might not love anyone else enough to make them a doll like this until the next baby turns two...or five:)

That being said, making this doll was really fun--a project I could barely put down. And I love that it is made out of all-natural, washable materials (wool, cotton and beeswax) with not a speck of plastic in it.  It is super cuddleable and I think it will be a good buddy for Sadie, especially with all the transitions we have coming up this summer.

Now, I just need to make the doll (and my increasingly taller kid) some clothes.  That project will probably take me the rest of my 2-month time allotment. Seriously.

A Color Palette for Spring

What with the warming weather and all its enticements I have been neglecting the blog lately in favor of more sunshiny pursuits, but let me share with you at least a few snapshots of the spring projects that are cropping up around here.

Porcelain buttons with impressed antique lace (or stamps). Pretty much all I've made in the ceramics studio apart from a bazillion bowls for an upcoming charity event.

Fabric pieced shower curtain. Idea blatantly poached from a notoriously overpriced and trendy catalog ahem, anthropologie. Made a couple months ago for a fraction of the cost--just forgot to blog about it, but still really liking it. It feels so springy! It is also Cash's new fave place to hang out--maybe he likes the way the colors compliment his golden tan.

Some new duds for Sadie--pants and shirt from Sewing for Boys (yes, I know my kid is a girl, but these are comfortable, kid-friendly patterns that let my busy girl move and climb and dance and play the way kids are meant to.) Also, some new tactile experiences.  Sadie is now allowed some limited visitation hours with the button jar, or the marble collection she inherited from her Great Grandma Louise. It is nice that she seems to have finally outgrown the need to put everything in her mouth...mostly.

And lastly, Loren's amazing caribou pho.  Over the last few weeks our family slogged through the epic springtime flu that seems to be making its way around the state. During the course, we ate a lot of soup. Not much good to say about the flu, but this soup deserves to have a blog post all to itself, it's that good. 

That's kind of it.  I guess until the dirty snow and mud give way to some beautiful tundra spring colors I will just have to enjoy these lime greens, vivid blues, and the satisfying rainbow of colors that spills out of the button jar without fail--all with a healthy measure of sunshine added in, of course.  Happy almost May!

Upcycled Wool Snuggle Bunnies

I haven't been doing much crafting or sewing lately.  It seems like it's been all I can do to keep up with the house chores,  the cooking, the dogs, my own little one, and the new little one I have been keeping an eye on during the day.  When a friend dropped off a bag of felted wool sweater scraps a couple weeks ago though, I just had to make something.

 

For some reason, Sadie's been really into bunnies lately, and the lovely piece of soft grey cashmere on the right just called out to become a rabbit.  I looked online for some bunny toy patterns, and found a lot of cute ones that were rag-doll style with long dangle-y arms and legs, but I had something more "Watership Down-but-also-snuggleable" in mind, and this is what I came up with.

The one on the right is actually Sadie's new favorite lovey.  It has been beaten around the house for a couple weeks, and is holding up rather well.  The one on the left is stuffed with raw wool and organic lavender and smells like heaven--it is a gift for a friend's little, so I have to keep it hidden, or Sadie will claim it for her own.   I would have liked to get a few more pictures to show what they look like from different angles, but Sadie kept snatching them up and trying to snuggle with them. 

Who can resist a snuggle bunny? If I can get my act together, I will put a pattern and tutorial on here in late March so you can sew your own in time for Easter. It is a really simple pattern, and a great way to use recycled crafting materials.  This would be a perfect addition to a little one's Easter Basket.  Happy up-cycling to you all!

just in time

One of my favorite things about Christmas growing up was the awesome stockings our mom made us.  I decided I needed to pass the tradition along to Sadie, so I started sewing her a stocking last December, and I just finished it last night.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering: 1.) I have never sewed a sequin onto anything in my life, and 2.) Cash came out looking just a little bit like Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo from Southpark.

Still, When I asked Sadie, "Who's that?" and pointed to the dog, she said, "Tash!" So if its good enough for her, its good enough for me.

Hopefully this stocking will be just the beginning of many fun and happy holiday traditions our family celebrates together in the future!

Whirled Peas--Christmas Ornament Giveaway

I've already confessed how I have a new obsession for needle felting.

 and I just can't stop myself from making a bazillion of these felted pea-in-the-pod ornaments. (I got the idea from this awesome blog)

They are everything I love... quirky, whimsical, natural, made from all biodegradable materials, and they remind me that inside every dried up seed pod is a little kernel of life, just waiting for spring to return.

 and, naturally, they lend themselves to all kinds of puns.

But really, the world could use a little more peas during the holidays. Don't you think? 

If you you need some whirled peas to deck your halls, leave me a comment below--tell me what you will do to bring more peace (or peas) into the world in 2012.

I will randomly select a winner on December 1st. 

mini-mukluk making marathon.

My sewing room is in defcom four disaster mode as I attempt to throw together as many things as I can for the Thanksgiving craft fair.  Saturday I sewed fabric bags, Sunday--Christmas skirts and appliqued onesies, and Yesterday... 5 pairs of mini-muks. I wasn't counting on getting that many made, but Sadie took a 2 1/2 hour nap (!) That almost never happens.  I am loving the magic mukluks with the stars, as well as the soft organic cotton mukluks for wee babes.  It is a nice way to use up some small pieces of the fabric I got from spoonflower. I am really making my sewing machine work hard this year!

Needle Felting

Gosh...I keep meaning to post some follow up pictures of the awesome storm we had, but I have been busy and distracted this week, coming up with some new life-schemes.  To make matters worse, I got a miniature needle felting kit in the mail today.  Now all I want to do is make these:

This is what you will all be receiving for Christmas this year.  Sorry.

I'm not even kidding.

LOVING this book right now.

Seriously.  I am SEW happy with this book ;-)

I want to make almost every single project in it.  The instructions are clear and simple, the ideas creative and kid-friendly.  I am using these patterns and ideas for a jumping off point for some of the Christmas gifts I want to make this year. I started with this pattern for basic pocket pants. 

 

...and that inspired me to start burning through some of my knit fabric stash.  Sadie has pretty much outgrown all her pj's, so I made her these:

But the top was just a little to big, so I had to make a second one (they sew up really fast!) to see if I could get a better fit.

I like this one even better. 

Also in the mail this week...my own labels!  I designed them with my high-tech design software picnik (its free, and online!)  and had them printed at Sewnique's etsy shop--for a pretty reasonable price if I do say so.