Taking a Break

My arms are rather full lately :) My daughter, Lucia Nadine, was born last Saturday, December 15th. I did finish one baby hat while in the hospital, but since we've been home I just haven't been in the right mood to pick up my needles. Maybe once I'm getting more sleep and start thinking straight again.

Finished Bumblebee Backpack

It's done! This was a fairly fast project, very easy, and very fun!

Here is the front of the backpack:

The back (the straps are really long right now, we're going to cut them shorter after we adjust it to fit him)

And a detail of the zipper:

I really wasn't sure how this would turn out - I'm always nervous when trying something new, but I'm thrilled with the end result. The felted fabric is nice and thick, and is the perfect size for him to take a change of clothes, diapers, and a cup with him to MOPS. I know he's going to love it, and as tempting as it is to give it to him now, I'm saving this one back for Christmas. It's just killing me to wait though, lol!

Bumblebee Backpack

It is really coming along! I am so excited about this one. It's done knitting, and is now drying after being felted last night. I am off to buy a zipper this afternoon, and then once it's dry I will sew on the zipper and straps. I think I am more excited about this project than I've been about anything in a long time :) DS is going to love it, and it's turning out better than I expected!

Ooh, I HAVE to try this!

I've been looking for a toddler sized backpack for my son (1.5), but I'm rather picky. I don't like characters and I'm cheap :)

SO.....I turn to my trusty resource, Knitting Pattern Central, and look what I found! This pattern for a felted backpack is too cute! While I love the backpack just the way it is written, I'm going to be cheap and use what I have here at home...some yellow and black, I'm thinking stripes!

I have one project that I've been procrastinating on that I will make myself finish before starting the backpack, just because the lure of the backpack will make me knit faster :)

Maybe, just maybe, I can finish it before Christmas and it can be wrapped under the tree.

Lesson Learned

Bit of advice here...

Don't start a pair of baby socks, knit 1, then come back and try to knit the other 4 months later with no idea of what pattern you were using.

It probably won't work. :)

You can't really see the differences in the pic, as I strategically overlapped the two, but they are definitely different! Oops! :) Not a huge difference, and they are probably usable, especially if DD has one foot about 1/2 inch longer than the other. LOL!

Ok, Last Diaper Post (I promise!)

My diapers are done and ready to go. Here is the final count of dyed prefolds. These were SO much fun, and I would highly recommend that anyone who isn't cloth diapering should dye their burp rag diapers just because it's fun and pretty!

And a pic of the whole stash: 18 prefold diapers, 12 fitted Kissaluvs, 5 covers (3 Thirsties, 1 Bummies, 1 Prowrap), 4 Pockets (1 DryBees, 1 Scooterbums Designs, 2 Swaddlebees) and 1 All-In-One (Swaddlebees). I also have 2 Snappi fasteners to use instead of pins, 4 Kissaluvs doublers to use as doublers in the fitteds or inserts in the pocket diapers, and a whole load of wipes. I sewed most the wipes myself - 1 layer of flannel, 1 layer terry. BTW, terry is quite messy to sew with and leaves little fuzzies everywhere - don't take it on unless you're ready for the mess all over yourself and your sewing room!

Booties

These were knitted for a friend having a baby in a month or so. I actually did 2 pairs, one for another pregnant friend, but I forgot to take pics of these before the package was wrapped - whoops!

Anyway, I seriously love these booties...I should make one for my own kiddo! Will have to work that in around everything else I've been up to lately...can't post pics until after Christmas though...that will be one heck of an update post!

Monsters!

This is my first attempt at a knit...well, I was going to say animal, but really, it's my first attempt at anything beyond clothes! I like him. I knitted this for a Christmas gift for a child the same age as my DS...since DS keeps swiping this little guy, I'm hoping the other child will like him too. If I get time I may have to make one for DS too...it really didn't take much time at all, but was a little complicated. Fun though, and a change of pace!

More shirt painting!

I finally got around to the stack of dyed shirts I've been waiting to paint. The pics aren't the best, but I was in a hurry and didn't feel like fiddling with the flash.

I am working on a knitted toy right now - I've never made anything like this before, so it's a whole new adventure. I have the body stuffed and done, and the arms and legs knitted, but not sewn together - another night or two should see that project done...I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Knit out?

I took a few days break late last week and over the weekend to chill out some...I think I've been over-booking myself with projects lately. But it seemed to give me some energy to knit yesterday and I got a nice chunk done on "Project Christmas" - sorry I can't reveal any more than that until after Christmas as it would ruin the suprise for someone :) I am squeezing little project in between my big one, so last night I made a tiny newborn moccasin in yellow...I'll knit the mate today. They are so tiny, they take no time to knit up, and then I just need to felt them. This pair is for a babyshower next week - to match the yellow with blue hippo shirt (shown in one of my posts about a week or so ago).

I need to get around to some more painting, maybe I will get to that this week or weekend. I have the ideas in my head, I've just been unmotivated lately.

The other project in my mind (not sure if I'll get to this or not) is to make a new carseat cover for my infant seat. I don't really NEED it, but it would be nice to have two so if one is in the laundry I have an extra...but creating a pattern from an existing cover sounds challenging, and while I'm sure I CAN do it, I'm not sure I want the hassle of doing it.

I have to admit, the idea for that one is directly related to the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt (sound intruiging?). It's a semi-annual hunt through different online stores for an icon - finding the icons puts you in drawings for some great prizes. This is my third hunt...haven't won anything yet, but maybe this is my time! I could sure use some cute new fluff! Back to the point at hand, I saw some sewn carseat covers in luscious minky, but yikes, the price they put on those is enough to give one gray hair! So I thought I'd be smart and make my own...but...so many other projects in the queue right now...not sure I should embark on that journey. Oh well, maybe someday I will get to it...probably by the time my kids are out of the carseat, lol.

Anyway, if you're interested in some great new sites to check out (many are WAHM sites with some very interesting products you can't find in stores), check out the sponsor list for the hunt. Many of the sites sell cloth diapers, but some of them have nothing to do with diapers...there are some interesting sites that sell homemade soaps and candles, etc...great ideas for Christmas gifts. When I happen upon a particularly intersting site, I will try to remember to link it here.

Well, if you couldn't tell this was my attempt at procrastination this morning. I should be working on my grocery list (how mundane!) and then DS and I are headed for the park, should it warm up (it was in the 30's this morning! Brrrrrrrrrr!). And maybe at naptime I can squeeze out that other bootie. Ok...must...publish.....post.....

Old Man Winter, Bring it On!

Ok, I probably shouldn't be outright daring the old man, but now we are prepared!

This set whipped up in no time this weekend. It's nice to do a super quick project! The hat and mitts are for my DS, age 19 months. They are knit from Lion's Pride Wool-Ease...it was really nice to work with, and not scratchy at all. I hope the wool provides a little extra warmth for him. I will probably have to crochet a cord for the mitts, but for now DS is enjoying playing with them so I'll leave the cord for closer to a time we might use them. For now, it's still in the 70's each day, but you just never know when winter will decide to blow in.

The mitts are a tad but long, but that gives him a little room to grow this winter :) Here is the link for the hat...I've already forgotten where I found the pattern for the mitts!

More fabric painting

These are the t's I painted last weekend. I LOVE the hippo, the zebra is cute too but a little light. I bought some more fabric paint this week so I'm slowly getting some new colors into the routine :)


I love doing these - in fact, both of these are for other people, as I don't have much need for short sleeves in Dec :) I dyed the shirts too. I have a babyshower to attend next month so I'm going to make one for her baby too, but it has to be gender neutral since she doesn't know what she's having - I really like the yellow with hippo, so I might do that again for her.

Prefolds!

I just wanted to post my prefolds to date. I only have 4 more to dye :( I love dyeing and I'm sad my stash is coming to an end! I have done some fabric painting recently, just no pics yet. Will get them up soon. I'm enjoying the stenciling and the designs are small enough to do one or two during naptime with plenty of time to clean up and all.

I'm also in the midst of using up my stash of fleece fabric. I'm trying to clean out my scraps and found a lot of fleece, so I'm making little tied loveys (a 15x15 square, with fringe cut around and tied together). Nice soft and the perfect size for cuddling...now I just need to keep them out of my toddler's hands...he likes them too! At least I feel like I'm starting to have a stash ready for my fictitious store...hopefully it will one day be a reality!

Little White Sweater

This is part of the Christmas ensemble for DD2B. I bought the red dress, and they were selling a white cardigan to go with it...I thought "Well I can make that!" :) So I did.


Unfortunately the buttons I bought are too tiny for the buttonholes and they keep slipping out so I need to either get bigger buttons or sew the holes a little tighter...or say forget it I won't use the buttons anyway, lol. I think I will knit the matching white socks and hat for the outfit as well.

Hancock Fabrics had a GREAT sale today - I got 5 Macalls patterns for $5!!! I'm increasing my pattern collection of baby/ toddler outfits. I wish there were more cute patterns for boys, but what I found was too "cutesy" for my taste...I prefer the jeans and t's on boys I guess. And I think I like sewing for girls because I can sew dresses in your non-typical little girl fabrics, making things you just can't find in the store. Oik, enough rambling.

Little Pink Bonnet

I finished this up last weekend, it just took me a few days to get a pic taken. I had two small balls of sock yarn left, not enough for another pair of socks, so I thought I'd see if I could get a bonnet and booties out of them. The bonnet took one ball, so I'm now debating whether I want to knit another bonnet as a gift, or make booties...decisions, decisions. For now I have some other things I'm working on so those will wait a bit. I was very pleased with this bonnet though - I had used this pattern in a sport weight yarn and it came out large, so I think the sock yarn is the perfect way to make it tiny. I used size 2 needles; I love using the little needles! They just fit better in my hand - right now I'm using size 9's and they are just not as slick to knit with.

I made a trip to JoAnn's today - had a 50% off coupon and knew just what I wanted...except, what I wanted was already on sale, so I couldn't use the coupon on it...so I did a little shopping :) Like I needed more projects in the queue! LOL! I'm set for a while now...until I see another sale anyway...

Here Come the Dinos!

My first try at embroidering knit! I used the same stencil I used for the orange shirt (see post below) and used duplicate stitch over the knitting to make the dino. I think the dino is slightly off center, but I don't think it's terribly noticable, so I'm not worrying about it. My DS will love it! This is on the seat of the pants, by the way. I threw around the idea of also doing dino tracks around the legs so there's a pattern on the front as well, but I think I'll leave them be. I can always add them later if I want.

Off to knit an i-cord so I can be done with these pants!

(And PS, did a load of purple this weekend. I am very good at dyeing DARK, not so good at light - meaning, I wanted lavender, ended up with regular purple. It looks nice, just not how I was going. So more experimentation needed there)

Fabric Painting!

My Dharma order didn't even sit here for 24 hours, lol. Well, most of it is still white, but this toddler shirt is not!

I did a load of orange last night, this tee and 2 diapers. Then today I sucked up all my courage and dipped the brush in the paint (I have bad luck with paint)

Actually, I did the pink onesie first as practice since I have loads of onesies, and after that turned out well, I did the dino for my DS. I can't wait until it dries so I can wash it and try it on him!



These are the diapers - the orange came out beaufitully! I'm not the biggest fan of orange on a girl, but I have tons of diapers anyway, and wanted to do the orange for my DS...and besides, there will be a cover over it anyway, lol. (So why dye them you ask? Because it's fun and looking at a drawer full of white diapers is so boring)

Anyway, I have tons of ideas floating through my head right now.

And as a final thought, did anyone catch the season premier of Family Guy? Hats off, it was hilarious! Of course, I love Star Wars anyway, but dh and I were both just rotfl...very funny!

Pink Rosebuds on a Dress

Here is my project from today -

Front view

Back view
While I love this dress, it was a royal beeeyyyooottttcch...or rather, my machine was. I am so ready to chuck that thing out the window. I don't know why it keeps flubbing up on me but the bottom bobbin is just acting up constantly. It took me over 2 hours to sew the 6 buttonholes on this dress - something that should be done in 10 minutes, TOPS. I was so mad I ate a whole sleeve of cookies (I know, not the best coping mechanism, but I was MAD). DH's response? "We can't afford another sewing machine. You probably need to clean it out." Maybe I should chuck it at him.

Despite my machine's efforts to thwart me, I did manage to finish the dress in one day and I do love it (although I think it will take me 2 weeks before I don't think about ripping out all those buttonholes again and again every time I see it). I want to make a matching hat or bonnet (haven't decided which), but I don't have the energy to even look at the machine right now. That beyotch is not on my good side.

In other news, my Dharma order came in! Hooray! I didn't think it would make it here until next week, but I opened my mailbox today and to my very pleasant suprise, there was a large polymailer in there full of beautiful white shirts! I have 4 t's for my toddler, a slew of long sleeve t's for the baby (long sleeve t's are very hard to find for infants) and one long sleeve cotton dress that I couldn't resist (plus, I got the price break at 12 articles of clothes and that was just the perfect 12th). I'm currently finishing up dying on of my toddler long sleeve t's and 2 prefold diapers Orange. It's a very dark orange...I was expecting lighter, but oh well. If all goes as planned I will paint a dino on the shirt tomorrow...DS is very into dinos right now.

And from there it will be embroidering matching dinos on the blue longies...

Ahhhhhh, my long long list of projects!

Purplicious Longies

I knitted these purple longies for a friend. They aren't wool since she doesn't use cloth diapers, so I used Caron acrylic...I love how soft it is, and the sheen on the yarn is so pretty.

This hat was in my "partially finished" box so I added ties to it tonight and will send it along with the pants.

I also found this in my "wanted to try this pattern" box. The color had ended up a little girly for my DS and though the arms fit him (yes I tried it on him :P), it's more like a cropped sweater so I'm adding it to the package to send to my friend. Hope she can get some use out of it!
I'm not sure what's next. I think I'll start a pair of adult mocs. I also ordered a nice box of dyable infant and toddler shirts, which should arrive sometime next week. When I get those I'll continue dying diapers and toss some shirts in with the diapers. I bought some fabric paint this week and stencils so I can stencil on the front of the t's.

I've been thinking about how to embroider my blue longies for DS, and I think what I'm going to do is dye a shirt for my DS orange and paint a blue dinosaur on it, then embroider orange dinosaurs on the pants to make a matched set. I'm not dead set on it yet, but that's the tentative plan, anyway.

Ok, off to watch the end of CSI (I can't wait for the season premier next Thursday!) and decide what to work on next!

Baby Blues and BabyLegs Too

Ok, not really BabyLegs, the homemade knockoff variety.





First up are the blue longies I knitted for my DS last week. These have short rows in the tush and a gusset in the crotch. I haven't woven in the ends yet because I think I'm going to try my hand at embellishing them and I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I figure I'll wait and finish them up then. I also need to add an I-cord but I'm going to wait on that too. I'm still thinking...

And here are my homemade baby leggings. I picked the knee-socks up at WalMart this week, but I wasn't sure how the sizing would run. The smaller 2 pair are from girls Small knee highs and the larger ones are girls Large. I think the small ones might be great for a newborn, but I think the larger ones would probably do just as well, so I'll wait and see before I buy any more. These don't take long at all to whip up - maybe 20 minutes each?

On the needles now: A pair of purple longies made of acrylic for a friend who does not cloth diaper but thinks they're cute :) It's fun designing something for someone else! And after that I plan to embellish the blue longies.

TTFN

Felting Success!

I made a second attempt at the felted mocs this weekend. This time I made them in the child size rather than the toddler. When I finished knitting them they looked HUGE...I was quite worried they couldn't felt up small enough. But I threw them in the washer anyway and when they came out I compared them to one of DS's shoes...they were about the same size as a pair of swim shoes DS had already grown out of! I was sweating bullets, waiting for them to dry, and this morning I had him half dressed when I realized they should be ready to try on (hence he's half dressed in the pics)! They fit great, a little loose, so room to grow! I am very happy with the pattern and can't wait to knit up more of these!

Felting Attempt #1

I will add pics tomorrow after they dry...but I think this one is a pseudo-failure. They DID felt, just a little too much. But I don't consider it a complete failure, because they are still cute and they are still usable, just not by my toddler. Of course, all his shoes are in his room where he is currently sleeping, and as tempted as I am to sneak in and grab a shoe to compare to these mocs, I'd probably wake him up and I'm thinking it just might not be worth it when I can wait until tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I ran them through 2 washer cycles. After the first cycle, they just hadn't felted enough for me - still a lot of stitch definition. So I threw them in again, and when they came out there was no question they had felted, lol. So the question is, next time do I make them in a bigger size and felt 2 cycles, or make the same size and only felt 1 cycle, then maybe finish by hand? Argh, it's easier when it just works the first time.

Here are the prefelted slippers:

Here they are postfelted

I LOVE them, they are maybe 2 sizes too small. But they will be perfect for another toddler. So I guess I'm on to my next pair, trying again to fit my son!

Project #632: Felting

I have made one attempt at felting thus far. It went ok, no big problem. I have a fantastic pattern that I am looking to make several of, and it involves felting. I went to my local yarn store this morning to ask their recc's for felting, and in the course of conversation, they learned I have a front loader washing machine. Oh, the look of horror! According to them, it is extremely hard ot felt in a FL because everything felts fast and you can't check on it. But according to everything I've read online, it usually takes 2-3 washer cycles, so you can check inbetween. What to do? Apparently my lys is in the process of setting up a portable washing machine so customers can come in and felt items in there, so I definitely have that option, but I'd rather do it here myself, kwim? I'm working on a trial pair of mocs now for my DS and I'm planning to felt them here so I guess we'll see what happens...but I will admit, I'm a little nervous.

At least I found out that they'll be happy to let me use their yarn baller to wind up my 950 yards of sock yarn that has been staring at me in it's unwound state. I just cannot bring myself to hand ball that much yarn.

Teensy Tiny Longies

Ok, perhaps my count was a bit off ;) These were supposed to be a size small, but they are far smaller. So now I'm thinking they will make cute pants for a coming home outfit...if they even fit then. But they sure are cute and tiny! I tried to ruffle the bottom using a knitting technique rather than crochet but frankly, the result isn't nearly as nice as crochet so from now on I will stick to the hook for ruffles. I knitted these with short rows and attempted a crotch gusset that I thought worked really well. I used PureWool and they are so incredibly soft.

My new knitting book came in the mail yesterday - woohoo! I bought it for one pattern in particular - the Little Turtle Knits Family Mocs pattern. The book - 100 Knitting Projects - has some other great ideas as well, but I am drooling over the mocs. I started a pair for my DS last night but had to rip them out after I figured out I was knitting the wrong size. Oops. By then it was after 11, so I just went to bed...I will try to start again tonight.

And here's an actions shot of my DS in his new longies. He loves them :) Actually, it's the camera he's having issues with lately. Lovely, just what every mother wants...a child who hates the camera.

Harvest Spice

They're done! These are Large longies for my son to wear this winter. These were also my first attempt at short rows, and they worked great. The back has about an inch extra space to accomodate the tush. I really love the way the yarn self striped, and although the legs don't match color-wise, I like that they are different. Perfection isn't always as interesting, kwim?

I have a lot of this yarn at hand, so next up is a pair of newborn longies to match :) Poor kids, having to match already (can you hear the eyeroll eminating from my husband? He's really not liking the idea).

This wool is a tad scratchier than most I use for baby clothes, but I'm hoping that lanolizing it for use as a diaper cover will soften it up some. Even so, it's not nearly as scratchy as some, and I'm fairly sensitive to wool so if it doesn't irritate me, I don't think it will bother my kiddos. It's Nashua Wooly Stripes (see link below) in Fiesta.

BTW, this is a new pattern for me. I used the Aubrey Doodlepants pattern, and I really enjoyed trying the longies from the top down (usually I do the legs first, then join them and knit to the top). Top down gives some different options as far as the cuff edging on the legs. And while I generally prefer the look of an elastic waistband, I have learned that rib is far stretchier and will accomodate more waist sizes, so until I find a suitable hybrid, I am sticking to rib.

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone. The weather is beautiful here...we went to the zoo today and I knitting the whole hour drive up there - divine!

Short Rows Success!

I started a pair of longies last night with the intent to learn short rows. I've seen lots of knitters agonizing over these so I was fairly apprehensive and did quite a bit of research. I finally found a free pattern that tells you where to put them and a great tutorial on making short rows and eliminating the holes that are usually created. I made my first attempt tonight and was thrilled at how easy they really are. The knitting isn't perfect, but I know exactly what I did wrong, and out of 3 sets of short rows, the last one was dead on, no holes.

Sorry, no pics yet. I have about 5" of the body done, so 6 more to go, then the legs...it will probably be a few days before the unveiling. I'm using Nashua Wooly Stripes in Fiesta. I acclimated this lovely yarn a few months back at the big semi annual sale at Bella Filati. They had tons of different yarns bagged together for a discounted price and I liked the orange so I jumped on it. I have TONS, so expect to see lots of orange/ red in the future, lol.

Short Rows Tutorial

Same Knit Different Day: Yarn Over Short Rows

I'm posting this basically so I have it saved for my reference later tonight when I'm agonizing over these! I think I understand the concept, and I've used short rows (without knowing that's what they were) in socks, so I think I can do it, the only question left being, where should I insert them.

Off to do more research....

And to figure out how to make up my own gusset...

A Matching Set

I have been a busy bee this weekend. :)

First up is something I sewed, not knitted. It's a little sundress, size medium but it's supposed to be about 13-16 lbs. The back straps are buttoned on and have 2 buttonholes so you can adjust the length of the straps, then there are two buttons on the back...I have to point those out because I think I found the cutest buttons for the job! The hem isn't quite finished, I have to handstitch it in place and I don't think I'm going to get to it tonight. I also have enough fabric left to make a matching bonnet (another new pattern), so that's my next sewing project.


And here is the finished longies, hat, and booties set.

Here is a closeup of the booties. While they are cute, I'm not sure how functional they'll be. The straps don't seem to want to stay on the buttons (probably should have bought bigger buttons). So while they're cute, I'm not sure I'll make them again.

And the matching hat. This I LOVE. I was supposed to use 10.5 needles (circular and dpn), but the largest dpn I have is 8 and I tend to knit loose so I decided to try it with my 8's. The width around is fine but I should have added a little length to the hat to make up for the smaller needles. I have a little of this yarn left so I think I'm going to try the hat again, just slightly longer this time. The ribbon/ eyelet row I added myself; in the original pattern, there were two roses for embellishment, but I thought this yarn is busy enough on it's own, so the monotone ribbon seemed a nice touch. My husband thought I should have gone pink (the camera flash sort of took out the hot pink highlights) but I'm really happy with the black ribbon.

Happy knitting and sewing,

Chel

Pink Pizzazz Longies

I knitted these this week. The pattern is my own, done on size 7 dpn. I allotted 2 balls of yarn to them but they only took one so I still have a ball to make a matching hat and booties :) They are a size newborn/ small. The bottom of the legs is 4" of ribbing, done so that they are totally adjustable in length. I would imagine they could accomodate a skinny baby for quite awhile, since they expand to 9" in length (for the legs, anyway).

Ok, off to knit some matching accessories!

Skirtie with Undersoaker

Can I just say I'm pretty darn pleased with myself? I wanted to make a skirtie diaper cover, but couldn't find any patterns, so I went into this one completely blind...and I love the results! I started by knitting a soaker in blue with a ribbed waist and ribbed cuffs. Then, with the pink, I crocheted around just below the waist ribbing so that I could have a row to pick up stitches along. I put those stitches on a circular needle, did 3 rows (?), then k2, inc1 around to give a nice fullness to the skirt (this was the part that I was really unsure about...I had no idea how many I should inc by or where I should do it). Then I straight knitted until I was just longer than the soaker. This is where it got tricky again. I only had one skein of pink and I did not want to have to buy another skein to finish this up with. So I tried to estimate how much yarn I had left, etc. Also, I knew if I did a straight cast off the edges would roll, but at this point yarn was becoming scarce, so I did one row purl, then cast off, hoping that would counteract the roll. It didn't work. BUT, I had a little pile of pink still left, so I pulled out my very rusty crochet hook and attempted a ruffle...I was super pleased with how it came out, and I have very little yarn left. After about half way around I started holding my breath in hopes I had enough to last me, and I did, even if only barely. I only wish I knew how well this looked in action, because I am very happy with the way it looks flat!




Here is the undersoaker, which I knitted first


Here I had about 1.5 inches of pink added on

Here is the completed skirtie!
Here is a close up of the ruffle

The skirt lifted to show the undersoaker

And finally, this is how much pink I had left over (had to include that!)