latest creation

Knitting

I’ve been doing a lot of crazy things to get ready for this baby.  Mostly I’ve been trying to get the house organized… in spurts that has left the place a mess.  Who’s going to clean that up?  I have also been doing quite a bit of volunteer work, which always adds to the chaos.  The other thing I have been doing a lot of is knitting… as the title of this post says.

Ezra adopted my first creation as his own.  I wanted to wear this scarf to the park on St. Patrick’s Day since it was a bit chilly in the morn’.  Once I put it on, Ezra said “Hey, that’s mine!”  So he got it, mostly to convince him to be photographed.

I had combed his hair (I’ve discovered the benefits of water and a fine toothed comb to get out the knots) and he had chosen to wear his boots with his shorts, which didn’t leave much room for his legs to show.  It was a funny look and I wanted to capture it.  It wasn’t until he put the scarf on (“I want it to cover my mooouth”) that he agreed to a photograph.

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My second project is for baby X.  He will need a few hats.  My friend Heather and I made a trip to this super cute yarn shop called Knitty Cat south of here.  After the owner, Ann, helped Heather figure out which combination of patterns she should use, she gave us tips on which yarn to choose.  We were then left to find the best colors for the job.  I really wanted to make something too and I since I have no idea what I’m doing when it come to knitting, I decided we could each make the hat.  Heather thought that was a good idea and reminded me that this babe will need a few things that are just his.

This is how the little hat has turned out.  A few mistakes, but nothing earth shattering.  I figure the mistakes will make it obvious that someone, rather than a machine, made this hat.

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I guess I should finish this project, but I’ve already moved onto a blanket.  I need to give these little needles back the Heather.  It’s just so tedious getting the tail knitted.  Tonight, I’ll do it tonight.

More and More Shirts

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Over the past few months we have made quite a few more of these freezer paper shirts.  They are quite easy and pretty fun to make with the kids.  I have even hosted a shirt making demo/party and taught a few home schooled kids how to make these shirts.

These images are from the demo at my house in December.  It was very hot working in that room.  I sometimes wish for curtains on these windows… but only when entertaining in the day.

That was a great day and it is always nice when everyone is happy with what they created.  I think the most fun is peeling off the stencil to reveal the finished product.

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This next shirt was the one that I probably learned the most on.

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I learned that the background color cannot be painted too dark, or it will bubble if I try to iron on another stencil.  So we painted the figures first and made masks for them so we could paint the red over Leah and C3PO.  In any case this shirt was a huge hit and the girl who received it was wearing it the last time we saw her.

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This was our next venture.  If you notice, the yellow of the toilet is not painted solidly.  I think we painted the blue of the water last, so could make it a solid layer.

Below are a few images of the reaction this shirt got:

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He had to put this shirt on immediately.  Was it the toilet or the cape that made him so excited?  Who knows.  All I know is that he was ecstatic to receive clothing.  Ha!

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We had fun putting this one together.  This was India’s first sunset to paint.  It was also our first attempt to fade the color… if I added water to the paint would I have achieved a smoother gradation?  We’ll have to try that next time.  This shirt was for a tiny baby who’s father is Indian.  I can’t wait until he’s big enough to wear it!

Hats

We all got hats from Grandma this Christmas.  Not just any hats, either.  She knitted a hat for all her kids and their spouces and their children.  The whole family got hats… Hummm, I wonder if the if Jennifer and Jay got hats.  They live in Arizona where it is too hot for anything like a stocking cap to be worn, ever.

Anyway, to say “Thank you” and as a birthday gift I took photographs of the kids in their hats and made a nice storyboard wall hanging for Grandma.  When the box came, I think it took her only a minute before she called to let me know how much she likes it.  Of course I had to get one too.  It is hanging in my office, which I am slowly trying to fill up with images.

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Handmade Christmas

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Now keep in mind, not every gift this year was handmade. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t make “Little Big Planet” or that double light saber (which Ez had prayed for all year). But I figured we could make gifts for our extended family members. So we did.
I had high hopes of binding a journal or album for my sister in law to help her chronicle their stay in France. But someone took all my time and I couldn’t stitch another stitch. This someone was a little girl made of felt and stuffed with fuzz. We didn’t name her, but India designed her dress and drew her face. We used the tutorial here. Since I was all stitched out, I decided painting on the face was the only way to go. I think she turned out lovely.
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I made these super cute necklaces for two my nieces. I found the how-to here. I couldn’t make the rosettes quite right so left them plain. Still a big hit… with India at least. We’ll see if the girls liked them when we visit in Feb.
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India designed these scarfs and both kids painted them for their teachers.
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There are one or two more gifts that I made. Give me a week or two to make sure they have been received then I’ll post them here.

Robots and a Funny Shirt

So we figured out a gift for the birthday boy on Saturday. I think it was a great success.
He really liked the shirt India made. Go figure. I thought he would pass right over that!
Here’s what we came up with.

A make-your-own robot set inspired by this one… which is way cooler. You gotta start somewhere, right?


A shirt designed and painted by India. Have you ever done a freezer paper shirt? That’s what we did. We had about 4 stencils made from the paper. It turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself.