craft corner

Just a little reorganization for my craft area.

Instead of all my knitting needles in a heap, I hung them up on the wall. One is an old wall vase with a hole to hang it, and the other is my old Nook Color case I made. I never use it for my Nook, so I poked a hole in the back and now use it for my larger needles. My circulars are all in a tupperware on my shelf (not pictured).

I also added a couple of embroidered things and a spare star block I had laying around.

It makes me happy.

Ladybug Costume. And I am done with costumes!

The ladybug costume took about 20 minutes from start to finish. I didn't use a tutorial, I just winged it. (groan...haha I am hiLARious!) Much easier than the T-Rex costume. It also only cost $4.50 total. Sweet.

I cut two red circles and sliced one down the middle. I overlapped the tops of the cut pieces slightly to give the "wing" look, then sewed black in the gap at the bottom. I sewed on some black dots, then sewed the two red circles together and stuffed it a bit. Then I just sewed some straps on and made antennae out of a headband, black tape, two pipe cleaners and some leftover felt. Black shirt and pants, and voila! Ladybug.

I have been knitting a hat for my neighbor's little boy. It has a beard. More on that in a day or two.

T-Rex Costume

T-Rex! Roar!

Like I mentioned earlier, I loosely followed the photo tutorial on Flickr I found when doing a google search for t-rex costumes. If I were really nice, I would write some instructions for you, but I'm not. So there.

Total cost for the head was $3.00. One large box, one small, thinner box, and three paper bags. Duct tape and hot glue. Random paint we had. One egg carton (eyes). Felt for the teeth. The body was about $10 for the fleece and zipper. Total cost, $13. Ta da!

Head supplies:

Fitting the frame:

Skeleton:

I added paper bag "scales":

This green is the paint color in my bedroom. Nice.

He looks a little slap-happy. That is what late night beer + hot glue + husband help will get you.

The body was made from a McCalls pattern. This one.

The tail cracks me up. It'll be dragging down the street.

still around

I am a total procrastinator. Halloween is in six days and I have yet to make the boy's costume. He wants to be a T-rex. I am taking my inspiration from this photo set on Flickr. I think I can do it. I have a pattern for the body and a box for the head. Fingers crossed it works!

The big girl wanted desperately to be Tinkerbell, so I forked over $20 on a flimsy costume....only for her to now insist that she will ONLY be a ladybug. Argh. Really, child!? But the more I think about it, a ladybug costume would be super easy to make. So...maybe. Or maybe it will be a lesson in sticking with original ideas. We'll see how generous I am feeling.

The craft fair was fun. I didn't sell a ton, but I wasn't in it to make loads of money. I had more fun selling Gilda's stuff. Ha. Anyway, some ladies came by that have a little shop in S. Mpls and want to sell my dolls there! Yay for that. I also listed the ruffle scarves in my Etsy shop. As many people have noticed, my Etsy shop is shameful. Seriously, I ought to fill it with things. I think that will be my goal for the winter.

I made another mobius cowl. They are so fun to make! I love this yarn. It is sort of a wool roving.

You may remember that I was going to make a lot of cute clothes for myself. I said it, attempted one crappy dress, and stopped. Well, guess what? I didn't forget. This one is next:

Hudson Hat Knock Off

A friend asked me to knit The Hudson Hat for her soon-to-be babe. Of course, that pattern has been around forever and I remember when it first came out. I never bought it though (SEVEN dollars!? Color me cheap). Here is my knock off. I created it using two free patterns. The earflaps were inspired by the Cozy Hat pattern, and the body was inspired by the Munchkin Hat pattern. Details are on my ravelry page. I didn't share too much of the pattern, because I am sure the Hudson Hat lady wouldn't be very happy about that.

My favorite part is the crinkly pompom. It was repurposed from a frogged project that had been sitting in my pile for years (literally four years! The yarn is from longies I made Clara when she turned one). When I pulled it apart, the yarn was all crinkled from the stitches and it stuck. Makes me happy.

Another example of the excellence of blocking.

BEFORE

See how the edge of the hat is wiggly and not flat? See how the earflaps curl in?

AFTER

Except for the blocking crease - that will be gone soon - all flat and laying the way I want it to.

It makes everything better.

winter hat

Clara's hat is finished. It fits, even though I was very doubtful. It looked tiny, but stretches nicely.

She likes it, too! Matching mittens and a cowl and she will be checked off my list.

Four people have contacted me to make them things in the last two days. I must be getting popular. Ha. :)

Apples, apples, apples!

This sweet little thing turned one today. SIGH. It is so bittersweet when it's your last baby. She is is the apple of my eye.

And speaking of apples (like my segue), holy cats do we have a lot. Three pecks of apples. If you know how much a peck is, you are impressed right now. This picture is no where near all of them.

We are making a dent in them.

I made apple butter. mmm yum.

This will go out as gifts to random people and my kids will probably devour the rest. Seriously, it's like kid crack.

Also I made a French apple pie. (Can you tell I was in a take-pictures-of-my-food mood today?)

Calling it "French" means it has crumbs instead of a top crust. oooh lala.

In between these appley, kitcheny things, the kids made some Fall crafts. Here we have glitter leaves as dining room decor.

These were so easy and the kids absolutely adored the glitter (probably because it is banned in my house! We made these in the backyard.). Just find a nice, non-crispy leaf, trace it with a pencil, then put glue over the outline and sprinkle away. So easy and they are so proud!

We also made apple paint prints, but I didn't get a picture of them because I was boiling the apple butter and a girl can only do so much at one time.

Even though it has been in the 80s all week (which you might say is strange for October, but I remember it being in the 90s last year when we brought Ruthie home), I have started the kids' winter gear. First is a hat for Clara. It's the aviatrix hat.

I was reading past projects and everyone said that it knit up larger than expected, so I sized down my needle, but of course it looks too small. Figures.