First Days: 4th Grade, 2nd Grade, Kindergarten

Welp...hi there. It's the first official day of fall, so I figured I'd better get these first day of school pictures up on the blog! My poor, forgotten blog. School actually began almost a full month ago, so clearly I am behind schedule! My excuse is that I also started school this year (back to teaching!). It shames me to say that nothing my kids wore on the first day was handmade. I had noble plans. I had patterns and fabric. I put them in a bin and reminded myself every so often that I had to do it before school started...and then, school started. And the cat started napping in the bin of fabric.

Anyway! Clara is now a 4th grader. Complete with crazy emotions and hard homework. (Compare: third grade, second grade, first grade, kindergarten)

Oliver is now 8 and in 2nd grade. He insisted that I chose this photo for his 2nd grade memories. (See his first grade and kindergarten memories.)

And...my baby girl, Ruthie, started kindergarten! I thought I would be emotional about it, but really we were all ready! She is loving it, has several "best friends" and informs me she "isn't shy at school."

I knit something

Spoiler: it's a hat. For me.


The pattern is I Heart Pompoms. I've made it a few times in the past.

 























It hangs very nicely. Dipped in white at the end because I ran out of gray;)

Oliver's First Day of First Grade

Compare: Kindergarten

Clara's First Day of Third Grade

Compare: 2nd Grade, 1st Grade, Kindergarten

Oliver's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was a big deal kind of day. My house got very quiet. Oliver went to Kindergarten! He was nervous and quiet, but very brave. I full-out messy cried when I got back to my car after leaving him there. A full school day is a long time.

 

Let's take a moment to admire the last two items in his list. Best friend: Daddy. Wants to be: A daddy. Melt my heart, sweet boy.

I took the easy route with his outfit. He wanted a snake shirt. I went and bought a shirt, and just freezer-paper stenciled a snake on it. Easy and done. Ruthie starts preschool this week, too. What am I going to do with 2 hours of alone time twice a week? This week, the answer is, "Get a pedicure." ;)

Clara Starts Second Grade

It's true! She is now a second grader! And she looks SO grown up. Sniff.

In keeping with tradition, I sewed her first day outfit. The shirt is the Playtime Dress/Tunic from Oliver + S. It is a great pattern and was so simple to make. I only wish there was an option for no back closure, since it's not really necessary in knit. I omitted the sleeves and finished the armholes with some striped knit fabric from an old shirt of mine.

To compare and see how much she has grown, here are her 1st grade and Kindergarten first days.

Tomorrow Oliver starts Kindergarten, so check back!

Cold hands can still craft.

Remember New Year's Eve? That happened like a month ago. January has gone really fast, hasn't it?



I don't know if you've noticed, but it's cold outside. Like, super cold. There should be a word for "cold" that is colder than "cold." So here we are, on the fifth day of no-school-because-kids-shouldn't-walk-to-school-in-this-weather. It's okay. My life doesn't really change much, whether everyone is at school or not. I think it helps that my kids are mostly introverted and enjoy nothing more than being together. No one has even told me they are bored! I, however, am getting a little bored. I depend on being outside of my house every day. I like people. And nature. And this weather is not very friendly toward those two likes.

So I have been knitting. I won't tell you the shameful amount of time it took me to knit this little sweater for my baby nephew. Fortunately, it still fits him! I have only ever knit this pattern in the newborn size, and the big flaw with the bigger sizes (this one is an 18 month) is that the collar is too loose and stretchy. Next time I will make it smaller or go down a few needle sizes on the neckline.



I am also making myself a new hat. I couldn't find any of my previous handmade hats at the start of winter, so I am stuck with a red Gap hat I have had for at least ten years.



Also, this quilt. That I have been working on off and on for almost a year. Yeah....gonna get this sucker finished. I moved my sewing machine up to the dining room, because my basement is just too frigid for me to want to hang out down there.

 So! That's a little update on my happenings in the coldest January ever. Dreaming of springtime and going outside without a million layers on. In the meantime, I am going to try not to gain 30 pounds of comfort food weight. Ha. Wish me luck.

giveaway winner and a painful first

I have had an eventful week! Last night I slipped on the ice and hurt my ankle. I heard a loud crack and then couldn't walk on it. I thought for sure it was broken, but the x-rays were normal and it has been determined to be a really bad sprain. I have a sweet air cast brace and I have never noticed how many flipping stairs my house has. Does someone want to climb them for me?
















On to happier news. The winner of my 200th post giveaway is....Julie N! Congrats, Julie. :) I'll send you an email with details. Thanks for playing everyone, and have a happy Christmas!

200th Post Giveaway!

Happy 200th post to me! When I started this blog back in fall of 2009, I was just a knitter. Now I knit much less and sew much more! Hey, I have even made a little money off this hobby of mine. It always amazes me that I get hundreds of blog hits each day for my free tutorials. The baby bonnet, the mini scarf, and the baby cocoon get the most visits. Maybe I should offer some more tutorials in 2014. Who knows what the next 200 posts will hold!

Thank you faithful followers and thank you random visitors for all your support.

Now on to the giveaway! You know how I have lots of dolls for sale right now. Some in stores around Minneapolis, and some in my Etsy shop. Leave a comment below to be entered to win any two dolls from my shop. Just comment on which two dolls you would choose if you win! I will even priority ship so they get to you before Christmas!  I will choose a winner on Friday, December 19th.

Good luck and thanks for reading!

Fine print: I cannot obviously GUARANTEE that it will get to you by Christmas, but I will try! Giveaway only open to US residents. Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

Winter Shirt and Pierced Ears

Today I did something for the third time in my life....something that proves I probably shouldn't have done it...I got my ears pierced. I had it first done when I was 15, and then again when I was 20 because the holes had closed up from me not wearing earrings enough. Obviously I have commitment issues with earrings. I didn't think of it again until my oldest got her ears pierced this fall. She wanted to look through all my earrings, and it made me realize I have a lot of nice ones! Maybe I should get those holes reopened. With that in mind, I dug around in my ear yesterday until I got one side reopened (which sounds really gross, I know, but it wasn't horrible, the hole was still in there, it was just the skin that had covered it). But the second side had no hole anymore, so I went to Claire's this morning and got it redone. I didn't cry AND I got a lollypop :-) Score! 

Anyway. I made myself a winter shirt. I don't know where my camera went, so here is a crummy photobooth pic of it. It's the Washi Dress/Tunic pattern that I have made a million times before, but this time I added a long sleeve to it. I love the drape of this fabric. It's like a suiting material and it's heavy but kind of slinky. Perfect for a sort-of-dressy-sort-of-casual shirt.



Can you see my newly re-pierced ear, too? Here's another photobooth of a custom order I recently made. (paper snowflakes by Oliver)



Check back in an hour for the giveaway! Yes, it involves dolls :)
Kristy