new yarn!

I am so excited. My friend Leidy from Western Sky Knits custom dyed me some yarn for a project for the new baby. I am going to make something like this--a little romper for the chilly fall months (obviously I did not make the one in the photo; it is just my inspiration).

I think my yarn is gender-neutral enough and it looks pretty perfect to me! So excited to knit something for this wee one. Poor baby will have to share everything and live in hand-me-downs from birth!

progress

on big things

Oliver's quilt--all pieces are cut; now it's time to sew.

and little things

mother's day brooches

I like to think of myself as creative, but really I am just a copycat. The fabric roses were found here. Mine are a little wonky, but what that I make isn't?

Craft Corner!

I finally, officially have a "craft area" in my house. Up until now, the yarn was stored in the coat closet (four bins of yarn is no small thing to stash), the fabric in a bag on top of the yarn bins, the sewing machine thrown in there somewhere as well, and the knitting accessories were randomly on top of my bookshelf. Getting any project done was a small feat of rearranging furniture, digging through piles, and then putting it all away again when I was done before the Wild Things showed up to messify. It is a wonder I ever finished anything. 

Now, it is all nice and snug under the stairs in my basement. When we finished our basement a couple years ago we thought the under-the-stairs area would be so fun for the kids to play in, read in, hide in. Really, no one used it except the cat, when she was scared of thunderstorms. 

I have been in a major rearrange/sort/clean mood the last week. I went through all the kids' clothes and sorted them by gender and size to store until October when we find out what this baby is going to be wearing. I cleaned the linen closet (had never been done in the almost seven years we have lived here), rearranged the kids' rooms, and--most importantly--moved all crafty items into the new Craft Corner. I still need to get a big shelf type thing for the yarn and fabric, but I have a table with my sewing machine on top (finally that sweet retro table gets put to use).

I decided to christen my new space with a quick project: a couple bird friends. I found the pattern on this blog and they were made out of some of Oliver's quilt scraps. So sweet!

Also--can you believe it is already May!? We spent yesterday making and delivering May Day baskets to our neighbors. Happy May Day!

my eyes are bigger

than my energy level. 

That quilt? Yeah...not started yet. 

That shrug I am knitting? Yeah...still barely begun. My energy by the end of the day is gone, thanks to a preschooler, a toddler, and a fetus. 

(here is the yarn I am using for my shrug)

They will get done. Honest. They get thought about a lot. I am still queueing up projects I want to create. But the creating is not happening at the moment. 

I am enjoying being outside in the sunshine, though. Today the kids and I planted our early spring veggies in the garden--spinach, peas, carrots, lettuce. I eye my rhubarb every day, wondering if it is long enough to cut (hello, horrible rhubarb pie craving). I dig up dozens of dandelions. That has got to count for something, right?

the start of something beautiful

The fabric is all purchased for Oliver's quilt. I still need to find a backing material but that will come later. I'm washing and ironing tonight and the cutting will begin this weekend! I even bought a shiny new rotary cutter just for the occasion (my old one was really dull and, well, old). Hurray for the Year of the Quilt!

while they are sleeping

I'm not really knitting a whole lot right now. I have one little shrug going for my niece to go with her Easter dress (mini rant: why are Easter dresses always sleeveless?? Hello, this is Minnesota. It is cold, even at Easter time). Just a simple little off-white cotton thing. I'm on the sleeves, so another night should call it done.

Even though my knitting needles are resting, I have still been crafting away. I made some little items for the kids' Easter baskets. 

1. Toddler tote bags. You know, so they can carry everything around with them. My kids are constantly dragging this and that with them upstairs, downstairs, outside. I thought I would help them out a bit. I used this tutorial and it was awesome. Love it. They are reversible. Clara's is the lemon print, Oliver's is the animals/dots.

2. Black apple dolls. I had some leftover material from the totes and decided to try this pattern out for something different. They are cute in a wonky sort of way. I didn't have felt that was hair-color appropriate, so I used cotton and just left the edges raw to fray it a bit. The arm on Oliver's doll is a bit high and stuck pointing up (Think: waving ecstatically). I still love 'em and I think the kids will, too.

Now I am in full-fledged sewing mode. I have decided that this is the Year of the Quilt for me. I would like to make a quilt for each of my kids' beds. Oliver will be moving to a twin bed sometime this summer and so I am going to start with his. I think I will either do a disappearing nine square quilt or a raw edge circle quilt (can you tell what my new favorite blog is?). I am leaning toward the first because while I think the second is awesome, I hate sewing in circles. 

I also discovered that if you read your sewing machine's manual, you can learn a lot. Apparently my machine does a sort of serging--awesome.

Knitting Retreat!

That's right, it really happened, and I have photos to prove it. None of us knitting, but we really did! While watching such classics as Sweet Home Alabama and Emma. I have to say it, I love my knitting peeps. Holla!

Laura - "What happens in Duluth, stays in Duluth"

Two pregnant women and one non-pregnant - she had no choice but to eat with us.

Ice chunks on Lake Superior -

And the finished project that I started on Saturday, finished on Monday night - (pics are unblocked; it looks better now)

I am happy to say my knitting funk is behind me. I have a few projects going right now, including a spring/summer shrug for myself to accentuate my growing belly, and some socks for someone...not sure who yet, but I couldn't resist some yarn up in Duluth and spent way too much money on two skeins. Shh don't tell my husband. I also have a quick little Easter shrug for my niece going. Simple pleasures. :) Until next time.

back at it

I've been MIA for a while. life is changing around here a bit and knitting has been on the back burner. That doesn't mean I haven't been knitting at all, but I haven't been knitting as much as maybe I should have been.

My queue of projects on Ravelry is currently at 137. Yes, one hundred, thirty-seven projects I aspire to make someday. It's a bit much.

On to the things I have made recently.

Longies set.


Leafy cowl (was supposed to be for a church auction but I finished it too late and so I'm selfishly keeping it) and another hat for me, since I have lost TWO hats this winter. What the heck.


Crocheted scarflet.


And next will be some green mittens for me finally, now that it is almost too warm for mittens, and then a little sweater for a friend's baby.

when things go wrong

I had big plans for a felted Easter bunny. It was going to be sooo cute. But then, the ears happened. I increased and decreased incorrectly, because I thought the pattern had a mistake in it. Nope. I realized it was I who made the mistake after the first ear, but just went with it for the second (me = lazy). I felted it and still had hopes it would be oh-so-cute. Um...so it doesn't exactly look like a bunny. In fact, it looks like a fish. I decided Hop the Fish isn't so bad, so I added safety eyes and stuffed him, cinching the "mouth" to look like a fish. See? Sometimes when things go wrong, you can still make them right. 

In other knitting news, my church is having a silent auction for a mission trip they are doing, and I thought I would donate a couple items. One is a "garden scarf," my own design, which has knitted leaves and crocheted flowers. Here is a sampling of it (it's not done yet):

Cute, right? I am also donating an earflap hat and a cowl, if I have enough time.

Next up is longies for a friend in my mom's group. She wanted "boyish" colors.

One last mention, I am SO excited for March! My weekly knitting group decided to do a knitting retreat and it is official, set in stone, and I get a whole weekend away from my lovely but tiring children! Hurrah!

happy hooker

I decided it was time to learn how to crochet. Well, relearn, really, since I have vague memories of crocheting pot holders when I was ten. It is hard for me as a knitter to figure it out. The yarn goes on the wrong side. I have a hand free. I am supposed to grasp the project?? My hands like to hold needles, what can I say. Even though the two fiber crafts are so similar, the techniques are so different. 

Anyway, I didn't let it beat me. I mastered single crochet thanks to  Stitch-n-Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Behold, my first crocheted project: The Washcloth.

My next goal is flowers. Wish me luck!

Something I knit: a little baby bonnet to set aside for the Etsy store. A wee bit of sunshiny love. Seed stitch baby shoes to match, coming soon.