star graf design

Colorful Mittens

2019-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

My twin sister and I love searching Pinterest for fun new ideas. One day I sent her a photo of a colorful pair of mittens that reminded me of her and she was like "seriously- I pinned those months ago!". Well then, I totally had to make them for her!

She even had all the similar colors in yarn from one of her trips to Iceland. She'd been saving it for a special project and this was it! One day we got together for a craft day and we laid out the yarn to see which colors she wanted to put where on each mitten. I remembered to take a few photos so that I didn't forget.

Then I started the first mitten using the modified mitten pattern I made for myself a few years ago.

I kept my sister posted on the progress of her mittens throughout the process. I'd get excited with each new color added, so these are just a few of the photos I texted her to let her know I hadn't forgotten about her. I added all kinds of happy thoughts into these mittens while knitting them for her.

That was just the first glove, usually by this time in the mitten project I realize that I have to do all that all over again. But this time, it didn't feel like I was repeating anything because I got to make the second glove in all new colors.

With advice from my sister I took the blue yarn rows up higher than I did the grey on the other mitten. Now that it's finished I like the second glove more than the first because of the smaller tip color. I gave them to her just before New Year's but before they became hers she had to "make a snowball, hold your hands like this and turn into the light" so I could get a nice photo to blog about. She really is the best twin sister a girl could ask for!!

Tiny Knits...

2018-12-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

My oldest told me he was excited for Saint Nick to come fill their shoes but he missed the small handmade gifts St. Nick used to bring them. Of course, he remembered every single item that he had received in his shoe on the morning of December 6th.

He told me all this on the evening of December 5th. What's a girl to do?! I had NOT planned on making anything at all, let alone a small gift that would fit in their shoes.

We put the boys to bed and I jumped on Pinterest and started searching. It took me about a half hour to find something I thought I could make that same night. Here's the pattern I used for the bunny.

Then it took me an hour or two to knit these two tiny knits for each little mister. Last minute Saint Nick shoe surprises DONE all because my oldest told me he misses the little handmade gifts.

One for each kid! Stayed up too late but finished before midnight. A pink bunny and a black “cat” or maybe a mouse? Not sure... we’ll just see what the boys think it is and go with that!

Decade trip photo album & scrapbook

2018-09-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

I take photos, lots of them. I can’t help it. Its how I like to document happenings around me, especially of my kids. I took a special trip with my 10 year old this summer and when we got home I started putting together the photo album I wanted to have printed. I like using Blurb for my photo books because I like to control the layout. I had a crazy idea that this book I was going to glue our paper souvenirs into the album. So I measured the items I wanted to include and put place holders in the book (that way I knew they would fit!).

I wasn’t sure how it would work but I love the end result. It makes the pages and book a little thicker but overall not too full. I love that our souvenirs and trinkets from our time traveling is all right there in one place.

Pictured above is the layout I made and had printed. Pictured below is after I got the book back and used double sided tape to attach postcards and receipts onto the pages.

The circle space needle sticker was even more fun to place partially on top of the printed photo in the book. I've never really thought about shopping for stickers while on my travels but you can bet your bottom dollar that's what I'll be keeping an eye out for on my future travels.

I am the crazy person who also saves metro cards and plane tickets, so you probably guessed that I stuck those into the book as well. It's a fun time stamp of how we traveled from sight to sight.

Year in school paper organizing.

2018-06-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

For the last few years I've been dumping all the school papers, art projects and other misc things the boys make into a basket throughout the school year. In June, when all the papers we could possibly ever want come home, I sort through the basket of papers. I'm not going to lie- it takes hours of my time and energy. Not the sorting so much, but the thought that I'm not saving the right stuff. Now that the boys are older I ask their input on what I MUST save and what they want to throw away. They're very insightful and for the most part it's me who feels it all must be saved. I photographer a lot of the art so I can make copies or prints if it's really special.

Top is before I started, below is after I got it down. I actually doesn't look sugneicantly smaller but there was a LOT that got tossed.

When the pile it seriously smaller and easier to manage I file it away into a file box. I started these boxes after my oldest finished 1st grade. Now that he just finished 4th grade I had to upgrade the size of his box. I keep a lot more of his younger years stuff. I find that I keep less and less as he grows. I also realized there's less artwork that comes home with each passing year. That actually makes me a little sad because he is so creative and LOVES art.

I'm glad to have things organized and put away. If they grow up and toss it, I might be sad. But its fun to look at how their hand writting has changed over the years and what they art is turning into.

Garage sale stool

2018-06-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

I went garage saleing with my husband back in May and we found this metal stool. It was only $3 so I spent the money and snapped it up. I think my husband wasn't sure why I wanted it but I knew with a tiny bit of paint it would be a fun stool for the art desk I painted last fall (which I might not have even blogged about).

I went with a sunny yellow to complement the blue painting desk.

An easy project but I do need to get better about waiting till all the paint it dry before moving on. I tend to rush the drying process and it never fails that I leave a finger print or two in the wet paint.

Office Chair Re-upholstered...

2018-03-28T18:00:00.001-07:00

My Husband has an office chair that he bought in a silent auction when we were dating or shortly after we got married (it's been a long time). He LOVES his awesome desk chair, and I don't really blame him- it's super comfy. Well the seat cushions have seen better days and were starting to rip, fade and become altogether dingy.

On a whim one day he decided to take the chair apart to see how easy it would be to re-upholster the cushions. Of course taking it apart was the easy part. Since he doesn't sew, he then needed my help to make the chair beautiful again. He kindly bought all the supplies and then waited (and waited) for me to get around to the sewing part. A few weeks of gentle nagging and I finally found some time to get the job done.

I'm no expert but I used the existing cushions as a guide and did the best I could. It was my first time ever using stray adhesive, or thin foam or even this stitch.

The stitch I used had to go over the cording but not sew into the cord so that I could pull the cord through the thread and have it cinch the cushion over the plastic seat parts. Very interesting but it worked really slick.

Once the cushions were snug on the plastic chair pieces they snapped right back into the grooves of the chair. It was pretty awesome to see the transformation. I didn't take a before shot of the yellow dirty chair, but here's the new orange office chair.

Pink Leg Warmers...

2018-03-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Back in November I started this project. It wasn't a hard project it I just didn't really have a lot of motivation to finish them. Fast forward to February when I finally finished them. My son wore them once and hasn't wanted to wear them since. I'm not sure why- I made them just for him the way he wanted them. Some projects are just like that.

Here's his pink leg warmers/ yoga socks in pictures and the pattern:

PATTERN
I cast on 64 stitches. Joined the stitches for working in the round and then made a *Knit 4, purl 4* 2 inch ribbing. I wanted a new challenge so after the ribbing was 2 inches from cast on I started to make a rick rack rib stitch in the round.

Rick Rack Rib stitch:

Round 1: *Purl 1, skip the first stitch, knit in the back loop of the second stitch (do not slip this stitch off the needle), knit into the front loop of the first stitch and now slip both knitted stitches of the needle; repeat from * to end of the round.

Round 2: *Purl 1, skip the first stitch, knit in the front loop of the second stitch (do not slip this stitch off the needle), knit into the front loop of the first stitch and now slip both knitted stitches from the needle; repeat from * to end of the round.

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 to the desired height.

I forgot to write down the pattern as I was making it up, but after the pink measured 12 inches I cast off 34 stitches, leaving a little less than half (30 stitches) on the needle. Then I cast on 26 with my main color (pink). I joined the stitches for working in the round again and *knit 4, purl 4* rib with my second color (purple) till the ribbing was 2 inches. I cast off all the stitches and wove in all the loose ends.
END PATTERN

I didn't even have the time or energy to take really fancy photos either. These we took really fast in the front entry on the dirty floor with my iphone camera. C'est la vie

Though I felt disappointed having made something he hasn't really worn much yet, there was one awesome thing that did come out of this knitting project: I convinced my son (who I was making the leg warmers for) to read aloud to me while I knit. It became a nightly routine until I was finished this project. It was a wonderful bonding time and I hope we can continue it into the future.

A rattle for a new baby...

2018-02-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

One weekend I just happened to stumble upon the most adorable knitting patterns for stuffed animals. I've never tried knitting a stuff toy before but they were too cute not to buy the pattern and try. I bought the Wasabi pattern for the little whale.

It took me a couple tries to get it started correctly but then it was super fun to see it come together pretty quickly.

I decided to not use button eyes like the pattern called for because I didn't want them to fall out or be a choking hazard to the baby. So I stitched the eyes. As I was finishing the eyes I realized I could add a few little bells inside to change it from just a stuffed toy to a rattle for the baby. Oh I was so excited about this idea.

I finished it up just in time to give it to my son's teacher for her baby shower gift. She has been amazing this year, encouraging my son to thrive in her classroom. I don't want her to leave before the end of the school year but am excited she'll get to snuggle with her first child. We'll miss her loving care but it'll all work out fine.

A New Quilt for baby...

2018-01-13T12:11:00.001-08:00

My cousin had a baby shower back in July and as a gift I decided to make her a quilt for her new baby. Of course, it took a while to get things worked out as far as color, design and ordering the fabric. So it wasn't till New Years Eve that it was finally finished and I could take it to her.

My cousin and her Husband both enjoy fishing and hunting. With my twin sisters help we found a bit of inspiration to use that in our design. I even had an extra arrow started that when we were putting the quilt together, when it wasn't need on the quilt top I threw together a quick quick pillowcase to store it in. I love making these cases for smaller quilts, because when we travel we love pillows as much as warm blankets. We take the quilt out and stuff a jacket inside when we want both a pillow and a blanket.

The arrow heads were a bit tricky but eventually we got the look we wanted.

I love all the textures on the quilt. The backing is a very soft fuzzy material, the edging is satin and the cotton piecing on the front is matte.

Baby A seemed to love it right away and even took a nice warm nap in my arms wrapped in its coziness. Hooray for handmade gifts.

From Rack to Open Wardrobe

2017-07-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I worked at a school this past year and it was so much fun. At the end of the year all the teachers were organizing their rooms and cleaning things out. One item that was up for grabs was from the Kindergarten teacher I worked with. It was a rack she didn't need anymore. I grabbed for my sister initially. My sister is amazing at looking at something and seeing its full potential. She didn't want it for anything but maybe a garage sale clothes rack. Then it hit me how I could use it for all my clothes. Our closet/ drawer system isn't working for me and I needed a change.

Here's how the rack looked after I sprayed it black.

Then I started thinking about more storage... like shoes. Where can I hide those (not that I have too many). A box! I grabbed some 1/2 inch birch plywood from the garage stash and started constructing a box that would rest on the two lower bar supports.

I stained it in a limed oak stain, which is pretty much a white stain, but I loved it next to the black metal. The two side pieces to keep it from tipping off were a bit tricky but it worked with the bar up the middle. Here it is empty... we're waiting for new carpet so ignore the bare cement floors pictured.

Then I went to the container store (love that place!) to buy a few bins to organize it all. I think this is most of my clothes and all my shoes (you can't even guess where they're hiding- but they are there).

I'm so excited to have everything all in one place. Of course there are a few boxes with my winter/ seasonal things put away for the summer, but I'm happy to keep things simple. Too many clothes and I'd be lost for what to wear. These are all the pieces I wear constantly/ daily and have no need for much more than this.

I am a BAKER

2017-07-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

I am a Baker! Can't cook a meal but I love to bake. My family has been watching The Great British Bake Off show together and we are all enthralled. I made my first ever Angel food cake the other day and shared it with the neighbors. I failed to get the two piece pan and lost a little bit of the top of the cake when trying to get it out of the one piece angel food cake pan. Other than that it didn't turn out half bad. I didn't have the almond extract this recipe called for but it was pretty yummy.

Today I baked Ebleskivers and my oldest was all about what we could fill them with. He was also all about the dusting of powered sugar on top "just like the British Bakers do on the show".

After making the angel food cake I now know a lot more about stiff egg whites and how to get all that lovely air into my baking. I used this recipe for my Ebelskivers and they were fantastic!

We made some filled with a strawberry glaze left over from the angel food cake.

And some filled with chocolate chips which melted into yummy pillows of goodness.

I haven't baked in a while and I have missed it. Needless to say, the Great British Bake off has us all inspired to do more baking. Can't wait for our next yummy creation.

Refinished old school desks

2017-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our basement had a bit of a flood when I tried to fill the pool for the summer. Needless to say our house is in upheaval and half our stuff is in the garage. Meanwhile I thought I'd paint stuff I've been meaning to paint for a while now. We got these two old school desks for free or very little money a couple of years ago. At the time I thought how cool it would be to paint them, but never got around to it. UNTIL NOW!!

I had the boys wash their desk and then we went to the store to pick out paint colors. Not exactly the colors I would have chosen but its their personal homework desk so I said "whatever you want". We sanded the deck and chair of one desk because it was real wood. I decided to cover the wood and wait to stain it till after all the paint was on the metal. Then it was a lot of spraying and waiting... more spraying and more waiting.

I had a limed oak stain (which is white stain) left over from another project yet to be blogged about so we used that on the wood. I love the white with the vibrant colors. I put at least three coats of poly over the top of the stain to make it really smooth and durable.

The other desk had a laminate desk top which we washed but left alone, a wooden chair seat and a plastic back. I decided to just stray paint the wood seat and the plastic back to match each other and the inside of the desk. I'm not loving the desk top color but on the whole it looks better than it did.

I love how the desk turned out. More importantly the boys both are thrilled with their "new" desks.

Baby's Cloud Hat

2017-06-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Last month I started working on a pair of baby mittens for a baby shower gift. The yarn was so super soft and the color was beautiful. I used this pattern and they turned out wonderful.

After the mittens were finished I decided to make a matching baby hat. Scrolling through the thousands of choices that are available online I decided to combine a few different patterns to make it my own. Plus I really wanted to try something a little different than just a stripe (like I did on the mittens). I began with a piece of graph paper to see my design and stitch count.

I was terribly scared to begin and I actually ripped it out once because it was too tight. I also wasn't doing the stranding every few stitches, so the backside of my knitting looked awful. The second time I kept the floating yarn super loose and did more stranding to contain the floats. It looked way nicer. I'm very pleased with the results.

This is the Pattern that I wrote down. (it might not be 100% complete)

Baby Cloud Hat Pattern
size 3 months to 6 months
US size 4 double pointed needles

Cast On 96 stitches
divide evenly on three needles and join for working in the round
*K4, P4* for 12 rounds
Knit in the round for 17 rounds
Knit cloud pattern for the next 10 rounds (catch the floating yarn every 5-6 stitches and keep the floats loose)
Knit till the hat measures 5" from cast on
Start Decrease:
Place a marker every 12 stitches
Decrease round: * K to 2 stitches before the marker, K2tog repeat from * to beginning of round
Plain round: Knit all stitches
Alternate a decrease round with a plain round until there are only 6-8 stitches left (K2Tog) 3-4 times, move the last stitches to one needle and work icord for 3-4 inches. Cast off, weave in ends and tie knot in icord.

Mittens for Me

2017-04-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Okay Long story short... I bought one beautiful skein of yarn when I was visiting my cousin in January 2016. I a bunch of ideas what I could do with it but for the life of me could not decide. Then as the cooler weather of fall approached I started looking at mitten patterns. The yarn was so pretty and expensive(!) that I didn't want to mess it up or not love the finished project.

Having just finished my niece's toddler mittens I thought I could pull these off and started by using this pattern. I modified it right away because I wanted a small stitch. So instead of size 7 needles I used US 4.

Because I have bigger hands I kept modifying the pattern. Thankfully I made lots of notes because I love how they turned out. And because the yarn is 100% merino wool they are nice and warm. Also very soft and cozy too. I've worn them all winter (which is why they're a little dirty looking in the photos). I finally got around to taking pictures last week.

I also did not like how the pattern I started with finished the finger and thumb. So I used more of this pattern to finish the mittens.

All in all I LOVE my new(er) mittens. I hope to make another pair for next year but they'll be double layered for those really cold Minnesota days.

Toddler Mittens...

2016-11-05T18:35:00.001-07:00

I started these in September for my Niece's birthday present. I hoped they wouldn't take too long as her birthday was actually in the month of September. All too often life happens and knitting gets put on the back burner. Well I picked them up again this week and was able to finish them. Hooray and Happy belated birthday to my Niece who can now wear them before it snows.

I used a modified version of this pattern: the Margot Mittens on Ravelry.

My first attempt was a bit too small and the thumb was way too skinny & long. So I looked at this pattern to help me adjust it ever so slightly to make the corrections: Grammy's Mittens on Ravelry.

The cord is just an i-cord and I picked up stitches from the first glove to start it and then cast on stitches for the second glove so that it was one continuous strand of yard. Hopefully it's strong enough not to break at the hands of my niece.

Now to try them on her and hope they actually fit this time!

A new winter hat

2016-09-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

My youngest occasionally gets the short end of the straw when it comes to handmade items. He gets hand-me-down handmade things that I at one point made for his big brother. Well, in an attempt to rectify the situation, I started knitting him a new hat. He got to tell me exactly how he'd like to to look and feel. I was able to make him smile big time with this new hat:

I used this pattern on Raverly.com. Instead of an icord cast on, I tried my hand at a provisional cast on. I also switched it from being fully lined to only lined around his ears like a ear muff or headband (similar to this hat pattern).

He was so excited he didn't want to take it off, even though it was a warm summer evening. His dad finally convinced him to take it off because I wanted a picture of the inside of his new hat.

So happy when projects work and make my kids smile!

A new skirt for myself

2016-08-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

I bought this fabric a while ago from Spoonflower.com. I love that web site and always get sucked into all the beautifully designed fabric.They happened to have a huge sale on modern Jersey knit fabric which is usually $26.50 a yard (eek). I got mine yard for half off. But it was so pretty I had no idea what I should do with it. I recently went shopping and found a simple skirt that I now love. I used it for a pattern to make another this this wonderful fabric.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I enjoy the softness and the stretch that it has.

Now I'm thinking I need more Spoonflower modern jersey knit fabric to make a few more.

Thanks to my 8 year old for taking these photos. He listened to my directions and did a pretty great job. I might need to hire him more often!

A scrunchy hat

2016-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love making things for people. My kids are usually the recipients of my handmade goodies. But my husband has been saying he'd love for me to knit him a hat. I love that he would wear something made by me, even if my projects occasionally turn out a little quirky.

My husband's not one to take pictures and this hat has been down for a while now, so I asked my son if he wouldn't mind modeling it for me so I could blog about it.

I know my husband would have eventually and he is actually excited to wear it once the weather turns a little colder.

He asked for a scrunchy hat. I wasn't sure I knew exactly what he wanted, so we looked at pictures until I got the idea. Then he was patient enough for me to measure and test it out on his head several times before getting it just the right size.

I didn't follow a pattern but made it up as I went. I'm glad it actually looks lovely and didn't end up with any quirks.

Here's what I wrote down for my pattern. I used a 16" circular needle, US size 4

-Cast on 176 stitches
-Create 44 ribs: *K4 P4* repeat ribbing pattern in the round till it measures 1 1/2" from cast on
-Knit all rounds till it measures 8 1/2" from cast on
-Start Decrease: place four markers equally (every 44 stitches)
K next round to 2 stitches before the first Beginning of Round (BOR) marker
Round one: *K2 together, slip marker, SSK- knit to 2 stitches before next maker*
Round two: Knit round until 2 stitches before BOR marker

-Repeat Round one & two decrease. Switch to double pointed needles when needed. Continue decrease till 6 stitches between each marker remain. K2 together every round till only 8 stitches remain total. Cut tail and finish.

Yoga Pants

2016-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

My 8 year old son loves all things comfy, soft and cozy. He almost never wears jeans, even though he has a drawer full of unworn jeans in a variety of colors. It was my goal before school starts to either buy or make him some new pants to wear so we could stop fighting about appropriate public attire.

I found some soft knit fabric and decided to make a pair of pants using a comfy pair I knew he liked wearing. Of course, my first attempt didn't work out quite as I had planned. They ended up a bit skinnier than I hoped and a little wonky with the red cuffs. I even broke my double needle just before finishing so I had to improvise with a single needle in my machine.

Thankfully my son saw them, slipped them on and announced they were perfect. He said they were like yoga pants and decided his favorite part was the red cuffs. Who would have thought... a compliment from him is a rare occasion these days!

New Pants for my Bunny Loving 8 year old

2016-08-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

My oldest is obsessed with bunnies. He reads about them, talks about them, and really, really wants to own one. I'm not ready for that kind of commitment but I did agree to make clothes with bunnies on them. Finding bunny fabric was actually slightly easier than I thought it would be. There's a lot of bunny fabric online, but locally we had to hunt for it. Eventually we found a few fabrics that met his exacting standards. (no foxes cause they eat bunnies. No other animal can be on the fabric if that animal also eats bunnies. Pink is his favorite color but he would consider other colors if the bunny was super cute or the fabric was really soft.)

I think I did pretty good. Four new pair of pants and three of them have bunnies on them. The first pair is a flannel (super soft fabric) with bunnies on a grey background.

Then my sister helped me find this mint bunny fabric and I added the coral pinstripe down the side. (I wasn't planning on the pinstripe but I didn't buy enough fabric and had to make what I had wider to fit the pattern.)

My favorite pair are these blue bunny pants with Jackalope knee patches. He saw these ones and excitedly screamed out "I didn't know these had JACKALOPES on them!! I love them." (to which my heart melted cause I knew they weren't his favorite color but secretly hoped he'd still love them like I did.)

Lastly, these don't have bunnies but they do have lots of pink on them. It's a pink cardboard city fabric with a grey pinstripe. He told me he liked them because they were pink, but also because he could copy the way they build the cardboard city to make one his size to go into. (Just as soon as we save up enough cardboard.)

I think he's pretty happy with all my hard work. I made them a skinny size 9 using the parsley pant pattern by Rae. I added an extra 2" to the bottom of the pattern thinking I'd be able to hem them twice and let them down when he grew taller. Unfortunately they fit him to a T with just one hem. I'm just hoping he doesn't grow too fast.

More Hats...cause they're quick

2016-04-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

My Sister asked if I could knit a few Pointy elf Hats for her. She wanted them for gifts to friends of hers who would soon have babies. We went to the craft store one evening and gathered the right amount of yarn. It didn't take too long and the yarn magically turned into five pointy elf hats.

Well I wish it was magic, but when I'm knitting with size 13 needles these do tend to go rather quickly compared to my current project that I'm knitting with size 4 needles.

I love the color in the multicolored yarn and that it made stripes. I've never knit with multicolored yard before because I feel it's a little less predictable than solid color, but it turned out fun.

The purple hats I played around with patterns. I liked this last pattern quite a bit. I think I'll use it again in the future. I hope all those small heads enjoy their new hats!

A Cat hoodie for a friend

2016-01-11T12:16:00.001-08:00

I've been learning how to make friends from my two sons. It is really as simple as just saying "hi". So this past year I made some new friends, both young and old. My friend E is currently 5 1/2 years old. She reminds me a lot of my older son. They have a lot of similar personality traits. Perhaps that's why we've connected so well with her family. Her mom and I have become good friends and I'm lucky to know them all.

Well, just before Christmas I was out shopping and I happened to find cat fabric. I actually found quite a LOT of cat fabric of varying styles and prints. My friend E loves cats, so I couldn't resist buying a little bit of bold cat fabric to make her something. I started by pairing it with some purple fabric I had in my stash to make her a hoodie.

Then because there was just enough left over, I attempted to make a cat print skirt. It was going to be a little short, so I added a purple waistband to hold the elastic and add length.

I gave it to her just before Christmas. Although her initial reaction was that she couldn't have cared less (my typical reaction to things sometimes- so I get it), her mom later sent me these photos of her loving it. Hooray. Cat outfit complete!

Blank Books for school

2016-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I go into my kids school about once a week to help out in various classrooms. I enjoy helping the teachers with projects they have: cutting, organizing, sorting things. My son's teacher from last year has become a good friend of mine and I probably help her out the most. She had me organizing her paper cupboard one day and I found a bunch of colorful paper. It had printing on half the sheet so it was no longer a blank sheet. It was getting close to Christmas so I asked if I could take the paper home to make each of her students books as a present. She said that would be perfect because they would soon be writing their own stories.

I started folding and sorting the books right away. After a weekend of hand sewing them together, I had 25 colorful books to give back to the class. I love these easy handmade story books and can't wait to see some of the stories the kids fill them with.

Scrappy Hat

2015-12-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

I started to knit a sweater in October. It was on size 4 needles, which take forever to make progress. I finally made it to the armpits (knitting from the top down) and decided I better try it on to see if it fit right. NOPE... it was a little too small and had made a pretty big mistake reading the pattern. Time to give up... for now.

To make myself feel better, I grabbed all my chunky yarn and a set of big size 13 needles. I whipped a colorful pointy Elf Hat in just a few hours. Whew- something completed. That always feels nice.

I personally didn't love it, but my son told me it was "the best hat in the whole world!". We decided to give it to his art teacher at school for her little boy. She loved it and that makes me happy.

Colorful Pants...

2015-12-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Last post about my cousins fabric... promise. I just couldn't send her a package with a bunch of stuff of her youngest without finding at least one thing to make for her oldest. Since he and my oldest are only a year apart and close to the same size, I knew what size to make. I had to make what fabric I did have large enough to cut out the pattern, which is why there's extra wide "pin strips" down the sides of the pants. But I kind of really like them that way.

I made sure to add pockets for him, cause colorful pants need fun pockets.

Then I asked my son to try them on. They're big on him, so I'm hoping they'll be just right for my cousin's oldest. I love the colors and the super comfy flannel fabric. Here's to fun, bold, exciting new Pants.