Archives

As part of my projects for moving, I set a goal to go through all of my old photos, at least for the last several months. I try to stay on the ball for making photo books for Christmas, but this year I have gotten REALLY behind! As a result, I came across oodles of photos of projects I've never posted or haven't listed on my Etsy shop. I will try to archive some of these projects for you today. Be prepared for LOTS of photos...

 

These fun hats were the original project I started with this yarn, that soon turned into an elf hat as well as a granny square afghan. I saw this cute post on Pinterest and had to make them for my boys' 1st birthday (and all subsequent birthdays in the family, so far...). They are tiny hats, and I didn't line them with any cardboard or anything, but they do the job. If the boys would only sit still, they would stay on just fine... ;-)

The next project is a baby blanket for one of those ethereal "girls" everyone keeps talking about ;-) My good friend from church had a precious little gal named Evelyn, so I thought I would use up some of the more feminine yarns I was given by another friend to make this, based on another pattern I saw on Pinterest. This blanket took AGES to complete, based on the fact it was in stockinette and the yarn was SO tiny to knit with. I would be proud of myself for completing 4 rows while I pumped breastmilk overnight for my boys. I also wanted to personalize it a little for her, hence the tiny "E" in the corner. Overall, I think it turned out beautifully, but I don't know if I would want to tackle a project like this again for a while. I still have plenty of this yarn leftover, and many different colors, so I might knit a tiny sweater or two at some point, but I may have to do them in garter stitch...

Front view (knit stitch)

Back view (purl stitch)

 

The next project is a pair of cute Santa hats I made for the boys' 2nd Christmas. Luckily, they still fit this year, although I think I forgot to get them out, since we had a fairly mild winter. I used leftover Christmas tree skirt yarn and did one in stripes and 1 solid. 

Oh, that's right! This is why they didn't wear them this year: I made them new hats! That is one problem with being a crafter, there is always something new to make and try. My sister-in-law found these hats online, and thought they would be cute on the cousins, so I ended up making all 3 of these the week of Christmas this year, on a whim. I think they turned out super-cute though. My 2 kiddos are in blue and green, below.

 

Speaking of Christmas, as I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I barely had time to get the gifts finished I had planned on, with the addition of the cute hats above. I ended up sewing these cute booties together first thing Christmas morning for my sister-in-law, who ordered up a pair for her coworker last year. The cuffs are a little different, and these are a soft acrylic (she doesn't wear wool), but I think they turned out great, and she loved the red I picked for her.

  

Since I made the booties for her, I didn't have to worry about knitting up anything else except for these fun little scarves I found a pattern for at JoAnn's. They are call keyhole scarves, and I love that they don't come off easily! They are so quick and easy to make too. Everything is knit, and I just changed colors every other row. I had to buy some new Vanna's Choice to make good color combinations, but I've already been able to use much of it up with the projects I've done this year.

  

I made 2 scarves a fair bit shorter, so they would fit my little guys. These are perfect for those cold winter days when we're the only ones looking at the polar bear at the zoo!

  

I made Teeny's scarf out of 1 solid color to match his Denim Twist yarn slouchy hat. I've had this yarn forever, and just didn't know what to make with it. I finally decided to make him a cute little hat that should fit for at least a couple of seasons, a scarf, and, after buying another skein online, will have enough leftover to make a cute project for the baby. 

 

Bulldog is sporting a hat I intended to make for my hubby. It was my first attempt at Fair Isle knitting, and it turned out much smaller than I had hoped. Luckily, it fit him just fine. I used leftover Red Heart yarns from a couple of beards. I did end up making another one for my hubby, that fits much better.

 

I don't know about you, but I don't like to spend money on patterns that I can usually figure out myself, but sometimes you come across something that is just too good to pass up. These next 2 hats I actually paid for the pattern because I couldn't find anything that even came close online, and was in a bit of a crunch to get them done in time. The boys are OBSESSED with trains, and I found this cute little park in North Kansas City that runs an old KC Zoo train for pennies. It was just before the boys' 2nd birthday, and the theme was, of course, trains, so we hauled them all the way up there on a Sunday afternoon and rode the train for an hour on $5.00! I wanted to get some cute photos of the boys in their overalls and hats to put on their birthday invitations, and these hats turned out perfectly. Totally worth the money!

The next item is an all-white viking beard someone ordered from Etsy. Just wanted to share the variation.

The next project was part of our Halloween costume nearly 2 years ago, so I'm amazed I hadn't posted anything about it yet! These were "scoodies" I found on Pinterest and adapted to fit my little guys. We were Star Wars characters, if you couldn't tell. The tiny ears on the scoodies helped them look like Ewoks.

The next item is a bit nebulous. I had a fair bit of bulky wool leftover from my cap and scarf, and saw a cute newborn cocoon I wanted to try. I didn't think I would ever have a chance to use it (my hubby was pretty against growing our family any more), but I suppose now I can use it for the new dude.

 

The next item is actually the oldest project I have on this list. I made these before the twins were even born, maybe even before we planned to have kiddos. It's been a while. They are a set of 8 nesting bowls I found, again, on Pinterest. I've always intended to make little balls to use of the rest of yarn, and for the little people to toss into the bowls, but just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe by the time Blessing is old enough to use them...

 

The last of the "new" projects is this pair of mittens I made, using the Homespun I made my nephew's poncho out of. They turned out great, but it wasn't quite cold enough this winter to use them a whole lot. They are REALLY warm!

And what post isn't complete without a beautiful Scandinavian boy twirling in a beard and viking helmet his Mommy made? I love the joy on his face here. 

I still have several projects completed, or mostly completed, that I need to photograph, but I figured this was long enough for one post. Stick around to see photos of our new home transformation over the coming weeks! I'll be busy packing, moving, unpacking, and nesting, but I'll try to get some of the new stuff up too. Thanks for sticking with it all the way to the end!

It's a...

Boy!!! We had our 20 week ultrasound last week and found out our new addition is a healthy, strong, growing baby boy!! Of course, we're thrilled that he appears to be healthy at this point, but I was hoping just a bit that I would have an opportunity to make up some of the adorable little knit dresses I've been pinning on Pinterest. I guess I can still make them, and just post them and give them as gifts...if anyone I knew ever had girls! This will be the 13th boy born in a row on my Dad's side of the family, and 8 out of the last 13 were boys on my Mom's side. I told my hubby we'll just have to try again! (To which he replied, "Nuh-uh!!") He still really has a desire to have a little girl, but I just don't think he would ever be up to having that large of a family. We'll just have to see how this one goes...

We are nowhere near choosing a name for him yet, so we'll still call him Blessing until we figure out who he is.

I've been trying to wrap up my current projects so I can move on to bigger and better things, and this set is my most recent completion. I used Mosaic yarn, although I can't recall if it was Red Heart, Bernat, or something else. I had a couple of skeins of it I bought a few years ago, and finally started on the scarf over 1 year ago, but ran out of yarn before it was finished. I had it sitting in my knitting bag all this time. I ordered a couple more skeins from Etsy (I couldn't find it in stores anymore) about 6 months ago, finished the hat, and started on the fingerless mittens. I have had them sitting in my bag as well, while I've been working on baby items, waiting to match colors and get finished. I finished the ends and tucked in all the loose strings last week, and I think it makes a beautiful set.

I also made a couple of little hats for the baby, including the little lamb hat, but one of the hats was more feminine, since I had so much purple, and had pretty much convinced myself that we were having a girl. I got to make the hat again this week in a cute light blue, and all of it used up yarn I have in stock. Another opportunity for gift-giving...

One of the items I knew I wanted to make for this baby is a cocoon, and I found this beautiful pattern on Ravelry shortly after we found out we're expecting. I had a skein of the cream that hadn't been touched yet, so I bought two more to finish the project. Unfortunately, the original yarn was several years old and was apparently a different dye that has changed, so I ended up having 3 different shades of the same ivory in the cocoon. It wasn't even a cool "ombré" effect, so I had to go back to the store, buy 2 more skeins that matched the dye lot of 1 of the others, and start over. I had plenty of yarn leftover, so I found this great tutorial for a matching hat. Even though they're different shades, I don't think you'll notice when the pieces are on the baby.

My current projects are 2 different baby blankets, using essentially the same yarn. A few months ago, I was going to attempt to make an entrelac blanket, so I picked up 6 skeins of navy, teal, and purple (2 skeins each). I got bored with that idea, and after seeing how much the boys loved the granny square, I started on another one, using the purple as my base, and switching after 3 rounds. I worked on it for a few days, but it is slow going, so I decided to start another blanket for Blessing with the other 3 skeins. It will be a chevron ripple blanket, similar to the car blanket, with the same 3 colors. 

I figured having 2 blankets in the works was not such a bad thing, since we are taking a nice long car trip to Colorado next week, and I'll need something to work on that doesn't require a lot of pattern reading. I can work on the blankets without having to read anything, which will help with the motion sickness I'm sure will come and go with being in the mountains. I'm excited to have lots of time to crochet, and having something to help pass the time will be welcome. 

Since we'll be gone, I'll hopefully be back with some pretty photos of snow and mountains in a couple of weeks. Wish us luck with our 2 little guys, and a safe return next weekend!

A Rainy Day

I'm still playing catchup from my long absence, so I thought I would make another entry. It's been raining cats and dogs here the last few days, and watching the lightning outside tonight put me in the mood to write.

We don't have many girls in my family (there are 6 out of 22 grandchildren) and all of the babies born since I started knitting have been boys. Except one! My cousin's daughter recently gave birth to a tiny little girl, and the whole family couldn't have been happier. You should have seen all the ruffles and bows and pink and purple at the shower! Personally, I don't much care for those sorts of things, but I know there are those people out there that won't let their child put on anything unless it's covered in bows and glitter. 

So, when the new mother asked me to make a hat for her newborn pictures, I was happy to comply. I do have some pink yarn (it was given to me in a mixed bag), and she only wanted a little pink accent bow, so I still have plenty left...

I didn't have a pattern for the exact hat she wanted, so I took the photo and tried to find the closest thing I could. I added the bow (from this video tutorial) and crochet chain detail to this pattern and I think it turned out pretty close. I like the open weave of the body of the hat and can't wait to try this on a larger size someday. The precious sleeping baby makes it look even more adorable!

Little baby Wilson in her adorable little cap on the day she came home

As I mentioned, I still have plenty of the pink and white yarn, so I decided to make some matching little newborn mittens using this pattern. I like the set. I would like to make the mittens in a couple of other colors, maybe a really pale purple, and a soft baby yellow. Not that I have anyone to give them to at this time...

Mittens and cap in white and soft pink baby yarn

Since we don't have girls in the family, I have to live vicariously through my friends. I had two friends have baby girls over the last year as well, and I found a really cute and unique hat idea, using this pattern. The neat part about it is that you turn the finished product inside out! I thought that was clever, and not something you would normally think of. I also market the hat on my Etsy site as a tiny satchel, because once the little darling outgrows it, she can just tug on the drawsting to make a little pouch to house all her trinkets. I like the versatility :-)

Newborn textured baby hat/drawstring pouch

Since there are so many beautiful patterns and ideas out there for little girl items, I went a little crazy. I knew that one of my friends' little girls had no hair and that she was going to be wearing headbands and those little velcro bows on her fuzz for a while, so I had to test out a headband pattern as well. I didn't get a chance to see it on her, but I think because of the way it's made it would have stretched just fine. I had some bright pink leftover from the little Mary Jane's I made a while back, so I used it.

Little girls' headband in with Vanna's Choice in Pink Poodle

I think I'm pretty set on the little girl items for a little while. No one else I know is expecting, so I can concentrate on figuring out what to make for Christmas gifts, and the boys' birthday gift, which I'll write about soon. 

Have you found that your projects are a little one-sided on the gender scale?