WIP

The longies are (very slowly) coming along. They don't look like much right now, though.



I've also been working on my Artful Stone Swap. I have to save them for when the Imp isn't around, though. He loves rocks. He also loves throwing. This is a bad combination.

As if that weren't enough, I've joined a "Waldorf Stocking Stuffer" swap through a Yahoo group. I'm making ten wee felted tree stumps. They need to have been received by the host by December 1st. I'm not feeling rushed... yet. It'll come.

Any sane person would stop there. Me? I'm wondering how I can find some more wonderfully crafty people to swap with.

Blergh.

This weekend has been.. rough.

I officially give up on attempting knitting patterns where a rectangle is supposed to magically transform into a cute, little animal. They don't work for me. I simply can't make them correctly. This duck that I've been working on.. it's sad. Very sad. So sad that I'm not going to take a picture of it. I'm not even sure I'll ever get around to adding a beak because it's just so not worth it at this point.

And the longies. Oy, the longies. Let me say this right now: I hate knitting swatches. Period. Ugh. I have so little time in which to knit that it seems like an enormous waste of time. Especially when I end up with the exact gauge that the label said I would. Don't get me wrong, I see the merit and value in knitting swatches. I just don't have the patience for it. So. Swatch completed I was faced with changing needle size and knitting another swatch or line-by-line calculations. Math is right up there with swatches for me. But in this case, math won. With the patient help of TheSittingTree, my step-mother, and my husband I managed to figure this out. I think. We'll see.

Right. So knitting did not agree with me this weekend. Here's hoping this week is better.

{this moment} - painting

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

Swap and a finished project!

I received a lovely, lovely swap package from TwoLittleSeeds this week.



In it were three packages - each labeled for one of my kids. And a yummy smelling tea bag for me!

The Elf:


The Beast:


The Imp:


The Imp didn't want to wear his the day it came. So the Beast wore it. But today, fresh from the laundry basket the Imp requested the "buttons!" and so I was able to photograph him.

The Elf has been watching me knit and craft things for other people. One day he inquired why I hadn't made something for him yet (let's ignore for a moment that I haven't made anything for myself, either). So I had him look through some books of patterns that I'd gotten from the library. He chose a caterpillar finger puppet from this book. Being the kid that he is, I suggested things we could do to make it more to his taste. We settled on an alien puppet. He requested three red eyes and two antennae. I think the middle eye looks more like a nose, but he's pretty happy with it. Also, it's more of a several-finger puppet. Oops.



And now to go work on my other two in-progress knitting projects!

I keep meaning to post about the amazing giveaway over at The Sitting Tree. It's open for another couple of hours. Hurry over and leave a comment here to win some lovely patterns (and yarn to complete them!).

Catch up and {this moment}

I've been slacking with the posting and image editing this week. So now I think I may try and compress it all into one post.

Let's see. Over a week ago the older boys and I painted blotter paper leaves. We tried several different methods and none of them worked exactly as I thought they would, but fun was had all the same.



I finished the dolls for my swap with TwoLittleSeeds and moved on to my swap with OutsideCat. I thought I'd do a quasi step-by-step photo thing. Of course, once I started adding color I sort of forgot to stop and take pictures. Oops.



I started out with a simple rolled piece of plain wool and felted it until it was firm and the right size.



Add four rolled cones. It's okay if they seem a little long or thin. When you add color it tends to thicken and shorten them. It gets shorter because it becomes more densely felted. I find it hard to do more than tack the original cones together.



Stick the cones on and there you go! A ghostly tree stump. Add color - dark for the bark and twisted lighter wool in a spiral pattern to make a tree ring-like pattern. And there you go!



I didn't take progress pictures of the mushroom house. So all you get is the finished product for now.





And finally. My moment. Which I'm going to cheat and explain. Two years ago (or so) we rescued a kitten being bled to death by fleas outside. We nursed him back to health and he's a happy, fluffy Faustus now. His litter-mate was not so easy to catch. In fact, we never did. He's a gorgeous feral fellow that I've named Constantine. In the past couple of months he's gotten more comfortable with us and is often seen in our driveway (when he isn't chowing down on the food we put out for him).

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.



Whew. The end. For now!

Serenity

For my niece's 13th birthday I made a knitted firefly ship.



It taught me a lot. I knit the whole thing on a circular needle using the magic loop technique. I was supposed to hold the yarn doubled but I really didn't want to try figuring that one out. I suspect that would account for the larger holes where you can see the stuffing peeking through.



When she opened it today at her party, my niece had no idea what it was. I'll be honest and tell you that my heart fell a bit. Her mother (my sister) had no idea, either. When I told them, they were all oohs and aahs. I think it's possible that my sister greatly overstated her family's interest in Firefly. Or maybe when my family geeks out, we really geek out.



My step-mother and the other knitters and creative types all thought it was amazing. I think it was mostly because it's only the second pattern I've ever tried - which I'm told is adventurous for a beginner. Maybe I was supposed to stick to flat things? My whole motivation for learning to knit was so that I could make toys for the kids.



In any case, I am pleased with how it turned out. After a few more interestingly shaped toys maybe I'll be able to design Moya and some DRDs (since I haven't come across a pattern already in existence). Mmmm. Farscape.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

WIP and a swap.

My oldest niece is a recent fan of Firefly. Her thirteenth birthday is coming up and her party is this weekend. What do you gift a newly turned teenager who doesn't seem to have many interests beyond video games? Well, you knit Serenity, of course!



This is just the "head" of the ship. I've gotten the body done since then and am currently attempting the tail. It's been an adventure.
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The lovely TwoLittleSeeds graciously agreed to a swap with me. Here are two of the three dolls that will be headed her way (the third hasn't been started yet).



The hat for this orange gnome was improvised from the pattern at Plain and Joyful Living and a child's hat pattern I found on Ravelry. I like that the hat is super long and skinny with a slight curl.



This one I'm not too sure about. I think I may have put the arms on too low. This was also my first attempt at hair. I used the tutorial at Wee Folk Art. I'm not sure I have the patience for doing it too often.

With luck I'll make it to the library tonight where two books with knitted toy patterns await me! Of course, I won't be able to knit anything from them until the third doll and Serenity are done. But it'll be fun to plot and plan.

{this moment} - a happy mess

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

Second Birthday.

Yesterday was the Imp's second birthday. It's hard to believe that he's only been a part of our family for two years. But here he is, eighteen pounds heavier and much more mobile. And still my sweet little monkey.





Rainy weather kept us from our playground plans. Instead we followed an adventurous little boy through the mall and later all over the library. For lunch we treated ourselves to pizza and pasta at a little pizzeria we discovered recently. To my surprise, the Imp even ate a fair amount.

A few (mostly ignored) gifts were given. I did not manage to make a special dessert (he doesn't really care for cake) nor did I manage a special beeswax birthday candle. I waited too long to get started on these things. It doesn't help that the Imp doesn't yet understand birthdays. He honestly had no idea that yesterday was special in any way. B, my husband, doesn't celebrate birthdays much. He'll go along with what I plan but in truth he thinks it's all silly and pointless. I won't lie and tell you that it doesn't hurt, because it does. It's just one of those things that we don't see eye to eye on. I try to tell myself that it's because he didn't carry this life for nine months. I tell myself that if he'd been on my side of the birthing, maybe it would be more significant to him instead of viewing it as a merely "physical process" as he does.

But no matter. Starting now, I'm going to celebrate birthdays the way I choose to (with the kids' wishes taken into consideration, of course). I will knit birthday crowns and decorate birthday candles. And I will not let the ambivalence of anyone drag me down. I grew these kids, I labored to bring them into this world, and I will celebrate that.

On a less ranty note, here is the knitted doll I made for the Imp. He doesn't care much as yet, but yesterday was a big day for him - lots of activity and a missed nap.



I made it using this pattern just as I did the smaller doll. This one was the twelve inch doll - though I haven't measured it to see if that is accurate. It did take more than one skein of yarn, though. I used smaller needles than it wanted because I felt that there were too many gaps in the stitches of the smaller doll (that could have been user error, I admit). I have plans to make a hat for it.



My seams still need work. This one looks better than the small doll at least.

{this moment} - in which I cheat

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

These two moments were nigh simultaneous.




(The Beast tries to suck his thumb and nurse at the same time. It's adorable. And completely counterproductive.)

Knitted dolls

Thanks to the great folks at Wee Folk Art I was able to fulfill a deep desire to knit a toy for my kids. I used their instructions to make a five inch doll.



I probably should have stuffed it more. And I've learned some things about sewing knitted pieces and following patterns. I've also learned that I shouldn't knit in the car while talking to my husband - I sometimes forget to pay attention to whether I should be knitting or purling.



Of course, that hasn't stopped me from starting a twelve inch doll for the Imp's second birthday (in just one week!). The above photo is just one leg of the doll. It's going to be a tight fit on these needles.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

First Knitting Project.

We've all been a bit "under the weather" here. And it's a shame because the weather has been beautiful. It's finally cooling down here in North Florida (hey, it's only been in the low 90's!). Between bouts of nose-blowing and toddler soothing I managed to finish up my first knitting project over the weekend. I recall there being some small interest on how I was going to turn a rectangle into a bowl, so I thought I'd document it. I can't say that it turned out exactly how I envision. But what ever does?



After a month or two of knitting (it's not easy when the toddler *really* wants your needles) I managed a rectangle. It's imperfect, but so am I.



With a tapestry needle I sewed it into a tube.



And then gathered one end.



This made a fairly impressive (and gigantic) bohemian hat. There was much playing for the rest of the night.



The next morning I tried my hand at felting in the washing machine. I'm not sure that I felted it enough and it definitely needs a shave.



It's furry, uneven, and has a hole in the bottom.



And yet it still makes a fairly impressive hat!

All in all it was an adventure. Despite the hole I think it'll serve it's purpose (to hold toys) well enough. My next bowl will be knit on circular needles. I may even attempt to follow a pattern!

Giveaway winner!

I meant to post this earlier but a house of sick little monsters (to speak nothing of the sick mama) has made that difficult. Not sure if there will be a {this moment} today, though.

The winner of the teeny stump and mushroom house is... Momma Rae! I'll be sending you an email soon to get your mailing address.

Thank you to everyone that entered. I look forward to hosting more giveaways in the future!

Also, just an update - Cynddl, our dog, is going to be okay. He doesn't even need one of those Victorian collars. They shaved him, though. So now our flat-coat (read: fluffy) lab-mix looks like a "normal" black lab!

The past twenty-four hours have not been so great. The Beast is unhappy due to immunizations (not to start a controversy here). Our dog, Cynddl, has an extremely serious infection and is at the vet right now. Things have just been... crazy.

On the up-side, I did get to relax for an hour yesterday. After the Beast's appointment he slept in the car while I knitted. We had an hour to kill before the breastfeeding support group started. It was quiet and so very, very nice.



But today that hour seems so far away. To cheer myself up I thought I'd post about the blocks we've finally started making for the Imp's birthday (can it really be just eighteen days away?). B used our new jigsaw while the Beast and I snapped photos from the window.



So here they are. We need a longer blade, possibly. And a more stable way to cut the thicker branches. We've been discussing vices and clamps. We're not power tool savvy, so there's a defiite learning curve here. I've only peeled and sanded the one block. But I think it looks handsome all polished up next to it's unfinished kin.



And don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. I'll be picking a winner after midnight - preferably in the morning after I've had some coffee!

Window Stars.

For my step-mother's birthday I decided to try my hand at making Waldorf-style window stars. We don't have any kite paper, so we just used tissue paper. I wanted the Elf to try it out. He did, but it wasn't fun for him. Too fiddly. He doesn't have a great deal of patience. I hope to try this again with him, though - maybe it'll help him.

I used three tutorials to base our experiments on: GardenMama's, Duo Fiberworks, and Twig and Toadstool. I also looked at a whole mess of images on flickr.

Here are the ones we gave her.









The multi-colored one was folded by the Elf, though he asked me to glue it for him. I'm going to make some more for us to hang in our windows. I suspect they will look quite nice.

{this moment} and a giveaway!

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.



I've been talking about a giveaway for a while. Well, I think I'm finally ready for it. Lately I have been fortunate enough to win several giveaways and this is my way of repaying that luck and kindness.





The mushroom house is about five inches tall and about five inches wide. It is hollow with no floor and the roof comes off. The roof is covered in one of my favorite dyeing mistakes. I was aiming for brown and ended up with a gorgeous burnt orange (my favorite color!). The details are done in yarn from a surprise box (well, actually bits from two boxes) I purchased from Farm Fresh Fibers.



The scale is off, obviously. Unless it's a world with super-huge mushrooms.. or really tiny trees.



The brown wool on the stump was purchased from Smoky Mountain Fibers. She was great with helping me decide which shade of brown would be perfect for needle felting a tree. She even went so far as to let me combine two shades in one purchase. Yippie! The stump is about one and a half inches tall and three inches wide at the widest point. Warning: all meaurements were done based on a piece of paper I'm fairly certain is four inches long - spatial relations is not my specialty.

So here's the skinny. These two needle felted creations want a new home. It doesn't matter where you live or whether you follow this blog. Just leave a comment between now and midnight on September 9th. I'll announce the winner on Friday the 10th. Please make sure I have some way to contact you either in your comment or on your profile. Thanks and good luck!