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finished: kitty cat hat

hand knit hat

The Kittyville Hat is finished! This was a great pattern and I loved knitting with Noro.

I messed with the color changes a little bit to make sure there was enough pink, red and purple to make my daughter happy. (Yes, I know it’s really dark pink, but I sold it as red, which is her favorite color, so just go along with me, ok?)

Here it is in action:

hand knit hat

She loves the kitty ears and I love that her ears are covered. It’s a win/win! I’m currently working on a set of matching mittens and messing with the color changes even more. Thank goodness for spit and splice wool.

Pattern notes here.

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wardrobe refashion: puppy nightshirt

This nightshirt used to be a pair of pajamas. Repeated washings have caused them to shrink, but instead of getting smaller all over, they got shorter and wider. I tried to convince my daughter they were ready for the donate pile, but the “doggie pajamas are her most favorite.” She asked me if I could turn them into a nightshirt like her Mickey pajamas.

pajamas turned nightshirt

Since they were so wide, all I had to do was remove the elastic waistband, sew the pant legs into a tube, and attach them to the shirt. I added a rolled hem to the raw edge of the waist to match the shirt for a little more ruffle action: pink hem original, green hem mine.

pajamas turned nightshirt

technical note: I had a serious problem with skipping stitches on this project, no matter what my tension, regular or ball point needle, even different thread. When I switched to a muslin scrap the stitches were fine. I figured it must be the fabric so I tried putting a piece of paper tissue under the presser foot. It worked like a charm and the tissue tore away easily. I’m not sure where I first read this idea, but I’m glad I remembered it!

wardrobe refashion: I don’t think the life of these pajamas really need to be extended much longer. We’ve had them awhile and they are well loved. I’m curious how long they’ll last in their new form.

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fave crafts blog hop: finished baby sweater

Every Day is a New Sweater Day from Yarny Days

I did it! I finished the little sweater. I was really pleased with the pattern and my yarn choice. My only wish is that I could have blocked it before the shower. Oh, well. I’m sure no one else noticed.

details: Every Day is a New Sweater Day and Aunt Lydia’s denim quick crochet cotton from my thrifted stash.

Check out other finished projects over at the Fave Crafts blog.

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little blue box bag

blue box bag

Just a quick post today because I’m spending all of my free time working on the little baby sweater. (It’s about half finished. Completing it for Saturday just might be a realistic goal!)

A few months ago when my friend asked me if I wanted her odds and ends of yarn, I told her I’d make her a box bag in return. Of course, now that I’ve received the very large tote of goodies, I think I need to make something else for her, too. Maybe a matching tote bag? Hmmm…

stash: fabric, denim lining and zipper all from my thrifted stash.

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my creative space

crochet cardigan for baby

In my creative space today is a crazy idea. I’m thinking of making a baby sweater for a shower on Saturday. Yes, this Saturday. (I told you it was crazy.)

It also looks incredibly small. So small, in fact, that I dug out one of my daughter’s infant sweaters for comparison. You know what? It is the right size, and my daughter really was that tiny. Oh, my!

pattern: Every Day is a New Sweater Day from Yarny Days. If you are new to her blog, take a moment and look around. Her work is beautiful!

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paper cardinal ornament

cardinal ornament

Winter break + snow day = a very long time away from nature school. The kids will be studying the Northern Cardinal when they finally return and had homework over the holidays: choose either the male or female to study and make an ornament for the class tree. My daughter chose the female, which we learned is not the brilliantly red colored bird usually depicted as the cardinal.

I let her do this mostly by herself. I printed the template on cardstock and she cut out the pieces, colored them and glued them together. I helped her pry them apart so we could add the top feathers, legs and string and then we re-glued them together.

This was another exercise in letting go for me. I resisted trimming the blue template lines that are peeking out of the edges and adding more brown feathers. When I suggested a little more brown, she said the cardinal is “a little bit snowy.”

pattern template: I downloaded Purl Soho’s Simple Sewn Bird Ornament pattern for this project. Since we used paper and didn’t need a seam allowance, I just used the interface template. I printed the original and a mirror image for the other side. Paper, string, raffia all from the stash.

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handknit kittyville hat

hand knit hat

My daughter is wearing last year’s wool hat and mittens. I can’t believe they still fit — not much else from last winter does. With the cold weather officially upon us, I decided to knit a new set for her before she outgrows the ones she’s wearing now.

I started this over the weekend and I’m already picking up stitches for the ear flaps. This is my first time knitting with Noro and I have to say that I really love it. The colors are so brilliant!

pattern notes: This is the Kittyville Hat from Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. There is a child’s size version on Kitty Schmidt’s website. I’m replacing the devil horns on that link with kitty ears. Finished pics to come soon!

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jingle all the way…

My daughter found a loop of jingle bells at the coffee shop and insisted I buy them for her. They were kind of expensive for a handful of bells and very loud, as well. Thankfully, I convinced her that we could make our own jingle bells together. She was super excited when we found red bells at the craft store. “Red is my favorite color!” I stitched a little loop of fabric with some velcro and tada!

handmade jingle bells

I’ve been purposely slow on finishing this project. Four bells are plenty jingly and loud. I may add on a few more before packing them away for next year. Funny that they don’t sound as loud now as they did when we had rockin’ roll Christmas music playing in the house 24/7.

stash: red upholstery fabric left over from the rollie pollie. velcro from stash.

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my creative space

random odds and ends of yarn

In my creative space today is a big plastic tote’s worth of odds and ends. Literally. My friend Tana has saved all of the leftovers from her projects since she started knitting. (There’s a lot more than what’s pictured.) She was planning to donate them to the thrift store, but thankfully called me first.

All sorts of possibilities are running through my head. I’ll admit a lot of them are filled with some type of granny square. Can’t wait to dive in!

What’s happening in your creative space today?

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how to make mini race flags in 3 easy steps

race flag tutorial

My daughter didn’t ask for many things this Christmas. I wasn’t surprised a race track was one of the few items on her list, but I wasn’t expecting a request for a set of racing flags. I figured they’d be easy to make, but they couldn’t look homemade. They were coming from Santa, after all. These would make great gifts for the little racing fans in your life — girls and boys alike.

You’ll need a serger for this project. I suggest making a few sets at once. The project itself is super easy, but changing the serger thread is a bit time consuming. It’s definitely not a last minute Christmas Eve project, ahem.

Materials
5″ x 7″ rectangles of various colored fabric (flag definitions here)
3/8″ x 12″ wood dowels
matching thread, three spools each
fray check

Notes
Thread: Those big grab bags of half-used spools of thread at the thrift store are perfect for these. You’ll need a lot of spools, but not a lot of thread.

Changing serger thread: I don’t re-thread my serger every time I change thread. Simply snip the original thread close to the spool and tie on a new spool. Then lift your presser foot to release the tensions and pull the threads through. Try not to run the knots through your tension wheels and be careful with the knot at the needle’s eye. You may have to re-thread the needle. Once new threads are through, drop your presser foot and start serging!

race flag tutorial

Step 1
Serge all four sides of each rectangle with a rolled hem.

Step 2
Fold one shorter side over 1/2″ and press. Sew the top and side closed, stitching close to the rolled hem. Leave an opening at the bottom for the dowel.

Step 3
Trim ends. Secure the serged ends with Fray Check. Slide flag onto dowel.

storage: A drawstring bag made with the checkered flag fabric would be so cute for these! A mailing tube from the office supply store also works.

confession: I bought new, same brand fat quarters of fabric for this project. It almost killed me to do so, but my daughter is really enjoying the idea of Santa this year, so I caved. Normally I would have raided my fabric stash of scraps for this project. Next time for sure!