December 2011

Back in early November, I had my idea for Bug's Christmas gift. He LOVES to draw, and I thought it was high time he had his own supplies. So, I got him a sketch book, a couple of "how to draw" books, and a nice set of pencils and erasers. 

I think he will really enjoy the drawing books. The first is The Boys' Guide to Drawing by Aaron Sautter. It has "aliens, warriors, robot and other cool stuff". The sketches get harder as you progress through the book. The other book is Drawing Dragons by Sandra Staple. It teaches you "how to create fantastic fire~breathing dragons" and such. This book is more complicated than the first, but the pictures are awe inspiring, and like the other book, the drawings become more complex as you make your way through the book. The Kohinoor Gioconda 24 Piewce Drawing Set includes pencils, erasers, chalk and charcoal. Lots to experiment with. And, of course, I included some Strathmore Drawing Paper.

Next, I needed something to put everything in. I thought of making him a messenger bag, but I must admit, I decided to buy one instead. I started looking at kid's bags but they were too small, and had designs on them that Bug would consider babyish. Finally, I hit some shops in town. The price tags were all very dear! Did I really want to spend $50.00 just on a bag? Then, I got lucky. I was in Aeropostale. I didn't see any bags, so I asked. The manager said there were a few in the back left over from a promotion. She brought out the bag, and it too was $50.00. (Must be the going rate for messenger bags this year :) As I was hemming and hawing, she did a price check, and it was reduced to $15.00! Well... YAY! So, I bought the bag.

It is really a cool bag. It has a distressed look about it, too. Just the kind of place to put all your treasured work. I did want to do SOMETHING to add a little panache and individualize it. I considered appliqueing something on it, than decided it would look more "grown up" to add a tag. After considering Bug's favorite things, I made a keychain to look like Kai, a Lego Ninjago. I also embroidered his initials on the back.

And here is the final result...

Although I think Bug will like his drawing supplies, I know he is going to LOVE Kai. Tomorrow I will share the pattern I made just in case you have a Ninjago lover in your life :)

Early in the Fall, I realized that Fairy had outgrown basically all of her sweaters. So of course I set off to rectify that situation. One of the main places she wears sweaters is in the dance studio. When I asked her what she wanted she just said "light blue and sparkly." Ok, I can do that, although I did take a moment to reconcile myself with the fact that she doesn't want pink anymore. Its not the color (you wouldn't have caught me dead in pink past the age of two) but the acknowledgment that she was moving beyond that "everything has to be pink" stage that she lived in for so long that made me pause for a moment.

Growing pains aside, onto my Show and Tell... I totally love this project. I started with this super fun Sequin Yarn from Bernat. Somehow during the spinning process, a single pink sequin ended up in one of the skeins of yarn. Fairy is delighted about that one pink sequin and shows it to everyone. I can't help but think that maybe is slightly symbolic... silly yarn... here it is reminding us that the pink princess in still in there. ;)

I found some blue bejeweled buttons. Seriously, this sweater is all about the bling! I also used a sparkly pony tail band as the closure.

And then sat down to play with this zig-zag eyelet pattern that caught my eye. It took several tries to get the shaping just right and it is probably a bit big (but who wants to knit a sweater that only fits one season?)

And now my Blue Princess, is toasty warm and ready to dazzle!

I took lots of notes. And may at some point in the future try to write it up as a pattern to share. But don't hold me to that. LOL. The knitting notes that work for me don't always translate easily into a sizable, sharable pattern. I can be all about winging it... so we'll see.

A couple of weeks ago, I came upon a really neat project at Leaf Cutter Designs. It is called a Sky Scarf. Basically, every day you knit 2 rows of the scarf in colors to match the sky that day. You do this for an entire year. In the end, you have a scarf that is around 5' long, and is a record of that year's weather. How cool is that? I will send you over to their blog to get more details and directions. The Sky Scarf can be found HERE along with a couple of videos.

I plan to start making one myself January 1st. For Christmas this year, I wanted to get Fairy some knitting supplies. I decided that she would probably really enjoy this project, too. So, for her Christmas gift, I bought her yarns to make the sky scarf, a set of bamboo needles, a basket to hold the project and a couple of books. Fairy only lives a couple miles from me, so it will be fun to see how similar our scarves are at the end of the year. The one thing I did different than the directions, was to add a ball of rainbow colored yarn. (It changes colors quickly, which is important since you only knit 2 rows at a time.) Although there won't be very many rainbow rows, you can be certain Fairy and I will be keeping ours eyes open, scanning the skies for rainbows :)

The 2 books I got Fairy are Knitting With Gigi by Karen Thalacker and Gigi Knits ... and Purls by Karen Thalacker. They are beginning knitting books with directions on how to knit and purl. Each book has 8 simple projects girls will enjoy knitting. Even though Fairy knows how to knit, I thought they would be good reference books and the projects are cute.

BTW... I was very thrilled with the basket I got. It was a great find at Tuesday Morning's. It was discounted to $3.99. Such a deal! Using a stem stitch and 6 strands of variegated floss, I stitched her initials on felt and slid it into the name tag area. I think she'll like the personalization :)

We you like to join Fairy and I on our sky watching adventure? Let us know if you plan to make a Sky Scarf, too. All you need to do is knit, so it is really easy. If you don't know how to knit, follow Michelle's Knitting Tutorial, and use this as you first project :)

Last month I shared a recipe for Kahlua and Butterscotch Liqueur. It has aged for a whopping 30 days and is ready for drinking, I mean gift giving :) Must admit we tried both. Can't very likely give something away without a little quality testing. Findings... although the Kahlua recipes SAYS it's ready to drink in 30 days, I learned from years of my dad making Kahlua... the longer it ages, the better it is. Although I would certainly drink a tumbler of the Kahlua on the rocks... even better if mixed with heavy cream... it will even be more yummy if it sits for a few months. So, I will try to show some restraint, and let our bottles age a bit more. On the other hand, the butterscotch liqueur is beyond yummy. And although I'm willing to bet it too will improve with age, I'm not sure it will stand a chance!

Of course, we couldn't send these off into the world without proper labeling. We found some wonderful Arched Labels #22809 from Avery. They have software to download at their site so you can customize your labels. The next challenge was to come up with a name. Since our last name is "Wise", we wanted to come up with a cute play on words. Tim thought back to the playground names he was called as a youth. Most were not "family friendly", so we chose "Wise Acre". Not a term you hear often today, but for you youngin's, a wiseacre is "one who pretends to knowledge or cleverness"... it's like calling someone a smart acleck.

So, we are now officially done with our holiday gifts. All of our kith and kin will be receiving our homemade liqueurs this year. Tim and I are hopeful that these libations not only warm the body, but the heart, too :) Although there are only 4 gifts under our tree this year, the ones for the grandbabies, it is indeed a glorious holiday season! We are now ready to turn our focus to simply enjoying time with the family and making a million new memories :)

Hehe, this is one of those projects that didn't turn out exactly as I had planned... but totally has it's own charm about it. Of course the trolls add just the right factor of whimsy. There is just something about that hair with the fuzzy pouch...

I knitted up this purse project as a demo for a pattern I am planning for my knitting class, put it in the washer to felt and was then besides myself with giggles when it came out. BOY did it felt! Well it wasn't going to work for an adult or even a tween purse... but it was magically transformed into the perfect little treasure pouch. Pixie quickly found the perfect use for it. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a pre-felted photo.

Materials
size 10.5 needles
7 colors 100% wool worsted weight yarn (I used scrapes of several different brands)

Gauge = 3.75 sts per inch

CO 35 (work in stockinette stitch).
Work color A for 10 rows.
Work colors B, C, D, E, F for 8 rows each.
Work color G for 20 rows.
Work colors F, E, D, C, B for 8 rows each.
Work color A for 10 rows.
Bind off.
You should now have a long rectangle.
Fold over two rows on the top and bottom edges. Using the tail yarn, tack them down so that they are attached on the wrong side and that color A only appears 8 rows long on the right side. This will give the opening a slightly firmer edge.
Fold the rectangle in half in the middle of color G and sew up the sides.
Pick up 5 stitches on the top edge, near one of the side seams and knit an I-cord (or work in st st) for 40” (you don't actually need to work in an i-cord... because the st st curls... it will felt as an i-cord in the wash).
Bind off and attach the strap to other side.

Finished, sewn up but non-felted dimensions = approx 9” wide x 11” long.

Felted it ended up approx 6.5” wide  x 5.5” long with a 30” strap.

BTW - Those of you who have been following along with my knitting lessons will find some new lessons posted again after the holidays. We will learn a new way of casting on, some basic increase and decrease stitches for minor shaping, we will also learn about felting and how to dye our own yarn.

Few things are quite so handy as a drawstring bag. Small ones can be used to hold wee treasures like necklaces and lost teeth. Large ones can be used to wrap odd shaped presents like Teddy Bears and wooden trucks. They are great for holding lots of loose pieces, like a gathering of acorns or building blocks. No matter what size you need, they are all made basically the same.

Below are the directions for making a 7 1/2" x 10" bag that I used to hold Lady's Wooden Eggs and Cups, and Pixie's Acorns, Pots and Bowls. The reason I made it this specific size is because I had some fabric scraps 9" wide. Basically, using these directions, you can create any sized bag that you need.

Materials:
2 coordinating fabrics, for bag and casing
Ribbon, string, yarn, cording, etc for closing the bag.

Directions:
Cut out fabric. I cut 1 piece of striped fabric for the bag 19" x 9" and 2 pieces of the yellow fabric for the casing 4" x 9".

On each piece of casing, fold in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Iron. Fold the 2 short edges under 1/2" and iron. Finally, fold 1 long edge under 1/2" and iron.

With right sides together, pin one casing to each end of the bag, so raw edges are together and the casing is centered on the bag. Using a 1/2" seam, sew casings to bag.

On each end, fold casing on a 45 degree angle and pin. (This will keep the casing out of the way when you sew the side seams together.)

Fold the bag in half so the tops are even. Pin the side edges together and sew together using 1/2" seams being careful not to catch the folded strip in the seam.

Turn the bag right side out and undo the pins holding the casing out of the seam.

Pull the casing up. Making sure the inside seam is up (you can iron). Then, fold along the fold line, and pin the folded casing along the seam line making sure you are catching the seam on the inside. (Do this to both pieces of casing.)

Sew two seams on each casing. One, a 1/4" from seam line and one 1/4" from the top. This will form the actual casing that will hold your ribbon or string.

Cut two pieces of ribbon, yarn, string, cording, etc. I cut my pieces 27". To determine how long you need to cut your ribbon, wrap the ribbon around the casing. Make sure there is 6" left on each edge to tie. Now the math... each side of my finished bag was 7 1/2". So I needed 7 1/2" + 7 1/2" + 6" + 6" = 27" (or the circumference of the bag which was 15" + 12" = 27").

Attach a safety pin to one end of a piece of ribbon.

Beginning at either side, Push the safety pin through the casing. Then continue threading the ribbon through the other casing.

Make sure the ribbon ends are equal, then holding them together, tie a knot near the end. Cut the ribbon ends on angles so they do not unravel.

Do the same with the other ribbon, starting at the side that does not have the tied ribbon. When you come to the side with the tied ribbon, simply go over or under the ribbon.

Tie and finish the ends of this ribbon like the first, and you are done. To close, simply pull the two knotted ribbons.

You can use this technique to make any size drawstring bag you like. If you make a big bag, you may want to make the casing larger, but the choice is yours :)