Books

Last day of January already... yikes! It's been a busy week, but I have made time to work on the new sweater for the Little Lady. I shared a link to the pattern last week... a lovely sweater knit in 1 piece. I've finished the back, one sleeve, and half of another. Cruisin' :)

I was going to make a skirt to go along with the sweater, but Michelle suggested I make the adorable reversible pants found in Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.

Aren't these sweet?

It's hard to see in the photos, but the yarn I'm using in the sweater has flecks of brown and green. I hit my stash and was able to come up with fabric to make 2 pairs of reversible pants that will look wonderful with the sweater.

So, the plan... finish the sweater this week... sew the pants next week... then I'll be taking to train to Wisconsin for a week of playing with the Little Lady. Can hardly wait :)

EDIT: This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced 1/28/2012. Thank you A Child's Dream and to everyone that entered :)

EDIT: Oops... failed to mentioned, awesome Debbie will ship overseas, so EVERYONE is invited to enter :)

I read all the time, but my favorite times to indulge in a good book are in the dead of winter, curled up by a blazing fire, or while off on summer vacation, near the water, without a care in the world. So... whether you are bundled up here in the northern hemisphere or lounging on a beach in the south hemisphere, this is the perfect time of year for a book giveaway!

Debbie, from A Child's Dream, was kind enough to donate, what has become one of my favorite crafting books. I was given Crafts Through the Year by Thomas and Petra Berger for Christmas. I have other books by them, and have found inspiration in them all. I especially love this book because it takes us through a whole year of crafting delight for you and the wee ones in your life.

The book is divided into seasons. There will undoubtedly be some crafts that you already are familiar with, but others that may be new and inspiring. Here are just a few of the projects you will be able to make.

Crafts Through the Year is a MUST have for anyone that has wee ones in their life or is influenced by the seasons, and wants to surround themselves with natural beauty. So... what do you need to do to enter? Simply wander around A Child's Dream and let us know what other books you'd like to add to your library. Make sure you look through all of the sections. There are books hither and yon throughout the shop. You won't want to miss looking at any of them!

The contest runs from today, Tuesday, January 24 through Friday, January 27 at 9:00 p.m. EST. Then, a name will be drawn at random. (The lucky winner has 1 week to contact us with a snail mail address or a new winner will be selected.)

In order to make everyone a winner, A Child's Dream is offering everyone a 10% discount on anything ordered from January 24 thru January 29. That's 2 days after the contest is over... in case you are feeling extra special lucky and want to see if you win before you place an order :) Simply type in WEEFOLK in the coupon code to save 10%.

Trust me when I tell you... you want, nay, NEED this book :) And Thank you so much, Debbie, for this wonderful giveaway. Good luck to one and all, now scurry over to A Child's Dream and check out their awesome books! (Oh, yes, be sure to look at all the other cool stuff in her shop, too :)

This is definitely a "quickie" book review, but I wanted to get something up before people considered buying this book.

The other day I mentioned that I ordered the book A Bird in Winter: A Picture Book Inspired by Pieter Bruegel The Elder, by Helene Kerillis and Stephane Girel, I'm sad to say, this isn't a book I'd recommend. Although I think children would enjoy the the rather simplistic style of the illustrations, the story was not to my liking. There is a harshness to the story that I think children would find unsettling. Also, I found the characters to be flat. I think in general I felt like they took a potentially interesting story and rushed it, making me feel unmoved in the end.

I can't remember where I originally read about it, but they gave it glowing reviews, and I had high hopes for the book. Checking on Amazon now, I noticed it was not rated and no one has written a review. I realize this isn't an in depth book review, but many people buy books we mention, and I didn't want this one included on our list :(    

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 :)

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 :)