A Blanket for Cosmo - I mean Parker

Some dear friends were blessed this year with a baby boy. They teased that they were naming him Cosmo Kramer W. in an homage to Seinfeld. While they chose a different name, I am still thinking Cosmo before his actual name of Parker comes to mind.
Here is the baby blanket that I knit for him and a small hat, too. I followed this pattern from the PurlBee for the blanket, and the hat was just a regular newborn hat pattern. I finished the main body of the blanket in record time, but the border took a bit longer (mostly due to my lack of motivation of picking up hundreds of stitches).

Better Late Than Never

At the end of the school year, this past May, we had a baby shower at work for three women who were expecting bundles of joy. These three kimonos were knit using a pattern from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting. They were fun to knit and only took minimal finishing. I changed up the pattern for each one - changing my increases and body as I went to make it more interesting. I knit all three in less than one week.

Some Assembly Required

WHEW! Just in time... I saw the Some Assembly Pattern on Laura Chau's blog and instantly knew that my Lego obsessed boys had to have a couple of these for Christmas. It was by far the most fiddley knitting I've ever had to do. There were provisional cast-on, loads of picked up stitches and LOTS of sewing, but (if I do say so myself) the end result is worth all the effort. Hopefully, the boys, who are having a bit of blanket envy, will be satisfied with Mommy's effort when they open them on Christmas Eve.

The MiniFig


Each piece before the final ends were woven in


Close -up of the sockets in the torso section

A Baby's Surprise

I'm fairly certain that the recipients don't read the blog, but just in case I'm only showing a bit of the project. Here is a quick peek at a present that will be delivered later in the month.

Angels, angels everywhere, but not a bite to eat

Macaroni Angels that is. I'm helping with The Doodle's "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party next week, and theme is angels. These are small pins for the mommies of his classmates. Each angel is made with 1.5 pasta bowties, 2 pieces of macaroni, 1/2" wood bead (no hole), a 1" pin on the back and a whole lot of hot glue. The kiddos will paint them and add glitter for a sweet little homemade present.



A close up for more detail

The Pioneer Woman

At the end of October, my sister called to ask if I would go to a book signing for her that was happening in Nashville in December. At the time, I had no idea who the Pioneer Woman was, but I sure do now! She is a wonderfully kind and gracious woman who has published her first cookbook. Ree, the PW, has a blog about EVERYTHING from separating wild mustang colts to cooking the best cinnamon rolls. Elizabeth and I braved the downpour had a fun time with all of the PW fans and shopping.



Elizabeth and I with PW herself!

Craft Day

Some of the mom's in my playgroup got together for a craft day. It was AMAZING. We each brought the materials for everyone to make our chosen craft. Below are photos of the crafts I made. The intent was to leave with 9 gifts to give, but I think I'll be giving them to myself ;)

Ornaments embellished with Cricut cut vinyl



A glass ornament that I filled with paint and then swirled.



A floating word frame (again with vinyl cut by a Cricut)









Coasters made with Staz-On and Tiles


















Peppermint Bath Salts (plus a bit of food coloring)

Holiday Marketplace

My BFF and I went to a local holiday craft show. Although I didn't find a gift for anyone I was buying for, I did find some beautiful picture frames that are perfect for our dining room. I added some vinyl above the center frame using the Cricut and CDS. I used the Opposites Attract cartridge and some accents from the Storybook cartridge.

LB's Hat

This is a hat for our four year old friend LB. As you might have guessed, she LOVES pigs! Her mom saw a hat similar to this at a craft consignment store and asked that I try to recreate it. Here's my version with an i-cord, coiled nose, garter triangles for ears, buttons for eyes and a sweet, short curly cue for the tail.

A bit late

This pic is a bit late in coming, but it's my Jack-o-Lantern from 2009. This was my first attempt at sculpting rather than carving. The pattern was from from Fantasy Pumpkins - which is a FAB site. Be sure to check out his Death Star pumpkin - a true master! I definitely needed to thin out the walls of the pumpkin, but I love how it turned out!

Cricutting

Jen C. at jensbrainthings came up with this WONDERFUL cut file. It was made for the Expression (on the 12 x 24 mat), but I only have the baby :( I also wanted to make it in reverse so it could be inside the window. With a lot of shifting the design around, I was able to reverse it and make it Baby Bug compatible. I just LOVE it. I used the Crafts Etc! brand of vinyl from Hobby Lobby. The entire piece is about 25 inches high and 16.5 inches wide. Once cut, I placed it on my quilting ruler, and covered it in painter's tape (a poor man's transfer paper).