Seeing Stars

Star Wars that is. The boys are obsessed as you can be about Star Wars without ever seeing a movie, cartoon, comic, etc, but they know who R2D2, C3PO, Anakin, Obi, Luke and Han are. I was playing around on Ravelry and found this pattern. The boys immediately requested their own hats, and how could I resist? I cast-on on a Friday night, and was done with two R2D2 hats by Monday afternoon. They were knit using Cascade 220 in grey, Plymouth Galway in Blue, with a bit of black and red (Plymouth Encore).

The back


The top


The front - yeah I know, my duplicate stitch could use some work...


May the force be with you ;)

The MIL Scarf

Another one from a long time ago. I knit this a year ago at the request of my Mother-in-Law. She wanted a coral lace scarf - done and done! I had just gotten Knitted Lace of Estonia from The Knaughty Knitter and was eager to try another lace project. The yarn is Zephyr Laceweight Wool-Silk in coral (which is looking VERY pink in these pictures), and the pattern is the Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf. It was a relatively quick knit and ended up being 13 inches wide and 52 inches long. My MIL loved it :)

The scarf before a good rinse and block.


In the sink... can you see how much the color bled? Thankfully, the color didn't fade at all in the finished product.

Blocking on a towel (did I mention how tinted the water was?)

An up close shot of the lace pattern

This is the finished product on our crepe myrtle tree.

Teacher Gifts

This year for Christmas, I made some small notepads for the teachers at Doodle's preschool. The covers are lightweight chipboard that were embellished with scalloped shapes (cut with the Cricut and the Design Software - of course). The inner pages are just regular printer paper trimmed to size. They were bound using my Zutter Bind-It-All. Oh, and I used Mod Podge to adhere the letters and shapes to the front covers.

A Cricut Christmas

The Christmas Season included some gift knitting and a lot of Cricutting for me.

I added a Bible verse in vinyl to our kitchen wall (Opposites Attract Cartridge with the Cricut Design Software).


And a vinyl "Merry Christmas" was added to our large china platter in the china cabinet (Christmas Cheer)


And out with the old...


and in with the new! DH got me the Expression for Christmas! I was super surprised and really excited, and I love that there are fun colors now - not just white and grey.


The difference you ask? Check out the picture below.

The top cutting mat fit my old Cricut (6"x12"). The bottom cutting mat (for the Expression) is a WHOPPING 12"x24"! Watch out walls here comes vinyl!

Weasley Sweaters for my Sister

My sister and her boys are HUGE Harry Potter Fans, and after seeing this on Alison's blog, I had to do the same. I used the same pattern, but knit it top down and in the round to avoid most of
the seaming.

The yarn is leftover bits and pieces from my mittens last year. I used some 22 gauge wire to fashion the mini hangers.


This sweater was knit using some leftover sock yarn that Meredith hand dyed, and I used the mini sweater pattern from Heartstrings.

My newest crafting addiction

I've seen personalized metal stamped jewelry all over, and kept thinking, I could do that. I found my supplies at RomaZone.etsy.com. I got the stamps on New Year's Eve and have been playing around ever since! The stamp set that I purchased is 1.5mm, and as a result of them being so small, it is a challenge to line them up. Below are photos of my stamp set and my first two attempts at stamping. You can watch Roma in action at her youtube site.


My attempt at guide lines - drawn on by a fine tipped Sharpie.


"Be the change you wish to see in the world" ~ Ghandi on a 1.4 cmx2.1 cm brass rectangle


"Everyday is conquerable by its hours and every hour by its minutes." ~Robert Brault on a 1.8 cmx 3.1 cm brass rectangle

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).

Lots of cards at once!

Sheetload is a blog with a free e-zine that gives you a sketch and cutting instructions to make 6-8 cards or card fronts at a time. I found it was great to use up a bunch of scraps!