Knitting Iris

Reindeer Games

There's been much jumping around in attempts at launching into flight and, despite a share of antler battles, not one single eye has been poked out (touch wood) yet.  These reindeer headbands were a bigger hit than I dared imagine they'd be.  Each headband has two "pockets" for the antlers-of-choice.  They've seen quite a lot of play in the past few days, with everything from toothpicks to pencils and popsicle sticks, to red twig dogwood, willow, alder, and spruce twigs used for antlers.  Personally, I think they look better with shorter twig or evergreen branch "antlers" but there just wasn't time to mess around with retakes.  Another version of this pic was sent with our cards this year.

Again, it was difficult to stop making these, ending up with a pile of them for nephews and a friends' children, and one for me, too.  Looking at them here has me wondering if maybe I've been under the influence of a few too many readings of Jan Brett books lately?

Project inspired by these sweet pictures saved from an old Sundance catalog from maybe 10 years ago (can that be?):

Even though it was staged for a catalog shoot, I just knew, long ago, before kids even, that someday I'd want to make these, either exactly or something similar.  Although these ones are stunningly beautiful, the fabric ones I ended up making stem from the realities of living with children, knowing that sewn ones would stand up far better to the way that they really play, but still allowing for the natural element of adding branches.  Besides, it used up a bit of stashed corduroy, velveteen, ribbons, and rickrack (some of which are from C's mom's stash).

I've noticed that there have been a few similar versions to that of these Sundance pics in catalogs showing up in the mailbox during the past month or so, with models holding branches or leaves sticking up off of their heads as mock antlers.  Apparently I'm not the only copycat?

A Day In The Yard Backpack Tote

A lazy, hot, summer afternoon.  A rare day alone at home with E, just the two of us.

A photo shoot of a bag.  E decides he's not going to let this interfere with our day, decides he's going to be a part of it, and then...   

...that little rascal runs off with the bag...

...takes it for a ride...

...and ditches it on the swing, moving on to the trampoline, leaving the bag for the photoshoot to continue. 

Actually, next there was a fair break for swinging, sliding, and jumping together.  So nice to have some time to ourselves.  When did our little boy grow up?

Back side and interior:

This is the Backpack Tote Pattern by Leisl of Disdressed, pattern available at Purl Patchwork (not on their site currently but apparently you can call them for it.)  This is an VERY well written and designed pattern with incredible attention to detail.  Leisl doesn't leave a single detail out, with plenty of sidenotes and suggestions to help along the way.  Every step is clearly described both in words and in illustrations.  I learned a lot by "constructing" this bag.   This is one STURDY bag.  Nearly every exterior piece is reinforced with both heavy sewn-in interfacing AND heavy canvas (I used one similar to the kind Carhartt workwear is made of, even in that same classic brown color, although you can't see it anywhere on the exterior of the bag.) 

The medium weight floral print is from a pair of thrifted curtains.  The solid brown is a linen/cotton blend.  The green lining is a thrifted linen tablecloth, and the striped cotton used for the interior pocket and the lining of the exterior pocket is thrifted vintage yardage.

Modifications:  The height of the exterior pocket is increased.  I skipped the interior, zippered pocket since I'd never use it but I'll use her instructions for one if I ever need to in the future. 

The one slightly (so tiny, really) unclear thing in the pattern, I felt, is that the rivets are described as just that, rivets.  Well, there are all kinds of rivets out there in the world for all different purposes.  I tried pop rivets from the hardware store but they didn't hold even when I tried using washers, and C has some other copper rivets in the shop that didn't work either.    Finally, it dawned on me that the rivets called for must be something like the kinds of rivets used in jeans?  I tried instead machine sewing through the tripled layers of the already sturdy straps and broke two needles.  For now, the straps are heavily sewn into place around the o-rings by hand until I get my hands on some rivets. 

I hadn't ordered the hardware kit, offered optionally alongside the pattern, mistakenly thinking I could find the magnetic closure, o-rings, and rivets locally. Ha!  Was I ever wrong.  I ended up ordering the o-rings and magnetic clasp online and of course ordered a other things too, you know, make the order "worthwhile."   I'd HIGHLY recommend ordering the hardware kit along with the pattern, and Purl, it turns out, will sell the hardware separately as well.  Live and learn.

All in all, a great project, worth the price of the pattern, and finally, a summer replacement for the heavy woolen bag I've been hauling around since winter.

Others in the Day in The Park Backpack Tote Flickr Group.

Mooping Around

Mini Moopies, one for my niece along with the EZ Best Baby Sweater.

The other is for the second-born daughter of our midwife that was with us at the births of both of our boys.  These were the folks we were supposed to visit with on May Day but didn't get to.  Another friend and I were going to do mendhi on her belly that evening, to embellish the scar from the c-section she'd had with their first daughter, except they called and cancelled because she was experiencing early labor.  Two days later we still hadn't heard any news until we ran into a mutual friend and found out that the baby had been born early that morning.  We went for a short visit and R and I each held that sweet, sweet 12 hour old little one.  It meant so much to see that this friend, who had been there to help us and so many others to try and have the kind of birth we were hoping for, now knows birth first hand.   Finally, she and her husband have experenced personally what she has been so much a part of as a midwife.

The little pair of pants are some that I've had around since the summer after E was born and I was making pairs of pants for him that would cover his legs from the sun but still be lightweight.  His were made from linen and while I was at it, for some reason I made this calico pair with a linen waistband.  I think I still wasn't over the fact that we didn't have a girl at that point.  I had intended to give these to the older sister of this new baby but forgot to include them with the other handknits given to them then.

Here's another one of the two Moopies just mooping around together:

Info about Mini Moopy pattern here.  Moral of the story: if there's a free pattern out there somewhere that you really like or think you just might like to make someday, print it out immediately and THANK the person for sharing it.  If you snooze and forget to and they then start selling the pattern, be happy for them that they're doing so, kick yourself, and then then support the artist by buying it.  It's a fun little pattern and I'm thinking that these will be great for teething babies.

Needle Roll Ups

It's finally time to get around to showing these that I made two or three years ago, preblog, to organize needles.  The fabric is barkcloth from a set of thrifted curtains that were made mostly from the leafy pattern with a wide border on one side of each panel in the chartreuse yellow.  It was one of those thrift SCORE moments.  I know I didn't pay much for them.  It's almost a shame that this fabric spends most of it's life rolled up unseen but there's still a fair amount of it leftover for another project some day, maybe a matching crochet hook holder.  It's always a pleasure to unroll and roll them up and see the fabric again: good incentive to stay organized. 

The straight, single points almost never get used although all those different shades of shiny aluminum and plastic are always pretty to look at, whether jumbled in a vase like some do, or all lined up neatly like this.  The only pair of single point needles I really ever use are my favorite ones (I know I've rambled on about these before), the bent pair of #2 aluminum ones on the left there, the same chartreuse as the fabric.  After all the baby sweaters they've been used for making, and the little incident with the car door that left them bent but still usable, I now find myself oddly attached to those needles.

The pattern I sort-of followed in the making of the roll ups, not the hanging cable needle holder, was torn from an old issue of ME Home Companion but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Blue, Grey, White: Let Project Spectrum 2.0 begin.

Pics are from our flight home on Tuesday over the Cascade Mountains and eastern Washington.   I'm certainly not the first one to notice the patchwork quiltyness in farmlands seen from above.  Not so dissimilar to our own duvet cover, no?

So, even after being a party-pooper last year, choosing not to participate in PS 1.0., I still wasn't even going to join in this year, either but yesterday, the day before the kick off date, I got a wild hair and signed up.  Why not?  We're back in the land of grey and blue skies and white snow on the ground. 

If forced to choose a favorite color, I'd have to say greys.  There was a time when I almost exclusively picked out and knit with grey yarns.  I could easily see myself going in that direction again.  I'd love to knit this, this, or this sweater in shades of greys for a ski sweater, not that we ski all that much these days.  There are already two projects going that fit the current colors:  a pair of grey socks for my dad, at his request, and Ariann (thanks to the influence of Brynne's and Claudia's recent posts) in Plymouth Galway Highland Heather, color #728, a greyish, heathered wool that goes blue or green or grey depending on the light (very grey below), not unlike a Colorado Blue Spruce like this one, my favorite dwarf variety, Montgomery.  I'd prefer to this sweater in a darker, brownish or greenish shade like the ones I linked to but I'm trying my best to use stash yarns and this yarn has already had two false starts that both would have turned out as ill-fitting sweaters had I finished them.  Third time should be the charm, I'm hoping.

The Galway yarn is also not that unsimilar in color to the new bag I made last month, either.  It's sewn from scraps of a thrifted military coat that was made of densely felted wool.  There was just barely enough fabric remaining after other projects (Christmas tree ornaments made years ago) to make the bag, the size based solely on the size of the existing pocket.  I probably only paid a dollar or so for the coat when I bought it years ago and have seen others going for $15 and up.  I love this fabric so much it would be well worth paying that of it.  The lining is checked cotton/linen fabric from a thrifted men's button down shirt.  The strap is lined with a dark khaki linen.  The patch on the front is part of a thrifted woolen blanket, a scrap of twill, already printed with the red "5a" from the lining of the military coat, and the bird cut from new quilting cotton.  The metal cross button is original to the coat.

C's Christmas present, finally!

Untie:

Unroll:

Lift up flap:

Ta da!  This is what I made for C for Christmas, at his own request: something to hold his good set of chisels.  His only preferences were "Red and black."  So, I made a roll-up case similar to a knitting needle or paintbrush case.  For some reason, with all the hulabaloo around the holidays, I just couldn't seem to get my brain around this project.  I had parts of it cut out and there they sat, unable to be put together until last week when I finally sat down and it all fell into place, essentially winging it as I went along.  It looks blue in these pictures but the denim is actually black.  There is a double layer of fabric where the chisels slide in because these are SHARP!  Leather would probably have worked best. 

It was immediately whisked off to the shop and here is where I found it, a top one of the stain covered workbenches.  It won't be long before this is covered in a thick layer of sawdust and/or overspray from putting finish on cabinetry and furniture.  Still, it was fun to make it something more than utilitarian only.

This is actually the first year we've given Christmas presents to eachother in quite awhile.

Still Autumn, sort of, for now.

I've gone back to perusing an old issue of MS Baby again, from Winter 2001 with a feature on decorating a playroom.  We may not have a playroom (unless you consider the entire house as one) to use all the great ideas in this article but I'm itching to make some of these great big pumpkin pillows for myself the boys.  (The pattern that's called for, Butterick #5664, is on it's way from an ebay seller, which was far cheaper than the gas money it would take to drive to JoAnn's Fabrics to find a similar pattern.)  I'd like to use a thrifted white woolen blanket and another warm toned yellow woolen one that a drifter we let spend the night here a few years ago left behind, both of which have been felted in the washer.  Polar fleece with polyfill is probably more practical, though (too many p words there).

Since I couldn't make them right away and realistically may never, I decided to make the sweet, mini-version from this great pattern, from Turkey Feathers' Pattern Bee site.  Check out this one she made as part of her Wool Blanket Project and then go check out these ones that she made from naturally dyed woolens that she received from Echoes of a Dream who lives one of my dream lives, as if straight from a copy of British Country Living.  I skipped the raffia wrapped stems as it seemed like it would be to fiddly for my mood.  Mine are made from a white, mostly-wool blend felt, a piece of neon, hunter-orange polar fleece, and a long ago thrifted orange corduroy that is at the perfect stage of softness and slightly faded color, along with scraps of green wool felt, polar fleece and corduroy as well.  The "rouge vif d'etamps" one was held squished while I sewed through two buttons, one each on the top and bottom of the pumpkin.

Who doesn't need their very own pumpkin patch of pillows in their house?  Jack, of the beanstalk, or o' the lantern, maybe?  E asked me if these were a decoration or if he could take them up to his room.  When I replied, "Sure. What will you do with them there?" he replied, "Play Halloween."  Hmm.  Maybe we really could use some of those bigger ones.

There are several crocheted and knitted pumpkin patterns out there, as well.  This one appears to be one of the best.  This one, well, check it out.

The leaves may be off the trees, there may be snow on the ground one day and then gone the next, and the deer may be defacing, literally, the jack o' lanterns straight off the door step, but I'm not letting go of fall yet.  Two days ago there was still snow.  Yesterday was warm and gorgeous so I snuck in one last, long bike ride.  Despite the steady rainfall today we're off to collect evergreen boughs for holiday decorating before the temperature drops and it turns to snowfall again.

The winter squash and white pumpkins from the fruit/veggie stands remain, being eaten one by one, by us.  I'm knitting from a similar palette of colors and am well into my planned November knitting, having gotten a good head start on it during the last week of October.  Pictures and posts forthcoming.

It didn't take long for the deer to find where I'd hidden the carnage of half-eaten, frozen-then-thawed pumpkin parts found scattered on the front steps this morning. They were tossed onto the compost heap next to the dump truck load of horse manure a neighbor dropped off a couple of weeks ago (I didn't have to shovel it by hand!) where the feast continued.

A VERY silly hat, and other trappings of a Girly Gnome

This...

...interfered somewhat with the taking of these costume try-on pics of the accoutrements of a girly gnome.  I didn't have much patience for the weather so the the pictures are so-so.  It snowed sideways all afternoon and evening, blowing like a blizzard through the night until early this morning, ending with a sunny, crisp day that never went above 30 degrees F.  There was actually very little snow.  Still, it iced up the roads and piled up in foot tall drifts here and there. 

The silly hat:

It took some sleuthing to figure out where I'd copied this pattern from a good while back, but finally I tracked the post down here in Heidi of Step Into My Thimble's archives.  The first time I saw this post I laughed so hard that I immediately clicked over and printed out the pattern, although minus any information as to where it came from.  I knew right off that someday I'd knit this pattern, no matter how silly it may be.  This is the original baby pixie hat here, with a modified version here for worsted weight yarn, and an adult sized bulky version here. 

As you can see, it's just silly on old and wee ones alike, although seriously, after having knit this I have to say that I think this is a pretty ingenious pattern, ranking right up there with the likes of the ultimate goddess of knitting, Elizabeth Zimmerman.  It reminds me also of some of Teva Durham of Loop-d-Loop fame's ribbed patterns.  Although it doesn't look it, it's essentially a knitted rectangle, folded in half, and grafted together, with an optional neckband and neckstrap.

Despite it's simplicity, it took me two false starts to finally get the pattern right on the third try.  The first time, I misread the pattern, the second, I thought the pattern was incorrect and so tried my own version, and the third time I realized that the pattern was indeed correct and that I had better pay better attention and reread before diving in.  I guess the genius of the pattern was a bit beyond me.

I fear I'll be seen as a loop-d-loop myself for having knit this at all!  It's unlikely that I'll ever make another one of these but I can't help but imagine more of them in some other great colors:  dark grey, off-white, olive green, brown, of course, even a grassy green ... or black for a funky witchy costume ... or even orange to be like one of these little guys.   

More patterns like these: this sweet crocheted one, this knitted one?

The skirt:  the same pattern as I used here, only I patchworked the center panel together, front and back, and added a little bit of rick-rack.  The fabric is all finewale corduroy except the blue patches.  I'll find the pattern number and edit it in here later if anyone is interested.  *****IT'S BUTTERICK 3134*****, for all of you asking!  I'll wear this after Halloween, too. 

The apron:  My Tie-One-On entry for October.  A good excuse to use up a bunch of cute fabric and trims I wouldn't have otherwise used anytime soon.  For some reason this apron refuses to allow me to look like I have a waistline at all even after being sick and having very little appetite while taking antibiotics for ten days.  Larissa, have you found out the secret yet for making an apron drape well?

I was planning on wearing these shoes  and socks (which could use some elastic sewn into the top to keep them from slipping down) from last year's costume with the whole get up tomorrow, along with an off-white Guatamalan blouse and a cropped black corduroy vest I already have and have used for costumes in the past.  If the weather continues on like this, though, I'll probably be bundled in layers of turtlenecks, sweaters, and coats and there won't be any need for make-up to put pink on the cheeks.

The only thing I bought new for this costume was a 7" zipper.  That's it.  The rest I already had or is newly made from stashed yarn and fabric.  Yee haw!

Enough of this silliness!  There's still the slightly frantic and late night sewing of the boys' costumes left to go before tomorrow night.  I've got to go sew!

Library Book Bags

We're trying to settle into a routine around here so, since Monday's are R's piano lesson in town, we'll make it our library day, too.  I started sewing these book bags when we were in Seattle in July out of some fabrics that I still had stashed there at my parents house, a denim colored canvas, lined with another light colored tan and white pinstripe.  While we were there we went to the Bellevue Arts Fair particularly because the Bellevue Art Museum was having a kids' craft day where the boys did these blue sunprint fabric pieces.  I zig zag stitched them onto black denim for a pocket to hold library cards and due date receipts.  All this was done in an attempt to create some order and to, hopefully, avoid late fees.  While I was at it, I made a bag for myself, lined with the dark brown daisy-flowered fabric on the pocket.

Now, I just need to find a convenient place to install what they're going to hang from.  A friend of mine gave me the thrifted garden faucet handles for Christmas one year and C fixed them to a board for me.  I temporarily hung it where it is above only for the picture.

Our town library feels oddly like home sometimes since C built all the shelving for it when it was remodeled a few years back.  Although the library can't be even half the size of our house, which isn't quite 1,300 square feet itself, apparently it still has plenty to offer, as you can see R here walking ever... so... slowly... from the car to the house entranced by a Dr. Seuss book.  I could barely coax him out of the car.

Coiincidences?

I was working on this skirt about a month and a half ago as a possible candidate to wear to a couple of weddings last month.  I didn't finish it in time so it's been sitting, along with the sewing machine, half done, in pieces, on one end of the dinner table ever since.  Good thing I didn't wear it to Shannon's wedding as another woman was wearing a similar skirt even in the same colors.  As it turns out, Shannon's sister, J,  had made the skirt.  Yesterday afternoon, while the boys were "helping" C over at the shop, I decided to plunk myself down and tackle this UFO.  While I was working on it, I was thinking about J... and the extra details she had put into her skirt... and how she's designing her own clothing line right now and will be marketing it soon... and how cool that is... and how cool she is and all....and the phone rings... and I pick it up... and..."Hi, this J."  She was calling to tell us of a place in Portland where C might try to market his furniture to.  Coiincidence?

A short while later I took a break from sewing and put a batch of these cookies into the oven.  A few years ago I had entered my own version (whole wheat pastry flour, chocolate chips, margarine, light brown sugar, rolled in turbinado sugar) in our county fair's People's Choice cookie competition and had won.  One of my friendly competitors was a guy we know who is better known as "The Cookie Man".  He bakes a batch or two of cookies nearly every day and gives them away during his daily routine around town.  Every now and again we are the lucky recipients, either in person, or we find a plate of cookies on C's workbench at the shop.  Yesterday, my batch of cookies were a few minutes from coming out of the oven when the boys ran into the house from the shop calling, "Mama!  Look what The Cookie Man left for us!  Here, we saved you one."  Coiincidence?
Today, I tried taking pictures of the skirt, first with the tripod: cut off feet and waistline.  Then, reflection in the window while walking so as to try and show the skirt in motion:  oops, got the hummingbird feeder and the window-suction cup-crystal-rainbow-maker-dangly-thing right in the center of the shot, too.  Then: self portrait in our bedroom window.   It must have taken 30 shots just to get these, the best I could do.  Boy, did I feel silly walking around snapping so many pictures.  Thank goodness everyone at work at the shop was busily involved doing a concrete countertop pour and the boys were upstairs.

As soon as I saw the pictures I had taken in the windows they reminded me of the only photographer I've liked enough to actually own a book of her photography, Imogene Cunningham.  I bought the book Ideas Without End, a Life in Photographs about 12 years ago after thoroughly poring through it because I instantly fell in love with it and it was deeply-discounted.  At the time, I had no idea who Imogene Cunningham was or that she was born and raised on top of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.  I searched online but couldn't find the picture of hers that is a portrait of herself with her camera, at around age 78, reflected in a shop window display of Youthcraft women's girdles.   Here's another one taken a few years earlier.  Also, a few years before I bought that book I came across a tray filled with buttons at a yard sale on top of Queen Anne Hill.  There is a picture of a similar tray of buttons in Ideas Without End.  Cooincidence?   Ah! To take photos like her....The good thing is, I don't have to.  She already did.

The pattern for the skirt is Simplicity 4365, by the way.  I was skeptical of this skirt up to the very last moment.  I think I like it and even did a decent job of sewing in the zipper for the first time.