Been Busy!

I'm proud to say that I've been busy!!! I've made a few gifts, I won't mention what they are though, just in case. The projects I've worked on so far have gone very quickly, much faster than I thought. I'm crossing my fingers all the other projects go quickly/smoothly and maybe I'll get half the list done before Yule!

New Sweater!

I made a new sweater for my 4 year old. It's adapted from the free Humbug Sweater Pattern.
I added the striping and the intarsia skull and crossbones. This was my first real intarsia and it was a very good first intarsia project, small. Really, it was easy, I just couldn't do it with my kids around. There was a lot of finishing work that needed to be done around the hood and pocket, but in the end it looks really beautiful! The only two things I would do differently are make the hood a little taller, and make the pocket bigger and raise it a few rows. All in all, very pleased! And most importantly, he loves it!

Holiday List

I hope this will grow, I also hope I will cross things off!

1. Felted ball tree ornaments (make felted ball, dye with Kool Aid, then wrap with beads/ribbon/whatever, make a loop at the top, and that's it!)
2. felted bowls for friends/family pattern here
3. several amigurumi (I have a great book, but I'm also going to do another one of the teratoma ones, I should blog about the one I already made!)
4. a few more washclothes (there's a garden pattern from Ravelry that I want to make for my mama)
5. bookmarks pattern here
6. afghan (SC all the way!)
7. homemade knitting needles (such as these and these
8. play yard play mat (similar to this
9. the quilt that I never finished for Ronan's b-day (vintage fabric, Humpty Dumpty)
10. a quilt for Wolfe (dinosaurs)
11. soft book with toys for the car
12. plasters for my mama
13. felted soaps
14. hand, Kool Aid dyed playsilks
15. Two wooden benches/storage things for the playroom that can use a playsilk as a canopy like this. Although this one will require hubby's help.
16. And something likethis. I made a small one but seemed to have lost it at some point. Probably find it after i make a new one.
17. Nesting Boxes
18. Knitting Book for Sage from Knitty.com
19. And this Waldorf doll for my son who LOVES babies!
20. Robin Eggs. Yes, my list is becoming endless.
21. Starting to laugh now, this list will keep me going for years!!! Rocks

time, time, who's got the time?

With two little ones at home and an almost full-time job I have little time left for crafts, writing, blogging, cleaning, or anything else. Now that the weather is getting cooler, the rain has returned, and the days are shorter, I'm feeling rejuvinated in a crafty kinda way. I have spent quite a bit of time on MDC, following recommended links from fellow MDC'ers, and bouncing ideas around with other mamas. I now have a plan: to make time to craft! My short list for the next month or two is as follows:
1. Finish the matching sweaters for my boys. Very cute, dk and lt gray striped with skull and crossbones intarsia.
2. Make some very cool embroidery bookmarks found on MDC
3. Finish the afghan that I started for DH three years ago. Yes, three years ago. It's SC, but I was learning how to crochet when I began and have had to rip it out and start over several times. I'm now about 1/5 of the way done. I plan on having it finished by Yule.
4. I plan to completely clean all of the wool I have in my laundry room. It's starting to smell VERY bad at this point!

I hope this list will help me focus and keep me from starting a million OTHER projects and not finishing these ;-)

I need to remember to take pictures of my projects! My stepson's mom is getting married, today actually, and among our gift bag is a washcloth that I knitted. I used Bernat bamboo yarn, chunky.
C/O 35
Rows 1-7: k1, p1 till end
Row 8: (k1, p1) 2 times, k till last 4, (p1,k1) 2 times
Row 9: (k1, p1) 3 times, p till last 5, (k1, p1) till end
Repeat rows 8 and 9 until piece measures 6.5 inches
Repeat rows 1-7, b/o
Finished piece measures around 8 in sq

Sage's First Birthday

Due to my very strong political beliefs, we did not purchase any "objects" for Sage's birthday. (This is of course very easy to do with a baby, my anarchistic anti-capitalist views go out the window for the older kids ;-() I made him some very cool stuff though! I'm still finishing two projects, the quilt and bamboo bunny.

My first battle with fondant. Sage's birthday is near several holidays, so this year we themed it Cinco de Mayo. The Mexican flag is backwards because it looked better that way.



I also made a felted ball with some old wool sweater scraps. I dyed them with kool aid, seamed them up, and washed them repeatedly, then stuffed with bamboo stuffing.





I crocheted some Morroccas (sp?) with dishcloth yarn and a few jingle bells inside from this free Ravelry pattern
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/b13-32-ball-and-rattle



I made a large star shaped doll with organic bamboo velour and an old organic cotton shirt that was stained up. I cut out a star shape (you can find instructions online), seamed it up, turned it right side, cut a slit in the neck, took an old scrap from a t-shirt, stuffed it with stuffing, tied it off, put it inside the neck, stitched the neck by hand, painted the face with fabric pens, knitted a wool hat (the orange/red is hand kool aid dyed, the brown is natural undyed), and that's it!



This doll was similar, but I cut it out wrong somehow and ended up with the wrong shape. Waste not, want not! I made a triangular doll!



I also made a very large felt ball, like the ones I've blogged about in the past. The only difference is that this time i wrapped leftover wool scrap yarn around it in oranges and browns. It looks kinda cool but I can't find a picture, I swear I took one...

Wool, Wool, and More Wool!

A friend of a friend gave me bags and bags of raw wool. I will be making a futon, spinning some, and doing other various craft/art projects with the rest. The first thing to do is clean it all, which is a very big job! To clean raw fleece here's what I did:
1. laid it all out on a blanket and picked through to get rid of the clumps of poop and vegetable matter
2. filled up a bunch of lingerie bags from the $ store
3. used my grandma's top loading washing machine (front loaders don't have enough water)
4. soaked in hot water with Dawn dish soap (I don't know why Dawn, everyone just seems to think it's the best) DO NOT AGITATE!!!!
5. spin DO NOT AGITATE!!! Spinning is okay and won't felt your wool.
4 and 5 again. repeat
6. rinse in cold until water runs clear DO NOT AGITATE!!!
7. let dry in sun
8. made two "combs," basically make a T with cheap wood (one part for the handle, the other for the comb), drilled holes for long nails alternately spaced along one end.
9. combed the wool (videos on Youtube)
10. carded at the Eugene Textile