Rainbow popsicle stick boxes

Hello spring break and hello freezing cold weather!  Hopefully it warms up yet this week - not feeling like spring at all yet. :P

Annika's birthday party is coming up in about 2 weeks, so this morning we did a "test drive" of the craft that I'm planning for the kids to do.  The theme of the party is "rainbows", so I thought these little popsicle stick "treasure chests" would fit the bill nicely.  I want to get some of those chocolate "gold coins" for the treasure to go inside.

I found the rainbow colored craft sticks at the dollar store, however, I may invest in some higher quality sticks for the actual party, since there were quite a few warped ones which made them difficult to glue together.  The craft was a little beyond Emmett (he was good at putting on the glue, but I had to help him with layering the sticks properly), but Annika got the hang of it right away.  It took her about 20 minutes to put together her box, which should be a good length for the party.  I also had fun making one. ;)

After the glue dried we were going to decorate them with stickers and some glitter, but after Emmett dumped almost a full container of glitter on the table and floor (and everywhere else), I decided that there was absolutely no way that I would be using glitter at the party, so we weren't going to use it today either.  We just stuck with the glittery letter stickers.  For the party I may get some other little jewel stickers, etc to make them fancy.

Annika gave the craft a "thumbs up", and I think it should be manageable to do with the kids at the party, so I guess the morning was a success (plus it kept the kids busy for half an hour - I have a feeling this may be a loooong week).

Bandana scarves

Yee-haw!

I've been knitting a lot of bandana scarves lately.  I've been using this pattern, which by now I almost know by heart!  It all started on our trip to Phoenix, where I made this red scarf for myself.

Then, I decided that I liked the pattern so much and wanted to do it again (to practice the new things that I figured out the first go round), so I made another one.  This one ended up a little longer (on the first one I was worried about running out of yarn, so I made it a little smaller than the pattern said), so it drapes a little more.

Then Annika decided that she needed a pink bandana scarf, since she's been obsessed with "Sheriff Callie" lately (a TV character on Disney Junior) and loves playing cowgirl.  I wanted the scarf to be smaller (of course), but also lighter, since she wanted it for dress-up and I didn't want to use heavy, chunky wool that would get too hot.  My first attempt didn't quite work out how I planned and Annika said it was too big for her.

So, back to the needles, and I tried again.  This time it came out just right for my little cowgirl.

And of course, my little cowboy then needed one too. ;)

If anyone is interested in how I changed the pattern to make the kids' scarves, I can write it out (assuming I remember what I did!), but I figured it would probably just bore most of you, so I won't bother with the details for now.

Wooden peg dolls for Emmett

I FINALLY finished this set of guys for Emmett.  I did the doctor, policeman and electrician (styled a la Carey) for him for Christmas 2012 and I did the Jets player just before Christmas last year, and just finished the "Emmett" guy yesterday.

This little guy was, of course, inspired by...

... this little guy and his favorite sweater (the color of the stripes on the doll looks sort of red-ish, but it's really more orange in real life).

 This sweater has been quite the inspiration for me - it also inspired this scarf and this hat.

What can I say, the boy loves his orange!

 

Emmett's hat

I finally finished up the hat I was making for Emmett (I ran out of yarn last week when I was almost done).  However, the yarn I bought wasn't the same dye lot, so there's a very slight color difference, although I'm sure you probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't said anything.

I followed this pattern for a basic earflap hat, but I made a lot of mistakes and had to redo quite a few things (and in the end there are parts that I'm still not totally happy with, but it was time to just put this baby to bed).  My biggest mistake was grabbing the wrong size of needles to start (3 sizes bigger than the pattern called for) and not realizing it until I was about half way done.  At that point I wasn't going to unravel all my hard work and start over, so the result is that the hat is big enough for Emmett to wear until he's too cool for pompoms and earflaps (I tried on the hat and it fits me - oops).

Emmett wasn't in much of a picture-taking mood this morning (yes, he's still wearing his jammies), so this was the best I could get for now.  I'll try to get a picture with his matching scarf later on.

Another pair of boot cuffs

A while ago I found another boot cuff pattern that I wanted to try, so I made these last week.  I love the texture on them.  Carey asked me the other day why I needed more than one pair of boot cuffs.  That's like asking why we need more than one pair of shoes... ;)

Arm knitting

Yesterday I tried something new - arm knitting!  I made an infinity scarf, using this tutorial video.  Once I got the hang of it, it didn't take very long.  I'm not sure if it was the yarn I used, though, or if I didn't make it tight enough (I thought it was pretty snug around my arm), but the scarf seems to lose some of the "knit" look when I put it on (if you click on the link you'll see that her scarf looks better when it's on her - it seems to have more definition to it, not just lots of loose yarn).  Oh well, it was still neat to try something new.

Boot cuffs - take 2

My first attempt at boot cuffs didn't turn out so well (despite following the pattern), so I gave it another try, with some adjustments.  For any knitters out there that are curious what I did - I followed this pattern, but only cast on 44 stitches (instead of the 74 in the pattern) and used #7 needles, instead of #8.  They fit quite snug, so it might be good to add on a few more stitches (or maybe stick with the #8 needles).  Still, I'm quite happy with how they turned out.

I've worn them both dressed up and dressed down, although I think I like the casual look better.

A crafty day

I took advantage of a burst of "crafty" energy today - and did some knitting and even sewing!  I haven't sewed for a long time, since it always seems like such a hassle to get my machine set up, etc (although it's not really).  Carey took the kids out for the morning, so I took advantage of the free time to sew a skirt for Annika.  I had the pattern and material on hand, and Annika was in need of a new skirt (hers keep getting shorter and shorter!!), so I whipped up this baby.

It's a little big on her, so hopefully it will fit for a while.  I left lots of extra material in the hem, so I can lengthen it as she grows.

As for knitting, I've been doing a lot of it lately.  I love that it's so easy to just pick up and do a few rows whenever I have a few minutes (or an hour or two, like this morning when I woke up at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep!).  This project was supposed to be boot cuffs, but even though I followed the pattern exactly, it turned out way too big for my legs (which I was afraid would happen even while I was knitting, as several people had commented that they turned out way too big).  However, it's the perfect size for a headwrap/earwarmer for Annika!  I was disappointed that the boot cuffs didn't work out, but I have to admit - it actually looks really good on her.  I guess I'll have to give the boot cuffs another try next time.

Update: Emmett's scarf & Emmett's bed

I finished Emmett's scarf today.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  This was my first time trying several different things - the ribbed pattern, switching between 2 colors for the stripes, and making a fringe.  Emmett really likes it too, and this will be one thing that he won't quickly grow out of (as long as orange is still his favorite color!).

Scarf pattern found here 

(with a few changes - I made it slightly smaller, and the stripes a little wider, and added a fringe)

Now, about Emmett's bed.  You may recall that last week Monday we changed his crib into a day bed.  Well, we've had some good and some bad with the change.  The good (excellent/amazing, really) is that so far he hasn't once gotten up out of bed after we've put him to bed in the evening, and in the morning he also stays in his bed until I come to get him.  The bad is that he has completely stopped napping.  Prior to the change he was still napping about 2 hours, 3-4 times a week.  Since we made the change he has not napped at all.  AT ALL.  Insert sad mommy face here.  It looks like he is done for good.  I guess the bright side is that it will likely be an easier change than when Annika stopped napping since a) I don't have to deal with a newborn at the same time, and b) we already have a "quiet time" routine established with Annika (one hour of TV time and one hour of quiet play time in her room) and Emmett seems to be adapting to it quite well (he's not quite used to playing on his own for that long, but he's doing a lot better than Annika did when she first started quiet time).  The other advantage is that now I can do things with the kids after lunch, instead of having to wait until after nap time and snack time - which didn't leave much time till supper time.  So it looks like we'll survive this transition, but I have to say, I'm still a little sad about it.

The knitting bug

As you may recall, I taught myself how to knit earlier this year.  After playing around with a few small projects (washcloths and "rugs" for Annika's doll house), I decided I wanted a challenge, and decided to knit a sweater for my then niece-or-nephew-to-be.  We didn't know boy or girl, so I had to make something "gender neutral" and I decided I didn't want to make anything yellow or green ("traditional" gender neutral colors).  So I decided to go with black and grey.  I figured it would be manly enough for a boy, and easily "dolled up" with pink leggings or something for a girl.  I finished the sweater a while ago, but I only recently gave it to my niece at her baby shower, so now I can finally share a picture of it.  I'm pretty proud of it, although I did have a dream the other night that the whole thing fell apart the first time she wore it! :P  I guess we'll have to wait a while to see if that comes true - it was supposed to be 6-12 month size, but my gauge was a bit off, and I think it's more like 18-24 month size.  Oh well, it will fit eventually!

After I finished the sweater I took a long break from knitting, but I've recently gotten back into it.  I made myself this chunky infinity scarf...

...this ruffle scarf for Annika (ok, I'll admit - this isn't knit.  I tried following the knitting instructions and got frustrated, so I found an easy fake-crochet way of doing it instead)...

...and can you guess which little orange-loving boy this scarf will be for??  The colors and stripes are inspired by Emmett's favorite sweater, which he'll soon be too big for.  Hopefully he doesn't grow out of the scarf as fast.  He's very excited that I'm making something for him, but I think he thinks it should be done as quickly as Annika's scarf (which took me maybe an hour or two), so I've got to get knitting!

Winnipeg Jets wooden peg doll

Last Christmas I wanted to paint a set of wooden dolls for Emmett, but I only got 3 of the 5 done in time for Christmas.  The other 2 have been sitting on the shelf for the past almost year (!!).  I decided it was time to get them done.  Here's the first one - a Winnipeg Jets player.  The other one is still in progress - Emmett requested an "Emmett" doll. :)  I'll post pictures of all 5 once the last one is done.

Hole-y tights upcycled into new treasures

As I've mentioned before, Annika loves to wear skirts and dresses, and she has an impressive collection of tights to go with them.  There are 13 pairs pictured here in her drawer, plus 3 not pictured.  The majority of them came from my mom, who found a great deal last year when she was in the States (3 pairs for $10) and bought 9 pairs for Annika (so sad they didn't come in my size!).  However, as you probably saw yesterday, they're not all in great condition anymore.  The toes are usually the first to go - then what?  Seems like a shame to just throw them away, so today I went looking for ways to "upcycle" tights with holes in the toes.

I found two different ideas - both great and very easy.  The first idea is the simplest - turn your tights into "fingerless" gloves by simply cutting off the legs and toes and adding a small hole in the heel for your thumb to go through. I absolutely love the second idea I found - turn your tights in leggings.  This took a little longer (about half an hour with my sewing machine, since I'm a little out of practice), but they turned out great (forgive me for the poor lighting in my photos - it's really the same pair of tights, despite the color differences).

Annika loved my new creations.  The fingerless gloves are a little big on her (understandably, since her arms are smaller than her legs), but they've already been referred to as "princess gloves" and a "cast" for a broken arm.  I'm thinking they'll get lots of play as dress up items.  The leggings are great, and I can see her getting a lot of wear out of them.  I'll probably do this with all her other tights, as she wears them out.  Even the ones that are too short for full-length leggings would make good capri leggings for those "in-between" type days (which sadly it looks like we are past - brrr it's chilly today!).

Hurray for upcycling!

Knit, knit, knit

Last week Saturday I bought myself some knitting needles and a ball of yarn, opened up my computer and searched "how to knit" and taught myself to knit.  Okay, it wasn't exactly that easy, and I still have TONS to learn, but I'm really enjoying it (despite a few struggles along the way).  I wanted to learn to knit because I wanted to do something that was a little more portable and easier to start up/set up than some of my other hobbies, like sewing or painting little wood peg dolls.  I also like the repetitive nature of it - it's sort of soothing and relaxing to just do something over and over (once you don't have to think about it so much!).  I had learned to crochet years ago (and had also forgotten how to crochet years ago), but I wanted to do something different.  I recently read a book called "The Friday Night Knitting Club", and while the storyline itself didn't particularly grab me, all the talk of knitting did.  So I decided to just do it.

This was my first practice piece - learning the knit and purl stitches.  It's not very pretty, but it found a home in Annika's dollhouse, as an area rug, and she was thrilled about it.

My second practice piece also ended up in Annika's dollhouse, as a blanket.  On this one I practiced the "stockinette" stitch (knit one row, purl one row).  Again, she loved that I was making stuff for her.

 

My third attempt, and I actually followed a pattern!  Can you see the ribbing?  I found this pattern for a simple dishcloth, and it turned out pretty well (once I figured out how to switch between knit and purl in the same row - thank goodness for YouTube!).  I'm not sure it was really the right yarn for a dishcloth, but I had fun making it anyway.  And I'm sure if I don't use it as a dishcloth, Annika will find some other use for it!

I'm not sure what my next project will be, but I think it's time to buy some different yarn!  I'm getting a little tired of looking at green and purple. :)

Little kitchen stools

We have an abundance of stools in our house (and I'm just talking about the kind you stand on here - never mind the other kind!).  We have stools in the kitchen, in the downstairs bathroom and in the upstairs bathroom.  I'll admit, the stool in the kitchen is not only for the kids - I also use it to reach the high stuff in my cupboards (I'm only 5'4'').  Having a stool around is handy, especially when your kids love to "help out" as much as mine do, but it was always a bit of a fuss over who got to use the stool in the kitchen and who had to go get the one from the bathroom to use.  So I asked my father-in-law (who is an extremely talented woodworker - you can see some of his other stuff on my blog here, here and here, or more on his blog) to make the kids each their own stool.  Then, so there would be no confusion (i.e. arguments) over whose is whose, I painted their names on them and added their footprints.  The kids each picked their own color.  I love how they turned out! 

Emmett's footprints didn't turn out so well the first time (they looked more like big, smeary blobs of paint), so I sanded them off and we redid them.  The second time around I used a lot less paint on his feet, and then filled in a few "sparse" spots afterwards.  I think I did a bit too much touching up, though, because they look almost a bit too perfect now (but I'll live with it - I don't want to sand again!).  Annika's look more like real footprints.  For the lettering, I used this simple technique, and it worked really well.

I wanted to get a picture of the stools "in action", but of course, the kids didn't want to cooperate! :P  So you'll have to take my word that they work great - and they're sturdy enough that I can use them too! :)

Popsicle stick snowflakes

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago, so yesterday morning the kids and I made popsicle stick snowflakes.

Our inspirations....

Source: Uploaded by user via Chrys on Pinterest

Source: teaching-tiny-tots.com via Erin on Pinterest

Annika has been really insistent on doing crafts lately, mostly due to a book she found at the library about making ornaments.  I regret letting her take it out, not because I don't want to do crafts, or even because I don't want a ton of homemade ornaments on my tree (although those are both true to a certain degree), but mostly because a book of 30 or more crafts, most of which needed materials we didn't have, was just overwhelming, for both of us.  She wanted to do them all, right away.  I quickly returned the book to the library, and decided it would be better for me to find appropriate crafts (ones that we had the required materials for), one at a time, and do them with her.  Hence, the popsicle stick snowflakes.

I used a glue gun to glue the popsicle sticks together (Annika chose her configuration, and I did mine and Emmett's), and then we painted them white.  Annika added glitter and buttons to hers as well.  Then we tied on ribbons for hanging.  I think they turned out really cute.  I collect snowflake ornaments and other snowflake-themed items, so they fit right in with our Christmas decor!

Annika's snowflake

Emmett's snowflake

My snowflake