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Just Make Another One

I could never make two of the same thing until I started knitting socks.  You finish the first sock and then you need to make an exact same one in the same size, pattern and color.

So on Friday after I had made a quick dress, I felt the need to make another one.

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Technically it is still a WIP because I am working on some embellishments.

And remember the blue yarn from Wednesday?

It is another Princess Peplums Cardigan but with short sleeves and in fingering weight instead of sport weight. It is blocking right now and I like how it turned out.
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But one thing is for sure, sock knitting teaches you discipline or else you are plagued with second sock syndrome.

Friday’s FO: Maybe an hour dress

UntitledJust like every Friday my daughter woke up really early (Friday is the first day of the weekend here) and we did a little bit of painting and playing.  I have totally given up on sleeping in on any day of the week.  She is an early riser and so am I, so we just get up and play.  It is much easier to enjoy our time than to plead to get some more sleep.

She was the one who suggested painting. She even said she would ‘tidy up’ after herself.  But we all know what that means when it comes from the mouth of a 4 year old.  In all fairness she did try cleaning up but probably caused an even bigger mess.  Thankfully this time she didn’t try to finger paint with the water color.  She usually paints her fingers with the brush then goes all crazy with her hands.  She definitely showed more restraint.  Not that I try to stop her when she finger paints anyway.  Painting is messy, so she might as well have as much fun as she wants.

 

It was a lot of fun, I think I going to buy a set of brushes for myself and a big set of watercolors.
We go through a lot of arts and crafts supplies in this household.  I have some of her older paintings and it is sweet how you can see improvement.  At first it was just putting colored water on paper, now it is more about painting ‘things’ even if they don’t really look like the things.
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And then after we were all done, I decided to pull out my fabric stash because I have been wanting to sew her a dress all week but couldn’t make it to the fabric stores.  I thought it might be a nice idea to make her a wearable muslin.  I found this striped fabric and thought it would make a nice dress.  I also had a chance to clean out my stash, I threw away the absolutely unusable scraps, ironed and folded the rest and organized them neatly.

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I am quite pleased with how it turned out, even though it is quite short.  My little one does not sit down and when she does she usually pulls her dress up, so short dresses are not smart.  She decided it is her ‘at home’ dress anyway and is now pretending to have tea parties.  So I guess it is a winner.

I remembered why I love sewing.  It probably took 2 hours from start to cleanup to get this done which is nothing compared to knitting or even its slightly faster cousin crochet.

Sock project keeper or the DPN hugger

No body wants to hug a DPN right?  They’re skinny and sharp at both ends.  And they are know for running away and leaving your socks in the middle of a WIP, well at least mine do.  And I am not exactly a fan of picking up stitches.

And do you remember these?  I finished one of the socks and cast on for the second one of the pair.  I now understand why some knitters like the two at once method.  It makes sense for people like me.So the DPN hugger was born.  Or maybe it was just me procrastinating and not actually knitting, I guess now you know why it took me so much time to knit the first one. :-)

You will need 2 pieces of outer and 2 pieces of lining fabric sized (17.5 x 4.5 cm) these fit DPNs 15 cm long.  And two pieces of elastic 6 cm long each.
   Place the pieces of elastic 5cm from the edge on each side on the right side then place the other piece right side face down and pin.
  Pin the lining right sides facing.
  Sew three sides, and leave one long end without sewing it.
  Repeat for the lining but leave a gap in the middle for turning at least 5 cm long.  Clip the corners and the excess elastic.
  Place the lining inside the outer, right sides facing, make sure that the elastic straight and one piece at each side.
  Sew along the top and trip the excess elastic at the top.
 Turn it right side out.
   Place your needles inside and pull the elastic around the side so that your needles are nice and safe.  And you are done.  Now you can put your knitting safely in any bag without worrying that your needles are going to run away.  If you want to make them for longer needles, just cut a longer rectangle and change the placement of your elastic.

Now excuse me while I go knit me some socks.

Friday’s Finished Object: I finally took out the sewing machine

I think my sewing machine has been sad for weeks.  I might have used it slightly but no big projects recently at all.  Winter is near so I decided the little one needed a new jacket.  I used the same pattern from last year, only a size bigger.  I even let the little one help me :-)

Hooded Jacket

She wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to take a decent picture, and the weather isn’t cool enough for us to take it and play outside yet.  Oh and she’s wearing the jacket at home because she’s waiting for it to rain (inside) and tights, yeah because that’s how we roll around here.

With the left over fabric we made a little camera bag for her little camera

Little Camera Bag

This time I actually let her do the sewing with me, she pressed the foot pedal thingy while I maneuvered the fabric, she loved it.

A new bag

I also made another bag from Ithinksew’s Lindsay Bag, but it is too small for what I had in mind for it, but since I got the combo pattern I am going to make the Melanie one soon too. The pattern itself is really nice and if you are comfortable sewing without instructions then get the sewer friendly version.  I need a large knitting bag, with lots of pockets and space for my camera and an A4 sized clipboard.  Maybe I need a closet and not a bag.

Not a hot water bottle heating pad

I have a back problem, and the best remedy is usually a hot water bottle in bed.  Hot water bottles are also great for that *ahem* time of month when you want to kill someone.  Or maybe you just enjoy a nice warm bed.  But I have a problem with hot water bottles, they tend to hate me and like to leak.  Not very nice. When I was pregnant I discovered the rice heating pad.  I didn’t have a sewing machine at the time but made a simple rectangle one with some cotton fabric I had and hand stitched it.  It has been looking really sad lately and I wanted a new one.  So I made a simple one shaped like a hot water bottle and you can make one too.

You can download the NotAHotWatterBottleTemplate here.

Materials Needed:

  • Some scrap cotton or linen.  You can use any fabric that can go into the microwave.  I used linen because I had it on hand and I love its texture
  • Cotton thread because you don’t want it melting in the microwave
  • Almost 3 cups of uncooked dry rice.
  • Essential oil of your choice (optional) but it really does add a nice relaxing touch to it.  You only need to add a couple of drops to your rice.
Cut out two pieces with the template on the fold
Pin the two pieces wrong sides together  
Sew them together, leaving a 3 inch gap at the bottom.  Clip the curves.  
Turn it right side out and push the corners out  
Fill it up with dry rice.  
Sew the gap using an invisible seam or a ladder stitch. To heat it up put it in the microwave for a minute.  If it is not hot enough put it in the microwave again for another 30 seconds.  

Pink Tutu

7 layers of pink tulle an elastic waistband encased in deep pink linen and you have a tutu fit for a princess.  It was a normal Saturday morning and I had promised the little one a tutu.  She wants to be a ballerina.  She puts on her slippers and butterfly wings and pretends to be a flying ballerina with wings and I like to indulge and humor her childish fantasies.  She picked out the tulle herself and proudly told the sales man that it was for her

 

 

 

 

She sat very quietly while I cut the tulle, then used her own safety scissors to cut the scraps which she then tried stapling together.  She fell asleep in the middle and decided to take a nap. I put it on her which she was still asleep and  she was so excited when she woke up and put it to the test by jumping on the bed.  Our bed, which is already creaking and squeaking from all the jumping she does every day.

After she exhausted herself she looked at me and asked me to make another one, a blue one for me so we could both be ballerinas.

Friday’s Finished Object: The big green bag

I used the Arinda pattern from IthinkSew, this is the second one I’ve made, my sister took the first one :-) .  It is a really big bag measuring 21 inches across

I love the braided handles

And the funky polka dot lining

I already have my eye on the Juliana Clutch pattern for my next bag

Bunny Slippers

My daughter came home today with a note from her nursery that tomorrow is funny or strange shoes day.  I thought bunnies would be a funny idea, only they sort of came out naughty devilish bunny looking so they could also fall under the strange category.  I used this tutorial from an Igloo.

The tutorial is fantastic but sewing through all these layers of felt did make my machine curse at me once or twice.

Adding a Zippered Lining to your crochet and knit items

One of the most search terms I get is ‘how to add a zipper to crochet or knit’  I already have a quick and dirty method for that.  I was working on a lacy motif clutch design that had to be lined, so I wrote a tutorial how to make a single layer lining or a double layer (with no visible seams for openwork)

The tutorial is in pdf form which you can download ZipperedLiningTutorial or click the image to get.

Friday’s Finished Objects: Stuff

I made some stuff this week
Blue Linen Pencil case

I am trying to destash so I used leftover blue linen and the rainbow fabric and made a pencil case

Blue Linen Pencil case Lining

FlowerMotifClutch

I’ve been wanting to make a motif clutch for ages.  So I designed one.  I made the lining using beige linen and a red zipper, turned out much nicer than I was expecting

 

RuffledClutch

I was experimenting with different stitches to c reate a ruffled or ruched look, hence the above pattern :-)