Charmie's pumpkin

We are going to a "trunk and treat" at the church that sponsors my MOPS group.  Charmie and Mardie needed treat bags. . . they also need costumes but I haven't been so ambitious to knit those.  I'm working on another one for Mardie but here's Charm's.  I lined it after he found out that I carried the yarn in the back of the intarsia section of the face and that he could pull it and make the face scrunch up!

Here's my first attempt at a bag for Mardie, but after completing the pattern, which didn't give dimensions, I realized that it was WAY too small for him to use other than for an apple and a stick of gum! It will become part of my home decor for this time of year I suppose.

My Mom's blue boa

My mom got some Bernat Boa yarn last winter with hopes to have a scarf from it.  I finally finished it.  It's a Shape It scarf from the Knitting Experience, The Knit Stitch.  I shortened the triangle portion and # of stitches and width of the rectangular portion because I was a little short on yarn.  I hope that she's pleased however with the finished product!

pab reveal

 Here's my Peek-a-boob nursing top, finally completed! I found the cutest ribbon with flowers that matched the green perfectly.  Suprisingly no other green ribbon came close!  So here it is.  I used Sinfonia 100% cotton self striping print, size 4 needles, size small for the bottom, D for the top and didn't use any bra hardware to make it adjustable due to the fact that the ribbon is bumpy and wouldn't glide.  It was hard to get a good picture but here's the front and back.
Too bad that now that I've gotten it done it's way too cold to wear this without covering it up.  I'll have to make a coordinating shrug or something. . .

I'm done knitting

my peek-a-boob nursing top that is! I finished up knitting a few hours ago and have been weaving in ends and sewing the facings and elastic casing. I finally decided to stop. I've come to a point that I really need what ever I'm going to use for straps and I am unsure what I will use. I have to go on a strap finding mission tomorrow. I have some fabric. I could cut it to bias and sew straps, but I like the idea of finding ribbon so a shoppin' I will go.
You have to wait until it is DONE to see a peek. . . no boob though! Stay posted for updates. Hopefully I will be successful and they will shortly follow.

wips

It's killing me that I can't seem to finish a project these days. I really am knitting, and now crocheting too but it seems like it is just taking forever for my projects to get done. Right now I'm working on my peek-a-boob top and I'm finishing up the right cup. . . but I still have to complete the left one too,and then the inner top and finishing uggg, this little tiny top has taken up so much of my time. I think I declare that I hate fine yarn and tiny needles.
Tonight I started a new project. I shredded 3 of the dreaded plastic bags that my purchases come in. I will need to shred more for my project. I am crocheting them into bags. I will reuse them as shopping bags this way. I liked the idea in concept but am not liking how it's looking right now. I'll have to finish one and see how it comes out. I had a large stash of bags that my mom donated to my cause but I think DH threw them away this weekend while being so sweet and cleaning the house for me :( I'll have to ask him when he gets up. They are not where I left them so unless he decided to move them they are gone. I've got some other ideas for projects but hate having many projects going at once because it seems like none of them are ever done so I have written them down and will see if they come about!

Blue Teeth

Charmie loves to color with his crayons. . .
Mardie loves to eat them!

New Hobby

Rocky and the boys have a new hobby.  I am their tag along enthusiastic supporter.  I am not mechanically inclined. . . though I am pretty resourceful and inventive I guess maybe after the mechanics are done I may give more input into the paint or decals. 
They modify Power Wheels!

Both of the boys love anything that goes.  Especially Charmie.  Here's a picture of the "garage" that Rocky built for them.  Unfortunately it is not big enough for all of the Power Wheels that they have.  We have gotten them all used and actually only paid for 2 of them pictured here.  The rest we have gotten free!  Rocky is willing to take the time to get them working and our boys don't care if they came out of a box or not.  If they are dirty when we get them a good pressure washing and they are clean enough to use.  The two on top, Barbie Jeep and Big Jake are for Mardie primarily and the two on the bottom, the 2 seater Jeep and the Quad are for Charmie.   The second Quad after it is fixed will be for Charmie's best bud cousin Jason.  It's amazing what my kids can and will do on them!  I'll be posting more updates as we do mods!

Here you can see the boys excitement over the prospect of getting to go out into the garage and play!

Myrtle Beach Come Celebrate Christ 2005

We went to the beach, and you wouldn't know from how wonderful the weather was that just a few days before there was a serious tropical storm that passed through.  Charmie and Mardie had so much fun with their cousins Janeen and Jason, and their Daddy and Uncle Colin.

Recycled Sweater Longies

I was sick of looking at the sleeves all cut up and in a pile and thinking that I would love some variety in my cloth diapering these days so I decided to make up two pairs of longies.  Both are from merino wool sweaters.  Sorry for all of the  open area around Charmie's pic but it's really hard to get a two year old to stand still to pose.  I was chasing him around on the bike snapping pictures of the pants and this one was the best one.

I felted my balls

 and here they are.  I love these little things.  I am going to want to make many many more of these.  I guess I will be able to because I have plenty of scraps.  I used 2 short washes in my front loader and then manually felted them another 30% at the kitchen sink with some good old hot/cold water and lots of rubbing.  I am glad that I did this extra step, but honestly I wouldn't have if the balls would have felted equally with the different sections.  It's interesting to me to see how different yarn felts.  Both the orange section facing and the 2 sections to the right with multi colored yarn were yarns that I got in natural color and dyed myself and both didn't felt as well as the other yarn that was purchased already dyed.  Note to self, those yarns don't felt so good. 

Speaking of handpainted yarn.  I can't wait for my hanks to finish drying so that I can see them wound into balls and start a project with them!

Balls from scraps

I've had this pattern from Knits for Baby for some time to knit felted wool balls flat with two needles and I've wanted to do it but I've been immersed in other projects.  I'm still immersed in other projects but for some reason this one was shouting my name, "DOREEN, COME AND KNIT US, THE BOY'S NEED US!!!!!" So I got out my bag of wool scraps and started these.  I didn't have an uninterrupted time, for crying out loud, I'm a mother of 2 little boys, ages one and two!  But I'd estimate that these took maybe an hour to an hour and a half and an equally suprisingly small amount of yarn.  Now I just need to felt them and stuff and close them.  I have a blocks pattern that is also screaming at me.  I'm trying to decide if I ignore it or knit it.  Too many choices. . .

I'm starting to think that if I delve into the blocks that I'll open up a door to making knitted toys and where will it end.  Last night as we took our family walk around the neighborhood I knitted the first ball as we walked.  I threatened to knit a steering wheel cover for Charmie's Power Wheel's jeep!  Rocky and my neighbors quickly reminded me that that would not be a macho addition to his pimped out ride but it seemed perfectly acceptable to me!  Mind you this was after he had done something very unusual and driven it into a curb without his seatbelt and his face hit the wheel.  My motherly instinct was kicking in. . . how can I protect my baby.  Of course after their admonision I didn't have the courage to admit that I was planning in my mind a matching cover for the roll cage.

Kool aid for me

I've had these two hanks of yarn for some time. . . undyed. . . sitting there calling my name until a couple of days ago when I decided that they deserved to be colored.  I used both food coloring liquid and kool aide to get these combinations.  I still want to achieve darker more rich colors.  I have to figure out if I need to soak the wool longer in the color bath or what.  These will have to do for now!

I love 2nd hand yarn!

I've been frequenting a Habitat for Humantiy store in a local town after finding out that the LYS in that town was collecting yarn from it's patrons to donate in exchange for customer credit towards store purchases.  After dropping off my 18 lbs for destashing I hurried over to the Habitat store and scored these great deals. 

100% wool tapestry yarn for 10 cents for the little skeins and 20 cents for the two large ones.

A basket of yarn ranging in price from 35 cents to $1.00 per ball. They had so much more but I have been mostly concentrating on feltable wool or wool blends and a I only have so much room to store it all!

 

The Cabarrus & Cumberland county fairs

Here are some shots from the Cabarrus County fair.

And here are some from the Cumberland County Fair.

I've got no buttons, I've got BIBEADTONS!

And finally I have a completed coat!  I was looking for something unusual so when I couldn't find the buttons I wanted I made my own bead buttons from glass beads.  I love how these button like closures turned out and I think I even have enough beads left over to make a piece of jewlery!
I used 2 different kind of beads for each bibeadton. A smaller round bead and an elongated tube bead. I passed the anchor thread from the back to the front of the coat, through the round bead then through the tube bead and back into the round bead then through the coat front to back, two times per bead. I had to use pliers a couple of times because the needle wouldn't pass through the bead with it's width and all of that yarn. It makes a glass toggle like button from two beads, i've never seen them before elswhere so I will call them bibeadtons!

I got the idea of using beads after using a glass pendant bead for the closure on Jaime's bag. I think I'll be using more beads on my work. It's really neat to combine two things that I really love into one in a unique way.

Here's the detail of my bibeadtons

 

ISO buttons

Ever since I've started regularly blogging here I don't think I've gone this long without making a blog post. The few that regularly frequent my blog have been asking me what've I've been up to so har'tis!
I have several UFO's (un finished objects).
Six or Seven wool soaker pants and matching bags from recycled wool sweaters for the boys
Unbiased sari silk bag
My own design sari silk bag that I have ben contemplating froging and adding more sari silk and reinventing into a knit across jacket.
Peek a boob nursing top out of sinfonia 100% sportweight cotton
And the pièce de résistance my einstein coat that just needs buttons at this point.
I don't know where the button search will lead or how it will end up. I need 6 and I like unusual. Maybe I'll delve into wood carving or polymer clay and make my own. I just have to go on a search and figure it out.
I've taken pictures of it all but I think I'd rather just post the FO's.
I've been struggling to get this stuff done. For some reason it seems like I'm working in slow motion lately maybe because I have so many going, I can't get far on any one of them, lol. Despite this I am planning some new projects:
Sweater sampler
Another sweater for me with suri merino wool.
A Sweater or vest for Rocky
Helmet hats for the boys
Mits for the boys
A lace weight shawl
And some sewing stuff too, but I'm not holding out for that happening anytime soon with my schedule and the age of the boys. Knitting and crochet is much easier.

my climibing boys

I heard the familiar sound of the crib toy music.  Note that since Mardie isn't ever in his crib I don't hear this often so I know when I hear it Charmie has gotten into the crib. I decided to check on the boys and walked in to find this. Mardie had climbed the mountian, and Charmie had used the wagon handle to get into the crib. They were just pushing buttons on the toy like it was a radio and they were searching for their favorite station!

That's my boys!

S-n'-B Meeka's Marsupial Tote

I wanted a little bag to go with my big tote. I liked how Janet's version of this came out so I decided to try my own. Here it is! I once again used a combination of Plymouth Outback 100% wool and Brown sheep worsted like I did with my enlarged bubble bag. I've added a snap closure to the pouch and a magnetic snap to the tote opening but I'm not sure if I like it so I may remove it. I kind of like my bags just open, kwim?

Hollywild SC

Rocky and I went to an RV show last weekend for some camping information gathering. We decided that we weren't the only ones that needed to have some fun so we took the boys to Hollywild!
It's neat to see up close the animals that are actually in the commercials and movies and advertisements that we see on a regular basis.