I knit that!

If you had told me a year ago that not only would I be knitting, but that I would be able to take a pattern from a magazine and modify it in order to make a friend a Christmas stocking nearly identical to one she already had, I would have told you that’s impossible. But it wasn’t impossible, and I did it. And it didn’t take me very long! It was fun, relaxing, and a blessing for me to help these friends welcome their new son into their family traditions.

And in case you are wondering, in the picture on her site, the stocking I made is the one on the far left!

Speaking of making things, I also have exciting news and another first for me. I just opened up an etsy shop to sell my handmade wares. From fabric gift bags to travel jewelry pouches, Christmas ornaments, and some REALLY fun bags made out of CapriSun juice pouches, I have quite a variety! Please stop on by and take a look around. You just might find something for someone on your Christmas list!! Thank you!!

My superhero identity

I married into a superhero-loving household. My husband grew up on a steady diet of comic books and thinks he’s Superman. He actually really is. Just don’t tell anyone else. In fact, I was quickly immersed into the world of superheroes. He discovered on our honeymoon that I had never seen any of the Batman movies. Since there was a new Batman movie coming out that year, I had to catch up on the series. We rented and watched all the Batman movies in a Batman movie marathon one night on our honeymoon. I dreamed about the Batmobile that night! No joke! And I was hooked.

The superhero culture has continued in our home, especially now that we have kids. They have capes and run around the house with their initialed fabric flying behind them. I’ve now seen almost all the superhero movies. I ask The Narrator a ton of questions during each one, and he fills me in on back stories that only an avid comic book reader would know. I really loved Dark Knight and Iron Man. Those might be my favorite two of recent years.

I was thinking the other day about my superhero identity. I was getting ready to attend a baby shower that I had made a diaper bag for, so I decided I had better go to the shower “in character.” Whenever I attend an event where my gift is hand crafted (which is every event I attend these days, I rarely buy gifts anymore) after my gift is opened, the next questions are always, “Do you sew clothes? Did you make what you’re wearing?” I’ve learned it’s easiest just to wear an outfit that I’ve made so I can answer, “Yes, and Yes.” At this particular shower the mama-to-be shrieked over her bag and pulled me to the front of the crowd. She was so sweet and kind and flattering. I was blushing and ready to shrink back into the corner in all my introvertedness.

I don’t view my skills as a rarity because I grew up around hand crafting. My mom, grandmas and aunts all sewed, crocheted, knitted, crafted with shells, and decorated cakes. My Dad and grandpas were woodworkers and photographers. The Narrator’s family is the same way with the same list of talents. All my sister-in-laws on both sides of the family are just as gifted. We’re all rather crafty and we love to create together when we can.

Nonetheless, I’m finding that this craftiness is slowly becoming part of my identity. During one of our pizza parties, I looked around the room and saw pieces of myself all over – flip flops I had crocheted fuzzy string around, a diaper bag I’d made, a dress I’d made for a little girl’s birthday, bibs I’d made, receiving blankets – all items I had created and given as gifts to my friends at some point in time.  I stopped and smiled, because I realized all those items meant something to my friends, and hopefully they were a symbol of how much love I had put into each one of them.

So I guess if I had a superhero identity, I’d have an Amy Butler print cape with an appliqued pink “S” on the back. My superhero weapons would be a pair of tailor’s scissors, a tape measure and a set of  knitting needles. You better watch out for those flying balls of yarn (tossed in love of course!!).

Project of the week

This week was interesting around here to say the least. The Narrator started his new job and went up to Michigan for a few days for orientation, so the kids and I hung out. It turned into a project week. Some planned, some unplanned. Things always break when the hubby leaves, right?

I’m headed off to a baby shower, so I think it’s safe to share this particular project, because I doubt that the recipient will be online in the next half hour. A requested, custom-made LARGE diaper bag, complete with matching changing pad all for a very special mama-to-be.

First project done!

I finally finished my first knitting project. This scarf was knit with a variagated 4 ply Red Heart, and I love how it turned out. It was knit with 14″ of garter stitch, 18″ of ribbing, then another 14″ of garter stitch. I love how the ribbing makes it skinnier around your neck! I think next time I do this pattern, I’ll make the garter stitch sections longer. I like the look of longer scarves.

I learned a lot on this project. It was a good beginner project to master the basics – keeping an even tension, refining my technique of holding and throwing the yarn, and how I hold my needles. I worked on this one for a few days, then set it aside to start a blanket (which is about halfway done). When I picked it up again, I was amazed at how much more quickly I was knitting. I’ve definitely gotten faster since those first few squares I knit.

But beyond the knitting basics, I was surprised at how much I learned about myself during this project. I’m terribly impatient. Now, that’s not news to me or anyone who knows me, but rather it was a big in-my-face reminder. I’m used to scrapbooking where I can finish a half a dozen pages in a day and feel like I really did something. Or making an incredibly nice diaper bag in 3 days, or half a dozen teddy bears in one night. But knitting? No way. It takes daaaaays to finish just one scarf. And a blanket? Weeks. So after a few hours work, I realize I’ve only done 6 inches of a project. And that can be incredibly frustrating for an impatient, type-A, task driven, goals oriented, check it off the list person like me! I had to realize that knitting is about enjoying the process, and relishing the fact that with each stitch I’m taking YARN and turning it into FABRIC, which really is amazing. This beautiful pattern emerges as I carefullfy work each stitch, each row, each section. And each little stitch matters, because if I work it carelessly, it’s pretty obvious, especially on an even pattern like this scarf.

And that pretty much sums up my life right now. Things are taking longer than I’d like them to, and I continually find myself getting ahead of the game – working on setting up our new home in Michigan in my head when the one in Florida hasn’t even sold. I find myself packing and organizing boxes in my head, when it’s not time yet. And in turn, I end up goofing up the current stich I should be focusing on – which is loving my kids and my neighbors and my friends where I’m at, enjoying the days we have left here and letting tomorrow take care of itself.

So this scarf was a little bit about knitting and technique, and a whole lot about learning to be patient and focus on the here and now.  I’m sure next winter when I’m wearing this scarf in the Michigan winter, I’ll remember my lesson in patience, and it will apply to whatever I’m facing then too.

Strawberry Spritz Cookies

Just in time for Valentines Day – my favorite cookies with a strawberry twist. These are the best cookies in the world to make with kids because the dough does not need to chill, and you shape the cookies with a cookie press (which everyone needs!) – no rolling, no floury messes! AND the cookies are bite-size, so the kids can have 2 and think they really got a treat. And did I mention that one batch makes about 84 cookies??? It’s strawberry season in Florida, so I experimented with my recipe today, and it turned out soooo yummy!!

Basic Spritz Cookie (from Better Homes & Garden Cookbook)

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed 30 seconds. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat till combined, scraping bowl. Beat in egg, vanilla, and if desired, almont extract til combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can. Stir in remaining flour.

2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Add sprinkles or colored sugar if desired. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or till edges are firm, but not brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack cool.

Makes about 84 cookies.

STRAWBERRY GOODNESS VARIATION: I added a handful (1/2 cup maybe?) of chopped strawberries in with the egg and beat until combined. This made the dough a bit stickier, so I also added a bit more flour, not quite 1/2 cup until the dough had a good consistency to put into the cookie press. I bet if you had strawberry extract and used that instead of almond it would add to the strawberry goodness!!

CHOCOLATE LOVERS: reduce flour to 3 1/4 cups and add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder with the sugar.

Happy Valentines Baking!!

To market & meltdowns

Our house is officially on the market. And now the waiting game begins. I feel like a schoolgirl waiting for that cute guy to take notice in me. Every time the phone rings, I jump. Every time I leave and come home, I race to check the messages. I pace the house, look out the window to see if anyone might be driving by slowly, and keep touching things and tidying up. I’ve got it bad.

We’ve all had our share of meltdowns already. We’re learning to excercise extra grace with each other during this time. Little Miss Sunshine swings from wanting to go to Michigan RIGHT NOW, to not wanting to move at all, to wondering what all we can take with us and if that includes her bed and all the ceiling fans. T-Rex thinks that since we are distracted he can get away with whatever he wants. Both The Narrator and I have run out of patience with everyone at some point and done a little bit of snapping. Like I said – extra grace. We’re all tired and battling sniffles on top of it!

I’ve been fighting off the mommy guilt as my kids have watched much more pre-school tv and played way more Sesame street games online than usual in the past week. I ease my guilt by reminding myself that at the end of this tunnel is a bright, bright light in form of more attention from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins than they could ever imagine. I’ve also tried to think a bit outside the box for them with special things. Yesterday while I was tackling a mountain of laundry that had piled up, the kids had prepared a pretend picnic lunch on the lanai and invited me to join them. I smiled and said, “How about we have a REAL picnic lunch as soon as I finish folding this laundry?” They were ecstatic and began racing to prepare. They grabbed a pile of pillows and blankets from their rooms and spread them on the lanai and had everything set up by the time I arrived with the most delicious pb&j and sliced apples. We had a lovely lunch enjoying the nice warm breeze. Then yesterday afternoon I printed out these valentines and bought some lollipops and we put them together this morning for their friends. We also have a pajama party planned with some friends this Saturday night. So while we may be working more than usual, I’m also trying to make sure we have some unusual play times.

They continue to work on their lists every day, and I bought a pack of cute buttons for $3.99. They each get to pick one button at the end of each week to wear on their shirts or put on a lanyard they got at Disney. It’s the simple things, really. They can’t wait to pick out their next button this weekend!

And so now we wait. And wait.

Sublime Stitching – Review

I think one of the hardest things for me about this move is going to be having my sewing machines packed up for who knows how long. Sewing is messy and takes up lots of space and isn’t going to be very conducive while trying to keep a house spotless for realtors to show. Creating keeps me sane, so during this time of transition, I’ll be resorting to more portable creativity, like knitting and hand embroidery.

Last year, my new skill for the year was hand embroidery and I love, love, love it. The projects can be as simple or complicated as I want and the options are endless. Housemate actually got me hooked (or should it be needled me into…) embroidery, and she recommended Jenny Hart’s book Sublime Stitching. The book has 48 pages of basic instructions from the supplies you need to a good variety of basic stitches and websites for resources. My favorite part of the book however is the hundreds of iron on patterns. They are hip and cool and fun and not the stereotypical embroidery of old. As Jenny points out, embroidery is an inexpensive and easy hobby to pick up. You just need a small pair of scissors, a few needles and some embroidery floss, which very regularly goes on sale at JoAnns for something like 5-10 for $1. You can embroider on just about anything. If you can get your needle through it, you can stitch on it – t-shirts, blankets, jackets, dish towels baby sleepers – endless options!

So, if you’re looking for something simple and easy to pick up and do while watching tv, or riding in a car, try embroidery.

Beyond the Sea – Heidi Grace

It’s no secret that I love the Gulf of Mexico. My favorite getaway ever was the 2 days we spent on Sanibel Island and I got up at sunrise to walk the beach and look for shells. It’s the only time I like to get up early! I am definitely going to miss the Gulf and its rhythmic, calming waves and soft, sugary sand. I will find a way to take a one week vacation on Sanibel Island!! In February!!

So when I was browsing JoAnn’s site today and saw this new collection of fabric by Heidi Grace called Beyond the Sea, I immediately started scheming what I could make out of it. I’m thinking maybe a quilt for our guest room. I’ve never made a quilt before, but this might be a good time to try. Well, not right now, but maybe after we move and are settled. And then maybe I’ll make some pjs for me and Little Miss. Or maybe a cute summer dress for her. Oooh, I’m drooling already. I’m thinking I should figure out a way to snag the fabric now in case it’s not around by the time I actually get around to having time to make things out of it!

Kumon workbooks re-worked

We’ve had a string of cold, rainy days – I know boo-hoo. The kids were going a bit crazy, so we pulled out our scissors and Kumon workbooks and started having fun. Suddenly, I had a stroke of motherhood genius and realized the pages that Little Miss was cutting apart from the Let’s Cut Paper workbook would make very nice paper bag puppets. She loved the idea, so I grabbed the glue sticks and a stack of paper bags (part of every crafter’s stash, right?) and the kids had a blast making and playing with these puppets. Then we pulled out the puppet stage I made them for Christmas and hung it in the doorway and they presented their hilarious shows. “Hi, I’m a puppet! I’m a goat puppet. How are you today? It’s raining outside!!” Good rainy times had by all.

Review – Patons Classic Wool About the Home

The Narrator knows me so well. He ought to after all these years together! For my birthday, he picked up a JoAnns gift card so I could buy my own yarn, some small scissors to put in my knitting basket, and this great book. He knows me well enough to know that my hobbies are two-fold. The actual hobby itself, and collecting things regarding to the hobby (books, accessories, supplies, etc.) Lately, pattern and idea books have been my newest obsession, and since I have a whole new hobby – KNITTING!! I get to start collecting a whole new category of books.

This little booklet is filled with 13 felted projects (where you take a wool yarn, make the project and then felt it – basically shrink it tight in the washer with hot water). The projects are all for home decor and include both crocheting and knitting. There’s a wall organizer, various smaller organizers, chair pad, rugs, tea cozy, leaf table runner, accent pillows – and my FAVORITE – this cherry blossom wall art. For some reason, it had never crossed my mind to use knitting as wall art, but this piece is gorgeous! It will probably be the first piece I attempt out of this book. It will look perfect in our family room, which is currently art-less.

can't wait to make this one!

In addition to the patterns, the booklet also contains basic knitting and crocheting instructions, as well as felting instructions. Felted pieces are amazing. I can’t wait to try this method. Once a piece has been felted, the stitches are so tight together, that it looks like a thick piece of fabric.

Good job on the birthday present shopping, Narrator

love these pillows!