crochet in rainbow

Is anybody else in 'clean it out' mode? Maybe it's spring cleaning, I don't know, what I do know is that I just want to clear everything out and feel like I have space to breathe. That includes my old projects that I have been avoiding/ignoring for varying amounts of time. This finish is one from that list. I got the yarn and started strong back in September, making a 'yarn blanket' for the big girl bed at the request of said big girl. I was doing well in the beginning, but it kind of fell by the wayside with moving and holidays and everything. It has been in a box under my sewing table taunting me for months. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and got down to business.

I used a tutorial from the pearl bee, but I used larger yarn and hook to make larger blocks. I made 42 9.5" blocks in 9 colors to do a 6x7 layout. The yarn is brava from knitpicks.com and it is a nice soft acrylic. Once I got going it went pretty quickly. The key for me was to do all the center parts of a color and then do those borders and somehow that motivated me to get it done. I even stitched it together in record time and weaved those nasty ends in and now it happily resides on her bed. I am pretty much in love with it and owe tons to my sweet husband for helping me land on the perfect layout. More details on my ravelry page.

Basically it looks awesome and I am so happy to have it done and have that box out of my way. Now I am on a mission to get my hexie pillow done asap which is the other big longstanding project that I have been ignoring. Then I have a handwork break until my parents get me my birthday yarn so I can knit up a special something for me. Oh, and I may have ordered some awesome yarn to make myself a sweater at some point. I have big goals people, big goals! Also, I have been back at the pony club so I'll have some more blocks for that soon.

a small {person} summer wardrobe: part II

Back with the rest of the clothes for the little! These are all the bottoms and pjs I have made. I might need to make a little more in this category, but this, combined with what she already has, should get her started.


Bubble shorts from the peek-a-boo pattern shop were first up. They are super cute and look pretty darn professional. The only thing I did differently are the pockets, which are now lined and don't have elastic.

A gypsy skirt, another from Making Children's Clothes, came out great as well, and I am sure she will wear it a lot. Girl loves her skirts. And please note, I don't know if you saw it in any of the other pictures, but the little tags I made; they make my heart sing.

Night dress is a nightgown from Making Children's Clothes again. I love it but I'm not convinced she'll wear it. In which case maybe I'll cut that cute fabric up and use it for something else :)

These pj pants are a free pattern from Sew Jereli and they came out nice too. I thought about drafting my own pattern, but it just seemed so much easier to use one that was already done for me. I made the 4T and she definitely has room to grow. The fabric is actually a pair of my old pj pants that had seen better days. 

crossover tee and sleeping johns are from Growing Up Sew Liberated, a book that I just love. I've made them before, and used the same 3t pattern for the shirt in short sleeve and went up to a 4t in the pants. They are pretty big but I am loving this polka dot fabric I found on clearance at Joanns.

And I must say that all of these projects were so much easier thanks to my serger. It is definitely a fun little tool and makes life just a little bit easier. I already used it to make myself a dress too that I just need to get some pictures of. Currently I am debating layout for the crochet squares and jumping back into the pony club. Almost halfway done the blocks!!  What has everyone else been up to?

a small {person} summer wardrobe: part I

It's been pretty quiet around these parts lately, but I am here to tell you that does not mean I haven't been busy. Life is just a lot right now and I tend to pick sewing over blogging about it. Consequently, I have an entire summer wardrobe for my biggest little to show. I even made enough pieces that I need to break it up a bit! I actually did an inventory of what she had and figure out what she needed and we picked out fabric and patterns together. It was fun and I hope she wants to keep doing it for a while yet. 

Starting off we have tops and dresses! I started off with the oliver + S roller skate dress/tunic pattern I bought last year. I made another dress and a tunic. The dress is a voile fabric I got at fabric.com a while ago and the tunic is a lightweight plaid (with purple sparkle, people, sparkle!) I have been hoarding because I love it. Both are lined with a lightweight white cotton. I stuck with the 3T that I made her last spring since it still fits well, but the tunic is a bit short and more shirtish I think, so I fear she will outgrow it sooner than I'd like.

I also made the go to shift dress, from a pattern pack I bought a while ago. It is super cute and so summery in this voile, but again, a bit short and I think she'll need something under it. I did love the yellow bias tape for the armholes and she picked a nice yellow button.  The only downside is how quickly it wrinkles.

The paper fan dress that anna maria horner designed has been on my list for a while too, and it is so cute! I love it so much! I don't even know what else to say. It is a great pattern and the little picked out the butterflies and we decided the pink cats were perfect. Red buttons are just the icing on the cake.

For this round I also broke out my Making Children's Clothes book for a few patterns. One was the toddler dress which is pretty much a pillowcase dress with a short lining. It came together easily but for some reason it doesn't bunch and lay very nicely. Maybe it's the ribbon I used instead of making a fabric tie, I don't know. But hopefully it will be wearable. It also is a bit short since it is a one size toddler pattern.

The smock top was another one I tried from this book. It is super cute but it is huge. I am going to wash it and see what happens, but I could easily take in at least an inch on each side. And wow those straps look uneven, but I swear they aren't really haha!

That takes care of the dresses and tops. Next up will be pjs and bottoms! Also, and unrelated, I am really super close to finished the crochet squares. I can't wait to put them together and share the finished afghan. And now that I have broken things up with some reasonably fast finishes, I really need to get back to some quilts. 

serge all the things!

Alright, let's try this again. New week. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our cat on Friday and while we are terribly upset about it (he was my first baby! I have he pictures to prove it!) at least there is no question mark hanging over us anymore and he is not suffering. We are still not sleeping just yet, but we are, I think, on the right path and I have hope. Maybe just a sliver, but I have it. So I am just going to take that and run with it.

In an effort to distract myself this weekend, I finally got out one of my gifts from this past Christmas - a serger! I had been wanting one for ages and now that I have learned how to thread it and got it up and running, I love it! No kidding, this thing is awesome and makes finishing edges so much easier!

Obviously, I had to get going with this so I made something that has been on my list for a little while, a beach robe for the baby! I had been saving this old towel wrap, waiting for something that I could make out of it's limited fabric and finally, this was it. I used the pattern from Made and made the small 9-18 month size, short sleeve with partial ties. I barely had enough fabric, but I made it work. A couple packs of bias tape, a touch of zebra, and voila! I am so in love with it that I wish it was my size! And even though the towel is a bit worn, it now has a good second life. And finishing the edges with the serger was so much better than the zigzag. In case you were wondering, it does fit her and looks stinking adorable, but I had a pretty uncooperative model. Seriously, going to be the cutest baby on the beach! I can't wait!

Also, I have been working on a big kid wardrobe. I have so many things in the works; some dresses, a couple skirts, shorts, pjs, shirts....we really went through and got it all going. And this is part 1, I still have to figure out the knit things but I should be back with some of that soon. A bit of crochet even happened and I am done one more color, so only 2 colors (10 blocks) left to go! The end is in sight!!! Here's hoping for a better week!

well it's something....

Alright, I know blogs are all buttercups and rainbows and all that, but guys, things are sucking right now. In the grand scheme of things, it really is a small suckage, but still. At the moment, we are all a little sick, the babe has stopped sleeping in a big way, and our beloved cat is probably not going to make it to his 6th birthday later this month. The little guy has been a part of our family for 5.5 years and a couple weeks ago he just stopped eating. There is nothing obvious wrong and without doing expensive testing there is nothing we can do.  So it sucks. He was our first baby!

As a result of the babe deciding that sleep is for...everyone but her, we are tired and I no longer have any sort of naptime to craft in. It's not helping my sanity. So mostly what I have been doing is crocheting since I can sneak it in and also snuggle with the cat while I do it.

I had this grand plan back in the late summer/early fall (you know, after I had a baby and we were moving across town a few weeks later) to make a "yarn blanket" for the big girl bed. It was requested and I'm a sucker for a little girl who appreciates handmade. Side note: my 3-year-old thought that everyone made all their gifts for her and kept asking if people made things she got...she didn't really understand when I told her that no, in fact most people buy their gifts haha! Anyway, after going through my options, I decided to crochet one since it's quite a bit faster then knitting one. I am using a tutorial from the purl bee but instead of making a gazillion small squares, I picked some worsted weight yarn and a size K hook which ended up making blocks roughly 9.5". I am making 42 of them and let me tell you, they are fun and pretty quick, but I would never manage to make 108 of them for the original blanket. Just wow.

I am using 9 different colors of knit picks brava yarn that the little one helped pick out. When it comes to a small child, I admit that cheap and washable are big deciding factors and I must say this yarn is both of those things, plus super soft. I am done 6 of the colors and have just started on the next one, and I am hoping to finish these squares up in the next couple of weeks. I am mostly motiviated by the idea of getting the big box of yarn out from under my sewing table, so hopefully that will help me finish up quickly. I have ended up doing all the center squares of one color and then putting the borders on and it makes it feel pretty quick. I finished 8 squares in the past week that way, and I think I have 15 to go. Of course then I have to put them together and I'm not quite sure yet how I am going to do that, but one thing at a time. So there you go, public declaration, it will be done!

Hopefully I will be back with some sewing things soon. I have been planning out a little girls summer wardrobe which I will hopefully start soon and I am still working occasionally on my DWR arcs. Once we get this sleep thing under control, I hope to be back to business. Man I hope we get this sleep thing under control....

Zilver

Happy Monday everyone! Minus the happy....which just leaves Monday....which didn't sound nearly as nice haha. We are having a rough time around here, so, instead of dwelling on that, we are going to look at pictures of my pretty new shawl!

I decided this year that I wanted to knit a shawl. I have been thinking about it for a while and looking at different patterns, but finally I found Zilver and decided to give it a try. It is not too difficult, but I had to learn how to do the increases. I figured that made it a good stepping stone for the sweaters I want to try at some point. I got the yarn for my birthday and it is really nice wool/cotton blend from Italy and was lovely to knit up. It went pretty quickly too, up until it got to be so many stitches that I had trouble finding the time to sit down and do a pattern so it took me a while at the end. I washed it in some Soak and blocked it when I was finished and that made it much nicer. It still has a slight bump at the top which I don't love, but it's not too noticeable if I'm wearing it. More info on my Ravelry page in case you are interested.

I have a lot of other yarn things I want to make too. I am working away at the crochet blanket, I have a sweater to knit for the littlest that I am hoping she can wear for Thanksgiving, and my dad is supposed to get me some yarn for a cowl as a belated birthday gift. After I do all that I am going to pick one of the sweaters I am dreaming of and I am just going to do it. I imagine it will be a while before that happens though and even longer before I have a finished sweater though. Does anyone else find themselves slipping into like 10 year goals? Like if I get things done in the next decade I'll be happy. Because I feel like things are taking me so long these days....