Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pumpkin Patch


It's that time again!!!


Pumpkin time!

 It was only a year ago when I last wrote about my love of all things pumpkin.


And here we are again already. Where did that year go? Time flies when you're having fun!

Can you tell which pumpkin is the real one?

This crochet hat was made at K's request for her own little pumpkin, Baby N. N is round and adorable and she will look so cute in it. All the hat details can be found in last year's post.

This has only whet my appetite for pumpkin season. I'm a bit of a pumpkin addict. In fact, here's my October To-Do List:
  • Head to the local farm/ orchard and get my fill of Pumpkinland while simultaneously taking pictures of Little C. in a variety of cute poses (e.g. sitting on a pumpkin mountain, holding mini pumpkins, sitting next to a pumpkin on a bale of hay, etc.) like the hundreds of other parents at the facility taking pictures of their kids.
  • Make my favorite Pumpkin Spice Cake (recipe will follow, I promise)
  • Roast pumpkin seeds in the oven and sprinkle with sea salt
  • Decorate the house with pumpkin paraphernalia
  • Carve a big toothy grin into my Halloween Jack-O-Lantern
I can't guarantee that I will clean my spooky, haunted house-like basement this month, but I GUARANTEE you that I will complete each of the above tasks joyfully.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear

I love this cardigan. It's made in the season's hottest colors for boys and features a bold and modern design. I even saw a similar sweater on one of the Beckham kids. Get yours now--only available for a limited time!!!



Did I sell you on the sweater yet? Nothing is true about the above, but I figured a good sales pitch complete with celebrity endorsement would make Little C's cardigan seem more attractive. The real truth is this: I planned on making a solid yellow cardigan for him, but I only had one skein of the yarn. I didn't think it would be a big deal to find this color, but OH HOW WRONG I WAS! This yarn is around 10 years old and who knows when they discontinued it. Here I was with 75% of a cardigan completed. I tried to add in the second color without it looking so obvious that I ran out of yarn. Although I would never normally pair these two colors together it has kind of grown on me. Coincidentally, Little C. has a couple long sleeve t-shirts in these colors; the cardigan will look pretty cute over them.



I didn't follow a pattern for this sweater, but I've made this pattern so many times that I organically followed the same construction technique used in it. I've also never sewed in a zipper before. That was fun.



Ok. I'm lying again. It wasn't fun. Confession time: I bought the wrong kind of zipper. The zipper is for a garment like a dress or something; it doesn't open at the bottom!!! Not a good zipper choice for a cardigan, which is supposed to open. I'm pretty sure it said "all-purpose zipper" on the packaging, but maybe it really said "multi-purpose zipper" instead?I had already sewed one side of it, and I just decided to run with it. I'm really very adaptable. Or lazy.

Part of the reason for just going with the flow on this one (besides laziness) is how much time it took to get to this point. I feel like I've been messing around with this sweater forever. I bought the zipper awhile ago too while Little C. threw a fit in the craft store, and he wasn't very happy with me this morning when I quickly sewed the zipper in at the kitchen table. He's cutting teeth, poor little guy, and he wants momma's undivided attention.

After all that, I'm happy with the final product though. I thought about buying the right kind of zipper and doing it over, but I don't think I would ever have Little C. wear the cardigan all the way open anyway. So it'll stay and it will just be our little secret.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Bella's Hat

This is part of a present I made for my sister's birthday. She is a HUGE Twilight fan and that is the understatement of the year. She is also my older (not by much) sister. So, as everyone knows, Twilight is not just for tweens.

This is the hat Bella wore in the "tent scene" from Eclipse. This means absolutely nothing to me because I have never seen the movie/ read the book. I actually haven't read any of the books or seen the movies. I haven't deliberately gone out of my way not to read them, I just haven't had them cross my path, or gone out of my way to get them. I'm sure I would probably read it if it was sitting around. Then again, I might not be able to sit still long enough to read it. If I sit still too long nowadays I promptly fall asleep. This is a side effect of child rearing, I guess. It may cause drowsiness. Use caution when driving motor vehicles or operating heavy machinery.

I do know a lot of the story, however, because I used to be a teacher of tween girls. Once a student wrote a three point essay about the plot of all the novels. I guess it was the 12 year old Cliffs Notes version. She didn't write about this particular "tent" scene, though. So I'll have to ask my sister what all the hubbub is about.


The pattern is from here. The designer saw the movie, jotted down notes in the theater, and then wrote up the pattern. It's very easy to follow and knits up quickly. I used cream and grey yarns from my stash.

Go Team Edward!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Vintage V


I'm a huge fan of vintage sports logos/ mascots. I like the artistic renditions of the various mascot animals and objects; they seem more detailed and grittier than modern versions (which tend to be flat and streamlined). And I like the vintage designs, of course, for the nostalgic feelings they evoke. Certain well-known designs take me right back to when I was a little kid in pig tails, chewing Hubba Bubba bubble gum, and running around V's sport stadium in my keds.


I'm lucky enough to still have copies of these images on a couple old vintage tees from the early 80s. And I really mean lucky, because I have searched ebay and the internet for other AUTHENTIC vintage logos to no avail. (Lots of sellers claim to sell "Vintage" tees when in fact they are really just ringer tees, with faded writing, and the modern mascot/ logo on them).

So what's a crafter to do when she wants a certain item and can't find it anywhere? That's right, she makes it herself.

I took the wildcat image from this vintage tee and turned it into a stencil. I drew out the image on a manila folder, used a razor blade to cut it out, and then used my handy marine blue fabric paint and a cheap sponge brush to stencil the image on a shirt for Little C.


This was a very delicate operation; unlike the turtle stencil, this has a lot of detail which increases the screw-up quotient considerably. 


I started drawing up this image a couple months ago. Like with my crochet hook roll, I started to think that I would never actually finish this project. Like everyone else, I seem to have no time to do anything. I'm finally learning that I can actually accomplish things, I just won't be able to do it all at once. Maybe I can apply this perspective to cleaning my basement? I'm never going to get a whole weekend to devote to it, but maybe I can start chipping away at it minutes at a time.


This was much more fun than cleaning my scary basement, though, and Little C. looked like a real fan when he wore it to V's first football game last week.
 
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