Costume Ideas

It amazes me how fast October got here this year.  I have not had much time to craft, except for a handful of bows and Baby M's cross stitch Christmas stocking.  But now it is October and that means costume time!  I am currently behind schedule in that I have thought about the costumes but haven't really done anything for them yet.  Today is the day though where I get cracking.

I bought yarn to knit a lion's mane for Baby M a couple weeks ago and actually got most of it knitted today.  I'm just making a headband so it is a quick knit.  A few more rows and a fitting tomorrow to make sure it isn't too big and it will be finished.  I also need to finish dyeing her onesie.  I had a spare white one around and couldn't find a yellow/tan colored one without huge logos or prints on them.  So now I'm trying out some turmeric and coffee grounds to see what color I end up with.  I may throw in some onion skin too depending on what color it turns out.  Baby M is going to be the Cowardly Lion, in case you didn't guess.

Finished and fitted!

 



Miss D, lover of pink that she is, will be Glinda the good witch.  From the book, she prefers the gentle good witch of the north, who I believe is named Locasta, to Glinda of the south.  Since they are condensed into one role in the movie, she gets to be Glinda of the north.  It is more recognizable and she also loves pink so I'm sure she won't mind the change.  I have to figure out how to make the dress and crown still.  I really need to go shopping to see what materials are available that will be easy to make.

Miss T chose to be the Scarecrow.  I'll make a tutu for her so she won't be jealous of her sister's costume.  Hmm . . . I will probably have to make a tutu for Baby M as well so people realize she is a girl, now that I think of it.  I don't know if it is the minimal amount of hair on her head or that seeing two girls already in the family everyone expects there to be a boy, but everyone that meets her thinks she is a boy unless she is wearing a bow.  For T's outfit I will have to find blues, dark grays or browns for clothes of which we have none.  I will also have to make her a cute hat that can compete with Glinda's crown. 

My sister's daughter, little H, will be Dorothy.  Her costume will be easy if we can find the blue and white checked material, and I already have the white top to go underneath from the twins.  I found a pattern for an adorable knit wig that has pigtails like Dorothy's but I don't think I'll have time to knit it, unfortunately.  Plus there is a high probability that she wouldn't keep it on anyway.  It would look cute though.

Her brother, big H, will be the Tinman.  We are hoping to find some shiny fabric to put on a gray shirt for him and he can wear his gray shorts.  If all else fails we can utilize some tin foil.  He can wear a funnel on his head that is spray painted silver.  And with a little heart, he should be set.

We are dressing all of them in short sleeves because of how hot Halloween usually is out here (watch it be cold this year).  I plan to buy witch hats for my sister and I so we can be the wicked witches.  We will trick or treat in my sister's neighborhood and maybe we'll watch The Wizard of Oz with the kiddos before we head out.

Wintertime

We had an ice storm over the weekend while much of the country was also dealing with winter weather.  Luckily we did not lose power like last year.  We have remained toasty inside while the temperatures have stayed below freezing.

We did go outside for a little bit once the storm had past.  The girls don't really remember last year's snow, so this felt like a new experience for them.  They were disappointed that they couldn't make a snowman and name him Frosty (you can tell what we watched recently).  It was mostly ice and did not want to be shaped into a snow ball.  Maybe we'll get some real snow this winter for them to play in before we move back to southern California and minimize our chance of every seeing much snow again.

 

 

They got to hold icicles for a bit which made me a little wary, but we kept a close eye on them.  Poking out their own eyes or each others luckily did not cross their minds.



I knitted them some mittens last spring, planning ahead for this winter.  They are still a bit big for them and awkward but at least they helped keep their hands warm.  It was cold out there!

 

The mittens have different fair isle patterns on them but the pastel colors make it hard to see unless you are looking at them closely.  I can't decide whether I am happy with my color choice or not.  Most of the time I like to knit bright colors for them.

 

The girls and I haven't ventured out since Thursday and tomorrow is also not looking good unless it really warms up in the afternoon.  Both our driveway and our cul-de-sac is steep and getting out to the main roads is difficult.  I also don't really know what I'd do if we got stuck.  Digging our car out of ice and snow was hard enough in New York, when I was in great shape.  I really don't see myself able to do much a few weeks away from delivering a baby.

 

 

Fall Knitting

I don't have a lot of time for crafts but I am able to get some knitting done while I watch the girls.  I've been planning to make wool cardigans for the girls for over a year and a half.  I am happy to say that one is completely finished.  It took me about a month and a half to do.  So hopefully, with some dedication, cardigan number two will be ready in November. 

 This was just after nap and my model was a little bit grumpy

They are made from Lionbrand Collection Superwash Merino Wool.  The colors are beautiful, so rich and deep.  That is one thing I love about knitting it myself, I can choose a color that is not traditionally for little girls.  I also really like the pattern, Helena on knitty.com.  It was actually a second or third choice for me and the others fell through because the yarn didn't swatch to the right size.  The pattern is easy, yet has a lot of interest to it.  It only requires a little sewing for the hem (and if I learned to do the 3 needle bind off for the second one, I might be able to avoid that too).  So far I am really happy with it.

Christmas Preparation

I checked the weather forecast for this morning and we may actually get some snow on Christmas Day.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  Gotta love a white Christmas. 

The girls both have colds but so far it is only runny noses and a slight cough and hopefully they don't get worse.  Anna also seems to be sick, at least her eyes are runny (not unusual with her allergies) and her nose is dry and hot.  I hope every one is feeling better for Christmas and for Oma's visit right after Christmas. 

In the meantime, I am trying to find time to bake cookies.  I made some Lebkuchen earlier in the month which turned out disappointing.  Today I am making Rugelach, which I think is a recipe I got from Ina Garten.  I've made it before and it was yummy so hopefully I don't mess it up this time like I did the Lebkuchen. 

I am also working on some last minute knitting projects that will hopefully be done on time.  By on time I mean either when my mother flys back to California on New Year's Day or when we fly out in mid-January.  I also have a little felt project to make for my nephew that should be done in the next week.

I knitted a ruffle scarf because it looked interesting and possibly like fun to knit although it wasn't really.  It was quick and easy though so no complaints. 

One present I have been working on for a long time is a pair of Iphone compatible gloves.  It is my first time knitting gloves and they are not as difficult as I thought they would be.  Even knitting the conductive thread into the tip of the index finger and thumb is not as difficult as I had feared.  And best of all, it actually works.  I can use an Iphone without taking off the gloves!

Yesterday turned out to be a relatively warm and sunny day for December, so we headed over to Two Rivers Bridge Park for a walk.  The girls got to walk around the picnic area and see the Arkansas River.  Miss D wanted to join in a game of soccer that another family was playing.  Anna, as always, enjoyed getting out for some exercise and a chance to meet other dogs and people willing to pet her. 

 

We even let the girls loose while we were walking the trails.  To the amusement of everyone passing by us, they spent most of the time helping me push their stroller along. Our double jogging stroller has a bar right above the basket underneath the seats that is the perfect height for the girls to grab and push.  The only problem of the day was we lost one of their hats, which I'm really bummed about.  And I have no idea how it happened unless someone else picked it up in the couple minutes it took me to realize one was missing and took it home with them.  

Fall Knitting Projects

I have been knitting when I can and have gotten a few projects done over the past few weeks.  The girls are slowly learning not to grab at Momma's yarn and needles so I can get some knitting done while I watch them which is helpful.  Some are gifts, others are for the girls and hopefully soon I'll get to knit something for me. 

 

 

I knitted three basic wash cloths out of cotton yarn for my cousin who just had a baby girl.  I got two and a half washcloths out of one ball of yarn.  I just loved the colors on it for a baby girl: Peaches and Cream Azalea.  I finished the incomplete washcloth with a yellow, green, white of the same brand of yarn.  Wrap them in each other like a rose petals and the odd color washcloth becomes a leaf.  A friend had knitted a few of them for my girls last year and they are great for bath time.

 

 

My nephew turns TWO the day after tomorrow.  Hard to believe it; he's such a big boy.  Since his birthday is in October, I wanted to knit him something he could use for Halloween.  I got the pattern from Jean Adel's book of Knitted Critters.  Some of them are so adorable.  But the sizing seems too small.  It is supposed to be for a three year old and yet it fits the girls just fine.  So I hope Holden will be able to get some use out of it before he gets too big. 

 

I did alter the mittens.  In the pattern the mittens have ears and a stripe which I thought looked silly.  Instead I knitted up a plain mitten and I glued felt paws on with a glue gun.  It turned out adorable.  We'll see if he'll actually wear them though.  You never know how much they will cooperate.

 

 

 

For my mother's birthday, I knitted her a scarf out of a lace weight mohair/ silk blend yarn.  It turned out beautiful and is such a nice deep purple color.  I love how this yarn looks but it is such a pain to work with.  Beautiful but so frustrating.  I have a couple more balls in a deep red that I want to knit up for me, but I need a break from it for awhile.





 

Colder days are here and my babies need protection from the chill.  So I set to work on these basic roll brim hats to keep their noggins warm.  I used Lion Brand's Amazing yarn which is really pretty with its changing colors. 

 



 

I ran out of the ball of yarn I was using called Pink Sand so I switched over to Vineyard to finish off the hat that Tess is modelling.  It looks a little odd but still nice so I'm leaving it.  

 

 

And then there are pumpkin and acorn squash seeds.  I did not knit them, or eat them while knitting since the oil would make a mess, but I did bake them and enjoy them so much. Thought I'd throw them in here.

 

Happy fall and happy crafting!

Birthday Party

First things first, before I get to the trip, I need to share some photos of the birthday party.  We had it a month after their birthday because that was when family from California came.  My husband's family, my mother, my sister and her son, who is only 8 months older than the girls, all flew in a week before we left for California. 

I learned never to invite house guests right before big trip.  I was exhausted from trying to get the house ready anytime the girls were busy playing or sleeping.  But it turned out well.  I was so busy during the party that I did not take a single picture.  So I am relying on pictures my father-in-law took.

"Under the Sea" was the theme using white, coral and turquoise for theme colors.  The girls wore onesies that I had added a ruffled bum and ruffled sleeves to.  D's had coral ruffles and a turquoise felt applique of a sea horse.  T's had turquoise ruffles and a coral starfish that you can see most of below.  Their Leila brought coordinating bows with seahorses and starfish.

I found great paper decorations of sea life at the dollar store.  I put them on the walls of the play room with green streamers that I taped up to look like kelp.  I did that little by little over the months leading up to the party while they girls played.  The morning of the party I threaded dark blue, light blue and  white balloons on fishing line and hung them across the playroom like ocean waves so we were really under the sea. 

I knitted five really cool looking jellyfish in the themes colors.  Beside being different color combinations, they were also very different because I wasn't always paying attention to what I was doing while knitting them.  One turned out really small because I didn't want to go back and correct a mistake I had made early on in the pattern.  My mistakes turned out well though; I like that they are so different and individual.
  

In the dining room I hung coral and white tissue poofs of different sizes from the light and in the corners.  I made a couple stuffed tropical fish and a star fish out of scrap material to hang around the coral "reef" of the poofs.

My sister-in-law cut great looking sea animals out of card stock to decorate the walls and even hang from some of the poofs.  Some of them were so detailed and looked great!

On the wall I hung two coral ribbons with picture from every month of the girls' lives from birth until their actual birthday.  Each photo was labeled with a starfish or seahorse that had how many months old they were.  I also printed out a sign with their name, birth date and time, how much the weigh and their length.  It is neat to see how they grew and changed during the course of their first year.

 I kept the decorations minimal in the hallway and living room because most of the action was happening in the other rooms.  Blue poofs with hanging sea life (don't you just love the octopus) and few bunches of balloons kept it festive but easy. 

 I made a great cake in the shape of a fish with a store bought mix for the head and tail and home-made low sugar sweet potato and banana muffins for the body.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone got a picture of it.  The girls enjoyed it though.

 Here is T getting messy.  Their aunt brought them the matching birthday girl bibs that are now stained with icing.

D ate her whole muffin!  Then H came over to hang out with his little cousins.

The birthday party was a success and I couldn't have done it without my family helping get the house clean and decorated.  Thank you!

Lion Brand Story Contest

This is the story I entered for the Lion Brand story contest.  I actually first entered because it was really nice to share something about my grandmother.  She passed away in August of Alzheimer's.  For the most part I grieved for her loss while she was still living, as I saw her lose pieces of herself.  There was little grief left when she actually passed.  But every once in awhile memories of her pop up and make me miss her very much.  She was a very sweet and loving grandmother and it is nice to share this memory of her.

Although sharing this memory is its own reward for me, it would also be nice to win a yarn shopping spree.  The deadline for votes is May 13th.  The link below takes you to the page to vote for my story:

http://apps.facebook.com/lbstorycontest/contests/202727/voteable_entries/46989500

The theme of the contest was, “What is the most meaningful handmade gift you have ever given or received?”

Grandma's Red and White scarf

When I was twelve, I knitted a striped red and white basketweave scarf for my Grandmother for Christmas. It was my first big knitting project. It was skinny in some places and fat in others. I hadn’t yet learned to weave in the ends, so there was a knotted clump at each color change. The colors were a fire engine red and bright white; my Grandmother generally wore pink and pastels so it clashed with everything she owned. In all it was a really horrible present. I thought so even though I was still giving it to her. But when she opened the present Christmas Eve she rave about how wonderful it was and well- made and beautiful. She made me feel like a talented, special kid. I saw her wear it only once to a small family gathering. And even though I was twelve I realized all the great things she said about the scarf was her being a wonderful Grandmother regardless of my knitting skill and color choice. I knew someday I want to be a Grandmother like her, always sweet and loving. We lost my Grandmother this year to Alzheimer’s. It is nice to be able to share this memory of her.