Knits and Knots

Things You Didn't Know

2012-01-27T11:37:00.001-05:00

If you've been following this blog long you've probably learned a few things about me. I love photography, I love nature, I have cute kids, I (obviously) love to craft. But what about those things about me that you don't find out through regular posting? Here's 10 things you probably didn't know about me:

1. I'm a grouch most days before 10 am. Coffee helps significantly.
2. In the winter I wear my red fuzzy bathrobe approximately 50% of the day, even when I've gotten ready and dressed.
3. I could live on pizza. I would be a lot fatter, but I'd be happy
4. I can make my tongue into the shape of a clover (like this)
5. I have asked for and received both of the Lego Harry Potter Wii games the last two Christmases. Most of the time I prefer to play them alone.
6. Spiders really freak me out.
7. I'm super sensitive. I'm not easy to offend exactly, I just care a lot about what others think of me (working on this one).
8. I wait till my kids go to bed to eat junk food if I don't feel like sharing
9. I still sleep with a stuffed animal (its a comfort thing - like some people hold a pillow, I hold a dog)
10. I watch Sliders, or other similarly dorky shows, while I knit and crochet.

So now you know. Aren't you glad?

Oh, and just for fun here's a quick pic from a recent photo session with my awesome husband. I love that guy.

Stuff (aka: I have no cute title for this post!)

2012-01-26T15:36:00.000-05:00

Its winter here in the Midwest, but its been a strange one. We've had some record highs, and some typical lows, some snow, some rain, and some beautiful sunshine! Along with parenting my 3 kids, keeping up on housework (which seems never-ending in the dreariness of winter), and hanging with my hubby, I've been keeping myself busy with a few projects.

First up is a Beard Hat in Colts Blue & White, as requested by another Indianapolis native. Modeled here by my ever patient husband (he's probably modeled 16 of these hats for me now!)

Then a spring-inspired Swirl Hat modeled by my lovely daughter :)

Next, I made this quilt in a fit of crafting frenzy when I realized I didn't have a gift for one of my college roommates who just had a new baby! I love how it turned out.

Lastly was this teeny tiny newborn Stripey PomPom hat for a friend of ours who wanted a hat for her soon-to-be-born daughter to match one she purchased for her son, but in girl colors. She requested the pompom have stripes. That was a new one for me, but I was pretty happy with the outcome.

And so as not to leave my other boys out, enjoy this shot of my littlest "reading" a book (love his smile!) and a photo my husband took of our oldest checking out the skyline of Chicago on a trip they took together this month.

Translation

2011-12-13T09:45:00.000-05:00

There's not a lot new to share on the blog lately. I have been busy as a bee working on patterns that you've already seen pics of so I'll only share a couple new ones.

Twin Owl Hats

Swirl Hat with flower and coordinating scarf

Something strange that happened is that recently my Raincloud Pattern has been popping up on French blogs all over the place. I can only guess that somehow clouds are a popular theme and people were searching for patterns to make their own. I have had many sweet compliments on the pattern and have enjoyed seeing people use the clouds they made for coasters, garland, and various other household decorations. Recently I was contacted by Fabienne, a French blogger at Archibald & 3 petit points, offering me a French translation of my Raincloud Pattern. She was kind enough to allow me to post the translation on this blog and put it on hers as well. You can find her version here, and you can see the French translation on the Raincloud Pattern page.

Transitions

2011-12-13T09:28:00.002-05:00

This has been a strange fall. I have enjoyed the beauty of the season immensely, but it has gone by quickly, and brought with it some deep sadness. Sunday I lost my grandfather to old age and natural causes. He was the 3rd grandparent I've lost in the last 4 months, leaving me with no more living grandparents. With his death came a disconnection with a place and a generation that had been a large part of my childhood. I now have very few reasons to travel to northern Indiana. I won't see Amish horse and buggy at Christmas time each year. I won't watch the light shimmering off the river on a bright summer morning while eating perfectly-made toast in my grandmother's kitchen. I won't have anyone to share with me what it was like during the Great Depression or WWII. This disconnection is only physical though. I have many many memories from my childhood that will stay with me. I also carry with me the legacy of faith that my grandparents handed down from their grandparents generation to my own, and one I hope to pass along to my own grandchildren some day.

Arthur and Annabelle Evans

This fall has marked the transition from my grandparents being the eldest in the family, to my parents, aunts and uncles taking on that roll. It is sad to lay a generation to rest- especially a generation who showed us that hard work, resilience, and faith can rebuild so much- however my parents generation has much to teach us also. I hope that my children will value their grandparents the way that I value mine. And I long to have the privilege of growing old and sharing my life with my own grandchildren. My only hope is that by that time I will have lived a life worthy of reflection, and have experienced enough of life's ups and downs to earn the title of "wise elder".

Harold and Rose Marie "Rody" Weaver and their children (in order of age), Dave, Mike, Elaine (my mom), Anne, and Greg

I love you, Grandma and Grandpa Evans, and Nana and PopPop Weaver. I look forward to seeing you again and sharing with you in person the result of your lives' impact on the future generations.

"Falling" Behind

2011-10-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

See what I did there? That was a pun... cause its fall and I'm falling behind in blogging...... *ahem* moving on.

September and October have been eventful for me, most of which I enjoyed.

In the past 6 weeks I've walked in the woods;

gone to the pumpkin patch;

enjoyed warm days outside and cool evenings by the fire pit;

practiced some new photography tricks;

visited cities;

spent time in my favorite places;

celebrated birthdays (he's 2 already!),

(and he's 34 already!)

and remembered two special lives passed. I lost two grandmothers in the span of 3 weeks...

But in the midst of it all I've even had time to work up some new projects. I just haven't had the time to share them with you.

(left to right: Red/White Kitty Hats, Gina Giraffe and Newborn Newsboy Cap, Striped Brimmed Hats)

(Swirl Cap with large flower)

So now we're all caught up! What have you been doing to enjoy the glory of fall?

Mixed Breed

2011-10-09T09:39:00.000-04:00

I was recently contacted by a previous client to see if I could make her a baby sweater and rattle set for her new baby girl. She wanted the sweater to feature an applique of a dog similar to her beloved little pet - a black half scottish terrier half cocker spaniel with a schnauzer haircut! We did a little digging and found a great applique at my favorite doggy-related Etsy store. The sweater turned out very sweet in red and white stripes with the black dog.

The rattle pattern was another Etsy find. While the seller of the pattern does not allow them to be made for sale in large quantities, she granted me permission to make one for my client. Such a cute cute pattern! I was a little confused by the sewing on of the legs of this guy, but once I got it all tacked down I was very satisfied. And best of all, the client was very happy with how it turned out!

Playing Catch-up

2011-09-19T21:10:00.001-04:00

Whew, I knew it was coming.... I'm rolling in hat orders right now! September is the time people start thinking about looking cute in the warm weather, and I don't blame them. One of my favorite things to do is pull out all of my sweaters, scarves and hats and accessorize at the morning bus stop! I have worked on quite a few things over the past few weeks, but here are a few of my favorites:

First is a set of 3 hats for a newborn boy, and 3 & 5 yr old girls. Their mom wanted them all to have coordinating hats, but for each to be unique. We went back and forth with ideas on colors and styles and came up with these. I'm so pleased how they turned out and I can't wait to see how their family photoshoot turns out!

I had tons of fun working up these fall-color teacher totes! I love how they have fall/Halloween colors while still being cute and trendy :)

My daughter went gaga over this sweet red and white Kitty Hat and I'm pretty sure she'll be bummed if there's not one of these in her stocking this Christmas.

Another fun hat was this dino newborn photo prop. It was a special request by the winner of my 200 Fan Giveaway on the Knits and Knots Facebook page! I hope she'll send me a pic of her sweet boy in it when he's born :)

Sudden Change

2011-09-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

This saturday it was 100 degrees F at 5:30 pm. I spent the morning and early afternoon convincing my 3 children that yes, we did indeed have to be out in the heat for my oldest son's football game, and no, we could not leave and go have ice cream during one of the breaks. As I sat sweltering in the unrelenting sun I remember thinking "I'm so glad I'm not out on the field!" and then feeling guilty for making him stick it out. However, it was a good lesson for us all: don't give up just because you're uncomfortable. Must internalize this one for myself!

Fast forward 48 hrs and the high on Monday was 66! The air is crisp, clean and so very fall-like. I LOVE it! I put on a favorite hoodie, a pair of sweatpants and enjoyed the cooler temps. Another lesson to internalize - nothing lasts forever, and things can change in an instant. I have had so many friends who have had very difficult circumstances pop up in their lives unexpectedly recently. Sometimes its hard to see how you're going to make it through something that seems never ending and dire, but just as quickly as life has changed for the worse it can go right back to the good. One dear friend has been struggling with the unexpected health concerns of her newborn baby, and she has said multiple times that she has been putting her hope in the never-changing God of the universe instead of on the ever-changing health of her son. Wise, wise words. I intend to dwell on these as well.

Monday was Labor Day here in the US and my husband and I decided that the best way to use our extra weekend day was to take advantage of the great weather and figure out a solution for the craziness in our oldest 2 kids' room. This is how the room looks regularly - dollhouse toys and legos in one crazy mess. Tiny pieces buried in the thick carpet. Children fighting for space for "their" things.

My husband's solution was to create two play tables (similar to a train table), one for each activity. 5 2x4s, one piece of 1/2" MDF, a few nuts and bolts, and a little bit of time created a fabulous solution! The kids had a blast "helping" daddy measure and cut. We had to send them inside after a while though, the started getting a little too "helpful" and moving tools on us.

While Matt was building I was cleaning and organizing the kids room - a long overdue project. I had to remind myself over and over again "don't give up just because you're uncomfortable". It was worth the effort in the end.

The tables perform a vital function - they keep all the tiny pieces contained on the table (there's a small lip to keep them from rolling off) and they allow room for the kids to build or play and for storage underneath. We weren't the only ones pleased with the outcome. The room can now accommodate 4 kids very comfortably (although our youngest isn't really allowed to play in there because he still puts everything in his mouth).

Bring it On!

2011-08-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

Fall is almost upon us, and the warm weather wear orders are beginning to come in. However, I spent the last few weeks of the summer busting my way through a couple of other orders. The first was a large custom order: recovering a porch swing. A dear friend of mine has the exact same free-standing porch swing as I do and hers was really starting to show its age.

She contracted me to make a replacement slip-cover for the cushions a new canopy and some throw pillows. I was able to do it because I could use my own swing as a "pattern" to fashion pieces from. I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal since it was essentially just like pillow covers only on a large scale.

I didn't realize that when you make things "on a large scale" you're working with TONS of fabric, which makes it pretty difficult to manage. I was, however, able to get it done after learning how to wrestle multiple yards of fabric feeding through my machine. I love the fabric she chose! The covers took her swing from blah to wow in a flash. It literally took us 5 minutes to replace the canopy and cover the seat cushion and arm rests and it looked like a brand new swing.

Another job on my list was the darling "Honey Bee Hat and Tushy Topper" photo prop set for a client who does family photography.

Unfortunately I still don't have a newborn to photograph, so I have to use my silly cow as a model.

I had the sudden realization while taking this picture that its possible my neighbors think I'm insane. They regularly observe me taking pictures of things hanging from trees, or items laying in the grass, or dressing animals up like other things and photographing it :)

She also asked me to make her a massive flower for her winter hat so she could be looking good while staying warm. We settled on a 6" diameter flower using a bulky dark green yarn. She will be the hottest mama on the block this winter!

Cooking with Kids

2011-08-21T21:23:00.000-04:00

Recently my son asked if he could cook dinner. By himself. And make up the recipe. By himself. Alone. With no help from me..... I said no. (bad, bad mommy!)

Eli is 7 1/2 and is a wonderful, sweet, caring boy full of amazing, interesting ideas, but he has never cooked. He's never even shown an interest in what I was cooking. But, instead of just sticking with my knee-jerk "No" I took some time to ask him what he wanted to make and why. He told me he wanted to make soup. And he wanted to do it to be able to help around the house because I am always doing everything. [Insert mommy guilt and melting heart here] So, I gave my sweet boy a hug, and sat him down with a piece of paper and asked him to write out the things he wanted in his soup. I helped a bit with spelling and ideas for a few ingredients (like "soup needs to have a broth of some kind, what do you think would be good?") and here was what he came up with:

The next day we headed to the grocery store with our recipe in hand and picked up all the items we needed. I suggested he add a noodle of some type and some beans. He picked out super cool wagon wheel pasta and kidney beans. We also picked up some fresh bakery bread for sandwiches to accompany the meal. When we got home I put my youngest down for a nap, sat the middle child down for quiet time and had my first cooking lesson with my oldest. He peeled carrots, chopped veggies, measured, cooked, and stirred. He did it all himself... with some guidance on my part, but HE did it. I will be honest, he did great. I had to hold back on my admonitions a few times and let him learn by trying, which is really really hard for me! I helped him learn to hold the (very sharp) kitchen knife, how to position his fingers that were holding the veggies so he didn't lose a digit, and how long to boil the pasta and veggies before letting the soup simmer. Other than that, he made the meal from start to finish on his own. He was SO proud of the soup and couldn't wait to eat dinner that night.

Pairing his soup, the sandwiches and some sweet, ripe strawberries made a perfect summer meal for our first school night of the year. The soup really was delicious. Even my super picky daughter gobbled up every bite. It made me realize that I don't have to churn out complicated, elaborate meals to make something everyone will like. I think this may be a start of something very good for our family.

Softie

2011-08-03T10:11:00.002-04:00

My daughter loves headbands. She cannot stand the way that an elastic hairband pulls on her (apparently extremely sensitive) hair, so the only way to consistently keep her hair out of her face is with a headband. I made a rouched headband for a client out of soft knit material and had her model it for me, and she didn't want to take it off. So, of course, I had to make one just for her :)

It can be worn with the rouched area in front and accented with a flower clip

or, Anna's favorite way, with the rouched area in the back, almost giving full head coverage. Great for keeping hair out of your face, working around the house, or putting on a really good pout.

It can even be worn when coming too close to a "big scary bug" (notice the tear from the trauma of said event)

Good news is you'll still look pretty cute when you finally compose yourself :)

Just like the Interchangeable Flower Headband, these are made from very soft knit fabric. The headbands stretch nicely and the flowers are completely interchangeable. Flowers come in crocheted, fabric, or silk varieties and can be made any color of the rainbow. Please indicate flower type and color and headband color when ordering.

Pricing:
$15 for one headband and two flower clips
$3 for each additional flower.

in love!

2011-07-27T16:25:00.000-04:00

I saw an idea this morning on SoulMama, and I simply could not stop myself from making something similar of my own. I love it soooo much! It was a quick project and cost me a total of $1.99 (for the frame, from Goodwill). It could have cost more if I had to buy more materials, but everything else I had on hand. If anyone is interested in a tutorial I'd be glad to post the pics I took along the way!

Old Favorites

2011-07-06T13:56:00.000-04:00

I have had several more orders this month, including two of my old favorite amigurumi patterns, Gina Giraffe and Oliver Dino. It had been a long time since I made the Oliver pattern and I remembered how I had to do some tweaking to the pattern the first time around to make it come out right. This time I tweaked again and noted my changes. Hopefully it will be easier if I ever make it again.

I've made the Gina so many times now I hardly even have to look at the pattern. But I always love the results!

Both of these were burp cloth/rattle sets and I was very happy to have found some great coordinating fabrics at our local craft store. Aren't these little giraffes so sweet? :)

School Year Wrap-Up

2011-06-19T14:39:00.001-04:00

Well its officially summer break here, which means 3 kids in-house all the time, playdates galore, trips to local attractions, and even a chance for a family vacation next month! All this also means I am having to work harder to fit crafting time in :) I won't complain though, I am truly truly enjoying this time with my kids. My oldest was in first grade this past year and I realized for the first time that, while its nice to have time to do work while he's in school, I really missed him. He left at 8:30 am and didn't get off the bus till almost 4. Then there was homework, after school activities, dinner, and only about an hour to actually enjoy time together. Next year my middle child will be in first grade and I am already anticipating how much I'm going to miss the older two! Luckily I still have one at home to keep me company though.

Anywhoo... I have gotten a few things done in the last few weeks. I wanted to make an extra special gift bag for my kids' teachers because of all the love they put into teaching them this year. Last year I did a movie-night themed bag for Eli's teacher, but I wanted to do something a bit different this time. Just like last year I made simple patchwork-style gift bags using some fun coordinating fabrics and lined them. This time I added an interior pocket and a fabric flower turning these totes into almost a fashion accessory! I posted a pic of them on the Knits and Knots Facebook page and got a lot of positive response. I had several follow-up orders and I had fun seeing how they each turned out with different fabrics.

I was contacted by a photographer for some seasonal hats for her fall/winter newborn photo shoots. I loved the outcome of both of these sweet toppers.

And my last project is the most fun of all :) This sock-monkey photo prop set was commissioned by a girl who had seen one online and tried to order it for her soon-to-be-newborn baby only to find out the woman selling them had closed her shop to new orders because she was swamped with business! I couldn't blame her as the idea is simply darling. Its a sock monkey earflap hat and matching diaper cover with the cutest little tail on the rump. Unfortunately for me I don't have a good model to show it off, so this was the best I could do.

Sister Set

2011-05-21T15:29:00.000-04:00

My first order from the Summer Line was a "Sister Set" of coordinating pillowcase dresses. The dresses are for the daughters of a dear friend of mine. She wanted them to be in the same print but not identical. We chose this gorgeous bold print and accented it with cream on one dress and black on the other.

I love the versatility of the pillowcase dress. It can be worn as a typical dress, with leggings or capris for a fun contemporary look, layered over a long-sleeved shirt and jeans or tights for a fun winter style, and it can even be worn as a top as the owner ages!

Photo Reality

2011-05-15T14:26:00.001-04:00

So... I haven't been crafting much lately. I admit it, I've been a complete slacker in this area! But the reality is that I have been taking my creative drive in a different direction lately. I'm going to share a bit of what I've been up to. If you're not interested, feel free to skip this post, but I was just feeling the urge to share this part of me with you as well!

I have always loved nature. My most vivid childhood memories are crisp images stored in my mind of the places I played outdoors. I can remember as a little girl sitting on the warped, aging, moss-covered wooden bridge that crossed the little birch-lined creek in our backyard. I looked down into the slowly moving water that was covered in a layer of golden leaves newly fallen from the trees and my heart swelled with delight!

I so desperately wanted to capture this image and keep it forever. I tried to take a picture with my little plastic camera that my parents had given me for my birthday, but it turned out flat and blurry and just did not come close to the image I had stored in my mind. I figured I just wasn't any good at taking pictures, or that it was impossible to have a photo capture what I was seeing, and my desire for photography waned.

As an adult my interest in photography has grown again as I wanted to find a way to better present my products. A few years back I bought a super zoom camera that allowed me to have more control over the outcome of my photos and I truly got hooked! This winter I took a photography class taught by my dear friend Jill Reid of Raindancer Studios and learned even more about what a camera is capable of.

This spring, I was finally able to afford a digital SLR camera, and I have actually been able to truly capture images as I see them! I have spent countless hours outdoors with my kids; stopping at random locations, crawling on the ground, bending at funny angles, taking shot after shot as I learn the ability of my camera and its different functions. And I have been capturing some of the most amazing (to me) photos of the glory of this season.

There is nothing in the world that makes me feel closer to God than to revel in His wonderful creation, and I have truly been drinking it in this spring! I hope you enjoy these as much as I do and that you are able to enjoy the glory of the springtime (or the fall, depending on where you live) happening all around your home as well!

*all images (c) Andrea Moberly 2011. May not be duplicated or used for any purpose without express permission.*

Summer Line

2011-05-15T13:49:00.000-04:00

My "official" summer line is up! You can find the link at the top of the page, or just click below to see what's new for the season!

Summer Line 2011

Molecular Love

2011-05-02T21:31:00.002-04:00

My sister and I are both a bit geeky. For those of you who know either one of us, this is probably not much of a surprise. To be honest, we came by it naturally. Our dad is an engineer, our brother is an engineer, I have a BS in chemistry, my sister teaches high school chemistry, biology and physics. Geekiness (geekyness? geeky-ness?) is in our blood. Needless to say, I was totally tickled when my sister asked me to make two stuffed molecule rattles for a friend of hers who is expecting this summer! She requested methane (CH4) and water (H2O).

We went with traditional colors for the methane C-black and H-yellow, but for the water we went with pink and white since we just found out the baby is a girl.

I will admit I totally looked up the relative atomic radii of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and their respective bond lengths and made these molecules accordingly! I just couldn't help myself :) I didn't have to look up the bond angles (I still remembered those from my pre-children days).

On a side note, craftiness also runs strongly in our family's veins. My mom ran a craft consignment store when we were little out of the detached garage behind our house. She made pottery and sold all kinds of crafts. I have very vivid memories of my preschool winter days, stirring the hot apple cider on the antique gas stove that was her grandmothers while customers roamed through "Nana's Cupboard" looking at all the locally made treasures! I know that my love for crafting comes straight from my mom. My sister has recently discovered her own crafty passion: jewelry and soapmaking. She opened an Etsy store this winter where she sells handmade jewelry, stitch markers, and soaps. Check out Endless Forms to see what she's got!

Easter Dressing

2011-04-19T09:27:00.002-04:00

For some reason Easter is the time of year I feel the most motivated to make an outfit for my daughter. Maybe its the expectation that everyone dresses up for church on Easter Sunday. Maybe its that the dreary weather of winter is finally gone and with its departure comes the desire for bright colors and breezy clothes and something new. This year I started with a skirt.

I used a fat quarter pack I had bought last fall, cut strips of varying width, sewed them vertically into a rectangle and made a simple gathered skirt. I trimmed it out on the bottom and added a nice comfy waistband in a coordinating knit.

I scoured Anna's drawers for a tank or t-shirt in coordinating colors that I could embellish to match the skirt, but just couldn't come up with what I was looking for. I did, however, have a ton of the knit leftover so I decided to throw caution to the wind and work up my very first t-shirt. I'll be honest, sewing with knit fabric scares me. Inset sleeves scare me. adding a neckband scares me. Making up my own pattern scares me. This was a BIG leap for me! I took a t-shirt I knew fit her and used it as a pattern for the new one. I kinda just winged it, but I think it turned out pretty nice!

I whipped up a little flower in matching fabric to add some feminine charm. Turns out the outfit is great for jumping,

spinning,

and overall looking sweet :)

*lets all pretend we don't see those weeds in the patio, ok? I can only handle on task at a time these days :)

Catching up

2011-04-04T10:40:00.001-04:00

So, my blogging has been pretty non-existent lately. I can make lots of excuses, but the largest and most realistic one is that my baby boy has needed me. Alex is healthy, smart, and full of energy; but he is also a bit anxious, clingy, and needing my full attention for large portions of the day. This comes with the territory of adoption, especially adoption of children 6 mo or older. So, upon the advice of some dear friends and other adoptive mamas I decided to set aside eagerly pursuing business and instead keeping myself free to just be a mom. The good news is I have gone from seeing this most of the time:

To seeing a lot more of this:

Its totally been worth every moment away from my craft.

That's not to say I've done nothing over the past few months. I just haven't been cranking out project after project like I was over the early part of the winter :) Here are a few pics of the last couple of projects I've worked on:

These are decorations that go on a camera lens. Professionals use them to get babies and children to look at the camera rather than the person holding it! I made these for Jill from Raindancer Studios. She's trying them out and giving me suggestions on how to improve them! (these photos are awful because I had to take them with the camera on my phone in order to show how they looked on a lens.)

I made a cute custom set of coffee wraps for a dear friend. She is getting married in a few months and picking out all kinds of handmade goodies for her bridesmaids. I was so honored when she requested personalized wraps for each of them. We made them in her wedding colors and they are personalized with flocked lettering. LOVE how they turned out!

And last but not least I finally got around to making one of these little birdie rattles. I have seen this idea floating all over the internet for a long time but never had time to sit down and work out a pattern. I had an excuse while making a baby shower gift for a friend. I love how it turned out and will definitely be making more of these in the future.

Wrap it Up

2011-03-22T13:43:00.001-04:00

Using some bright, fun spring fabrics I put together these coffee cup wraps. These are adjustable to fit all standard-sized disposable coffee cups. The are backed with a coordinating fabric and have a inner batting that does a great job of protecting your hands from heat. For added flair they've got a sweet little birdie felt applique from Two Kazoos. These make great gifts!

The top two were purchased by fans on the Knits and Knots Facebook page, but the bottom one is still available (the blue/green) for $8.56 plus shipping!

Its Coming!

2011-03-01T21:05:00.003-05:00

Spring is coming. Its truly on its way. I can see it in the grass that is slowly getting greener, the CRAZY intense thunderstorms that come and wash away the last bits of snow, and the bright colors that are making their way out of my closet and back into rotation.

I love accessorizing my wardrobe with handmade goods year round, but hadn't really found a great spring hat just yet. I was asked this week to make a matching mommy/daughter set of Sweet Traditions hats and after finishing up the adult one I think I may have found the solution! I think I'll be whipping up one of these for myself this year :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-15T10:24:00.002-05:00

Valentine's day is always a family affair in our house. While my husband and I both enjoy the opportunity to show love to each other, our anniversary is almost exactly one month later, and we usually save our money and go out for that instead. So I have been making "fancy dinners" for the big V-day since our kids were little. Usually we get all dressed up, but this year I spent so long cooking I couldn't fathom putting on a dress at the end of it. I opted for a red shirt and jeans instead :) We still had candles and a tablecloth. I let the food be the fancy part this year.

We started off with this cute appetizer of Cupid's Arrow Cherry Tomatoes. Its not so much a recipe as an idea. The original had little paper feathers on the arrows but I thought adding some mozzarella cheese would be fun instead! I really wish I had used the triangles I cut out of the cheese pieces as arrowheads... I just didn't think of it. Maybe next year.

I got some cute little heart-shaped ice cube trays in the dollar section at Target. The kids love anything seasonally themed!

We had rice (recipe at end of post) with heart-shaped carrots. The only way my kids would eat it was because of the cute carrots!

We also had Skillet Lamb Chops (*side note: I added sliced fennel bulb and skipped the dried onion. I must say I was so glad I tried something new! I had gotten a fennel bulb in my organic veggie delivery this week and had no idea what to do with it. After googling some ideas I discovered that the flavor suits dark chicken meat and lamb well. Since I love lamb I went for it and I must say fennel bulb is delicious! Kind of a mix between celery, onion, and potato) and roasted veggies (used potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower). I thought the cooking time on the roasted veggies was a bit long. Next time I'd cook them probably 25 min.

All of it was simply fabulous. I felt like a gourmet chef. Its been a bit hard to find the time to cook since we added a fifth member of the family, so this felt like a great accomplishment to me! Prior to children I was a chemist. I loved working in the lab, and after choosing to stay home cooking brought the same type of enjoyment for me. I literally was in the kitchen from 2pm until we sat down to eat around 6, but it was totally worth it! I wouldn't do that every day, but for a special occasion it was fun :) Can you guess my kids' favorite part of the meal? If you said the tomatoes, you'd be right!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of our youngest. Just imagine this adorable little boy covered in a mess of tomato seeds and you get the idea :)

Savory Rice Medley

2 cups water
1 cup uncooked, long grain rice
2 green onions, sliced
1-2 sliced carrots (optionally, slice and cut into heart shapes)
4 teaspoons chicken-flavored bouillon granules
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon dried basil leaves

In saucepan, combine all ingredients, bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Precious Preemie

2011-02-08T09:04:00.001-05:00

I got contacted recently to make a simple preemie beanie for a client's 3.5 lb niece. She was born at 30 weeks and the client wanted something sweet to warm her new niece and cheer up her dear sister who was, understandably, dealing with many different emotions. I have not made a hat this small before and could hardly believe that something sooo small could fit on a human baby. It was a fun, quick little project and a great chance to try out my new center-fold tags :)

Show and Tell

2011-02-01T23:50:00.004-05:00

I have been slacking in my blogging as of late! It has been a whirlwind around here with someone in the house being sick almost at all times. I really think that from the moment we brought our youngest home we have not had one single 7 day period without someone having some form or illness. I am still taking orders and finishing items, but getting around to blogging about them all is proving more difficult to find time for. Good news is that the last 36 hours we've had some crazy winter weather (or Snowpocalypse according to some) and the kids have been off school. We're off again tomorrow meaning I finally have a bit of a breather to get caught up on things!

So, here's a quick view of what I've been up to as of late:

I got "real" tags! These woven tags are from Custom Couture Label Company on Etsy. Dianna was amazing and a huge aid in helping me get just what I wanted. I'm thrilled with how they turned out! The second pic is the back-side of the smaller tags.

I made a beautifully soft and squishy blanket for Loree of Loree Alayne Photography to use in her shots. I can't wait to see a sweet little newborn cuddled up on this!

Gina Giraffe is back, this time paired up with a Sweet Traditions hat.

Inspired by the many beard hats floating around the internet, I came up with my own pattern and made a hat for my brother to wear on his ski trip in Colorado last week. It was such a hit that I now have a line of 5 more hats that I'm working through for various family and friends. My husband has had lots of fun modeling these silly creations for me!

I worked up this quick spring hat for my daughter in a fit of longing for warmer weather. It will go great with her Easter dress this year.

And lastly, another photo prop for Loree Alayne Photography, a cute earflap hat with extra long ties. The beauty of this hat is that it is a neutral color. Left alone its great for boys, but add a little flower clip and you've got a darling girl hat too!

If you aren't already aware, Knits and Knots has a facebook page and I do a much better job of posting new pics almost daily there. Come join the fun!

CSN Stores Giveaway Winner!

2011-01-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

And the winner is...

Comment #10 was from Rochelle who said her remedy for winter boredom is:

We play games on the Wii, play board games, and bake.

Congrats Rochelle! You will receive an email from me with instructions of how to claim your prize. Thanks for playing along everyone :)

Giveaway!

2011-01-20T12:08:00.002-05:00

You may remember a while back I was approached by CSN Stores to do a review of one of their products and I got a non-stick wok and reviewed it. Well, I have been approached again by CSN, this time to giveaway a $35 gift certificate good for any item** from any of their online stores! CSN stores have pretty much everything you could be looking for for your home or garden from modern bar stools to outdoor furniture, and it has been my experience that items are shipped promptly and are good quality.

So how do you enter?
Leave a comment on this post telling me what you do to keep your kids (or yourself) entertained in these dreary winter months and be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you win. That's it!

One entry per person, no exceptions. Entry will be open until Wednesday January 26th at 1pm EST. The winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Thursday January 27th.

**PLEASE READ THIS DISCLAIMER!** The $35 gift certificate is in the form of a promo code and shipping is NOT covered. Shipping for whatever item is chosen by the winner will be the sole responsibility of the winner. This giveaway is only open to residents of the US or Canada (sorry, that's not by my choice!)

Tiny Gina

2011-01-14T08:40:00.003-05:00

I got a request this week for a Gina Giraffe rattle worked in the 4-6" tall size range. The pattern yields a giraffe that is about 10-12" tall, so I wasn't sure if I could miniaturize it. However, after an afternoon of crocheting I came up with this guy:

He turned out so cute! Just barely big enough to fit a rattle inside.

I have made enough of the original pattern that I knew the general shape of each of the pieces, so I simply stopped increasing a few rounds early and followed the shaping in the pattern. I still used worsted weight yarn so he's nice and durable. Hopefully he'll get a lot of love for years to come!

Spring Line 2011

2011-01-10T12:35:00.004-05:00

My sweet friend, Jill from Raindancer Studios took some pics of the newest items for spring. She is such a talented photographer that she was able to capture the beauty of the stitch pattern in each of the items in a way I'm just never able to!

free pattern here

In an effort to be proactive I've decided to start listing specifically items that people might be interested in the coming season, starting with spring. You will find a link at the top of this page for the Spring Line 2011. What this really is is just a taste of items that might be interesting to you in that season. I also have put together a small newsletter that contains a limited selection of these items and some news on deals for this spring as well. Check out the Spring Line and the newsletter for more info :)

2010-12-23T16:20:00.002-05:00

Meet Alicia. The purchases you made throughout 2010 made it possible for Knits and Knots to 100% fund Alicia's $175 microloan through World Vision Micro. Thank you for supporting Knits and Knots this year. Merry Christmas and may you find the joy of the Newborn King this holiday season!!!

Click here to learn more about Alicia and her microloan :)

The Gift of Organization

2010-12-19T10:29:00.001-05:00

My husband gave me a wonderful early Christmas gift this year - the gift of organization. Matt and I created space in our house for our grown-up hobbies about a year ago. As Knits and Knots has grown as a business, or original organizational scheme for this room descended into utter chaos! I couldn't possibly fit all of the yarn I was accumulating from various projects into the shelves I had available, and fabric was piling up on top of the bins used for storage. I rarely knew what I had and couldn't find things I really needed. It would literally take me about 20 minutes to gather materials I needed simply because I had to unstack all the bins, search through to find the item I wanted, restack the bins, and pray nothing came toppling down on me! My husband was having some similar difficulty as it would take him as long to set up his recording equipment as it would to record a song, only to have to tear it all down again in order for the room to be useful for other activities. After talking it through with Matt he suggested we purchase some industrial strength shelves and line one of the walls. I bought the shelves about a month ago, and promptly put them together. Fast forward 3 weeks and 2 rounds of a stomach virus and I finally found the time to organize yesterday. I am SO HAPPY with it. I can see what fabrics I have available; I can walk through the room without tripping over bags of material; I know whether or not I have that one specific color of yarn I need for that last-minute project. It is fabulous! I have seen other crafty bloggers talk about their "studio" and I never thought I would have one of my own. However, with this step I feel like Knits and Knots has taken a huge leap ahead and I could claim this room as my very own studio. I don't mind sharing the space and letting it be my husband's recording studio as well - now he needs a chance to organize that side of the room :)

is this not a beautiful sight?!

Coffee Cup Wrap

2010-12-06T09:46:00.003-05:00

Along with the Beaded Christmas Tree Keychain that my kids made for their teachers, we are also giving them a giftcard to Starbucks and a reusable coffee cup wrap.

For the wrap I followed this pattern, substituting a bit of thin quilt batting for the fusible interfacing and an unused hairband for the elastic.

I love how simple this project is, and its a great way to use up scraps!

Beaded Christmas Tree Keychain

2010-11-30T21:42:00.001-05:00

My kids and I worked on a project for their teachers' Christmas presents today and I thought I'd share a quick tutorial with you. This little keychain is quick and easy to make and requires only a few materials.

Materials: (for each keychain)
1 Keychain ring
1.5 yards flat plastic lacing or satin cord
1 star bead
2 brown pony beads
44 green pony beads

Start by folding the cord/lacing in half and attach it to your keychain using a lark's head knot (see this link for more info: http://www.ehow.com/how_13480_make-larks-head.html). I drew a quick diagram of how to string the beads but following that I will write out an explanation to the best of my ability! I didn't take pictures of the progress, but hopefully it will make sense. The two colors (red and green) represent the two free ends of the cord/lacing once its been attached to the keychain ring.

Row 1: String both free ends through the star bead.
Row 2: String 2 green beads on one of the free ends (represented by the green line in the above diagram). Then insert the other free end (represented by the red line above) back through those two beads so that you have the green line sticking out of one side and the red line out of the other. Pull both free ends until the beads are tight against the star bead, being cautious not to pull too tight.
Row 3: String 3 green beads on one of the free ends and repeat as above.
Rows 4-8: Continue in this pattern, adding one extra bead per row.
Row 9: String 9 green beads on one of the free ends and repeat as above. When the beads have been pulled tight, take one of the free ends and, skipping the first bead, insert into the second third and 4th beads and pull out between 4th and 5th beads. Repeat on the other end. Pull the ends to tighten up the Christmas tree. String both free ends through two brown beads, pull tight, and tie several knots, making sure the knot is large enough to prevent the beads from slipping off.

I learned a little trick from knitting that actually paid off for our project. If you are using the plastic lacing you can help the project lay flat if it is getting bunched up by holding it in the steam from a boiling teapot. When the plastic is hot it will relax and you can pull and stretch it and lay it flat and when it cools it will stay much nicer. If it doesn't work the first time, try it again!

The Christmas tree is not the only project we've done, we also made penguins yesterday using this pattern with the addition of a row of blue "ice" below his feet. The projects are limitless. Using your imagination you could probably design something for any occasion. My 5 yr old had a bit of trouble doing this completely on her own, but my 6 1/2 yr old got the hang of it very quickly :)

Fishy Business

2010-11-22T14:51:00.000-05:00

My son's best friend has a goldfish, Goldie. He is very fond of this fish, and to honor the beloved pet his mom asked me to make a goldfish stuffie for her son for Christmas.

I couldn't find a pattern out there for a goldfish so I had to improvise. I had so much fun putting together this little guy - from the fishy shaped body, to the ribbed tail and multiple fins, to the bulging fishy eyes!

I'm really happy with how he turned out! and the addition of the smooching fish lips as suggested by the client really pulled it all together. I'm sure this will be a much better playmate than the real thing :)

Lots O' Hats!

2010-11-12T09:03:00.001-05:00

In fall everyone's looking for a good hat to keep their little ones' ears toasty. I've had a variety of different orders lately with lots of fun colors! I'm pretty lucky to have several in-home hat models to test out my sizing on, and to just enjoy the cuteness of these little toppers :)

Owl Hat

2010-11-07T09:15:00.001-05:00

I recently had a request for an owl hat to be used as part of a little boy's Halloween costume. I thought the idea was brilliant, and couldn't believe I hadn't done something similar for one of my own children in the past! Looking on Etsy I found a super cute pattern that allowed the user to sell items made from the pattern (not always true!). While the pattern wasn't as thorough as I am used to I was able to complete the hat and make it look just like the example. I was thrilled with how it came out! It was made with a bulky yarn and is super soft and should be VERY warm, which is good since it was so cold at Halloween this year :)

The customer also requested some mittens made from matching yarn. We chose to go with a thumbless mitt because of the age of the baby, and it had a connecting cord to keep those little mitts from getting lost when baby inevitably pulls them off!

Cold Season

2010-10-08T23:16:00.001-04:00

Its that season. The time of year where a warm sweater and hat are necessary in the morning, but by afternoon you wish you were in shorts! I pulled out all of my kids winter wear this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed watching them wear things I've made for them. I realized this week that my oldest son has nowhere near enough handknits. I guess I can add that to my Christmas list!

If you missed it, last week I did a brief giveaway on the Knits and Knots Facebook page. Here's the first of the winning hats. Its the ever popular Divine Hat with a special Saints black and gold flower. The winner lives in Louisiana and requested a hat her daughter could wear to celebrate her favorite team for football season :)

Giveaway

2010-09-30T12:02:00.001-04:00

I'm doing a giveaway on the Knits and Knots facebook page. If you're a facebook user, check out the page and enter to win a white Divine Hat in any size and one flower of your color choice!

Pattern Review - Wee Wooly Toppers: Buzzbee

2010-09-16T14:53:00.003-04:00

In preparation for my 12 hr flight to Korea to I had to consider what project I was going to bring along, because I crafter can't be without a craft for a whole week! I wanted something small enough to complete on the trip but interesting enough that I would actually want to work on it. I figured it would be fun to use that time to make something for Alex.

I did my research on Ravelry.com and decided on the Buzzbee hat pattern, which is part of a set of hats for babies called "Wee Wooly Toppers" by Wooly Wormhead. I loved the simplicity of the pattern and the interesting construction. It just plain looked unique :) I had my older two kids help we pick out yarn at our (new!) LYS, Nomad Yarns. We went with a super soft wool, Ella Rae - Amity, in a beautiful shade of blue (colorway 24)

Now, unfortunately I did not work on the hat AT ALL the entire trip! I was to excited/nervous/anxious to do anything but watch movies on the plane. There was no way my brain could concentrate on anything else! But as soon as I was home and over the jet lag I dove right in. The hat worked up in no time flat, and even with a new baby in the house I was able to finish it in about 3 days (3 nap times, that is). The pattern was very well written, but it is kinda bare bones. She expects that you'll be able to look up some techniques on the internet or in books - this is to cut down on the pattern cost. Less tutorials by her means cost saving for you. Specifically, this pattern required a cable cast on. I had not done that one yet and had to look it up online, but found a great tutorial and didn't have any issue making the pattern work.

You can see the finished product is just so stinkin' cute! I think the model has a bit to do with the cuteness factor though :) While he absolutely hated having it put on, once it was tied and he was distracted he didn't seem to mind. And I bet you we'll all appreciate the extra layer of warmth come winter time!

Back in Action!

2010-09-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your patience while I was away! We have truly enjoyed the last few weeks preparing for our little one and traveling to pick him up. I think we've finally adjusted to our new routine and I believe I'm ready to start taking orders again. I am going to adjust the wait time on projects a bit until I'm certain I can get things done in a timely manner, but if you contact me for a price quote I will also give you an accurate time quote as well!

I'll be working on some special projects for his birthday that is just around the corner and plan to share some here :) We are planning a semi-traditional Dol celebration and that means I get to try out some things I'm not so familiar with - always fun! Here are just a few of the MANY photos I took on our trip - enjoy :)

On "Vacation"

2010-08-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to let you know that this Sunday I will be traveling to South Korea to bring home our newest son! Because this is our first adoption, I have no idea what the transition will be like and am therefore "on vacation" until further notice! I will post again when I'm ready to take orders again.

Enjoy a pic of our son in the mean time :)

Old English Sheepdog Set

2010-08-23T09:05:00.000-04:00

Baby rattle/sweater sets are becoming my new favorite order! I get the fun of both knitting and crochet and there's a lot of creativity that goes into trying to make a set that matches really well. I was contacted a few months ago to see if I could come up with a set that involved Old English Sheepdogs (OES). Of course I was thrilled to do it and figured it would be simple to find just what I needed. I was WRONG! It took me quite a while to find a place where I could order an OES applique for the sweater. I really wanted to do a felt applique like I have used on most of the sweaters I've made, but no one (I mean NO one) is making them! Luckily I came across MischyfPaws on Etsy. While MischyfPaws didn't have any appliques available for purchase, she sold lots and lots of doggy products, and was willing to work with me to produce an embroidered OES patch just the right size for my needs.

I think the sweater turned out so cute with the client-requested colors of purple/lavender an in the tiny size of 0-3 months. I opted for only 4 buttons on this one as trying to squeeze 7 in seemed like just too crowded.

Making the rattle match was a bit challenging, but I decided to go with this fun fur yarn held double with a worsted weight in order to make the stuffie shaggy like a real Sheepdog.

Overall this set was a good challenge for me - it forced me to try new materials and I ended up with a product I am proud of!

Gifting

2010-08-22T15:55:00.000-04:00

We have been encouraged to bring gifts to our son's foster family when we pick him up, and I knew I wanted to give them some things that I had made as a way of personally connecting with them. I love presenting gifts in fabric bags, they are re-usable and much more sturdy than the paper gift bags that are all the rage these days.

For the foster family's children I thought little drawstring bags filled with American candy might be a fun gift. There are 3 biological boys in the foster family, so I picked some fun boyish fabrics to fill with candy

For the foster mother and the adoption specialist from the agency in Korea I made these reversible gift bags with pretty feminine fabrics. These are based on the Morse Bag pattern, with some minor adjustments to the height and width to make them a better gift bag size.

Since making these I've been compelled to wrap every gift I give in fabric! Its a fun, unique, and sustainable way to present a gift.

Shirt to Dress Makeover

2010-08-12T15:13:00.000-04:00

Today I turned this women's 2X shirt (found at a garage sale for $1!)

Into this girl's dress

Definitely had to sport the crossed straps. Much easier to keep on my squirmy 5 yr old's thin shoulders. Although you can't see it, they need a bit of tightening up. That's what I get for trying to measure the straps on her instead of using a measuring tape!

Oh she's so sweet :)

Ok, now I officially am a slacker mom to my son. I gotta figure out some boy crafts to do!

Back to School Sewing

2010-08-10T18:20:00.001-04:00

On my recent girls' weekend away I purchased my very first sewing patterns. All this time I've been creating from my mind or hand-drawing patterns, but when I ran across these Portabellopixie patterns at a quilt shop in Vincennes, IN I simply could not resist! I also was lucky enough to find some gorgeous fabric in their clearance room for $6/yard.

The patterns are well written and challenged me to learn two new techniques - rolled hemming on my serger, and shirring on my regular machine! I found this tutorial (via Crafty Christina, thanks Chris!) on shirring extremely helpful and honestly the only thing that would work on my machine. One thing I really loved about these pattern sets is that they are very much mix-and-match. I chose the peasant top and triple ruffle pants to showcase the pretty fabric.

My daughter was in love with the outfit from the moment I put it on her. Its soft, comfy, and cool, but its the first clothing I've made for her that I'm worried about keeping clean. White may not have been the best pants choice. Oh well, she won't fit in it for super long anyway - the girl is growing as fast as the weeds in my garden this summer!

It actually fits even better after washing - all of the shirring tightened up in the dryer, so I guess even if it does get dirty, a good scrub and some Oxyclean and she'll be set to go. Anna starts Kindergarten in about a week *sniff!* and she's gonna look as sweet as she is in this little number :)

*do you see the little patch on her knee in the above pic? That's my own printable tag made with this. Love this stuff! It may be pricey, but you can print a ton of tags on one sheet and they really do hold up well. Just sharing in case anyone is interested!

Photo Op

2010-07-28T14:27:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of beauty there is and how easy it is to capture a beautiful photo. This year my mom, sister, and family friend and I went on our second annual girls' camping and kayaking weekend. We stayed at a fish and wildlife area in south-western Indiana. Our campsite was perfect, with access to the reservoir right from the site. We had a blast kayaking and chatting. We also made some great memories in the sweltering heat, fears of being attacked by the rather large-sounding racoon in the middle of the night, and monsoon-like nighttime rainstorm that threatened to collapse our tent. Fortunately one of the girls was smart enough to bring a coffee maker so that we could function after such an eventful night! We also visited nearby Vincennes, IN and saw the historical sites there and did some shopping. It was all very interesting and provided a great retreat. As much as I love getting away with my family, it was awesome to get away without them too :) I didn't do any crafting on this little weekend away, but I got some of my very favorite photos I've ever taken! I hope you enjoy them too :)

Little Lady

2010-07-20T18:56:00.000-04:00

I got the chance to make one of my favorite patterns again, this time with a ladybug theme. The sweater and ladybug rattle are made in a soft washable yarn. I had Steph from TwoKazoos make the ladybug. She does such a great job and I always end up with just what I'm looking for. The little plush rattle was made to match the applique exactly, which I just get such a kick out of!

If you were thinking of buying handmade this Christmas its not to early to place an order. Since handmade items take time and care to produce, put your order in early to guarantee we can get it to you in time for the holidays! If you're interested in a sweater set or any other Knits and Knots item you can visit the Custom Order and Pricing pages for more info.

Retreat and Refresh

2010-07-12T14:08:00.000-04:00

My family and I were fortunate enough to be invited to a friend's lake house this weekend, and we had the most wonderfully relaxing time! We spent all day on the lake exploring all different modes of water transportation and soaked up the sun and good conversation with friends. I also was able to score some good knitting time and worked up a little sweater for my most recent order. I will be attaching the little ladybug below it as soon as it arrives from Two Kazoos. Add a few buttons, whip up a matching rattle and the set will be complete! I love it when vacation makes my work that much more fun :)

A Recipe and Review!

2010-07-03T16:47:00.000-04:00

Its finally here - the review of my Taylor & Ng 5 Piece 12" Preseasoned Flat Bottom Wok Set provided by CSN stores and my favorite Korean Recipe, Bi Bim Bap!

I'll start off with a quick review of the product and my experience with CSN stores (to learn about how I was chosen to do a review you can go here) The delivery of my wok was as expected for an online order - I think it took about 5 days from the order going through to arrival at my door. The wok came unassembled, which was surprising to me, but was simple to put together. Basically I had to screw on the handle to both the wok and the lid. The set consists of the wok, lid, wooden cooking chopsticks, a wooden spatula, and a metal spatula. The wok is very sturdy, and looks to me as though it will last a long time. The lid is kind of thin, but seems to be strong enough - I haven't had a need to use it yet. The cooking utensils that came with the set are all great and I can see using them for many cooking applications. The chopsticks may be my new favorite cooking utensil actually! They are long and do a great job of moving food around when stir-frying. The only issue I had with the set at all is that although it is called "pre-seasoned" you can't just jump into using the wok. The set comes with a manual that takes you through the simple steps of removing a protective coating that has been placed on the wok. While it is easy, you can't just use it right out of the box. It is also not dishwasher safe, but is VERY easy to clean by hand, which I love! Overall, the set is great, and I can see it being my number one cooking pan for a long time because of its size and convenience.

And now on to the Bi Bim Bap

Bi Bim Bap is a traditional Korean dish, which literally means "mixed rice" or "mixing rice" depending on who you ask. The basic idea is that you stir-fry different types of vegetables and a meat and put it over rice. Then add a little gochujang (hot pepper paste), mix it up, and you have a delicious meal! According to Wikpedia, traditionally, Bi Bim Bap would include julienned cucumber, zucchini, daikon, mushrooms, bellflower root, and gim (dried seaweed), as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and bracken fern stems, tofu (either plain or sautéed), and/or a leaf of lettuce, plus a fried egg on top. The following recipe is an Americanized version of Bi Bim Bap based on the vegetables and items we typically have in our kitchen. The recipe I'm showing is loosely based on this recipe. Keep in mind, you can use pretty much any vegetables you have on hand in your kitchen. In the past i've used spinach, cabbage, green beans, sugar snap peas, pretty much whatever needs to be used up in the vegetable bin! Its a GREAT way to use up leftover veggies :) My kids don't do spicy, so we always skip the gochujang, but my husband is going to love our Korean Air flight when we go to get our son because they serve and awesome bi bim bap that comes with all the spicy gochujang you could want!

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef, ground turkey, chicken breast or beef cut in strips
2 cups carrots, julienned* (see end for a little picture tutorial on this!)
2 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups asparagus, tough ends removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 (15 1/4 ounce) can corn kernels, drained or 1.5 cups frozen corn kernals
4 eggs, scrabled
1/2 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/8 cup garlic, chopped
2 tbsp chives, chopped
oil, for frying (sesame is the traditional, but I usually use Canola)
salt and pepper
1.5-2 cups white rice (cook according to package directions)

1) In a small bowl, combine meat, soy sauce, both sugars, and 1/2 of the garlic (my photo is missing the garlic, oops!). Mix together thoroughly to marinate.

2) Scramble the eggs and cook into small pancakes. Slice into strips. (see video below). Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

3) Heat small amount of oil in wok, add canned or frozen corn and a dash of salt. Cook until the corn starts to brown a little. Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

4) Heat small amount of oil in wok, add julienned carrots, add 1 tsp of sugar and stirfry until soft. Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

5) Heat small amount of oil in wok, add asparagus and chives, and season with salt and pepper. Stirfry until crisp-tender (and enjoy the AMAZING SMELL!) Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

6) Heat small amount of oil in wok, add broccoli, cauliflower and the rest of the garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Stirfry until crisp-tender. Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

7) Add a small amount of oil to wok, add meat and marinade and heat until fully cooked. Place into bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

Either place all of the bowls out on the table, letting your family pick and choose what they want, or serve each person a bowl filled with rice and topped with a little each of the stir-fried dishes. Mix it up and enjoy the very yummiest stir-fry you've ever had!

*how to quickly julienne carrots
1) cut a carrot at a steep angle creating thin, oval slices of carrot

2) push the slices into a neat row

3) cut down the row of slices to make little matchsticks (juliennes) of carrot.

Hijacked!

2010-07-01T09:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, so my grand plans of getting a review of my new wok and a tutorial on bi bim bap on here have been hijacked! I had some family issues come up last week, and although I've had a chance to use my wok it has only been twice and rushed both times. I will be home all weekend this weekend and hope to get a tutorial and review posted at the end of that time :)

I just wanted to take a moment and share a little about how this review came about. **NOTE: CSN stores did NOT ask me to share this, I felt I should because I want to be open with anyone who might read this blog! I got contacted by CSN stores to see if I wanted to do a review or giveaway on my site. I'm guessing they found my blog by looking at google hits or something as they don't specialize in craft items. Anyway, the first thing I did is ask about their corporate responsibility (how do they spend their money, where do they get their items, are any of their products manufactured in illegal ways - forced labor, child labor and the like). I determined that I WOULD NOT support or promote an online store that I couldn't be confident lived up to the standards that I require when I make my own purchases. The person from CSN stores who had contacted me was kind enough to share some links about their corporate philosophy and their philanthropic giving. It seems, from what I could tell from the links, that CSN stores is a company based in the northeast US that has gone from a small company to a rather extensive one quickly, but that the company still sees themselves as a local company with a focus on serving their local and global community. They also have an A+ rating by the BBB, which was encouraging to me! I also googled CSN store's corporate responsibility and was not able to find any mention of them engaging in questionable practices in regard to their purchasing or sourcing of their wares. After all of that I felt confident I could provide a review on my site for them and be confident of what I was promoting! This blog is not going to become another spot that you are attacked by advertising, but I actually thought it was cool to have the opportunity to support a US based company with a good corporate philosophy. So, if you're interested, look out for a review of my new wok and my favorite recipe sometime next week. Then we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming (once my life slows down a bit - I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing!)

Cooking is a craft, right?!

2010-06-14T16:38:00.001-04:00

This summer is keeping me pretty busy, and I feel like I've not been doing a lot of crafting. I do get a few things done here or there, but for the most part I'm hanging with the kids, cleaning the house, preparing meals, hitting the pool, prepping for vacation and birthdays and trying to get my figure in shape! Then again, if you consider cooking a craft, I've been crafting up a storm! I have the desire to learn how to cook several Korean dishes before we go to pick up our son this fall, and thanks to CSN stores, I will have a little easier time! I will be getting a new Wok from CSN's store cookware.com, and will be posting a review of it here along with a tutorial for making my very favorite Korean dish, Bi Bim Bap. In the mean time, check out CSNstores.com to see the variety of items you can get, from twine to twin beds they've got pretty much everything you could want for your home!

Layer Dresses

2010-06-08T14:10:00.000-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of making two sibling sets of layer dresses. One for my good friend Anne and her two daughters. They are about 18 months apart in age, but pretty much the same size. We picked out some fun safari-type fabrics and coordinated the dresses without making them identical. You can't tell from the lighting of the photos, but the fabrics are the same :) The fabric for these was Fabric Central Exotic Bundle 2 plus an extra fat quarter of the yellow fabric purchased from JoAnn's.

The second set was for a friend of Anne's two daughters who are several years apart. This time we went with fabrics that were "pink and girly" by the client's request and the dresses were made in different sizes. The fabric for these was Bloom and Grow by Riley Blake in the pink and cayenne colorway (purchased at Karamat on Etsy - great service!)

It was so fun to take a design I made for my daughter and make it for others too!

Teacher Gift

2010-05-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

I made an extra special teacher gift for my son's Kindergarten teacher this year. She did such a great job with Eli and worked extra hard to make sure he had a great year. I wanted to make sure she knew all her hard work was appreciated, especially as this was her first year teaching!

I had seen the idea on a blog somewhere to make a "movie night" gift bag and thought it was so cute! We got some microwave popcorn, movie theater candy, trail mix, a bottle of water, and a gift card to Blockbuster.

I put it all in this little tote that I made from leftover scraps from my most recent project. I lined the tote with some soft but sturdy felt to give it a little stiffness and to hide all the seams from piecing the project together.

Featured Photographer - Raindancer Studios

2010-05-18T08:36:00.000-04:00

I have been having a great time getting to know some local, and not-so-local photographers in the last few months. I recently started making props for infant/newborn photography, and have met some amazing people! I thought it might be fun to do a feature on my blog about the different photographers that I've been working with, starting with Jill Reid from Raindancer Studios.

Jill Reid is one of the people I most admire. Her family suffered a tragic accident in 2008 that left them with no income and lots of hospital bills. Through it all, she had the support of family, friends, and her faith; and in 2009, at the urging of her supporters, she decided to turn her love for photography into a way she could support her family. She says "God inspired me through this season to look deeper for beauty and goodness in the midst of pain and struggle. The following quote has been my mantra for 2008 and 2009 and the very thing God has used to keep my heart soft and open: 'Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.' Photography reminds me to see beauty amidst the ashes...to dance in the rain."

Jill has an amazing ability to photograph the spontaneous interactions of a family in a way that beautifully captures the love they have for one another. She is constantly trying new things and always surprising her customers with the outcome! If you're in the Indianapolis area and looking for a family, newborn, or maternity photographer, consider Raindancer Studios. I am certain you won't be disappointed!

Below are a few of the photos that Jill has taken using Knits and Knots props :)

Birthday for a Boy

2010-05-07T21:46:00.001-04:00

The kids were invited to a Star Wars themed birthday party tonight. I knew the 5 year old we would be celebrating loved all things Star Wars (hence said party theme), but I also knew his mom appreciated handmade goods (she's ordered things from me in the past). I thought maybe we could compromise by purchasing the birthday boy something Star Wars related, and make him something to go along with it. The only problem was I couldn't think of anything to make that was in any way space themed that I could get done in less than 24 hrs, which is about how long I give myself to think about gifts for kids birthday parties... whoops! So instead I made something I'd been wanting to for a while - bean bags!

I have seen multiple sets of beanbags around the internet (easy tutorial here), and thought they looked like such a fun and easy project. Now it just so happens I got a serger for an early Mother's Day gift (woo hoo!) and have been trying to think of reasons to use it. I figured serging the seams instead of straight stitching and turning would save time and give me a chance to play with my new toy! We decided to spell out the birthday boy's name since it was a great even number of letters - 6.

I used 2 different fabrics for the bags, cutting out 6 5"x5" squares of each. I cut the letters out of an almost solid blue and used Steam-A-Seam2 (sheets of fusible webbing) to secure it on the right side of each of 6 squares of fabric, alternating between the stripes and dots. I straight stitched around the letters to be certain they would stay firmly attached to the bags. Then I simply placed the squares wrong sides together, serged 3 of the 4 sides, filled it with beans (black-eyed peas, to be exact) and serged up the final edge. My son picked out a cute basket at JoAnn that was just the right size to hold the bags and will make a fun place to throw them in!

Now if you've even gotten a gift from me, you will probably know that I rarely use wrapping paper. I had seen on a blog somewhere the idea to use fabric to wrap gifts, and I thought that was such a cute idea! The basket looked great on its own, but was no where big enough to hold the Lego Star Wars set my son had picked out for a gift. I had a large section of the dot material left over, so I doubled it over, right sides together serged up the two sides, turned it right-side out and serged around the open end (yes, I know, probably more serging than was necessary, but c'mon, its a new toy!).

Then I used my trusty Brother sewing machine to sew some button holes and put on some buttons and, voila! a reusable gift bag that matched the rest of the gift :)

We tied the whole thing together with ribbon, tucked in a card, and headed out to a great evening with friends.

Standard Pricing

2010-04-29T11:48:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to standardizing all of the Knits and Knots pricing for the most popular items. The list is by no means comprehensive! If you are interested in an item that is not listed on the pricing page, please contact me for a quote.

Find the Pricing page HERE.

Springing

2010-04-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

Oops, I've been missing a while again. If you didn't catch it on facebook, you can read about my excuse for what has been taking up my time lately other than crafting on our adoption blog. There are other reasons as well - mostly this gorgeous spring weather! Up until this weekend we've had the most amazing summer-like weather and the kids and I have been getting out and enjoying it as much as possible. I have also been keeping myself pretty busy with some secret baby shower and Mother's Day gifts, so I haven't had a lot I could report about :)

Way back when I posted a giveaway on my family blog, got some responses, and promptly forgot about it! The idea was that the first 5 people who responded would get something made by me in the next year, but they had to do the same on their blog. I got 5 responses, but only 2 of them ended up being able to carry on the idea. And of those two, one wants me to teach her crochet - which will eventually happen - and the other welcomed any handmade thing! Today I dug through my fabric scraps and whipped up a set of 5 very springy coasters for Alison.

Alison is a great hostess and truly enjoys entertaining. Hopefully these will bring a bit of color to her next gathering!

Easter Dress

2010-04-10T17:40:00.000-04:00

I did manage to get around to making a dress for my daughter before Easter to go with the knock-off MJ pants I made her.

The two of us had spent at least 30 min picking out fabrics together when I started this whole venture, and I was thrilled to see it come together into something even remotely resembling the Matilda Jane dress I was sort of modeling it after.

My dress turned out a lot longer than the MJ dress, and you can barely see the pants underneath. But, I still think the outfit is cute and the pants keep my not-so-girly girl from showing her underwear to everyone :)

I honestly think the hardest part of the whole thing was figuring out how to make the little button band up by the neckline. I ended up using some of the knit fabric leftover from the pants and making a lettuce edge on it then sewing it in like the ribbon they used on the original dress. Then I sewed the buttons on. Its a cute little finish that made it all tie together nicely.

Then, of course, I had to make a matching tie for my son - can't leave the big brother out!

Knock Offs

2010-03-25T16:48:00.000-04:00

I love Matilda Jane clothes. They are boutique-style clothes that can only be bought from a private seller at "Trunk Shows" (home parties kind of like Pampered Chef for clothes). The colors and styles are so trendy and cute, and I'm always tempted to get things for my daughter. The problem is that when I see them I realize I could totally make clothes just like that if I took the time and had the right materials. The other day I decided its finally time to try. Anna's birthday is in a few months and I figured I would do my best to make her a few things and if I just completely fail, then I'll order some at the next Trunk Show I know about in June. We hit JoAnn's yesterday afternoon and picked up some fabric and I set to snipping and sewing.

front

back

Today I finished up the first item: a pair of super soft, super comfy ruffly capris based on the Big Ruffle style of MJ pants. The adult version has a cute button on the side of the leg that I decided to copy for my version. I think it gives it the touch of sophistication and a little extra "something" I was looking for :)

We have a set of fabrics that I'll be making into a dress similar to the Sara Dress. The olive fabric is the same knit used in the pants so they'll be a set or will be able to be used separate!

I'll post pics of the finished product when I finally get it done :)

Lady Bug

2010-03-23T12:50:00.000-04:00

My most recent project was this sweet little lady bug. She will be given to a family who is about to travel to China to finally bring home their little girl.

Ladybugs have become symbolic of good luck in Chinese adoption. The bug is bigger than you might expect - about 6" in diameter with all the legs, head, antennae and eyes securely attached to all the withstand tugging, chewing and loving she might receive.

With our own international adoption coming soon it is so fun to be a part of another family's journey to bring home a child!

Cotton Candy

2010-03-18T09:14:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to making something out of that lovely cotton yarn I dyed at the end of February. Loree had requested another hat* for her photography props - this time one in an "aviator" style (with short earflaps and long braids). I was kind of dreading working with the thick/thin yarn because I just wasn't sure how it would knit up, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with!

I started by making a skullcap style hat and then pick up and knit stitches on each side of the hat for the earflaps. The short earflaps really helped hide some of the bulges from the thick part of the yarn that showed up along the cast-on edge. Really, the hardest part of the whole hat were those braids! It was really difficult to get braids of a consistent thickness out of thick/thin yarn. I ended up making the braid out of 6 strands of yarn. I tried to offset the thick parts of the yarn so that at any spot along the braid there was at least one "lump". It took some work, but I ended up with two sections of braid that were pretty good.

When it was all said and done I thought the hat looked like cotton candy! A sweet little topper for sweet little babies :)

I also recently purchased some new tags/stickers and business cards. The hat made a nice backdrop for some photos of the business cards!

*see the "Elfin" stocking caps featured on Loree's blog!

Macbook Case

2010-03-04T11:08:00.002-05:00

I recently acquired a Macbook. Our desktop had given us great service (we had the thing about 7 years and it wasn't new when it was given to us!) but we really needed something with more memory and processing power in order to continue to function. Anyway, to keep a long story short we decided to replace our desktop with a laptop and decided a Macbook was the best fit. Since my husband already has a laptop for his music recording, this one is sorta "mine". Its not mine really, but I'm certainly the one who uses it most. Matt even let me buy a decal to put on it :) I decided this week that if I'm ever going to take the Macbook out of the house (part of the point of a laptop, right?!) that it needed a little case so my cute decal wouldn't get ruined.

I used some scraps I had laying around - an old pink curtain, and a cotton print from baby blankets and came up with this:

I lined the inside with the minky to avoid scratches. I made a large pocket on the inside from the minky that is big enough to hold a couple of books* or the power cord.

The embroidered flower on the front is from an old shirt I loved that shrank an indecent amount vertically over the years and was no longer suitable for wearing... by anyone.

And then I put on a cute button and closed it up with some matching hair bands. They are stretchy enough to hold it closed when the interior pocked is full or empty. I also put them on in a way that makes it easy to remove them and replace them if they start to wear out.

*The books in this photo are my pocket bible and Not For Sale. I am starting a bible study with some friends based on this book tonight, and it is a book I would HIGHLY recommend it.... though the subject matter is not easy. It is an expose on slavery (of all kinds) and forced labor that still exists in our world today. Wanna know the truth? Then read this book.

The Dyeing Experiment

2010-03-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

This weekend I embarked on a new journey... a journey into dyeing. It all started with a trip to the yarn shop downtown. I rarely make it down there because its about a 30 min drive and when I go I'm overwhelmed with the amazing yarns it has to offer! I decided to make the trek it because I needed a specific type of yarn (a slub yarn in pinks/peaches) for a project. I looked all over the store for what I wanted, but just couldn't find it. I found one that was an acceptable substitution but was pinks whites and grays. Just as I was about to check out, the yarn store owner showed me Thaki Yarns Maya in Ecru and mentioned that I could try to dye it to the colors I wanted. She gave me some brief instructions on dyeing with Kool-Aid and sent me on my way with my pink/gray yarn and the Maya yarn.

My husband graciously went out and bought the supplies I needed after we got home. While he was out I did some research online and started to wonder if this would work... from what I'd seen online Kool-Aid dyeing ONLY worked with a protein (animal) fiber and not a cellulose (plant) fiber like the 100% Maya. Trusting the yarn store owner to know better than me, I went ahead and began the Kool-Aid dyeing process (I used the microwave method). When I rinsed out the yarn, the color rinsed out too and I ended up with a yarn that was almost the same white as the original yarn! I tried again using a much higher concentration of dye and again it didn't work. Feeling discouraged I set it aside for the day.

The next day I did some more research and found that for cotton yarn you needed a different type of dye. I went to JoAnn's and got some Rit dye (it was on sale... bonus!) in Petal Pink, Fuscia, and Tangerine. I started by soaking the yarn in hot water while I prepared the dyes.

I mixed the dyes to a very dilute solution with hot water. Next I squeezed the yarn out gently, placed it on a cookie sheet covered with saran wrap, and painted the colors on using sponge brushes.

When the colors were distributed how I liked, I covered it with more saran wrap and then sealed the whole thing with Glad Press 'n' Seal to make it air-tight then left it overnight to soak up the color. The next morning I rinsed it out with hot water till the water ran clear, then rinsed with slightly soapy - dish soap - water, then rinsed with hot water again. I squezed out the excess water and laid it out on the clothes drying rack to dry with a large dish underneath to catch any drips.

I started to get really nervous at this point because the yarn looked really bad. The colors were ok, a little brighter than I wanted, but the slubs looked really bad.... all squished up and felted looking. I was discouraged and figured that all my messing about with the Kool-Aid had ruined it. I couldn't wait for the yarn to dry on its own so I started drying with with a hair dryer - figured I couldn't make it worse! Turns out that as the yarn dried, the slubs puffed out and looked much better. In fact, by the time the whole skein was dry, it looked pretty good. There are a few slubs that are messed up from all the squishing and painting it went through, but when they're knitted up you don't notice, and if you did, I could cut those out. The finished product is quite pretty :)

I think it looks best knit up on a size 8 needle... we'll see how it looks in a finished product!

Stackers

2010-02-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

A friend contacted me a few weeks ago with a custom order request for a crocheted stacking rings set. It turned out so cute! The pattern can be found on the JoAnn website.

I love all the little details:

the tail and wings on the dragonfly

two sizes of spots on the ladybug

the stripes, stinger, and antennae on the bee

the lily pads and flowers on the base

and the cute little frog face on the pole!

Inspiration

2010-02-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

I've been spending time cruising Etsy lately looking for inspiration. I thought it might be fun to share a few of the things that have been sparking my creativity.

First, this gorgeous fabric from Cotton Threads

this fabric also from Cotton Threads is totally becoming a blanket if I find out the baby we're adopting is a boy!

EVERYTHING from Atelier Sonatine - tons of cute Japanese fabrics that remind me of the illustrations from the Richard Scarry books I read over and over again as a child.

(on a total side-note, my very very favorite book as a child was The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter. We've got my copy of it and it is lovingly trashed from much use. Just looked it up on Amazon and it apparently is a lot of people's favorite cause its totally expensive. Maybe I better take care of it; I don't wanna have to replace it!)

This sweet doll pattern on Dear Madelyn

This gorgeous vintage crane pendant on My Shangri La. I think cranes are the most beautiful bird

LOVE this little dish on The Brick Kiln

this polar bear pattern from Forever T&M has got to go in my repertoire!

All of the awesome wood toys at Woman Wood Worker ... I love the quality!

This is just some of what's inspiring me lately. What's inspiring you?

ahhhhh

2010-02-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

that's better!

The blog now has a new look. I know I changed it about 6 months ago, but it was feeling dark and heavy to me. Maybe its all this snow we've been having; maybe I'm tired of the endless gray; but I just needed a change! Hope you like it as much as I do! And if you're following on Google Reader, stop by the blog and take a look.

More V-day Pics!

2010-02-12T14:23:00.001-05:00

Today was the kids' actual Valentine's Day parties. After posting pics of their outfits I decided Eli's robot just didn't look finished to me. We added on some "claw" hands and a mouth and it was just the finishing touches I was wishing were there :) Here's a side-by-side comparison.

He was so excited to wear it today and was showing it off to anyone who would look!

Anna's shirt was cute, but I had a little of the fabric leftover and wanted to make some coordinating bottoms. She had this old pair of jeans that matched perfectly except she had worn holes in the knees and the legs were just a smidge too short. Anna is super tall for her age, so even though these are size 5 they're already too short. I took some extra fabric and the Steam-A-Seam2 and ironed patches on the inside of the knees.

Then I added a little ruffle of the fabric at the base of each leg to add on the extra length she needed. I think these will be just long enough to be useful into the summer, and if we're lucky into next fall as well!

The whole outfit turned out just right. There is something deeply satisfying about making things for my kids!

Anna also was super excited to put on her outfit and show it off at school! (the floor was cold, and Anna refused to have her pic taken on it unless she had something to stand on)

Unrelated, here are some photos of how beautiful it was outside this morning. It had been warm yesterday - warm enough that our snow started melting. Well early this morning it started getting cold, and there was fog everywhere. The water in the air started condensing on the trees in these amazing ice crystal formations! It literally looked like snowflakes or feathers were growing on the trees (the last two pics are worth clicking on and looking at up-close. Seriously beautiful!)

Unfortunately I had an eye doctor appointment this morning and missed my chance to take pictures once the sun came out. It was gorgeous to see all the trees shimmering in the sunlight. By the time I got home all of the ice crystals had melted away :(

Girls!

2010-02-08T19:55:00.001-05:00

I think I get a few more requests for baby girl items than baby boy ones. Not sure if that's because more people I know are having girls, or if people are just more interested in getting creative, cute gifts for baby girls. Regardless the reason, I love making girly gifts!
This weekend I had two baby showers to attend, both for baby girls! I decided I would give the things I used the most the first few weeks with my kids - diapers and burpcloths. Each gift had a pack of size 2 diapers, a set of 3 burpcloths, and something cute just for fun.

My neighbor's shower was first. You'll probably recognize this set from a post this summer, I've been saving the little blue bird for just the right recipient. I loved that it was girly without being all pink. My neighbor can easily remove the flower and use this for a baby boy if she has one down the road. (Not shown are the other two matching burp cloths. I tried taking pics of them, but they were no where near as good as the photos I took this summer... sun, come back!)

The other set I made was for the same family who purchased the kangaroo. This time it was all about the pink!

I couldn't resist the matching pink super chunky yarn, so a hat was born.

The yarn is so thick that the hat can completely stand up on its own!

Facebook

2010-02-08T08:19:00.002-05:00

If we aren't already friends on Facebook, you probably don't know that Knits and Knots has its own fan page there. If you're on Facebook, click the link, visit the page, and become a fan! I post regular updates and sneak peeks on the fan page since its much easier for me to post there than on the blog. Hope you visit soon :)

Boys

2010-02-07T09:44:00.001-05:00

Newborn baby hats are so much fun! You can do tons of variety in style and craft and always come up with something unique. Here are two examples of using the exact same yarn, exact same colors, but with different crafts and different patterns. For each of these I used Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Cotton" yarn in chocolate brown and blue
First, I got another request for a Monkey Earflap hat, but this one for a boy. No flower this time! This crocheted hat works up pretty fast, and as you can see is just as cute for a boy as for a girl!

I also got another photography prop request from my friend Loree of Loree Alayne Photography (she's amazing, seriously, check out her site!). She wanted a long stocking cap for her baby photography, so I knit up this hat late this week for her. I simply love the way it turned out and hope to make some more of these! I am already imagining all of the color combinations that would look good on this hat!

Valentines

2010-02-05T11:28:00.002-05:00

Its almost time for Valentines day! I decided to try my hand at making shirts for the kids to wear to school this year.
Now making a V-day shirt for a 6 yr old boy is not easy. Eli and I scoured the web for cute ideas that weren't girly and came across a darling shirt on Etsy. With that as our inspiration we designed a robot together and when Eli got on the bus Anna and I headed to the store to get materials. That was probably the most time consuming part of the whole project! Once we were home it went together quite fast :)

I used felt for the components of the applique and secured the pieces together with Steam-A-Seam2 (sheets of fusible webbing). It holds on tight, and hopefully will last through washing. I'm not going to try that until AFTER the holiday though. If it only lasts for one season I guess that's ok, but I made it large enough that he should be able to wear it again next year! I may still add some gray "claw" hands to the robot... it doesn't seem quite finished to me.

It was WAY easier to make anna's shirt. I saw this shirt a week ago or so and just knew I had to do something like it for my little one. I don't do embroidery just yet (though I'm dying to learn!) so we opted for an iron-on applique in place of the embroidery. While she's not the girliest girl out there, Anna child loves sparkle! We found this super cute sparkly applique for the front of her shirt.

Then we picked out some sparkly coordinating fabric for her wings and... voila! I free-handed a quick wing pattern. I taped the pattern to the fabric, cut it out, and again I used the Steam-A-Seam2 to stick the fabric together (wrong sides together). I did a quick stitching around the wing to accent the shape and to be certain the layers wouldn't separate (I don't think they will anyway, but just making it less likely!). Then I stitched the center part to the shirt and was done!

Now to figure out what we're going to do with the leftover wing fabric. I'm thinking accented jeans or maybe a skirt....

Toasty

2010-02-02T15:47:00.001-05:00

I love sweaters. I really do. And I have a lot of them. Most of them don't fit, but I just can't bear to give them away. Today I made some progress...
This pile:

Became this:

And ended up as this:

Now I can still cuddle up with my favorite sweaters all at once!

Props

2010-01-29T14:12:00.001-05:00

My friend Jill has just started her very own photography business, and needed some props for her newborn photography. She wanted a cocoon and a pod and a matching baby hat with bear ears. I found a great pattern on Etsy for the pod, improvised a pattern for the cocoon, and modified an existing hat pattern and added ears for the bear hat. Unfortunately the only model I had on hand was a stuffed animal. I think if I'm gonna keep making baby items I need to get some life-sized models! Stay-tuned for some professional pics from Jill's sessions showing off these items with real babies inside! And stay-tuned for the pattern for the cocoon. Its made with a size N hook and is super quick to make. I bet a newborn would snuggle right down in one of those and pass out - just like being back in the womb!

The cocoon is made from Lion Brand Homespun in apple green

The pod and hat are in Lion Brand Naturals organic cotton in chocolate brown

Goals

2010-01-22T10:17:00.002-05:00

I just paid my sales taxes for 2009. Not that exciting, but doing so has me reflecting on the last year and what the real results of Knits and Knots were. I set a personal goal for 2009 to make enough profit to be able to donate $100 toward a microloan to another mom in a part of the world where making things by hand is not a luxury, but a necessity. Basically, a microloan provides the start-up cost or extra revenue needed to sustain a business that is paid back at a very low interest rate and a reasonable amount of time with very little (if any) penalty for inability to repay the loan. Those who qualify for a microloan would never qualify for a traditional loan, and therefore are unable to pull themselves out of the pit of poverty.

Since Knits and Knots is not a hugely lucrative business yet, my husband and I don't rely on the income from it to sustain ourselves. Some day (as in after all of my children are in school all day!) I would love to make this my full-time occupation, but in the mean-time I thought that the best way to use the profit would be to benefit another mother who doesn't have the luxury of doing a craft for fun like I do, but instead has to work hard to support her family. There are lots of places that will provide microloans, and for 2009 I decided to donate through the ServLife Hope Fund. If you've been reading this blog for a while you may remember, in November of 2008 I traveled to India and Nepal to visit a ServLife orphanage and pastor training school. This trip was transformational to me in that it brought me to a place to be able to consider with compassion the true depths of suffering that come with poverty, and the fact that I have the power to impact the world with good. This trip was the catalyst for my husband and I to begin our adoption journey and has forever changed the way I view what is "mine".

I am VERY pleased to say that I met my goal for 2009 - Knits and Knots was able to donate $100 to the ServLife Hope Fund. This money will be used to provide a microloan to a woman in India or Nepal! I don't share this as a way to pat myself on the back, but instead as a Thank You to all of you who supported Knits and Knots with your purchases, promoting it to your friends and family, or just sharing words of encouragement.

I am so humbled to be able to meet this goal, and have decided to make a bigger goal for 2010... I want to provide a $200 loan via Kiva.org this year. This won't be easy since we hope to be traveling to Korea to bring home our child in early to mid fall, and I have a feeling my crafting will drop off at that point until we're all adjusted to the time change and family growth. But I believe big goals can lead to big accomplishments, and I'm going to stick to this goal and just see what happens!

** Update!** As of August 2010 I have already met my goal of $200 profit for the year! I am thrilled to be able to donate as I have desired!!! I know that God will use that money to bless a specific person somewhere around the world. As a way to allow my customers to be involved, I would welcome any input on a worthy recipient on Kiva.org!

Knit Teacup Cozy

2010-01-19T12:37:00.001-05:00

I saw this pattern (Knit Coffee Sleeve) on Ravelry and it looked like the perfect knit to get me back in the swing of things after the holidays. I bought a mug just for the cozy, and it took me all of an hour to make. I would have posted it sooner, but it was a surprise birthday gift for a tea-loving friend of mine, and I didn't want to spoil it!

Look at that texture! Say it with me now... "oooh! aaah!" Its a great pattern - my first experience with the horseshoe cable.

I did something a little funky to make it stay on the cup... I'm not sure I could explain it well, but it works like a charm. I may try to perfect it a little more and then write up a tutorial on it. We'll see though - I seem to have a lot of grand ideas just not coming to fruition these days!

Hedgie Sweater

2010-01-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

If you've read my blog for a while, you may remember this pattern from a previous project. I love the style of the Offset Wraplan so much and was thrilled when a friend asked me to make one for a baby shower - it gave me an excuse to make it again! This sweater is done in very soft, very washable acrylic (Red Heart "Soft Yarn"). I did six row stripes of red and cream since we knew the baby is a boy.

We wanted the sweater to fit in the theme of the baby's room (woodland animals) and specifically match the darling hedgehog bedding. My friend picked out this adorable hedgie applique from Missy Magoo on Etsy. While most of the products on Missy Magoo are actually embroidered onesies, the nice part about Etsy is that almost every seller is willing to work with you to make just what you're looking for. The owner, Janey, whipped up this little guy in an evening and had him in the mail to me the next day. I put a little handful of fiberfill behind the applique when I sewed it on to give it a little dimensionality.

photo by of Debbie at Buttered Parsnips

Next we searched for the perfect buttons. For me, the buttons make the sweater, and while searching for hedgehog appliques I came across the store Buttered Parsnips. After a couple emails back and forth to discuss size and colors, Debbie had these seven 1/2" buttons ready for me and they arrived 2 days later! (there are 2 toadstools, an acorn, a bird, 2 leaves and, of course, a hedgie!)

I just love it when a project comes together!

Mei Tai

2010-01-14T19:46:00.003-05:00

So its no secret my husband and I are working on an international adoption. We're a little over half-way through the process, hoping to bring home our newest child early next fall, and I finally am starting to feel like this whole thing is real! I hadn't yet made anything for baby. I have plans and schemes, but Christmas crafting and special orders kept me supremely busy as of late. Today I had the itch to craft, and specifically to make something for our little one.
From what I've learned, in Korea babies are worn (carried in a fabric carrier) a lot. Even babies in the foster care system are carried by their foster mothers during the day. The traditional item used for baby carrying is a podaegi. Its kind of like a blanket with straps that is very versatile for carrying a young baby into toddler-hood. I carried both my kids in a sling, but slings are quite different in feel from the baby's perspective. I wanted to make a carrier that was similar to a podaegi, but not quite as bulky and something I was a little more familiar with how to use. I wanted a carrier that would seem somewhat familiar to baby as we transition home. I opted for a Mei Tai based loosely on this design.

The Mei Tai is reversible, one side having a pleated pocket that should be able to hold a diaper and pack of wipes or my keys, or any small thing I need to have on hand. The back side is some gorgeous asian-inspired fabric I ordered from Joann.com earlier this year.

I love the looks of the finished product, and hope I'll find it useful! Regardless, both baby and I will look stylin' as we travel home from Korea :)

Pardon the poor lighting in the photos - I was excited to have it done and wanted to show it off! And yes that's a teddy bear in the carrier - we don't have any babies around to practice on.

Feza Scarf

2010-01-07T10:45:00.001-05:00

One project I completed in the last few months I simply couldn't blog about because it was a Christmas present! My mom and I went to a local alpaca farm/yarn store early this fall and my mom picked up this amazing Feza yarn that just so happened to be my sister's favorite colors.

stash yarn photo from firetwirler526's Flickr page

The ladies at the yarn shop were kind enough to wind it in a ball for me (I don't have a ball winder or swift!) as it apparently is very difficult to do. While they were winding it I took my daughter and nephew out to visit the alpacas. They enjoyed looking at the animals, but quickly realized "they stink!" Its true. Alpacas stink. But it was fun to see one in person :) Silly me forgot my camera. I was bummed about that!

My mom asked me to make a scarf for Christmas for my sister out of her new yarn purchase. While the yarn looked great on the shelf, it wasn't easy to decide what to do with it scarf-wise. We browsed Ravelry and came up with this pattern. I loved working with the yarn because I got to work with a different texture every 6 rows or so and my sister loved the scarf! I wasn't able to get great photos before Christmas, but I got a few ok ones; winter lighting is tough, either too bright or too dark most of the time.

Divine Idea

2010-01-07T10:07:00.002-05:00

So I actually have been doing projects over the last few months, but so many of them were repeats that I just didn't think anyone would be interested in seeing 200 Divine Hat or Gina Giraffe photos. I have been refraining from posting multiple posts about the same pattern, however, we discovered two things when we were preparing to go sledding:

piggietails fit perfectly through the holes in the Divine Hat!

and little girls look super cute this way :)

in which I brag on my dad

2009-12-30T10:27:00.002-05:00

I'm super preoccupied with planning my son's 6th birthday party. What with this and Christmas there's not been a lot of crafting going on around here. I have definitely been neglecting this blog, so I thought I'd take a minute to share with you my favorite Christmas craft this year... and it wasn't made by me!

This is my dad. Well it was my dad in High School. What a handsome guy!

Ok, this is really my dad now... still a handsome guy! He is a man of many talents. He can do anything mechanical or building-related that he puts his mind to... literally. He constantly surprises me at the things he is willing to undertake, and he never fails to surpass my expectations in the end. For example, he has single-handedly: added on to the upper story of my parents barn; dug the basement for their home with his very own bulldozer; designed and built a unit that burns industrial waste with almost no toxic emissions; designed his dream home and built it;.... the list could go on but you get the idea. So this Christmas I'm not sure which was more amazing - that he managed to shock me with one of his talents, or the actual outcome of this talent. As I said, my dad is very mechanically inclined, but it turns out he's got some serious artistic ability as well! My mom asked my dad to paint her a background for her nativity scene. Paint it. Like with paints. My dad doesn't know how to paint. He's never painted in his life. Or he hadn't yet. My mom left him with 2 canvases, some oil paints and the supplies to make a home-made easel. 8 hours later she had this:

(click 'em for detail!)

Now this may not be a van Gogh, but tell me that's not amazing! When we went to visit my parents house to drop something off before Christmas my mom casually mentioned that I should check out dad's new painting. I asked her where he bought it. I thought it was FOR him, not BY him. I think my mouth hung open for a couple minutes after she pointed out the signature. I always assumed I inherited my crafty talents from my mom, who ran her own craft store when I was little, but it turns out it must come from both sides! I'm so proud of my Daddy :)

(oh, and the mantle in the photo... that's the hand-hewn beam from an old barn that my parents tore down in order to use the wood for both the interior and exterior of their home. Seriously. No wonder I like to make stuff)

Little Monkey

2009-12-17T11:35:00.001-05:00

Sorry to have been MIA for so long. I really am here, but holiday preparations for home and work are keeping me too busy to blog much!

My friend Cristi wanted to keep her baby girl warm and in style this holiday season, so she ordered a divine baby hat with interchangeable flowers (yes another - I think that makes 7 or 8 I've made so far this winter) and a DARLING monkey hat. I previously didn't have a hat pattern with ear flaps, so it is a nice addition to my pattern repertoire! The best part was the photos she sent me of her daughter wearing the hats that were small enough to fit, but large enough to last the season and into spring :) I hope to post the photos when I get her permission - I'm not into putting other people's babies on the internet without parental consent!

Cute Kangaroo

2009-12-07T10:34:00.001-05:00

photo courtesy of VintagePatternHouse on Etsy

I found this sweet vintage pattern on Etsy to make for a friend who requested a Kangaroo for her expected baby girl. She wanted a standard Kangaroo color. The pattern was interesting, my first knitted ami. I think if I were to make it again I might make a few changes, but it was a pretty good pattern. One of the cutest things was that the little Joey is removable so as the baby grows she'll get to play with a baby of her own :)

Advent

2009-12-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

The Advent season is a little different for us this year. The kids both know the true meaning of Christmas and are happy to celebrate that, but struggle with knowing there is a day coming soon where we get presents. I figured this year was finally time to do an advent calendar. It helps the kids easily know when Christmas is coming without having to ask mommy! I also wanted it to be a reminder of what the season was about - Jesus' birth and a season of giving. I went cruising craft blogs to find an idea that would be easy to do but didn't involve candy. My favorite idea was the simple paper chain. Easy to do, and the kids could help make it. I also took another idea I'd seen a lot - including a simple activity or game that is winter/Christmas related. We ended up with this:

25 paper chains made from Christmas wrapping paper, each with a game or activity glued inside that the kids get to "discover" when they tear the chain off. Unfortunately I didn't think about the fact that Eli can read, so he's done a little looking ahead :) I think next year we'll have to fold the papers over or glue them backwards so there's a little more suspense!

So far we've done these:
Make gingerbread houses
Make a gift for your teacher
Play "guess what's inside" (trying to guess what's inside a wrapped box)
Make paper snowflakes

giftcard holder for Eli's teacher

giftcard holder for Anna's teacher

We've got these left:
Read a Christmas story
Write a letter to someone and mail it
Make an ornament
Watch a Christmas movie
Read the story of Jesus’ birth
Make cookies
Make snowman pancakes
Drink hot chocolate
Take a walk outside
Write down things we’re thankful for and thank Jesus for them
Help someone else
Draw a nativity scene
Make snowmen (craft)
Sing Christmas songs
Light a fire
Bring a treat to a neighbor
Call a relative to tell them we love them
Draw and decorate a Christmas tree
Act out the 3 wise men following the star
Play “guess the song” (hum a song and have people guess)
Make Christmas wrapping paper

As you can see, its a lot of crafts, but Eli and Anna just love that type of thing. I threw in some snacks and games to mix it up, but we're a crafty household for sure! Not all of it is related to giving and Jesus, but the Christmas season is also about celebrating with family. This is helping connect with my children in a real, meaningful way, and hopefully building in them the anticipation of the Christmas celebration that will carry on into their own families some day!

Ooooh Shiny!

2009-11-29T17:19:00.001-05:00

I've recently started looking around at all the crafty blogs there are out there, and boy are there a lot! To keep myself from being overwhelmed by craftiness I only look when I've got time. I can easily waste hours in front of the computer screen jumping from one to the next, so I try to limit myself! I came across this tutorial for a sequined Christmas tree and fell in love! I figured this cheap craft turned super-cute decoration had to be a part of my decor this year.

I used turquoise and bright green to make the sequin tree, and then, since I can't just have one of any decoration, I decided to make two other coordinating trees. It took hours to make the one sequined tree, so that wasn't going to happen again! I decided instead to get some matching fabric to cover the other two. The little one is covered in turquoise fabric with a "garland" of green fabric, and the big one is covered in the green fabric, with a swirl of turquoise then accented with sequin "ornaments". I love the set and can see them being a favorite decoration for years to come!

Another

2009-11-24T15:04:00.002-05:00

Just another Gina Giraffe. This time in pink and brown for a darling little baby girl. I get to make her 2 cute little hats too :) I love what I do!

Doubly Divine

2009-11-20T15:36:00.001-05:00

After the post about mine and Anna's Divine Hats, my friend Anne requested some for her girls. She wanted a neutral hat with some interchangeable bright flowers. She figured this way she could make the hat coordinate with whatever she bought for her girls' winter coats.

We decided to go with a white hat. I had a huge cone of Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton. I wasn't sure how this would work up for a hat, but it is gorgeous! Its warm, its soft, and best of all it won't make the girls' foreheads itch like wool or acrylic might.

I made 2 different types of flowers, the Picot Flower and the 5-Petal Flower (two of my favorites!). Anne gave me some color preferences and I was able to use scraps leftover from other projects to make her the 4 flowers.

I sewed a large button on the back of each flower. It fits perfectly in the shell spaces from the pattern but doesn't stick out much on the backside of the hat. This way the flowers can be easily and quickly changed on the hats, or even left off if my friend needs to bleach the hats (little girls and white fabric typically lead to a good soak in bleach now and again!). Anna modeled both hats for me and didn't complain about the button on her head at all :)

Twin Blankets

2009-11-13T16:59:00.001-05:00

A friend commissioned me to make 2 more baby quilts for her dear friend who is expecting twin girls in January. This time I FINALLY figured out how to do that silky blanket binding without it slipping all around and getting bunchy. This was a major accomplishment for me - it only took making 4 blankets to get it right! She wanted pink and brown, but she didn't want the blankets to be identical.

Using the pink and brown color scheme, I made these two blankets with the same pattern, but opposite colors. I used the same pink and brown butterfly fabric to tie them together. Backed with the softest minky fabric, I hope these blankets will be treasured for years by their soon-to-be owners!

Simply Divine

2009-11-01T20:36:00.002-05:00

Saturday afternoon, between a fundraiser for our neighbor with leukemia and the traditional trick-or-treating I was able to squeeze a couple hours of crocheting in. I realized that my winter gear was severely lacking (as in I have about 30 scarves and no hats or gloves) and decided it was time to break down and make something. Central Indiana can be frigid mid-winter, and I'm notorious for not drying my hair before I go out, so a hat is an absolute must! I used the Divine Hat pattern, which has been a favorite of mine. Its simple, quick, stylish, and super warm (and it matches my scarf - bonus!).

After seeing mine Anna decided that she wanted one too, so today after church we picked out the colors (the multi-colored and orange yarns are leftover from the Fiddlehead Mittens I made last year). She requested a little flower for hers. She really wanted to wear that flower right up front "like a soldier" (her words, not mine), but I convinced her to wear it on the side for me for at least one or two shots. We took a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon looking for a place to take some pics of her new hat, and Anna took the shots of me above - not bad for 4 years old!

If you're interested in the changes to the pattern, check out the details on my Ravelry page

A Little Something For Me

2009-10-16T08:58:00.002-04:00

As most crafters I rarely make something for me. I may make things that benefit me (like clothes for my little girl) but I rarely craft something simply for me to use. I found this amazing yarn a few months ago at a sale in a LYS in Indy (Stitches and Scones). I couldn't resist buying it simply for the colors. Isn't it gorgeous?! Its also amazingly soft and a dream to work with. It is Skacel Zauberball Crazy, a sock yarn that is fairly new.

this photo from the Webs website

I wanted a simple pattern for this yarn to show off the colors. It was a fine gauge and I figured it would make a perfect airy scarf for fall. I chose the Clapoits pattern. I had been eyeing this pattern for a while, just not sure when or whom to make it for.

In my opinion it turned out perfectly. The colors are very striking and perfect to wear in fall. The pattern shows off the yarn without dominating it with too much pattern, but still adding visual interest with the ladders. I will most definitely make this scarf again. The pattern is easy to memorize and its the perfect type of project to stick in my purse and work on while I wait in the line to pick up or drop my kids off at school! I don't have a picture of me wearing it yet, but I have had it on almost every day since its completion :)

Dino Baby Set

2009-10-09T11:01:00.001-04:00

Here is another burp cloth/rattle set (for the same client as the giraffe set - she's got lots of pregnant friends!). We chose this darling dino fabric (Oh Boy! by David Walker for Free Spirit) and coordinating stripes from My Needle and Thread. The backing is a blue flannel.

The dinosaur is the Oliver pattern. I love the spines down the back and the cute little nostrils on his nose! This pattern has some cleaver construction, but is a little difficult to interpret. I'd say the pattern is for an advanced crocheter.

Giraffe Baby Set

2009-10-07T10:04:00.001-04:00

My most recent custom order was a burp cloth and rattle set for a friend's baby. She wanted a giraffe theme and non-traditional colors. I found these gorgeous animal print and coordinating polka dot fabrics on Sew and Sew Fabric and bought a lovely leaf-green flannel for the backing. There is cotton batting as the middle layer to make these cloths nice and absorbent.

My friend chose the Gina the Giraffe pattern for the rattle and I matched the colors to the animal fabric. I just love the way this set turned out!

Now Starring...

2009-09-29T09:22:00.001-04:00

Baby gifts! A friend just hired me to make 4 different baby gifts for her 4 friends who are due at various times over the next 6 months. It was so much fun going through the process of deciding what she wanted made for each one and tailoring the gift to their preferences!
The first of the four I finished in record time in order to make it before the baby arrived (I think yesterday was the due date). The gift was another Chromium Star Blanket done up in the colors of the nursery: brown, teal and white. I love the way these turn out and have heard they're excellent for wrapping up a baby in. Unfortunately I only got this one not so great shot of it before I sent it off to its new home.

My Space

2009-09-23T10:51:00.002-04:00

Slowly over the last few months the busyness of summer has worn away and the routine of the school year has returned, allowing me to take seriously the creative part of me that longs for experssion each morning. Some day I hope to make Knits and Knots a full part-time job; that is I hope that when the kids are in school full-time that I can earn enough from doing what I love that I don't have to find work outside of the home, and that that can all happen in the time span the kids are gone so that when they're home, I'm available to them. While I can't do that just yet, my "business" (I still can't quite bring myself to not use quotes when describing KAK) has started to take off in the last month or so. Honestly I think a big impact on this is that about 2 months ago, my husband and I decided to create some space in our home - to make room for the things we love.

We live in a 4 bedroom home with 2 kids. Our little guys share a room (by choice) and use another as a playroom (that will morph into a nursery when the adoption is finalized), but that left us with the final bedroom as our office. Since it was full of things we didn't want the kids touching it became the room with the door always shut, and eventually the dumping ground for anything we didn't know what to do with. It also meant that any time we wanted to use the computer we had to shut the door to keep the kids out. Last spring we decided to change that and move the computer downstairs and to make some space for it, we moved the sewing machine upstairs. For several months I would lock myself in that room whenever I wanted to craft, but it was so crowded and messy it definitely didn't provide a comfortable creative spot.

Two months ago I just couldn't take the mess and disarray of it all and at about 10 at night I suggested an all out clean-up and swap around with some furniture from our bedroom. My sweet husband obliged and we spent the next 90 minutes switching and moving and stacking till we settled with the sewing machine next to the bed, our bedroom chairs moved to the office and a lovely little spot in our room that was just for me! It was wonderful... until I tried to sleep. I could hear all of the unfinished projects whispering at me from the table next to me and found it completely impossible to sleep. First thing the next morning I told my husband I just couldn't stand it and that, with his permission, I would switch and swap all day till I got it right. Which I did. In the end, I pretty much settled back with everything the way it had started, except for switching some bookshelves from the office with the chairs from the bedroom. I did a lot of organization and cleanup and ended up with this:

I love it! I've got a whole side of a room for my things: a storage shelf to house all my yarn, books, and accessories; a board to keep all my current and future projects in mind; a large desk for all my sewing needs; and not pictured: crates for storing fabric and batting and even some chairs to sit in and knit or crochet, or read a story to the kids. Now its still not perfectly clean, but it is a room the kids can enter. They love to help me put pins back in the pincushion as I pull them out while sewing or look through my button stash while I search for the right one for a project. Its a room that invites me to come, create, and leave a mess if I need to go be with my kids in the middle of a task. I can still just close the door and clean up later.

This is the site I ran into yesterday morning when I entered what I have lovingly come to think of as "my space". I left this quilt top partially finished yesterday because my little sweeties needed some time with mommy and it just couldn't wait. This is proof - evidence that this crafting thing I do is no longer a hobby, but is actually forming into part of my daily life and someday maybe a sustainable living. On the machine you can see one quilt top, and on the chair another. These two will become baby quilts (like this one) to given by a friend to a lovely woman expecting twins. On the little table to the right is my bluebird and one of the burp cloths from the matching set. Under the chair is a bag of yarn waiting to be turned into another baby wrap sweater, this one being a commissioned baby gift. On the chair is a box of yarn and patterns for Christmas presents.

Now I said we decided to make room for the things WE love, not just me. So the other side of this space is partially taken up with my hubby's hobby, home recording and music. The rest of the space is for our books; we're a family that loves to read! I hope as the kids age that this will become a special room for us - a place to create, to imagine, to express ourselves. (I also hope its a room I can figure out how to organize a little better as time goes on!)

A Little Elephanty

2009-09-16T10:27:00.003-04:00

This post will be a little elephanty today :)

The little elephant ami has a cat ball inside to give it that little tinkly sound all kids love. The blanket is all flannel with a silky red binding. By the end of the day I hope to have this set up on my Etsy store!

Book Review - North! Or Be Eaten

2009-09-14T08:35:00.004-04:00

I'm going to take a total departure from the fiber world today, and instead explore probably my longest running and probably most beloved hobby - reading. I may try to do more book reviews if there's interest, so if you like what you read here today let me know!

My love for fantasy stories began early in life with Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia has continued on strongly into my adult years where I discovered Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. To my great delight, I recently was turned on another great, and I expect to be, classic series: Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga.

Andrew Peterson is relatively new to the publishing scene, with his first book, The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats, published in 2007 and followed shortly after by book one of the Wingfeather Saga: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. While Peterson may be a new author, he is far from being new at storytelling. Andrew is an accomplished singer/songwriter who has recorded 10 albums. In the spring of 2001, my now husband and I saw Andrew perform for the first time at a small Christian camp. We both were immediately enamored with his ease, wit, and quirky storytelling. Since that concert we have seen Peterson in concert every possible chance and purchased every one of his albums. We are continually drawn to Peterson's music for his amazing ability to invoke emotion and image with his words.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to learn that AP (as he is affectionately known in our home) was publishing a book. I was confident before purchasing On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness that it would be first-class, and I was not disappointed. This book follows Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby - three children who think they live in a normal town and are normal family, but who discover their true identities as the only living heirs to a lost nation. The latest installment in the series, North! Or Be Eaten follows the children's adventures after the discovery of their royal heritage. They travel through strange lands, face fearsome creatures and interact with dangerous folk. The story is one of love, faith, the importance of family, and the burdens of responsibility.

While this series is classified as children's fiction, I have no doubt that adults everywhere will be reading it for a long time to come. As with Peterson's music, this is a work that has enduring value – the ability to expand your mind and make your heart sing.

Autumn on the Horizon

2009-09-09T13:44:00.004-04:00

Well it is almost fall here in central Indiana. The leaves are beginning to turn on the silver maples and the corn is drying on the stalks. Soon we'll go picking in the pumpkin patch and start planning our Halloween costumes! Autumn is also the return of evening tea and board games around our house. I recently finished this mug jacket to not only keep my favorite mug warmer longer for those late night game marathons, but make one more item in my house covered in a cozy yarn jacket!

We've had a wet and mild summer this year which has had many home gardeners producing bumper crops! My sister's garden was overrun with tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins. She also has a crabapple tree that was almost falling over under the weight of the fruit on its branches. My neighbor had a pear tree overflowing with fruit, and didn't know what to do with it. So... my sister and I spent 12 hours Saturday night making cinnamon crabapple syrup, sugar free pear jelly, honey pumpkin butter, and corn and black bean salsa.

We had a ton of fun and put away lots of food for the winter: 12 quarts of salsa, 8 pints of crabapple syrup, 6 pints of pumpkin butter, and 10 pints of pear jelly. We'll be set in the sweet department for a while! I found out Monday that the salsa makes an excellent soup base for chicken tortilla soup - just added 2 cans of chicken broth and boiled chicken - delish!

One thing we did not can is my jellybean tomatoes, which are still coming in at about a quart or more a week. They don't last long enough in our house to have any leftover for canning. I will be so sad when they finally stop producing... what will I have to fill that early afternoon sweet craving?! Maybe the sugar free pear jelly on home made whole wheat toast or honey pumpkin butter on warm corn bread. Ok, so maybe moving on to fall and winter isn't such a bad thing!

Baby Blue Bird

2009-08-20T08:19:00.005-04:00

The blue bird is one of my favorite birds. I love the bright color that is so visible and unique to the animal world. When I came across some darling blue bird flannel, I knew that my next baby bird project had to be blue!

I'm working on a third baby bird and then I'll be selling the pattern for it and the other two: owl and blue bird as a set. Each bird has unique parts, which when mixed and matched will allow you to create your very own unique baby birdy!

Ooh Baby, Baby!

2009-08-11T15:11:00.003-04:00

Finished up my friend's baby blanket last week. I was so pleased with how it turned out. Doing the brown binding was tricky, but once i got the hang of it it wasn't so bad! Now i just have to get myself over to visit the new little one :)

Garden Explosion!

2009-08-10T23:45:00.004-04:00

A few weeks back, my garden began to push up against the fence, and then it decided it could no longer be contained. It went from this:

to this:

in a matter of so many months.

My sugar snap pea crop is almost done, and the green beans have petered out. Now we're right in the thick of tomato season, and boy are we pulling in a harvest! I think I pick about a pint of "jellybean" tomatoes every other day or so. Imagine the sweetest, fleshy tomato you can get, just the right size to pop in your mouth. mmmm we're eating good around here! And they just won't stop! I see new tomatoes and new blooms every day. These are definitely on my list to plant next year.

There's a bit of broccoli, but I've learned that broccoli is not a hot summer kinda plant - looks like I should have planted and harvested in the early spring. I am getting tiny heads though, just enough to enjoy alongside a ham sandwich while sipping lemonade on the back porch.

And today I finally harvested my first cantaloupe! These suckers are the gargantuan vines you see forcing their way through the fence. They are good escape artists, and one is actually successfully growing outside the garden! They are still producing babies too, which means we'll be eating cantaloupe for a while.

Blooming

2009-08-10T23:18:00.004-04:00

It all started with this button I found in a neighbor's button stash:

This button *needed* to be a part of a flower:

This flower *needed* a gray hat (with a coordinating lining, and be reversible, of course!):

They all *needed* to be photographed together on a beautiful, hot, summer afternoon:

This hat *needs* a little girl to wear it! Its still waiting for its intended recipient. Its her birthday this weekend, and she doesn't know she's getting my newest project :)