Cold Season

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

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

 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!

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"

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

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

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.