Some sewing

Before the Halloween hubbub and the box of knitting unfinished business I was doing a little bit of sewing here and there.  My darling husband installed a clothesline for me this summer and after losing my clothespins (and having some mold on the line for not bringing them in) I decided to make my own clothespin bag.  I like the way the 'store-bought' ones stay open so its easier to get the pins in and out - so I made a ring at the top to insert part of a coat hanger after finishing.  It works (sorta) and I've kept my clothespins from molding and at my fingertips all summer

I used fat quarters of Denise Schmidt's Hope Valley and I think its very 'old-timey' looking which works well with the whole 'hanging your clothes out to dry' thing.

In addition I've been able to take cute pictures of my crafty things hanging on my clothesline - case in point this cute little ditty bag I made for my nephew for his matchbox cars.  (I made his sister one too to hold her 'quiet church toys' as a baptism gift - but I forgot to get a pic of that one).

I'm still knitting away and hopefully these posts are keeping you entertained while I get things wrapped up. :)

A new craft

Recently I learned how to make bows - not for my little man but for my niece.  And after learning how to make them I sorta got addicted and made more and more of them for all the little girl babies I knew.  Bows, headbands etc etc

These are for my niece

These are for a College friend's little girl

I started with the rosettes and had so much fun I just kept going. There are more upstairs for two other little girls and a stack of them that may get made into a Fall wreath (if I get it done before Winter shows up).  I am looking forward to pictures of the girls wearing these soon!

Hats... A lot of Hats

I have decided that I really enjoy making hats for little ones.  I made my nephew a few and since little e have made even more.  They are a quick knit, adorable on little heads and take relatively little yarn.  I've made quite a few for little e that I haven't shared on here so I thought I'd share some baby hat love...

First, this is a hand-me-down I made from my nephew a few years ago (can't believe he will be THREE in February!)  We found it in a box of his old clothes so we've already worn it this year...

Then there was a new Dino-ROAR hat for this year (last year we had one but it is too small already).  This is probably my favorite hat.  I don't enjoy making and attaching all the little spikes, but it is SOOO cute once its on a baby head that all is forgiven (and in the grand scheme of things it still takes very little time and yarn).

Doesn't he sorta look like he is coming at you saying "ROAR!" in this pic too? :)

Also there is the original crocheted hat for his owl costume (that I decided to make in green instead of blue after making the ENTIRE hat!).  I have one eye made but I'm not sure if I'll make the other eye and nose and attach them or just leave it how it is.

Finally I also made him a 'swirly' hat.  This had has been on my 'to-make' list for a long time.  For someone - anyone - and I saw one on Ravelry in gray sock yarn and I knew little e had to have one (and I just happened to have some gray sock yarn perfect for the job).  I think he looks the cutest in this one but as with other hats I've made with sock yarn it seems to slide up his head as you wear it.  Not ideal considering he only wears a hat if he forgets its on his head.  If I have to keep pushing it down he keeps remembering that its there.

I think his head should stay pretty warm this Fall and Winter with all these new hats, but I probably won't make it four more months without making him another one (or two!) :)

'Little e' the Owl

So I alluded to a costume I was making for little e and I hope I don't disappoint.  He was an owl for Halloween this year and I made almost his entire costume.  I started by dyeing a onesie with dark brown RIT (my first attempt at that and I think it turned out pretty well).  I used an old onesie that was stained and figured with feathers covering the whole thing it wouldn't matter.

Then I made a template for the feathers (totally winged that - no pun intended) and cut out individual feathers.  Arranging them and not allowing my OCD to kick in was a little difficult but I think it looks random without looking too 'planned random' as I sometimes seem to create.

Then I got to working on his hat.  I am a knitter first and foremost but the cutest owl hats I could find were crocheted so I had to step out of my comfort zone.  I used this pattern from Repeat Crafter Me (how clever is that?) to make his hat.  I bought the Vanna's choice barley for the top b/c in all the pics of these hats I saw online the ones with that color top were the cutest (to me) but I used leftover scraps for the bottom of the hat.  I have to say I crocheted this hat about 7 times.  Once TOTALLY with a blue bottom and then realized the blue feathers I had in the costume just didn't seem 'owlish' so I made it again in green - with the wrong stitch.  Then again, and again for different reasons but I think all in all it turned out pretty great.

Finally it was still a few hours before trick or treat (and lucky for me nap time) so I decided I could still pull off wings for him too.  I am really glad I did because I think they made the costume.  I used this tutorial for the wings after seeing the adorable ones on Ashley Ann's blog (I absolutely adore her btw). I used the same fabrics as the front of the costume but in longer strips and pieced them together.  I also didn't cut my wings in the middle since the little guy wouldn't really be 'flapping' them.  I added elastic at the edges to go around his wrists and had to safety pin them up in the middle - but it worked out just fine.

Finally we met up with little e's good buddy - Alfalfa :) - and went trick or treating (after our photo shoot of course)

And what owl doesn't fly ....

We Moore's had a great Halloween - how about the rest of you?  

Up next even more knitting (I am doing pretty well at finishing the stuff in my 'unfinished business' box) as well as more sewing.  The Holidays have me in a tizzy of handmade gifts and fun things for little e to wear to celebrate the season!