Category Archives: giving

Spring in Minnesota makes me feel all rambly…..

Edited to add: Boy, did I ramble. Anyone who actually reads through this entire post truly deserves some sort of prize, like having your favorite incredibly gorgeous actor/ress showing up on your doorstep with a case of wine and extra large box of chocolates. And yarn and fabric.

There is something about the springs rains in Minnesota. The sky is still the same gray you’ve been looking at all winter but suddenly there is green everywhere. Looking at all that green makes me realize what is just around the corner, if only I can make it through the mud, muck and cold wet jackets. It makes me unfocused and wandering around from task to task, a little of this, a little of that. So that’s the sort of blog post you’ll be getting from me today. A summary of sorts, since I haven’t done that in awhile anyway. I’ll even do bullets, just for kicks.

  • My screen free week was not as productive as I’d hoped. The combination of extreme sleepiness along with my discovery of  Patrick Rothfuss meant that I was either reading, falling asleep while reading, (terrible when all you want to do is read the book!), falling asleep while putting the boys to bed, or sleeping. Very little crafting happened, if any.
  • Speaking of Patrick Rothufss, I started his second book yesterday, and while looking at his blog today figured out that we both went to UWSP (where he now teaches and lives) at the same time. Not only that, but we studied some of the same subjects and more than likely crossed paths quite often, maybe even had a class together, as it’s a small school. This made me feel like I was about thirteen and had temptations to go to his Facebook page and say something dorky and stupid about going to school together.  I resisted. However it’s driving me nuts because I can’t remember if I knew him for sure. In fact, I realized that although I majored in history I can’t remember the name of one friend in the history department (despite being treasurer of the History Club and attending many pizza nights) and the names of only two professors. Do we really start to forget this stuff this young? Sheesh, I’m only thirty-seven!
  • Speaking of crafting, I do have pictures to share. I managed to squeak out four quilt blocks for Annik’s Log Cabin’s for Japan project. I pieced together one quilt and although I tried, fell asleep with the boys both nights that I had planned on quilting and binding it. Luckily Annik is a quilting maniac and finished it up. Be sure to look at the Flickr group to see them. How amazing to have all these beautiful squares from all over the country put together like this! Annik did a wonderful job organizing; I’m lucky to have her as a friend.
  • Because every blog post deserves pictures, we’ll have an interlude with my blocks….

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  • Making log cabin blocks is very, very addicting. I had to make myself stop at 1:30am.
  • So here’s more random…..I had a very nice and interestingcomment from a new reader. She said she’d really like to follow my blog, but wished I allowed the full post in my RSS feed. Now I also agree how annoying it is when you subscribe to everything in a reader but still have to click on the blogs to go and read the full post, so I understand how she feels. But, I know when I changed it to a short feed a few years ago it was because someone told me my blog was being reprinted in some sort of other feed, without my name/consent and that a shortened feed was the only was to stop it. Honestly, I can barely even remember the details. It seems half the bloggers out there these days have shortened feeds and half do not. Anyone know the latest these days? Anyone have a preference? I’m considering making it a full feed again but don’t want to if it means all my work is ripped off….
  • Onto more crafting, Project Spectrum starts this weekend!! And this year, I am determined to do the whole darn thing.
  • Lolly’s suggestions made me sign up for Tumblr although I’m not quite sure that I need more sites to clog my brain. Maybe I don’t quite get the draw yet. Anyway, if you’re on there come and find me. I’m Knittymama, as usual!
  • Speaking of technology, I broke my Nook. And no, I didn’t buy the extended warranty even though I have three small people in my house. Because my brain is on such massive overload I seriously can’t keep anything else in it, like remembering to buy a warranty. Let’s hope the Skeptic’s extreme tech skills will allow him to replace the screen successfully.
  • Speaking of my small people, I have to report that Spinner is finally talking away. I can’t remember how much I blogged about this, but last November, when he was about 26 months, he had a vocabulary of about 10 words, all which pretty much sounded the same. After a few months of speech therapy he’s talking all the time, which is a joy to hear. He’s got a lot of work left yet, as his articulation is pretty bad, but just the fact that he’s talking now is awesome; he’s come a log way already.  Sentences are hard for him, and he says them in a very cute way that makes it sound like he puts a period after each word. So today when I brought home a giant bag of cat food (which I guess was exciting for some reason) he said, “Big. Cat. Food. Mama?” So sweet, and so nice to hear.
  • And although I could probably do ten more bullets (spinning! red stuff! my newly finished vest! pants for boys! food allergies! kids and mud and worms! Dr. Who!) I’ll spare you the rest, for today, and save it for a later date.
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Filed under friends, giving, Project Spectrum, Quilting, random

Welcome!

I’m so excited to have made it into  Whip Up this week! If this is your first visit over here, welcome!! Feel free to take a look around and say “hello!” And if you’re already a regular reader here but not familiar with Whip Up, I highly recommend you take a peek over there. It’s my favorite go-to site for news and ideas in the crafting world.

Just a quick sneak peek today at what I call The Drag Around Family Blanket. I’ll have a simple tutorial coming up for it next week sometime. If you have some basic sewing skills and have been wanting to try your hand at a bigger  but very doable project, this one is for you!
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More important, I’m very, very remiss to not have mentioned this earlier, since it’s a project organized by one of my best friends. Annik over at Mini Mushrooms has organized Log Cabins for Japan. Make a log cabin block or two (or ten!) and mail them in by next week. She has a great tutorial up if you’ve never made one before. I know what I’ll be sewing this weekend!

Log Cabins for Japan

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Filed under friends, giving, Quilting, sewing

A wedding quilt

This was down to the wire, finished up at 1am the night before my brother’s wedding in December. A quilt for two very amazing people, the first quilt I’ve ever finished up completely. A quilt that I hope will see my wonderful brother and sister-in-law through many, many years of love, joy and happiness.

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I wish I had a better picture, but I barely had a chance to snap this one at the gift opening. You can see Knittykid being very thoughtful about it. I think he was actually quite impressed with his mother.

The pattern is called Sanctuary and it’s in the second issue of Fat Quarterly. (My new favorite online quilting magazine). Quilt Dad is it’s creator, and it was a fairly easy pattern to put together. I’d recommend it highly if you’re a new quilter.

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Filed under giving, Quilting

Four

A very special little boy turned four yesterday.

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He is my sunshine child, full of sweetness, light and joy. He is the boy who everyday tells me, “You are my mama.” “I just want you.” “I just love you.” And he asks me to marry him at least once a month….

Such a sweet boy deserves a sweet gift, so his mama stayed up very, very late this past week to finish up Spaceboy and his Rocket to Dreamland. A big deal because first of all, this mama does not usually enjoy “fiddly” projects like toys and the birthday boy kept waking up every night and wanted to “just sleep with youuuuuu.” But I must say I’m really proud of these and they were well loved by the birthday boy.

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Happy Birthday Knittykid! You bring us so much joy every single day. I can’t wait to see what you do next!!

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Filed under finished objects, giving, sewing

That Time of Year

It’s time again. Time to start that list. And this list. And the other list. Time to wonder what to make, who to make it for. Time to plan ahead and vow to enjoy these next few weeks, not get overwhelmed by them. Time to enjoy making things for the people I love and time to remember that I can’t make something for everyone. Time to start digging around at craft sales, gift shops and Etsy to find that just right something that someone else made. Time to remember that overall, it’s the time with my family that is important. Time to remember good enough. Time to just roll with it, laugh and count my blessings. Especially those three extra special little blessings who roll their eyes when Mama suggests making a gratitude tree or who take all the Thanksgiving decorations off the window and rip them to shreds. Time to shake my head and let it all be what it will, and just enjoy the moments for what they are. It’s all real, it’s all good. Time to remind myself of this everyday until January rolls around. Time to breathe, snuggle up and just enjoy it all…

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Wishing all my American friends a blessed Thanksgiving. And wishing all of you a peaceful start to this holiday season. Take your time and enjoy it!

The little bird is from Last Minute Quilted Gifts. It’s mush easier to make than it looks. I’m predicting a flock of them this season!!

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Filed under celebrations, family, finished objects, giving, sewing

Smith

He is a sweet little hedgehog who loves to eat mushrooms. He loves that he was given to Spinner as a birthday gift. He doesn’t mind that he is either being chewed on or thrown around like a football.

Mr. Smith

Ravelry link

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Filed under giving, knitting

Calorimetry Part Two

I almost had to Kinnear him.
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But he did consent to this picture of the mop of hair neatly under control in his mutt of a Calorimetry. I wish you could see the mess of hair that emerges from it. As I predicted, he did emit a “hmmm” when he unwrapped it and I had to explain what exactly it was, but he’s been wearing it ever since.

In the meantime, I was extremely spoiled this year for Valentine’s Day:
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That beautiful Lazy Kate?? He MADE it for me!! I am a lucky girl. It took the inaugural run today and it works so much better than the built in on my Traveller.

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Filed under family, finished objects, giving, handspun

Blessings

I meant to pop in to say Merry Christmas, but wow the week flew by and suddenly it was here and gone! What a lovely Christmas it was, and here it is, New Years Eve already! The poor Skeptic is at work tonight, the big boys asleep, Spinner snuggling on my lap, and I thought I’d take this quiet time to share a few gifts and moments from the last couple weeks.

We stenciled, painted, sewed, cut, baked and knit our way to the holiday and amazingly, most of the list was done. The major casualties? A skein of Malabrigo that had an untimely injury (sorry, Mom. I think the bag I got you from Annik was better anyway!), the Skeptic only had a sock and a half by Christmas morning, and my father-in-law received a neckwarmer still on the needles since I left the second ball of yarn at home. But aside from that, gifts were wrapped, food was made, little boys were thrilled, and Christmas was beautiful.

Baby-lovey

Pencil rolls

Little Man's Owl

stenciled shirts

Owls by Little Man

Squirrels

Disaster

Cookies

The Guy Next Door Neckwarmer

Stollen

Blessings, peace and joy to you all on this New Years Eve!!!

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Filed under crafting with kids, family, finished objects, giving, knitting, sewing

That Pesky Control Thing

Yup, it’s back again. Complete creative license for the five year old vs. my need for order, neatness and a vision fulfilled.

I signed Little Man up for a handmade international kids’ card swap. Very cool, he’s excited, I’m excited.

Option #1: Plan the design of the card ahead of time. Gather needed supplies, give instructions, make ten cards all pretty much the same way. Let him do te work, but still participate fully.

Option #2: Hand out 10 blank cards, glitter glue, yarn and fiber, and the “odds and ends” box of stuff. Tell him to “make some cool cards” and then try to do my own project at the same time while interrupting very few minutes with “watch the glue!” and “hang on a second” and “maybe you could try to be a little neater?”

Guess which one won out?

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Yup, Option #2

Probably the most interesting set of cards I’ve seen all year. 🙂 And I will say that they are full of heart and 100% his.

It’s funny, I can really see value in both options. I love sitting down at the wheel and spinning whatever I feel like. However, if I had never made yarn before and someone gave me some fiber and said, “make some yarn, have fun!” I’d be more than a bit frustrated.

When Little Man started the cards, he really didn’t know what to do with all that stuff and became frustrated himself. I also got frustrated because while I wanted him to have fun and be creative, I also want him to learn to take his time and do his best work, especially when making something for someone else. For example, it’s probably best not to eat cheese puffs while you make cards. (Am I publically admitting I have cheese puffs in the house? Hey, at least they were organic!) And if you get cheese puff dust all over the card you should probably make a new one. (Yes, even if you wouldn’t mind receiving a cheese-dust laden card yourself.)

A battle of wills again, and again, I think it’s somewhere in the middle that we need to meet. Are you making gifts with children this year? What’s your approach?

We’re using freezer paper to paint t-shirts next week. Definitely doing that one step by step. (Ask me how I know. And why I’m I painting t-shirts anyway? Didn’t I just have a baby???)

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Filed under crafting with kids, family, giving, swaps, Uncategorized

Good News/Dyeing, Part One

It’s strangely quiet here tonight. The boys are asleep and for once I don’t have the radio on. A few cars driving by, that’s it. So different from our loud, loud days of late. Giggles from Spinner, his first real baby laughs that are so sweet to hear. A constant stream of facts from Little Man: the habitat of squirrels, black bear food, Venus and Mars…he is a constant fountain of information lately. And then there is this dear child:
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Caught in a moment of quiet here (it lasted about 5 minutes) my dear Knittykid is, well, in that very rough transition stage. Ending up year two, getting ready for year three. It’s huge, and hard, and made even harder by the addition of a new little brother and a favorite big brother who has to go off to school every day. We spend our days glued together (he is sleeping next to me as I type) and I must hear, “Mama, I want you!” at least 50 times a day. That, and the meltdowns about paint and fudge and  not being able to eat in the living room. But wow, is he sweet, so sweet. And when he says things like, “I’m so excited to be having Christmas!” as we get ready to set up the tree, my heart totally melts and it makes up for the screaming about paint from earlier this morning.

I’m excited to share a good report on Knittykid. He had his annual visit with the cardiologist yesterday regarding his coarctation of the aorta. If you’ve been reading awhile, you’ll remember that we discovered this defect when he was two months old, and were told that heart surgery was imminent and to prepare to have it done within the next year. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying to think that they would be cutting into my baby’s heart. But as we had tests done and doctors conversed about his case, we were told it was a minor coarc, that we could wait and see for awhile, which we’ve been doing for the past two and three quarter years.

So the good news now? His coarc is staying minor, his aorta has not gotten any more pinched and his heart and blood pressure are great. So great that his doctor is thinking he may never need surgery. No promises, of course as things could change. But for now, it looks really, really good. Needless to say, we are thrilled!!

So the dyeing? Well, this Christmas I’m trying to keep my gift making simple and inexpensive. But I also want to do some stuff with the boys. Enter iDye and Dharma Trading Company’s great deals on t-shirts and silks.

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Freezer paper stencils and playsilks. That’s where it’s at this year for us. (And knitting. There is also secret knitting!)

I am in love with the iDye. It works brilliantly and is so easy. Toss in the washer with some salt. Dry. You’re done. I dyed a bunch of new shirts for gifts and I also dragged out all of our older, stained and worn looking shirts. They look brand new! The only odd thing was that while the cotton shirts came out nice and bright, the silks came out more pastel-looking.

Here’s the scarlet and kelly green on the silks:

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I wanted them brighter for my nephew but I was out of dye. What next? Koolaid, of course!!

One pack per silk, one cup water, microwave 2 minutes, (watch carefully!) cool, and rinse.

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The green turned out great. The red is still not to my liking. I might try kool-aid round two.I’ll have the finished gifts up in a few more days, if certain small people choose to cooperate!

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Filed under dyeing, family, giving, kids