Category Archives: crafting with kids

Right now I am….

Enjoying…

  • The 10 inches of snow we received in Minneapolis this weekend.
  • Watching my neighbors get their snow legs back .(People! Little taps folks. Never rev your tires as you will most   certainly get stuck and need to recruit people to push you out.)
  • The four people I saw biking in the city this morning, including the Skeptic and Spinner. My man obviously enjoys a challenge.
  • My parents, who officially reached full retired parent status today by calling me to give me the road report in Burnsville. They crack me up and I am lucky to have them. 🙂

 

 

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Decorating and celebrating….

  • Our free range Christmas tree, which looks a cross between A Charlie Brown tree and something you might see in a hundred year old Christmas scene. This tree has soul and I love it!
  • We are using The Truth is in The Tinsel for Advent this year and we really enjoy the simplicity and ease of the projects.
  • We are also trying a Jesse Tree this year. I love the ornaments and the message that come with this PDF.
  • By the time I am on my third kid I should know better than to leave a four year old alone with glitter.

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Knitting….

  • Christmas gifts that I wish I could share with you
  • Too many Christmas gifts. Not sure I will make it this year!
  • Baby girl items because I have a brand new beautiful niece who is one week old today!

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Filed under celebrations, crafting with kids, family, knitting

My Friend Goo!!*

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We are in the middle of a goop obsession here. If you have kids, I’m sure they brought a blob of this stuff home with a recipe from science at some point in their lives.

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Basically, you make a 50/50 mix of glue (good glue does make a difference, we us Elmer’s) and water. We use about a 1 Tbls. of each. Add a few drops of food coloring and stir well. Then, mix a cup of water with 1 t. of Borax. Add one tsp. of the borax/water mixture into the glue/water mixture at a time and watch it turn into a fun slimy glob! You may need to add a few tsp. of the water/borax mixture to get it to firm up enough. Stir fast!

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The more you play with it, the firmer it will become. The boys will play with it for hours. Their favorite trick is to see how far they can let it hang down from the top staircase. It’s gotten amazingly long.

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My only warnings with this stuff:

1. Make a different color for each kid. If they are like mine, they will try to add their brother’s goo to theirs when he is not looking!

2. This stuff is an enemy of fabric. (I’ve thrown out a pair of underwear after they decided to sit on it to flattern it out). If it does get stuck on fabric, scrub it out with a brush, don’t throw it in the washer. If it goes through the washer and dryer you’ll end of with a permanent hard glob.

3. No matter how much they beg, always wait until you have had at least one cup of coffee before you agree to make some. I’ve been talked into doing this at 6:30 in the morning before and always regret it. Plus my coffee gets cold.

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On the fiber front, are you ready for this? SPINNING!!

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I have been sucked in by the Tour de Fleece bug again, and decided to finally try spinning up mohair locks. What I’ve decided so far is I really hate mohair locks. This yarn is a MESS and I’m hoping that by plying it with silk thread it might be passable.

 

Any tricks? I tried spinning it along with some plain merino top, but it is not looking like the cute curly mohair that I that I was looking for.

*If you are Sonic Youth fan, you can thank me for planting that song in your head all day!!

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Filed under crafting with kids, kids, spinning

A little something…..

I have finally come up with a summer calendar that actually works for us! (Pics of that to some soon….). Thursday I have designated as “project day.” While we will  be doing lots of “projects” this summer, I wanted to set aside some time each week to try something that might take up the entire afternoon. So yesterday we tackled our first project! Using Issue Seven of Alphabet Glue as inspiration, we made mini books and pouches to go with them.

To make the books, we cut paper to three inch squares using an exacto knife and my cutting mat. The boys made covers for each book, and then we sewed them together on the sewing machine. (I use a regular size 90 needle for that, then keep it separate marked “paper” for use again.) Once the binding is sewn on, we cuts strips of duct tape from the super cool duct tape sheets we found at JoAnns last week. Place the tape over the sewn binding and suddenly you have some very official looking little books!*

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(Yes, the title of this book is indeed “Dead Knight.” Can’t wait to see the story of that one!)

Next, we hit the sewing machine. I wanted to keep this very simple, so we basically sewed together two rectangles, added a velcro closure inside and sewed on some twill tape for a handle. We marked their names on the handles in permanent marker as to not mix up.

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Next, it was writing time! Knittykid says we should make a hundred books. Math Boy outright refused to join us, saying he absolutely hated making books and preferred to stay up in his room reading what is apparently a hilarious kids’ series called Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie. I’m trying to find projects everyone loves, but with a 3, 6, and 9 year old that’s just not always gonna happen. Next week we need to find something goopy and scientific, I think!

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What big kids’ project have you done lately?

*Loving the shots of my very ugly dining room table? The downside is, it’s butt ugly. The upside is that the boys can do whatever they want on it, and I could care less if it gets covered in glitter and glue. Hmmm….that might actually be an improvement!

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Filed under books, crafting with kids, kids

Super Motorcycle Gloves!!!

Need a quick project?

Grab and old t-shirt. Cut off the bottom and wrap it around your favorite small persons hand with about a half inch extra. Cut a match. Stitch it up the side and cut a hole for the thumb about 1.5 inches down. Grab some fabric paint (I like Jaquard) and paint your design on the top.

Now the hard part. Try and convince your small person that no, they cannot wear them yet because they are not dry. Hang them on the line for a whole five minutes before your small person can’t bear the wait any longer and finally retrieve them, hoping the paint will not smear on anything. (It didn’t).

Now go feel like the coolest mom/grownup in the world and watch your small person at their make-believe finest!

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Filed under crafting with kids, tutorial

Happy 4th of July!!!

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4th

Glitter, stars, dotters…you can’t go wrong. Although the boys were distracted by a butterfly outside, so I was left to finish up on my own. Still fun though, and I love the fact that Little Man woke up today telling everyone “Happy 4th of July!!!” Today I’ll make my last rhubarb pie of the summer, grill out and we’ll head to Powderhorn Park for the best little fireworks show in Minneapolis!

The Tour de Fleece also starts today.

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Who’s in??? I found a site to live stream it on, so I’ll even be able to watch.I signed up at the last minute this morning, so I’ve got to think of some goals. I’m thinking it’s to spin massive amounts of fleece in as many techniques as I can.

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Filed under crafting with kids, spinning

2009

All I can say is thank goodness, although 2008 did give our family a lot of happiness, including our newest little guy. Lots of love in 2008, that’s for certain and I expect even more in 2009!

Knittykid's felt ball

The felt ball?? Well, I’ve yet to take finished pictures of the Skeptic’s Christmas socks, or the new soaker I’ve cast on for (man, this baby is growing!), or the mittens I’ve finished up for Little Man. But I do have this picture of the felt ball Knittykid helped to make, and he was very insistent I take a picture, so there you go! (This would be a great pic if it weren’t for the potholders on the floor.)

Now I’m not a big resolution person. But I do like to take some quiet time in the new new just to think a bit, about what I’m happy about and what I might like to be more mindful about. And I do like to set some fun goals, especially for something I’d like to learn or get done.

Let’s look at 2008:

1. Try to get back to my one night a week spinning idea. I sew enough now that I don’t think I need to stick with a specific night for that. Did pretty good on the spinning.

2. Speaking of sewing, I’ve got 13 (13!!) windows that need new curtains. Think I’d better get to it. I sewed 8 curtains for the sunroom, gave up and bought the rest for the bedroom when I realized I was 2 yards short and had a baby due in two weeks.

3. Knitting? I’m got plans for the first few months:

January: the month of small things. Kind of. I did get a few small projects done, not as many as I thought.

February: Sweater for me and one boy. Not even close

March: Sweater for another boy and the Skeptic. Ha! Definitely not even close. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even stay awake. I my defense, I didn’t know I was pregnant yet when I wrote these!

April: Finish up the Skeptic and hit the lace Nope!

I also want to keep plowing through my sock yarn stash. Barely. I was distracted by soakers!

Let’s just say I was a bit overly optimistic. I do spin quite a bit  more than before, so let’s just say I did reach that goal. And I DID have a baby! 🙂

Okay, so here goes for 2009. Honestly, tell me the truth if my head is not on quite right with these….

1. Expand my spinning techniques. I’d like to expand beyond my typical bulky/worsted weight and try cabled, three ply and sock yarn. Maybe a couple more…beaded??

2. Dye some yarn. Even if it’s just one skein.

3. Mindful stashing. (Thank you Clara!) I like this idea, and I’ve already dug through the closet and listed around 40 balls of yarn that I like but don’t LOVE. I  just don’t see myself getting use out of them anytime soon. I’ve put them up on my local swap group and I’ll be listing the stuff that doesn’t sell on Ravelry as a sell or trade item in my stash.

4. Sweaters. I really, really want to knit sweaters. I’ve spent a lot of time knitting socks, soakers, hats, mittens. I want a sweater. I want my boys to have sweaters. The Skeptic says “just knit me socks.” So I don’t have to worry about him yet. But sweaters, yeah, sweaters….

5. Sew pants and shorts for my boys.

Realistic??? I look forward to reading what you hope to accomplish in the new year!!!







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Filed under crafting with kids, random, Uncategorized

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