Gnome/Elf Hat

We had a few foggy gloomy cold days last week and when that happens, I want to knit. I was inspired by this blog to knit gnome/elf hats for the kids. (Thank you for tracking down the pattern, Lisa.) The picture on Little Acorn was just too darn adorable.

Once I started, I couldn't stop. I am making one for all four of us (yep, Hubby has to wear one too). If there are little heads in your household and you are on my list of people to send Christmas gifts to, look out! I will be attempting to turn you little one into a gnome/elf whether you like it or not! Wahaha!

Girl gnome.


Boy gnome. This boy does NOT pose for the camera! :-(


My two little gnomes.

Costumes WIP

I was going to wait until Halloween to post about the costumes I am making for the kids. I am still not done but I think the major parts are finished and I am very excited about them. The girl's costume is easy. I tried a sewing pattern that didn't work out so I went back to knitting. It fits her quite well and she likes wearing it.

The boy's costume is much trickier. I couldn't find a pattern so I was toying with the idea of maybe knitting one but Brett told me that's crazy. I bought every kind of gray furry fabric they had but still had no idea how I was going to do it. I had many many many different ideas in mind but none seemed to work. Then, I found this pattern in one of my sewing magazines and went from there. Their original idea is way way sweeter than what I ended up with. I think my work is more cartoony.

It was a lot of fun to make. Kira was out that day and so it was just me and baby and he totally let me work and graciously modeled the piece a million times. It took all of 3 hours from start to finish and my room now looks like some animals have had a party or fight in there. The process was a lot of trial and error and I didn't even bother drafting a pattern. I just cut out pieces of fur and sewn it onto pieces of felt/fleece and held it up to see how it looked.

So, I still have to make a tail for the boy; find him a grey shirt/pants/pj; find or make a basket for the girl and I think we are set. Weeeeeee!

As if I can resist putting up pictures of my baby Wolfie.


I have since finished the costume and here is a video of baby wearing it. You can also check out the posts filed under Halloween for more pictures. I will keep putting them up as we take them.

Someone Else's Handiwork

My mom and I bought this beautiful handmade sweater last summer at the PNE. I was pregnant with Hayden at the time and Kira was 16 months old. She was this tiny little girl who was spoke in two word phrases and didn't know how to go up and down stairs at all. I remember pushing her in the stroller and taking her out when she wanted to see an animal or some other random thing. If you had 4 legs and a tail and you were bigger than a dog, you were a "moo moo" to her. My mom and I thought Kira would be 4 before she'd wear this sweater and we also picked this particular one because it was most gender neutral - we already knew we were having a boy and we were considering "hand-me-down-ability".

We were wrong about everything. Kira wore it out today and the sweater fit perfectly. She is only 2 years old. She loved it and so did everyone else. We were out for about 5 hours today and had 4 or 5 stranger coming up to us compliementing on the sweater. In addition, nobody thought it was gender neutral. This is a girl's sweater. Doesn't mean I won't put it on Hayden in 6 months or so though.

I wish I knit and embroider this well. Now that I see how much Kira appreciates the beauty in her clothes, I am inspired to knit something for her. I am thinking about the baby surprise jacket. Here is a picture of the back of Kira's sweater. I love it! I love it! I love it!

Knitting

Back when my friend Kristin came to visit, she bought me a pattern. It's probably the shortest pattern I've ever read for an adult garment. It has a total of 9 lines and is kind of a miracle pattern.

When I was finished, it looked a bit like a rug.

Here is my little model strutting down the runway.


Another knitting project I have completed is this little mouse. I don't know where Kira gets these things but a few days ago, she declared that Kiki is a silly mouse. So when we were reading this book:


She came across this pattern and said "ha, ha. Silly mouse funny. Kiki wants it." Being the sucker mom that I am, I started making it. Unlike the miracle pattern, this one is a pain to make. It's not that the pattern is difficult, it just has a ton of finishing sewing to do which I hate. Anyway, here is silly mouse posing with this beauty (not the bananas) that showed up in the mail on Monday. Thanks Jan and Garry.