Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Pick 5 Check In

Hi All- Boy the week just flew by. Whew! What a week! It's been a big one for me professionally, off this blog. I am officially a scrum master. For those not familiar with Agile Software development it really means project manager team lead but there's a bit more to it. It's just more time, more stress, same pay so what can I say. Not a huge deal but a neat thing to put on my resume. :)

I spent my few minutes of free time sewing a cute little kimono top for Abby. You can find the free pattern here.

I struggled as I always do to create bias tape. For some reason those fancy little tape makers always leave me frustrated and with uneven tape. Then I started googling and found this amazing little tutorial. So smart! Can't believe I never thought of it!

So now I'm considering just donating all my bias tape makers (a great 3 item start to tomorrow's pick 5) :)

Other than that, I just got back from Salvation Army dropping off my car load of pick 5 decluttering from last week and this week. Check out Beth's awesome garage decluttering make-over here. Wow! Great job decluttering Beth!

Some things I've decluttered this week include -

• 2 electronic computer mice from the USB/Corded old-school. I upgraded to a shiny new one with a slickdeal from Best Buy.
• 2 Bags of clothes (one from me, one from hubby)
• Box of fabric
• Bag of fabric scraps
• Rotary Cutter Mat (I had 3 but only used the large one and the small one so I got rid of the medium sized one. I think I might be able to get rid of the small one soon)
• Box of sewing notions (misc binding tape, thread, batting, etc)
• Box of baby toys (the electronic ones Abby didn't like)
• 3 purses
• 1 pair shoes
• 2 jackets
• 5 towels
• 2 sets of sheets
• 3 picture frames
• a box of books
• curtain hanging supplies with rod/hooks
• 1 box misc tools
• 1 suitcase
• 1 box of misc office supplies (paper/ink/tape/etc)
• small rolling cart

Phew! That's it for this week - that filled my car to the brim. What are you decluttering this weekend?

Sewing your own diapers

It's funny - cloth diapering has become more and more mainstream so people don't look at me as crazy as they used to when I mentioned that I cloth diaper. Sewing my own diapers is a whole nother story - people still always ask me why in the world would you do that? And I just point to cute little diapers like this -->

Seriously - isn't that the cutest!? I sew diapers because they are cute, fun and functional. I get to make any size I want with any materials. I can adjust layers for absorbency needs. I can make the sides thinner if I need or the wings longer so they fit longer. I can make fitted's, pockets, prefolds, all-in one's, one sizes and more. Plus, they are quite a bit cheaper to sew than to purchase!

My daughter is 8 months old and already almost 25 lbs. She is on the largest size of diapers but they are too big - so sewing my own allows me to adjust them for fit. I can make the wings longer and add more absorbency to a size medium to get the right fit.

You can even sew covers too!

Since I've had a few people ask me about sewing resources that I use after I mentioned my favorite wipes - so here we go --

Sew it Seams Yahoo Group - This is one of my favorite resources. You can get PUL, Cotton Velour, CDMF, Knits and more. They even do sling rings, needles, thread, rotary cutter blades, etc. This is currently closed - you have to know someone to get in. If you'd like to get in, email me and I'll give you my yahoo info so you can use me as a recommendation to be let in.

Buy the yard n' more - This one is a runner up as a favorite resource. This is where I get all of my bamboo velour, bamboo hemp, double loop terry, bamboo fleece and more. I also get sherpa from there and all my knits. They even do natural products like shea butter, jojoba oil, essential oils and more.

Notion supply yahoo group - This is a great group for snaps/accessories. This is the best resource for ordering my snap press or snap pliers and new snaps. You can also get microfiber diaper inserts and nursing clips. The group owner just opened a store where you can order directly without joining the group too. Read her manifesto to learn more about her inspiring work with orphans.

Wholesale cloth diaper supplies - This is a great resource for larger quantities of fabric (10 yards plus) plus snaps, snap presses and more. She even sells button presses which I really want to try!

Very Baby - This is where I purchased my patterns I started with and you can purchase small amounts of fabric from them. I think their fabric is a lot more expensive than the co-ops but if you really need something, this is the place to get it.

Other pattern resource - the Choe Toes pattern is highly rated. Her website is down right now to link to but I just ordered it and I'll let you know what I think. This download also looks promising but I haven't used it.

Elastic - I like to buy my Lastin from this etsy store - some lastin is made cheaply and breaks but I love, love, love hers. She will do custom listings too for yardage amounts.  And if you don't want to sew your own covers I like the ones from here.

And if you like the amber baby necklaces for teething I buy mine from here.

Phew! That was a lot! Hope that helps!

PS - This diaper is one of my own patterns that I drafted. It's a one-size. This diaper is a woven outside (aka quilting cotton) with a BV inside. There is 1 layer of Bamboo/Hemp in the middle of the diaper.
There are 2 layers of snap in soakers with 3 layers each - 1 BV and 2 Bamboo Hemp - This makes it a super absorbable and super trim diaper. :)

Favorite Wipes

Ahh, a long weekend. It was nice to have some extra free time to myself to close myself up in the sewing room and have some time to create.

One of the things I finally knocked out on my todo list for all my expecting friends was one of my favorite baby gifts, handmade cloth wipes. Whether you choose to cloth diaper or not, wipes are handy - the perfect ones are nice and big to protect your hands from the inevitable mess that comes...blowouts, spitting up, food messes, etc. After some trial and error (hello too small!) I finally came up with my favorite wipe. It's large and soft and Abby-baby approved.

I wanted to share them with you - you can make favorite wipes too - they're so easy and a perfect beginning sewing project.

Grab some liquid energy (aka coffee!) - Cut squares 9 inches x 9 inches. You'll need one soft wiping side and one decorative side. I love organic bamboo velour for the wiping side and a soft and stretchy knit or interlock for the other side. Some other alternatives I've used that work well are a cotton velour and CDMF fabric. Or, cotton sherpa with cotton velour for an extra thick and absorbent version. FYI - No matter how tempting, don't try to use bamboo fleece for the soft side of the wipe - yes it's ultra soft however after a few washings it gets very pilly looking and it absorbs a ton of water and gets heavy and thick. It shrinks a ton too. It's wonderful for the insides of the diapers but not for anything that will be seen all the time. BTDT bought the T-shirt. :)

You'll need a serger or a sewing machine. I prefer to serge mine because it's faster - you place the fabric wrong sides together and pin. Put the interlock side face down. Serge all the way around rounding the corners. You'll end up with a wipe about 8.75 inches square.

If you don't have a serger you can still make them, place right sides together and pin. Sew all the way around leaving a 2 inch space open on one side for turning. Trim the corners and turn right side out. Fold the opened end in and pin. Sew all the way around the edge to topstitch. All set!

Perfect for folding - I have mentioned before that we cloth diaper. My favorite cloth wiping solution has been making a stack of these and getting them damp but not soaking wet with just water. (Yes, just water - easy and cheap and very easy on sensitive skin.) Fold them in half and stack them in your wipes warmer. (This is the one we have). You'll have perfect warm wipes for every diaper change for 24-48 hours or so and then you'll refill - easy and peasy. Check!

Big Necked Baby Bib Pattern

I've been locked away in my craft room working on bib after bib trying to find the right fit for Abby.  I tried 4 patterns available online and sadly all of them were too small.  I hate too small - it makes me feel like she is going to be choked when she is wearing it.  So, in the spirit of making it yourself, I drafted my own "big-necked baby bib pattern" the name is a riff on Rae's Big butt baby pattern. :)

They are super easy to make and very fast too - I made these each in less than 30 minutes from cutting out to topstitching.  It's a great use of small pieces of fabric and has great coverage - lots of front and shoulder covering for all those messy foods.  Perfect shower gift! Isn't that hedgehog fabric adorable??  It was a gift from Valerie from a swap we did.

I'm drafting up the pattern file on my computer now and I'll make it available for free download sometime in the new year - life is too crazy with all the holiday crafting to do it any sooner.

And in the meantime, something else that wasn't on my to-do list but became a top priority -

My gorgeous ripple blanket has sprung a hole!  I love the fact that it's been used and loved so much that it's starting to wear out but this was a little soon!  I'm off to google every possible solution to repair it.  Anyone have any ideas??

The first of the hand-mades

**First - my ball tutorial was featured on Elle Decor España! How exciting!)**

Well I'm nothing if not predictable (or is that unpredictable?)  -  as soon as I get a list together I get distracted by making some other pretty, shiny thing and go off on another craft tangent.

In this case I was distracted by the cold.  Abby really needed some warm pants and I can never seem to keep socks on that girl so I wanted to make them extra long to cover her toes and extra wide to cover her cloth diapers.  I picked up a few wool sweaters from my local goodwill and felted them.  The wool when felted creates a super warm material that keeps out most cold winds so she can stay snug and warm when outside on our walks.

The first sweater became two pairs of pants.  1 pair was made from the body of the sweater using Anna Maria Horner's super cute book - Handmade Beginnings.

I modified it slightly by only making a single layer instead of a double and cutting down on the seam allowance because of the thickness of the sweater and to increase the room for the cloth diapers. I also cut out the back contrasting part.  This is a great, very basic pants pattern.  I've already made about 5 pairs of pants from this pattern and I really like how fast they come together.

The second pair of pants was made out of the sleeves of the felted sweater.  I had been dying to try this super cute tutorial here and it actually was really easy.  I think once I got started it took less than 30 minutes for a pair of pants.  There is another super cute tutorial here that I'm going to try with my next sweater. 

Next I finished weaving in the ends of a pair of super warm stripey baby socks.  I knit them out of the BT shelter yarn and wanted to use it as a practice piece for doing jogless stripes in the round (link to youtube video)  These were a really basic sock.  I used 3.25mm DPN's and cast on 32 stitiches.  There is a K2P2 ribbing for an inch and a short row heel with regular sock toe like my plain vanilla pattern.  I hand-felted them slightly when I was finished for extra cosy-ness.

I also finished a set of plastic bag holders for a Christmas gift for my Grandma.  I'm not much of a plastic bag collecter myself, I try to use reusable bags as much as possible but she loves collecting them and had requested a holder. 

I thought these turned out cute.  If you'd like to make something similar there is a tutorial here.  I make mine slightly different.  I make them wider and shorter and add an extra row of stitching to the top to create a ruffled edge.  They are super cute and very very easy to sew.  If you're looking for something quick to create for someone on your list, this is it!

While I've been busy making things, Abby has been playing along with her new super cute set of handmade wool Matryoska dolls from Kathleen.  K actually designed the pattern herself and they are adorable.  They are perfect for baby grips and light for throwing.  You can see her pattern on ravelry here.  I have very fond memories of these types of dolls.  I used to have set when I was young from Russia I believe and it was one of my favorite things to play with.

Happy Making!  Hopefully I can get a lot knocked off my to do list this weekend! =)

Starting to go crazy :: Holiday Style

It's official -- I feel like I'm starting to lose my mind.

I was so proud of myself this year - I had finished all of my Christmas shopping early, before Thanksgiving and was feeling so proud of myself.  Nevermind I forgot I was planning on doing a mostly hand-made Christmas and most of those hand-mades haven't even been started!

So of course, I had to start something new -
a little handspun hat for me using the Madtosh Slouch Pattern. 
Such a fun knit!
Hanging out with is my favorite bag of all time. 
A gorgeous Freda leather bag hand-crafted by my friend Joanna
and purchased from her awesome etsy shop. 
Get thee over there to drool at all the amazing designs! :)

I feel like the list keeps going on and on.  I'd love to -

Make a stocking for Abby's 1st Christmas - (plans are in mind for colorwork/reindeer design using some more Shelter yarn I purchased.  Something like her dad's stocking but rework the gauge for the yarn and make it bigger.  Too much thought process involved, argh!)

Knit Advent Calendar - (this one is a biggie.  I have 5 stockings done.  If I can just do 1 stocking a day I can make it.  Nevermind I barely have 1 hour a day to knit.  Let alone sew.)

Knit a hat for Hubby - (I knit him a hat every year.  Here's one of the previous year's version.  Now if I can just sit down and do it!  He has a big head!)

Make a bender for Hubby's stocking - (He's been bugging me for years about this bender doll.  I have no idea how to amigurumi or even how to spell it but I need to figure it out prior to Dec 24th!)

Make a toy ball for Abby - (I saw these super cute balls on etsy and found the tutorial here.  I can't wait to make a minkee material ball for her.  She loves watching me toss things in the air.)

Sew zip pouches for Mom and Grandma - (I got a start on these here.  Now to finish.)

Figure out handmade goodies to put in advent calendar - (Any ideas??)

Re-do the lining of Hubby's stocking so it's more stretchy - (Right now it won't fit anything!)

Sew all the wrapping paper using my leftover fabric and using the Japanese art of Furoshiki(!)  - Wrapping gifts with fabric.  You can get the idea of what it is over here.  And here's a neat link to the Japanese Ministries image of How-To's)

I'd also like to make potholders.  Oh yea and make some more fabric balls. 

Make heat pads filled with flax seed for Hubby's Dad

Knit a handspun hat for MIL.

I'm enjoying my new super fabulous fabric weights from this etsy shop. 
Ruth is super talented!

And the list goes on and on!  I'm crazy, I will never get this all done.  And in the meantime, I really need to sew Abby some more diapers and make a few bibs - she's 6 months so we're starting on solids!

Brrr! Baby it's cold outside!

**Thanks for all the great giveaway entries! My computer crashed over the weekend so I've been offline for 4 days trying to rebuild (good thing I had a backup - thank YOU time machine) but it will take a little while to get organized and randomly pick winners. I'll be emailing ya if you're a winner at the end of this week** =)

Brrr! It's cold out there today! I'm freezing to death over here and I'm trying to keep warm by keeping my fingers busy. I've been busy knitting away on my advent calendar project. My custom advent tags from Polka Stripe Studios just arrived. So darling! They fit just perfectly!

I've been sewing up a storm to the tune of a few gathered clutches for christmas gifts. This is a really cute project - I had skipped over it when it first came out because it look too complicated to me. Turns out, it's easy! The steps are very basic and it takes you through the process step by step to make a totally amazing clutch.

And, I finally finished my Christmas hanging redwork! This is very exciting - I've been in progress on this for over 2 years so it's a great feeling to know it will be hanging from my wall soon to enjoy during the Christmas season. Next step is to figured out the borders and backing and get it put together!

Happy Tuesday!

Cloth Napkins - Hand made style

One the things I do to challenge myself daily is to use less disposable items and more reusable ones.  I like to play a game, taking one disposable item and then finding a reusable, more earth sustainable one.

In this case, napkins!  I actually had been using old kitchen towels for napkins but they were well, old, and kind of icky looking no matter how clean they were.  A nice new option was in order.

I wish I could say these simple napkins were easy.  They just about drove my out of my mind.  I'm thrilled to be done with them, but they don't make me happy yet when I see them.  It was too traumatizing.  :) Hopefully with time.

It all started when I saw this gorgeous pattern on the purl bee.  Yes please!

The rickrack size wasn't stated, and being a cheapskate I needed to find a less expensive option.  So, I guessed and picked mini.  I guessed wrong (but wouldn't figure this out til later).

The mini rick rack on the tiny edge drove me nuts.

I threw the whole project in a drawer.  Then, I found this uber cute tutorial to make essentially the same thing, but had a super smart way to sew on the rick rack.  Yea!

The rick rack was too small.  It was a living nightmare to sew it to the edge.  I persevered anyway.

 

I went to sew the top on and to turn it.  The rick rack was too small and didn't hardly show.  All that hard work down the drain. :(

I threw the project in a drawer (notice a trend?)

I pulled it out and sewed inside the rick rack, effectively hiding the offensive rickrack and making a plain napkin.

Joy reigns!

So here you go - gorgeous napkins that I made entirely too complicated and should have been simple but were not.  I will make more, just not anytime soon :)

To console myself, I had to make a little yarny purchase.  I couldn't resist that gorgeous new shelter yarn from brooklyn tweed.  Now this, this will be simple, and make me very happy.  :)

Quickie Sewing

Boy!  Things have been busy around here...we've had both sets of grandparents visit, mine and my husbands for a week apiece.  I came down with a nasty case of mastitis (ow!), work upped my hours to 30 hours a week (is that still technically part-time, in my exhaustion induced haze I'm not sure) and my husband went back to school to get his masters. 

On top of that there's the regular house-hold stuff, the cooking, the cleaning, the grocery shopping, dishes, clothes, floors, diapers, meal planning.  Full-time mom.  I'm totally maxed out.

When I do have a few minutes to myself for some crafting time to maintain my sanity I've had to get really motivated and fast working on my project.  No more dilly-dallying around "thinking" about them.  I've been having to learn how to just DO and let go of my perfectionist overplanning tendencies. 

I had been flipping through sewing books trying to get some inspiration.  I pulled some of my favorite fabric out of the stash (Echino by Etsuko Furuya) and cut out the 2 pieces, did some ironing and wham!  It came together so quickly, my favorite kind of project.

It's a magazine holder!
Here's another one on flickr I thought was totally cute!

Although the book says it's to hold magazines, baguettes (no seriously! look at the book!) and more I'm hanging it by the entrance to hold in and out going mail, things I don't want to forget when I leave and maybe even wallets and keys.

The pattern is in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing Book Such a great book, filled with inspiration. I've had it sitting on my shelf for years but finally made something from it. I also couldn't resist the bed caddy pattern, but I modified it to use it for my nursing rocking chair.

Happy Sewing!

Making it Friday

Whew - making it friday has a double meaning now. As in, geeze, I MADE IT to friday! And wow - look what I made, on Friday! =)

I finally took the plunge, I couldn't resist the big butt baby pants (for cloth diapers) pattern any longer. This is the 12-18 month size on my 3 month old munchkin and they are almost too small. She is huge! I can't sew fast enough to keep this gal in clothes. Try to ignore the fact my numbers are upside down? I promise to fix in in the next pair. :)  And oh yea, I didn't bother hemming because did I mention she is growing too fast?

Next pair will be out of some knit fabric so I can get some extra wear out of them. This pattern is super cute/smart - she includes some awesome tips to sewing a better pair of pants and the pattern is only 3 pieces so they come together extra fast. Even better for a super busy momma like me.

How are you making it friday??