Inspiration

I've hopped on the gray/yellow bandwagon and in dreaming of my very own office, I have thought that a gray/yellow design would suit me well.  I found this fabric by Joel Dewsberry (Ginseng Mulberry) and I have found my muse.  I think it's absolutely gorgeous... too bad it is discontinued!

But, regardless... inspiration has been found!  :)

ROOOOOOAR!

My hat model is asleep so you'll have to make due with a picture of the finished product sans cute girl.  :)  No matter; this hat is for a boy anyway.  Heh.

If you haven't guessed, it's been a busy week for me craft-wise, but the more time I spend crafting (mostly after the kids are in bed or during naps!), the more whole I feel.  So, it's been an AWESOME week for me this week.  :)

This hat came out of a Google Chat session combined with a Facebook link... technology, I tell you what.  Originally I saw this hat on a blog (Tot Toppers) after following a Facebook link posted by a friend.  Discussion with another friend who thought that her son and the son of a mutual friend of ours would be cute with Dino hats led to us searching on etsy.com and eventually led to me remembering this hat through Tot Toppers and finding the pattern on etsy.com.  Too fun!

The hat is very basic but the spikes were new for me; I've done spikes, but these are "double-sided", or done in the round... on double-pointed needles... holy cats.  I actually like DPNs and have done full small projects on them, but... it would help if I had lighter-weight and sharper-pointed DPNs in the size I needed for these spikes considering how small they are, but I made do with what I had, knowing that making this hat wouldn't require purchasing new needles.  (To do the next one, I will probably purchase a new set of wood DPNs!  Ha!)

Very fulfilling to complete this hat tonight and ship it off tomorrow.  I hope the eventual recipient (who won't receive it for a few weeks yet) has a roaring good time with his hat.  Grin.

erin

ps.  I'm learning more and more that I need to find a much better place to take my pictures... outside, most likely... too bad I'm always finishing stuff and taking pictures at night!

Julia @ the Royal Amsterdam

Every time we walk by the east side of the Royal Amsterdam, Julia sits on the walkway up to the hotel and says, "Picture?"  (Can you tell I ask to take her picture a lot?)  Sometimes I take pictures, sometimes I don't, but she was adamant today and I figured I would take the pictures and blog about it today.  Sadly my phone camera isn't as quick as my point-and-shoot digital, so often she is shooting off the ledge to ask to see her picture before my phone even manages to take it... but we get a few cute ones here and there.  It is too cute that she wants her picture taken in that exact location Each. And. Every. Single. Time.  Of course, Mommy loves it.

erin

Like Mother, Like Daughter

(Reading book while eating snack... and Charlotte's Web, of all books... she thinks she can read it... she talks a lot about spiders and pigs.  Smile.)

Ghosties

Today after breakfast, Julia and I made little ghosts, or ghosties.  I remember making these out of Kleenex and cotton balls when I was younger, but today I chose to use some cheap white cotton I had lying around.  Julia put the cotton balls on the fabric, and I scrunched up the neck.  Then she would help me tie the bit of yarn around the neck and I would give it a little pizzazz with a bow.  We now have about four "big" ghosties and eight "baby" ghosties, and I plan to string them together and then use them as a decoration.  Very cute and just long enough of a craft to hold her attention.  :)

erin

Congrats!

Congrats to my friends K and J on the birth of their daughter Eloise!  So excited to hear tonight that Eloise was born earlier today and all is well... yay!  God is so good!  :)

13 and 13

Raven is 13 months old today, on the 13th of October!  Too fun!

I don't have a photo to post of her because I forgot this morning before daycare and she was a mess of a child tonight... but, all the same, the day is here.

We are also anxiously awaiting news of a friend of ours whose water broke earlier today... we can't wait to hear the news of a new baby!

erin

Miss Lena's Sweater FINISHED!

Yay!  So excited to post this tonight that I finished the sweater.  I hope that the recipient loves it!  I'm really happy with the look... with how it turned out!

Though, I have to say that I did something unorthodox and I hope that it turned out okay... I didn't know the button size or how many to put on while I was stitching, so I didn't stitch in button holes, and then I realized that I had to figure out a way to put button holes in a knit piece.  I found a few ideas online and tried one of them and it seemingly worked, but I'm afraid of a possible integrity issue and I really hope that's not the case.  Also, I didn't have the EXACT same color thread as the yarn.  Whoops.

Regardless, I'm really proud of the end product and after trying it on Julia, I'm positive it will fit Miss Lena. 

erin

Buttons

Umm... aren't these buttons simply... DELICIOUS?

Here's another "If you know me"... so, if you know me, you know that I LOVE buttons.  So, it was pretty exciting when Miss Lena's mom suggested I use buttons from Miss Lena's Great-Grandma for Miss Lena's sweater... and the buttons arrived today.

I am in Button Heaven.

As you can see on the card (the ORIGINAL CARD with ORIGINAL TISSUE), they are made in Austria.  The second I opened the package I thought "edelweiss", which became familiar to me after our trip to Germany in Fall 2006.  So I checked online and I certainly do think that the flowers are edelweiss.  (Ah, to have that song stuck in my head now.)  That makes them extra special to me, considering my heritage.

The best part?  The BEST PART?  Miss Lena's mom said I could KEEP THE BUTTONS that I don't use on the sweater... umm, what?  How SWEET is that?  Yes, I am truly in Button Heaven today.

So... I will place the buttons on Miss Lena's Sweater tonight, take another picture for the webs, send the sweater off, and clutch the rest of the buttons in my grubby little fists.  (Okay, that is a bit gluttonous.  So, I suppose I will dream of a project on which I can use the remainder.  YES!)

erin

Surprise for Julia: Dolly Clothes!

Julia (and I) received an extra special package in the mail today... DOLL CLOTHES!

My friend Melinda over at 28 Peppermint Grove made this special set of clothes for one of Julia's dolls and they arrived in the mail yesterday.  I have been friends with Melinda for about 3.5 years now, and though we've never met, we've discussed family and crafting for that long... so it was really special to receive this package from her today.

I had been off the web for a bit this last weekend and so yesterday was delighted when I saw this post... I was REALLY REALLY hoping it was for us... BUT, being a crafter myself, I know that Melinda's always got a project on the table and sometimes those that don't typically have deadlines fall down the list... so again, what a great suprise when this showed up today!

This outfit combined with many that my mom surprised me with back in September gives Julia a number of options for clothing her babies, so here's hoping that we can start working on the fun of dressing our dolls.  After last night's interest in my sewing machine and wanting to "help" me, I think she might need a kid-sized one before long and maybe she can start making her own doll clothes much like I did when I was a young pip...?  *sigh*  To dream.

love ya!
erin

ps.  Melinda... you are the SWEETEST!  Thank you!