Little Finishes for Friday

I've been making such good progress on my gift knitting this week that I'm forcing myself to put down the needles and share some of the little finishes I've had this past week.

A Minecraft hat for a nephew. This was the only request I had this year for something knitted. I made one for my nephew a few years ago and he's asked for a second one. I think I originally made it for his father but my nephew took it. Used this free pattern.

Got my son to try it on saying I wouldn't post his picture. He agreed I could post it since I didn't show his face.

My next finish happened so quickly that I haven't shared any progress pictures here. I started it last Thursday evening and by Friday morning I had 4 limbs.

Over the weekend I finished a tail, 2 ears and a nose I decided not to use. And started the body - not shown.

Monday afternoon I finished Aiko, the Ninja Cat. Made for one of my niece's who takes Kung Fu lessons. She can rename it. If I'm able, I'd like to get the different colour belts made for Christmas too - not part of the pattern, just something I wanted to do.

I tried to get Floyd to hold it still to show how big it is. But it's a ninja, and ninja cats don't stay still. Or so I was told.

I put her to work guarding our house.

Floyd helped me with another finish last week. I tried two different recipes to make birdseed shapes. The first one was this recipe. The difference between this one and the other recipe I tried is that the unflavored gelatin isn't activated with boiling water so the recipe has corn syrup and flour in it. But with no boiling water, this was toddler friendly. 

He liked putting the straw pieces in to make the string hole.

And here is my tray of crap, as I came to think of it. This recipe gets a thumbs down. Partly my fault for using cookie cutters that had small, thin parts but even the bigger ones fell apart. Only a few turned out.

I laid in bed that night trying to think how I could make better molds and remembered the donut tray my mother gave me for Christmas last year. Hey mom, I finally found a use for it.

So I used the second recipe, found here. Only alteration was adding 3 cups of birdseed instead of 2 since there was a lot of liquid left. I filled the molds in myself this time but my older kids could have helped but I think they were busy.

I let them dry overnight in the mold before flipping them over. They all popped out perfect.

I doubled up some of the birdseed donuts on the string. Only had 4 from the first batch that were good enough and we kept 2 of them. Every time you pick one up, birdseed falls off so I don't think they will travel well. I put the birdseed donuts we are gifting in ziplock baggies to prevent making a mess under the tree. I think I'm going to make another batch of the birdseed donuts so there is enough to give aunts and uncles. The ones above are going to grandparents.

One from the first recipe hanging outside.

Birdseed donuts.

And one last little finish. I saw this on pinterest last December but it was too late for me to start collecting yarn bits. I saved all my yarn ends this year and....

... had enough to fill 4 suet feeders. These three are gifts. The fourth we are keeping.

I really hope the birds take some of the yarn to make their nests when we put it back outside in the spring.

Lots of little finishes done. Now I'm left with sweater knitting and quilting quilts. 

Have you been making gifts that aren't knit, crocheted or quilted? It feels like my pinterest boards are finally being of some use this Christmas.

Quilt WIP's

Yesterday's post was all about my knitting WIP's. Today's is all about the quilt WIP's. I don't quilt as much as I used to but I have a lot of quilty projects this year for Christmas. 

My first WIP is for us to keep. During last year's after Christmas sales I picked up some buttons that looked like carrots and black buttons planning to make a snowman quilt. Of course I waited until this December to start it. Since the quilt isn't really Christmasy, I'll be able to keep it up for January and February. Above is the quilt top. Each block is 6 inches finished. I made the white centers different sizes based on the variety of carrot buttons.

I'm quilting all the white with mini snowballs. And it's taking forever. 

Have 5 of 20 blocks done. 

I laid the buttons on top of the quilted blocks. Looks okay but still needs something.

Better. I'll have to buy more little buttons to give the big blocks smiles. I don't know yet about the little blocks. That's a lot of buttons. It would be nice to have the quilting done before going out of town for the holidays. I could bring it with me and put on buttons while hanging out with family but I don't think that's going to happen.

I finished the third quilt top for my mom on Sunday. You can see the first quilt here. And the second quilt here. I admit I didn't really like this fabric when my mom picked it out but I like it now. I fussy cut 30, 9.5" squares for the middles. The red and green stripes are 2.5" wide, giving me 13.5" blocks. And very little fabric left over.

Made for a double/full bed but not meant to be tucked in. Just an extra blanket. This quilt is for a guest bed at my parents house. I pieced the back and batting yesterday. Just need to baste and I can start quilting. Although I'm not sure how I want to quilt it or what colour thread. Any ideas?

Here it is lying on our double bed. Just goes over the sides. Hope you like it mom.

And I have a finish to share, too. I started this quilt 4 years ago. It's so nice to have it finished. Fabric is Kate Spain's Terrain - which I still love. 

On our bed. Goes over each side and has enough length to be tucked it.

I did free-motion stippling over the whole thing. 

The back. When I made the quilt top in 2011, it was suppose to be for us to keep. Then I thought of giving it to a niece earlier this year before I settled on giving it to my SIL, Michelle, for Christmas. She gifted my two older kids with quilts last year and I think she deserves it. I admit I was in a hurry quilting this and thought I had done an okay job in basting and holding the quilt taunt while quilting until I looked at the back when it was done.

And saw this.

And this.

And this. I was disappointed and sad. I don't feel like I can give this as a gift anymore. I still love it and might keep it. Or I'll donate it. Or maybe I will end up giving it as a gift. I'm unsure. I still need to wash it. Maybe that will help the puckers look less obvious?

I do love the bright yellow I used for the binding.

What quilty projects are you trying to finish up for Christmas?

Linking up at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Knitting WIP's

Like most knitters at this time of year, I have several gifts on the needles. I have 3 things on the needles for me but 2 of them are in hibernation until the gift knitting is done.  Here's what I've been working on.

Pleasantville cowl for me. Another pattern by Jen from her latest book, Sock Yarn Accessories. I cast on last week, finished the border and one pattern repeat before I set it aside to finish up some gifts. I bought the yarn (or picked it out for my mom to buy me) at the local yarn store in my hometown last Christmas. I loved it then and love it now and didn't want it to sit around any longer. I know the lace pattern will be lost in the variegated yarn but I don't care. I just want to finish and wear it. If I make some good progress on my other WIP's I'll be treating myself to a few more rounds of this.

Playground Pullover for my toddler, Floyd. It has sat untouched for a couple weeks but I picked it up this weekend and got to work. I finished the body, separated the front and back to make the sleeve openings and finished the back on the weekend. Yesterday, I started the front and all that remains to knit is the right front. Oh, and two sleeves. This works up fast when I make it a priority. There will be lots of ends to weave in when I'm done the knitting, even though I have been carrying the colours up the side while I knit. Floyd loves wearing the sweaters I knit him - often wearing his Owlet sweater as an extra layer when he doesn't want to wear a coat.

The beginning of a Flax for a nephew. I'm knitting size XS (smallest grown-up size). This should knit up fast and will become priority number one once Floyd's sweater is finished. This is my 4th Flax sweater and probably not my last.

The start of a pair of Koda socks for my SIL. Yes, another of Jen's patterns. I can't help myself. Almost done the first cuff. Since this is a pattern with cables, I will mainly work on this when Floyd is sleeping. 

What have you been knitting for gifts or yourself? 

Tomorrow I'll be sharing some quilted WIP's. And maybe a finish, if I can get pictures taken - so far today is wet and cloudy but I'm hoping it clears up this afternoon.

Yarn Misbehavin'

Last week, I wound the last of the yarn needed to knit Christmas presents. I had 5 hanks for a sweater and 1 for a pair of socks. I threw in 2 more hanks of fingering weight yarn to make something for myself once the gift knitting slowed down. The first 3 hanks went well and I had 3 beautiful cakes sitting on my desk. The fourth one... not so much.

For non-knitters, when you open up a hank of yarn, it's suppose to be tied together like the hank seen above. This hank only had one, the one I was working on (not pictured above) was tied three times. I opened it up, put it on my swift and undid the ties, only to have a big loop that hadn't been tied with the others fall. I tried to fix it but...

... I ended up with a tangled mess. What should have taken me just a few minutes took me hours to untangle and wind. I was up until midnight finishing it. My daily to-do lists are still trying to catch up.

Here is the naughty hank all caked up. Had to make a few cuts. One by accident. The yarn really pilled as I untangled it and trying to get a big one out, I cut the yarn. Lucky for me, I shouldn't need it to finish the sweater, it's my safety, just in case I need it yarn.

The rest of my winding went fine the next day. Grey is for the sweater. Purple is for the socks. Green is my second hank for the Mystery KAL I started last month but have had to ignore to get some gift knitting done. And the variegated yarn is for a cowl, for me. Progress pics tomorrow.

Making Christmas Ornaments with the Kids

Every year since my daughter was 3 (2005), I've helped the kids make ornaments to give to family. Some years I help more than others. I've tried kits from Michael's and JoAnn's but haven't really liked any of them - except for ones using beads. The first year it was simple. It took a few days but my daughter alternated red and white beads on pipe cleaners that were bent to make candy canes. We ended up giving all of them away. I think I'll do it again next year with Floyd and make sure we keep at least one. 

Here are some of the ornaments the kids have made the past 10 years that go on our tree. The wreaths and peace sign were bead kits from Michael's, 4 years ago (I think). We gave lots of the wreaths away but we still have at least 6 on our tree. We did the hands in 2013, the first year we had 3 kids.

This year I had planned on using Floyd's handprint to make ornaments with a snowfamily on it. I used this tutorial so the ornaments would be white. I made the dough, since it has to be made on the stove, rolled it and cut out circles and put them in front of Floyd to press his hand into before I baked them. No go. He refused to touch it. We showed him what we wanted him to do with play-doh but he still refused. There were tears. So I had to change my plan. I got out some cookie cutters and my older son, Nova, and I cut out a bunch of shapes.

Here's our tray of ornaments baking in the oven. It takes a while. I did 45 minutes each side, at 175F, then set them out to finish drying. The smaller snowmen and owls were ready the next day but the bigger trees, star and train took another 2 days. 

My plan had been to paint them but Floyd got out markers and asked to colour them. I gave him the train, which I planned on keeping, and figured if it didn't work it didn't really matter.

It worked. He did the train and a snowman.

Both sides.

The other two kids sat down with us and we all coloured.

Nova did a ninja and an owl. We'll be keeping the ninja but the owl will be a gift.

My daughter, Calliope, did the tree on the left, while Nova did the one on the right. 

Hung up Floyd's on our tree but he wants this to go to a cousin.

I did a snowman, too.

Still had more to colour, so the boys did some after supper yesterday. Nova will be giving the snowman on the top left to his teacher.

And here is the other side. We still have 3 left to colour and then we have to decide who gets what ornament. And which ones we'll keep and treasure. 

Even though my plan didn't go as expected, I'm really happy with how it ended up. Yes, the snowman family would have been cute and a great memento years from now, but I think all the kids had more fun colouring all the different shapes. This helped remind me that the key to crafting with kids is always be flexible. 

Do you have a crafty holiday tradition that you do with your kids? Or ones you remember from your childhood? I can remember sitting around the dining room table when I was very little (5 or 6) with bowls of beads and making ornaments. When I got married I took several of them and hang them on our tree every year. I love that they have become part of our holidays.

What I Read in November

November was light on novels, and heavy with graphic novels at the end. I didn't want to read too much fiction since I was also working on NaNoWriMo...

... which I won by writing 50,000 words last month. I ended up with over 53,000 words before I had to stop. I killed off a character and now I'm not sure how to end it. Still thinking about it so I'll get back to it eventually, but probably not until next year. Here's what I read in November.

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

If you've read some of my past reading round-ups, you might have noticed I'm a big Jeanette Winterson fan. I first read 2 of her books for a 1st year University class and have loved her ever since. I own or have read almost all of her books. I think there's only about 4 or 5 I haven't read yet and I can't think of one that I haven't enjoyed. "The Gap of Time" is part of a series of novels by different authors, each retelling a Shakespeare play. Jeanette redid "Winter's Tale" and even though I've read the play before, the novel made me want to reread it. If you haven't read or seen the play, or it's been awhile since you had to read it for a university class (cough, cough) there is a quick summary of what happens in it.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. The characters are great. Jeanette did a wonderful job retelling the play but making it unique and sound like her. There's nothing I can really think of that people might find offensive, although I think there was some swearing, if that bothers you. You can read more about the novel here, which has a link about the Shakepeare series. And yeah, Atwood's doing one next year - The Tempest - which should be awesome.

Infinite in Between by Carolyn Mackler

I know why I read this. I wanted to read something that wouldn't influence my NaNoWriMo novel. This was definitely it. A young adult/ teen novel about several kids put together during Grade 9 orientation and how their lives change as they go through high school and meet back up at graduation. I'm not a young adult fan and this book didn't help. Is this really what teens want to read? Young adult has become such a big market (it seems that it is all literary agents are interested in seeing) but I don't understand it. If you like young adult novels, you'll probably enjoy this one. It deals with almost every teen issue - friendships (beginning and ending), sexuality/ homosexuality, dealing with parents, death of a loved one, school stress. You name it, it probably has it. Other than "Only Ever Yours", which I loved and still think about, I can't think of another young adult novel worth the genre hype. Know of some? Leave a comment below.

I'm still reading my way through the "Fables" graphic novel series. I'm half way through - 11 of 22 read - and have had to start reading a spin off that rejoins the series soon. I'm still enjoying this series and recommend it. For those who haven't heard of the series before, it's about the characters from fairytales/fables. Some live in our world. Some still live in their homelands. But they are immortal, so they've been around for a long time, although they stay the age they are in their stories. Here's the volumes I read this month. 

Fables: Wolves

Fables: Sons of Empire

Fables: The Good Prince (this one was really good)

Fables: War and Pieces (also very good as the Fables in our world fought the Adversary who had chased them out of their homelands). 

I have to take a Fables break while I read the Jack series. Jack's a bit of a rascal and there's a bit of sexy stuff, if that bothers you. We are letting our 13 year old daughter read it but warn her about it before she reads an issue and talk to her about it after, if she wants. It's an enjoyable series but I think I like the original Fables series better. My husband, who has read all the graphic novel before, says I need to read Jack as it's important to the Fables series.

Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape

Jack of Fables: Jack of Hearts

So what have you been reading? Share in the comments below.

A Small (but beautiful) Finish

I finished knitting the Cobblestone Mitts last week. To finish everything I'd like to make over the next few weeks, I need to become a product knitter/ quilter and focus on one project to completion. I started with these mitts. Once I committed to finishing them I had them done pretty quick. The second mitt only took me 2 days.

My daughter modeled them for me. She doesn't know they're for her.

The yarn is beautiful and I have a lot left. Not sure what I'm going to do with the leftovers yet.

Super soft. I almost "borrowed" them last night when I went to yoga. I guess I need to make myself a pair of fingerless mitts now.

Great pattern from Jen's latest book, Sock Yarn Accessories. I'm thinking of using it for socks. My daughter liked them so it will be a happy surprise when she pulls them out of her stocking later this month.