Muriel's throw

For the past few years, I have taken an ornament from the Be A Santa To A Senior tree at Walgreens. It's a great charity that is kind of like the Angel Tree, only it benefits elderly people in nursing homes who may not have family to provide things for them. Most of the requests are for basic items like socks, sweats, lotion... it's heartbreaking in a way. This year, I took Muriel's ornament. She requested lotion, perfume, a stuffed animal, and a lap throw. I decided to make her stuffed animal and her lap throw.

The pattern I used is the One Skein Throw, which is only one skein if you are using a Red Heart one pound skein. Most skeins of yarn are between 5-7 oz. And since I think Red Heart yarn feels terrible, I went with another brand. It took just a little over 2 skeins. I could have almost finished the main part of the blanket with 2. I almost shortened it by a row and did the border in brown, but I decided it wouldn't look that great. The throw is smaller than I thought it would be.... more the size of a baby blanket. Izzy thought it was a perfect size for her to take to bed, which I vetoed pretty fast. It took me just about a week to finish it, but it wouldn't have taken that long if I hadn't been working on other projects at the same time.

I really hope she enjoys it and that it's big enough to keep her lap warm (because it's not big enough to keep much else warm).

Woo Pig Sooie

razorback hat
Originally uploaded by Silvertears1275

One of my coworkers has a birthday on Monday. And she is a huge Razorback fan. I've been kicking around the idea of some kind of Razorback hat for her, but wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. Today, inspiration hit. It really had nothing to do with their win today. In all honesty, if it weren't for all my facebook friends posting about it, I wouldn't know anything about it. I'm just not a sports fan at all. Nothing against the Hogs...

I debated on 2D versus 3D and finally decided to give 3D a try. I think it's just too cute. The snout is a little crooked, but I don't think I paid much attention to it, so it's probably a miracle that it's not way off.

I'll probably make another one for my friends' girlfriend... her birthday is later in the week. And I'm sure I'll have some friends and family who will want one, but it'll have to wait until after Christmas. I have too much going on to get bogged down in Hog hats.

Hubby asked if I was going to add eyes or ears, but I think I like it just like it is.

Hello Old Friend

I haven't sewn in quite a while... until tonight. I want to get some good pictures of the girls on Friday to use for Christmas cards and I am just bored with their clothes. The budget just doesn't allow me to go clothes shopping any old time I want, so I brainstormed for a while over what I could make. I have plenty of fabric in my stash, but not quite enough of anything for a whole dress. Then I found some white tshirts on clearance for $2 the other day and decided to build on that. I did some blog browsing and found this tutorial. Perfect. I had to make some adjustments for the older two, but it wasn't rocket science.

So I unearthed my buddy from underneath the junk on my sewing table and got to work. This is Zoe's.  I want to check out how it looks on her before sewing up the other two.  I don't absolutely love sewing ruffles.  I will make some headbands to go with them.  And they'll be just too cute =)

Getting away with myself...

I have about a million ideas running around in my head.  More than I can possibly complete, I'm sure.

So... let's see...

Already started projects:

• Crocheted blanket for Muriel (my Be A Santa To A Senior lady)
• Crocheted bear for Muriel (I'm always drawn to the ones that want toys...)
• Knit skirt (no deadline there)

Things I would like to make:

• Handmade gift for Secret Santa
• Crochet snowflake garland
• Yarn-based ornaments of some kind or another
• A wreath
• Dresses for the girls (by the end of the week so I can get Christmas card pictures)
• A crocheted doll for each of the girls for Christmas

I think that's all the stuff I want to make by Christmas or before.  I also have a new set of double pointed needles I'm dying to try out, simply because I have never used dpns before.  And every day I think of something else I have to talk myself out of just because I don't have the time. And I'm sure I've forgotten something here.  I swear I have crafty ADD.

You'll be disappointed =)

This post is mainly for me... I found some things I want to make the girls for Christmas and I'm not at home to bookmark them, so I'm putting them here.

Felt Playhouse

Pretty Felt Dolls

That's all for now.

Meet Zoriah

I've been a terrible blogger lately.  I've been busy or sick or busy.  I spent the better part of two months making the girls' Halloween costumes.  It was crazy.  I don't think I'll ever pick such a large project to make three of.  Here's how they turned out:

 

I like Zoe's the best.  I loved the yarn... everything about it.  The colors, the self-striping... It made it much more fun than Olivia's hideous pink.  Not to mention that Olivia's yarn was a lighter weight so it just took forever.

Olivia was invited to a birthday party this weekend, and we picked out a cute amigurumi pattern for a doll to make her friend.  So meet tiny Zoriah:

She doesn't look anything like the real Zoriah.  I was going to at least give her dark hair like Zoriah, but Olivia insisted we use red.  I imagine I'll be making more of these in the future. 

I haven't been sewing at all lately.  Crocheting and knitting are just a lot easier for me to deal with right now.  Plus, it's getting colder out and I'm not really proficient in sleeves =)  I have a pattern for a knit skirt I want to try.  I bought some circular needles today for it and I have some gorgeous pink/gray/black yarn that should stripe up really nicely.

Well, that's about it for now!