A Simple and Fun Craft

Posted on June 12, 2013 by cpeezers

I went by Dollar Tree this morning to see if there were any fun craft possibilities. I’d intended on going to Michael’s which was next door, but I thought I’d check Dollar Tree first. Davey’s attention span on crafts can be iffy, so I thought inexpensive options would be great.

I found some great stuff. One of the little crafts I found was a bumblebee foam picture. We made the bumblebee with what looked like little foam sprinkles. Those little foam things get everywhere, so we took the craft outside.

Davey has little patience for drawing, coloring or painting, but he enjoyed this craft a lot. We just pulled off the paper to reveal a sticky surface, and then Davey started dropping the sprinkly things onto the bee.

He was very happy with the result.

I’d packed away the glue so I found some glitter paint. Davey liked squishing the foam down so the glitter paint peeked around the edges. Nice sparkly touch.

This was a lot of fun for $1.00!

Arm Knitting!

Posted on June 11, 2013 by cpeezers

Arm knitting. I’d never heard of such a thing! My friend Carol posted a link about it to my facebook the other night. This was something I had to try.

So arm knitting is what it sounds like. Your arms are the knitting needles.

I looked around a little and found a blog where there were tutorials for both an arm knitted scarf and an arm knitted blanket. Of course, I wanted to jump in and immediately knit a blanket. But then I actually stopped to think for a moment and decided that maybe I should not begin with quite such an ambitious project which would also require me to buy yarn. I realized that I had the yarn in my stash to knit a scarf. I found two skeins of chunky cotton/acrylic and a skein of worsted weight cotton.

I sat down with the videos and followed her guide. She walks through doing a long tail cast on with her arms. That was a little tough on my brain, so I had to turn off the video and visualize my arms as knitting needles. Once I did that, I was able to figure out how to “cast on”.

After that, it was pretty easy. It was a little hard at first to manage the three skeins of yarn, but then I put them on the floor so they could bounce around, and it wasn’t difficult at all.

David kindly helped me with the pictures. I tried by myself, but with yarn loops on both arms, that wasn’t happening. At all!

I’m pretty happy with my first result. It takes awhile to visualize what’s going on. For awhile, I thought I just had a long stringy mess. This is looser and more “hole-y” then I would like. It looks a little like a fishing net to me.

Davey modeled for me.

I want to do this again with more skeins of yarn. I’d like to make a blanket that looks more like the rug from the first link where I learned about arm knitting. He’s using at least 5 skeins of yarn I think, and his rug is much more solid looking. However, I am currently in a “knit from my stash” mode, so this will go on my to-do list! It’s really fun though. I’m not sure what you do when you want to take a break. I did this in about 30 minutes or so, but I had to carry my 3 balls of yarn with me and leave the scarf on my wrist. It probably wouldn’t be a big deal to run some yarn through the loops to hold them if I wanted to take a break.

It’s really relaxing though. I liked the motion of moving the yarn loops from arm to arm.

Time to google more arm knitting ideas!

Playing with Photo Transfers – More Pinterest!

Posted on June 9, 2013 by cpeezers

Davey and I began another pinterest inspired craft the other day. Davey had fun helping me with the first step, but he wasn’t too interested after that. It’s a little tedious though for a 5 year old. I, on the other hand, am having way too much fun with photo transfers.

We followed the tutorial provided by Elsie Flannigan on her blog. She has a really fun blog. I used to follow her more when I was scrapbooking. I’d not checked it out in quite awhile, but then I found her photo transfer tutorial on pinterest. She had such a positive response that she wrote a follow up FAQ to photo transfers which you can find here.

She provides great photos and explanations of how to do a photo transfer. It’s not too hard to do; you just need a little patience. It requires only gel medium, a photocopy of a photograph, and a canvas or, as I found out, just a piece of wood.

Davey helped me apply the gel medium to our first canvas.

After we applied a thick coat of gel medium, we took the photocopy and placed it face down on the picture. I read that the photograph should be copied onto just cheap copy paper. I have experimented just with black and white so far. I want to try color next.

We waited several hours for the gel medium to dry. I even let a couple of them go overnight. Then I took a spray bottle and sprayed the paper. I let it soak in a little and start to loosen up. Then I carefully started peeling and rubbing the paper off. The image stays behind. I had to be careful though otherwise, I’d pull off some of the photo. I did this a few times, but it just gives it a kind of aged look – I like it. This is the tedious part that takes awhile. I had to keep respraying to get off all the small bits of remaining paper.

I was pretty happy with my first transfer.

It’s kinda wrinkled at the top and it’s a little messy still around the edges. When the photo is wet, it’s hard to know what it will look like dry, and so I missed a few spots. While it was still damp, I finished it off with another coat of gel medium.

At this point, this became my fun project for me. Davey wasn’t too interested in the delicate process of pulling the paper off. It’s not too easy. He’d rather be goofy.

Next I tried another favorite photo. This is my current header photo for my blog page. I love my little heart shaped tree. I took this picture in Boulder at Chautauqua Park last summer.

I like the beat up edges. It’s still kinda wrinkly. I need to make sure and smooth the photo even better.

So for my last transfer, I tried a little 97 cent wooden plaque. I think it might be my favorite so far. The wood gives the picture a little bit of a warmer hue, and I liked that. I just plain love this picture anyway, so it was fun to see how it would transfer. It was not anymore difficult to transfer to wood. I think it might have even been a little easier.

This transfer is a little bit beat up around the edges, which I like, but it’s not too wrinkly – came out pretty smooth.

I’m just having a lot of fun with this! I’m looking forward to hanging them up in my craft area once we move.

ahhh Pinterest. Painting with Davey

Posted on June 6, 2013 by cpeezers

Pinterest. It’s awesome. I tend to avoid it unless I am looking for something specific, because I can lose a lot of time while on that site.

Yesterday I went looking for fun craft ideas for Davey and me. I found several.

Our first project required that we make a trip to Hobby Lobby to get a canvas, masking tape and some paint.

We began by “writing” a word on the canvas with masking tape.

Then I set Davey up with paint and off he went.

He painted and he talked. He talked and he painted. I think he really liked discussing the entire process more then he liked painting. Although he did have fun with the paint. I did too. We both just painted randomly all over the canvas.

Buster rested at our feet. He’s such a good boy.

No rules. No strategy.

Once the paint was dry, I peeled the tape off. Davey and I are pretty happy with the final result!

Speaking of love. Davey was explaining the workings of the human heart to me yesterday. He explained that there are no bones in our hearts. Just blood and Love!

Another visit to McKay Lake

Posted on June 5, 2013 by cpeezers

We’ve gone to McKay Lake several times while we’ve lived here. It’s a fun open space. Such a pretty lake, and there are also some short trails in a wooded section where we like to explore as well. It’s pretty open here in Broomfield with few wooded areas, so this is a fun place for us to go.

Off he goes!

He was pretending about something. I can tell this primarily from the “expression” of his hand.

He asked me to take a picture of the “sparkly lights” in the water (something about coming here always inspires him to ask me to take specific pictures of things.)

We have a nice view of the mountains here. We will still see mountains after we move to Washington, but I will miss seeing the Rockies.

We had Buster with us. He was thrilled to be with us. It’s a nice trait that dogs have.

We followed a little trail through the woods. We debated for a little while as to whether or not we should try to cross this bridge.

We decided against it. I wasn’t sure I could maneuver Buster across without splooshing into the creek.

David was playing golf with a friend. He was just down the street, so he stopped by when he was done.

Davey required his assistance in inspecting some type of injury on his leg.

They determined that Davey’s leg was going to be just fine!

It’s a cool cloudy day today. (It’s been a few days since our visit to McKay Lake.) It hasn’t gotten out of the 50s I don’t think! I’ve been exploring crafts on Pinterest. That is too much fun. We experimented with tape and paint on canvas today. We also tried a photo transfer technique. Everything is in the process of drying now. We shall see how it all turns out!

Heavenly Cashmere and a birthday party

Posted on June 2, 2013 by cpeezers

Yesterday Davey went to his friend Olivia’s birthday party. Somehow they hadn’t seen each other since her last birthday party. I seriously don’t know what happens to time, but they were very happy to see each other again.

One of the games they played was called hot potato. Cool game – there was a water balloon on the inside of the potato which popped after a certain amount of time. It was too much stress for Davey although he hung in there for just a little while.

When it came time to open presents Davey waited very patiently for Olivia to get to his. Then he leaned in to watch her open it.

Then Olivia gave him such a sweet hug:

I also got my Icelandic Knitting book in the mail and had to start on a scarf pattern in it. I usually get bored with scarf patterns, but this is lace and is really fun so far. Part of it is that I am using this incredible yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Superior. It’s mostly cashmere with some silk and merino wool blended in. It is so soft and light – ethereal (there’s a word I don’t get to use every day.) It is amazing. It is a laceweight and so light that the knitting does go kinda slowly, but that’s ok. It’s so nice to work with. I actually bought it from Knit Unto Others when I was still in Arkansas. I fortunately got it on sale there, and I was always waiting for the right project for it. I think I found it. This yarn is so light and lacy that my iphone can’t focus on it properly. Really! I have tried multiple shots with no luck. I need to get the light just right. Either that or break out my regular camera!

And finally – Davey asks so many random questions. I love to hear what he is going to ask next. This morning, very first thing, I heard him ask David: “Daddy who was your best friend when you were a kid?” I don’t know why he thought of it very first thing, but I liked hearing his sweet voice asking the question!

Hanging out and the Blob

Posted on May 29, 2013 by cpeezers

Davey finished pre-k two weeks ago. He likes to tell everyone: “I just graduated”.

Right now he’s watching a little tv in his fort. I found the neatest Little Tikes fort kit yesterday. He thinks it is great fun. Unfortunately, I am getting ready to have to maneuver it to the garage as we have a house showing this afternoon. This picture is a little blurry, but I like the expressions on both David’s faces.

Davey also has been enjoying playing with Buster. We have just realized though that Buster’s herding instincts are emerging. Davey often says that “Buster is hurdling him.” At this moment, Buster only has a tennis ball to hurdle. He picks it up, moves it a little ways, puts it down and then walks around it. He has also started nipping at us – well it’s more of a mouthing – not biting – and moving us around. It’s pretty hilarious. For now. Poor dog needs a job. He’s a herding dog who maybe also feels the urge to mush at the front of a sled.

Finally, I am working on the Regrowth Shawl. It’s beautiful. I like to take pictures of my progress, but at this point it is just turning into a bigger and bigger blob. I can do no justice to photographing the beautiful patterns in the lace.

It is coming right along though!

Knitting with Icelandic Wool

Posted on May 26, 2013 by cpeezers

I started a sweater awhile back for my sister-in-law Holly. The pattern is called Hulda, so I call the sweater the Hulda Holly. I have been working on it again. It’s good “tv knitting” – just straight knitting.

Knitting a sweater with lace weight yarn still seems a little crazy, but I love how the colors are blending (5 shades of gray I think!)

I’m using this laceweight Icelandic wool called Einband. It is not soft. It is the opposite of soft. So I’ve been worried as to whether a human could comfortably wear this sweater even with a shirt underneath. However, I was reading about this wool in my new favorite knitting book Knitting with Icelandic Wool by Vedis Jonsdottir (there are accent marks throughout that name. I am terrible with alternate keyboard strokes and have no clue how to put them in on a Mac). Anyway, the author talks about this yarn. She says that “it feels abit rough but softens considerably after washing or soaking”. I like the use of the word considerably. I need considerably.

So I checked out this new book Knitting with Icelandic Wool from the library. I am going to have to buy a copy for my very own. I have had so much fun looking at the different patterns, that I had to share my joy and blog about it as well.

There are several sweater patterns for the traditional lopi type sweater which has the fair isle round yoke – like this:

I have to think that this is a sweater made for practicality because the shape seems like it would make just about any person look like a linebacker. I love the fair isle work though. So pretty.

There is a hooded sweater for a little girl that I love. (the sweater – not the girl although she is a cutie.)

I love the colorwork on this sweater, but here’s my favorite part:

There’s colorwork on the hood! I love that!

Of course when I saw this sweater I loved it immediately.

It’s the green. That’s about my favorite shade of green. Love the colorwork here too. So pretty, and this sweater is not quite so bulky and “linebackery” looking.

There are several great patterns that have no colorwork at all. I think I am going to have to make this eventually. It’s not a shawl. It’s not a sweater. It’s a sweater shawl!

Look at this construction!

Sleeves in the shawl. I’ve just got to try this out and see what happens.

Then there is a pattern for socks where the heel and toe are made using the same method. I’ve not done this before. I want to!

I love these mittens too.

I’ve not done any stranded knitting in awhile. It’s tough to keep the tension loose, but I’d love to make these eventually as well.

I’m wondering if David might like this sweater.

I like that there is cabling on the front and on the sleeves as well! This model makes me laugh too. So intense. He doesn’t look too happy. I’m not that into the next sweater, but it’s the model again. He scares me a little in this picture.

I am definitely going to make this scarf soon. I have some beautiful lace weight cashmere yarn that I bought back at Knit Unto Others. I’ve been looking for the right project for it, and I think this might be it.

I didn’t think I’d better take pictures of every project but there were several others with additional techniques with which I am unfamiliar and would like to try out.

Ok, I’ve talked myself into it. Going to go order this book right now!

Showings

Posted on May 25, 2013 by cpeezers

We are in the process of selling our house. We have had the “good” problem of quite a few showings so far. We love that there is interest in the house, but it’s tough to be in out and out of it pretty frequently. It has been nice though having a constantly very clean uncluttered house – that’s a definite plus (although not easy to maintain!).

We had to leave today for several hours. David, Davey, Buster and I piled into the truck and off we went. There are lots of nice parks around here, so Davey and David went to the playground while I walked Buster up to the dog park. He has an incredibly fun time there playing with other dogs.

We went to lunch (killing time involves meals, snacks and lots of frozen yogurt visits).

(Also last weekend, we went to the library and one afternoon I stayed outside with Buster while Davey and David went to the indoor waterpark at the rec center.)

After lunch today, we came back to the park by our house to read in the shade for abit. David, Davey and I have started reading Harry Potter. It’s our first book together without pictures! Davey was not too interested in books without pictures yet, but then he started playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii, and it has gotten him very interested in the story of Harry Potter.

He does not like for me to say Voldemort. We have to call him “You-Know-Who”. He frequently refers to Ron Weasly as “Juan Weasley”. He tells me he prefers “Juan” to “Ron”. He frequently declares Harry as “The Boy Who Lived!”

While he knows that Dudley Dursley is not very nice, he still did not approve of Hagrid giving Dudley a pig’s tail. He thought that Hagrid went a little too far. Davey was worried about the Dursleys not really celebrating Harry’s birthday, and he’s very happy that Harry is getting ready to go to Hogwart’s.

It’s a lot of fun reading it with him. I edit a little as we go, and I’m a little worried that the end might be too intense (I can’t remember exactly how the battle goes), but we can always put it away for awhile. He’s having a lot of fun with the beginning part of the book, and I know he will enjoy Harry’s arrival to Hogwart’s.

The nicest part of trying to sell the house is lots of together time!

Vintage Knitted Fairy

Posted on May 22, 2013 by cpeezers

I’ve been looking at vintage knitting patterns. There are quite a few on the internet, and I enjoy looking at the patterns. I happened on a little fairy doll pattern the other day, and I thought it would be fun to try out.

This pattern came from a 1952 issue of Needlework Illustrated.

She’s cute. I realized that my photos doesn’t give any point of reference as to her size. She’s about 6 inches tall.

The parts of the body are knitted flat. I enjoyed that. I would rather knit flat and seam up these relatively short seams then try to maneuver a fairly small number of stitches on double pointed needles in the round.

The little skirt and petticoat were fun. I love the way they look although they were a little painful on the hands to knit. I had to increase each stitch all the way down the row and even though I am a loose knitter, the stitches got rather tight and difficult to maneuver. But I thought it was worth the cute result.

The pattern called for sleeve and neck frills. It was fun for me to make all these little “costume parts”.

Unfortunately, the hair ruins the whole “vintage notion”, but I am ok with that. The pattern called for large french knots placed on the head. I tried that, but I wasn’t thrilled with out it was looking so I went for wild fairy girl hair instead.

She had pretty wings too!

I am on the lookout for more cool vintage patterns. It’s fun to read the instructions from these patterns and see how they differ from patterns written today. I imagine I will learn different techniques from them as well!

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn