Finished!

I finished the sweater I was working on last week. I didn't post it right away, because I thought I'd take a good on-Lucy action shot of it first, but I forgot:
a) she's a toddler and doesn't slow down long enough to be photographed,
b) there's barely any decent sun these days, and
c) she has nothing that matches this sweater.

Oops.

So, here it is in the boring laid-on-the-table pose. (And yes, that is an end I forgot to weave in dangling out of the sleeve. Lucy has decided that's there so she has a built-in cat toy.)

The sweater ended up quite a bit different from the original. This is how I made my "design decisions":

I used the red yarn until it ran out. Then I used the blue yarn until it, too, nearly ran out.
Thinking I had just enough left for a bird, I started one (from this book). With just an inch or two of yarn left, I decided that bird would have to have a smaller head than planned. That made the bird look better in an upright pose.
I searched for buttons to match, and found one blue and two red. The neck placement on the original didn't work (because the sweater's a bit snug on Lucy; I should have added some stitches), so I moved them down. I took a three-year-old's advice when I was trying to choose blue or red buttons; she said "or, you could use all three."

I'm happy with all those aspects. Less happy with the single crochet stitch around the edging, which I used to try to stop the curling edges (suggested by this pattern). It didn't work, and I'm terrible at evenly spacing stitches along row ends. (Please, don't look too closely.)

Overall, I think it's pretty cute, and Lucy agrees. (Ravelry notes here.)

Now I just have to make her something to wear with it.

Gifts, revealed: homemade books

In the wee hours of the night on Christmas Eve, I finally got to a present I'd been meaning to make Lucy for months now:

Remember her love for carousels? It has carried on for months, as she asks for the story of the carousel rides over and over, and often retells the story herself in her journal (more on that later).

So I finally used one of my favorite blank books to put together a simple book about her three first carousel rides. (No affiliation, just a fan.)

Handwritten and quickly assembled, it's not particularly beautiful. But it's definitely one of the most-requested books around here lately.

It's not the only handmade book she received this Christmas. We got a package of gifts from our dear friends in Boston, and one of them was an amazing little book from the 9-year-old in the family:

It's personalized in such a thoughtful way. From the bird characters, reflecting their shared passion, to the little white bonnet worn by the Lucy bird, to the names of the characters (Lucy's cats, her cousins...),

to the hammock Lucy bird sleeps in,

and the stuffed seagull toy--every detail is special to Lucy.

We were in awe of Sarah's creation, and took it to our extended family Christmas celebration to share with everyone.

(Gotta love the back cover! Sarah's written many books, and has her own imprint.)

Yarn Along 8

Back to Ginny's Yarn Along. (Check it out. I'm loving the inspiration it's giving me to keep making progress.)

This week, I'm working on a sweater for Lucy. I'm loving the pattern, which is easy to follow and is coming out so cute. I'm making a wild guess at how to re-size it (it's a 12-month pattern and I'm not that accomplished yet to really know what I'm doing), so we'll see if it works!

Meanwhile, I've been getting lots of inspiration from my heap of new crafty books I got for Christmas. As I work on this sweater, I keep thinking "maybe on the next one I could try one of those fancy edges..." and "maybe at the color change I could switch to one of those interesting stitches..." I haven't had time for actual reading lately, but peeking into one of these here and there is filling the gap.

(And yes, we do barricade our Christmas tree with the coffee table during the day when the house is full of toddlers.)

Gifts, revealed: copycat doily bowls and oat floats

Just before Christmas, I read a blog post which added some things to my already-too-long gift-making list. But it was worth it! Heather had made such lovely and simple gifts, I knew I had to copy them! Here are my versions.

Doily bowls made from vintage doilies stiffened with epsom salts.

(I have to admit I kept more of these than I gave as gifts.)

And "oat floats"--packets (sewn from an old pair of linen pants) full of oats and lavender (from our garden), like a big tea bag for your bath.

Thanks for the great gift ideas, Heather!

Gifts, revealed: ornmaments

As I described last year, it's our old tradition that I give Andi an ornament each Christmas, symbolic of that year, and our new tradition to do the same for Lucy. It was so much fun this year, decorating the tree and telling Lucy about each of our ornaments. She showed every visitor to our house her special ornaments, explaining who'd given each one. Pure joy.

So, this year...

I struggled to think of the perfect ornament for Andi. It's been a hard year, full of exhaustion and personal struggles. In the end, I settled on a wish for the new year:

A simple pillow, embroidered with a hope for "rest" and a heart on the back, stuffed with lavender for rest and rosemary for remembrance. (I'd show a picture of it on the tree, but it seems to have disappeared to wherever the cats stash their favorite ornaments.)

And for Lucy, a bird. I wavered between "birds" and "stories" for her, as she's both fallen in love with birds and asks a hundred times daily for a "story, Mama, story." In the end, I went with a bird, as she fell for them so soon and continued on in her love for them all year--from our chickens, to the seagulls in Bar Harbor, to the birds in our yard. And so I made her this simple embroidered wool bird, with a tail made from one of our chicken feathers:

(The embroidery was inspired by a book I bought as a gift for a friend...and now want for myself!)

Gifts, revealed: an embroidery basket

For a 6-year-old, I put together this little basket of embroidery supplies: a hoop, scrap fabric, a needle, and several colors of floss. She'd been asking me to teach her to sew, and this seemed like a good starting place. And she took to it immediately! I showed her how to make a running stitch, and within a few stitches, she decided to freehand a heart shape. When it was finished, I wrote her name on the fabric and taught her the back stitch, which she picked up right away, too. She spent a good part of Christmas day curled up in an armchair, stitching away.

Gifts, revealed: more cowls

Apparently, this was the Christmas of the cowls; I made several. Here are some more. This one was made from cotton, for my sister who can't stand wool's itchiness:

It's super soft and comfy, and when I tried it on, I wished I were keeping it for myself. (That's my I'm-too-busy-making-gifts-to-primp look in the photo):

I tried a new stitch pattern for this one--stacked shells--after admiring a friend's afghan-in-progress. It turned out to make a quick and beautiful scarf! So I made more. This one (in wool, this time) for Andi:

And this one for a friend (it's hard to see in the photo, but those are some cool clay buttons that match the color of the yarn perfectly):

As I worked on these, each one came out just a bit better than the last--to the point that I wanted to remake the first ones! I think I've got it down, now, and these are sure to become a common gift from my hooks.