Fiber Crafts « mama urchin

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Birthday Gifts

Published August 27, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Sewing 4 Comments

Last weekend we celebrated my niece Gabrielle’s eighth birthday — eight! — and as in years before I made her some clothes. My sister is super-sweet and usually Gabrielle wears the outfit I make her for the first day of school. Talk about pressure! So, this year in discussing with my sister what to make we decided on something with blue, since that is Gabby’s favorite color, and something that has a skirt. My sister loves anything Asian — including her husband — and I remembered a kimono top from an old Ottobre and a plan was hatched.

The blue embroidered cotton was from my mother-in-law, I think she picked it up on a trip to Asia, and the brown is a batik from my local fabric store. The kimono top — #12 from Ottobbre 4/2008 — is fully lined and has a hidden ribbon closure — with butterfly beads — and flower buttons. The skirt is just gathered with a contrast yoke and pockets. I didn’t use a pattern just traced around Katie’s hand for the pocket shape/size.

And for the fun gift from the urchins Gabrielle received two new outfits for her American Girl doll. The dress coordinates with the kimono outfit and the other outfit is just a fun summer outfit. Both were based on a simplicity pattern I got sometime when patterns were a dollar. For doll clothes you just really need a basic pattern and you can change it to suit your needs. In this case the top for the shorts is the bodice of the dress and instead of a skirt I used a pre-gathered bit of eyelet lace. The shorts are literally shortened pants.

Christmas Sweater

Published August 18, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Knitting 3 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about which sweaters I am going to knit for the urchins for Christmas this year. I’m thinking Boys Can Wear Pink and Sourpatch, coincidentally both from Petite Purls. But I realized that poor Tristan’s sweater from last Christmas was never finished. Bad Mama. So, I decided that before I could start this year’s sweaters I really needed to finish last year’s. I’m so glad I did because my boy wanted to wear it all day even thought temps were in the 90s.

The pattern is SK8R from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines and knitted in Rowan Denim. I got six balls of it as a free gift for being a Rowan subscriber a few years ago and bought one more from another knitter on Ravelry. Well, I hadn’t quite finished the second sleeve and ran out of yarn! I put in a plea for anyone with the right dye-lot on the Rowan group and someone who also received it as a free gift sent me the extra skein that I needed. Thank goodness for Ravelry. After sewing all the pieces together I washed the sweater in hot water and dried it in the dryer. It shrunk up nicely and is still a bit big on my size 5 boy — the pattern calls this a size 4-6 — so I think he should get a couple of years out of it. Click through to the project page if you want more details.

Un-Camping

Published July 27, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 3 Comments

Last Saturday we headed out with a new tent in the back of the car. We drove to our destination and puttered around the town, visiting the children’s museum, the toy store, and the yarn shop — all must sees on a urchin family trip. My mom called because she was at home worrying about us in the heat. It was hot but we were hanging out in the shade, in and out of AC, and drinking plenty of fluids. But at dinner Stefan and I started talking about whether we really should sleep in a tent when the overnight low was expected to be 87 degrees. He had a race in the morning.

So we started calling all the hotels in the area and got the same answer we’re completely booked. It was 7:00 in the evening and 104 degrees. Then Stefan started calling some B&Bs but we had the urchins with us and most don’t allow children. Luckily though, people at B&Bs are very nice and one such lady started calling everywhere she could think of. We got the last room at the Doubletree and sighed with relief.

So we went un-camping and all this is to tell you that we had the camping quilts ready but ended up not needing them in the end. You’ve seen the rainbow one before. It’s backed with a duvet cover from IKEA and bound in the same. I decided to use wool as a batting on all the camping quilts because not only is it warm, it also warm when it’s wet, which when camping is a real possibility. But one thing about wool is that it shrinks up a lot when laundered so if the quilting doesn’t go all the way to the edge or isn’t dense enough you will lose a lot of area. Think your favorite puckery quilt and get even puckery-er. It was quilted with a fireworks pattern in variegated thread that really looks great on both sides.

The brown and pink quilt was made with pink scrap log cabins sashed in a brown Denyse Schmidt fabric that I had a bunch of — it has a small pink dot in it. It is backed and bound in the brown too. The quilting on this one is a daisy pattern in a pink thread. There’s a name for setting the log cabins like this but I can’t think of it, they look kind of wonky in the photo but they are straight, just the sashing width varies between blocks.

So, two camping quilts down and one more to go — or maybe two? Thanks for all your help with that. Our next scheduled camping trip isn’t until later in the Autumn although Stefan thinks we need to do one more this summer. Hopefully next time we’ll actually end up in the tent and putting these quilts to good use.

Brown, Black, and Grey

Published July 15, 2010 Fiber Crafts , In the Mailbox , Sewing , Swaps 7 Comments

I’ve been making good progress on our camping quilts recently. The rainbow one is quilted and next in line to be bound. Another one — made from pink log cabin blocks and sashed in brown — is at the quilter now and should be back in my hands next week. Theoretically, the rainbow quilt is for Papa and I and the pink/brown one is for Katie. That just leaves Tristan without a camping quilt. I have this great train ticket fabric that we used as a tablecloth for Tristan’s second birthday — look how little he is! — that I want to use as a back. I’m planning on using brown and black/grey log cabins for the front but here’s the problem. My stash is not burgeoning with brown and black/grey fabrics. Is yours? So, I’m looking for scraps. The smallest size I can use is 2″x3″. I have many scraps of other colors I can share, even selvedges for those who collect them. Anybody up for a trade?

A Quilt for a Little Bird

Published June 30, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Sewing 6 Comments

Back in March my friend Molly gave birth to a sweet little girl and she named her Birdy. And being the fourth little girl in her house I knew that she’d be seeing a lot of hand-me-downs in her lifetime — I mean, how could she not? — so I wanted to make her something that would be just for her. I considered knitting her something but her early months are during the summer and as Molly will tell you, they have no central AC. I’ve been to their house in the summertime, woolens are not necessary.

Then I remembered I had a half yard of Joel Dewberry’s aviary print in my fabric stash. Orange and brown. I love it in this colorway but it doesn’t scream baby girl so I hemmed and hawed over it for a little while. Then I decided to just go with it. I made four log cabin blocks with the aviary print fussy-cut for the center squares. I limited the logs to 6 other fabrics and did two rounds of logs. The squares were then sewn together and sashed with an orange and brown homespun that was really perfect and a lucky find. It’s backed with the same homespun and quilted with a pattern of oak leaves and acorns. After a wash it was nice and crinkly and soft, just right for a baby to call her very own.

Kids Clothes Week Begins

Published May 10, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Sewing 3 Comments

Hello Kids Clothes Week! I fully intended to be all prepared with patterns organized and fabrics selected and… But no, here we are on day one and I haven’t even decided for sure what to make. I do know that Tristan desperately needs pajama pants for summer. We’ve tried to convince him to just sleep in his little boxer shorts — admittedly he has such cute little legs I am probably pitching the idea for my own mama reasons — but he says he has to have pajama pants. He has one pair right now — made of linen — otherwise he’s sleeping in too warm and too short — made in 2007 — winter flannel pants (pictured above). So, I think summer PJs might need to be first on the list. I’ll check in tomorrow with progress.

Shalom

Published January 27, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Knitting 12 Comments

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have a finished knit for me that I love. You may recall how Juliet didn’t end well and that was the last knit for me. Shalom was a different story altogether. I altered the pattern a bit — details on ravelry — because it is written for one small size only. If I were making another — and I am not ruling out that possibility — I think I’d cast off fewer stitches for the cap sleeve and leave more stitches for the body. The yarn is Rowan’s RYC Soft Tweed in a sage-y color. I loved working with this yarn and was very happy with how it washed and finished. Especially since this pattern is free I highly recommend it if you are looking to make a really great sweater. And if you are looking for some inspiration try these made by Melissa (and this one, and this one too), and by Gwen, and by Liz, and by Amanda, and by Laura for starters.

Some Finished Knitting

Published January 19, 2010 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Knitting 4 Comments

We spent the weekend celebrating the christening of a good friend’s baby at the Jersey shore. We had a great time hanging out with friends we don’t see nearly enough. It was just like when we were in college except now we have a whole bunch of little ones to watch out for. So strange. As for the giving it seemed to me that a bonnet and booties set was in order for this sweet little girl so that’s what she got. Both were knit from Jaeger Roma — which I love and got on sale — in cloud (015) and blossom (011). I used Larissa‘s Feather and Fan Bonnet pattern and this Mary Jane Booties pattern. The gauge/yarn produced a small bonnet, just right for a two-month old head and the booties were also a perfect fit. You can find the details on the ravelry project pages but for the booties I switched colors on row 16. This is the same baby who now possesses last year’s February baby sweater and in the few moments I was able to steal her away from her adoring aunties and grandmother we were able to get a photo of her in all the handknits. Sweater, bonnet, and booties, I think she’s all set.

Looking Back

Published January 3, 2010 Cooking , Fiber Crafts , In the Kitchen , Knitting , Sewing , This & That 11 Comments

So 2009 is out the window and I am so glad. It was just a crummy year in the urchin household and from what I gather, a lot of other households too. So, rather than dwell on the yuck, let’s take a look at the good stuff I got accomplished while in the mire. First up, the knitting:

To be honest, I’m not too pleased about the knitting. I intended to knit through EZ’s Knitter’s Almanac and did not get very far. In fact the February Baby Sweater is the only completed project from the book. I’m hoping to change that in 2010. I think there was a lot of starting in 2009, not so much finishing, I’m hoping to improve in 2010. Dare I say that going into 2011 I’d like to have no WIPs in my knitting basket?

The sewing however, required two mosaics so that’s something. Katie alone got about a dozen new outfits made by her mama. That is something that makes me exceedingly happy. I also finished four quilts in 2009. I have a whole bunch of quilt tops ready too so just like the knitting, I need to finish what I start. This may be a theme. I made a lot more of the gifts the urchins give their friends so I would like to continue that trend in 2010. In fact, I’d like to try to get a stash together so I’m not always sewing at the last minute.

And then there’s the food. We ate mostly locally at almost every meal this summer and at many of our meals in the other seasons too. I canned so much — so so much — and looking at those jars makes me so happy. I remember one week in August where I canned something every day. We found a dehydrator on craigslist and expanded our repetoire to include dried food as well as canned and frozen. I canned jam and salsa, whole fruits and sauces, sweet and savory. We had to figure out a new system for storing it all. We’ll be eating well all winter I’m sure. In fact, on one of those stressful days before Christmas I realized I had gumbo in the freezer that I made back in the summer and it was so good.

But 2010, I have big plans for you. Plans that include expanding the garden and the pantry. Plans that include covering all the members of my house in their own quilt. But more on that later, for now I think I’ll just look at what was good in 2009.

Teacher Gifts

Published December 22, 2009 Crafting With the Urchins , Fiber Crafts , Gifts , In the Mailbox , Knitting 4 Comments

Friday was Tristan’s last day of preschool before the break. Katie was supposed to have her last day of school today. I say supposed to because on Saturday we watched the snowflakes come down and keep coming down until we had over 22 inches on the ground. Our county is largely rural and so the school system canceled classes for this week knowing that there was no way to get the schools and roads dug out in time. So, Tristan took gifts for his teachers on Friday and Katie’s teacher will get a New Year gift instead.

As in years past the urchins dyed yarn in their teachers’ favorite colors. This year we used kool-aid — an awful lot of kool-aid to get the saturated colors we wanted — in a squirt bottle for the photo that we include on the tag and we also dyed the yarn in a pot as well. Tristan’s teachers like burgundy and red so we used black cherry and cherry kool-aid. Katie’s teacher likes blue so we used ice blue raspberry lemonade. Since Katie’s haven’t been delivered yet they may get overdyed to a darker blue before they do since I am not happy with the color they are presently.

I improvised the pattern. I’ve made a lot of mitts so I just needed to figure out how many stitches to cast on — 28 for those wondering — and could go from there. I knit 10 rows of ribbing, 5 rows stockinette, increased for the thumb gusset, separated for the thumb, 5 rows stockinette and 5 rows ribbing and then bound off. I picked up the thumb stitches and 4 stitches from the mitt, knit 2 rounds and then rib for 3 rounds and bound off. Easy peasey and all four mitts for Tristan’s teachers were made in one day with plenty of breaks. I’d say they require about 90 minutes per pair. Bulky yarn is the way to go for quick projects. I think his teachers were happy with their gifts and they both have tween-age children they could give these to if they don’t think they’ll wear them all much. The urchins love making them, that’s for sure. I think we’ll be doing some more dying soon.