A birthday and a lot of knitting

We went to Orlando earlier this month to celebrate Barb's birthday.  Anna helped me with the cake decorating:

Her "help" consisted of color scheme suggestions ("Pink and purple!!"--I skipped the purple) and serving as a taste-tester for the frosting.

We went out for lunch to the Columbia restaurant--love that place:

And then went back to Barb's apartment for cake. 

Anna asked me when I made the cake if Grandma was turning one, because I only put one candle on the cake.  I laughed and said no, and asked her how old she thought Grandma was going to be.  She thought for a minute, then said "Six!  No, seven!"  So we'll just go with that. :-)

Happy birthday to Grandma!

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Totally switching gears, I have a few finished knitting projects for 2014.  I finally finished a sweater I've been working on for 3 months--it utilized a website called "CustomFit" that allows you to input your measurements and desired sweater features, then spits out a pattern customized for you.  One of the frustrating things about knitting is that it's hard to adjust for fit once you're finished (unlike sewing), so having a pattern tailored to your figure is pretty fantastic.

I tried a v-neck sweater, because most store-bought v-necks tend to gape a little around the neckline for me and have a little too much fabric through the chest.  (One of the many tragedies of having a figure like a surfboard.) (I borrowed that from another sewing blogger who shares my figure woes.)

Anyway, the neckline was perfect, and the waist shaping was almost right on.  Pretty cool.

I also finished some cashmere hats for the boys.  They weren't all that impressed, but I think the hats will be perfect if we ever go skiing--soft and not a bit itchy:

I also used up some leftover yarn to make a cool reversible hat.  It ended up a little snug for my head, but Anna ended up stealing it away, so no matter.  She was fascinated with switching it back and forth.

Lace version:

 To striped version.  Oooh la la!

And finally, I used some scrap yarn to make some legwarmers for Anna.  The pattern came from a book that Cindy gave me for my birthday--so many cute patterns in that book.  Anna thought these were fun.  She doesn't mind some crazy colors!

 

Ta da!

Handmade Holidays

I didn't make very many handmade presents this year.  I did squeeze in a knitted cowl for Leah:

And I finished my Facebook craft pledge gifts with an Advent pillow and an Advent package (not very handmade, but at least it was hand assembled):

I sent that one to Yomary for the kids to do; I used Advent verse printables from here and had candy for each day, along with nativity figurines for several days (from the Charlie Brown nativity) and some other activities and gift cards.  It was so fun to put together.

After Anna's refusal of my offering to make her a princess dress, I realized my years of sewing for my children--and having them enthusiastically accept the results--is limited.  So I decided to do a few holiday sewing projects for them.

I made the Puppet Theater from Little Things to Sew.  It's sewn on a canvas drop cloth and sized to fit in a doorway on a tension rod:

In action on Christmas Day (thank goodness for puppets in the Dollar Spot at Target, perfect timing!):

Both kids love to draw pictures and are very, very proud of their artwork.  I decided to print out fabric using their drawings (via Spoonflower) and make them some PJ's.

I have no experience with manipulating graphics (and no applications in which to do so), so I just scanned their pictures and uploaded them to Spoonflower without alteration, then tiled them on fabric.

Will's whale:

Anna's rainbow:

The fabric (cotton poplin) turned out well, although I wish I'd figured out a way to saturate the colors.  Anna's fabric was more faded than her original drawing.

I made the pants from the Oliver and S Sleepover Pajamas pattern.  Spoonflower fabric is expensive, so I just ordered enough for the pants and then appliqued some t-shirts from Old Navy to complete the set.

Kids modeling their new jammies on Christmas night:

They were a hit!  And I was thrilled they liked them as much as their new store-bought jammies. :-)

Anna-girl

I just finished knitting a new sweater for Anna and took some pictures of her modeling it for my Ravelry page.  And she was too cute, so I couldn't pick just a few pictures...so the rest of them are here:

September recap

September was a busy month!  Here's the photo recap:

Anna started dance classes at the Little Gym...

We celebrated John's birthday twice.  Cindy's gift to him (and Shawn) was the chance to drive supercool cars at Disney's Speedway.

John, wearing his racing gear:

Posing with his car (for a few minutes), a yellow Lamborghini:

Shawn went first:

Kids cheering for Uncle Shawn:

Then John:

He had a great time and finished ready to try it again.

We celebrated his birthday at home with a tres leches cake...

...and sparklers!

(John got a lot of teasing about this photo when I posted it on facebook...so I should point out that poor Will is wearing his pj pants!)

I did a little crafting.  I made some knitted legwarmers for AnnaB:

And some baby gifts for Ayva--a car seat quilt (kit from here) and some appliqued onesies and legwarmers to match:

We started a token economy system to improve Will's, ahem, cheerfulness in completing his responsibilities (homework, chores, etc.).  He finally saved enough tokens for a restaurant dinner, and chose to go to Joe's Crab Shack.

He loves seafood and ate an entire bucket by himself.

Playing on the pier after dinner:

And that wraps up September!  (Well, except for Paris...but that's another post!)