DIY Felt Notebook and Crayon Roll

I wanted to give my son a new toy for Christmas Morning to play with at church. It needed to be quiet and hold his attention for more than two seconds. I know he enjoys it when I make him coloring books from images I find on-line so I thought I should buy him a little notebook. Of course, when you have a notebook you need crayons, and if you give a Stomper crayons he will need some place to put them away. If you give a Stomper a container of crayons he will dump them out and step on them or be forever asking you to open and close the container.

Oak Leaf and K for sister Kat

 What to do?

During this time I was looking through DIY projects on pintrest for ideas I ran across a pencil roll that you make and design yourself. Spurned on by a false sense of confidence I started a Cloth Notebook w/Pencil Roll for Stomper and a plain pencil roll for my sister. For my sisters I followed the plans from Soule Mama's book The Creative Family. I finished my sisters up lickety-split with time to spare but my sons languished in the basket. Two days before Christmas it became abundantly clear to me that I would never be finished in time. Naturally things would have gone a lot quicker if I knew how to use a sewing machine, yes, I don't sew, not yet anyway (we'll save that discussion for another post).

Kat's Pencil Roll

February rolled around and still the Notebook waited. I decided that I would finish it for Easter. I found a cute owl template and cut out a little owl for the front and attached it. I finished all the little details and realzied that it was too thick for my needle to poke through with comfort. If only I could sew! Thankfully I live with my Mom and she has graciously agreed to sew the two pieces of felt together in time for Easter.

An Owl for Stomper

I have put together a DIY pdf if you are interested in making one for any little ones in your life. All the measurements are adjustable and if you know how to sew it will go a lot quicker for you.

Click the here for the PDF

Make sure you tell me how it work for you!

White and Blue

Woke up on Wednesday to a world covered in fifteen inches of new snow.

The next day (Thursday) the morning was bright and the sky a brilliant blue.

I attempted to photograph the beauty of winter, but sometimes words

and pictures don't do it justice.

Year of Projects

On Thursday I posted that I finished Stomper's Easter Vest. I think more vests for him are in my future and possibly a sweater. It was so fast and super cute!

Photo Courtesy of Grandma

I also finished the second sock of my hubby's green socks. Although it's not all green. I ran out of yarn. I have another sock for him on my list that I will start in a week or so.

Right now I am working on using up some yarn in preparation for baby showers. I don't have anyone in mind just yet, but its' nice to have a few things set away. The hat on Charlie is Tweedy Owl.  Stomper wanted to wear it, but it's newborn size, so I am starting a larger one for him tonight.The booties I have made before. They are quick, but it uses European (I'm assuming) terms so it's a little tricky. 

Not certain what I will work on next off my list. I am leaning towards knitting my Christmas Stocking, but there is this yarn that keeps calling to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~My List~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UFO's

Joni's Photo Gloves

Striped Sock

Green Sock

Due Valentines:

A Kitty for a friend maybe Susan's or maybe Linda's not sure yet. ~~It's in time out

Due Easter:

Pembroke Vest for Stomper

Little Lamb from Spud and Chloe at the Farm for my Sunday School Class kids (Stomper plus one other)  frogged

Promised Projects:

A hood for Mom

A hood for Little Sister, but with a symbol on the back

Christmas Stocking for myself maybe from an actual sock pattern

A hat for myself

For Stomper:

Squirrel/Hedgehog

Socks 

Outside With Mommy

This is a photo heavy post, mostly because I just couldn't weed them out. We had so much fun playing outside just the two of us! I am looking forward to summer when we can spend lots and lots of days like this!

Five Years

We sat down today to find some before pictures and realized that we've been remodeling the farm house kitchen for five years. Here are some before pictures...

This bitty piece of counter, the bit beside the sink, and the butlers pantry (not pictured) are all the counter we had when we moved in. We put the kitchen table in the middle to for a makeshift island while we planned.

We removed and moved a door, put in an island, and flip-flopped the whole kitchen.

Most recently Dad installed a new lighting fixture and put in some tile along the stove.

Its starting to look finished.

Pembroke

I am doing a little dance of joy. I finished the vest with lots and lots of time to spare. 

I put it on Stomper and it fits, but only just. I think he will be able to wear it this spring (like every Sunday from now until May) and then he will be too long for it. I should have listened to that little voice telling me to knit it longer. Why don't I listen to that voice?

The vest is beautiful, I am quite proud of it and he looks very handsome wearing it. 

If I keep in mind that this was a free pattern it was great. Some of the instructions took a little pondering and head scratching for me to fully understand. The shoulder decreases were awkward and I'm not sure the purpose for them, I wish I hadn't done them. I am anti-sewing so I would have preferred some in-the-round knitting for the body and Kitchener stitching at the shoulder, but those mods aren't necessities.

The yarn is Berroco Vintage in worsted weight. I enjoyed using the sport weight when I made a dress last month it held its shape beautifully. I thought that it would be perfect for the vest as well. I do like how the cables look in this yarn and the feel of it is super soft; however, it is not holding it's shape. Perhaps if my gauge was tighter it would hold better? 

My conclusion is that I will be holding on to this pattern to make again maybe for a baby shower.

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I knuckled down and finished the vest (insert dance of joy)! There will be full post with tomorrow! Even with all my focused knitting I have managed to read quite a bit. 

A few months ago my sister had a book named "Railsea" that she had tried reading but couldn't get into. We were at the library last week and I saw it sitting on the shelf so I thought I'd give it a try. Once I adjusted to the use of "&" in replace of the word and I was able to enjoy the book. It is a post-apocalyptic book or as a writing friend of my says an "anti-utopia". I believe it loosely follows "Moby Dick" but I've never read "Moby Dick" so don't quote me on that. I'm about halfway through, I wish there was more time in the day!

I haven't picked up #10 of the Ranger Apprentice in quite sometime. My sister assures me that it is good, but she had a hard time getting into it too. 

My new bathroom reading is "Winnie-the-Pooh" which is rather cute and funny. I hope I remember to read it to Stomper when he gets a little bigger.

Lastly I read most of, accept a few chapters, "You Can't Make Me...but I Can Be Persuaded" it's the first parenting book I've read since Dr. Sears "Attachment Parenting" two years ago. If you have a strong willed child, try this book. I have been using it with Stomper and some of the daycare kids and it works! It takes a little getting used to, but it is so worth the work! One of the things she points out is that you really can't make your kids do anything. She talks about motivating a strong willed child to achieve goals they don't care about and how to keep cool when your strong willed child is being unreasonable. I am really happy that I read this book and I've been encouraging all my friends to pick up a copy. The next book I think I want to read is Dr. Dobsons "The Strong Willed Child" to get some more pointers. 

I picked my husbands second sock up again and I'm going to run out of yarn. I have already spoken to him about this and he agreed that a new color would be just fine, thus saving me the torturer of trying to find the right color. 

I will also be playing with this ball of fluff in the near future. Perhaps a cowl?

Joining Ginny and you should too!

Go ahead and leave a link to your blog in the comments

 if you want, that way I can see what you've been up to!

Agape Angoras :: Sponsor

I have the pleasure of introducing you to my first sponsor, Agape Angoras. Jessica raises beautiful angoras to collect their wool to spin some wonderfully squishy yarn. Have you ever handled Angora wool? It is like touching a cloud. A luxuriously soft cloud.

Please take a moment and stop by her Etsy shop.

In her shop you will find yarn she has spun (Skeins of 100% Angora, 50/50 Skeins of Angora/Wool, and others) in addition to a few hand-knit items. She gave a mutual friend of ours a pair of baby booties for their newborn and they were functional, warm, and super cute!

In the next few weeks I will be winding one of her skeins (pictured above) into a ball and knitting something fantastic. Not sure what yet but I have a few ideas which I will share with you next week. Maybe you have a few suggestions? I only have about 50 yards so that limits what I can make, I would love your suggestions.