Visiting The Puget Sound

We are taking advantage of an unexpected break in my husband's work schedule and a few extra days off at my daughter's school to visit friends in The Puget Sound.

In addition to hiking and possibly boating, you know I'll be visiting the local yarn and fabric stores.

Northwest Handspun Yarns in Bellingham

Island Fibers on Lopez Island

Stitches in Seattle

Hopefully you're doing something special with the long weekend too!

Happy stitching!

Spring Calls for a Bit of Luminosity

Usually Spring in Portland is glorious—or at least mostly glorious. This year, so far, it's mostly wet. And chilly. And as a result, I find myself still thinking about scarves long after I normally would have moved on to cotton tanks and crocheted bikinis (I made one once, a long, long time ago, out of brilliant red cotton; it was adorable, but then I was 20...).

But I have to be practical. It won't be cold and wet forever. Right? Right. So assuming that at some point warm weather will return to my part of the globe, I've decided that if I'm going to knit a scarf now, it's going to be this one.

Luminous Scarf

The pattern calls for bamboo, which I think would be perfect. I love knitting with bamboo—the way it feels, the weight and drape, the glossiness—and I love that it's lightweight and cool, perfect for warmer weather.

Or cool-ish, wet-ish weather. Sigh.

Happy knitting everyone!

I Heart Zakka

Really, I do. I just love Zakka. Which is why it's kinda weird that it took me so long to get this book for the shop.

Zakka Sewing

I mean, look at these darling projects:

For fun when I was plotting this post I browsed around a little to find more online Zakka and came across these very inspired blogs:

Moonstitches, where I found this particularly adorable owl garland tutorial:

 {Photo by Alexandra of Moonstitches}

Noodlehead, with this Zakka-inspired pencil pouch tutorial:

{Photos by Anna of Noodleheads}

And Good-ness, a collection of crafting and Japanese loveliness that occasionally ventures into Zakka:

 {Photo by Leslie of Good-ness}

I'm sure there's much more out there to inspire my inner-Zakka-ista, and if you know of anything please pass it along!

Happy sewing!

Embroidering Kid Art

One of my kindergartner's two teachers is pregnant with her first baby and as a gift the class is making her a baby quilt with embroidered squares of student-drawn art.

{Mother and baby whales by Sophia}

{Whale by Nina}

Of course I volunteered to embroider a couple of the squares. I was asked to keep it simple with only one color and the look of a line drawing and they are cute that way. But...now that they're done I'm itching to do a few with a bit more color. Here are some of my favorite drawings by the kids in my house that I might use (with a little help from tips out of the Amanda Blake Soule book, The Creative Family):

{"Me on a sunny summer day," by Sophia}

{"Me," by Oliver}

{"A Girl Heart Monster," by Sophia}

I'm not entirely confident that I can do them justice but it will no doubt be fun to give it a try!

Happy stitching!

Sweet Little Baby Dress in Blue

I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I couldn't resist making the Sweet Little Baby Dress by Leila and Ben for Norah. Never mind that she won't be able to wear it until next spring. Ahem.

So, this is where the dress is right now—with elastic-less sleeves. I really like it. It reminds me of the adorable Mexican dresses with all the gorgeous embroidery. Has anyone else made the dress this way?

Or, has anyone made the dress as a blouse? My six-year-old pointed out that it would be just perfect for her as a shirt and she's almost right (I could use one of the pattern's larger sizes, just shorten it).

I'm also planning to make bloomers to go with it out of some pretty, light blue fabric left over from a different dress project. I'll probably use the super cute Ruby's bloomers pattern from Weekend Sewing.

I love this pattern, and can see why it's one of the most popular in the shop. It's super easy, the instructions are clear and well-written, and the results are adorable. I'll have to make one for my older daughter (or the shirt she so cleverly suggested) so I can see how it looks on the child sometime before next year!

Happy sewing everyone!

Knitting Classic Style

I've got another new, "but really it's a classic" knitting book in the shop, and it's appropriately titled: Knitting Classic Style. When this book arrived for the shop my mom snapped up the first copy out of the box and then zipped over to one of our favorite local yarn stores, Twisted.

She's busy knitting a ski jacket (she's told me several times now that "jacket" is definitely the right term—the sweater is heavy and warm!), never mind that she lives in south Texas.

In any case, she promises to share pictures when it's finished (probably any day now), and to either give the jacket to me or visit more often during the winter. I win either way!

I have to say, I love that she knits based on pattern love, or yarn madness, or color lust, like I do, rather than something sensible like the average temperatures of where she lives. It certainly proves my personal theory that knitting is much more about the process than the end product (although hopefully that's nice too).

Happy (irrational) knitting everyone!

The Elsie Cardigan

This is my favorite kind of post. I got a lovely note the other day from Regina, a Crafty Bird reader, letting me know that she had knit some of the patterns from the shop and wanted to share her pictures. When I saw her lovely, lovely work, I asked if she would be willing to write about her experience with the Elsie Cardigan (a beloved Jane Richmond pattern) and she agreed. Yay! Hopefully this is only the first post she'll write for Crafty Bird!

Be sure to visit her blog, Cardigans and Kids, where she writes about parenthood, knitting, sewing, cooking, baking and other joys of domestic life.

The Elsie Cardigan

I love to give a handmade gift, however this spring a whole lot of friends are all expecting new babies.  This has caused a bit of a dilemma due to limited amount of time for crafting. Needless to say, I have been on the search for the perfect pattern for gifting. The Elsie Cardigan is it.

I love the Elsie pattern because the knitting is simple and straight forward, and the crochet edge is just as simple, but turns a cute cardi into an adorable cardigan.

The Elsie is written from the top down so you can easily see what the outcome is going to be. The sleeves are written to be 3/4, but since this one is going to fit late spring early summer, I knit less rounds and chose to bind off early. I also  made just one button hole instead of three. The only other  change I made was to add the crochet border to the neck line as well.

I also made the cardigan for a really good price. I used Lion Brand Cotton in Orchid and  didn't even need the entire skein to make the 3 month size. Like I stated earlier, the Elsie is a winner.  Now all I need to do is decide what yarn to cast on with before I begin the next one.

Thanks so much Regina!
Happy knitting everyone!

Look What Came in the Mail!

I love getting surprises in the mail! These came all the way from The Netherlands from my very sweet friend Nicole, also known as Follow the White Bunny embroidery designer extraordinaire.

They are for new baby Norah, and I really wanted to get a picture of her in them, however we've had a string of difficult days and well, I got tired of waiting for the stars to align.

Nicole explained that the first shirt's image is based on the characters Jip and Janneke, a boy and girl from a very popular Dutch childrens' book series. Originallly published as a weekly newspaper series in the 1950's, the stories were so popular that they were collected into books which, I hear, are a mainstay in every Dutch child's bedtime reading repritoire. Rumor has it that the stories used to be translated into English but for unknown reasons aren't any more.

Aren't they adorable? If you read Dutch you can get the books here, and if you just love the imagery and don't read Dutch, you can get a whole lot of super cute Jip and Janneke kid stuff here.

Here's to wonderful friends and darling baby clothes—what could be better?

Sandbox Pants

Well, I finally finished these Oliver + S Sandbox pants for my own Oliver.

And we're both happy with how they turned out.

I say "finally" because I started them a month ago (new babies, as many of you know, have a way of keeping you from the sewing machine...).

{April 13}

{April 27}

{May 12}

I love this pattern and only made two changes: I didn't make the drawstring for the waistband and just used elastic all the way across (I know from experience that the drawstring wouldn't stay tied on this boy) and did a double hem thing so that I could lengthen them when Oliver grows another half an inch next week.

The pattern was super easy to follow—even for a beginner—and would have taken an afternoon without the multitude of interruptions.

Oliver has already asked for a second pair. In blue please. We're heading to the fabric store this afternoon...

Happy sewing everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you crafty mama's out there!

New Designer: Wink Designs

Welcome Australian designer, Wink Designs, to the shop! Look at these adorable patterns:

The Wrap-Up Skirt

Petal Power Sundress

I absolutely love them and according to the descriptions, they're easy enough for beginners. I can't wait to try them both, but if you get to them before I do, let us know how they turn out!

Visit the super cute Wink Designs blog for lots of great design inspiration from down under!

Happy sewing!

New Oliver + S Patterns are Here!

Hooray, hooray, the new Oliver + S patterns have arrived! The new designs for spring and summer 2010 are:

Music Class Blouse and Skirt

Sketchbook Shirt and Shorts

Ice Cream Dress

Aren't they cute? But there's more! In addition to those, you can also get these in the shop now:

Tea Party Sundress, Bloomers, and Playsuit

Bubble Dress

Sailboat Top, Skirt and Pants

It's an Oliver + S extravaganza! Want to try one of these fabulous patterns but need a little more inspiration? Visit the Oliver + S flicker pool, where you'll find seriously awesome versions of these patterns like this, and this, and this.

I had thought, until very recently, that these patterns were outside of my beginning-sewer range. But a friend corrected my assumption, assuring me that even a beginner could do well with many of these because the instructions are so clear and concise. So I've started on my first Oliver + S project: a pair of sandbox pants for my own Oliver. I'll keep you posted about the outcome!

Happy sewing everyone!

Super Easy Kid Pants

A long, long time ago I bought some super cute fabric from The Fabric Bar with the intention of making these adorable monkey pants for Norah. I did make quite a few, but not with the precious Nani Iro fabric. Um, mostly because I'm a beginner and couldn't get the contrasting fabric to line up perfectly. (They'll all be wearable, just with the fabric in the rear slightly tilted...)

Anyway, tired of just looking at the cute fabric and with a free seven minutes on my hands (even that is hard to come by these days) I thought I'd just whip up a pair of these super easy kid pants—something I could be sure would turn out. You can find this same tutorial, among many other cool projects, in Amanda Blake Soule's book, The Creative Family.

Easy is lovely sometimes, don't you think?

Happy sewing!

A New Life

So, it turns out that babies outgrow their handknit socks just as fast as everything else. Bummer. (I knit quite a few from this awesome—and free—pattern.) But happily I can report that these socks at least have found a new life, thanks to my three-year-old son.

Yep, that's his bunny. And the socks fit perfectly. The whole thing makes me think of Danger Crafts' Sammie the Sock Monster:

I don't know why, but there's just something cute about an animal (or monster) with socks on.

And of course I'm making more—a little larger—but this time I think I'll take a tip from Bunny and Sammie and make the socks longer, maybe mid-calf. That way baby Norah won't be able to kick them off so easily, or at least that's the plan. I'll let you know if my trickery works.

Happy knitting all!