Monster Love

I love crafting, but you know what I'm terrified of? Being that aunt that ALWAYS makes a homemade gift. Not ANOTHER sweater and hat and gloves from Auntie Hope!! Kinda like Mrs. Weasley with her Christmas jumpers. No matter how much blood, sweat, and tears she poured into their sweaters, Ron still hated opening YET ANOTHER every year.

So I determined no homemade gift for Soren this year. 2 is an age that exalts the importance of toys above all else, and I wanted Soren to like me! But then I found something I HAD to make him: knitted monster stuffed animals! Soren is obsessed with monsters and they were adorable, so I figured if it was a knit TOY then that was ok!


I found the idea on a blog called Make It Love It and found the pattern right here on Etsy. They were super fun and easy to make, and I think they will be my go-to baby gift now, except when I need to keep ordering on Amazon to extend my Prime membership. So tacky, I know.

Here's Brody modeling them since Soren was sick of the camera.


Oops, I glued my felt on upside down, so my monsters have kind of a crazy overbite going. I guess it makes them look more goofy and nice instead of scary...?


And last, here's the birthday boy himself with them. According to the pattern, their names are Delilah and Daphne, but we'll see what Soren comes up with!



Happy birthday, Soren! I love you and I promise to give you other things which are not knit in the future.

Virginia Tech Anniversary Blanket

I'm pretty casual about my hobbies--basically I just love to see something pretty come out of something that was once ugly or mundane. But it's always been a back-burner goal to eventually be able to make a little money on the side doing what's already fun! So I was giddy to get a paid commission--a Virginia Tech afghan for an old coworker to give his wife as an anniversary gift! The time frame was a bit of a crunch for my usual laid-back, knit-to-relax pace--by the time I'd ordered yarn (then canceled the order because it wasn't going to be in by the time we went to SC for Christmas, and finally ending up going to AC Moore), I only had a month to make it.

Now I know there are plenty of people who can do a blanket in a week, but either amazing dexterity is something you're born with, and I'm not, or it's something that has to be developed and earned, and I haven't yet. So a month was plenty of a time crunch for me!


Brody was asleep when it was time for pics, so my other favorite model stepped up to the plate for me!

He asked me to do some embroidery in the corners of his kids names and birthdates. I was totally winging it and didn't want the back to get too messy, so I just shortened it to initials plus their birthyear.

And a little B+L with their anniversary year.


The pattern I used is Attic24's Neat Ripple Pattern, which is the same one I used for Brody's yellow blanket, which I never took an official pic of, but you can see here. It's a super-great flowing pattern that's easy to pick up when watching a movie or chatting or on long car trips...nice and mindless!

Brody's First Snow Day

I know for everyone out West, you will think this doesn't count as a snow day. But in Va Beach, this was a BIG DEAL. Plus, I got these first thing in the morning, and then it actually snowed more later, but then I didn't want to go back out. You know me and cold. PLUS, you have no idea how many times I had to put his boots back on in just the 5-10 minutes we were outside. I generally don't ever bother putting shoes or socks on Brody, cause he just kicks them off--the only time I put them on him is when other people are going to see him, so they don't think I'm a bad mom or something. ;)

Check out his scratch. He loves to mutilate both me and himself at every opportunity. I have multiple red marks all over my face right now.

Oh, and I finally finished his new hat. He has mittens too, but he just takes them off.

Brody loves snow!

And...just to kill 2 birds with one stone, we'll call this DPP Day 13. :)

Some finished things

I love using this blog as a sort of notebook to write down great ideas I want to do so I don't forget them, but then what I do forget to do is follow up and actually post the things that get checked off the list. Normally it's like turning in a paper: once I'm done, I'm DONE, and on to try and finish a few of the millions of things I've started and need finishing. But here are a couple of things that got done this fall. (these pics taken back before I got my d40)

First a blanket for Brad and Rache for Christmas. I started this in September and needed to send it off by Thanksgiving, and I think I did 3/4 of it in the last 2 weeks, when panic set in. It was a really fun pattern--I love doing blankets and just pulling them out to work on whenever I watch a movie. Fun as it was, though, I think I prefer crocheting blankets cause it just goes so much faster!



Then also finished Brody's quilt in October! Or I should say...my mom finished it. This summer I got it 95% done....but I just was not motivated to finish the last bit of the binding. But that's what's so great about moms! When Mom came to visit, she sat down and finished the binding in like 10 minutes! Thanks Mom!


The quilt is pretty much a complete copy of Purl Bee's Zig Zag Quilt, colors, fabrics, and everything. I just loved the original so much, and figured for my first quilt I would just go with what I knew I loved! Molly's tutorial on Purl Bee is super great and easy to follow, and I can't wait to make quilts for all my kids! And maybe one day this quilt:

Baby steps

Since I'm always posting pictures of things that I WANT to do, I thought I would just put up a couple pics of some things I actually finished! I've always been the girl reading 6 books at once and never finishing any of them, so when I finish something I get SO excited! And little though my projects be, I think I'm gradually getting a little better at finishing!

So first off, here's a little vest I made for my friend Christine's little boy, Evan.





And I've got just enough yarn left over to make one for Haymitch too! And then they can be matching sweater buddies together! Ha!

Then...I got a little sick of yarn this spring and got a new obsession in fabric...a couple friends of mine have been helping me sew, so this is the first of my simple sewing projects.


Just a simple white flannel blanket, but I love LOVE the birds on the other side! I've made a few other easy sewing projects--gotta get some pics on the computer!


And then finally, I crocheted a couple of baby blankets for a couple friends of mine. Here is my friend Allison's little cutie Benaiah posing with one of them!




OH.....
P.S. I just had my last day of work EVER last week! I'm sooo excited!! I'm so excited to get to stay home with Haymitch and go on walks and hang out with people and pick up tons of new hobbies!

P.P.S. In just 3 days we are hitting the road for Idaho and Washington for the summer!! Can hardly wait to spend the next 3 months with family and college friends!!! Now I'm gonna go to bed so when I wake up it will only be TWO days! :D