Handmade Holidays

First, thanks for all the kind words about Buster. He was such a good boy, and so very loved. I think it's poor Bella who is having the hardest time because her lifelong pal is no longer here. But she's getting loved on and I'm happy to be at home with her over the holidays to love up on her and spoil her lots.

Now onto craftiness... This year I was able to make a few things for Christmas:

There's the advent calendar that I made at the beginning of the month - a cute addition to our Christmas decorations this year. It was a great little kit from Stampin Up.



Then there's the handstamped Christmas cards featuring the santa suit picture of Naomi. I figured since most of my friends and family back in the UK rarely get to see her that they'd enjoy a picture card. And these were super simple to put together with a bit of patterned paper and ribbon.



And I really got some mileage out of the pic because I also used it as a gift tag on decorated boxes of chocs that I gave to all the lovely people who take such very good care of Naomi at daycare.



I also handknit a couple of cream scarves for a couple of ladies at daycare who've been looking after Naomi since she got there. I chose cream because I figured a neutral like that works with most people's taste. However, aside from being late, I've managed to stain them a grungy grey because my brain wasn't in gear when I decided to handwash them with a dark sweater of Joes. (Yay, well done Sam!) ...So, I'll see what I can do to fix them... first they are sat in some water with bleach (and who knows what that will do to the lovely cashmere blend yarn I chose!) And if that doesn't work I may try my hand at dyeing them a darker colour.

But lets not dwell on that :) The good news is that in the process of knitting the scarves Naomi got involved - she enjoyed playing with the yarn:



and grasping at the project when I wasn't knitting on it:



Although the full on lesson seemed to bore her to sleep ;o)



One of the highlights this Christmas is that Jessica, Naomi's older sister, came to visit. It was great to spend good quality time with her. She's such a talented soul too - seems to excel at everything she puts her hand to. We made some pretty cookies and packaged them up for the neighbours. That was a fun project, and the end result was soo very Martha Stewart! (Or so we thought :o)))



More to come as I get pictures uploaded. Hope you are having a lovely Christmas and I wish you the very best for 2011.

Buster

My big boy Buster passed away yesterday. It was sudden, and unexpected, and I miss him soo very much.


We were lucky to find Buster at the local humane society about 10 years ago. He was a couple of months old at the time and when I laid my eyes on him it was love at first sight... I wanted him to be part of our family.

He was my first 'baby' and the very best companion. Yes I know, I'm a crazy dog lady! But if you have a pet you probably know what I mean - they have a way of working their way into the centre of your life, and your heart.

I just wanted to drop a note here to remember him. I loved him soo very much.

If you too have a loved pet at home, give them a scratch on the head from me. In the meantime I'll be hanging out, and loving on, my girls. And fondly remembering the good times with my big boy. I miss you dearly Buster xxx.

Holiday hats

Goodness it has been a while since I posted anything out here. Here's a little post to share some of the quickie projects I've been working on.

There's a Santa Hat for Naomi.


(Yep, piccie has been used on the Christmas cards this year)

Joe and I both have a handknit santa hat and so it seemed only right that Naomi get one too. You should see the looks we get when we are out and about together! ;o)

Hat pattern is from handknit holidays book, and the yarn is the blue sky alpaca that the pattern calls for. I love this yarn. I think thats what really makes the hat. Well, I guess the model isn't too shabby either! ;o)))

(This is a picture of her trying to escape... you should see how many shots it took to get to the first picture... and how heavily I cropped and edited it to make it work for the cards. Baby girl is mobile!)
And then there's a little elf hat.
Naomi received a gorgeous winter coat off her great Grandma and I wanted to make a hat that went well with it. I do love the meathead hat pattern from knitalong book and figured this would work with a mother's schedule: big needles + big yarn = fast knit. I had some of the lovely bright pink Red Rocks yarn from a cardi I made (think the pattern was shalom?) and that complemented the colours in the new coat nicely. It wasn't quite the right weight of yarn for the pattern and so I used 3 strands held together. Unfortunately it wasn't the quick knit I was hoping for -- this hat has actually been knit and re-knit about 3 times. It didn't seem to be quite deep enough for baby girl's head. I even tried to stretch it:
In the end I couldn't bear the thought of reknitting yet again what was supposed to be a churn-it-out-in-one-evening project and so decided to just add some ear flaps instead. Oh and the big flower came off one of the baby dresses she had that no longer fits... and since she'd actually worn through the dress (yes, I loved it) it wasn't any good for donating either. Ooh and Daddy has one of these hats too... a 'manly' version... but goofy nonetheless. Must get a modelled shot ;o)

Now I'm trying to whip up a couple of Thermis cowls for the lovely ladies at daycare... I'm new to this whole gifts for teachers thing so I hope this isn't going to seem lame? The ladies are always making kind comments on Naomi's handknits, and Thermis seems like a good versatile, go with most styles and tastes pattern? Can you tell that I'm second guessing myself at this point. Ah well enough twitter, I need to get to the needles... tick tock tick tock time is flying by....