yule presents for the kids

these are the totally awesome gifts i got the kids. 

they are made by native kneyan women. the women own farms and thanks to a local oregon woman, have stopped paying people to come shear their sheep and cart away the wool. 

instead they have been introduced to the arts of spinning and knitting. all of their designs they make with no pattern. many of these animals they have never even seen!

each animal has the woman's name on the tag, letting you know who made it. and each purchase sends money back to the woman who made that item. the women use the money they earn to put their children through school and buy sundries and household items. 

i think this is a great project!

the woman at the heart of this project was selling them at soft horizons today. i am unsure how long they will be there. if you happen to miss them she will be selling them at the black sheep festival as well.

 

 

 just in case you couldn't tell, deer, giraffe, zebra, wart hog, and rhino.

hats

a hat i made for saxon a few years back. 

 

the hat i made for sabrina for yule

 

 

my lovely model,  aiyana

soakers and wraps

my latest project has been making little wool diaper soakers and wraps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

home made cloth diapers

so here are the pics of the dozen cloth diapers i made. 

you can see there are a few different sizes. i tried to find fabrics that had light patterns for ease of keeping an eye on babies movements.

they are all 3-6 or thicker.

cloth diaper care

nappy and wippy care and washing

shake poops into toilet and flush

put dirty diapers and cotton wipes into dry pail, baking soda can be added for odor

wash every two to three days
pre wash
place cloth diapers and none knitted washies in washer, prewash, no soap, cold water.
soak
refill washer with cold water and a half a cup baking soda. let agitate for minute or two.turn off machine and let soak several hours or over night. drain water on prewash cycle.
hot wash
wash full cycle with hot water, detergent and baking soda.
rinse
run cold rinse cycle with half cup distilled white vinegar, can use a downy ball for this.
second rinse
run a second rinse with just cold water.

all in ones and diaper covers
wash warm water, gentle cycle, make sure velcor is closed

hang to dry, do not dry in dryer

wool soakers and knitted wippys
wool: once a week or when soiled hand wash with wool wash/baby soap.

run tepid water, add wool wash, gently swish, let soak 5 minutes, swish again, gently massage, turn inside out, rinse in tepid water.

once a month treat with lanolin:

add pea sized drop of lanolin and pea sized drop of wool wash to mixing container (squeeze bottle works well), fill half way with very hot water, shake vigorously till well mixed milky color, fill sink or wash pan with tepid water while continuing to shake vigorously, check mix for any blobs of lanolin, place soakers into sink, add mix a little at a time making sure it's not all in one spot, rinse container pouring water into sink. gently swish soakers, turn soakers over and swish again, making sure all has been covered. let sit 15 minutes. drain water and gently squish out excess water. lay on towel, roll, hang to dry.

bamboo and cotton: once a week or when soiled hand wash with dr brauners or baby soap.

run warm water, add soap, gently swish, let soak 5 min, swish again, massage till appears clean, rinse in tepid water.

dry covers and wipes by rolling in a towel and hanging to dry out of the sun.

cloth wippy recipe

2-3 drops tea tree, 1 tbs dr brauners, water

2 1/2 cups water, 2 tsp baby shampoo/wash, 1tsp oil: pour over wipes and place wipes in water tight container

picture updates

finally heres some pics of the latest projects as they stand.

 

 these pictures kinda suck. not sure why i always end up taking pics late at night with poor lighting, oh well. the fiber is an amazing alpaca in great colors. a lovely teal and the original which got washed dried and, well, felted (hat on right) has a burgundy, the one on the left that i am knitting up to replace said felted hat has a purple. they no longer carry the original color. both are amazing in person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the little purple cable sweater i made for the rat dog. made out of a lovely bulky weight wool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

five hour baby sweaters. black one in a soft wool with matching hat. pastel one in a baby acrylic.  both with beatrice potter buttons.

 

 

baby hat in cotton.

 

 

baby hoody in acrylic. wish i'd have used a better fiber. 

 

 

 burp cloth in cotton.

 all my latest baby projects.

behind on posts

well i have camera batteries but no energy, alas i am a slacker!

i have finished three baby sweaters now, though one needs tidied up with some sewing and embellishment. have completed two baby hats, three pairs of baby socks, all those wash rags, one burp cloth, and hmm think that's it for little bean.

am working on a  cable knit dog sweater currently, as well as a hat for me. need to start yana's hat, though first need to pin her down and measure her head.

can't think of anything else project wise for now.

nother project down!

finished up the little sweater and hat set for baby oriya. dont have enough yarn for socks but thats fine.

looking ahead, yana wants a hat for winter and found a couple more sweaters i want to make for oriya.

still need to figure out buttons for this sweater and decide on some embroidery accents.

sweaters and hats

wednesday went to divine cupcake with Lillian and met some new fiber friends. started baby Oriya a new little hat that i finished up last night. its so cute and darling! love it.

today i started little Oriya a wee sweater. i'm working it in black and gray. will make her a little matching hat from the same pattern as the hat i just made. and if i have enough fiber i will make her some little matching socks as well.

found a few little sweater patterns i want to make her, so that should be fun. can't wait to see how they all come out! and i have tons of yarn laying around i can use up on our little wee bean!

rugs, aquarium skirts and other goodies

this week we finally got our little studio room kind of sorted out. we got my book shelves moved in and stalked , my fish are moved in and set up and we have our little living room area all put together, complete my love seat, entertainment center and a break down able sewing area. plus pretty well all my crafting goodies are here! yay. well think one huge box of yarn is still in storage.

so ive been able to do some sewing finally.

finished up aquarium skirts for my fish tanks and got them up. so no more having to look at unsightly sumps and buckets and crud!

finished up the ten yard skirt of my kitchen witch. so now i have the doll i hand made, she has little bloomers and a skirt. i think i have decided she needs a tiny little knit sweater, but shes not priority, poor girl, just a fun project i like to work on.

when i get batteries i'll have to get some pics of her and some of my bubushka baba yaga. i'm not a doll fan, but some things are just cool! lol

the last thing i have been slaving away at which isn't as much fun and way more tedious is a braided rug for our room. i have a large ball of braided rope now that i am slowly working on stitching the together into a lovely oval. ugh so much work. i remember now why i prefer crocheted rugs so much over braided. ya braided are beautiful, sturdy and awesome, but not only do you need to stitch the chords of fabric together, but then you need to braid them and then sew the braids together, ugh so much extra work! with a crotcheted rug you just stitch your strips together and crotchet away!!!!

i have been looking for old t shirts to make a second rug and i am so crotcheting it! lol sorry but my fingers are all bruised and not up for sewing two braided rugs! ok i might consider knitting it, but either way it won't be another braided rug.

so ya i have tons of pics i need to take to catch up on all my projects!

projects

well, my camera batteries died, so no pictures until i can get around to the store.

did finish up my crocheted blanket and am working on a  receiving blanket now. its just a simple light weight stockinette stitch blanket with a seed stitch edging. wishing i had enough cotton for it, but sadly it will be out of acrylic as i have tons of it to use up.

popcorn babies

spent the day finishing edging my popcorn stitch crocheted baby blanket. is rather big, easily lap sized, will be great latter for cuddling on the couch. should to lay down for the little bean to play on. especially doubled over. nice and cuddly and scooshy. wont be using it till shes a bit older, likely at least three months, but should be perfect then! am finishing it up now, have one more side to edge then will try to get some pics tomorrow or this week sometime. can try to put up pics of burpys then too.

burp cloths

finished up my first burp cloth tonight and got started on my second. will get some pictures likely when i get a few done up. am interested to see how a knit burp cloth works. am hoping they are efficient. i always hear such good things about hand knit compared to store bought. will have to review the wash cloths and burp cloths after the little beeja is born.

on the baby front, we started registry stuff today. sadly one store didnt have everything we need, so started a registry at target and babies r us. will try to convect the two via amazon latter. hope it works! might start one at fred meyers too. sadly neither store had much for clothes, and neither had all the  supply's we need. fredys has a good clothes section for tiny tots, but almost no supplies. grumbles. oh well i guess. might just not worry about fredys and just get any clothes we need on our own.

finally pictures of the baby blanket

ok so this has been set on the back burner and hasnt been picked up and worked on lately. but i went ahead and finally took some pictures of it. its just so hard to want to work on knitting heavy things when the weathers warm. i would rather knit small items that dont roast me. i am sure when the weather cools off i will quickly finish this up. so here it is...

 

k so the photos kinda suck, and you really can't see the pattern well at all, especially with the fiber i picked. but trust me its very lovely in person!

finished wash cloths

so i finally finished up on my wash cloths. ya i've been dragin my feet. sorry, i just hate weaving all those little ends in and i had 14 to do. in the end it took me longer to get around to weaving in teh ends then it did to knit all of them. silly hu?

so heres the pictures of the finished products.

double bump

recycled cotton

bamboo

and bamboo scraps and ends

basket weave

bamboo

stokinett with seed border

bamboo

i made a variety of sizes from tiny 4x4 new born on up. i did up a few in the cotton for a little more cleaning power but did most of them in the super soft bamboo for gentleness on new born skin. the stockinett are ridiculously soft! i figure the waffle is  a good medium and the double bump should give the most scrub for poopy bums. 

i'm allergic to the chemicals they put on wipes so we will be using these on the little beans bum. i will likely put some aside for bath time and keep others for bum duty. thats where the colors will come in handy. i might break down and buy some cheapy baby wash cloths to toss in the diaper bag for bums washes on the go. can't wait to see how they hold up and to compare home made to store bought!

i do have some more cotton that i am wanting to make up a few burp cloths with and any extra may go to more wash cloths. i know it seems like allot, but if you think how many times a day you need to wipe down a bum... well, can you have too many?