Corn, Soy and Cashmere!

Here's the new additions to the shop this week!

Katie knit this great corn beanie and I got to have the fun photographing it! I loved using corn on the cob for a prop.

We are so excited to offer this sweet hat. It is made of 50% soy and 50% polypropylene. The soy keeps it soft, the polypro helps wick away moisture from the little ones head, making this a functional yet beautiful hat for spring and summer!


Finally, my cashmere hat is finished it turned out awesome. Here's a peek to what will be in our Etsy store later this week!

Turning winter to spring (by sewing!)

I am getting that ol' familiar feeling that I get this time of year. A yearning to do a little sewing on the machine! I love to sew for the spring and summer.Easy designs with fun and flowing fabrics. Bright colors and textures! I just love it! Sooooo what is a girl to sew??? Last year I was so busy trying to get a wardrobe ready for Las Vegas! This year, no trip is in the works. So maybe it is about hangin' at the beach with my boys, and comfort?? I am thinking about taking an old fav. pattern for a draw string skirt. It was from New Look (not sure if it is even in print??) and update with some new fabrics for spring. How can a mom go wrong with a draw waist skirt?


I also have some p.j.s to sew....I bought the pattern last year for something quick and easy for a trip. But now I am just thinking that some cute jammies for summer that are not an over sized old tee shirt would be great! A plus is the hubby could always use some summer p.j. pants!

I also had bought this last year along. Might make a cute top.....

We are going up north to stay at a cottage again this summer and this might just fit the bill up there. I am always in need of some shirts that are comfy on a sunburn!! In a nice light fabric, a top in this style might be good??? Throw your jeans on at night by the fire and you are good to go!

I have been exploring what else is out there......The Amy Butler Cabo Halter is super cute!

So much to decide on and of course there is alwasys finding the time to do this sewing! A girl can dream.... In the meantime I continue to look for ideas and patterns. Hoping to someday make some dreams come true!

Birthday Love Letters

I love celebrating my children's birthdays, usually we have a few celebrations with family and maybe with friends. I get sentimental about their birth, the events and feelings that surrounded their day. I am one of those moms who retell their story to them every year. Years ago, I wrote my oldest daughter, Calla, a letter on her birthday, I think she was two. I wrote about how much I love her and the qualities I see in her and express my hopes for her. I put it in a card and sealed it - I have never reread any of them. It was a bittersweet letter because in the back of my mind I was thinking about this more as in case I past away. I had the question nagging at me "would she know how much I love her?" I wrote a few more to her the next couple of years and to Carter, my son, after he was born. I haven't written a letter to either one in many years. I figured my scrapbooks of them were my love letters to the kids. Carter turns 8 in February, it sounds like it is time for this sentimental mom to make it a tradition again. Someday, when they do find them what a gift. I hope they never forget how much they are loved.

Work in Progress

This has been a hat in the making for some time now. We had leftover light blue cashmere yarn and a tiny bit of rich chocolate too. One trip to the LYS for some great dark blue cashmere and this little hat was conceived. The big surprise was how much chocolate brown yarn there really was. I thought, maybe two rounds, for one thin stripe, but while I was knitting last night, I had more than I had thought! I love the brown as an accent color, so my original vision changed. Because this design was stripes - "randomly"placed, I wanted to make sure I would like the end result. So off to snag some graphing paper from my husband and broke into my daughter's colored pencils. Here are the results (not drawn to scale). Which one will it be? Stay tuned for the results...

The Slump is Over!

I have been avoiding knitting this hat for so long. I love Puffin "yarn" but this one kept knitting the wrong way and it was so frustrating that I kept on frogging it and redoing it - which never helped. So now I am excited to say it is done and ready to give away! I have so many friends having baby girls.

Tonight I get to start a new hat for the Etsy shop! We've busy knitting baby hats for the shop, so this one will be child sized. Blues and brown stripes. Because the yarn is a fabulous cashmere blend it more winter weight, but the colors will lend themselves to spring too. It's been fun seeing the new colors for spring. Bright fun colors for kids and nautical colors too. Could spring really be around the corner? Here in Michigan, we don't hold our breath. At least when I knit I can imagine sunny days are here in Michigan!

MAIL TIME!!!

This week is going to be a fun one! A package of yarn came in the mail and I am LOVING the bright spring colors! "Here is the mail, it never fails, it makes me want to wag my tail"....Just what ya wanted. A little Blues Clues humor today!

I think there is some great potential in these yarns! The happy colors remind me that spring will be here! I also have a new hat in progress made from bamboo yarn......

It has been really nice to work with so far. This particular yarn has more of a silky feel to it. It has been knitting up great, like a tape yarn. I am thinking of doing stripes, but we will see how it goes. The organic cotton hat is finished and I think it is super cute. Should go into the store today or tonight! Yeah! Stay tuned for more.....

Yarn and Noses

This is the time of year when one really is sick and tired of being sick and tired. My little family is passing colds left and right. Our noses are so raw and red from blowing, it is now just becoming painful. A friend of mine told me about Neti Pots to help with my sinus problems and to offer up some relief. At this point I would do anything. I will try alternative options before pumping up the body with drugs. However, if things get bad, I am perfectly willing to take something!

The Neti Pot suggestion sounded a little gross and intimidating, but it is amazing what one will do to get any kind of relief. So this morning I bucked up and did it. It went MUCH better than I thought and to my surprise and relief it DID work. I feel "clean" and I can smell again. Now maybe my nose can begin to heal again!!

On the yarn front I just finished a cute little striped number for the store. I was so anxious to work with the organic cotton, that I started a toddler sized hat last night. I love the soft yellow tones in the yarn. It has been naturally dyed. It has been pretty easy to work with and it will make a great spring or early summer hat. Hope to get this one finished either tonight or tomorrow!!

Hats For Sale!

I just finished reading the book Hats For Sale to my son. Who doesn't love a story involving a few monkeys!!?? We also finally got our hats into our little etsy shop. So here are the finished products.......


Our little bamboo hat turned out great! We kept it simple due to the variegated yarn. It is so soft and sweet. We had lots of fun playing with the photography on this one!

Our superwash wool hat is complete! How fun are these colors!! It was so fun seeing how this hat knit up. I cannot wait to make up a new one!

This past weekend Anna made a quick trip to our LYS and picked up some new yarns for us. It was like Christmas all over again. It was so fun to going through the bag to see what she picked up! There is an organic cotton that I cannot wait to get on the sticks. She also found a linen yarn that might be very fun for Easter. I guess it is time to get knitting!!!

Joely's 10 Minutes of Snow

I am not a winter person. I do love the first snowfall, big fluffy flakes softly falling, and snow on Christmas is perfect. But, come mid-January the beauty of it is lost on me.

Joely spent a few minutes playing outside with me and the older kids in the snow. She wasn't confused by the cold, or the difficulty of walking in 10 inches of snow. She just went exploring. Her big sibs held her on their laps for a slide down the tiny hill the backyard. She had fun.

So - next year I can already hear her crying at the slider for mom to take her outside to play - what did I get myself into!

My So Called Guitar Hero Life

This Christmas the hubs and I decided to get Guitar Hero for the Wii. Let me start off by saying that our kiddos are 3 and 18 mo. So this game is really for the parents. Little did we know what we were getting into. We turned on the game and I was immediately sucked into a world of rockers and the competitive need to succeed on a stage before thousands of fans. I had to pick my character with great care and then it was off to begin my adventure on the rise to fame and fortune!

There are grueling guitar battles, songs to show off your mad shredding skillz, and the ability to upgrade guitars, outfits and unlock guitar hero's. Yup this game plays on into your rocker fantasy and I have to say it is pretty fun. To fun, I think sometimes. When the boys are napping I sometimes find myself turning on the Wii (against my better judgment. After all there are dishes and laundry to be done) and just wanting to get through one more song. I want to go back and play a song even better than before. After all you want your fans happy and to give them the best show possible.

Now that we have had the game for a while things are getting back to normal. My crafting life is back on track and the house is looking better. But when the sun goes down and the kids are off to bed........ I WANNA ROCK!!!

Cheers