Tangled party pics and how-to

It's a Tangled party! I'm sure there's some pun involving knitting and the name of the Rapunzel movie, but as my husband and I have had about 3 hours sleep in the past 48 hours in preparation for our daughter's birthday/work/grad school/fixing a lawnmower with a bent blade, I'm all out of puns. And energy. And polysyllabic words.

The invitations were super cute but I'm not posting them because I don't want to share my address. I made long, tall purple rectangles, punched out a square "window," inserted a braid made from embroidery floss and tied with a purple ribbon (anchored with a dab of hot glue) and backed it with plain white card stock. There's a good example on Martha Stewart's website (I don't recommend Martha's punch because it is overpriced and, if you watch the video, even Martha can't get it to work.) I was able to get three invitations printed per letter-sized page. I purchased bright yellow envelopes from Office Max.

I drew Flynn's "Wanted" poster -- if you want to make one, I don't exactly have any tips as I did it freehand. However, the other things are very do-able. The lantern pinata was made by my husband with two balloons, paper mache and colored tissue paper. We filled it with plastic lizards of different colors (like Pascal, the chameleon), rubber ducks for the Snuggly Ducking and "Tangled candy" printed with the images of the movie characters). 

Using the same paper I purchased for the invitations, I made the flags for the bunting and for the "boats" (blue jello for the water and oranges for the boats with toothpicks and paper sails -- reminiscent of the boat Flynn took out on the water to show Rapunzel the floating lanterns). Other food was "pub grub" -- pigs in a blanket (easier than sausage rolls), fruit and cheese -- all served in frying pans ("Who knew, right?") and a basket of apples in case Maximus drops in.

We taped paper to the fence for the kids to paint like Rapunzel and provided palates cut from cereal boxes and topped with washable paints. In the front yard, we used two yellow, plastic tablecloths tied together, wrapped around the trunk and hanging down like Rapunzel's hair.

I unrolled four skeins of cheap, yellow cotton yarn, tied it with purple ribbon and wrapped the banister.  My knitting/crochet friends will be happy to know that yarn will be repurposed into placemats.

The cake was topped with a tower made from cupcakes leveled off and topped with an ice cream cone. There's a wooden skewer going straight through the cupcakes and to the bottom of the cake. If you've seen the movie, you'll know frying pans were Rapunzel's defensive weapon of choice. So the cake was served on "frying pan" plates (black paper plates with black plastic knives glued to the bottom for a handle).

I cut out Pascal heads and glued googly eyes to them and glued them to party blowers -- those were a big hit.

I found super cute party favors at Party City -- tiny watercolor paint sets with a loop at the top. We used yellow ribbon to make them into necklaces -- all the kids loved them. They came 12 to a pack and you could choose regular or ones with Rapunzel printed on to case. All the kids were walking around with them on. Really cute.

Other than the sudden cold front that moved everyone inside after the pinata broke, it all went off without a hitch.  I'm so tired. But I'm really happy. After dinner tonight, my daughter turned to me, unprompted, and said, "Thank you so much for the nice birthday party!" So that's awesome. I'm so lucky to be a mom.

Sunshine with a chance of Cloudette

A little dirt and sunshine

This is the fastest project I have ever knit. In fact, I finished so quickly, Little Knotty couldn't wait to try it on -- so in this picture, it hasn't yet been blocked (that's why the sleeves are curled under a bit). After this picture was taken, Little Knotty covered herself in dirt. I washed it and it blocked easily overnight.

Little Knotty picked out this yarn herself. The colors are Firefly and Ice Cream, by Spud and Chloe. I think she looks like a little burst of sunshine -- which fits her personality quite well.

Recently, we had some storms come through at night. The thunder and lightening put a bit of a scare into Little Knotty. But I found the perfect book to alleviate her fears: Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld. It's a story about a small cloud who learns to make a big difference. We've read it a few times and, the last time some thunder rolled through, Little Knotty called to her daddy, "It's Cloudette! And her big mommy!" No tears, no worried-face, just smiles. Thank you, Mr. Lichtenheld.

Victorian knitting

Today, I volunteered at the Heritage Farmstead, an old Victorian Farm north of Dallas. It was sheep shearing day at the farm so there were shearers, wool carders, spinners and me -- demonstrating how to knit socks "the old fashioned way" -- or as I like to call it, "knitting socks."My trusty sidekick was with me, charming visitors and waiting for her friends to arrive so they could go on a tractor ride.

On the back porch, demonstrating knitting.

In the old school house

Playing in the back garden while I knit on the porch

Waiting

Watching sheep shearing

Snack time

Perfect reaction

This is why nearly all my knitting time goes to projects for this kid -- have you ever seen such a smile? Awesome. After all that work, that's exactly what a knitter wants to see.

The pattern is my take on the Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Baby Blanket. As you can see, there are no eyelets (except in the ruffle) and it is quite a bit bigger than a baby blanket -- it's toddler-bed size in fact. BabyKnotty has outgrown all her lovely hand-knitted baby blankets. She proved it to me one day by pulling her blankets up to her chin and urgently stating "See? See?" as she wiggled her calves, ankles and little feet, all of which were quite clearly sticking out in a most un-baby like fashion.

So we bought out all the Manos del Uruguay Maxima from my LYS, and my sister picked up two more skeins for me from a LYS in Austin.

I followed the stitch count for the Blue Sky pattern but used circular US size 11 needles -- this was after a lot of experimenting to see what would make the proper width for a toddler bed. I skipped the eyelets because I remember the discomfort of attempting to keep myself warm with an eyelet blanket while watching Saturday morning cartoons during the early 80s -- back when there were Saturday morning cartoons and I was young enough to want to get up and watch them. The eyelets always left little open circles of chilly, no matter how I twisted the blanket around. I figured if I was going to make a blanket this size, I wanted it to be functional for many chilly mornings for years to come. So no eyelets. And then I just kept knitting the length of the blanket until it reached 51 inches -- toddler bed length. The ruffles were a snap -- so easy and they knit up really quickly. That colorway is Meltaway Mints -- I ended up with one skein plus a little extra. I think it will be a hat and mittens set for her in the fall.

Next up -- a lot of dresses, skirts and tops using Oliver + S patterns, some Lisette dresses and a bag for me and this little dress using Spud and Chloe in firefly and ice cream (yellow and white).

Friday Night Knitting Club

So here's the little miss, modeling a scarf made from one skein of Baby Alpaca Grande at The Woolie Ewe. We popped in this morning to scope the joint for newbie-knitter-class supplies. The owner pointed us to this - and it's on sale. Whoop! Only $10 for that soft, soft lovely. -- Let me interject here to tell you Little Knotty's spontaneous, non-prompted proclamation as we walked into the store: "Be very patient," she said pointing to herself. I was quite amused.

As we walked around the store, she showed off her mom-knitted poncho to the nice ladies at the back table, and she picked out several toddler-sized sweaters on display and asked me "Yeah, Mommy can do?" So I guess I need to make some more sweaters for her...

Here's more of the Baby Alpaca. There were lots of good, chunky starter yarns on sale. I think I can get everyone a little scarf kit together for about $20.

I walked out with a test-skein of alpaca. Little Knotty walked out with a cupcake from the staff of the Ewe. Now I have to find a suitable meeting place. Somewhere where yarn, snacks and wine meet...

pon-CHO

So the other day I wore my poncho -- the one I made with yarn I bought at the Quarter Stitch in the New Orleans French Quarter, waaaaaaay back when. Little Knotty was enthralled and told me she wanted a pon-CHO too. So we walked into the Yarn Stash Room -- which my husband still insists on calling "our office." She chose this Chunky Mochi. It was one of my last-yarn-buying-at-Loops purchases and was originally supposed to be a hat. But since the hat hasn't happened yet, and would, like all things, be cuter on Little Knotty than me, I agreed.

Mr. Knotty and I watched Munich that night and I was glad to have somewhere other than the very-violent-movie to focus my attention. This knit up very quickly and with just two skeins on Chunky Mochi, plus a little scrap yarn (Drops, I think, left over from the purse I knit my mom).

Little Knotty is a very appreciative knitted-gift receiver. She has been proudly showing off her pon-CHO to everyone.

Cross-stitching, or How I Lost a Month of Naptimes

People are always telling me to sleep while the baby's sleeping. That is such good (and totally impractical) advice. And if I had taken it in the past month, I never would have finished my first cross-stitch project: a family portrait. Yay!

I got the inspiriation* from a Martha Stewart tutorial, then changed it up to fit my family. Getting the goatee right without turning my husband into a giant bobble-head was the toughest part. I used graph paper snitched from my husband's science-stuff stash and my daughter's crayons to plan it all out, then used some large-blocked cross-stitch fabric to make it easier. I could do about one item per naptime - a Bears sweater, my curly hair, a much-loved purple blanket. The Great Dane took two naptimes.

Contrary to my memories of learning how to cross-stich as a child -- and then refusing to cross-stitch as a child -- this was actually pretty fun. I might make another one, if I can pick an appropriate subject.

*According to the comments section, Martha got her inspiration from an Etsy seller, but gave no credit. I have no idea.

Once Upon a Time There was a Blanket

I found the pattern for the blanket baby Emma was wrapped in during Once Upon A Time! Isn't it pretty? As soon as I saw that she was wrapped in a hand-knitted item, I thought, "I wonder how long it will take before that pops up on Ravelry?"* Answer: no time at all. I can see the studio changed it up a bit - stitched it shut and sewed a patch of fabric to put Emma's name on.

*OK, so my first thought was "Oh my dear, that man holding his baby while battling the forces of evil is so hawt! Oh, heavens! I need a cold drink. To pour on my head." But my next thought was about knitting.

Mommy Mittens

In theory, it should get cold because it's winter. I don't live in Alaska anymore, so everything being relative, who knows how cold it will get. Most of my memories of Texas winters involve wet, sloshy, windy uncomfortableness - not fun, dry, puffy snow. But I'm going to be optimistic. So I made mittens for my little one.

I followed a pattern in A Knitter's Home Companion, and honestly, I wasn't very happy with it. Following the instructions for the smallest size, I ended up with a giant, disproportional thumb. So I frogged, guessed, rinsed and repeated a few times until I was happy.

More importantly, my little knit-receiver was happy. Once I figured out my own formula, these knit up very quickly -- I could probably do a pair while watching my stories in one night.

And what better way to celebrate a finished pair of mittens, then with toasty warm beignets in the morning? These came from a Cafe Du Monde mix, but I'd like to make my own. I found a few recipes on the Food Network, but taking any advice from Paula Dean makes me uneasy. Uncomfortable. Possibly diabetic. Hummmmm...

Swea-TAH!

I had this really snarky post ready. All about this hand-dyed yarn company that done me wrong. Who either sold me a defective dress pattern, or a shorted me several yards on the skein of yarn. And how their customer service told me to stick it. And how I defied them and turned the stinking thing into a sweater. Seen here:

Sesame Street: toddler tranquilizer for photography.

I frogged this thing three times, checked and changed and rechecked my gauge, and still came up with a "dress" that was at least six inches too short.

So my snarky story was really funny. But then they had to go and email me tonight. And tell me how sorry they are. And how they are sending me more yarn. For free. Which kind of makes me the jerk. Because, let's face it: it's probably my mistake. I'm not sure how, but still.

So for now, until the new, free, customer-friendly yarn arrives, the dress is a sweater. Which my daughter LOVES. Which makes me so happy. Because nothing* makes eight thousand tiny handmade stitches worth it like hearing "Mommy, love swea-tah! Soft! Love swea-tah!"

Thank you Three Irish Girls. I'm a jerk.

*But free hand-dyed yarn comes pretty close.

Blooming over spring break

So here's what I did over spring break:
1. whipped up the following in my kitchen: duck a la orange, a lemon tart with a pate briste crust and, for St. Patrick's Day an Irish Fish Pie with Dublin Cheese
2. Finally set up Netflix and caught up with a ton of films I missed while pregnant (Zombieland and Sherlock were my favorite. I found the Princess and the Frog a little extremely scary for kids)
3. Visited the Arboretum and saw a LOT of gorgeous tulips
4. Planted a lot of veggies and herbs
5. Had several backyard picnics -- something I couldn't do in my last house (see: mosquitos, year-long horrific abundance of)
5. Sewed a cupcake-themed dress and a St. Patrick's-themed skirt and tiered top -- all for The Beautiful Girl!!!!!
I am just loving this sewing business!

Spinning a tale

Looking for some fluffy, knitty reads? I just read Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton. It's a supernatural romance set in a magical knitting store in a small town. Bretton does a wonderful job of creating a detailed atmosphere and likable characters. Several days after reading the last page, I'm wondering about the characters and wishing I could visit the town. Luckily, it's the first in the Sugar Maple series. The second is Laced with Magic, followed by the recently released Spun by Sorcery. I'll be checking them out.

Glimpse

Today I placed an order for the beautiful new Glimpse colorway from the talented Three Irish Girls. Just one skein will make the Skip Hop Pinafore in size 2. A portion of the proceeds of each sale of Glimpse goes to Share, a non-profit organization supporting the needs of parents who have lost a baby. You can read more about it on the Yarnista blog.

Lazy Days skirt

Well, here's my first baby-sewing project. It was super easy and very quick. I bought several different fabrics and ribbons to make a few different skirts. This one was Valentine's Day themed with little hearts and zebras (not that zebras have anything to do with Valentine's Day, unless you are having a very romantic holiday in Africa...)

The Lazy Days skirt pattern comes free from Oliver + S. I am so impressed with her patterns, I recently purchased several. If you've ever found yourself in front of a sewing machine, surrounded by cut fabric, pattern tissue laying hither and tither, a broken needle and frustration mounting as you scream "WHAT does this pattern MEEEEEEEEEEEEAN? I have NO IDEA what this MEEEEEEEEEANS!" (What? Just me?) -- then these patterns are for you. They are written very clearly, no sobbing phone calls to more sewing-machine savvy relatives needed.

Little Things to Sew

My crafty friends should enjoy this book. It's sewing, not knitting, but I LOVE the other patterns she has written (the book isn't here yet). The details in the patterns I have are beautiful and the instructions are crystal clear:

Oliver + S Little Things to Sew, by Liesl Gibson from STC Craft on Vimeo.

Valentine's Day Hearts

This is the Baby Tiered Coat and Jacket pattern available on Ravelry. It knits all in one piece and was super quick and easy -- and my first completed sweater! I'm working on sewing (gasp!) a dress to match so she'll have a full V-Day outfit made by Mommy.

While you are working on your Valentine's Day projects, please remember the little hearts who need some help: Congenital Heart Disease affects one in every 100 births. The costs on families (both emotional and financial) are huge. Many children need multiple surgeries over many years, sometimes far away from home. Please consider giving to Spencer's Fund, providing support to these families and their special little ones.

This top was a dress

A dress! This was a dress I made for her in April. April! Of this past year! If this keeps up, I'm soon going to be the shortest person in the house again.

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere purchased at Loops and the pattern is the free pattern Child's Play Top from Lion Brand.

Idle hands, and so forth...

Wow. It's been more than a year since I wrote anything. In part, that is due to the little tiny person sleeping in the next room. Yep, I baked a baby. And as Mary Poppins would say, she entered this world practically perfect in every way.

The "practically" part is fixed now -- she was born with a heart problem and, after six and a half months of terrifying waiting, she endured open heart surgery. She is superfantastic now and bears a scar of bravery on her chest.

I always tell my knitting students that you are supposed to have flaws in your work. In fact, some people knit them in intentionally. It's what makes them unique, beautiful and lovable. And when she asks, that's what I'll tell my brave little trooper. That little line on her chest is the seam in her beauty -- where we stuffed in all our love to make her whole - a kitchener stitch for the soul.

Actual knitting

You may recall that I went on a trip (the one I won't stop talking about). Well, on the overseas flight, my little hands were busy with some very little needles, creating Library Mitts -- the very first pattern I created all by myself. This isn't saying much since there are lots of fingerless mitten patterns out there to inspire me, but still. Here they are, made from KnitCol. They keep my paws warm while reading, typing and meticusouly arranging and rearranging. Starting from the bottom, it's a k2p2 rib for one inch, then k for 9 inches, set aside 16 stitches for the thumb, knit to the top of your palms, k2p2 for one more inch and cast off. Go back to the thumb and k 4 rounds.



And then there's my upcoming niece! I made this hat and matching booties for her. The hat pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and the booties are a popular Ravelry pattern.