Yarn Along

I am joining Ginny at Small Things this week for the yarn along.
I have just pages to go in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This was a pick from my book club, very imaginative and well written. I have so much on my mind these days that I had a bit of trouble escaping into the book as much as I would have liked too.
I also have been browsing through The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Soule.

I am currently knitting a Kicking Bag for our baby that is soon to arrive. It is a slow going mindless knit on tiny size 2 needles in sock yarn, ahh just what I needed. I love having a project I can knit while not looking at my hands. This has been a fantastic portable project, I have taken it in the car, to the park, knit while while making french toast and and I got several inches done this morning at the Science Museum.
I love the colorway, gender neutral enough I think. It reminds me very much of my Grandpa Clarence, my Father's Father who passed away when I was a child. I should knit my Dad a pair of socks in this yarn for Father's Day.

New items on Humble Luna!

I have added a few new items to my shop including Love Dragon costumes just in time for Valentine's Day. Also some new hand knits in baby sizes. I also have few items featured that would make great unique gifts for Valentine's Day.
Any business I receive from Humble Luna is a major blessing to my family and is extremely appreciated.
Please take a look.....
Humble Luna

A kitty hat for my cat lover girl

I only knit one gift for Christmas this year, a cat hat for Sophie my little cat lover. She loves her cat Lola so much when she came home from visiting her Grandparents for a month( and not seeing her mom for that long) this summer the first thing she did was find her cat and give her a hug. Lola has pretty much been tucked under her arm since we got her when Sophie was 4 years old. When I was thinking of gifts for her for the holidays I thought she would like a pattern that I found in my very old and well loved copy of Stitch and Bitch, also found here.
She really likes her hat and it has already been rescued from the lost and found of her school once(after only two days back at school). It is nice finally knitting her something she will actually wear and she genuinely likes.

Calling all local knitters in Portland...

I know many knitters are already stressed about all the projects that they have to complete for their friends and family at this time of year. But I know you could whip up a hat or two during the season, perhaps while waiting in long holiday lines(especially at the Post Office, my goodness) for a good cause, right? For someone with a cold head, who would appreciate your knit gifts more than you could imagine. Warm a few hearts as well as heads. Check out this great community project:http://livingearthgatherings.org/hats-scarves/
Practice compassion this Holiday Season, you don't have to give money to help, use your talents to help those in need.
Warmly,
Heidi

Some recent knits....

I have been knitting away. A few smaller projects have managed to be completed while I slowly chug away on my star baby blanket. Not entirely for lack of motivation,I ran out of yarn and I just got a matching skein to continue on with it. I had to search all over the Internet to find one, but I did and it matches...close enough for a variegated blanket anyways.

I knit up a Triceratops from the Prehistoric Pals pattern for Sollie's good friend's birthday. I love the pattern, this is the fourth Dino I have made and they knit up pretty fast. The only part that slows me down is the sewing together of all the tiny knit pieces. The Triceratops has the most pieces(horns), but I think it is super cute. What a clever pattern it is and a clever person who came up with it.

I also knit up another "Easy baby cardigan" from More Last minute Knit Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I love the yarn(Cascade Yarns 220), it was purchased on our Redwood Anniversay trip and holds more of a significant meaning than I expected so I think it is very suitable for our little womb fruit. I have a little extra yarn left over so I am currently working on booties to match the sweater. I think it is gender neutral enough. I am not really fond of overly girly clothing. I have a huge to-do knit list for this baby. Can I wait until after the holidays to knit more baby things? We shall see....probably not ;)







What are you knitting these days?

Do you sell your handmade goods on line? Do you have a blog? Want some free Holiday advertising? Please see my previous post. Thanks!

Crafting update and a future Giveaway!

I am getting pretty behind in sharing the crafty stuff that I have been working on lately.
I knit my nephew Riley a T-Rex for his 2nd Birthday. I used this pattern before to make Solomon's Birthday Dinosaurs a while back. I decided to omit the scary teeth, they didn't look right no matter how many times I tried, this is a friendly T-Rex.

Also the craft- along I am part of made the Easter Garden on page 25 of The Children's Year by Cooper,Fynes-Clinton and Rowling for the April craft. We planted this a week before Easter, but I am just getting to sharing mine now as it took quite a long time to sprout. We planted cat grass in ours and our cats have been enjoying it.


I have also added several pairs of light weight cotton pants in several sizes in fun prints to my Etsy shop for summer and I will be adding some skirts very soon.

Come Back on Monday for a Giveaway! I will be giving away a handmade item from my shop as part of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. This will be a fun day, be sure to check out the link in my side bar. There will be a link on the Sew mama sew blog to several handmade giveaways! Good Luck everyone! I am hoping to get in on the action too!

A new baby gift...

I wanted to share a recent knitting project. This is the Easy baby Cardigan from Joelle Hoverson's book, More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I made this sweater for my friend Taryn's new baby girl. I got this book as a Christmas gift an I just new I would have to make the sweater for her as soon as I saw it.It was so much fun to knit and all in one piece, this is the second knitting project that I ever actually blocked. Blocking makes seaming much easier, I have to say and it is so simple too. Totally worth the effort. I will come back to this project again when there is another new baby to craft for.

*** I would also like to say thanks so much for all of the kinds words about my Illustrations. I can't tell you how much they mean to me. Thank you all so much for the encouragement you give me , it is priceless.***

For a friend.....

I got some worrisome news a few weeks ago that a friend of mine from High School just got diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted to make her a hat to wear as she undergoes her chemotherapy.I asked around to see what colors she likes and her cousin sent me a photo of her in a green dress that was her signature color. I had fun searching out the Local yarn stores for the perfect yarn for her(and I got a bit of mama alone time too). I think the yarn I found came very close .I found this cute pattern on Ravelry after hunting around on there for days. It was fun to knit and although a few of my rows didn't measure up in the end it still worked out, It was a good knitting project for alone time when I could count, and concentrate, not so good when my kids were running around and jumping on me.
My friend is only 29 years old and a mama, please send her blessings of healing and health. She has a great attitude and I know she can beat this!

Knit acorn ornaments

Since the begging of December I have made 30+ pairs of fingerless gloves for toddlers to sell on HumbleLuna and in local stores(all sold btw,whew). This has left very little time to knit anything else, but I did manage to make a few a of these cute acorn ornaments that I found on Ravelry. How cute are they? They are quick and fun, you could knit up several in an hour. I just love quick easy knits like this, they are a great way to use up scrap yarn as it takes a very little amount of yarn to make these. I put them out on our Thanksgiving table in a little bowl and they looked really sweet. I am hoping to make a few more as holiday gifts, and our tree could use a few more too.
I am going to stop knitting the toddler gloves after this next batch of 12 or so as I have a lot of knitted gifts in mind and we are getting awfully close to the holidays now. Plus I have a Birthday boy on the New Year, busy times. I hope to share some more crafted gifts soon.
I have a little boy sick with a stomach bug, so we will be laying low this weekend, watching tons of Holiday movies. I will be knitting like crazy until I get it, and fingers crossed that I don't.
Happy holiday gift making, friends!

Autumn crafting...and a giveaway!

Here is the latest craftalong project from The Children's Year by Cooper,Fynes-Clinton, and Rowling. This is project # 55 on Page 71, Slippers,Sock and Baby Booties. I chose to make the booties without adding the tie, but there are several variations. I used Patons Classic Wool in the colorway Lotus. This yarn is just perfect for the fall. My son wore them to the market today and got complemented on them. I see several more projects coming soon with this pattern, It even goes up to adult sizes.

I also though I would share our latest craft project we created in my little art class, Paper Plate Spider Webs!

All you need for this project is a bit of yarn, a paper plate, scissors,a glue stick, a black pipe cleaner...and glitter is optional. Just cut a slit around the edge of a paper plate every inch or so.Cut a piece of yarn about a yard long. Then tie the Yarn around the plate pulling the yarn into two of the slits you made opposite form each other, then wrap the yarn around the plate anyway you chose to make your web, wrapping to the opposite slit on the plate makes the most obvious looking web. Then tie in the back when you run out of yarn. If you want to add glitter for a dewy web sparkle, rub a glue stick on the web strands and sprinkle glitter onto the plate. Then cover the web with another paper plate and carefully shake it to coat the web as much as possible. Then shake off the access glitter. The spider was made by cutting 4 equal pieces of black pipe cleaner and folding them in half and twisting all of the pieces together in the middle. Bending one of the spiders legs onto the web helps to keep it in place. This was a fun craft for the youngest friend in class who was 3 , and fun for me as well. Little crafters will need some help with this one.

Also check out the HumbleLuna Giveaway going on at Gardenmama for a chance to win this dragon tail!

Sophie's gloves

Sophie declared that she needed arm warmers, so I got right on it. She picked the yarn out herself, what nine year old wouldn't pick brightly colored acrylic? I have to say anytime she actually shows interest I am always thrilled to make her anything. We saw lots of great Halloween costumes at the thrift store yesterday but she insisted " I want you to make my costume mom". So we spent the morning picking out fabric and bribing Solomon to behave with M&M's. I know, great parenting.
I also wanted to mention a super cute kids book we checked out from the library called Knitting Nell by Julie Jersild Roth.I have it linked in my sidebar for more information.

6 day birthday socks!

Sorry for the lack of posting, our family has been sick with a flu bug for a good week. Monday was the first day in 3 days that I actually got dressed and left the house...only because I had to take Sophie to swimming lessons and Ice skating. We are feeling better now...all of us bit by bit. I was well enough to climb the mountain today, it was rainy and chilly, it felt great.
Anyway, I wanted to share another recent knitting project. This was quite the undertaking. About 6 days before my dads Birthday I decided I was going to knit him socks after hearing him say, in casual conversation, that "wool socks are hard to find".
Now, I have knit socks before, One pair, but they took more like 6 months, not 6 weeks to complete. ..only because I was SLOW and got bored after the first one.
The idea of completing a pair in just 6 days seemed a little crazy, but I was up for the challenge. It gave me something to do while I worked many things out in my head. Knitting is such great stress relief, and I am a high stress person so I think it is a blessing really.
After picking out some wool yarn in my dads favorite colors I got started immediately and had the first sock done to the heel on the first night. Six days(of nonstop knitting) later they were done.
I think he liked them. Although said he would never wear them with shorts. What Dad, too loud for ya?
note: they look lopsided in the photo, but I assure you they were the same length.

Knitting with love...

I wanted to call attention to a wonderful group knitting effort of love for a little boy named Ari who just lost his mama to cancer. Please click on the photo to link to the project and to get all the details of how you can help create a knit square(or two) that will be part of this blanket of love.
Knitting is such a wonderful craft, and for me, very meditative.
I always think of the person I am knitting for while I am creating their gift. Each stitch is made with love and blessings for them and memories of that person fill my mind.
I don't personally know little Ari, but I keep thinking of him, of how I could show, if in the smallest way, a little love and some blessings from a mama who is thinking of him. From my heart to his.
I can't stop thinking of him, and the squares keep coming. Please join in!

A gift for Henry...

(From left to right: bunny,cat,bear).

I made these fun characters for a sweet little friend of ours named Henry who was turning 3 this weekend. The pattern was fun and fast, and addictive! I can't wait to make a bunch more for my own kiddos. The pattern is called "Anything Animals" and you can find it here.

For Solomon on his 2nd Birthday....

I just wanted to share the dinosaurs I made for Sollie's birthday. I started the Brachiosaurus a few days before Christmas and finished it in only two days. I figured I would have enought time so I made the Triceratops too. I used Kureyon from Noro yarn and the pattern can be found HERE.