Return to Crafting

Wow. So there was a blog silence for you! Things have certainly been busy around these parts, so unfortunately blogging has been a bit slow on all three of our ends. And we managed to miss our blogiversary yet again. I still can't believe we've been keeping this girl going for more than 4 years! But I have to say its in large part because of all of you. So thank you for stopping by and sharing your comments, experiences and lives with us over the last 4 years!

As for what I've been up to, I can finally share some of the crafting that has been taking place at my house. After Elliott's birth in February, it took me quite a while to feel adjusted enough in my new role to take on crafting projects. But things have settled in, I feel great and Elliott is an awesome little man. So beginning in the middle of April, I started up some projects. However, since they were for Nonnahs' baking-Bean, they were top secret! Well, I was able to gift the gifties last weekend and can finally share them here.

First up is a little skirt, Caiden's Skirt (Rav Link), that I started mid-January and finished up a few weeks ago.

It was a great little project. It knit up quick, on size 8 and 6 needles, and I think it is totally adorable. As soon as I saw it pop up in my Ravelry friend's activity, I knew Bean needed a little skirt. After my experience getting more than plenty of blue clothes for Elliott, I also knew that this skirt would not be pink. I happened to have a ball of Lime Cotton Ease and paired it with some left over Violet Cotton Ease I also had on hand. The little tie at the waist is optional, but I liked the stylistic detail of it. However, it looked a little lonely hanging out there once I was done. So I improved some little florets:

I made these by crocheting the contrast yarn onto the end of the tie, then chaining up about 4 or 5 stitches then reattaching the loop to the base. I repeated this about 4 or 5 times for each floret. I'm not sure what all the proper crochet terms are, but hopefully I described it well enough.

I also wanted to gift Nonnahs a set of these little Gerber long sleeve wrap shirts. I LOVED these shirts for Elliott. They are perfect for Southern California as little cardigans over onesies or other short sleeved tops, since most of the time you don't need to be bundled up, just have something on your arms to keep the breeze off. But the plain white 'cardigans' were aching for some embellishment. These took on many different incarnations in my head and ultimately I decided that some appliques were in order. I was inspired by the lady bug that Melissa did here for this one:

Elliott was kind enough to model them for me :)

Only I made it a little more stylistic using some scraps I had leftover from Nonnahs' wedding quilt. I also used some of the leftover black to make this bumble bee:

I used some yellow scraps from this quilt and repurposed a little shear scarf for the wings. They were both super fast and easy little projects and I was able to do all the applique work during one of Elliott's nice long afternoon naps. (I love when these happen! I just wish you could count on them!)

Anyway, I have a few more 'refashioned' projects to share as well as a couple new knit projects but clearly given the amount of my blog content lately, I'll be posting about those separately!