Happy (belated) Halloween!

We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween. We LOVE Halloween around these parts, as you might remember from years past. This year was no different!

Elliott and my costumes this year were totally inspired by the cutest Garden Gnome costume I saw over on Ravelry. I thought that was the cutest idea for a toddler costume and despite the fact that I already had two perfectly good costumes at home for him to wear...I couldn't help myself. I kept thinking about what I could do and pretty soon I just had to make it!

My costume was also born from my desire to be something pretty this year. If you notice from costumes from previous years linked to above, I am rarely a girl for Halloween and when I am, I'm not usually a 'girly girl'. So this year I was determined to be pretty :) When I saw that cute garden gnome costume it reminded me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, so I took that and ran with it!

I ended up making myself a simple elastic waistband skirt out of cheap quilting cotton and modified a cheap $4 Joann's t-shirt into the 'bodice'. I cut out the neck, cut off the hems then added elastic to the bottom of my sleeves for a little poof. I also sewed up a quick red cape (also from quilters cotton) using the play cape tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew. I used a yard and a half instead of a yard and got a pretty respectable length cape.

And of course a black Hallowig! This knit up super quick using almost one entire ball of black Patons classic wool. I had planned to have it flip at the bottom like in the pattern photo, but when it grew after washing, I hemmed the bottom instead making a cute little bump. I finished it off with a bit of red ribbon.

Elliott's dwarf costume was crazy simple to put together. He wore a pair of brown cotton pants, an oversized long sleeve green shirt, and a pair of fleece 'boot' slippers as well as a 'belt' that I sewed together from a piece of black 1 inch elastic. (I tried to get him to wear a real belt...but apparently that was very traumatizing and involved lots of tears. Since this is supposed to be a fun holiday, I opted for a more toddler-friendly option ;)

I improvised a beard bib using some 'santa beard' fur fabric from Joann's. I just put right sides together traced the upper part of a bib directly onto the wrong side then made a beard shape at the bottom. I pinned, cut and sewed without messing with anything because this stuff shed like crazy. Once I turned it inside out, I added snaps and presto: a beard that a kid will keep on!

The hat was equally improved and easy. I sewed it together using some knit fabric with a tad of spandex. I measured Elliott's head, subtracted (maybe 3-4 inches) for some negative ease and used the natural tube of the fabric so I only had one seam to sew. I just made a straight tube for about 6-7 inches, then tapered it down to a rounded 'point', sewed the side seam and added a rolled hem. Easy peasy! And the best part? He actually WORE it! This kid hasn't kept a hat on his head for longer than 2 seconds for almost a year!

We had a great time this year and it was so fun to see Elliott start to get into it. He helped me carve pumpkins and really seemed to enjoy wearing his costume to my office potluck and his Gymboree class. All in all a super great Halloween!

Small Sewing

One of the things that I like about sewing is the instant gratification factor. It's awesome that in an afternoon or in a couple evenings you can have something to show for your efforts. And lately, given the toddler situation around here, quick bursts of crafting time is all I really have. So it is no wonder, that I am going for my sewing machine a bit more lately. A couple of my more recent sewing projects, all though hardly timely, are below.

I made two of these 'He-Molly' Monkeys for gifts last Christmas. One I finished (in time) for my cousin's baby and the other was for Elliott...who got it closer to his birthday at the beginning of February. The pattern is basically a boy version of the Molly Monkey. I didn't realize at the time, given my more limited internet-investigating time as of late, that the designer has a boy version for sale, called the Mikey Monkey. Oops. I totally didn't meant to try and get away with not buying the boy pattern, I just saw this one, thought it was cute and thought I would improvise a boy one. However, because she does sell a boy pattern and out of respect to the designer's work, I'm not going to go into details here as to what I did to change things up. It will be more of a show and tell kind of post.

However, a couple of things I will tell you about is how I put the face and head together. Since I knew I wanted to embroider the face (easily), I decided to attach the face pieces first and do the embroidery flat, then sew the whole head together rather than the other way around. I also used some Wonder Under on the face panel and ear panels to stick them to the face and ear pieces really well, then embroidered the details on top.

I was able to get some remnant flannel at Joann's for the body and face, but otherwise his clothes are all from the scrap bin. I think the two monkeys together cost a whopping $4. :)

Another relatively quick and cute sewing project was a pair of Cutie Booties for Nonnahs's little girl, Bean. These came from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book and were pretty ingenious to put together. The only trouble I had was due to my decision to work on these after Elliott went to bed and being a little brain fried. With clear thoughts, these probably would have taken me half the time they did.

I made the six month size since she was approximately six months at the time these were gifted. And in looking through the scrap bin again for appropriate fabric pieces, I discovered the perfect selection: scraps left over from Nonnahs's wedding quilt! I especially like the red on the inside :)

Anyway, I can't comment at all on the fit, but they are super cute and would make a great shower gift for someone special.

Speaking of shower gifts (nice segue don't you think ;), I recently put together this set for a co-worker of mine. She LOVES (seriously, in all caps) Tinkerbell. She had even contemplated making a Tinkerbell bedding set for her baby's crib before deciding it just wasn't something she was willing to take on right now. She ended up opting for purple butterflies and I had a great time putting a little set together with 4 Tinkerbell print flannel burp cloths and a Tinkerbell "Cora blanket" (flannel on one side and regular cotton on the other). For both the burp cloths and the blanket I was able to pair a Tinkerbell print with something else so it wouldn't be 'too much' and also tie into their purple butterfly theme.

And I have to say, I think I may have turned a corner in my crafting. I used to rarely, if ever, make something for someone else that I didn't also really like myself. Not to say that I didn't make something specifically for them, just that I had to like it, too. Mostly this was because I had to enjoy the process of making it and if it wasn't something I liked, I used to have trouble getting through it. Anyway, I am far from a Tinkerbell person. I don't have any problem with Tinkerbell, I'm just more of a Winnie-the-Pooh kinda gal. But, I can't tell you how much fun I had with this project. I was so excited about it the whole time I worked on it. I just knew she would really like the prints and I think the fabric prints came together well. And the best part? She (and her husband!) ended up being as excited about them as I was! :)

Refashioning...of Sorts...

Okay somehow we missed ANOTHER milestone around here...our last post was post 800!!! How crazy is that!

Anyway, one of the things I have always loved to do, but seldom do myself, is refashioning! I love the idea of making something new from something you already have. (I do this almost every year for my Halloween costume). My sister-in-law in France is particularly good at this and the Wardrobe Refashion blog has a ton of ideas. I have grand plans of doing this on a larger scale someday, but I don't have much space around the houseright now to keep the 'supplies' until I'm suitably inspired. (Although, given how practically every shirt I own is now stained from various baby emitting substances and we don't have any money for new clothes right now, I have a feeling you may be seeing some stain hiding refashioning sooner than later!) But in the meantime, I've completed a couple 'refashioning' of sorts projects to spiff up some previously generated projects for new recipients.

First up, I had made the Debbie Bliss Shawl-Collared Jacket from Baby Knits for Beginners as a baby gift for my niece...only at the time we didn't know if she was going to be a niece or a nephew. My sister-in-law offered to mail it back to me so that we could use it for Elliott, since my niece has long since out grown it. My niece had gotten quite a bit of wear out of it. In fact, not only had she worn it...but she had worn the buttons right off of it! I loved these little buttons. They were super cute, but (note to self) plastic novelty buttons may not always hold up to the demands of a toddler. Since its easier to get notions here (rather than in the small town in France where my niece lives), it came back with just one little button still attached. I wish I had taken a picture before I took off the button and the rest of the broken button backs. But after all I am a bad blogger, so no before shot, other than to show you what it looked like on my niece:

By the way, she may actually be the happiest child...EVER!

So my sole refashioning task was to add new buttons. But given that this was one of the first crafty things I did after giving birth, it was a large enough task at the time. I was inspired by the wood buttons Nonnahs had added to the BSJ she knit for Elliott, Pine (here), so I picked out some appropriate wooden buttons for the Grandpa Sweater (as I call it) and came up with this:

Now I am anxiously awaiting for Elliott to be big enough to wear it!

The other little 'refashioning' project I did, was to up the style factor on some burp cloths I made 'en mass' prior to Elliott's arrival. I had a couple unused pink ones that I thought might be perfect for Nonnahs' Bean. I had originally left them without any additionaly decoration, but thought Nonnahs would like a little bright ribbon accent:


So with the help of a long nap time, I was able to sew on a strip of ribbon to both sides of each cloth for a complete 'Shannonizing' of these burp cloths:

You may have noticed the colors in this ribbon are very similar to our blog colors...and that was very intentional. Originally I had planned to use a brown and pink ribbon as an accent, but the ribbon was misplaced the day I went to work on this project, so the ribbon was substituted...and I'm actually much happier with this version. Nonnahs loves bright, happy colors, so I think this color combo suits her more.

And finally, since I can't really post a crafty post without sharing a current photo of my favorite 'project' ever, here's Elliott enjoying his Baby Einstein excer-station-saucer-thing:


He's growing up so fast! He turned 16 weeks yesterday (*gasp*) and I'm amazed at his finger and hand control. (I could literally watch his hands move all day!) He is truely fascinated by the world around him and what his body can do. I've also been back to work for the last 4 weeks, which is still an adjustment, but I think its going as well as it could. Elliott spends his days with daddy (who is a student) and then I take over when I get home late afternoon. Fortunately, I'm only working 4 days a week right now (way to go bad economy! ;) so that's making it a bit easier, despite our painfully reduced income. All in all, I consider us truly blessed and I couldn't ask for anything more. Take care everyone and more projects to come!

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!

blender bread, booties, and other misc. crafting

Christmas has come a little early here. Last week we received our Christmas present from B's folks: a new blender...and spent last weekend blending all manner of foods. One of the things this handy dandy machine lets you do is make your own whole wheat flour and then make dough for fresh wheat bread.

Here's the flour after the blender pulverized the whole wheat berries:


And the dough...which is nothing more than the fresh flour, water, yeast and some honey:


And here's the bread, which was super tasty!:


I've also been doing a bit of knitting, which you probably wouldn't have guessed given my more recent sewing posts. I made a pair of Saartje's Booties (free pdf and on Ravelry here) for a co-worker's baby girl. I knit them out of about a 1/3 hank of Knit Picks Sock Landscape yarn from my stash. These were super fun and fairly simple to knit. The best part was when the little toe took shape - it made me super happy.


I also started a Tilted Duster (Ravelry link) made out of some Rowan Magpie I've had in my stash for a very long time. I think it will be a perfect during-and-after-pregnancy sweater.

I've already knit the back and the fronts and almost one sleeve. I didn't bother with progress photos because nothing is blocked and frankly all the pieces look like nondescript gray rolled tubes at this point. I'm trying to power through the sleeves so that I can get to the skirt as fast as possible. It seems like people have been able to knit this sweater pretty quickly and I really need some longer sweaters now that my normal ones are starting to look short over my maternity shirts.

However, I've also been distracted by the cutest of flannels on sale at Joann's this week:

These are destined to be more burp cloths and bibs...I just can't help myself...They are so cute and so cheap to make!

Baby Sewing

I know, I know...'not more baby projects!' But, yeah, that's what I got. I've been meaning to share these for a couple weeks now, but I've been spending more time in front of the sewing machine and less time in front of the computer.

First up, I made a couple pairs of cloth baby shoes. I was originally inspired by these since I had scraps of the same line of Heather Ross fabrics leftover from this quilt. The inspiration shoes use this tutorial, which looks like it puts out a very nicely made finished project. However, since my scraps were smaller than I thought and I didn't have any of the fleecy stuff for the soles, I ended up using the tutorial here for 3-seam baby footies.

The finished product

I also wanted to show photos of the insides, since I added little 'details' with some of the smaller-scale images on the fabric:

"Leetle Doggies"

"Leetle Froggies"

These came together really easy and I was able to use stash for everything but the gripper fabric for the bottom of the shoes, which I had purchased on sale when I originally thought I would be making the other cloth shoes. (I'm notorious for only reading instructions half way, I read about the gripper fabric but not the fleecy stuff and I didn't feel like going back to the fabric store right then.) I still plan to make the original shoes, but I also want to make some like the booties from the Little Stitches book. You can see some nice ones here.

I also made a bunch of bibs out of scraps from various projects. I followed this tutorial. In some cases, I even sewed fabric scraps together to make pieces big enough to make the bib front or back pieces. Here are the fronts:

And I matched each front fabric with a back piece of flannel in one of these three prints as best I could:

The only cost associate with the bibs was the remnant of monkey flannel I bought for $2 (I'm a sucker for monkeys :) and the pack of snaps...The snaps are key by the way. I opted for the hammer-in kind and I'm glad I did. They look more 'professional' and seem like they will actually hold up to lots of on and off tugging and use.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm currently looking into tutorials for baby slings and hope to have one worked up pretty soon.

Amy Butler Patchwork Throw

One part of the reorganization effort going on around our house is finishing up partial crafting projects. And one such project taking up valuable baby-conversion space was the Amy Butler Patchwork Throw from In Stitches that has been in the works since July 2007. I got through a good portion of the project on vacation that summer (farther than I actually planned), but it sat in a bag with all the leftover fabric on the floor of our bedroom since then...and yes, we are a tidy folk ;-)

Over the last year, I've thought about reviving this project many times, but I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. There were a lot of problems with it when I put it away and I kept envisioning the nightmare that quilting on a jacked up quilt top was going to be. The positives were that since beginning the original quilting, I had since purchased a walking foot for my sewing machine and completed a ton more quilting and sewing projects. I knew this would help with some of the pulling and puckering issues...but nothing was going to erase the poor sewing on the top of the quilt. And like most things, it pays to have the right equipment for the job and the quilting ended up going much smoother than I had envisioned.

A word of warning for those attempting to make this project...it's a bit strange at least in my limited experience. You don't actually piece the top together like you would for a normal quilt. You sew a large piece of muslin together then attach the patchwork top pieces according to the pattern. Then you (basically) applique another layer of smaller patchwork pieces to the throw top. Then you sew it all together. I'm sure you can see now all the room for error in this project when you have a novice sewer without the proper equipment.

Another issue that caused even more inconsistency problems was that I hand cut each fabric piece with scissors...not a rotary cutter and mat. I also pin basted the throw together...which I will never do again. While I'm generally one for the less gimicky option when it comes to things, I really do love my adhesive basting spray. It keeps things so smooth and wrinkle free, which really helps in eliminating puckers and other problems.

Now, lets talk about the fabric choices for a moment. I saved a ton of money on these. Mainly because I actually figured out how much I needed rather than going by the generous recommendations in the book. This saved me about 1/2 of the fabric requirements! I also got them online and on sale. I did my best to pick out things that would work together, but there are a few that I would not have put together if I had been selecting these in person. The good thing is that because they came from an Amy Butler line that was current at the time (Belle), the colors do coordinate. For example, the same robin's egg blue is seen in almost all the prints. However, there are a couple 'spotlight' fabrics that dominate a bit. I'm not worrying about this issue, since the patchwork nature of the throw is more hodge-podge than matchy-matchy.

As for the quilting itself, this is where I stopped looking at the pattern. I just randomly quilted lines on each piece of fabric in alternating directions using the guide bar on my walking foot. In a couple places, I mixed it up even more and made slanting quilt lines or lines in alternating sizes. I didn't worry about being crazy precise here, but the guide bar does help you fake symmetry really well ;) Finally, I backed and bound the throw with the same fabric. You can see a better representation of this particular fabric here.

This is a project that I am happy to be done with. Given all the problems, I am very happy with how it came out. I'm also very happy with the leftovers that I am now in the process of turning into bibs...wonderful bibs of many colors!

It's a....

So, I'm sure you are anxiously awaiting the details of Nonnahs' fabulous wedding last weekend, but except for confirming that it was indeed most fabulous, I'm going to let her share the details once she returns from her honeymoon. In the meantime, my plan is to fill in with baby news and baby projects!

We had our 20 week ultrasound last Wednesday and we did find out the gender...Final guesses everyone?

It's a boy! Here is one of my favorite photos:

I love his little frog legs :) Everything seems normal (and boy does this little guy move!) except he has ever-so-slightly enlarged kidneys, so we will probably need to have a follow up ultrasound in another couple months. We've also had the privilege of being stuck in the cycle of 'abnormal' Down Syndrome screening results, which sounds scary, but is really just a probability game. In the end (after a genetic counseling appointment and another more detailed ultrasound yesterday), we've decided that we aren't going to do any further testing and just go with it. I'm not stressing about it and our guts tells us he is healthy. Besides, if his current activity level is any indicator, we are going to have our hands full once he is out and about! Ack!

I also thought I would share a little 20 week tummy update. I took this in Hawaii at one of Nonnahs' favorite beach spots:

As for projects, I finished up my version of the Get Ziggy sweater (Ravelry link here).

I knit the 12 month size with one hank and a little more (maybe 1.1) of Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Spring Tickle on size 8 (and 6 for the ribbing) needles. This was a great pattern! It was also the first baby knit I've finished that actually seemed to be fast to me. Not really anything else to say about this one since everything was straight forward and the yarn was fabulous!

I've also finished up some sewing projects. I made up half a dozen burp cloths using my leftover fabric from my quilt class quilt (btw - I bet these colors make a lot more since now that you know we were thinking about starting our family at the time!) and cloth diapers.

I used this tutorial but without any embelishments (it was hard to find ribbon or bias tape to match all three color sets and I didn't want to buy something different for each one...this was a stash busting project after all!).

I also made another half of a dozen burp cloths from this tutorial (burping cloths) with two flannel prints.

I had planned to follow this other tutorial originally, but was going to modify them without the batting and without the fringe, so when my sister-in-law forwarded me a link to the other tutorial, I just followed that one instead (since it didn't require me actually re-making the pattern piece).

I also made a little travel blanket (instructions courtesy of my friend Cora) with the rest of the duck flannel and a piece of complementary print cotton. Again, I left off any embellishments and just kept it simple.

And while we now know that this baby will be a boy, I'm still planning to continue to make unisex projects because like I said before...you never know what will come next!

Nonnahs' First Quilt (the show & tell continues!)

Since Dis just shared her adorable first quilt with us, and since I recently stumbled upon my first quilt again by chance, I thought I would share mine, too. This photo makes me so happy, I can't even tell you.

First thing's first. I don't think I've blogged about my sewing yet, so I guess I'll start at the beginning. I learned to sew (and embroider and cross-stitch, etc, etc) from my paternal grandma. I owe so much of my craftiness to her. I remember being very little (pre-school age), sitting with her at her sewing machine- she would press the peddle as I helped her feed the fabric through. Eventually, I got my own little, kid-sized machine and we would sew side-by-side. She was big into patchwork quilts. It was the early 70s in Hawaii, mind you, so these were some seriously bright quilts! I remember helping her cut out squares (with scissors - no rotary cutters back then), sew them together, then press the seams open. We also made aprons, but I'll save that for another post.

Fast forward to the summer before 7th grade when Dee and I took a sewing class together at a local Bernina store (she will correct me on the year, if I'm wrong). That's when I learned to read and follow patterns. Until then, free-form sewing was all I knew. I made some really ugly early 80s clothes in that class. But, that's okay, it was fun- and I was learning.

Fast forward to college, when my stepmom gifted me a sewing machine (that I still use- bless it for hanging in there all these years). I really got into sewing some of my own clothes (dresses, skirts, pants). A few years later, Lisa was pregnant with her first child, and since I was going to be an aunty* for the first time and excited as all get out, something made me want to sew a baby quilt. I picked up a random book of baby quilts from a fabric store and fumbled my way through it. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I knew (and remembered) enough to get by.

My first quilt was a baby quilt for Jack, who is now nearly13 years old. (Holy crap, is my boy almost a teenager? *shudder*) When I was at that cookie swap, I went looking for a kid and wound up finding a deserted fortress compound. To my delight (understatement), what did I see as one of the fort walls? That's right! Jack's quilt! The photo quality isn't the best, but I couldn't resist sneaking a picture of it, as is, before the little ones returned. The scene was too precious to pass up.

I'll have to ask Lisa to get a better picture of it, but for now this works. I love seeing it in this context. I can't tell you how much I love the fact that it's being used as part of a fort! Lisa, Dee, and I made similar forts like this when we were little, too.

* When you grow up in Hawaii, pretty much everyone older than you is considered your Aunty or Uncle, whether you're related to them or not- it really doesn't matter.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Nonnahs spoke a couple posts ago about 're-entry' following a vacation. I generally like to give myself a day or two to settle before going back to work after a break or a trip, but I don't feel like I have true re-entry issues...that is, not until this last vacation. Maybe it was the level of work and productivity we had been running at all summer. Maybe it was the fact that we no longer have an imminent deadline we are working towards at the office...just the next day. I don't know. What I do know is that I have felt weird and I've had trouble doing normal stuff like emailing and blogging. Consequently, I have a thousand things to post about and have needed to post about for weeks. In order to save you all, I figured, once again, photos are the best option...

First, I've finally begun to put into practice 'my plan' to supplement my t-shirt wardrobe with some skirts. So far, I'm pleased with the results. They are fun and quick to make, have fit in well with things I already have (except shoes, I really do need a new pair of brown shoes), and are actually serving to inspire my future knit projects (a side-effect I wasn't expecting). It's even more fun when you get he opportunity to sew with someone else...

This is a skirt that makes me happy. It is certainly not "cute" in the fashion sense.

But this makes me happy:

Here is an example of one that came out fairly well, even if I had to attach the elastic 3 times. It goes with 4 of my t-shirts, so it's doing it's job. (btw - see what I mean about the shoes?) (And what is with that dude behind me? Sheesh, you can't even take an FO photo in the office without getting harassed anymore.) Both of these skirts are basic A-lines using Sew What? Skirts as an inspiration.


I also finally managed to take a photo of the Amy Butler wide-leg pants I made from In Stitches. I wear these all the time and have fabric for another pair...that I may even work on this weekend...

I also finally finished a dish/wash cloth I had on the needles for a ridiculous amount of time. I actually put this away as part of my UFO roundup at the beginning of the year and decided to take it out and finish it for August's UFO Resurrection Challenge contribution.

It got stalled out because I had planned to make it more of a towel than a dishrag, but it had been one of the things that led to the trouble I had with my hands last year (cotton on straight needles). When I pulled it back out, I realized that it was pretty much a prefect size...especially once it was washed. So I knit a couple more finishing rows, bound off and ended up with a nice little addition to my grandma's 92nd birthday haul:

Now one of the things I am most excited about is that I finally organized my stash! I was dreading seeing it all in one place. But when I needed to locate the last two balls of yarn I needed for my Seraphim shawl and I had NO idea where they were, I knew it was finally time to take on this project. So, a couple Saturday's ago (blogless) Dr. Nyl came over, we took it all out, photographed everything, and re-packaged it by project type. Honestly? It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and I feel really good about my stash. It was nice to see what I have, be reminded about what I plan to make with some of these, and consolidate out some of the things I know I will never use.

Finally, as hinted in our retreat wrap-up post, I finished Seraphim.

And I blocked it...

Now, I just need to take a couple more photos (preferably where I don't look like I've recently been run over by a tractor) and I will have a FO post to share!