{26 Things I Made} 11/26: More Slippers

Another pair of knitted slippers - these were a birthday present for Alex.  He has been wearing them round the house at every opportunity since I finished them a couple of days ago.  It's so nice when your craft is well received!



Ravelry details here.

{26 Things I Made} 9/26: Baby Bibs

Some more gifts for new babies.  They have two snaps on the neck so they are adjustable and can be used for longer.  I have been making these bibs for years and they are always gratefully received and well used by the mamas I have gifted them to.  I made doubles of some of these which I will try and list in my very neglected Felt Shop in the next few days.

{26 Things I Made}: 8/26 Taggie Toys

Some more dinosaur taggies from this pattern and some cloud taggies, inspired by this and this.  The backs of the cloud taggies have some cute cloud fabric that I got from Spotlight ages ago that has been in my stash waiting for the right project.  I saw the cloud cushion on Pinterest, thought of my cloud fabric and it all clicked.  These toys all have a small rattle insert inside so they double as rattles as well as tag toys.  The clouds have a loop of ribbon at the top so they can be hung from a baby gym or above a buggy or cot.  All are gifts for sweet new babies that have recently arrived or are about to arrive.

{26 Things I Made}: 5/26 Mr Owl pincushion

A cute owl pincushion for my crafty, owl-loving cousin for her birthday.  Funny story - our birthdays are 2 weeks apart and when we exchanged gifts we discovered that we had both given each other a handmade pincushion and bird-themed jewellery.  Great minds think alike!




The pattern is from here, though I modified the construction slightly.

{26 Things I Made} 4/26

Made for my new nephew, Benjamin.  A simple wee taggie Stegosaurus (a Tagosaurus perhaps?) toy using this pattern.  I would have preferred a less psychedelic shade of green, but this was the most suitable dinosaur-coloured fleece at my local fabric shop.  I embroidered the eyes and put a rattle insert inside when I stuffed him.  The rattle inserts are baby-safe and I double stitched the ribbons so it should be OK for a newborn.  I bought my rattle inserts on Etsy, but local Wellington peeps might be interested to know that I've since discovered them at Pete's Emporium in Porirua.  They are small sealed plastic containers that have a few balls inside.  A good way to turn a simple small softie into a baby's rattle.

Hello again

I didn't really mean to stop blogging for (ahem) more than two years, but you know, life got busy (teaching is lots of work!) and I wasn't crafting, so I didn't think I could post without something to show. Then I thought no-one was reading anymore, so I kinda just stopped.

But, last year, while writing a blog for my classroom, I realised I missed my own piece of blog-land.  I have still been keeping up with reading blogs, and pinning projects on pinterest.  Now I feel like getting back into the blog game.  One of my resolutions for 2013 is to make time to craft more.  Teaching is one of those jobs where there is a never-ending to-do list and I realised that I needed to let go of some things and be content that everything will not always get done.

Last year I enjoyed reading Clare's "52 Things I Made" series on Green Valley Crafts and so I've decided to do a similar series here to try and get me blogging regularly again.  I think 52 things is a bit ambitious, so I'm aiming for 26.  One per fortnight.  And to start me off, here are the first two, knitted for my future niece or nephew (who was born yesterday and turned out to be a boy, so the cardigan has gone to the "baby gifts" box).

{26 Things I Made} 1/26 + 2/26

"In Threes" cardigan - Ravelry details here

Striped Pebble Vest - Ravelry details here