Solstice wreath

i've been trying to figure out what sort of winter holiday traditions i want to build for my son.
i have no enthusiasm for christmas and all of it's commercial trappings, and i'm not playing any santa claus games.
but i don't want him to feel like he's missing out as he gets older, and his friends are all doing trees and decorations and what not.
i'm a lazy pagan. we talk about the solstice, and what it means to be the shortest day. we recently talked about how all the winter holidays are basically celebration of light in the dark time of the year.
in the past we've lit candles for solstice.
i'm trying to add a little bit every year.
being a crafty family it seemed natural to make some crafting traditions

so this year we made our first wreath.

christmas trees have an older pagan tradition of bringing greens into the home during the cold dark winter to remind one of the living green things
and we have no room for trees in our tiny apartment
so i thought a wreath would be just the thing
kiddo helped me with the wire

i added some roses i dried from my birthday bouquet

fleece lined recycled sweater mittens

every year i make a pair of fleece mittens for my son, last year when we visited snow they just weren't warm enough. this year i wanted to make them warmer by using 2 layers, at first i was going to use more fleece, but all the scraps of sweater laying around from another project gave me an idea.

and so i made these

i traced his hand to base the simple pattern on

first i sewed the palm pieces together, double layered

it took a few pairs before i decided on how i wanted the cuff

i ended up tucking the raw edges in and sewing them before assembling the front to back
on the palm side i would sew another line 1/4 or 3/8 in in from the other one to form elastic casing. and cut a piece of elastic about 2 in, and thread that through with a safety pin on each side. (i didn't get any pics of that)
next pin the front and back sides, and sew making sure the elastic is caught in the hem, then remove the safety pins, and trim any extra bits

i found that working with so many layers i always had to turn it over and make sure i had gotten all the sweater and all the fleece, and often had to go over spots i'd missed
available in my etsy shop http://www.elzzadoll.etsy.com

i declare these jeans improved

sunday mornings have been turning into sewing for me time. since i spend the rest of the week sewing things for elzzadoll clothes.
last week i made a leather scrap fanny pack/utility belt.
this week i decided to fix up a pair of jeans i rarely ever wore.
the main problem was the big metal jeans buttons on the pockets, which made it uncomfortable for me to rest my hands in them, something i do a lot. i had to cut them out, then patch up the holes. i liked the idea of having secret butterflies in my pockets, that probably no one but me would ever see.
then decided to pretty up the rest of the jeans with some more butterflies.
they're not boring anymore!

hats hats hats

as the weather cools down i've been getting crazy with the hat making

classic paper pumpkins

at 3 1/2, kiddo is super into halloween this year
all the scarey stuff,
and decorations!

he wanted to start decorating the apartment this weekend, so we went right to the classic paper jack o'lanterns

of course he did all the drawing and cutting himself

as well as the gluing

!!!!

kiddo's legwarmers

A few weeks ago i was finishing up a pair of leg warmers for myself (20-20 leg warmers pattern available on ravelry.com), when my son declared he wanted some legwarmers too.

And, he wanted them to be very soft, so we dug around in my stash and found some Malabrigo worsted in a gorgeous blue that he had helped me pick out some time ago.

So i whipped up the following pattern for

SEED STRIPED LEG WARMERS:

with size 8 dpns cast on 36 stitches (these were made for a 3 1/2 yr old, and can easily be adjusted by adding or subtracting stitches by twos)

k1p1 for 8 rounds.

* k 3 rounds in stockinette st.
seed stitch: p1k1 across 1 round,
then k1p1 across 1 round*

repeat ** 6 more times (more or less depending on desired length)

k 3 rounds stockinette st

switch to size 6 dpns
k1p1 6 rows
bind off

recycled magazine pin project for kids

this project is fun and easy, and makes a great gift

what you will need:
cereal box or other cardboard, magazines or catalouges,
glue, glitter glue and or glitter, glue gun,
pin backs, plastic gems, googley eyes, feathers or other decorations
scissors
optional: stencils or shapes to trace

depending on the age of your kid, they may be able to do more or less of this project themselves

step one: pick your pictures
kiddo chose several animal pictures and cut them out roughly
then we decided what shape to make each one. and i cut it out more precisely. next trace that shape onto the cardboard and cut it out too.


step two: glue it down
my son painted the white glue onto the cardboard piece and placed the picture on top, pressing it down. then he squirted some glitter glue on top of the picture and spread it around w/ the brush.

step three: decorate it
he sprinkled some other glitter on it just for good measure.
then we let it dry.
when we came back to it he chose some "gems" and googly eyes, and placed them where he wanted them. i glued them in place w/ the glue gun, and glued the pin to the back.

current obsession: crocheting shoes

i will never buy shoes again.

i bought this pattern on etsy quite awhile ago, but then got distracted. a few weeks ago i went out and bought all the necessary supplies; jute twine, 3 balls worsted weight cotton for the inner soles, and 1 ball worsted weight cotton for the body.

they work up real fast.

but i found that despite the triple cotton sole on top, the jute made my feet itchy. i ended up cutting a liner out of scrap denim, folding under the edges and zigzag stitching it. then hand sewed it in.




while i was working on my maryjanes, both my partner and my son declared they wanted some too.
so i went back to her etsy shop and bought 2 more patterns.


kiddo decided he wanted slippers first, so i'll be making some outside shoes for him soon.
























and for my man, i got the awesome slippers pattern, and made the outer sole from hemp, which seemed to be less scratchy.

i am so in love with this concept, and after a few goes in a few sizes i feel confident to tweak her pattern, and make it my own.

i could make anything now, from sandals to boots
look for updates soon

more pants from shirts

I couldn't resist, went right out the next day to goodwill and brought home a pile of ladies' shirts. cut them all up and got to work sewing.

Eamon chose the green flowers for himself.

look for them soon on etsy

kid pants from dad's old shirt

My son's been going through a growth spurt, so today i decided to make him some new "snuggy pants" (his name for comfy cotton knit pants). But i didn't have anything that wasn't spoken for in my stash of knits.

So i pulled out my bag of t-shirts for reconstruction projects, and found one of daddy's old shirts.

You can use any pattern you like, or make up your own. I modified one for size 3t leggings, to make the pantlegs wider, looser.







sew the inseams, the crotch seam, turn the waist band, (the bottom of the legs already have the original shirt seam)













measure, and insert the elastic into the casing (21" here)








overlap elastic and sew, close the waistband.









voila
i'll be heading to goodwill soon to find some fun stripey t-shirts for more snuggy pants, i'm betting this works w/ sweatshirts too