Another Emmeline Apron for a birthday gift.  This is such a great re-usable pattern.  In fact, I've gifted all the ones I've made and I've yet to make one for me.  What's up with that?  I used Heather Bailey 's latest fabric line, Nicey Jane , from my favorite online fabric store, QuiltHome . Hmm, looking at this picture, I realize I may have cut the patterned fabric upside down. Oh well, no matter, I guess.  Also, really wishing I had one of those sewing forms/mannequin things right now or a magic way to lose 24 extra pregnancy, I-ate-whatever-I-wanted, pounds in less than two years. I gave this apron to my sister with this fun and inspiring cookbook from the ridiculously talented  The Pioneer Woman , whose website I found a couple of months ago and absolutely love. -- For a couple of quick sewing tips, see the post on Emmeline Apron 2 , and here is another Emmeline Apron .

A while back I made the Sophia Carry-all bag for my little monkey pants when she had to go to the hospital for surgery. I've been meaning to make another one for my little boy and as I get closer to my due date, the idea surfaced again because he will need a little day bag for his things while I'm in the hospital and he goes to a friends house. Our hospital isn't allowing any children visitors at all due to the H1N1 flu season. Realistically, I didn't really think I would have the determination or stamina required for the Sophia Carry-all and he's really quite small to carry it on his own so I decided on this totally adorable toddler back pack, pattern by Made by Rae . It sews up pretty quickly because it doesn't require any complicated interfacing, nor custom made piping, and it isn't lined, although I had every intention of lining it anyway. When it was done, I was happy enough with the way it was, I didn't line it.  It has padded, adjustable stra...

37+ weeks Although self portraits are not exactly my cup of tea, I thought I'd give it a try. Most came out quite poorly to put it mildly. At least now I can see these maternity pants aren't as flattering as I thought. But since I don't think I've had any photos of this pregnancy and in a little bit of a rush in case I went into labor I took some quick shots. Remind me to clean the mirror; it's not my shirt that's dirty all over, really.

Pattern: Reversible Fingerless Gloves Designer: Cotton & Cloud Materials: Knit Picks Merino Style ; Ella Rae Classic Solid Worsted Amount: (1) 50g ball yellow plus assorted colors; (1/2) 100g ball aqua Needles: US6 and US5 bamboo DPNS Cost: $2.79/ball; $6.50/ball Size: small Start Date: Dec. 21, 2009 Finish Date: Dec. 31, 2009 I finished my last knitted Christmas gift yesterday -another pair of fingerless mittens by Cotton & Cloud. Very cute. The recipient was pretty happy with them which is always a good thing. I paired them up with the first ones I made for her husband. So they have sort of a matching set. I think they will get some use out of them on their daily commutes in New York where they live. I used the smaller US 5 size needles to knit up the aqua Ella Rae wool because it's a worsted weight instead of a DK weight like the rest of the Knit Picks merino wool yarns and that seemed to be the right adjustment to get the stitches to m...

Pattern: Montera Hat Designer: Pam Allen Materials: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Flammé Amount: (1.5) 50g ball Needles: US7 and US10 16" circular Addi Turbo Cost: $10.00/ball approx. $20.00 Size: one size Start Date: Dec. 3, 2009 Finish Date: Dec. 9, 2009 Ravelry Project Link This was a fun hat to knit. A little like the Koolhaas pattern; but easier since you don't have to hold stitches. That's not to say I didn't screw up the pattern several times anyway. Some of the rows are more confusing than others, but there are detailed instructions as well as a chart. The yarn was pretty luxurious for what I usually use. No mail order this time. It's a 10 ply aran weight, 50% Peruvian Wool, 30% Super Fine Alpaca, and 20% Silk. It has a thick and thin consistency (I don't know what this is called), which makes it very forgiving and I like the way the leaves ended up looking kind of rounded instead of triangle shape like the pattern picture. On the other ...

I only managed to churn out two out of four pajama pants by Christmas Eve, but even that was enough to surprise myself.  I don't have a small enough pajama pant pattern for my little guy that is just two years old and I wasn't up to the task of drawing one out again this year.  I tried in vain to find a free toddler pajama pant pattern online and finally had to go to my nearest Walmart on Christmas Eve to get one.  I hate paying full price for a pattern --I'm quite frugal when it comes to certain things.  I usually only buy them when they're on sale for $1.99 so even the special Walmart price of $7-8 seemed steep for a pajama pattern, but I actually managed to find a cute one that I'll be able to re-use for both kids for quite a few years, it's New Look 6861 size 3-8.  It was less than $4.  I still had to size down the smallest size but it was fairly simple to do.  I  like this one over the miriad of other pajama ...