Here’s her birthday banner in action.

There were plenty of friends for Mike and I to hang out with but little Sesame had some buddies to play with too.

There were cupcakes to be eaten. They’re carrot-pineapple cupcakes with a little cream cheese frosting and since the birthday girl loves birds (or bees, as she calls them), I decorated them with bird’s nests made from kataifi (shredded phyllo dough) and little jelly bean eggs.’ The frosting is colored with natural colorings- raspberry for pink, blueberry for lavender and turmeric for the yellow. I made a ton of cupcakes and only had one left after everyone went home. I want some more!

There were also a few presents to be opened. Sesame loved all her things but her stuffed dolphin and Hello Kitty purse and wallet were definitely the biggest hits.

I actually made her pretty party dress! It’s the first thing I’ve sewed using a real pattern and with things like gathers and buttonholes in a long time. I got the pattern from that*darn*kat on Etsy and it was really easy to make. I want one in my size!

It was a fun birthday party and I can’t believe my little girl is (almost) 2!

I cut the triangles out with the top edge along the fold of the fabric, so they’re double sided. They’ll probably flip around when the wind blows them so I wanted them to be pretty on both sides. I folded them with the wrong sides together and sewed along the edges using the rolled hem stitch on my serger. (side note: My husband is awesome. When I told him I was sewing the flags he said, “You’re not sewing, you’re overlocking.”) The letters are cut from white felt and I attached them with fabric glue.

I attached them all together by sewing a length of rick-rack along the top edge. I can’t wait to hang them up for her party!

Now that she’s nearly 2, Sesame is getting to be quite helpful around the house. At least she thinks she’s helping. Here she’s trying to wash the dishes. She mostly just got water all over. Notice where she’s standing- not on the platform of her learning tower, but on the rail. The kid is fearless.

She’s wearing some shorts that I just finished knitting. She wears a wool soaker (or woolly as we call them) at night so these will be nice for the summer. They’re a short version of the Perfection Pants that I’ve knitted before. I used one skein of Cascade 220 Quatro that I had left over from a cardigan I knitted. I embroidered some flowers to make them a little cuter and added some extra stitches in the bind-off of the cuffs so it made a little ruffle. It just needs a drawstring. They were falling off of her when I took this picture- her little bottom is not really so square shaped.

I love this little dress! Like everything I’ve knit recently, it’s making wasn’t without a near-disaster. It was almost ruined when I put it on the little ungrateful toddler and she had a screaming fit and yanked at it so hard that she totally stretched out the buttonholes and I was afraid for the hand-stitching. Luckily it survived (with lots of buttonhole reinforcement) but not until I took a time-out from her,’ though lying down on my comfy bed while’ mentally fixing I dress I just finished making and trying to tune out the sobs of “mamaaa, mamaaa” and little toddler fists pounding on my door is not very relaxing.

I shouldn’t have been too surprised. She was crying just seconds before I took this picture, I thought she was going to ruin this sweater with the yanking at the neckline the first time I put it on her and she even had a fit when I first made her wear this little cardigan and it’s made of cashmere and silk! What a terrible mom I am. She doesn’t cry about new store bought clothes so I’m trying really hard to not take this personally. At least she gets over it and is usually more cooperative by the second wearing.

The pattern is the Two Summer Sundressand it’s pretty darn clever. The straps can uncross to add a little more length and the straps have 2 buttonholes too. This one can grow with the kid. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash so the whole thing can go in the washer. I will definitely make more of these, although I may have to try machine sewing my knitting, something I’ve been avoiding. I hand-sewed the skirt to the bodice but it was a little tedious.

Finally, a sunny day and a willing husband! Here are pictures of the cardigan I finished last month. I would show you my face but it was sunny and I’m all squinty. I love it (the cardigan, not the squinty face). It’s so simple and cute and warm but not too warm. It’s just a basic top-down raglan and I saw the horseshoe lace pattern on this cardigan and loved it so I added it to mine. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to close it so I employed the knit-now, decide-later method and as it turns out, I can just shove the buttons through the knitting so no buttonholes are necessary. Simple and easy.

The best part?’ I got this fabulous hand-painted yarn (blue mountain fiber arts icelandic) in a yarn swap! The color in the first pic is more accurate. Someone took my crap and I got this. It’s hard to imagine it being someone’s crap but then again, that’s probably what someone is saying about my unwanted yarn.

One more thing I love- signs of spring!! It really is coming.

I’m so close to having 100 sales in my etsy shop! I was hoping for 100 by Christmas but at this rate I’ll easliy surpass that. Good thing, ’cause I’m making no money at my job.

My knitting has taken a bit of a back seat since it’s been so warm but I’ve been doing some other crafting (not just for my shop) and I do have some knitting to show.

I’m still working on Mike’s sweater. It’s coming along but I’m not in a big hurry to finish it since this is the wrong season for wearing a wool sweater. It’s been in the planning stages for so long (a year!) that I just want to get it done so I’ll keep at it.

I’m knitting Avast from Knitty but neither Mike nor I liked the cable at the bottom so he picked this one out instead. Well, if I’m being honest, this was his second choice but I like it better than his first choice and since I’m the one who has to knit it, well, you know the story.

I have been sewing too! I’m really proud of this project.

Now that sesame is getting bigger, I can no longer fit all her shoes, socks, hats, pants and pajamas all in one dresser drawer! Her clothes are getting bigger right along with her. Shocking, I know. So I’ve had to do some rearranging and her room needs more storage space. I have this hanging organizer for her diapers and I really like it so I set out to recreate it in way cooler fabrics.

It was a lot of work to figure it out but It turned out great! I took a lot of notes and pictures along the way so I’m hoping to write up a tutorial for it. Let me know if you’d be interested and I’ll do it sooner rather than later.

Also on the sesame front, I made her the cutest little skirtie! It’s a wool diaper cover with a ruffly skirt knitted onto it.

The soaker pattern I used was the curly purly pattern. After it was done, I picked up a row of stitches about 2 inches below the top and knitted the skirt part.

The pink yarn is Lambs Pride Worsted and the grey is a combination of Eco Wool left over from my Hemlock Ring Blanket and some grey Wool of the Andes that I had laying around.

Bradely, all wet and happy after swimming.

one husband and 1 new (to me) house. The house, by the way, is the reason I missed going to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival this weekend! I got so caught up doing work on the house that I totally spaced on the festival and forgot it was this weekend! Of course I remembered too late to get there yesterday and today I have to work. Anyone buying an old, fixer kind of house should definitely weigh risks such as this. It’s probably a good thing in the end, though, because I shouldn’t be spending any more money on yarn right now. I have a lot of projects that need finishing.

As I mentioned yesterday, I sewed a great roll-up knitting needle case. Here are some pics. The print fabrics are cotton upholstery fabrics and the solid is a sateen cotton.

Now my needles can be neat and tidy! I just need something for those pesky circulars . . .