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.

Most of the time that I’ve working with felt, it’s the recycled sweater kind but for this project, I used regular craft felt.

Supplies:

orange and white felt

white embroidery floss

orange thread

stuffing

This picture shows the pieces I used to make 3 orange slices. You only need one piece of each to make one slice. The shapes are pretty simple so I don’t think you really need a pattern. The white circles are 7 cm in diameter and the orange circles are 6 cm. (I like the metric system and it’s more accurate so there you go.)’ The orange peel pieces are 9 cm point to point and the width is 2.5 cm at the widest point.

Sew the orange circle to the top of the white circle. Don’t worry if it’s a little uneven, or not perfectly centered. This is fruit you’re making so a little wonkiness adds realism.

I separated the white embroidery thread in half and used 3 strands. All six strands looked too bulky to me but you can decide for yourself. Sew 3 straight lines across the orange piece as shown.

Fold the piece in half as shown so that the white lines form the orange’s sections. Hold the peel piece in place and begin sewing it down. I started sewing it towards the end of one side, as shown, because that allowed me to leave a good spot open for stuffing it later.

When you get to the point of the peel piece, fold the circle piece down and keep on sewing.

I sewed the pieces together using a simple whipstitch. Easy-peasy!

leave an opening and fill with your stuffing of choice. You can use poly-fill, fabric scraps, or my material of choice- tiny pieces of felted sweaters left over from making my etsy items. Make sure you get the stuffing all the way in the little pointy corners, then finish stitching it closed.

Enjoy your soft, fuzzy oranges!

Sesame is more and more interested in playing with her dolls lately so I whipped up a super simple ring sling for her to use. I chose a ring sling so that she won’t outgrow it any time soon and I hardly had to do any measuring. Unlike the clothes I make for, she loved it immediately! So far she’s carried around 2 of her dolls, a teddy bear and a little stuffed puppy (not at the same time) and she’s getting pretty good at putting them in the sling herself.

This only took me about 1/2 hour to make and I’ve written up my instructions below so you can make one for your favorite little person. I used velcro to attach the fabric to the rings so that if she pulls hard enough, or get it stuck on her, it’s easy to get it off. She’s still pretty little and having a closed loop of fabric around her neck would make me nervous.

Supplies:

1 piece of fabric about 20 inches by 45 inches (add a few inches if you’ll be turning under the edges and seaming)

2 metal rings, 1.5-2 inches in diameter

A couple inches of velcro

**Please note that this sling is only meant to hold a doll, never a real baby! I know you’re smart but I feel like I have to say that anyway. The rings I used came from a hardware store, but you could find some at a craft store. Slings for real babies use specially tested rings and have really secure stitching to make sure it’s safe. This sling has none of that.**

Finish the edges on all sides. I used my serger (the 1st time I’ve used it without any frustration, thank you very much!) to do a simple rolled hem. Of course, you could could turn under the edges and seam as well, but then you’d want to start with a slightly larger piece of fabric.

Gather one short edge to make it smaller. I did 2 accordian folds that meet in the center as you can see in the picture, then pinned it into place.

Cut your velcro pieces and pin into place. My pieces are about 3 inches long and the strips are 2.5-3 inches apart. I sewed 4 lines across this edge, catching each of the long edges of velcro in the seams.

Thread the end with velcro through both rings and attach the velcro. The picture shows the 2 seams that show on the right side of the sling.

Fold the other end in half horizontally and thread through the rings.

That’s all there is to it!

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.

For the birthday extravaganza Mike and I had 6 out of town relatives come to visit. It was a little crazy but they did not all stay with us so it was manageable. Sesame was a trooper and didn’t even seem to get too overwhelmed!

Here are some pictures.

This is part of her birthday gift. I embroidered a really cool design that I’ll show you more of when it’s washed and ironed. It’s going to be a pillow for her since she has developed a sudden love of carrying pillows around.

This is her cupcake cake! I made 4 dozen cupcakes and made this cute little picnic scene. My mom and Mike made the fondant blanket and I did all the grass piping. My hand got really tired but the effect was worth it. I think they’re the cutest cupcakes I’ve ever made!
The birthday girl modeling her skirt. She had so much fun at her party! I’m so happy that we avoided the overwhelmed, screaming baby syndrome that seems to happen rather frequently at 1st birthday parties.

Proof of all the out-of-towners. This is my stepmom, dad, brother, Mike, me, uncle, cousin and mom. Whew! That’s a lot of visitors for 1 short weekend!

This is how we all felt after the party. I think that finally today I am caught up on sleep. I haven’t knitted in over a week and I have a lot to catch up on but for now, I’m just happy and thankful for a truly blessed year with my little one.

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.

Stupid, icky dandelions. Oh I know, it looks like a pretty little ray of sunshine but in another month or so when my entire yard is covered with them, it won’t be so cute and happy. I spent an hour yesterday pulling those dark green leaves and long, long taproots out of my lawn to try and get a head start on the removal process. What makes my neighborhood so dandelion-happy? I really want to know! I do feel a good deal of satisfaction when I see the pile of dandelion corpses wilting on the sidewalk so this officially marks the beginning of yet another season of my love-hate relationship with this pastime.

To cheer up the ominous dandelion picture, I added something that truly is a ray of sunshiney cuteness. Socks for sesame. The yarn is Knitpicks Sock Garden in the colorway Daffodil. How perfect is that for spring? The colors are brighter but they got a little washed out in the sun(yes, sun!). I used up nearly every last inch of the yarn left over from these socks. So mom, if you still have those, you and your granddaughter can have matching tootsies!

In other crafty news, I’ve been working on a sewing project with this fabulous fabric. I’ve been holding onto it for a while and have finally found the perfect project. Stay tuned for more updates.

Oh, and have you seen this?! I love, love, love olives. When I first met Mike he claimed he didn’t like olives but he now loves them almost as much as I do. I love them so much that I converted a so-called olive hater. I don’t think I could have married someone who hated olives, that’s how much I love them. I so need to knit me some of these giants! (Clicking the photo will take you to the free pattern. )

When I was older, I was in 4-H and I had animals so I practically lived at our county fair. I accumulated boxes full of ribbons and my grandpa and uncle were embarassed every year when I made them drive me to the fair to pick up the boxes full of stuff that I had entered.

This is a long intro to explain to you how excited I was to see that Larissa started a State-Fair-Along! I entered some things in the Oregon State Fair for the 1st time last summer (I am not a native Oregonian) and was excited to win a blue ribbon for some cookies but was disappointed at the lack of competition in many of the categories, including knitting. So was Larissa. There are so many crafty people that aren’t entering things in their fairs! So fellow Americans, knit, sew, bake, make something to enter in your local fair this has started a summer. It will be fun!

I just made this skirt but it is not fair quality. It’s summertime-fun-in-the-sun quality and that’s all I was going for. Please forgive the wrinkles, the white fabric is linen and I have been wearing it all evening. I used some of the fabric previously seen here.
So, what will I be knitting for the state fair? After much deliberation, I have decided on this:It’s the ogee tunic from Knitting Nature. I’m using Knitpicks merino style in tide pool and I am already almost done with the 1st sleeve! Pretty exciting, huh? What could be more exciting than a partially finished sleeve? A package from my secret pal! I was so excited to get this in the mail! It’s 2 skeins of knitpicks laceweight merino and a pattern for a shawl. The blue yarn is Cascade Pastaza-wool and llama! I’ve been fondling this yarn for a while now and have been wanting some. How did you know, secret pal? The colors of both are gorgeous- just what I’d choose for myself. I also got some great chocolate and fabulous stitch markers so I don’t have to use those cheap plastic rings anymore. Thank you, thank you!