Easter Prep

I’ve been distracting myself from waiting to hear about jobs (always WAITING…..) by really jumping into Easter Parade Prep.  We only get to go every OTHER year because our church meetings are in the morning every other year.  This year we will get to stroll 5th Avenue as a family and enjoy seeing all the Easter Bonnets (just like Judy Garland!).

I made this squirrel for a bonnet:

I took a little road trip to Yardley, PA for this pram, and gave it an Easter Parade Makeover (spectacular!)

And I bought a Bunny Snowsuit, once I saw the forecast.  Now, Pickle will be a Bunny dressed for Easter, instead of a Pickle dressed for Easter, as originally planned—gotta have a happy (warm) baby now don’t we?  The other two, well, they may have to suffer a little.

I know, I think it looks like a non-bunny creature too, and I may have to cut the armholes of the dress and put holes in the bonnet so that she has bunny ears, which is, frankly, going to kill me, but I could always repair it after right?  It was $7- on Ebay, the right size, warm, and a bunny….guys, I had to.

Now I need to figure out how to get the pram from my apartment to 5th Avenue on the subway, because if I am to transport it in the van, only 4 of us will be attending the parade.  Thank goodness for Uppa Baby’s–this pram business is Cray-Cray.

Needless to say, my creative juices are flowing. And though I am feeling pretty great about the Posse Offering this Easter, looking back on 2009 and 2011 is making me feel like my offering is still quite meager….but I DO have a pram this year….and a pickle….so—->

 

Crochet: Bibs

I know, I know. I make these all the time. But! I think they are cute and fun and easy and I love giving a homemade gift.  I was lucky enough to give to a new baby boy AND girl this past week, and Pickle was lucky enough to be my model.

It’s good practice, because she has her second job Thursday.  We are road-tripping it to Connecticut!  Wish us luck!

Pattern found in Little Crochet by Linda Permann.

Yarn is Lion Brand’s Kitchen Cotton in avocado (It’s 50% off right now! It is an AWESOME color–buy it!) and Madelinetosh sport in silver fox in and for the girls bib, Spud & Chloe in jelly bean.

Crochet: Little Lovey

My friend’s baby likes to put her little fingers through a crocheted blanket she received.  Her Mom asked me to make an 18 X 18 mini blanket for her to take on the run.  Her requirements: soft, heavy, holes for fingers.  I decided to use my beautiful blue LB Collection Cotton Bamboo in dusty blue, doubled and this pattern I found on ravelry. I hope she lurvs it.

I Heart Ravelry

 

I Love Ravelry.  Since I give so many of my creations away, I just love visiting this page and looking at everything I have made.  It makes me so happy.

I can browse patterns on ravelry for EVER.  I just barely cleaned out my queue and it is still 10 pages long.

I have had this hobby now for a while, and I love that I can constantly take it to the next level.  It is my happy place.

Oh! And look at this: Makeup and Fiber together:

Handmade Christmas: Itty Bitty Owl

I crocheted a few special items sfor #2 & #3, so I knew I had to add a little something for #1.  I think she likes her itty bitty owl, created from this Pattern.

Handmade Christmas: Yarn Bombed Camera

For this year’s gift swap I got my sis-in-law Jennika, who is an aspiring photographer.  I found an old holga at a Housing Works in the city and decided to yarn bomb it as part of her gift.  It was Lolly’s idea to add a flash and I used my recently acquired yarn-into-friendship-bracelets technique for the strap.  I love how it turned out.

Handmade Christmas: Pickle Doll

I searched and searched for the perfect Pickle Doll for Santa to bring to her.  The closest I got was Asian Baby, giant Ikea Monstrosity and Hedghogs-she does kind of have hedgehog hair.

I decided I better make her a doll instead.

I absolutely LOVE how her dolly turned out.

I used a combination of this pattern for the head and this pattern for the swaddle body.  I improvised the moses basket after this pattern, using some zpagetti I picked up at the Lion Brand Studio.

The baby was made out of Vanna’s choice in a peachy pink color, and the hair was the soft LB Collection alpaca.  I used a left over pink yarn I had from one of her hats, mixed with some vanna’s glamour to make a sparkly striped effect, that is not visible in the pix.  I added a little heart too.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Handmade Christmas: Hats

One of our FAVORITE Christmas Books is Shall I Knit you a Hat?  I love it. I knit a few for the instrumental teachers.  One of our teachers wears black almost exclusively, so I crocheted her a little tam with Lion Brand’s 100 % Alpaca.  Our other teacher wears a lot of hunter green and orange, so I used some Wool Ease from Lion Brand and improvised a pattern based on a few others.

Usually I like a project that takes me some time, but then I need a project that takes me an evening. These hit the spot!  I got them done JUST in time.

Handmade Christmas: Squinkies

My daughter lost her “2 favorite squinkies” so I committed to recreating them in crochet-form.  I only got as far as the head for Mr. Squirrel, but thankfully completely Ms. Fairy just in time.

I used this pattern and Lion Brand Bon-bons.

Crochet (and a little knit): Turkey Hat

After the VOTE, and much debate at the Posse Pad, I finally decided that a combination of Turkey Hat B and C was the way to go for my NEW turkey hat.

I was determined to NOT pay for another pattern as I already paid for my Turkey Hat Fail, so I improvised and combined patterns to make THIS:

I used this pattern for the hat and added flaps like I did on Pickle’s owl hat.  I used a double strand of Lion Brand’s Martha’s Extra Soft Wool Blend in Sable mixed with a strand of S.Charles Collezione Crystal in brown.  The body sparkles.  In the back I used Martha’s eyelash glitter in orange topaz and brownstone for the “back feathers”.

After that I had to make the turkey. I used Lion Brand’s Tom Turkey pattern for the body, and just one strand of the Martha and one of the Crystal. (They made a giant Turkey at the studio–cool!)  I liked the eyes on the letter B choice, so I used those eyes instead of plastic eyes.  I added hair and a bow to the head too, and of course knitted her a scarf.  Her features were made special by using the sparkly Lion Brand bon-bons. LOVE!

The feathers in the back were a combination of yarns including Vanna’s Choice in the new radiant orange.  I used the crazy-eyed turkey pattern for the feathers, only made 2 of each and stuffed them.  I improvised the design for the feet in Gold Vanna’s Glamour.

I love how it turned out.