If the weather stays gracious over the weekend, we'll be wandering off to some nearby woods.
The local wood crafted by my local youngest girl in kindergarten has made us determined to see some real gnomes for a change. We'll be trying to persuade some of them to come live in our garden and do some light garden chores for us. I think we're in with a real good chance!
So what are your plans?
Oh yes, a little sneak peek at the Christmas quilts that I'm working on for the girls. But hush, it's all a big secret.
One top is done and quilted through, number two is still just a pile of fabric squares. But I'll show you the finished products once they're done.... Oh, I'm really getting in the spirit of things now.
And then I decided to have a go at making a proper felted hat. I came across this hat pattern and I figured it would be a great thing to try. The pattern says 'should fit most men' so it was a safe bet that it would fit me.
You see, I have a rather large head. Not as obvious as to make people stare and point in the street but still 'one size fits all' often doesn't fit at all. It's a bit of a bother as most hat patterns out there are designed for women with more reasonable head sizes than me. And it seems this family gene has not skipped the next generation... my girls also have quite round and large heads. That kind of explained why they got stuck at birth but now I'm regressing...
A hat! So I got out the giant crochet needle that the pattern called for -it really resembles a plumbers' tool more than a crochet needle but one must have faith in these patterns- and I set to work.
I made this monster:
Then I went ahead and stuck it in the washing machine for a nice hot cycle (95°C) after which it had shrunk to more reasonable proportions. Still, it was a bit oversized and the original stitches were still too obvious so it needed more heat. I first tried to boil it.
This should have worked if only my pan wasn't too small. The upside of doing it this way is that you can keep an eye on the amount of shrinking that is taking place and you can cut the process short once you arrive at the right size. But as I said... pan... too small...
So another cycle in the washing machine.
And luck was upon me cause the machine left me with this:
A properly felted hat. I like it and it fits me. The husband likes it too and it fits him too... well it is a pattern for a man's hat after all. But still it fits me snugly. So, let the fight over the ownership begin.
Oh this must be a case of self fulfilling prophecy. We put a scarf around an ice bear's neck in preparation of winter and what do you know.... the following morning this is what the window in the skylight looked like:
Ice in all it's beauty. This morning we had some more icy flowers and leaves patterns on the window. Mind you, apparently autumn has decided to make a reappearance and temperatures should improve shortly. Oof.
Brace yourselves for winter! It'll be a cold one! How do I know this?
Well, first there are a bunch of meteorologists who claim winter will be of arctic proportions. Mind you, summer was going to be a Sahara-type of season and apart from a couple of weeks past boiling point, it mainly rained. And that's not very Sahara like now is it?
But more importantly, I know because Ursa Minor -my 5 year old's dearest cuddly ice bear- is getting chilly. Granted, she is effectively cuddled bald but still, when she gets the shivers, frost is heading our way. So her owner put together an appropriate winter outfit.
Notice that beautiful and cozy scarf? Well, two weeks ago when I was Florence Nightingaling my way through the week and the sick little one was getting back on the road to recovery, she decided to give finger knitting a try. And behold, she made an entire scarf!! I think she might just have inherited that creative gene, don't you?
It is that time of year again. Secret Santa time!
And this year I'm in with the initiative that Tess took. Oh yes.
However this initiative is very local and many of my readers are excluded from it on geological grounds. And that doesn't sit well with me and my " t'is the season for giving" spirit.
So, the following magical idea came to mind. I'll do a second Secret Santa of my own. Besides from participating in the local Secret Santa, I'll send one special Christmas gift to one special reader of this blog. And I don't even want anything in return!
If you would like that special reader to be you, leave a comment below this post before the 31st of this month (that is October... making sure.... I keep forgetting dates these days). On November 1st an innocent hand will pick a lucky reader and I'll make sure to get in touch with him/her for some further contact details.
Please remember, whether you live local or international, whether you already participate in secret santas or not, anyone can participate here. And if you feel the "t'is the season for giving" spirit too, why not give someone else a chance to participate here by blogging about it over at your place!
And so the waiting game begins.... not to mention the guessing game..... until Christmas. What will I send , to who will I send it and when will it arrive?
Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out. So come on and play along! I'm looking forward to crafting something for you....
And for those who are wondering, these lovely Christmas sculptures in Playmais are the result of a successful artistic collaboration between the oldest daughter and the husband of this household.
For the past few weeks I've been working off and on on a quilt. A large twin sized one (about 1,75 to 2,25m approximately). Stitching on the binding by hand was the last thing remaining on my list last week before finishing it off. Although I rather like stitching by hand, the sheer amount of meters to stitch on this one, didn't make it that much of an appealing job. More like one of those really challenging and fun household chores such as vacuuming. In other words, I could feel some procrastination rearing it's ugly head. I had however decided to nip that in the butt and make a swift move on the thing.
But then Florence Nightingale was called upon by some sick children and the job was postponed. Procrastination-Himiko, 1-0.
All in all it ended in my favor. As soon as the revived children were off to kindergarten I sat down for some stitching.
And after some washing and drying, the now really ready quilt looks something like this:
And this:
And even this:
As much as I've enjoyed putting it together, I was happy to send it off to the new owner that it was destined for all along, a dear friend and really wonderful lady in my neighborhood who'll take good care of it.
Besides, as I've set myself the goal of making two Christmas quilts (a bit smaller ones though) for the girls, I'll soon be wrapped up in new ones!
So, where do you get all that alpaca wool from, Himiko?
Well, this is it.
Straight from Mrs Lama herself!
Or...how I wish...
Curiously enough, rather large groups of lamas are scattered all over our village. This particular one resides just across the street from my girls' school. And yet there are no yarn shops selling her wool in the entire village. Well, there are no yarn shops at all in this village. Neither are there in the vicinity of this place. Instead I travel half the country....
Is the knitting universe sending me a message here?
One more GRR, how can anyone resist?
This time round one for a special little girl, the daughter of a dear friend.
One more 'moutarde de dijon', how can anyone resist, right?
This time round with some special little flowery buttons.
Now all that is left to do is send the cardigan on it's way. Mailman, here we come!
Our local little girl requested a knitted cardigan. She didn't have too many demands. It needed to be a cardigan and it needed to be purple.
So off I went in search of purple wool and a pair of knitting needles. The trick is to advance quickly with these requests because little ones, at least this little one, can get rather fickle and that can result in sudden shifts in favorite colors. So todays craving for purple might become a need for green almost overnight.
Julija's came to the rescue in the form of purple alpaga. I then picked up some tutorials for straight forward T-shaped sweaters from the internet and calculated a seize that would likely fit her. We ended up with this.
A simple T-shaped cardigan knitted in one piece. Along the neckline I crocheted a tie in the same color for easy closing. The sleeves which in full length cover the elbows well, are best worn rolled up as our little one is showing off in the picture. It just looks so much more cool...
In combination with her new winter dress and purple boots, little girl now has a cool and comfy new kindergarten outfit.
Mission accomplished.
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