Monday, August 15, 2011

Snoopy Baby Blanket


Here is a blanket that I made for one of my best buddies who just had a baby. Of course I havent posted it yet and the baby is now 3 months old but it will be on its way soon. My friend is a big fan of Snoopy. I found these dishcloth patterns of Snoopy characters on Ravelry and had the idea of turning them into a blanket. There are 7 characters so I had to find a yarn that had 7 colours of yarn that I liked. I wanted it to be a natural fibre that is washable. I found this wonderful superwash wool in baby colours and was nice and fine that would make the pictures pop. The yarn is called Lanett and the brand is Sandnes Garn.



When I make baby blankets I like to make them nice and big so that can be used for a long time. Smaller blankets only seem to be good for the first few months. This blanket is big and was hard to get the whole thing to fit in a photograph.



Each dischcloth pattern was relatively the same size. I had to add a couple of stitches here and there to the border but you cant even notice. I made this in strips of each character and sewed them together as I went. I did think about putting a duplicate stitch picture in each white square but once it was all sewn together I thought the pictures would distract from the Snoopy characters which are the main focus.



Here is Charlie Brown. I was thinking he would be red when I was planning this blanket but there was no red in the group of yarn I picked. I figured this darker pink would be close enough to red.



Here is Snoopy being all cool. I went back and forth on whether to do Snoopy blue or purple. I still question my choice as Lucy should be blue but it doesnt really matter in the end I guess.



Here is Lucy. Dont you just love how much these pictures look just like their characters. The pattern designer did a great job.



Here is Marcie. She is a very light orange colour.


You cant have a Snoopy blanket without Woodstock. He may be small but he's important. Of course he had to be yellow.



Here is Peppermint Patty. Now you just knew she had to be green.



Lastly it is Sally. She looked like she needed to be light pink. She is also related to Charlie Brown so they could be close in colour.

So that is my Snoopy blanket project. It was alot of fun and the finished project turned out just like I wanted it to. Now the most important part is the mailing. It doesnt do the baby much good sitting in our house.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Kitchen Reveal


Here I am finally posting pictures of our kitchen that we finished painting in November. This first picture is what our kitchen looked like when we first saw it. Pretty dark and 70s isnt it.



This is what it looks like now with its glossy white cupboards and silver new handles. Amazing what a bit of paint can do. It even makes the not so nice yellow counters look not so bad now.



I had to take these pictures when the counter was this nice and tidy. It doesnt happen too often that it looks this neat. You know how that goes.


Here is the section on the right of the kitchen. You can see my oh so cool cow kettle which I love. I happen to have a thing for cows. We still need to get one of those exhaust fan thingys that go over the oven and paint the ceiling.



Here is a close up of some of the drawers and cupboards. You can get a better look at the handles and hinges in this one. I love the brushed silver with the white glossy paint and so much better than the old ones.



Lastly, this is a picture of the fancy new faucet and light we put in once all the painting was done. In the previous pictures the old ones were still in. You can also see The Moo Sisters that live on the windowsill, the snowman Victoria made, Megan's cactus Eugene and my pretty vintage blue glass bottles that I found at a garage sale.

Now you have finally seen my revamped kitchen. What do you think?


Friday, August 5, 2011

Destination New York City


Here is the gang that was recently sent to the New York shop. They are currently waiting for their forever home at Stoopher and Boots. Let me introduce them to you.



This is a lemur that I made months ago. He was the first in the batch I was getting ready so he has been sitting on my shelf waiting for the others. There have been kids coming to our house begging me if they could keep him including my own. I love how he turned out. He is an Alan Dart pattern, isnt he an amazing pattern designer?



This is my interpretation of Bullseye from Toy Story. I used a basic horse pattern that I found and did a few things to try to make him look like Bullseye. First off the colours had to be right, then I had to get the eyes big and bulgy and lastly I had to figure out how to make nostrils. Do you think he looks like Bullseye?



This is Arnold the pig. He is the same pig pattern that I have made quite a few times but every time I make one they end up with their own personality and size depending on the yarn that is used. In this case Arnold was made with 100% cashmere so he is super soft. Victoria fell in love with him big time. He got some snuggle time before going into the box to NY. Every now and then we wonder how he is in the big city.



This is Ferdinand the duck. I am partial to white ducks but this little yellow duck has quite the personality. He was an interesting pattern as his body is actually just a square and its the way you seam him that makes him into a duck. Victoria just says he's fat which kind of hurt his feelings.



This little green elephant was made from a combination cashmere and merino wool yarn, soft and sturdy. We never did give it a name. What do you think it should be? I think pink elephants are still my favourite.



I love to make these snakes especially in stripey yarn. It has such a cool effect. They are also good stash busters as you can just keep going and going until you finish your ball of yarn.



I just had to make a little snail to go with the rest. They dont take long and they are so cute. This is the same snail that I made for Victoria for her birthday. The same colours and everything. I was trying to make a snail that looked just like the drawing she did. I think it came out pretty close, colours and everything.

Well those are a few projects that I have been working on these past months. I have already started a new batch to send to New York. So far there is a blue and pink bunny with long ears, an almost done blue elephant, a different pattern from the one above and a doll. I love the idea of doing the knitted doll just like they use to have in the old days. I have a feeling that once I make one I will be making more and more with different hair and outfits. Thats always the trouble, to many ideas and not enough time to do them all.


Monday, August 1, 2011

A New Item And Easing My Way Back


I just added these purple booties to Knitted For Ewe. I cant even remember the last time I added something new to my shop. I am so glad that I finally just sat down to do it. Hopefully its the start of more adding because my poor little shop really has been neglected.

I am hoping making this post will kick start me doing more posts and getting back into the swing of blogging. I really do enjoy it but just have been busy with life and lots of babysitting this year.

I just sent off a batch of toys to the New York shop Stoopher & Boots and managed to take photos before they left. Im hoping that will be my next post because they turned out pretty cute and I feel I need to show them off. I am already starting on a new batch and some for the shop as well.

And this comment is for my Mum and sister, yes I promise I will post pictures of the the kitchen cabinets that are now all painted and white. I am still excited about them being finished.

Well there it is, finally a blog post and not the last even for this week so come back and visit again soon.