spin, spin, stitch and love

alternately titled "this is a shameless plug, folks!"

i listed a few goodies in the shop this afternoon. lovely spinning/ felting fibers, hand painted yarns, a few wool crowns, and a couple lonely little monsters that need someone to love on them. please stop by and take a peek!
inspired mama MAKES!

kindly yours,
erika

hellooooo belly!

big ol' baby belly, just about 30 weeks, and a sweet little 2.5 year old who wants to be picked up and carried all. the. time *sigh* lately i am beginning to question whether i can realistically get any bigger. of course i know that the answer is yes and the chances are quite likely. 10 more weeks of growing just seems like a whole lot...

spherically yours,
erika

fungus obsessed

currently i am planning a whimsical woodland baby quilt collaboration with a group of my friends. how sweet is that?! i simply cannot wait to see the finished quilt, lovingly stitched by friends and family- and even better yet, the day i can wrap my new sweet babe in our wonderful creation. daydreams and discussions of said baby quilt resulted in a lengthy flickr browsing session where i viewed nearly every single mushroom project i could find. here are a few favorites. who knew a large dose of fungi could make one so happy?

1. dqs6 from cathy gaubert, mushroom girls, 2. OMGMUSHROOMS: YIP.52, 3. dqs6, 4. mira_and_maga, 5. Normy, Hefty, and Lil Gnome, 6. Mushroom House: Red

for love

this week ::
sugar cookies, glue sticks, paper hearts, crayons and glitter...

cards for her friends,

cards for her classmates,

cards for his friends,

and gussied up shoe boxes.

have a lovely weekend friends!
erika

for my boy

a little bit of handmade goodness i have created for my little guy over the past couple years ::

yours in celebrating our boys,
erika

for the boys!

february is BOY month! made has teamed up with made by rae for an entire month of tutorials, giveaways, tips and ideas for the special boys in your life. how fabulous and fun is that? there is also a celebrate the boy flickr group where you can share all things boy in your life. please be sure to check it out, and watch for my boy celebration projects this month. hmmm, i think a visit to the fabric store in honor of my little guy is in order, yes?

and just like that...

snow!! in my my last post i mentioned that we were currently enjoying spring in january, but it was not to last. the very next day we got snow- beautiful wet, heavy, slushy snow! it was not much good for snowball throwing, or snow man building, or snow angel making but that did not stop us from bundling up and trying all of the previously mentioned snow day activities.

we stayed outside until we were soaking wet and freezing then retreated inside to drink copious amounts of hot herb tea.

recent winter temperatures also gave me the opportunity to wear my new leg warmers that seemed to take forever to knit! two glorified stockinette tubes = a super boring project, but i am really digging the fuzzy warm they are providing. and i have happily moved on to more exciting knits, so all is good!

warmly yours,
erika

love, currently.

:: this belly ::
26-ish weeks. every single wiggle and kick brings a smile.

:: new mitts ::
goldenrod cestari merino + coconut buttons = happy hands indeed.

:: cute thrifted boots to wear with cute thrifted skirt ::
maternity skirt mentioned above has an elastic waistband and a button fly! how funny is that!

:: color, color everywhere ::
we have painted every day this week and have no plans to stop.

:: this weather ::
spring in january. 'nuff said!

:: new fluffy fiber ::
what will i knit? oh, the possibilities!

yours in loving life and making happy,
erika

hope.

100% of the proceeds from craft hope for haiti will go to doctors without borders. so far they have had over 900 sales. please, go check it out!

giving. caring. unselfishness.
very, very, inspiring...

mmmm, saturday!

esme' day and pizza making at flying pie, nothing better.

itty, bitty elf in the kitchen.

waiting...

munching on a masterpiece.

four full bellies later... thanks flying pie!

the view from here

:: six month belly ::

new year musings

one week in and so far the new year has been treating us right. here are a few random things that have been keeping us busy ::

:: wool spinning ::

:: stew cooking ::
(in the oh, so lovely chicken crock!)

:: sun soaking ::

:: undie sewing ::
these were too big so smaller (and much cuter!) unders have been cut out. i cut some for the little boy too in preparation for new adventures.

i have also been putting some thought into our 2010 handmade holiday. as of right now my grand plan is to make one gift per month throughout the year. i have some quick projects planned and a few tutorials to share with you in the next several months. my goal is to make the next holiday our biggest handmade celebration yet! does anyone want to join me? i would love to pop in and check out your handmade holiday progress this year!

happy new year, friends! i can't wait to share 2010 with you all!

our year

knitting, playing, sewing, vacationing, spinning, celebrating, eating, gardening, baby growing...
holy wow, 2009 was beautiful!
on this, the last day of the year, we are fondly remembering wonderful times and looking forward to what will be.
happy new year, friends! thank you so much for sharing this special space with me throughout the year.

with much love, erika

handmade holiday 2009 :: grandma and grandpa gifts

one more handmade holiday post, folks! these are the wall pockets that we made with esme's artwork on the front pockets. grandpa is fishing and grandma is cooking oatmeal in a super cute apron!

my favorite detail is that framed photo on the wall behind grandma... it is grandpa posing with his fish!

now that our handmade holiday has come to an end i plan to stitch up a wall pocket for everyone in the house! it will fit right in with the declutter season that is upon us, no?

project details ::
you can find the free wall pocket tutorial here. i supplied esmé with squares of muslin and fabric markers for the embellished pockets. i use some cotton webbing for the hanging loops on these pockets - quick and easy! and oh, so cute!

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faux cable sleep sack :: a pattern

wool sleep sacks are wonderful for new cloth diapered babies and make night time diaper changes a breeze! this faux cable pattern creates a lovely thick and stretchy fabric, perfect for diaper covers. i have been knitting sleep sacks in preparation for our new baby and thought i would share this pattern that i have developed. enjoy!

you will need ::
16 inch circular needles in sizes US 5 and US 8
1 stitch marker
crochet hook (optional for drawstring)
100% wool yarn- i like to use nice, sturdy yarn. wool that will work well for this pattern are cestari merino (terra cotta sleep sack in photo), araucania nature wool (lavender sleep sack in photo), cascade eco, or something similar. if you are using a thinner weight yarn you may need to use a smaller needle size. approx. 200 yards is needed.

abbreviations ::
co = cast on
k = knit
p= purl
sl1= slip 1 stitch knitwise
psso = pass the slipped stitch over the last 2 sts that you knit
yo = yarn over

the pattern ::

co 80 stitches using size 5 needles, place marker and join in the round being careful to not twist your stitches. knit 2 x 2 ribbing for 1.5 inches.
eyelet row- *k2tog, yo, p2* repeat from * to end of row.
continue to knit 2 x 2 ribbing for another 1.5 inches.

switch to size 8 needles and knit the faux cable pattern as follows ::
row 1: *k3, p2*repeat from * to end of row.
row 2: *k3, p2* repeat from * to end of row.
row 3: *sl1, k2, psso, p2* repeat from * to end of row.
row 4: *k1, yo, k1, p2* repeat from * to end of row.
continue knitting these 4 rows until your piece measures 11 inches from the co.

switch back to your size 5 needles and knit 2 x 2 ribbing for 2 inches. cast off loosely- you might want to cast off with your larger needles to ensure the bottom of the sleep sack is stretchy enough to pull up for diaper changes.

drawstring :: you can use any preferred method to make your drawstring. i like to make a crochet chain holding 2 strands of yarn together. using 2 different colors makes a fun drawstring!

now you are ready to wash, lanolize and use your sleep sack on your sweet baby!

notes :: if you would like to modify this pattern to make a smaller or bigger sleep sack, no problem! first of all your cast on number should always be an even number for the 2 x 2 ribbing. then, you need to divide that number by 4 and make sure that again, you get an even number- this will be the number of drawstring eyelets you will end up with. if you have an odd number of eyelets you will not be able to thread your drawstring properly.
to knit the faux cable pattern your number of stitches has to be divisible by 5. you can simply make increases after your ribbing to make sure you have the proper amount of stitches, then you will need to decrease the same number of stitches before knitting the bottom ribbing. here is a quick example for a smaller sleep sack ::
co 72 sts (72 divided by 4 is 18)
after the top ribbing increase 3 sts evenly spaced around the sleep sack.
now you will have 75 sts and are ready for the faux cable pattern.
after the faux cables, decrease 3 sts evenly around the sleep sack.
now you have 72 sts on your needles and are ready for the bottom ribbing.

handmade holiday 2009 :: maps and santa gifts

i picked up these cute little play maps from a mama at the hip holiday market and decided to paint a gang of little wood dolls to go along with them. i don't paint often, but it was a lot of fun!

here they are neatly rolled up with the wool felt pouches i sewed to hold the wood dolls. harper has discovered that his wood cars navigate nicely on the city map!

and here are a couple of esme's handmade gifts for santa- in addition to cookies and chocolate milk (and peppermint bark!) she left these and other surprises around the house for him. it took mr. and mrs. claus quite a bit of time to find them all, but luckily they didn't miss a single one! i am sure santa will cherish and hang on to them for a very, very long time!

i am in love

a gift from my super sweet husband... a brand new sewing machine that he actually went out and shopped for with absolutely no help or input from me!

he was very unsure about his purchase and offered to take me out shopping to choose another machine, he just wanted me to have something to open on christmas morning. this was actually a machine i had heard great things about- it is a kenmore which is manufactured by janome (LOVE janome machines) and sells for about $100 less than i would pay for it's janome counterpart. i spent a considerable amount of time thinking it over and researching this machine online, as well as a computerized kenmore that was just a bit more money. after reading wonderful things and doing a little test drive i decided to keep this machine.

yesterday i broke out one of my very favorite owl prints and stitched up a coloring wallet for a friend's birthday party next week.

yes, i am head over heels in love... and i am also pretty fond of my new machine! you did good sweetie!