Learning--holiday style

You know I love crafting. And you definitely know we love learning!

Why not combine they both! LM is a tad young for some of these activities, but I'm sure some of you out there will take advantage of the great ideas gathered in this eBook. It's a compilation of holiday-themed activities that are cute, fun, and a great learning opportunity from the awesome blog we teach.  

The book is also available as a free download. Wahoo!

we teach: holiday learning eBook 2011

Connecting: Toy Drops!

Image from The Toy Society-Drop #1454

Found: Rattling in the back of our drawers, a collection of army men, yo-yos, slingshots, and other small toys.

Mission: To dispose of these items in a playful and fun way.

Target: Members of our neighborhood. Specifically, a house of three rambunctious boys ages 5-9.

The Plan: We packaged toys into plastic lunch bags, with a tiny note inside letting them know they needed good homes. And then, during a walk with the dog, we covertly tossed them onto their lawns.

We had so much fun doing this and wondering if the kids got the surprises. (Of course, now as a someday-to-be parent, I wonder if I would have let our kid have toys that he found in our yard in a similar manner. Probably not!)

Anyhoo...I remembered this adventure in fun when I came across this site, The Toy Society. Spreading hand-made goodness to people everywhere! (In a much more official way than we did.) It started in Australia and is such a genius idea. I love making things for others, and it's especially fun to think about those gifts being a treasure for other people to find. Random acts of crafting kindness!

So check out The Toy Society site. Click on the Dropped button to read all the inventive ways that people left their little pressies behind for others to find. And click on the Found button to learn where all those bags of joy ended up.

Just another awesome way to connect with strangers and put a little more hand-made happiness into the world. And wouldn't it be fun to do with children?

I'm on board! What about you?

PSST--Stay tuned to see what/where we will do a drop. Here's a little hint...it's very far away!

Monkey fun

image by jbl thistle/flickr

Oh dear...my blogging year is off to a bad start! I put up this post on Tuesday, but the date was set to 2010!

We are monkeying around on vacation this week and I promise to fill you in on our exploits. But in the meanwhile, here's some things for you to monkey around with too.

Here's some links to the classic children's toy, the Sock Monkey, and many of his sock animal friends. Lest this post convince you otherwise, I'm not actually a huge fan of the sock plushie. I find them moderately entertaining, and occasionally endearing, like the ones in this photo. I'm a much bigger fan of the pals of the monkey, like the giraffe listed below. Although he's not technically a sock monkey pal, he's too cute to leave out.

Freebies!

• Original Sock Monkey pattern
• Classic Sock Monkey
• Sock Dog
• Sock Monster
• Sock Elephant
• Sock Giraffe
• Sock Hippo
• Make a hat and scarf for your Sock Monkey pals!

Stuff you gotta pay for!

• Teeny tiny sock monkey
• Sock Monkey kits
• Sock Elephant and Sock Monkey kits
• Toot the Sock Owl
• Sock Monkey hat pattern

Baby blanket #2 finished!

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

Baby blanket #2 off the needles! The pattern is by Jared Flood at Brooklyn Tweed and it's a very clever design.

This is a smaller sized blanket, more like the type you'd use in the stroller or car seat. I used a little thicker yarn, Plymouth Encore, so it's a wash and dry blanket that should be durable and practical.

On to baby blanket #3! I'm trying to reduce  my stash, and found 10 skeins of lovely Cork yarn in grey and a soft blue.

However, Cork is a merino wool, which is not wash and wear. Hand wash and flat dry, or dry clean only.

Now, I don't have any experience with caring for a tiny human on a daily basis, but I'm guessing that making a baby blanket that has to be hand washed or dry cleaned isn't a very bright idea. And surely not in our house, where the pile of clothes that need to be hand washed live in a heap on the laundry room table, tossed aside just because they were worn and I'm too lazy to wash them. (They give me the evil eye every time I go into the laundry room.)

Do I really think I'd have time or energy to handwash a baby blanket once the kiddo comes home?

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

The practical voice in my head says "of course not you idiot." But the fabric-lovin'-yarn-snob in me is saying "that blanket would be sooo beautiful."

I'll let ya know which voice in my head wins that argument.

Friday Roundup - Craft edition

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi / pattern info HERE

My mother knew magic. I was positive. Because it was a magical thing to turn a bolt of material into clothing with a few snips here and there, some thread, and a flimsy paper pattern. Mom was (and is) an amazing seamstress who can make anything. Seriously. Any. Thing.

Now, I wish that I could say that I inherited a tiny bit of my mother's magical ability, but the sad truth is, it was just too intimidating to compete with a wizard of that caliber. I knew my foundling abilities were not magical at all, so I dragged my feet every time she offered to do a project together, instead, preferring watch her work. She made it look so easy and fast. When I tried, it was frustrating and slow.

So my mom helped me to find my own magic. We'd be in her tiny sewing room, surrounded by fabric, trays of thread, and pattern pieces. She'd rummage in a drawer and pull out something for my sister and I to try, likely to keep us occupied so she could finish whatever she was working on. Mom had an exiting array of things in those drawers--spools of ribbons, rhinestones, buttons. Each time she pulled something from the drawer it was like a craft adventure!

Once she pounded 4 nails to the top of a wooden spool. She showed us how to wind yarn around each nail and maneuver the stitches. And it seemed like magic when that yarn reappeared out of the bottom of the spool, each loop tied together to make a knitted i-cord. Not sure what I ever did with all that i-cord, probably made necklaces.

Mom had other tricks up her sleeves. She taught us to fold gum wrappers and fit the pieces together to make these crazy zigzag chains, (which we turned into more necklaces).

At the holidays, we decorated lightbulbs and turned them into cute elves (which I still have to this day), turned beads and pipecleaners into snowflakes, and sequins into shimmering icicles.

We created countless woven potholders out of the scraps we collected from her sewing room waste bin.

And one of my favorites was when when she'd bring home reams of this beautiful colored wire from her job at the telephone company. The wire was thin and malleable, and was plastic coated in solids or striped varieties. Mom showed my sister and I how to make a loop, and wrap the wire around itself, creating a beautiful ridged pattern. I spent hours doing that. And I made LOTS of necklaces.

Crafting with my mom are some of my favorite childhood memories. I felt like I too, had magical abilities, turning bits and pieces of things into something special. It gave me a sense of accomplishment and a creative outlet. That probably explains why I continue to craft today.

And I guess I was learning more than just how to make something out of scraps.

I learned that everything has a possibility. Everything can become something else. The world is as big as your imagination.

That's a darned fine lesson to learn from pieces of felt and wire.

_______________________

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

Woo woo! Finally finished my niece's Sugar & Spice baby blanket. She had her little Scarlett Rose about a month ago, so I guess technically I blew the deadline on this. But I hope the Little Miss can forgive her old auntie when she snuggles up with her softee. (Pattern info is HERE, and yarn used is Berroco Comfort Baby, fingering weight).

I also finished the first of my Danger Craft toys! She's ridiculously cute (photo, top of page), but I could be a bit biased. (Pattern available HERE. Yarn used is Cascade 220 Superwash). I think I'll try felting the next ones I make.

With those projects done, the next awesome craft project is right around the corner! Here's the top contenders:

image from Sew, Mama, Sew!

At Sew, Mama, Sew! a link to a free pattern! It's a kimono-style jacket, dress, or sleeper...you decide. I can't decide if I'm more in love with the prints or the pattern.

image from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Um...I know I'll probably need to deal with this when the kiddo comes, but I'm a bit of a germ freak. Placing our darling baby's butt on a changing table that has hosted who knows what gives me the creeps. This pattern for a vinyl changing mat made out of a tablecloth seems like a pretty darned genius idea to me! Check out the super duper tutorial at Smashed Peas and Carrots.

image from Heather Bailey-Online

A few super adorable patterns for purchase over at Heather Bailey Online. Check out this trio of pint-sized pachyderms. A must for our boy's collection! The pattern looked pretty feasible to me. They are so cute I'm going to brave an encounter with the sewing machine soon.

image from Heather Bailey-Online

There is also a cute pattern for a soft stacker toy but I think our guy might be too old for this when he comes home?

image from Magpie Patterns

Of course, knitting is my favorite way to craft, so these adorable owls from Magpie Patterns are a must have.

image from flickr

And lastly, here's the next baby blanket that I'm putting on the needles by Jared Flood. I love the non-traditional baby colors. You can find the pattern for the Tweed Baby Blanket at Ravelry.

Off to the yarn shop!

Please make these

I'm on a crafting binge. I promise, pix to follow soon of the adorables I've been knitting. It's been cutting into my blogging time, but I know you all understand. Sometimes a girl just needs to knit!

In the meanwhile, thought I'd pass along THIS ridiculously sweet pattern for booties by Heather Bailey. They are so girly and sweet, and the pattern is free! Someone needs to make these immediately so there will be more cuteness in the world! And don't forget to post pix when you finish.

image from Heather Bailey Design

Knitting myself silly

OMG. What a lovely, lazy weekend. Happy to report I was in sloth mode this weekend. That will likely make me crazy later in the week, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do.

The best part of the weekend was on Saturday night, when we loaded up the Tropical Pug and went downtown to an event featuring locally created food, music and art. We stuffed our faces with crepes and tamales, and drank wine while listening to three awesome bands. We need to do more of that!

So for the rest of the weekend we pretty much hung out on the couch, working our way through nearly 2 seasons of Weeds (we are now halfway through season 3).

And I knitted. A lot. Got nearly three of my  Danger Crafts monsters completed (see this post for details). They are freakishly cute. I'll post pix soon.

And since my knitting mojo returned (the cold weather always makes my fingers yearn for the feel of bamboo sticks and wool) I hunted down some super cute baby blanket patterns. There's a baby boom in our family--a cousin, both nieces and my SIL are becoming or recently became mommies--so baby projects are much needed. And of course, it's not possible to just knit from my stash of patterns and yarn (wink wink). Clearly a shopping trip is in order.

Here's a few of the things I can't wait to get started on. (BABY GIFT SPOILER: If you are one of our family members, stop reading now! But if you do read ahead and want to put in a request for colors, feel free.)

(image from brooklyntweed.net)

Wool leaves: A lovely double-strand blanket that reminds me of wood grains, and designed (gasp) by a man! (I try not to be sexist, but a male knitter still sends me atwitter.) It's a pretty masculine pattern but oh so lovely! Perfect for the new little boys in the family. I'm planning on making one of these for Little Man too.

Sugar & Spice Blanket: This pattern looks delish, and can't wait to see the rest of the patterns featured in this book. (A big shout out to our public library system for having this book on the shelves! Go Milwaukee!) I'm a huge fan of Ann Budd's patterns, which are smartly created, sweetly designed, and always a big hit when gifted.

Danger--knitting ahead

With all this homestudy/agency changing craziness lately, I haven't done much knitting. And I really miss it. Although what was previously knitting time has now been converted into blog time. Hmm. I'll figure that one out later.

But here's what I'll be knitting next--monsters! These adorable guys are from the Danger Crafts line by Rebecca Danger. She has lots of cute friends to choose from.

The patterns can be e-mailed to you in a PDF so you can get started FAST. And the instructions are clear, easy to read and include pictures of the process! Super awesome.

This will be a good way to put some of my nervous energy to work! And guess what...there is even a pattern for a pug! (It will be our very own Argus action figure.)


Go here to check out a Flickr stream of the line, or go to the Dangercrafts Etsy store and see them.

Don't knit?? Talk to me and maybe we can work something out.

(photo: courtesy Rebecca Danger)