Sending hugs in the post :: part 1

I don't live in the same country as my mother or my sister. We are spread around Europe, just a few hours away by aeroplane. We can visit the lush greenery of Ireland to see my mother, and we can bask in the hot sunshine when visiting my sister in the south of Spain. They come here (the Netherlands) to marvel at the intricate grid systems of canals and windmills that keep the fields and cities safe from flooding.

The modern world allows us to keep in touch via Skype and What's App etc, but it doesn't replace the comfort of a hug. A real, in-person, hug. Nothing ever will.

But some things can come close. Let me show you what I made as substitutes for hugs for when we are not around each other in person.

For my sister, I made a doll, using the pattern from this wonderful book, De Poppen van Tante Hilde. I love that this book gives you the basics (doll and clothing) and then the sky is the limit. This is my second time making a doll like this (the first one lives in Germany now), and I love the results.

Using an old t-shirt of mine as the body, which I dyed slightly with coffee to darken it from white-beige to a bit of a darker beige, and some interesting gold/green/beige cotton for her torso (I didn't have enough t-shirt material left due to a cutting error! Oops!), this little woman came to life.

I decided to give her a felt hair style, which I machine stitched with a decorative flower-like stitch. I ended up not including the bear ears as depicted in the middle image above...

I upcycled a thrift-store shirt to create a mini-version for the doll (again, using the pattern for the open blouse from Tante Hilde's book). I managed to keep the original buttons, so from cutting to finished product, this little item of clothing was made in a jiffy! For her skirt, I used some left over corduroy originating from an old pair of my husband's trousers. Mini-man and Big Brother contributed to the doll by drooling on, or playing with her before I wrapped her up for posting.

 

I added a box of different tea-bags for my sister's partner, and sent the whole thing...by snail mail (a self-carved stamp, inspired by this lovely book by Gennine; and she has a great online resource if you want to try it out yourself).

And I can happily say that she was well received by the recipient :) Yay! Now there's a little bit of the four of us keeping my sister company even though we are far from each other.

Two Milos

I've had Georgie Hallam's Milo pattern in my Ravelry library for a long time. At the end of October last year, I finally cast on to knit one. Here are my Ravelry notes with yarn details. I decided to make an 18month size, for my (then) 7 month old. Ha. My idea was that if this project was put on the shelf (as many of my knitting projects do) then perhaps it would be at least finished by my son's 2nd winter (i.e 2015/2016!).

I took it to work with me, and while I pumped, I knitted. It was a nice way to spend those pumping sessions, instead of being stuck on my smart phone! This strategy worked as I finished this Milo vest in record time: about a month!!!!! One thing struck me...the vest looked huge. I  guess my tension was a bit looser than my swatch tension.

 I tried it on the mini-man, and as expected, it was way too big. Although he has worn it a few times, so its not that huge on him. By eye, it looked like it might fit the big brother, so I asked him if he wanted to try it on, and after a little hesitation he agreed. It fit him perfectly, but at the time, he wasn't too keen on the vest. I quote "It is nice mama, but I don't want to wear it" when I suggested that he could have this vest. Hmmm.

It was such a quick (and satisfying) knit, that I casted on another, this time in the 12month size (for the now 10month old). (ravelry notes). It took me a little longer to finish the second one, partly because I had cast-on another project at the same time (the Hitch-hiker shawl), but I finally cast off around the middle of February.

I tried the new one the mini-man, and its lovely :) The fit is perfect.

And in reaction to seeing his little brother all decked out in his own milo, the big brother asked me one morning "Mama, where is the vest you made me ....I want to wear it!" However, I have yet to document him wearing it; he never sits still long enough to get a picture. But I did manage to get proof of mini-man wearing these mama-made knits :) Aw!

The tale of two pouches

I made these zippered pouches as gifts.

The first one was gifted to my son's daycare teacher who was leaving for another job. He had gotten on really well with her, and she was great at her job. We were sad to see her go. Luckily, her successor is just as awesome as she was! 

The second pouch I made was a birthday gift for a dear friend of mine. I don't get to see her often anymore now that we no longer live in the same country, but this year we paid her and her family a visit to celebrate her day. It was great to be able to give this to her in person.

The outer part of both pouches is made with a thick layer of felt, onto which I machine appliqued some (very simple) felt flowers. I played around with the arrangement beforehand, and I secured them down with a small bit of glue before sewing them on. I lined each pouch with some quilting cotton from my stash.

Nice and quick, and very satisfying to make. I think I should make myself some too. You can never have too many pouches. Hahaha!