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! 

Rawr...

Another birthday rolled around, this time a birthday boy from a few doors down. He's the same age as our mister man and they enjoy each other's company when they're not claiming each other's toy as "mine"!!!! Seeing how 3 year olds can solve disagreements sometimes shocks me (e.g.when shoving is involved) but on the other hand can surprise me with how compassionate each can be to the other.

He's a Dino fan (like our son) and I did think of making a similar t-shirt with a felt Dino appliquéd to the front. But, after a few washes, Dino had shrunk a little (re-felted?) so now the t-shirt is a bit scrunched up in the middle. I guess it's not ideal for clothing that needs to be washed often. Lesson learnt!

Instead I decided to make a Dino softie! I drew out a pattern on paper, cut the pieces out from felt, and starting sewing. A few stitches here, a few there. It's nice to have a quick and easy project within hands reach. I glued the decorative parts to the main body before blanket stitching them on so that they stayed fixed as I sewed them. I stuffed him with some polyfil until he was nice and squidgy!

And after a few evenings...Mr Dino was ready. And I was told that the Birthday Boy did not let go of his new Dino softie until he was fast asleep that night. It's always nice to hear that your handmade items are well-appreciated, isn't it? :)

Tah-dah!!!

Upon returning home, my almost-3-year old put in a request for a Dino of his own. Seeing as his birthday is just around the corner, I'm now busy stitching another T-Rex. The pieces are cut...and now for some hand-sewing...

Dinosaurrrrr

Mister Man really likes his Monster t-shirt, much to my delight! I've made shirts for him before but this is the first time he actively searches in his wardrobe to wear this mama-made tee. No need to convince me to make another tee for him. Again, I used the FST pattern from Rae (cut out size 5T, with 4T length). Found some Pinspiration here and hand-appliqued a felt-dinosaur to the front of the tee. And this was a collaborative project, as even Papa joined in; he cut out the dino and his spikes.

Using a blanket stitch and embroidery thread, I attached the dino to the t-shirt (I used a small bit of washable pritt-stick to keep the dino in place while I stitched). It has been a while since I hand-stitched something, and the slow repeatable motions were quite relaxing.

And much to my delight, this tee has also been approved by the little man, who is such a busy little bee, it was hard to get a "non-blurred" photo of him wearing his newly acquired tee-shirt.

 

I was worried the felt wouldn't hold up being washed (for the first time) in the washing machine, but I just turned the t-shirt inside out and put it in a lingerie wash-bag so it wouldn't be rubbed against during the wash cycle and it came out fine.

Something girly

I've had this Lillestof organic cotton jersey in my stash for a while, never really knowing what to make with it. However, a day-care friend of my son is celebrating her 3rd birthday this weekend, so I decided to make her a little something.

This t-shirt is made using Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern, cut out in size 3T. I really like this pattern, it's definitely becoming a staple go-to pattern for me. And it's easy to modify...I added 2.5cm to the front on order to create gathers along the front neck line but they're not that obvious. Ah well, perhaps my next attempt will turn out better! An old t-shirt of mine provided the fabric to create the cap sleeves and to bind the neck line. As you can see from the *beautiful* stitching along the neck-line, I have to improve my patience when sewing the final touches on a garment ;) I added a ribbon "label" so that it's easy for the little Miss to determine the back/front of the t-shirt.

To complete the gift, I wanted to make one extra thing, a little pouch or bag, but before starting I decided to check my IG feed, and noticed the lovely felt pouches my sister-in-law had just made and posted a tutorial for...what perfect timing. Thus, a little matching pouch was sewn, and hopefully the birthday girl will fill it with her treasures.

A belated birthday gift...

It was the birthday of a good friend of mine a few weeks ago, and I wanted to make her something to mark the occasion. We don't see each other very often, and months can go by between chats. However, I think about her often, and every now and then we exchange hand-written letters or a long phone call. It's the type of friendship isn't affected by silence or distance...we can pick up exactly where we left off.

She loves getting dolled up for nights out. I remember many a Saturday night getting ready at her place, chatting and giggling as we anticipated dancing the night away! She had (and probably still has) quite a collection of make-up, and I remember the "hundreds" of bottles of nail varnish in every colour imaginable. So what better than to make her a Snappy Manicure Wallet by Anna of Noodlehead (free tutorial here). I filled it with some new bottles of nail varnish, some new nail files and some hand creams. I wrapped it up in some happy polka-dot paper and posted it off. 

Happy belated birthday, dear friend! xxx

Cute Little Monsters...

Time took on a different meaning in the last months, but finally Mini Man made his appearance on the 22nd April.

To celebrate his arrival I made a birth-notice card to share with family and friends. A quick search on pinterest led to me to this pin, and the Cute Little Monster theme was born ;) I created 4 monsters out of felt (one for each member of the family), photographed each one on a white background and used Adobe Illustrator to prepare the images for the birth card. We printed our cards using an online service and we were really happy with the quality.

To celebrate the arrival of his little brother I made big brother a new T-shirt. Using Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern, I made a 5T size with a 4T length (Mister Man is a stocky little fella for an almost 3 year old). I gave it short sleeves in time for summer. Using the pre-existing hems of the XXXXL shirt I used to make Mister Man's tee made this a super fast sew. I printed out the monster onto iron-on transfer paper, and added it to the shirt. 

And here it is being modelled by the new big brother...