Payback

When you have a sister that can knit like the wind, you sometimes take advantage of her. You order yarn and have it delivered directly to her house. Then you email her and say "my kids need hats". You never ask "Hey, are you busy?". Sometimes you feel guilty about that, because when it comes to utility, none of your talents can begin to compete. So you think "utility be damned, I'll make her something pretty." Thanks, Sarah.


I obviously need my other sister to take the photos, because the colors are much prettier in real life. They're very fall-y sparkly crystals. Also, please note that the model is a 6 year old. The circle frame beads are dime-sized, not quarter-sized.

Scrap Afghan

I always have a lot of scrap yarn around. I decided a fun thing to do with it would be to make an afghan. Mary-Claire received my first scrap afghan, but there are more scraps, so more afghans to come.

A special thank you goes out to Claire for posing with the afghan.

Hat for Todd

You have probably picked up on this, but I love making hats. For Todd's birthday I told him I would make him a hat. He picked a very basic tube hat. It was great to knit while watching football, as it required very little thought (the hat, not the game).

I used some extra acrylic that I had sitting around. I needed bulky yarn, so I just doubled up the worsted weight. I like being able to wash hats, as my head sweats a lot, even in the winter.

Celebration Flags

As this time of the year approaches, I feel like all our work to raise children aware of, and resistant to, consumer culture, falls apart. It starts with Tucker's birthday and goes downhill. So I've been on a kick to find ways to make celebrations fun and special without buying. Hence the celebration flags.

I saw these in a book. The person made them by cutting triangles with pinking shears and sewing them to binding tape. I don't have pinking shears, and I know my mom did, so I didn't want to buy any (I like to think of myself as anti-consumer and eco-friendly, but the reality may just be McCarty). So I sewed triangles together, with the added bonus of having them be two sided. It's a great project for all the small remnants of fabric I had (I *know* that's McCarty). They're really fun. We've had them up since we finished them, in preparation for Tucker's birthday, but they'll be great for any celebration. Tucker has big plans to pull them out for Groundhog Day.