light quilted jacket

I have been knitting intensively for the past while.

but, decided to make my daughter this jacket while I had some cuts on my fingers,

which made me a bit painful to knit. 

 all the materials are from my stash bins.

I sorted through them the other weekend,

which reduced four bins into two! 

I had LOTS of little scraps that I am probably never going to use,

and some odds/ends from former projects, also random fabric that people had given me.

it made me feel nice to organize some stuff and let go of things I don't need.

clatter is no good.

 the pattern is from Sweet Girl Clothes (ほんのりSweet女の子の服) that I grabbed when I was in Japan.

I have tried a couple different patterns from this book

and it has lots of well designed/constructed cute clothes for girls.

highly recommended!

this quilted fabric is thin and light.

good for fall/spring, and also winter if she wears a nice warm sweater underneath.
the lining is so hard to see, but this naniIRO fabric (in white).

I made it in size 100, but should have made in 110 so that she could wear it next winter/spring...

I was also amazed how quickly I finished it, compared to knitting something like that.
(still) took me a few days, because I could only work on it a short chunk of time when she was in bed,
but it's pretty cool to pull something wearable so quickly!

happy halloween!

finished my almost-three-yr-old's costume a few days ago.

she wanted to be a cat,

specifically one of our cats who has Himalayan like long fur.

 this year, I didn't want to make something super "costumy",

and decided to make little parts to make a whole outfit. 

I knitted the sweater + mittens,

and used this pullover pattern and this classic mitten pattern.

and made the hat and tutu based on the patterns from Oliver + S book.(pics above)

this way, she can wear each item separately(or together) on different occasions!

and that is much more rewording for me to make something for her :)

Happy Halloween!! 

  

what it turned out to be, instead...

so, I decided to take my very first cardigan for my daughter, which I knitted last march, apart

and make it into something else. 

although it was an emotionally hard decision(sort of) to make, 

the cardigan was very baggy around her neck, 

and I really wanted her to have something I knitted for this fall. 

  I purchased this pattern from Ravelry, my first purchase.

and for some reason, it was $1.20 off, which made myself justify buying the pattern 

with a promise of making more than one of them- maybe for gifts.

so, here it is!

I think I made the right choice! 

it was a super quick project, a piece o' cake.

this vest cardigan is a much better fit on her. I love the color on her, too :)

although I have been in the knitting binge lately and have a bunch of projects lined up,

 it started to drive me crazy as of yesterday...

I was excited to open my yarn order, but one of the yarn colors looked different from what I expected

(I'm sure it happens often when you're online shopping),

and I didn't read one of the patterns well enough that I am actually short on the yarn,

AND the yarn I picked for specific projects didn't seem "right" to me any more....

UGH!

maybe too much of one thing isn't good.

time for a little break?

perhaps...

knitting for babies

 a few weeks ago, I knitted the vintage pixie hat and mary jane booties for my newest niece, Sophia.

she was born in July, and I had been wanting to send her something, but didn't decide what up until now...

  

 finally sent them out last weeks and I haven't heard from my sis-in-law that they have received the package yet, 

but I think they will be perfect little cozy things to keep little Sophia warm in Winnipeg fall.

hope she sends me some pictures of her wearing these!

and because I still had the leftover yarn from the projects above, decided to knit my little baby something.

little baby booties!  

it was probably an appropriate sock project for me as I have never knitted socks before 

and to  see if I even like knitting socks. 

the first one took me a little while to get going, 

but the second half went by quickly. 

although I kida liked knitting socks, I don’t think I am ready to knit socks for “big” people…

lil baby sling

a few weeks ago, I purchased this book from Oliver + S.

 it was a little gift to myself for,,, erm,,, nothing!

i like treating myself, sometime too much :I

but when I took it to my hand at Powell's,

I decided I HAD TO have it.

it is full of cute little things you can make for your little one,

which are also great gifts!

yes, I had to have it!

the very first thing I wanted to make my daughter was this bear carrier.

 since she had been playing with her big carrier so much lately

(in addition to her current obsession -breast feeding her bears),

I though it would be sweet to make one in 'her size'.

 fabric used is all scrap from my stash.

it was a quick over-night project,

and she was already playing with it next morning!

I am sure you'll be a great mama!

homemade playdough

yesterday afternoon, I finally got a chance to make some playdough for my daughter.

I had been wanting to try out a recipe for homemade one.

I googled and checked out a few sites, and tried out a non-cooking one first.

that didn't turn out so well. the salt didn't melt and it was not so smooth as it should be.

then, decided to go with a traditional playdough recipe.

basic, simple, should work!

::INGREDIENTS::

* 1 cup flour

* 1 cup warm water

* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

* 1 teaspoon oil

* 1/4 cup salt

* food coloring

in addition to the original recipe, I added 1tbs of Alum.

it's supposed to keep the playdough fresh longer.

basically put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and mix it over medium heat until it becomes crumbly.

starts out like a cream sauce.

starts forming some lumps.
don't worry even if the mixture is uneven, and keep mixing.

in the recipe, it's said to heat and mix it it becomes a 'ball', 

but I think it doesn't really become like a ball at all.

it's more crumbly/lumpy.

take it out of the pan, and knead it till smooth.

taddaaa :)

  

my daughter was really digging it.

and she was playing with it for over an hour.

next time, I will try something different and weired, like jello playdough or peanut butter playdough.

has anyone tried them?

knitting up a storm!

I have been knitting up a storm since a little bit before Christmas, 

although I had not been posting about it(which I probably should, but too lazy).

one of my this year's new years reslutions was to knit my first big project, a sweater.

so, I had started my first sweater project in mid Feb and finished it a couple weeks ago while I was down in Ashland visiting friends.

which means, it took me a whole month to finish a big project.  

that isn't that bad for my first sweater project I think!

I used a free pattern I found on Ravelry, and used this superwash yarn in teal.

knitted a swatch first, I started knitting the actual pattern.

after knitting almost the whole back piece, realized it was too big, 

and unraveled it and went down one size in the needle.

 put all the pieces together using youtube clips as a reference on how to sew them together.

and taddaaa!  here it is!!  my very first sweater!!!

 my friend, Tiffany whom we were visiting when i was finishing up the sweater, kindly offered me to choose buttons from her huge button collection.

and I picked these pretty grayish shell buttons.  

it turned out being still TOO BIG for me... :(

so I decided to give it to my mother who used to knit for me when I was little.

My mother is a health nurse, living in Japan, 

and she recently told me that she would be sent to the earthquake/tsunami affected area to provide medical/health care and emotional support.

so, I am hoping she would bring this and it will protect her from whatever happening where she is sent to...

also here is another project I finished today for my little girl.

 pattern is also a free one from lion brand yarn.  

and I used the same yarn as the sweater above since I thought it was a pretty color for her.

finished up with the fabric covered buttons I made previously.

I knitted a T3 size so that she could wear it next winter.

however it turned out so HUGE on her and looks like it is for 5yr old...

ugh.  I guess there is so much to learn about gauging and sizing!!

I have another "small" project I wand finish before the warm weather hits here.

it may not be too long for the spring to come say hello, so I will see :)


p.s.  oh!  if you have a ravelry account, please let me know!
my username is Lunatepetal.  add me as a friend, I'd love to check your projects out :)

little world traveler's backpack

i've been making things for the upcoming Japan trip.

very first thing I wanted make was a backpack for my little one

so that I didn't have to carry her books and toys while we travel.

so here it is, it is all done and ready to be packed up with all the goodies!

 this one is pretty close to this one,

I made my own pattern, but the sewing steps/instructions are pretty much the same,
and used the leftover fabric from this hat. 

 I added a pocket on backside and outside of the backpack and embroidered around the butterfly print.

also made a bottle holder by simply adding a band with elastic inside of the backpack so the bottle stays upright.

it has an extra cushion of thicker interface on the back and bottom of the backpack for comfort and durability.

it was my first time using piping, and it was great.

I think that is what give the backpack the finished look.

I also did a research on free toddler backpack patterns/tutorials as I was making up my own pattern,

and here is a list of useful links if you'd like to make your little guy one of these!

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that crafty mrs. V: free pattern/instruction 

think liz: a long list of free sewing patterns(clothes, accessories, baby items, etc)

indietutes: free toddler backpack tutorial

made by rae: purchase a toddler backpack pattern/instruction 

sew, mama, sew!: free back to school backpack pattern/instruction

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I have a few more sewing creations to share,,,

please come back to check them out later :)!

have a great weekend!

xo