Sam's BIG Adventure

Sam has talked about a desire to ride a bus and we decided it was time for a big bus adventure. Our journey was to Uptown Minneapolis (about a 1/2 hour ride from our house.) We looked around at shops, bought some fun smartwool socks for me and Sam, had lunch at The Independent and took the bus back home. Big for a three year old is relative. We had so much fun watching Sam explore these new worlds; trying out pool and darts at the restaurant, going up and down an escalator and did I mention the elevator? Such fun was had by all. Bear with me I took lots of photos!

Old Stock SALE!!!

As I mentioned in a previous post I am in the process of changing over to using all plant dyed yarn and felt in my creations in my etsy shop. So now it's time to clear out the old stock with a SALE! Valentine gnomes and crowns remain $2.00 off, baby gnomes are $2.00 off and regular gnomes, cats and crowns are $1.00 off their original price. I've grouped all my old stock under the catergory of SALE/CLEARENCE. Come check out the deals!

This little guy could go home with you for as little as $9! Stop by my shop today!

Birthday Gift - Fingerless Mitts

As you can plainly see I did not write on Wednesday about an unfinished project, but instead picked up a completely new one. What's going on here you might ask? My husband certainly did! Well, my oldest friend Emily is having a birthday next week. We don't always exchange gifts, we're both very random that way, but this year I felt she needed a pick me up. Emily is pregnant, in her first trimester, and not feeling very well. So, I wanted to give her something comforting, cheap (trying to stay in budget), that I could knit quickly and that she'd like of course too. I found my inspiration from Waldorf Mama whose blog I read regularly - fingerless mitts!

What was even better was that the pattern was free off of Raverly and I had yarn and needles I would need on hand! I don't know about you, but this hardly EVER happens to me. I got started last night and just finished up this afternoon. This was my kind of project. I used Louet Riverstone Worsted weight yarn in a celery color and probably only used 90 yards total. So, now I'm thinking of making this scarf to go with the mitts. It will use up my yarn (using up yarn completely is in my top 5 favorite things in the world - not even exaggerating here!) make for a fabulous present. Wish me luck!

Planted Dyed Yarn and Felt

I'm am so excited I can't quite contain myself! I've been in a bit of a malaise about my etsy shop and the direction I want to take and whether or not I want to keep going. What I've been happiest with as of late have been my magic wands made with beautiful felt and yarn that's been planted dyed. The colors seem so alive and real in a way I've never experienced before with commercially dyed yarn. But, my gnomes and other items aren't bringing me the joy they once did.

Then a woman emailed me on etsy to find out if my knit crowns were plant dyed as her children are allergic chemical dyes. This comment really got me thinking about what I'm doing and why. I love making all natural toys for children, but maybe they are not natural enough?

So, I made a big decision to change over to using solely plant dyed wool yarn and wool felt in my creations. The Simply Playing shop will still carry gnomes, cats, crowns and wands, but now all will be made out of in plant dyed wool. I will also add some new baby items as well to the store in case there are others out their that need an alternative to chemical dyes. The phasing in will take me some time so keeping checking in for them and for some deals on my old stock!

Old Project #1 - FINISHED!!!

Well, I'm so happy to say that I finished my first sweater for myself. Putting it out there in the blog world that I was going to do so really was a motivator (more than I expected.) My biggest challenges were evenly picking up stitches for the collar and attaching the sleeves at the shoulder. Anyone out there have any tips for these tasks? I must admit I just winged it instead of seeking help. The yarn was purchased online instead of my local yarn shop Skeins (not usual for me, but she didn't have what I wanted). This left me feeling a bit funny about going in to ask for help on this project.

Overall, I am pleased with the fit - it's big and snuggly. A perfect Saturday sweater. I wish I would have cast off a bit looser on the collar, but that's my only complaint. Here it is - what do you think?

Now, to pick out another unfinished project to list on Wednesday - so many to choose from, but not for long!

New Books

As I was going through Sam's books the other day I decided we needed something new to spruce things up a bit. I like to shop at Half Priced Books, but the books I want for Sam I can never find there. So, I let my fingers do the shopping at Amazon.com. We love Daniela Drescher's "In the Land of Elves, Fairies, and Merfolk" books so I purchased 2 more of her books "The Elves Big Adventure" and "What's Hiding in There".

There's a great fold out picture of Redcap Elf and Bluecap Elf trying to land Redcap's hot air balloon.

As you probably guessed "What's Hiding in There" is a lift the flap book. It's filled with wonderful little discoveries like elves, nuts, butterflies and berries hiding in the forest. Sam loved both books, but "The Elves Big Adventure" is the favorite as it has a dragon (friendly) in the story. What new books have you added to your bookshelf?

Giveaway at Natural Suburbia Blog

Linda from Natural Suburbia Blog is having a great giveaway. Just visit her site by Feburary 12th and leave a comment to enter. Below is a picture of all the fabulous items in her giveaway.

Items in this giveaway:

a handmade rainbow felt sheet,

a hand carved crochet hook,

a skein of hand dyed rainbow cotton,

a skein of hand dyed rainbow mohair,

a skein of hand dyed merino,

a ball of pink banana leaf yarn,

a felt holder wrap for block Stockmar crayons (crayons not included:)

Little black lamb.

Finishing Old Projects - #1 My Sweater

Well, I decided I need to start finishing some of the bigger projects gathering dust on the shelf. Like many people I have great momentum in the beginning and if I run into a stumbling block I come to a full stop. This sweater's moment was when I realized I did not have enough yarn to finish even though I purchased the amount indicated for my size. Common issue. I now know to always buy at least one skein more, but this irks me as I love to use up all my yarn (I hear you - find another hobby then.)

So, this happened back in October when I thought I get our Christmas picture taken with this sweater as I was clipping along at a good pace back then. Now, it's February and still it sits on the shelf. That is until today, being armed with another skein of yarn (sadly not the same dye lot) and a bit of time while Sam is at preschool to find out where I left off.

I found this book Textured Knits by Julia Cooper at Half Priced Books and luckily fell in love with the one sweater in my size (not much for us busty girls in this volume, but lovely patterns none the less.) It just looked so cozy for a winter's day. I splurged on myself (not at all usual as most moms experience) and bought Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande for the project. It's so light and extremely soft which makes me think this sweater will be worn constantly - when it's done of course.

It has a very easy but unique looking rib pattern that is for the hem and cuffs but it also goes up the center of the front and back for decoration. Here's a close up.

I'll be posting when it's finished and then will start on another unfinished knitting project. Hopefully I'll inspire you, as well as myself, and won't let so many partially completed projects build up again. Wish me luck!

Valentine's Day Sale on Etsy

I'm having a Valentine's Day Sale in my Etsy Shop. I knit up a bunch of gnomes and crowns special for Valentine's Day with knitted heart appliques. And now that Valentine's Day is fast approaching they need to find new homes. I've marked the gnomes and crowns down by $2.00 so, instead of $12.00 they are now on sale for a mere $10.00! They are made in lovely shades of cream, pink, purple and red and some with mohair yarn to add a bit of fuzzy love to them. Here are just a few examles:

Please take advantage of this great sale while spreading a bit of love this Valentine's day!

Helping With Chores

My husband is very talented at getting our three year old to help with chores. He makes his cars or doll pick things up and put them away. Or, if Sam wants to play something special (like indoor golf with tinker toys in the living room) with Dad he has to clean up his other toys first. My favorite though is when Sam helps with laundry. He goes down to the basement with Dad to get the clothes out of the dryer and then gets in the basket too! Here's a few photos:

After this, the laundry explodes all over the room helped by our three year old whirlwind. Then Dad gets Sam down to the business of sorting clothes into piles, while he folds. And finally they both put the clothes away. It's a very long process, but at least it gets done. Thank you Dan for all that you do!

New Wands

So, to have a small respite from knitting I've been working on some wand designs. This is the latest - a star wand. I was inspired by MamaJudes beautiful plant dyed rainbow bulky wool yarn and matching felt. The wooden dowel is wrapped in yarn creating a beautiful rainbow. I used my favorite blanket stitch on the star edges and smaller star applique. Again, the only unnatural element is the ribbons in blue, green, and yellow. The wand is for sale now in my etsy shop. I'm hoping to make a few more designs to sell in the shop as well as at the big May Fair event at my son's Waldorf school.

Give a Kitty for Valentines Day

I just finished some great new knitted kitty cats just in time for Valentine's Day. I usually stick to natural color combinations for my cats, but I had some left over pink mohair yarn - just enough for a cat. You'll notice from my etsy shop I've been adding mohair to the gnomes too. There's something about fuzziness that makes me think of love and Valentine's Day. So, here's my new trio of Valentine's Day Cats: Miss Bubblegum, Valentine Red and Cat in the Cream.

New - Valentine Heart Magic Wands

I just made a new item for my etsy shop - Valentine Heart Magic Wands! They are made from some wonderful plant dyed felt I purchased from a fellow etsian MamaJudes. It's a lovely wool rayon felt which is thick and soft. I wanted a new item for Valentine's Day and my son gave me the idea as he was running around with his dragon wand from Sarah's Silks. The heart is simply blanket stitched and stuffed with wool roving to give it some depth. The only thing not natural is the ribbons which are sadly polyester. All that's needed is an imaginative child and the magic begins.

My Gnomes in Their New Home

We had a Holiday Fair at Sam's Waldorf School were I sold my knitted gnomes, cats and bags. Many of the kids who attend there went home with a gnome or two. One family, who now home school their girls, bought five. They were instantly absorbed into the family. The girls made them a paper house with knitted rugs and blankets of their own creation for their new gnome family. Their very creative Waldorf loving Mama took these photos which I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

Construction with Yarn

My son Sam REALLY wants to learn how to knit as Mama knits constantly. I tell him when he's old enough he'll learn it at his Waldorf School and I will help too. Of course this explanation does not satisfy an active 3 1/2 year old! So, I end up giving him a small ball of yarn to play with and this is the result.

Here is our front door knob which connects through the living room and down the hall to Sam's bedroom door knob below.

Now we're back to the front door handle with the shower squeegee tied up. Sam calls these obstacle courses and indeed it does make getting around the house interesting. My dear husband is clean crew for these endeavors and does all the winding unraveling - god bless him!

A Birthday and Lemonade from Lemons...

I had my birthday yesterday and what a day it was! I awoke to "Happy Birthday MAMA!" from my son followed by a pancake breakfast (that I didn't cook - yay!), beautiful flowers, scrumptious truffles, lunch at Lucia's (our favorite restaurant in Minneapolis), thrifting at the Goodwill and a day spent with my husband who took the day off. I'm so grateful to have such a giving loving family!

Our birthday ring showing I'm now 38 (oh so close to 40 - agh!) and have a winter birthday, love gnomes, live in a yellow house and have a son who can't be left out so hence his birthday bee was added. I love this tradition of the birthday ring which we started for Sam, but now use to celebrate everyone in the family including Grandma!

Lovely yellow roses adding such joy to our house with the bleak and frigid weather outside. The lovely vase was my Grandmother's and really makes any bouquet spectacular.

Here's our table's winter centerpiece with a fantastic needle felted King Winter I purchased from darialvovsky on etsy.

I was so excited to finish my Snow Gnome for the winter display. Dan calls him a Snome! Silly , but fun.

Sam had his first scissor incident today. He was making a dragon out of a plastic bag (I think he got the idea from kites we've seen) just shredding it to bits. Then he must have gotten bored and snipped 2 holes in his pillow form IKEA. It's a good reminder to Mama to be in the same room with him while he's cutting - oh well! So, I took some inspiration from Wee Folk Art and appliqued some wool felt hearts to cover the holes. I think it turned out well, although where I start the blanket stitch and end is a bit messy. But, the pillow was saved! Thus lemonade from lemons.

Fall

Fall is my favorite season. The colors, the smell and simply the feel of the air when you walk outside. I was out taking pictures of my new Christmas Gnomes and Christmas Ornament this morning and had snap a photo of the beautiful frost.

My son Sam is enamored with my little stories of Jack "Jackie" Frost. His latest question being "Does he live here too?" (I assumed meaning our neighborhood.) Which I found funny as I never thought to mention his home in my stories. Then realized home is so important to a child that of course he would wonder where he lived. Do any of you have any fun Jack Frost stories to share?

Here are my homage to Autumn Gnomes which are available in my etsy shop and as a giveaway on Contemporary Earth Mama's Blog this coming Monday the 16th. Drop a comment on her blog for a chance to win. Bring a little Fall into your home today.

It Finally Got Us....Flu is Here

Well, my little three year old caught the flu this past weekend. We've been extremely lucky as this is only the 2nd time he's been really sick. He's got a temp and can't keep food down poor little boy, and is sleeping fitfully. We have no T.V., but brought out the movie projector to pass the time. I feel so guilty about this as as a rule we try to limit media to hopefully none or most likely an hour a week. So, now Sam is getting an onslaught, but I don't know what else to do as he's so miserable. Any suggestions on amusing a sick child would be greatly appreciated.

Here we are snuggling on our couch, as he wants his Mama next to him all day (I've gotten lots of knitting down at least.) He didn't even want his picture taken...poor little guy.

Halloween

Here's my Sam as a cow for Halloween. It was the only non violent costume that fit him from our local used clothing store, but luckily he didn't mind. In fact, Sam embraced it wholeheartedly and actually wore his costume this year (last Halloween he just carried his lion suit around with him.) This was his first year of actually going door to door with Daddy. He basically just went around our block visiting with the neighbors, and not once saying "Trick or Treat" so I'm told. The best part was watching him play with his candy - not eat it mind you - just playing. I wonder how long that will last.