Second Hand Summer

I haven't shared my thrifted/garage sale finds in a while, so I thought I would show you them all in one post. Ready?

Unique wooden candle holder (the wood theme is pretty constant throughout.)

Round mirror which I love and only paid a quarter for!!

Another wooden piece, this holds Sydney's latest "nature hike" find.

Buttons!

Interesting white pot. The previous owner used it as a flower pot, but it has measurements on the side like a mixing bowl. Not sure what I'll do with it but it was too pretty to pass up.

Wooden bowls. I have a certain attraction to wooden bowls.

The softest towels ever.

Magnet board/calendar for Sydney. Luckily we have the same taste in old junk! I spotted this expecting a huge price tag and was shocked it was only $1.

Not pictured...miscellaneous books for both Sydney and I, mini molds and tart pans for her kitchen, and a couple zippers. Crossing my fingers for more good luck!

Growing Up

Today my baby girl goes to her first day of preschool. I'm not sure who is more excited/nervous. She is growing up way too fast. And some days not fast enough. I guess I'm just another mom trying to stop the clock and enjoy every moment.

Gloves, or glove I guess

I knit myself a glove! This has been one of those projects that just seemed way too hard to tackle. All those fingers, and worse yet the space in between them...I just wasn't sure I was ready for them. But I don't really like to wear mittens. I end up taking them off too often - to find my keys, to buckle my kid in the car, etc. So I determined it was time to make gloves. And honestly it wasn't that hard. They were rather time consuming knitting all those fingers in the round, but not really hard. Granted I have only made the one glove. We'll see how it goes, I might have a new appreciation for mittens!

A couple details...

Yarn: Reynolds Cricket, a rayon/wool blend that is really soft, knit on size 3 needles.

Book: Knitting New Mittens and Gloves which has a couple really cute patterns including some mittens I'm looking forward to making! :)

More Gifting

It seems like I am in gift making mode around here...I should really keep it up and get going on Christmas gifts. For now though I am focused on birthdays! My nephew turned 6 last week. I purchased part of his gift, but decided he needed just a little handmade love too. He has a very drafty closet in his room so I made him a felted snake to keep the cold (and the monsters) out of his room. It was a huge hit! Of course, as soon as Sydney saw she insisted on one of her own - in pink of course!

Each snake took about an hour from start to finish. The most time consuming part was picking out which sweaters to use! They are both stuffed with a combination of poly-fil and rice and weigh just enough so they seem pretty real. I really didn't anticipate the level of play these were going to endure. If I made them again I would reinforce them a bit more. Also Sydney's snake's head was made from a cabled sweater that wasn't felted far enough, so from time to time a piece of rice escapes. Someday I might take it apart and line it, but so far she hasn't let it out of her sight long enough to accomplish this. My nephew's snake was made with pieces that were 12" wide, and was meant to be used as a draft blocker. Sydney's was only 8" wide because I knew she would mostly play with it. As an added bonus these work great as a neck pillow in the car for both kids and grownups!

Baby Julia

I finished the gift for baby Julia, with plenty of time as we haven't been able to go meet her yet. I decided on this sweet hat pattern from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford. I used the softest bamboo yarn (on clearance at my LYS.) It turned out cute, but super tiny. I'm going to have to give it to her quick so she gets a chance to wear it. The first 18 rows of this hat look like a jumbled mess until you get done with them, but then they pretty design finally shows up and it all seems worth it. The rest of the hat is a breeze. I also made this very simple baby quilt. It's about 40 inches square, made with simple fabric from JoAnn's with a vintage chenille bedspread backing. With the heavier than usual backing and the batting in the middle, the quilt turned out pretty thick and heavy - perfect for a play mat I think.

Gift giving is one area that I try really hard to stay on budget mostly by using what I already have to make something. I bought all the fabric for the top specifically for this project instead of using my stash though (just nothing baby-ish in there.) But, I bought enough fabric for 2 baby quilts, and used a coupon so the total cost per quilt was around $6 since I already had the batting and the chenille on hand. I already pieced the other top, so it will be a quick finish when the next baby girl comes around. I think it turned out to be a special gift at a great price.