Manly Crafts

My dad works graveyards and outside, so for Christmas this year we gave him things to keep him warm. Here are two of the things I made for him.

I finally made a hat that passed my husbands criteria for "manly." I was so glad he liked it I made one for him the next day! The brown thing is a heating pad filled with lentils. (Place in microwave for 2 minutes to heat). I made it out of a quilters quarter. I cut it in half lengthwise so I was able to get two out of one. Not bad when it only cost $0.79! I made about 8 of these for people as well as for a family auction to raise money for our reunion this year. I wasn't there, but my mom tells me they went for $8.00. I like that kind of profit margin! I wanted to fill them with dry herbs (I found a list care of the sewing dork) but could only find two of them, cinnamon and thyme. It smelled too much like a Thanksgiving turkey with only those two so I didn't put them in. Anyone know where to get a variety of dried herbs in Portland? I know they have to be here!

Wool Shorties/ Soakers

Once again my idea comes from the sewing dork. I used the arms from this same sweater to make the longies of an earlier post. Click on the link for an awesome tutorial. The sweater was a really big one, so the shorties fit my almost 3 year old great. However, she says they are itchy and I could hardly keep her in them for this photo. I wonder if she has a sensitivity or allergy to wool since this is oh, so soft merino wool and I think it is especially comfy.

As with a few other things I made for her that she won't wear, I find hope in the fact that her sister is only 17 months younger and hopefully will choose to wear them.

Also, if you look in the comments from my Training Pants Tutorial, you'll see that the Sewing Dork made a comment. It's like a celebrity stopping by! {{Blush Blush}}

Travel Bag

When I was growing up we always traveled by car on our vacations. My mom would make special vacation bags for the 12 plus hour trips. They had coloring crayons and books, doodle pads (the kind with the red plastic "pencil" where you wrote and lifted it up to erase it). And of course the bald guy with magnetic shavings to give him hair, a beard and mustache.

This year we flew to Utah to be with my husband's family for Christmas and I wanted to make a special bag for my daughter for the plane ride. I was please with how it turned out. I made it reversible with a Christmas pattern picked out by my daughter on the outside and a coordinating solid for the inside. It has 4 pockets, 2 inside and 2 outside. The fabric is a basic cotton so I used stiff interfacing on each piece to make the bag thicker and more durable.

Although the bag is reversible, I expected her to use it with the print out since she chose the "cookie men"
However, she preferred this on the inside. In this picture it is full of the art supplies we took for the plane.

This is how the bag looked during the duration of our vacation. I love how the crayon
holders turned out and Cake loved putting them in and out!

My mom took us the the airport so of course I showed her the bag. She commented that she was impressed and that the bags she made for us were never that fancy. I was very pleased because of course I remembered them as that fancy and was hoping to equal my moms work.

Holy Hats-- 31 to be exact

Yup, that's the finally tally of how many hats I crocheted between Thanksgiving and Christmas but most of them were done (like 20) the 3 days before and 3 days after Christmas. Here's just a sampling of a few that I made. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was working so fast and furious and giving them away as fast as I made them that I didn't have a chance. I learned crab stitch (gotta love you-tube) and used it to finish the boys hats, I don't have a picture of that though.

I made hats for all my husband's nieces (10 including our girls) in this style.
I just love how the sugar and cream yarn looked!

I didn't make the had I'm wearing (I hadn't finished mine yet) I used woolease thick and quick yarn with a K hook. I also really liked working with this yarn. I know you can't see my husbands very well,
I'll try to get a better pic later.

This is the first had of the season that I made its just basic yarn with a double crochet. I started from the bottom on this one. All the other's I started from the top. The picture is so bad because my camera was cold. My daughter is in the hat and my sister is holding her.
My nephew in his hat. There are three nephews and three on the way.
Unlike the hats for the girls, theirs were all a different style. One even had ear flaps.

My daughter and her cousin in their coordinating hats