Cot tidy

This is the week to vote in the little starfish (fabric) challenge on Facebook! ( http://m.facebook.com/pages/Little-Starfish-Fabrics/192634597481721?id=192634597481721&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2Fsearch&_rdr )Check out the page, this is one of the places I know and trust to buy fabric from, in Australia on Facebook! 

I have entered (see above pic) in this months fabric challenge and am very taken by all the wonderful entries, everyone is very talented!! And I'm quite jealous of all those cute bucket hats- thats one thing I'm yet to succeed at!! Go over, like the page and vote, you don't have to vote for me, just vote! (Psst That's not saying I don't want your vote either)  I'll be posting a tutorial for the cot tidy next week, I have one more to make, and while I do so I will take the photos for the tute. In the meantime I have to make a book day Disney disco character costumes, for Ellary! 

And my little sister-in-law is having a birthday on the weekend and its a big one- double digits!! Unsure what i'll make miss K yet, she is fussy with clothing like my kiddies! Also working on a post about parenting- look out for it soon- hopefully a funny take on the craziness! Oh, and a milestone on the blog, almost finally at 1000 page views total, which isn't huge for a big blog but its something big for me :) still blogger doesn't show that I have any followers :( 

Maybe time for a celebratory giveaway soon? Hmm... 

Crochet a toddler cowl- beginner

Now let me start off by saying, I do not use crochet patterns often, well actually, at all! I own crochet books and use them for ideas or inspiration etc, but I can never follow a pattern without deviating. And I can't stay with a project for long, my hands get sore and my mind gets bored and counting with distractions doesn't work great! So this isn't a traditional crochet pattern which is why I think it works for beginners! 

I used what i think is 4ply, and used two stands of wool as one, i just pulled the middle end out and the outer end of wool and used them as if it were one piece. it gave the cowl a bit more chunky-ness which i like! and i used a 3.5ml hook because i couldn't find anything bigger.

For juju, who has a head circumference of 52cm I started with 51 chains, this is the top of your cowl, if you have your child handy you can try it on them once you slip join your chain to make sure it's large enough to fit over their head but only stretched, not too loose. (Or it will end up like Roos cowl-see pics below- i didn't have him handy to measure so i used the same sizes as Jujus which didn't work) My second round is single stitches into each chain link without increases. Rows 3-9 are treble stitches, with increases (an extra stitch) every 5th stitch, or whatever works for you! My 10th row (bottom) is single stitch, I ended up with 65 stitches. (Told you I don't count well with distractions- I had my kiddies watching a movie-back to the future 3-  and they have to ask questions about what's happening the entire time) 

What you will end up with is 10 rows, the top being smaller- small enough to not be too lose around their neck but not too tight that it can't fit over their heads! And it flares out slightly to sit out onto shoulders. It really is a forgiving piece, miss a stitch or add a stitch and it won't change too much of the overall piece. As long as you get the initial chain size right and you arent crocheting too tight you are good to go!  Of course you can make this larger for older ones, Tehy helped me crochet her one also... She got sick of the movie half way through and then got sick of crocheting half way through also, she got to the fifth row and gave up, so she has called it a head band rather then a cowl which she is happy with! The only thing you will need to change is the initial chain stitch- which will be longer to fit larger heads and you will have more rows to cover their longer neck and wider shoulders. You could use two different balls of wool to add some interest, or you could use a larger ply size or just use a single stand of the smaller ply if you wanted a thinner cowl if you want it for say- spring/summer rather then autumn/winter here! Good luck, I hope you make some sense of it, if you need any extra info, have questions or want to show your finished work leave me a comment and let me know how you go! :) 

Have to add a pic of the dread head rasta style beanie I made hubby also!

It's been a while!!

It's been a while since I last blogged, after I completed kcw and my sewing machine decided it needed a service that was it! It's been in the shop since and I finally get to pick it up this afternoon! YAY! I misjudged how much I would miss sewing these last couple weeks. I strived to put my energy into something else like cleaning or cooking, the cleaning? ha not that it helped at all, the house

Looks the same as it usually does! And cooking? It actually went well! The boys have been on a gluten and lactose free diet for the last 6 months, and I'm finally actually cooking most of it from scratch!

I've successfully made rainbow bread, sultana bread, (and they taste like normal bread- oh but more delicious!) chocolate cakes, sausage rolls and pies! In the past I have done a little here and there and since the boys were born I haven't cooked many family meals! Afternoons are routines, we play outside, we come inside for dinner bats an bed, there isn't time of day to cook in that with 4 kiddies! So, mum (and sometimes my hubby) do most of it! I'm so greatful for my mum who lives downstairs! She works at Ellarys school and does the school morning routines and comes home with the kiddies and then makes us all dinner (except the boys dinner which I do because of the special dietary needs) speaking of special diets, we had blood tests a few weeks ago, did I mention that? I'm not sure, oh well. The tests came back and we went to see the doctor, he was not for coming with the test results and told me there was no magic pill to 'fix' my kids! Gah! He rattled off some numbers saying allergies will show higher than a 1000 counters in an igA! I did some research and it wasn't the right numbers for the boys age group which made me really question it further, the doctor (who isn't our usual gp) shut down the test result pages just as quick as he opened them but I got to see Roos count was at an 8. I'm not a doctor but from my research his count was below normal range and if at their age they had got a count of 1000 it would basically mean they were allergic to absolutely everything edible and probably everything not! Long story short we need a new doctor! Yesterday Juju had an episode of horrible reactions, the chemist and nurse confirmed it was a reaction that caused his stomachs acids not to break down and he ended up (TMI) pooing acids and had an acid burn rash which is apparently common with gluten and lactose allergies! His face the came up in hives

and he got the shock shakes and passed out! It wasn't very nice :/ so cooking is a must in our house now, although the boys would live on rice noodles, crackers, bananas, grapes and gf spaghetti from a can if I let them! They do need variety and to attempt new things as their texture preference allows!

Back to sewing- I have many things cut and ready to go- you didn't think I could leave my sewing room completely alone did you!? Gosh no! I have a hand stamped t shirt, a cot tidy and a party dress all cut ready to go, and a few fix it jobs that are piling up- who likes them anyway! ha.

(my new fabric challenge bundle!)

So, sorry I have been absent and sorry for my rant on allergies and doctors lol, I will be back with some more sewing projects soon, and a couple of tutorials and patterns too :) next post will be up tomorrow with a crochet project- tutorial/pattern for a toddlers cowl scarf! Sneak peak- Roo was gardening - he likes the mint :) 

KCW +

This week was kids clothes week, and I did try to make an hour for each day/night to make my kiddies clothes, and all up I probably did end up doing the 5 hours but not exactly all in the right days, which is fine! I didn't get as much done as I hoped I would but that's ok too! I really should have dropped my machine off for that service when I said it was going in but I was stubborn and decided it could wait till the end of the week to allow me to do this. It held up ok, but I spent more time unpicking to fix missed stitches then I would have liked. And now the ammount of missed stitches is more then the hit stitches so its off to the shop now with hubby on his way to work! So the last couple of projects were exclusive or almost exclusive use of the serger! And Saturday, I got sick of clothes and needed a quick fix so I made a fleecy blanket. Not really the rules of KCW but its such a quick project and I felt accomplished! The Flickr pool for Elsie marley is topped with cute and radical clothes! So inspiring, and a few of them that are self drafted patterns or upcycled - I desperately wish I could buy, or have a tutorial or pattern for! So my photos below; spots and whimsy- sailor shorts pattern by peekaboo pattern shop, extended to pants length. I love the way these go together and I finally have an understanding of pockets and the sailor opening! Yay. I made two more pairs of those, one in elephant printed corduroy which is lovely and soft yet hardy, and another in aboriginal print polycotton? I'm not fussed on the poly cotton in the way it sits all boxy but on they look extremely comfy. I upcycled a pair of men's suit slacks into two pairs of pants, which don't fit anyone yet-oops. And made Tetris stencils and fabric painted some geeky jeans for the boys, I haven't got to the other pair yet (i am thinking pacman) I made some leggings for Ellary with a ribbed cotton waist and owl fabric paint stamps. And finally the blankie, it's a great size for the boys cots as it actually tucks in at the sides where as the bought cot quilts and blankets rarely or never stay tucked at the sides. I think I'll call KCW for me a half fail and I'll continue to do more clothes for my kiddies when my machine gets back later this week. Until I'm satisfied that they have enough to last them the season ahead! :)

My Day 1 for kids clothes week

I have opened a Flickr account, I have hardly any idea how to work anything but its there and I have found a couple of groups and posted a few pics of today's progress. I have some more patterns and fabric cut ready for today so im off! I'm going to share my Flickr pics here also, since noone follows my Flickr, or my blog for that matter, but that's just the way it is (singing)
If anyone reads this and wishes to follow me on Flickr I am upcakesmummy :)