Crafts

This fall and winter I've been doing a lot of knitting. It's relaxing most of the time, except when I mess something up and don't know how to fix it. I started knitting little squares when I was pregnant, intending to put them together to make a blanket, but set the project aside once my carpal tunnel syndrome got bad and never finished. So last fall I got out the knitting again and finished the little squares. I sewed them together to make a doll blanket - I didn't have it in me to make enough squares to make a child-sized blanket. That project turned out pretty good, so I kept going. It's a nice activity for the post-kid-bedtime semi-comatose state that I'm usually in at night - too tired to do chores or catch up on work, but in need of some downtime before I go to sleep.

Here's what I've knit so far - the smallest squares make great blankets for the dollhouse dolls.

These are the squares that I knit while pregnant (excuse the Mojo fur at the top - I couldn't keep him out of the picture)

The kids have seen me knitting, and now they want to "knit" too. So I've given them some old balls of yarn and short knitting needles and they love pretending that they're knitting. Here's a scene from Sunday morning, when they were pretending that the needles were candles in a birthday cake.

I've been wanting to try some quicker projects, since making those doll blankets with small needles takes forever. I've been experimenting with bigger needles and shorter rows. I finished making a headband today, modeled after a stretchy one the girls have. I knit 10 stitches across, and made a strip 15 inches long. 

Then I folded it in half and sewed the ends together.

Zoey wouldn't put it on, but Abby happily tried it. She took it off after a few minutes and said she didn't want to wear it anymore.

 So I tried it on myself and it's stretchy enough that it fit! It makes a nice little ear warmer when I don't want to wear a full hat.

Next on my plan - doll scarves! After I make a few more headbands for myself. :)