Now for something completely different....

I'm pretty sure I'm recycling entry titles here, but Monty Python is just so good.  In fact, let's just get this day started right for you:

Moving right along, I legitimately have something completely different this week.  Different for me anyway.  The weather has been so beautiful here lately (finally) but I find when I take Alice outside, the sun is always in her eyes.  I have a bucket hat for her that is super cute, but it's still a bit big and it slides down over her eyes, making her look like an old cowboy sleeping when she naps during stroller rides.


The Peekaboo Bonnet by Made by Rae.  My best friend posted a picture of her daughter in an adorable bonnet made by CeeGee Couture in Ottawa.  I was going to just buy one, instead I made one for myself and will just send you all over there if you want to buy one.  I needed a project and I knew I had some co-ordinating fabric laying around, so it was just a matter of getting piping and bias tape and bob's your uncle.  Well, that and acquiring a printer cable, but that's a fiasco to tell you about another time.

Blurry Photobomb!  Little stinker.  What a tease, we can't see the bonnet!

That's a bit more like it!  Making this bonnet I picked up multiple new sewing skills.  Let's look at what I had never done before:

- Piping
- Interfacing (although iron on interfacing is hardly rocket science)
- Bias Tape (I have used bias tape, but apparently never correctly)
- Gathers
- Sewing through like, 5 layers of fabric

All things considered, I could not be happier with the result.  The pattern was easy to follow, quick to make, and super cute when finished.

Here's a few more:

Again with the photobomb little man, just on the side there.

She was a little disgruntled when I was taking her picture, note the thumb in mouth.

Yummy thumb!

No face in this shot, but you can see the reverse side with the piping around the band.

Sweet girl.

 
Here you can see the two sides.  I think it turned out pretty good, in fact I'll probably make another one just for fun.  Luckily the pattern was pretty forgiving so my mistakes are hardly noticeable at all (in fact, unless I point them out, on first glance they're non-existent).  The biggest challenge was probably the piping, since I've never used it before and there are so many layers.

Now we are ready for the sunshine!

Sweet as can be

Happy Friday!

It looks like Summer may just make an appearance after all!  We've had a busy week.  Henry started nursery school, we went to the Zoo and Henry had his first soccer practice!  Somehow I managed to fit a new creation in there.

It took me a good 4 attempts to get the look right for this without a pattern.  But we got there.  The key piece in this hat (for anyone who is curious) is front and back post crochet.  The frosting is built on back loop crochets and the ribbing for the brim/cupcake cup uses alternating fphdc and bphdc (front post and back post half double crochet, just fyi).  I strung plastic pony beads onto my yarn before I started so they would be random and also to save myself stitching them on by hand at the end.  I am pretty happy with the result.

 Thanks Granny for the outfit with ice cream cones on it that goes so well with the hat!

Is this a cherry?

I told him no smiling

 He loves his little sister, it's just so adorable.

 Nicehug.

 And again, no smiling!

 My strong little girl!

 She was in the mood for pictures apparently, holding her head up and looking at me:

 I can't get over her, she's such a cutie pie.

 Hat off, so you can see her lustrous hair lol.

And just for comparison, here is Henry!  Her face here reminded me of this particular photoshoot. I took that picture of Henry when he was already 4 months old.  Alice is less than 3 months.  Probably they both weigh the same in these pictures.  Just look at those cheeks!

Funny how similar and yet different they are, my little beauties.

That's all for now!

G'day Mate!

Ok!  Shockingly I managed to finish the hat I've been working on for several weeks.  It's been a little busy around here, nothing exciting though, just the reality of having an infant and a toddler running around.  Oh Alice, you're hungry, no problem, I'll just start feeding you and...immediately Henry has smashed his head on something and needs a "nicehug" or he needs Frozen turned on immediately (because it's been at least half an hour since we watched it last).  Fun times.  Apparently I'm not alone in the two kids need me dilemma, if you see my mom, ask her about the pineapple incident.  If  you are lucky enough to hear the story (or maybe you've heard it) she tells it like it was all my fault.  In my defence, I was like 2 years old.

This hat was a special request from our favourite Australian, B.

So here we go, while my babies nap (one of them on the floor on her play mat, feel free to judge me)

Silly goose girl!  In her Koala hat.  I'm not gonna lie, this type of yarn is best suited to scarves and I can't recommend anyone try to use it for anything else.  Part of the reason this took so long is that I nearly abandoned the project on several occasions.  It tangles easily, is hard to attach things to, and heaven help you if you need to frog your work because you made a mistake 3 rows ago.  Best to just soldier on with the error as best you can (and I hate leaving mistakes, my Austrian hand-crafting teacher taught me well [also, don't get the Austrian comment confused with the Australian nature of the post]).

Well hello there handsome little man!  He wanted in on the photo shoot.

Wtf mom.

Such a cutie.  Please disregard the mountains of toys in the background.  On the other hand, feel free to note that my child is wearing a t-shirt and a sweater.  He insists on being clothed in long sleeves and pants and socks at all times; 2 year olds, fun.

Sibling love!  Here, Henry is caressing the god-forsaken fuzzy yarn with delight.  Such a little goofball.

That's all for this post.  I will make no more promises about when the next post will arrive.  Until then!

Trying to get it together

Good grief, I am way behind on blog updates.

Worse yet, I have no new baby things to show you :(

I do have this though:

It's Elsa, but wait:

It's Anna!  It gets better though:

Only one doll!  Pattern by little old me.  So about those adorable children of mine:

We went visit Granny and Granddad over the weekend, so we took another family shot.  This one was significantly easier to co-ordinate, although using a tripod always presents a few challenges (like getting the baby to look up).

That's all I've got.  Stay tuned, I swear there is a proper update coming with an adorable hat.

G.