Do you dream in swatches?

I am certainly dreaming in swatches after my latest knitting ventures. Christmas for we mommies means teacher gifts. I contributed some $dinero to the class gifts for both Teddy and Matt's teachers, but I felt a small knitted token would also be in order. After all, these ladies look after my most precious angels, and therefore my sanity too.

I looked through the 'Other' patterns on Ravelry and found a coffee cup sleeve. Basically, any cable pattern your heart desires, plus 4 garter stitches each side. Repeat til it fits round the cup and bind off including the cast on stitches, thereby eliminating the need for seaming. Easy as pie. I dug out the DB Cashmerino Aran from my stash, got down the Vogue Cables Stitchionary and started.

The cable patterns are: top two, horseshoe cable. bottom row, LtoR, er, can't remember the name of the first cable!, flirtation, hugs and kisses.







Teddy has a teaching assistant with fabulous hair which is just crying out for a Dream Swatch. So I made her one, instead of the coffee sleeve. The yarn is Rowan Damask and I used almost the whole ball.


These gifts were all given out yesterday, the last day of school and I'm happy to say they were all admired and appreciated. Warms your cockles, doesn't it :-)

Another dreamswatch to report on. This time for the wife of Tommy's cousin. She admired mine a few weeks ago and her birthday is this weekend, so what else could I give her but her very own. The yarn is Alchemy's synchronicity. I ordered 4 skeins of this way back when Knit Happens had their mega-sale, but only 1 arrived. Maybe I need to buy the one-skein book, but why would I do that when I can get free patterns on the web?!


Now, I did have further finished objects to report on, but I gave them away before I photographed them. I ended up making a bunch of clothes for the lovely Ms B. Doll. Coats, sweaters, dresses, bags. I even made her a dreamswatch. Yes, really!

I donated them to Teddy & Matt's school Christmas auction, held after the children's 'show'. Of course, I meant to carefully photograph them before I sewed them to the sheet of neon pink posterboard they would be displayed on. But I didn't get round to it. So I thought I'd get a quick picture in the back of the car, before I dropped it off at school. I remembered on the way home! Then I thought I'd get a picture at the actual auction. Erm. Instead here's a picture of the boys with Teddy's teacher, Ms Trudy.

So, what've I been up to......

Well, I have been busy knitting and sewing, the past few weeks. The knitting will come in another post, but here's the sewing. I've been making dolly diaper bags for my Etsy store. Here are a few samples.


After Christmas I'm going to try sewing some dolly diapers. Currently I'm putting preemie pampers in the bags - obviously they're not an ideal fit with my current ecological kick, but needs must. I just needed to get some sewing done, to justify all the fabric I bought!

I have donated a couple of these bags to Teddy and Matt's school - their Christmas show and Auction is on Thursday night - along with a basket of Etsy 'stocking stuffers', all under $10. Gotta get the Etsy word out there somehow. I'm constantly surprised when my Mommy friends haven't heard of the site. I was pleased to find a good few Christmas gifts on the site :-)

Now, everyone go buy handmade :-)

Even More Thanks........

Go read this article on today's BBC news....

That's my brother and nephew. Thanks be to God today for their lives.

Giving Thanks

Is it really a whole week since Thanksgiving? Oh, no, that would be a week and a half then!!!

Well, here's what I'm really thankful for. My three boys. They are, in the word's of Lola, my current favourite kid's cartoon character, "My favourite and my best". Here are some persuasive photos, for those of you without my mother's love and rose tinted glasses.....

My Thanksgiving Turkeys.....


and one with Daddy.....


Future baseball stars?....


Matt, not for the first time, caught reading Vogue Knitting's 25th Anniversary book...


Last, but by no means least, this year's Christmas photo.


Tell me those aren't the cutest boys in the world. And they're smart too. And healthy. We all are blessed and we're thankful for that.