17. candy stars slippers

i would just like to eat up those baby toes of isla's sometimes. all the time.

but if i have to cover them up (cuz it's brrrr...), then why not with some yummy slippers?

these were knit in an elastic-y yarn (bernat baby stretch), so they have quite a bit of give for growing feet.

i've never knit with yarn like this before. it was interesting...i'm not sure i would recommend it. but i loved the cute color combination and i could never in my life resist new cute yarn

i've also never ever knit baby slippers before, so that was a new learning experience, too. they knit up very quickly, so for my schedule of knit-when-i-have-5-minutes-here-and-there, it took me altogether the span of about a week. details on ravelry on my page. my username is islabelle

the colors remind me of candy stars i just happened to have on hand

...now what to do with the rest of this yarn. skirt? something mini...

things

i'm loving...

1. piles of pretty fabric. clean, laundered, ironed, folded, piled. but any, really. fabric stores are like candy shops

2. sweet baby knitting books such as these (to die for) 

3. cookbooks with happy family stories (you know, like a tale behind each recipe) eg molly wizenberg's a homemade life, which i am devouring right now. 

i read tremendously faster than i cook, so only made chapter one's potato salad so far (yummy pic below*), but have read past the 4th chapter's creme a la coeur already...scratch that, i have now read past the pain au chocolat chapter

* i added grape tomatoes and cucumber to the recipe and deleted the ranch dressing because for some reason, i don't like ranch dressing

i also really love this book by ellen leong blonder. 

it has beautiful water-color pictures of almost all the recipes, and is a must have for anyone who likes dim sum. a lot of things i've had at dim sum restaurants were such a mystery to me until i read this book. she did such a lot of research and recipe testing to write this book! i just want to give her a huge hug for demystifying a lot of recipes for some favourite dim sum. 

(hmm...maybe i ought to get an associate account for amazon since i seem to promoting their books anyway. and sorry for all the annoying look inside images. i'm too lazy to take out my camera to take actual photos)

4. pretty works in progress like this kimono for isla, 

or just some new bias binding i made (from this fabric)

5. the fact that i have very little done for the holidays, VERY little, yet the panic has not set in yet. 

i decided long ago that this season will be handmade/homemade, vintage, books, or made by artisans (local, if possible) gifts only. i'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic toys and other stuff that we usually buy around this time of year. it's also high time i thought about how much waste we put into this holiday, so i'm going to try very hard to only make or buy handmade gifts from here on. or recycle/upcycle old things into new gifts. except for books, of course, because i can't stop buying books. those are like bits of wonderful knowledge we pass on. 

but what i really like is how each handmade gift requires so much thought to be put into it. you always end up really thinking about the person you make the gift for, and i love that about making gifts. the end result, no matter how paltry and unprofessional, is always something sweet. of course, i should have started work on such lovely gifts back in july, so as to be sure every gift is a thoughtfully made and on-time one. lol

if i do run out of time, there may be some "cookie dough in a jar" types of gifts. which i would love, btw, if anyone needs a hint. or maybe caramel corn . anyway, just tooting my own horn !!!

16. little mr pjs

some cute little men pajamas for my little man himself. i found this flannelette (?) print at a local-ish fabric store. kobetoes loves mr happy (how could anyone not love a little guy with such a sunny disposition?), and he needs new pjs, so this is what i came up with

wide-legged pants made the same way as isla's jammie bottoms * with a t-shirt featuring a little mr

...bump! (as if i would cut out this sweet smile) 

close up of mr bump (i just think the yellow mr happy didn't work with the yellow shirt), who was cut from the original fabric and zigzag stitched on

we both love these new jammies. yeay!


*referring to the way i made isla's pants: instead of cutting 4 separate pieces for the pants, i found that if i fold the fabric in half and line up the fold with where the outside edge of the pant leg is, i can cut 2 pieces and then i only need to sew and serge the inside pant legs and crotch areas. this probably only makes sense to me in the garbled way i wrote this, but probably everyone else already knows this anyway!

15. pillowcase princess

i like alliteration. can you tell? happy monday!

i found a pillowcase a while back with cute fabric at ...the dollar store. it was destined to become a cute shirt for me. so here it is

i sewed a thin bit of elastic into the sleeve so that it looks gathered part way down and then "fluted"* out. i think the sleeves remind me of princess gowns i loved when i was a little girl! (like this sort of thing)

i also elasticised the neckline, which made it really sweet. i would have done more, but that was the extent of the pillowcase's fabric. i had 2 tiny triangles of fabric left. i thought maybe i might do something about the bustline as it is a little shapeless right now, but then i found it really loose and is probably easy to breastfeed in (which seems to be a priority with me!), so perhaps no more fussying around ???

i was going to wear it to my husband's work christmas dinner friday night with the brown skirt in the photos, but i chickened out last minute. i don't know...does it look really terribly like i made it out of a pillowcase?


sorry about the muddy pics. i got desperate and gave my 5 year old the camera. i know i'm a terrible model, too! sorry! 


*no idea if these are correct sewing terms or not

can we take a moment...?

to appreciate this wonderful book i recently discovered, debbie bliss' simply baby?

seeing as it was published in 2006, i am sure most people in the crafting world are already familiar with it, but i am slow so i just found it. indulge me a bit. ugh, i love the pictures in this so much! it is simply beautiful. here, if you haven't already, take a gander: 

look at this cute frock this baby is wearing under that adorable bolero/shrug! eek! 

and how about these skirts and those two-toned socks? i might have to make those socks

aren't the babies' knit things gorgeous? and look at the room they're in! white floor boards and cloth-covered cushions in the most delightful fabrics! sooo pretty. i think this is close to dream room for me, complete with sweet baby crawling around in it. i want i want i want!

i fully realize there were a lot of exclamation marks in this post. that is seriously how ecstatic i am with this book. i want to make everything in it. unfortunately, i think some of the projects are made on debbie bliss cashmerino fingering weight yarn with like 3.25 mm needles. ouch. 

and just in time to help with the holiday sewing, guess what decided to show up? 

again, i realize i am a little slower than the rest of the crafting world, but hey, i think it's my first sewing book ever (that i own), so i am fairly excited!