Get Your Fake Gymb*ree Clothing Here!
I have been really hooked on this one little Gymb*ree set for about a month now. I don’t know what year it is from, I just know it is the cutest little summer set ever! I have tried to “win” it on eBay (eBay-aholic that I am) several times and haven’t because apparently I’m not the only one who thinks it is the cutest little set ever. It is a rhumba top and ruffled bloomers from the Fiesta del Sol line. The colors are hot pink, red and orange and it is bright and makes you feel happy and sunshiney just looking at it. So, since I haven’t wanted to shell out the big bucks for this Gymb*ree set, I decided I would search through patterns and fabric and see if I could come up with anything worth my while. I went to Wal-M*rt and began browsing the patterns. I knew I had a ruffled bloomer pattern already so I didn’t need to find it, but I had no idea how to start the little top. After several of the racks didn’t have what I was looking for, there it was the rhuma top…in the RIGHT size! I also bought a couple of other patterns, one with an a-line top and capris and one with a little kimono set (you’ll probably be hearing about that one soon). Then I started looking through the fabric. A lot of the time our store is not the best to look for fabric, because it is so small, but I lucked out this time. There was the perfect brightly colored floral fabric in, you guessed it, hot pink, orange, red and some yellow. I loved it!! So, I couldn’t wait to get started, but managed to hold off until the kids were in bed Tuesday night. I had washed and dried the fabric that day and was ready to trace the pattern pieces and cut the fabric. I was too tired after that and so sewed the top on Wednesday. It was so cute finished and looked perfect on Taylor. Thursday I made the bloomers and the bonnet (which were in a pattern together with a little dress). Today it was ready for Taylor to try it on and do a photo shoot, which you see here.
Isn’t it great? The bloomers are a tad large, but I can do something about that if I need to. It’s not warm enough to wear it yet, so she may get a little bigger, yet. I still think it’s the cutest little outfit and I am happy with it since it is exactly what I wanted. And you know what? Instead of the $15 or $25 for the brand name, I spent about $6 and got a bonnet and still have some fabric left! I’m thinking Taylor needs a little ruffled purse, no? Would that be overboard? I also got the joy of bringing my sewing machine back out and making something for my daughter :) It seems like springtime and into the summer is my sewing time. I love the bright summer fabrics and the beautiful pastels of spring. I also love the little summer dresses and flowing lines. I hope to improve on my clothing making this year and found a top I even want to try for myself. I love knitting, but do more of it in the late summer, fall and winter (which I guess is normal for several people), but when that sun comes out and the first warm day comes I start itching to sew. If anyone has any suggestions of pretty fabric that I need to make something with, let me know.
I also wanted to mention that there is another contest at 5 Minutes for Mom. This one is to win a family game called Rhyme-n-Tyme, which looks really fun. It’s easy to add your name to the pot and doesn’t cost anything but about 30 seconds! Head on over and sign your name to the Mr. Linky and have a great day :)
Filed under Creations, News | Comment (0)Do you think anyone would notice…
…or be brave enough to point it out to me, if I wore these socks together?
The reason I ask is that I have one sock of each pair complete and I really want to wear my own handknit socks. All the other socks I’ve made have gone to other people. Well, I do have a pair of nice worsted weight ones, but I want nice thin cozy pretty socks now! I just finished the turquoisy-brown-white one today and cast on for the second. I plan to work on it tonight after the kids go to bed a little. That other sock may never find it’s match though. I finished it way back last year and started the second, but put it down to work on other socks and when I picked it back up I twisted all the cables wrong and instead of tinking or froging back to that point I ripped it all out since I had forgotten what I was doing anyhow…So, now I need to restart it and force myself to finish it if I want those socks. The one is so comfy and right now I am thinking about not starting anything else until these two pairs are finished (hopefully by next week when the first STR shipment goes out!). What say you to that? Aye!
I have also been wanting to make some pretty stitch markers. I am not quite sure why though. I don’t really care if I sell them and I don’t need that many for myself because I hardly use any (even on the lace so far), but they are just so pretty and fun! I made a few this week, but I am going to wait to try any more until I get some cooler beads and some small new tools. I’m hoping that they will be inexpensive or they won’t be here any time soon. Here are the ones I tried this week with large tools. They still need some split rings so they slide on the needles, but I think they turned out well. The thin one with the peach and wood beads was the first one, then there are 2 cats (1 blue & 1 pink), and last I made a couple with yellow butterfly beads. There was supposed to be a third in that set with 1 yellow and 2 small pinks, but Taylor did something with them when I went into the other room. I’m pretty sure she didn’t eat them, the head pin was gone too and she kept pointing at the living room. I was only gone a second and when I got back she was up in my chair happily moving all the beads around and having a great time. I wasn’t totally sure she could get into the kitchen chairs until then, but I guess the fun on the table was motivation enough!!
Enjoy the evening!
Filed under Creations | Comment (0)Soup for the flu
We are all doing a little better here today! Taylor’s fever is lower and she has been acting almost normal today, which is a nice change from yesterday :) I felt a little sick last night, but those feelings are mostly gone now. Kristopher has not been struck by any of the flu germs yet (we hope)! Soup always makes me feel better, especially when it is cold out and I bought everything to make vegetable soup while I was picking up Taylor’s medicine yesterday, so today I made it. Here is a picture of the celery carrots and onions sauteing (is that a word?). I just love the way these veggies look in the pot! The finished soup was so good and I think it did help me to feel warm if not better.
The recipe I use is supposed to be a copycat of the Frisch’s Big Boy Vegetable Soup and it is pretty close. There are several copycat recipes out there and I like this one because it doesn’t use any meat (I don’t think the actual Frisch’s one does either). I actually haven’t had the restaurant soup for a couple of years now, since we don’t have one anywhere close. It was one of my favorite places to eat and I even worked at one for a bit in college. If you’ve never been, you need to go to a Frisch’s Big Boy Restaurant!
I think I promised pictures of my “fancy silk socks” from Knitting Vintage Socks, but I have been reluctant to show them since they aren’t very far along. I had most of the cuff complete and then Taylor pulled all the needles out. Since I am not confident or patient enough to pick all the lace stitches back up I had to rip back to almost the beginning of the cuff. Today I worked on them as much as I could and I am almost done with the cuff again. I am only doing 3 or 4 repeats of the pattern instead of the “suggested” five repeats. I don’t like most socks to be as tall, although I love knee socks, so I always do a shorter cuff. Tomorrow I should get to turn the heel on this first sock. I love the colors and the way they work out with the lace. I picked this pattern because it didn’t look like it would be too busy for the colors and I didn’t want just plain socks. What do you think? Are they pretty?
Well, it’s off to bed with me… Goodnight!
Filed under Creations, Knitting, News | Comment (0)the good, the bad, and the ugly
Well, I guess I don’t have an ugly thing to post on, but it had to be a part of the title…
First, the good! I have an FO: Taylor’s dress is finally finished! It is the Amelie Dress from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. This book was a Christmas gift from my good friend Suzie and it has so many beautiful things in it. They are all made with organic yarn in the book, however, I used some plain old dk weight wool in a dark brown and corally color. I love the way it looks – unfortunately it is a little big for Taylor right now even though I made her the “up to 12 months” size…What can I say? I have gauge issues. I did a swatch for this dress and it seemed right so I knit the dress. It can’t be right or the dress would fit better than this or even be too small. But I think it will be perfect for the fall; what do you guys think? That is the thing I enjoy most about making baby clothing, if it doesn’t fit the intended baby wait a bit or give it to another baby. It will fit a baby somewhere! I am still scared to do a sweater for myself since even when I do a swatch my item doesn’t match up. But as long as I get to knit I guess it really doesn’t matter how it comes out. :) I accidentally did it so that the buttons are on the wrong left. I don’t know if there is any fashion rule that says buttons must be on the left shoulder of the girl wearing the dress or not, but I didn’t want to take it out and change it after I started. You will see my horrible seaming skills in the picture as well. I am just not patient enough to have pretty seams. I was reading Sarah’s blog and saw that she sent a sweater to this finisher. I had never even thought that there were people who enjoyed finishing hadnknit items. I know I prefer the knitting and could let the thing go unfinished forever!(If any of you are wondering why so many of my pictures are taken on the wood pile, it’s because I like the way handknits look on the wood.)
Now for the bad news (duhn, duhn, duhn)… Taylor has the flu. She had a fever yesterday despite being on Antibiotics since Monday for a cold, and it wasn’t better today, so back to the doctor we went! They did all sorts of fun things like bloodwork and she didn’t move a muscle (not even those lovely jaw ones to cry). The doctor decided it must be the flu and sent us home with some tasty (eww) Tamiflu. I think they were a little upset with me for not getting the kids flu shots, especially since Taylor had the flu about this time last year. Not even 2 years old yet and she’s already had it twice, but at least this time it’s not the flu on top of pneumonia like last year. Praise the Lord!! This flu also means that it will be impossible for us to get out of the house this weekend which is a huge bummer. And that isn’t all the bad news: Kody has an extra week of trainingm because they found another class for him to take, so we’ll be on our own for an extra week unless we go visit him.
Filed under Creations, Knitting | Comment (0)Dyno-mite
Wow, two posts in one day – can you believe it? I just have a couple of things to say really quick before heading to bed…
First look at this great picture that Kristopher drew today on his magna doodle. He came over and said mom look at my dinosaur and I was thinking sure it will be a blob, but then I looked and it actually looked like a dinosaur. His drawings are getting better and better. This magna-doodle is great and he draws all the time on it, unfortunately if you want to save the artwork you have to take a picture of it. Underneath the dino you will see a puzzle that we have put together twice in the last two days. We did it yesterday and then he took it apart and he noticed that it was supposed to glow in the dark, so this morning we put it together again. After it was complete (at around 10:30 am) he said, “I can’t wait for bedtime, mom, so that we can look at the puzzle.” That is something I’ll never hear again…wanting bedtime to hurry up and arrive just so he can see a puzzle for a couple of minutes! Anyway, we saw it and it was cool and we tried to get a picture, but my camera is apparently not as good as whatever they used to make the picture on the box…
Second, I have a little rant I guess. Today we went to the post office which was extremely busy a couple of days before Valentine’s Day. I realized on the way there that I had forgotten to bring a permanent marker, and so looked in every obvious place that I would have one (ie, my bag, every door in the car) and couldn’t find one. We had to make a short stop at the store, so I put one in the cart to buy. Well, somehow we didn’t buy it. It’s not on my reciept and it’s not in the bags. So I finally bought one at the post office and wrote while waiting in the huge line and trying to coral two kids who were chasing each other around. fun. Now, my number of permanent markers in stock should be close to that of the Yarn Harlot’s tape measures. I shouldn’t have to buy another one for the rest of my life and yet I can never find one when I need it. I should have permanent markers falling on my fingers before I even need one, but not so. Unlike her, I don’t have a theory as to where they have all gone, but it would sure be nice if I didn’t have to buy any more (except in pretty colors). Tomorrow I am going to try to find all the permanent markers and then put one in every logical place (ie, my bags – all of them, the car – maybe 2 or 3 in the car, every drawer and desk and cabinet and box I can find, you get it). Then the next time I need a permanent marker, it will be right there… Yeah right.
Have a great night!
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