The Cats are Out of the Bags! Whew! I hope everyone had a lovely xmas/new year's week! We returned home from our travels on Dec 30 and were SO glad to be in our own cozy bed again. Now that the holidays are past, I'm so excited to share some of my handmade gifts with you! This is the Black Apple Doll that I made for 5. Isn't it cute? I had such a fun time picking fabrics out of my (many) scrap baskets, and then agonizing over drawing a gender-neutral face. I think it's adorable. 5 thinks it's delicious. He likes to give it big kisses (and bites)- you may be able to see the gingerbread smeared on the chin... I also have to do some handstitching on the hair already. His little teeth have done quite a number on the hairline. If you want to make one yourself, you can download the pattern pieces and instructions here. You can also purchase an already-made, super nice one from the Black Apple Shop. This is our new rug. I made it. From old sheets. Yeah, it took a long time. No, 5 was NOT a big help. We worked on this every day for MONTHS and as much as I love how excited 5 was to crochet, he mostly just pulled stitches out which really sucked. I stored the rug in a transparent bin in the dining room all while I was making it. I was so sure that Fred had figured out what I was making, but he didn't! It was a surprise! On Christmas Eve morning, when we decided to do our little family gifties, I went downstairs first and laid the rug down in front of the tree. So great. I still have some pretty weird calluses from crocheting so much with that ginormous crochet hook for SO LONG.... This is the mobile I made from the crocheted bracelets I talked about way-back-when. I love it! I got some kind of stove accessory to hang them all from for 25 cents from Vinnie's which was the full extent of my cash investment for this bad boy since I used yarn scraps and bracelets I bought more than 10 years ago. Yahoo! I think my favorite part was wrapping the metal with yarn though. I got kinda Zen about it. Good times. I was DEFINITELY in need of a little forced meditation in those last few days before xmas. Finally, I thought I'd share this Christmas Eve morning pic- it's not great, but I love that he's JUST opened his mittens (he figured out how to get them out of the toilet paper roll all by himself!) and some of my other handmade gifts are strewn about in front of him. I made the mittens from leftover fleece scraps, rick-rack, and fuschia ribbing, not even realizing that they would coordinate with his hat that you can kind of see at the bottom of the picture but can see better here. And of course I had to make him another pair of flannel pants with some Anna Maria Horner LouLouThi flannel (and Good Folks scraps for the cuffs). Did you survive the holidays?
9 Comments
Crna Beana
1/2/2012 08:44:24 am
That rug is amazing! Beautiful!
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Neil Labadie
1/2/2012 10:28:27 am
I love the rug and the mobile and actually everything!
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Mutti
1/2/2012 09:15:42 am
LOVE the rug! I happened to receive a beautiful quilt- hand dyed/screen printed and sewn by my daughter. I hope she posts it on her blog! I am planning to post it on my FB page. I am soooo happy.
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Christa
1/2/2012 02:14:55 pm
Love the gifts! Aunt Noel will be so excited to look up A.M. Horner now that we have the name.
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crystel
1/4/2012 10:49:07 am
LOVE the doll. what a simple shape. what is the hair? you may be convincing me to learn how to crochet. i have always felt weird about it, but maybe it's faster than knitting. i'm totally into quickly finished fun projects so i can continue ignore the ginormous pile of unfinished items. whatever, i'm gonna craft the hell out of february and march, and april, ha!
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Suzy
1/4/2012 11:31:56 am
"230000855555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555559/////////////////////8" says Daisy the cat. I think it's a secret message for 5's eyes only. What I wanted to say was, I love everything! I am almost finished with knitting a pair of Totoro mittens for my teenager, knit a shawl for my twenty-ager, made pajama pants for all three of us, and last night turned felted sweater sleeves into fingerless mitts. I was wondering how difficult it would be to turn sweater sleeves into tube socks, but I'll save that for tomorrow.
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ariel your friend
1/4/2012 06:10:43 pm
daaaang, fancy work lady-pants.
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9/6/2012 06:45:07 am
I think the content covered in the blog is quiet impressive and brilliantly conveyed. Good job and great efforts. Keep it up.
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My name is Ansley Knoch. I am the creator of Rispok, a line of accessories for big and little people made from repurposed materials. I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my husband, Fred, and our son, also Fred, better known as 5. Archives
June 2013
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