Little Backpacks

A few months ago, my daughter (the middle one) asked me to make her a little doll-size backpack. She drew me a picture to explain her specifications.

It took me a while to get to this project but she persevered all along, reminding me of the promise that I would make it "some day, soon". Impressed by her tenacity,  I finally made the four-inch backpacks. Notice the plural, as her youger sister has to have everything that she has. Also, I made three as the prototype needed a few improvements.

Here are all three backpacks, complete with zippers, glue on pearls and all. The green prototype was gifted to a friend while my girls claimed the other two.

By the time of this post, it has been several weeks since the completion of the backpacks and the girls have moved onto newer toys. But they had a good run and are still intact, just hibernating for now. 

Northern Wind Cardigan

The only cardigan I knit this winter is for my eldest daughter. My husband picked out the color and yarn, while my daughter selected the design. The yarn is some Turkish acrylic from our local yarn shop. The design is a free DROPS pattern.

It was a fairly straightforward knit, nothing too exciting or boring. I managed to finish without running out of yarn which was a win. The real callange was getting the lower scalloped edge to not curl. I crocheted two rows of slip sts to counteract that and it works for now.

My daughter is happy with it and that is what I was aiming for. Next up are a few smaller projects.

Little Knits

This winter, my knitting has been sporadic at best. I just managed to finish a few small projects and worked on and off on a larger one. The first small project that got completed was a vest for my seven-year-old. It was entirely a utility project as my daughter needed a warm underlayer to her winter clothes and I needed to use up some yarn that I quite disliked. So there it is.

The second small project was a pair of fingerless gloves for my daughter's friend. The design was selected by the recipient. This pair knit up quick and again used up some of my stash.

 The bigger project that is so near completion is a sweater for my eldest daughter. Hope to get it done this weekend and share it soon afterwards, in sha Allah.

Dollhouse: Living Room Snippets

Continuing with the dollhouse, the first room put together was the living room. I started with a sofa, made of fabric scraps and cardboard.  It is upholstered in some leftover cotton from one of my sewing projects.

The I used the popsicles sticks to make a coffee table and a side table. These were later painted brown.

The rug took the most amount of time. It tòk me two weeks to latch-hook this thing. It used up one of the oldest yarns in my stash, but was a lot of work.

I also made some curtains. I'm not sure about them but the girls like them and my husband told me to move on.

Next I did some wall art and built a TV. (My six-year old want me to turn a cellphone into a TV so as to have one with some action.) And a table to go with it. And you can also see a clock there. I rimmed it with green crystal beads.

The wall art for the other wall.

And lastly, I made a chandelier for the room, just yesterday.

The room in its enirety will be posted in the final dollhouse post. Next post, the kitchen highlights.

Making of A Dollhouse

It all started when my eldest daughter wanted a dollhouse and I offered to make her one. I had built one before, when she was smaller, but it was pretty basic. It was made of thin cardboard and was unfurnished. She had very little interest in dolls and their houses at that time. My younger one played with it, but it did not have a chance of lasting _ flimsy as it was _ in the hands of a toddler.

So, I thought now was my opportunity to improve on dollhouse design, and go the whole nine yards. This one is going to be for barbie-sized dolls and is going to be fully furnished. I am utilizing all available resources and skills at my disposal. At the moment of writing this post, I am about 65% done and it is coming together nicely. Not a masterpiece, but good enough for a child's dollhouse.

As for the materials, it is being constructed out of cardboard, popsicle sticks, paper and hot glue being the other essential components. Before actually starting the construction, I measured out the area where it is supposed to go, and calculated the dimensions of the whole thing, as well as the different rooms. I had a basic plan in my head and after a few youtube videos, and lots of inspiration from pinterest, I was good to go.

 Now for some action shots, I started with a sturdy double cardboard base and then put up the walls. I wallpapered them at the same time.

These first windows were very tricky. Initially I tried bamboo sticks to make the window frames but those did not hold well. Later, I ripped them out and used the popsicle sticks. (These popsicle sticks must be the unsung heroes of the paper craft world. I feel sorry that I discovered them so late. And they are very inexpensive too.) At this point, the kids informed me that the dolls must have a staircase to get to the upper floor. To maximise room space, I attempted a spiral staircase. My skills were very rusty at that point and it is not very neat but I covered it in tape and it became satisfactory.

 Next, I put a wooden floor in the living room, with the popsicle sticks. Because I ran out of paper for a wall, that wall got some wooden panelling. It was at this point that the actual magnitude of the project hit me. It was going to take me a few montns, at least, to get this done. Since then, I have been tackling it, one task at a time, and that has worked really well. Back to the living room, you can see the new window panes. The staircase fit best in the kitchen/ dining area, so it went there.

After sanding the floor ( that aiming-for-the-whole-nine-yards thing), I painted it with a mix of water colors and acrylic colors. I did not have a brown color then, and had to mix up red, blue and black. This shows in the color variation on the floor. It was such a relief when I actually got a brown, that I am OK with the vareigated look.

In the next post, inshaAllah, some more details from the living room, including curtains, wall art and furniture.

Poppy II

So the first finished project of 2017 gets to be a hat. More specifically a school hat for mu pre-schooler. She would wear no hat except her older sister's Poppy, so I decided to make her one of her own. This one too, is in DK weight, yarn probably being some ancient wool blend, I got from my mother-inlaw. It got done well before the preschool reopens on Monday, just right in the chillest and rainy part of our winter.

Dreams Of Aran Pullover

 

Three weeks ago, I made a tall claim of getting this sweater done in a week. But seasonal illnesses took most of December away from me and I was only able to really knit during the last week.

 Still, I cannot help but be thrilled about being able to post a FO (finished object) on the first day of the new year. Especially, since it means that I have finally finished a project that I started in October 2014, and that I was mostly successful in getting it done by the end of December (It was all done except the neckband).
You can tell by the length of time it was on the needles, that it was not an easy project. Like all knitting project for men, it took too long to grow. The cables slowed the knitting even further. Then I ran out of yarn, with both sleeves to go, and could not find the color in the same yarn wight. So after much misgiving, I knit the sleeves with two strands of much thinner yarn, held together, and am happy to report that the difference between two yarns is barely noticeable.

 

The pattern, like most DROPS patterns, was a bit difficult to decipher at places, but was well-worth the effort. In the end, I am totally pleased with the sweater and the fact that it got done in time for my son to wear during the winter season. My son rates it an eight out of ten, which is not bad at all, considering he compares it to his Neville sweater, which is totally awesome.

Ripped

Even though I have little progress to report, I have been busy this month, knitting-wise. I got some new yarns, picked out the patterns for them and got down to knitting the first of them. I intended it to be a cardigan for my toddler. I wanted a size larger than the one the pattern was originally in, so I went up a few needle sizes, and that seemed to work well with my yarn. I knit, and knit and knit. I had some doubts that it was turning out a tad bit larger than the target size, but I persevered. I had doubts about the color and the pattern together, but I continued. I divided for the armholes, and continued with body.

 

 I went much farther down the body than seen in the picture. With each passing day, and every growing inch, my dislike for the project grew. Even then, I gave it another chance, and started a sleeve to see if I would like it better once the sleeves were done. In the end, I had to be honest with myself, I hated it, no matter what. Hated it enough to rip out a couple of weeks of work and start afresh. So, I have finally done that. My confidence is still a bit shaken and I am not ready to share a picture of the new WIP just yet. But I know already that I do not hate it. So, there is a good chance, it will have a happier ending. 

Linen Stitch Top

 

When I started this top, it was with the intention of using up leftover yarns and getting a small sweater (toddler size...maybe) as a result. As I mentioned earlier, I was too lazy to measure and estimate gauge and just cast on with a random number of stitches. It turns out that my approximation was way off, and I a bit off and the top ends up being a 6-year-old size. Other than that, it met the target of using up a lot of leftover yarns and has turned out to be as a nice, wearable top. The yarns are all DK-to-worsted weight, acrylics; pattern, none.

Belated Spring Sewing 2015

My excuse, for neglecting this blog for a month or so, is my being out of sorts. The burn-out left me with little inclination for craft of any kind. However, I had managed to do a few sewing projects prior to that and also cast-on a small knitting project. I will share to sewing projects here. I sewed a couple of tops for my eldest daughter. No pattern, nothing fancy, just a couple of simple cotton tops, embellished with some trims.

 The second one has a gather below the front placket and a box-pleat at the back.

 And, because I had some fabric leftover, I stitched a top for the youngest. (A similar pattern/tutorial pinned here.)

 I am working on another dress at the moment. Hopefully, I have enough fabric to complete it.

Knitted Yoke Dress

 Appropriate to the changing seasons, this project is a knitting/sewing hybrid. I used about 100 yards of this cotton/nylon yarn to knit a yoke and then sewed it into a dress.

The multicolored yarn does not give much stitch definition and may not be the best choice for a yoke, but this was the most practical project, I could think of, for this yarn.

 The dress fabric is cotton with a cotton trim and a satin ribbon for embellishment. It is sized to fit an almost four-year-old.

Back And Knitting

I am sorry to have neglected this blog for so long. Things have been very busy for the last couple of moths, with Ramadan and Eid on top of the kids' summer vacations. I did not have much time for crafts (my kind, that is. I did a few paper crafts with the kids though.) and blogging.

But things are looking up and I have resumed work on the black sweater for my son. I am nearly done with the first sleeve. I am hoping to get through the second sleeve soon, so that I can start the interesting bit that is the yoke. A note to myself, however: black is not a good color to knit with, especially at night, at my age.

Purple Toddler Coat

 We have had a lot of rain this month and so while I finished this coat a week ago, there has not been enough light to take proper photos till now. It may look benign or even nice, but it was one of the most tedious things I ever knit. Not fun at all. In addition, the honeycomb pattern can be physically challenging to the wrists.

The technical details..Initially, I picked this pattern to knit, but my yarn was a different weight, so I decided to do my own math. And go with a top-down, contiguous approach, which I later realized, was all wrong for this design because of the considerable gauge difference between stockinette st and honeycomb pattern. So when I tried to get proper sizing at the yoke, the sleeves caps grew quiet loose. At that point, I had already invested a great deal of time and energy (remember the honeycomb pattern being hard on the wrists) to rip back. So I decided to move on and get it done.

 Thankfully my toddler does not have an eye for such details yet. She is happy and content with the fact that her mom made her a new cardigan. And that is good enough for me. It is a bit large on her at the moment as it is intended to fit her next winter.

Peplum

 

Once we somewhat settled into a routine with the new baby, I treated myself to some yarn shopping and bought three sweaters' worth of yarn for the older kids. I got to work on the first sweater in late January. It went quite slow because the only knitting time I get is after the kids' bedtime. Still, a few rows at a time and I got this sweater done in under a month.

   This is for my oldest daughter. I knit this top down, checking the fit as it went along. I did not follow any pattern, just did some math and cast on. She specifically requested raglan sleeves otherwise I had initially planned set-in sleeves. I miscalculated the button band width and it turned out too narrow. So, to avoid gaping, I sewed the cardigan closed from the second buttonhole down to the peplum. About the peplum, I have been wanting to knit one for some time and I think it looks awfully cute on seven-year olds.

  The yarn is our local acrylic DK weight which is surprisingly soft and wears well. My daughter is quite pleased with the sweater and I had a fun time knitting it. I guess that makes it a success.

 Now, on to the second sweater. That is half the size of this one and ought to be done sooner, inshaAllah.

Paint Me A Sweater

The poncho sweater for my daughter is all done. I omitted the leaf-edged I-cord, simply because I did not feel like working on it any more. I don't love the color but my daughter is happy with it. The pattern was easy and simple to follow, the long rounds of st st did seem too tedious at times.

I think I will have a break from knitting till after Eid, when I hope to start a few little projects. In the meanwhile, I have a small embroidery project and my Quran reading for the month of Ramadan to finish.

Ramadan Mubarak

We, in Pakistan, have our first fast tomorrow. May Allah make this blessed month beneficial for us all!

As for my month-long absence from this blog, I was slightly under the weather. Intense heat, coupled with load-shedding and the resulting water shortages, made for a very harsh June. That seemed to sap all our energy and all we could do was wait and pray for some relief in the form of rain. We did have a premonsoon

rain spell bring some relief and now that we have had some monsoon as well, the weather has become so much pleasanter. Hopefully, it can last through the rest of summer.

This week, I have finally taken up my knitting needles again and cast on a sweater for my older daughter. I am not sure about the color my my daughter seems OK with it, so I am going ahead with it.

Koolhaas

My son needed a new school hat so I knit him Koolhaas. The visually stunning lattice pattern is quite simple and was a joy knit.

Gradient Cardigan

 

This is the second small project in my recent small project series. I intended to use the yarns left over from the recent projects into something nice and useful, so went the top-down, raglan route and a knit a cardigan for my toddler in worsted weight yarn. I am working on the pattern right now, but hopefully will be able to make it available (free and in a number of sizes) in a week's time, inshaAllah.

It's Hero Time!

 

Ben 10 is my son's favorite TV cartoon show and an ongoing obsession. So when he asked me to make him a jacket like the one hero wears in the cartoon, I hurriedly complied (he was moving on to the various alien costumes). Ben 10 seems to be quite a favorite with the boys this age, as I discovered many similar projects at ravelry. One reveler even shared her intrasia chart which saved me much time and grief.

   For the actual sweater, I did not follow any pattern. I did ran into trouble with the set in sleeves, it took a few attempts to get them right. The yarn is our local acrylic worsted weight.

  I don't have to tell that this sweater is a resounding success. My son would like to wear it all the time. He also went off to show it to his grandparents, who had no idea what or who Ben 10 is. Even his little sister has been trying it on. As for my hope that it will be the only piece of knitting based on Ben 10, that seems to be futile thinking as I am already receiving requests for one more. Maybe next year, just maybe.