Work in progress....

I'm in the process of preparing the teachers' appreciation gifts for this year....

Testing counts and patterns....

Result is not ideal, so I made it into a fridge magnet instead!

And the testing continues.....

Venice Lace Wrist Wrap

A close friend of mine had her birthday last week and she had a small celebration at her place.  This is my gift for her - handmade with love!

Can't tell what this is?

It's a Venice lace wrist wrap (I'm not sure what it's called actually...).  My friend is a bellydancing teacher and I hope that these wrist wraps can be useful in her performance.

I had to ask my son to help me model this which he gladly agreed (so long as I just focus my camera on his wrist!).

Now I have to make one for my princess as well!

Multi Purpose I-Cord

No, it's not the latest product from Apple.  It's a tube which is knitted in round and used in many different ways in the knitted/crochet projects.

Purl Bee has a clear tutorial on how to knit an I-Cord. Check it out here!

I guess my Pinterest-addiction is no longer a secret by now.  There's so many creative projects I just don't know which to start!

This bracelet was an inspiration from Pinterest as well!

Using the super easy I- Cord!  And this is the tutorial on how to tie the woggle knot.

Simple and pretty! 

I've also made a necklace using the i-cord and a pendant!

What would you make using the i-cord? Go on, get creative!

Crochet Hair Scrunchie

I'm so addicted to Pinterest.... repining everything and telling myself that I'm gonna try this and that one day, but that "one day" seldom comes.... : p

The tutorial can be found here http://lovestitches.blogspot.se/2012/03/tutorial-crochet-scrunchie.html for those who are interested to give it a try.

This is my version with added beads.  And the best part is that it can be done within an hour! (or less if you're a fast crocheter and you do not have dirty toddler to chase around and clean...)

I'm now gonna rummage my daughter's room for more elastic bands! 

Beanies

Finally I got around to posting the completed beanie I made for hubby! It took me so long to do this, winter has actually turned into spring! (However, spring time in Sweden is a very confusing period... at least I think so.  Warm and sunny this week, minus zero and snowing next week....)

So here it is!

And with the left over yarn, I knitted a beanie for our 4-year old, who requested specially for "owls".

And since these 2 beanies are double knitted, they are both wearable on both sides.

Have you been crafting lately? ^.^

My Own Design!

Hubby has been bugging me about knitting him something because all I knit are for my kids.  So I came up with a simple design to knit a hat for him...

It's still a WIP, will post the finished project once I'm done.  Hopefully soon!

iPod Cosy

Just another idea I have been thinking about for awhile now....

Can you tell what it's for? (Ok, pretend you didn't read the title of this post yeah?)

It's for the iPod shuffle or nano! What? Again? Well.... I have no idea why I'm always thinking about the iPod... maybe it's because the older kids are using them quite often? :P

And I made an extra pocket for the earphones!

I've knitted an i-cord (nothing to do with Apple I swear!) so it can be worn around the neck.

Looking at the last picture now I can see several areas where I can do it differently.... oh well, time to finish my WIP and probably revisit this again later! ^.^

Dorami Keychain

Made a Dorami keychain for a good friend's birthday.  Hope she'll look pass my crude work and be able to sense all my good wishes instead!

Happy Birthday dear!

iPod Shuffle Cuffs

2 of the bigger kids received en iPod Shuffle each on their birthday last year. Since then, they've been walking around carrying the tiny thing either in their hands or in their pockets. When I saw that, my creative lightbulb (a really small one!) lit up and I made this!

A cuff for the wrist with a small bag...

...especially dedicated to put the tiny iPod Shuffle!
And it keeps the wrist warm! (well, kinda..)

And of course I made two!


And on to the next project...

Fingerless Gloves!

After the socks, I was itching to do more knitting and at the request of my princess, a pair of fingerless gloves are born!

And she loves it!
And it seems like I have problem stopping at a pair.... :P

Knitted Socks!

The last time I touched a set of knitting needles was about 5 years ago and I was just doing simple things like scarves and hats.

Some time ago, the temperature our part of the world dropped to minus 20 something degrees. Hubby and I were talking about buying thicker socks for the kids and suddenly he said,"But you can knit them!" (ok, his actual words were "But you can make them!" That's the engineer talking, he MAKES everything! ^.^) I was hesitant because I have never used double pointed knitting needles and have never tried knitting socks, they just look so complicating to do!

So after doing some research online and found a few wonderfully made Youtube films, I started knitting my very first sock!

This was the first prototype. I was just trying to get use to the needles and trying out the different stitches and decreasing methods....

This was the second prototype, getting there....

Ta-da! Ladies and gentlemen, presenting my first sock! And it looks quite ok!

And most importantly, the recipient of these socks are happy with them! ^.^

And now I'm on to make a pair for my princess! ^.^

A Little Coin Purse

This is my first attempt in crocheting a coin purse, so I stick to the basic shape without any pattern. I've also crocheted a butterfly appliqué to make it look a little more interesting.

I think I'll try to sew a lining the next time so it looks more finished.

But I'm happy with this for now! And like most of my prototypes, this one has already been adopted by my princess! ^.^

Hmmm....

These are a little misleading from this angle....

and they are really cute!

Don't you think? Go spread a little love today!

Take-a-Break Keychains!

My princess was very happy about the penguin and koala bear which I made for her as her birthday presents and she brought them to school to show her friends and teachers. Her teacher asked if I can make a panda for her (Princess's class is divided into panda and bear group, and she is in panda group) and she'll pay me. I told princess that I'll make a panda and a bear for the teacher in-charge of the other group, and the teachers do not need to pay me. They'll be a small token of our appreciation for their patience and kindness in teaching our children.

A few days later, both panda and bear were done. But before I could take a picture of them, princess was so excited to give to her teachers, she brought them to school immediately on the next day... So there's no pictures for me to post here... I'll make more to be put for sale and will post pictures when they're done.

So princess's teachers were both really happy and wrote small notes to thank me and I was glad that they like my crafts. Then my eldest prince - Prince J, wanted me to make something for his teachers too! And he has 4 of them - 2 ladies and 2 gentlemen!
So I suggested to make them the "Take-a-Break" keychains. And here they are:

For the lady teachers: A chocolate cake and a strawberry cake with chocolate ganache!



And for the male teachers: A donut and cinnamon bun and Swedish punchroll.



And they're all served with a nice cup of coffee, hmmmm....

I hope Prince J's teachers will enjoy their keychains!

Baby's Booties

After confirmation that the gifts have arrived, I can finally post this! I was surfing around for a nice pattern for baby's booties to make for my best friend's "soon-to-arrive" baby boy and finally found it at Mamachee! Her Buccaneer booties in different colors were just so cute!

Looking at the pattern, I found out that I need a larger size crochet needle and new yarns to make these cuties. So without any hesitation, I went online and shop! Found the needle I need, bought some new yarns and, oh well, might as well throw in another new needle! *satisfied grin*

Finally my order arrived and I was very eager to start on this project. But I realised that the yarn I bought was too thin for the gauge! Well then, I'll just have to increase the stitch counts myself and try to increase them at the right places too! The first bootie I made was ugly and nothing like those cuties Tara (the creative mind of mamachee) made... I threw that away and gave it another go. The second one turned out slightly better but I didn't like the "line" which formed when I joined the rounds. (I still need to improve on my crocheting skills, there is nothing wrong with Tara's pattern, problem lies with me...) So I put that aside and did a third version but this time, instead of joining the rounds, I continued crocheting, amigurumi-style and I like the result better.



So finally the booties were done and I was looking around for small and pretty wooden buttons to go with them, to give them a zakka-look. After searching around for about 1 week, I gave up. I was planning to use just plain brown buttons on them when I discovered these wonderful "almost vintage" looking buttons lying in the bottom of my sewing supplies.




I bought these buttons when we were back in Singapore on holiday about 2 years ago. At that time, I was confident that I can make my princess a pretty skirt and these buttons would be the perfect embellishment. However, as it turns out, my sewing skill is still limited to just patching up torn jeans and sewing buttons...

The result is not perfect like Tara's (but hey, she's the professional, I'm not!), but I think they still look quite sweet.
.

I've also made 2 mobile phone pouches and a teddy keychain to be sent together with these booties.


I hope D will look behind my less-than-perfect craftsmanship and see the thoughts behind!

Julie Cuffs

My princess came home sometime last week and showed me a necklace which her best friend had given to her. It's one half of a heart which says "Best Friends". That was really nice of her! Princess asked if I can make something for both of them, so after looking through my list of projects which I would like to try, princess and I chose this Julie Cuff.




This is a quick and really easy project to do. I did both cuffs within 2 hours (and taking some time off now and then to fiddle around with Mr. Mighty 2 and my 5-month old baby) and the girls like them. Happy kids, yeah!