projects past

I wrote this post awhile back and am just publishing it now- a few crafts and projects from the summer. There are more still to add, but this is a start anyway! 

I've been meaning to post about various craft projects from this summer, but I seem to have a hard time remembering to photograph the things I'm working on. So I'll gather up the pictures I have on hand and write about what I've got. 

I dyed this wool with lichens I had been collecting for a shawl I want to make for a friend. It turned out a very subtle beigy- brown, but a warm tone that I think will be quite pretty as a shawl. I enjoyed the whole process a lot and I think I am going to want to do more dying of my own wool. My sister got me a book on planting a dye garden, so next year, I think I will include some dye plants in the garden plan and try for some more yarn dyeing. And then, someday I'll actually learn to use that spinning wheel that is collecting dust in the big house and spin my own yarn from wool I've dyed from plants I grew in my own garden. That does sound like fun. 

I knit these red slippers on one of our camping trips this summer. Ari requested red slippers with red pom poms.These were knitted in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cranberry with two strands held together.  I imagined that these would be worn with the cuffs folded down, but he likes them this way, and says they keep his legs warm. I had planned to sew a leather sole on the bottom, but Ari was not in agreement, as they currently make terrific skates on the wood floors. I'm not sure how they will hold up to such treatment, but until I happen upon some suede at the thrift shop, my little skater is in luck.

I finished these PJ's for the boys a little while back- the fabric had been sitting cut out and half sewed for ages and I finally managed to finish the job. Ari really needs new PJ's, and so I had him choose some jersey from the fabric shop to sew some for him. More red of course! Dori doesn't need PJ's at all, but I knew he would really love a pair of mama made ones, so I made these ones quickly from a plus sized thrift store women's shirt. They are quite funny- the bottoms are too short and rather tight, as I used the 3/4 length sleeves to make them from, and I giggle when I see him wearing them. But he was pleased and that's what matters. I will use the pattern I used for Ari's PJs again, I quite like how they turned out and they fit him really well.  

When I made Ari his red slippers Dorian declared that he needed a pair too (he has 2 pairs of slippers that fit him just fine,) and he needed purple ones. I wasn't too excited with the idea of knitting him something he didn't really need, and I didn't have enough purple in my stash to knit slippers anyway. So I knit him some mittens, which he does need, in the only purple yarn I had. These don't look like pairs much- more like distant cousins, especially with the different rib pattern on the cuff and the slightly different shaping- oh well. I knit these on another camping trip and I was paying more attention to the scenery and the kids fishing attempts than to my knitting. But they are warm and Dori seems happy with them.
Perry and the boys worked on the strawbale playhouse awhile back. It got a second coat of stucco and then a paint job with natural mineral pigments. I don't have a picture of the completed project on hand, but it looks quite sweet and the boys are very proud of it. Every visitor to the property must have a tour of the strawbale house/ icecream shop.




And this yummy yarn is waiting in the wings to become some other fun things. There are some future socks here, and a hat and scarf for me (yay!) and not pictured is the wool for a sweater for Perry. The rainbow wool is especially calling me, isn't it pretty? Oh, there is nothing like a package of new wool to play with to make this mama happy.

 I wanted to thank everyone for all the kind comments and e-mails over the past few weeks. I have been quite terrible about replying and keeping up with correspondence, I will really try to catch up. But in the meantime, know that I appreciate your words so much- thanks friends!