5/31 - Crafty me. Kid bear cowl hood thing

So this is pretty freaken cute. A cowl, with a hood, with ears. Am I right in saying that adding animal ears to anything makes it automatically 77% cuter?

After an unexpected bereavement on R's side of the family, I found myself packing Edie's bag for a flight to Te Wai Pounamu, or the South Island of NZ. It's cold down there and as I folded teeny tees and underpants I realise my poor neglected child didn't have an appropriate winter hat. We had a too-small leftover from the year before and a couple of other cute numbers that I loved and Edie did not and so I decided to whip this up using a pattern purchased via ravelry and wool I had lying around (hoping that what I had was enough because running out of wool when I'm 90% finished a project is pretty much the story of my crafting life).

Edie likes it, wears it (the true test of success is whether contrary preschoolers accept or moodily reject finished projects) and only sometimes throws it aside in annoying places. -like that time we dropped off our rental car and were heading towards departures to check in for our flight home and I notice she wasn't wearing her hood. It was still in the rental car and Edie didn't mention that she left it behind because "she wasn't actually very cold".

Ravelry deets here.

Crafty Me 3/31 - dual tone cowl

A finished thing!  Are you proud? This one has actually been complete for a few weeks and I've managed it wear it multiple times without taking any pictures.  Crafty blogger fail.

Anyway, here are some crappy cellphone pictures of Edie in my new cowl (crappy cell pics are fast becoming a theme here, hmm). I was wearing it but there was another sun shiny "downpour" on our 3 block walk home so I handed it over, as one does when their precious child fears sustaining a drop of water on the head

Today my smallest offspring has a teacher only day which is preschool teacher code for "we have so much power we can pull the rug out from under your feet whenever we want don't ever forget it new staff induction and mihi whakatau be damned". But truthfully, I love Pai's daycare and her teachers and actually I just wish that the working world was a bit easier on parents.

So all that to say that after a brief adventure to mama's mahi, the small kid and I have the day ahead of us with out any plans. Which is a lie actually. First we have to get the 4 year check and vaccinations done and THEN the day is our oyster.

I think that post jab, we're going to need lollie pops (both) and cookies (her) and hot caffienated beverages (me). Once these needs have been met there's a high chance of craft on the horizon. Ooh! That reminds me, last night I finished a blanket that was 11 months in the making. I'll save sharing that glorious moment for another post.

Let's look at my scarf again shall we? Also: Ravelry deets here.

Crafty me 4/31 - The blanket

This one deserves a moment of silence for the momentus occasion that is its completion... (everyone else paused here, right?) aaaand let's continue. This is the project I began when I started my full time job last year. 

It's no secret that I'm a bus crafter, I like to have a commuters project on me for my 40 minute bus ride at each end of my work day. This blanket, however quickly became too large to be taken on my daily ride and so after a good start (such energy!  Such intention! Such a short attention span!) It became something of a drag. I'd pick it up and work a few rows while watching a movie but often found other important things  my hands needed to do (like eat popcorn, priorities) that impeded my progress. To consider making a blanket as large as this as a first blanket is probably not the smartest thing when you are quick to give your love to new smaller projects. I'm a sucker for the gratification that comes with a quick easy pattern and so my relationship with this blanket was very troubled with much on again/off again.

which makes this finished product one of my absolute favourites. It's beautiful and it shows I have stick-at-it-ness. If that's not a win-win I don't know what is.

Let's have a look at her shall we?