I finally finished my first knit sweater :)  I've been working on it off and on since about Thanksgiving time.

I am so excited about it.  Like I've said before, it has taken me a lot of teachers over the years to give me the skills to do it and I thank you all.  

It is called a Raglan Sweater, I used a pattern from a book my teacher Ginger had.  But I think there are a lot of raglan patterns out there.  It was an easy stockingnet stitch for the whole sweater.  So now that I've had plenty of practice with that I think I'm going to try a seed stitch cowl or scarf to go with a hat that my pervious teacher Aimee made for me.

I can't wait to put Toby back into it for church on Sunday.  I think it will be so cute with a shirt collar poking out at the top.

Knitting Basics to remember.

I've been trying to do some knitting again.

It seems like I always pick it up fast, but then loose steam.  (Thank you to my many teachers over the years)  I think I've learned how to knit from my Mom, a best friend, my Mom's Aunt and now a new friend here in New England.

So after my most recent lesson I went onto youtube to find some videos to help me remember what I'd learned

Long Tail Cast On-

Continental pearl stitch-

Continental Knit stitch

Binding off the needle

garter stitch/ mattress stitch

Or for any knitting tutorial imaginable try Knitting with Nancy Wynn


My friend here in New England got me started on a sweater for Toby.  It is going to be cute, I've been working on it for a month and have the front, back and part of a sleeve done.  But I put it down for a few days so I could make something for the Christmas tree that I have always wanted.

Mini mitten ornaments

I think they turned out great for an amateur knitter

When I was growing up we had a pair of these on our tree and a pair of paper clip iceskates.  They were some of my favorite ornaments to get out every year.  

Maybe I'll make a new pair every year and I can make them more and more detailed as my skills improve.  

Here is the pattern I used

I learned how to do ribbing, save stitches on a needle to work latter and how to make an I chord

And here is an iceskate pattern if I ever get around to them.

I'll post pictures of the sweater when i am done with it.

Next month I have another friend helping me remember how to crochet, I wonder what sort of wonderfulness she will help me to create!

simple skirt tutorial

Here is one of the previously mentioned frustrating tutorials.  If you know how to make all the photos stay turned in the right direction through the uploading process PLEASE let me know.  I am going to be teaching some sewing lessons this week and I wanted to be able to send my students the pattern online so they can review it before class, but I want it to look professional.

Simple Skirt Tutorial

tutorial frustrations

I have been trying for years to figure out how to most efficiently post a tutorial.
Word normally doesn't have enough Memory to save all the photos, online tools normally don't allow me to move the photos and shapes as I want them and When I try to convert stuff to be seen on line it always gets changed in the conversion process.
For example when I tried to make a document into a pdf file it did not keep the columns I had formatted in word.  And when I upload my power points to google docs all the photos that I rotated go back to being upside down.
Does anyone hove any good methods they can share with me?  I have spend so many wasted hours on tutorials that never make it up here on the blog because I can't figure out how to make them look right.

Food Storage Soup

Our church group has a blog and about once a month I am a guest writer on it.  it is fun and there is a schedule.  Mondays we share a recipe, Wednesdays we just write about whatever is on our minds/an insightful quote and Fridays we spotlight a sister from the ward.

Last week I posted and thought I would re-post my recipe here

During the storm we used everything we could from the fridge at dinner to try and keep the food from spoiling.  But I’ve been wanting to try and make some dinner from my food storage.  If the power went out for more than a day, I’d need to have that skill.  So last night I found this crockpot sausage and potato recipe and gave it a try.  I adapted it to use with my food storage.  Here is what I came up with

Sausage & Hash Brown Soup

2 cups Freeze-dried pork sausage crumbles

2 cups dehydrated hash brown potatoes

1/4 cup dehydrated onions

1/2 tsp celery seed

15 baby carrots chopped (or 1 cup dehydrated or freeze-dried carrots)

7 cups of chicken broth (or 7 cups of water with bouillon according to package direction)

Directions:

I just tossed all of the stuff into the crock pot and let it simmer on low for the whole afternoon.

The recipe suggested serving the soup with Cheddar cheese, salt, pepper or milk (You could use dry milk, or evaporated milk)

We liked it just the way it was and loved the idea of having a pot of soup cooking on the stove all afternoon in the event that the power goes out because it could help to keep the house warm.

So try out the soup and add it to the wonderful food storage recipes we got at our mid week activity a few months ago.  Thank you to our wonderful Relief Society presidency for making that activity happen.  I’m feeling more self reliant already 

Pumpkin Costume

I've not been very ambitious over the years as far as costumes go for someone who likes to sew and make crafts.  I'm not sure why.  But When I told Gwen that Toby was going to wear the costume that she wore when she was a baby she got excited and said that she wanted to match him and be a pumpkin too.  So I searched online and found a pattern from Martha Stewart for a pillowcase pumpkin. Thanks Martha, it turned out great!

Gwen, the original pumpkin in 2006

Our Pumpkin Patch 2012

  

Little Sister Dress to Big Sister Skirt

Last year I found this cute dress for my 3 year old to wear for Christmas events.

However the zipper head snapped in two.  I hate sewing zippers.  But the dress was REALLY nice with a soft lining fabric.  So instead of fixing it, I upcycled it to a skirt for my older daughter.  (3T dress to size 6/7 skirt)  This is how I did it.

1. Cut the dress right under the armpits, leaving a few inches of fabric attached to the top of the waistline.
2. Next, cut the zipper out of the dress.
3. Turn it inside out and sew the lining fabric to the top of the waist line.  (I used pins for this because the lining pops out a bit on the bottom and I wanted to make sure that it would be even)
4. Then sew about 4 or 5 inches of waistband elastic to about 15" of ribbon of the same width.  Don't forget to burn or melt the ends of the ribbon so it doesn't fray. (My daughter wears a size six, but you might need to adjust the elastic length depending on your daughters size.)
5. Turn the skirt right sides out.  take the end of your elastic and line it up with the side seem of the skirt on the inside so it is sandwiched between the pieces  (keep the ribbon trailing out towards the back.)
6. Sew the side seems to secure the elastic. And rrepeat steps 3-5 for the other side.
7. Examine your skirt's waistline.  You will probably need to use a seam ripper to take apart a few stitches where the waistline meets the back seem where the zipper used to be.
8. Stitch the edges of the hole you just made with a blanket stitch so it doesn't fray.  But DON'T stitch it closed again!!!
9. Thread the ribbon through the hole.
10. Repeat steps 7-9 for the other side.
11. Pin the ribbon and elastic in place so it stays out of the way for the next step.
12. sew the bottom of your waistline to create a casing for the elastic and ribbon to stay in place.
13. If there is a gap in the back, sew a panel of fabric to one side of the opening in the back to flap over the opening and keep your daughters undies hidden.

The elastic/ribbon bow should make it so you don't have to re-tie the bow with each use.  You can sew the bow in place once you know it fits so it always looks perfect, or just double knot it so it can be adjusted as your daughter grows.

Is that not the cutest free holiday outfit ever?  I can't wait for Santa pictures :)