Crochet Baby Rattle

I really love how this came out. I used two little bells inside the big loop, which are very muffled, but at least something. I probably won’t make more, but only because it was so tedious.

Pattern is here - LOOP Baby Toy by Amy Herbst.

I used all organic yarn - the pink and blue are Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton; the white is Knit Picks organic cotton.

ipad Mini Case

I made an ipad mini case for my husband's birthday.  I used this tutorial from One Shabby Chick, but for the mini, I cut the pieces 7.5" x 10" (per thisblog).  I didn't quilt the cover, just cut all the pieces 7.5x10.  I tapered the lining pieces - the top was 7.5" wide, but the bottom tapered to 6.5" to reduce bulk from the batting.  The flap was cut to 3.5"x4" (I first tried 3x4, but it seemed too small so I redid it).  I added a pocket for the ear buds (pocket was made with two pieces of 7.5"X4" cotton with lightweight fusible interfacing between the two).  Choosing fabric for DH was so not fun.  I usually love choosing fabric for sewing projects, but here, my goal was to find something as plain as possible without being completely solid...

Pocket Dolls

For our afternoon craft today, we made these adorable pocket dolls.  The tutorial is here.  For the hat, Y followed the directions exactly and it worked fine.  For mine, with our 1" heads, I had to make three hats to get one to fit.  My final hat is with Purewool worsted wool yarn on #8 DPNs - I did:
Cast on 12 sts
Rounds 1-4: Knit
Round 5: K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4
Round 6 and remaining even rounds: Knit
Round 7: K2tog, K3, K2tog, K3
Round 9: K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2
Round 11: K2tog, K1, K2tog, K1
Round 13: K2tog, K2tog
Round 15: K2tog, cut yarn, pull through hole and bring to inside hat

Pocket dolls - Y's on the left; Mine on the right

Rainbow Baby Quilt

This is a quilt I made for S when she was born.  It is a crib-sized quilt - 34" x 50".  The pattern is from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts - it is the Quilter's Palette Quilt Pattern.  I loved working with this pattern - I love all of Rita's work and the pattern was very clear and easy to follow and I learned a bit about her techniques :)

The fabric is all organic from Cedar House Fabrics.  It was harder than I expected to choose semi-matching fabrics.  Some of the ones I ordered didn't really go and I had to order a few more.  I'm happy with how the blocks turned out.  The fabrics are a mix of brands - Daisy Janie, Monaluna, Cloud 9, and Birch.  The backing is a thin organic flannel.

I'm very happy with the quilt!  I love the colors.  

Newborn knitted hat and mittens

Finished a tiny set of newborn mittens and a hat.  The patterns are from Louisa Harding's "Natural Knits for Babies and Moms".    The yarn is Purewool 100% merino wool.  I've made the hat a bunch of times so far and the mittens a few times, but this is the first time I was organized enough to make the i-cord to keep the mittens together!

Quick and Easy Baby Quilt #4

Just finished my fourth "Quick and Easy Baby Blanket" from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson.  It's listed as a 2-4 hour project, which is about right.  The cutting always takes me a long time (this is my fourth one - here's one, here's one and the other I forgot to take a photo of) and at the end, you make little embroidered stitches every 4" to hold it together (see last photo) which takes a long time to first measure and mark the locations and then to do all the stitching (by machine, but still slow...)


The front fabric is Cloud 9 Organic cotton, backing is organic cotton (front and back from Organic Cotton Plus); batting is organic cotton and thread is organic thread from Near Sea Naturals, so it's truly a 100% organic blanket :)

This one measures 34" x 45" - I used up all the cloud fabric I had.

I honestly don't love the fabric, but it's sleepy-themed and organic and there's nothing else I can think to do with it other than a baby blanket, so it had to be done...

I know it needs to be ironed!  But I'm afraid to do it until the vanishing marker marks vanish for fear that heat might cause them to set.

Knitting Bag

I made this little knitting bag for Y's birthday (along with the tool belt).  He picked the colors without knowing what I was making and I love how it turned out!

I used this tutorial.  There's a little pocket inside for accessories.  I think I'll put one of my stitch counters in the pocket for him.  I'll give it to him with his needles and yarn inside.