Butterflies

I've addressed my moth problem somewhat before, and how it caused me to do some drastic repairs to a handknit sweater. Those pernicious moths also attacked my collection of well-worn lightweight store-bought sweaters. I have quite a few of these. They are close to literally being a dime a dozen, since they are partially shrunken, mass-market brand sweaters in neutral, inconspicuous colors, and I easily mistake one of them for the other. So I don't blame anyone who thinks I don't change my sweater from day to day. But now they will not be indistinguishable: they will have names even. Today, I introduce the Butterfly Sweater.

It began sadly enough. Witness below.

I gave up on the hoop after a while.

Moths took a few bites out of this heathery brown sweater at just about my left shoulder blade. I happen to have wool felt so I got the grand idea of appliqueing something over the holes after I mended them. (Not Godzilla. He needs to be on the front of a sweater.) I decided on butterflies. I have really no idea why. I tried to improvise the first couple butterflies that went over the holes, and then I submitted to the potato chip principle: you can never have just one. Or two. Aw, shucks, let's have a swarm!

I looked up images of butterflies on my smartphone for better verisimilitude, did some quick sketches, then made templates to guide me in cutting the felt. Took me about ten minutes, if that. I think I spent most of the time trying to find a working pen. (Four year olds are not known for their felt pen conservation skills.)

Took me a while to find the pencil sharpener, too.

I grabbed some gaudy fingering weight wool yarn and set to it. I didn't bother with a pretense of making it look professional. I like the homey look.

Left shoulder blade

The light blue and lilac butterflies in the above photo are on the moth hole damaged area of the sweater. All the others are just for company. My skill at making butterflies really improved by the time I had a dozen done; the copper and yellow one on the top of the photo was one of the last stitched, as was the yellow butterfly.

Back of sweater

I was intending to put all the butterflies only on the left side of the sweater, but the lilac one on the right got away.

Front of sweater

Some of the butterflies are dramatically different than others. I like the whimsical effect they lend an otherwise eminently practical and blah sweater.

Front shoulder

When I made the templates I traced them from these quickie ink drawings I made. If this project looks like a fun idea to you, and you need some butterflies for your moth holes, too, feel free to print the ink drawing below and cut it up and resize it and whatnot for your own templates. Go crazy!

Click on photo to enlarge.

Brrrrrrr!

Is it just me (I am Californian), or it it really, really cold outside? Like, I've stayed inside for two weeks cold. When I do go outside, it reminds me of the first time I visited Boston and it was minus something degrees and I had to put aloe vera on my face for days because I got wind burn the first night while we were walking down the street looking for a place to have dinner. So cold, I must have been really motivated to move there, because frankly I walk around the house like a sherpa during the winter. If sherpas wore garden clogs with hand knit socks and three sweaters.

Seriously, drastic measures are required. Such as mittens. The mitten mill is open for business.

Who doesn't like owls? I certainly do. I made two pairs of owl mittens: one brown, one pink. I sold the pink ones, but the brown ones are in my etsy shop, along with several of the others I'll talk about below.

After the owls, I made some simpler mittens.

It kind of hurts so good to look at these uneven stripe mittens. I love contrasting aqua and red, even when it's fire engine red and a glance gives me tracers. I'm going to make a second pair of these. I can't help myself.

I then got it into my head to make myself some mittens using a recycled sweater.

Contrasted against my new funky apron

On a whim, I added felt birds. I liked the effect and got so many compliments on it that I then knit up some purple mittens and slapped some birds on them.

 But why stop there? I have a fair amount of felt, and I still had some sweater left. So I made these.

Sadistic? Perhaps. But funny.

And then these. Because I seem to work in twos.

And that's where I am currently at in my war against the cold. At least as far as hands are concerned.

Vintage sewing

I received a surprise package in the mail today from my paternal grandmother, who has been following my crafting antics, mostly on Facebook. (Yes, like millions, I am on Facebook. I find it is the fastest and most efficient way to disseminate information to family about V., so they can have practically daily updates about HER three year old antics, plus photos.) The bulk of the package was these two throw pillows, which had a note on top of them stating that they were made by my mother for my aunt Mary. This particular aunt was the baby of the family, so she was still in school when my parents married. 

My mom made these for my aunt in the 70's

Lots of trims!

The rest of the package was composed of trimmings (lace, bias tape, rick rack, etc.), appliques and do-dads. There is quite a variety and I'm sure I'll find a use for it all.

And some cute appliques

Can't you just picture a toddler dress with some bees on it?

And while we're looking at these appliques, check out that black patch with the embroidered flower on it. I've got a blurry close-up photo of it below for your edification. That white thing in the photo, on the left? That's my thumb. This is some seriously tiny embroidery.

Blurry close-up.

 I had to take a look at the back of the patch to confirm it was real embroidery, it's so minuscule. And indeed it is, because it has a fabric backing on it. I've seen this before on other needlework. I'm guessing it's to help keep the ends of the threads in place. (A similar effect can be seen a lot of modern, store-bought children's clothing that have appliques or embroidery - on the inside a piece of interfacing is adhered over the area that was decorated.)

Back of patch

I especially liked the patterned bias tape, and this teeny weeny basket. It could fit on my pinkie!

Saving a buck

I've been thinking a lot lately about extreme frugality, and this thinking has driven some of my projects. It's debatable whether it's really worthwhile to mend a piece of kid's clothing that could probably be obtained from the thrift store for $1, but that's what I've done. V. has worn a hole in the knee of a pair of brown leggings she wears frequently. I decided to patch it. This grand idea was partially inspired by the butterfly pants I recently fixed up for her, and partly by the heart-shaped pocket on shirt that I just put in the "recycle" pile because it's outgrown. That heart would make a perfect patch. However, being stark white, it would look dingy in no time at all, so I decided to embellish it since I am on an embroidering kick.

I lightly inked in a design to embroider

Main embroidery finished

Blanket stitched onto the leggings.

V. chose the color of the flowers from my box of embroidery thread. I made the bow holding the bouquet of flowers brown (and the blanket stitching) to tie-in the design to the color of the leggings.

I have yet to try them on V., but I think they will be cute on her, especially with a lavender or purple top.

Butterfly pants

I've been thinking a lot about V.'s wardrobe for next year. When you're a single mother with limited income, it's prudent to think somewhat long term about these things. I've acquired quite a few things from free boxes and thrift stores, including a pair of khaki Osh Kosh pants in size 4t that were in excellent shape, save a hole or two in the knees. They were 50 cents, so I couldn't pass them up. Especially since I had a solution: applique knee patches.

I have about a half yard of a printed cotton fabric with butterflies on it that struck me as being perfect for appliqueing. I could had done some simple, classic square knee patches, but if there was going to be something conspicuous on her pants, I figured it should have some flair.

Butterfly knees!

I probably set this one a little too high

I had the flu when I started working on these, so I was in the mood for a lot of sitting around, doing needlework. I did more than just blanket stitch them on - I added details, like tracing the ribbing on the wings with back stitching.I am optimistically hoping that the additional embroidery will make them more durable.

Plenty of room to grow into them

I can picture her wearing these during the fall, or late summer, playing in the garden. I think they'll be great play pants, since they are sturdy and whimsical.

Commissioned Baby Hat Set #3

Here is the third and final baby hat/scarf set I was commissioned to make through my etsy shop around the holidays this winter. This one is for a three year old boy.

It's 100% wool.

Close-up of hat

On all the sets, I did some hand embroidery on the scarves and hats that matched. I figured that would make them more special than just plain hand knit hats. :)

Commisoned Bay Hat Set #2

Today I:

• Stayed home from work with a sick toddler.Such is life!
• Aren't feeling so hot, myself. 

Baby Hat Set #2
This is the set of three hat/scarf sets I made via an etsy shop commission. This one is for a one year old girl, in 100% wool, with matching embroidery on the hat and scarf. I used Paton's Classic Wool.

Hat and scarf together

Close-up of hat

Close-up of scarf

The remaining hat/scarf set was for a three year old boy, and is of a slightly different style. I really liked how it turned out, so I am likely to write up a pattern for it once I do what I consider my final version. :)

Comissioned Baby Hat Sets

Today I:

• slurped a little kefir and then grabbed a coffee by work and ate the rest of V's breakfast sandwich;
• ate a cookie;
• had a pre-lunch turkey sandwich;
• am still hungry. Go figure!

Around Thanksgiving I was commissioned via my etsy shop to make three sets of baby/toddler beanie and scarves. Here is the result:

Set #1:
For a one year old girl. Yellow 100% wool beanie and scarf with hand embroidery. It was really difficult to find an economical but good 100% wool yellow yarn quickly, but a vigilant search yielded a single ply wool that is relatively soft after washing.

It really is this yellow!

Hand embroidered flower

Note hand embroidered flower that matches hat embroidery

Close-up

Tomorrow: Set #2.

Quickie Baby Hat

I whipped up this toddler beanie out of some Malabrigo I had in my stash as an esty item to sell:

It's just a basic worked in the round, drawn-together top beanie. I embellished it with some embroidery in another brand of single-ply knitting yarn with a leaf, since the color scheme seemed autumnal to me.

Below you can see the drawn-together top:

I'm not a big fan of drawn-together tops, but they are good for getting a general fit, rather than very specific, more tailored one. And that's kind of important with toddler heads. :P

I've been thinking a lot lately about hat sizing, and bonnet sizing. Usually, it's just head circumference and sometimes hat depth given, but how to determine hat depth was always a puzzler for me. I think I may have finally figured it out: measure from ear to ear (either below ear, or whatnot, depending on the intended fit) and then divide by 2, and consider ease. Bonnets are a bit trickier, I think, but I've been feeling bound and determined lately to figure out some standardized sizing chart for bonnet making.