Handmade Holiday

2014 marked a year of many changes as I suppose is usual for a family of three small children who seem to grow, change and yet stay the same every second of every day. One of the things that I really wanted to get back to doing for Christmas presents in 2014 was to start making more of them. Honestly, the past eight years since Eldest was born probably marks one of the longest stints I have ever gone without being regularly creative and my soul has gotten a bit brittle around the edges as a result. I have been making a concentrated effort to clear out our office and my craft room area. It will likely still take another year or so to get it into exactly the order I want but I did manage to clear out one side of the office room and paint one wall in December (because that's exactly the sort of thing your'e meant to do two weeks before Christmas and company coming, right?!?).

Anyways, now that the gifts have been given and received, I wanted to share some of the things I have worked on in 2014.

What started out as a $20 Kijiji find...

...turned into this French inspired end table.

I made a new felt mitten ornament during craft group at the MFRC. I usually bring in and work on my own projects during Wednesday morning craft group but am so glad I decided to put that down and make one of these instead. This is the first of only two new handmade by me Christmas 2014 ornaments.

Knitted hats were certainly a theme for presents from us in 2014. This hat was knit for my oldest nephew who lives in the lovely Big Land. I overstitched a mini Labrador flag on it and am pleased with the results. It's my first time trying overstitching and I was trying to get a similar look to a high end commercially reproduced hat which have fabric brand names on them or sewn into them.

Two other knitted hats for our lovely nieces also living in the Big Land. Older sister (almost ten years old) received the larger version. This is the Bennett Beret from a much loved Etsy store of mine, The Velvet Acorn.

Smallest size.

Larger size. Believe it or not, both hats were knit
from the same skein and dye lot. The top photo is
the most true to colour.

LOVE that ruffle!

Another nephew and another hat! This time for our youngest, Ninja turtle obsessed nephew. He is a big Raphael fan. This pattern was a combination of one from my wonderful friend M who restarted my knitting button when she was here for a visit this past summer plus this Ninja Turtle Hat Pattern that I found on Ravelry. I used Cascade Pacific yarn (that I purchased when we were in BC this past summer at this shop as a memento of our trip) for this project and am in love with how soft it knits up.

Using the same model and hat pattern from above (believe it or not!?!), I knit this men's hat for a dear friend's husband. A and her family returned back to the UK this past summer and we all really miss them. Here is proof that I not only started my Christmas knitting in the summer but that I also make really cute children too! Sadly, I sent their Christmas parcel to the UK on November 17th via Pony Express and It. Still. Has. Not. Arrived. 

Modelled by one of my gorgeous younger brother's. Sadly, neither
of my brother's received a hat this year. There's always 2015!

Another Velvet Acorn pattern, the Paisley Cloche, knit for our niece living in Colorado (or 'Coloralo' as Middlest used to call it). Honestly, if you want well written, quick and trendy knitted hat and/or accessories to knit, Heidi, the talent behind The Velvet Acorn, is a genius.

Not a hat! And also not ready in time for Christmas. However, here is a play toy that I made for the cats during the holidays. It took me a day to make and I filled the ball with cat nip and stuffing. This toy is now far from the door knob where it originated and is looking rather felted so I think I can determine it as a hit. Ravelry to the rescue as always for this pattern.

Proof of play.

I know, it's hard to believe I play with anything that isn't fibre. Here is a Pinterest inspired wreath that cost me $0. I love it when that happens!

Just before Christmas, one of my very organized friends organized a cookie exchange. Apart from A, I knew none of the other ladies in attendance and still managed to laugh so hard I was crying! A great night with new girlfriends. I had fun with the packaging. 

I crocheted this little number between Christmas Day and New Years Day. It's my first amigurumi attempt and I am in LOVE (don't tell DH!)!!! I used this pattern from Stephanie's lovely 'All About Ami' blog and intend on making it several more times. I went with an all white Polar Bear. I'm going to make two more - one of each boy with different coloured scarves and then make some other variations. I'd really like to make a penguin too...and a cow...and a sheep.....

Finally, a gratuitous feline picture as Bella got on and read my post from yesterday and was jealous so she purred me to distraction last night until I agreed to post a flattering picture of her;). Our cat amidst the holiday chaos.

Happy New Year 2015!

It has been a wonderful start to a new year for my family and I. I am intimately aware that this has not been the case for some of our very closest friends for whom this Christmas 2014 and the New Year mark their first without their dearest loved ones. The past six months have been a poignant and painful reminder that life is fleeting and can come to an end suddenly, with little or no warning. 

I stopped making a specific New Year's resolution a long time ago. However, if I can change that habit and choose a resolution for 2015 at all it would be to try and be more present in each moment and squeeze the most I can from each day. Our children and extended families are more or less in good general health, ear infections and getting older aside. I was in the mood for the Christmas season this year for the first time I have been in several years and for that I am thankful. We also have been playing host to my parents and my little sister and niece over the past two weeks which has been an absolute blessing even if the two three years old (Littlest and my niece are six weeks apart in age) have a love/hate relationship (they are as cute playing together as they are all riled up and yelling at each other!).

Here are a few moments from the past couple of wonderful, busy, exhausting and satisfying weeks:

Grabbing a satisfying nap took hard work.

The boys created a Santa's sleigh directional landing strip of their own accord. DH and I thought it was brilliant!

December 25, 2014

DH found a dried up pot of tulips in the dark of the garage that were showing some signs of life. I added water. It looks as though we may have begun our first 'forced' tulip garden.

Stocking stuffer fun.

And a bovine invasion...

Happy New Year 2015!

Have Knitting, Will Travel

It's all my friend M's fault. She and her husband B - affectionately known as the 'Child Whisperer' visited us in July and M brought her knitting.

The Child Whisperer exists. We had him here. Too bad he lives
in another province...

I hadn't been knitting much in 2014 up until that point but seeing her at those needles brought on a yearning. M is a lovely lady who devotes a considerable amount of time to knitting hats for people who have undergone chemo treatments. On just one occasion she knit an entire boxful by herself to be donated. One amazing woman, no? And, when I show you the yarn present she brought me all the way from Kingston, ON and KnitTraders, well, you are going to be in line with me agreeing that the woman is in the running for saint hood. Another time though.

I, on the other hand, am not so altruistic. M was knitting caps using cotton and I loved the pattern. I loved that it was knit flat and needed to be seamed. Call me crazy but I LOVE sewing a knitted seam. I also loved that the pattern was so easy to customize. So, together with a couple of skeins from that lovely yarn present I mentioned above, I cast on to knit a hat as presents for Christmas rather than for charity.

And I proceeded to knit pretty much everywhere. I knit while the four boys were exploring further astray while we were on a hike from Flatrock on the East Coast Trail.

This was the view from my knitting rock. Not too shabby.

Here is the finished knitted woman's hat on Eldest. I will post another picture when the whole set is completed as this version still needs a couple of acoutrements.

I knit at Elk Lake, BC while the four boys frolicked in the lake. No, it wasn't too warm for knitting with 100% wool.

I knit while waiting in line at the Brentwood Bay ferry terminal.

I knit on the grounds of Hatley Castle and not just so I could say that I had been knitting on the grounds of a castle. Well, that's not the only reason anyways!

I managed to find some high quality and amazingly cute models to show off my finished pieces.

This is an adult man's hat but Middlest sure looks cute in it.

Here is Hairy Brother modelling the same hat for me just so I can prove that the hat will fit a big boy too. Sadly for Hairy Brother, this hat is not for him :( Sorry, Little Brother!

Some of my models just weren't sharing their mother's enthusiasm for modelling hats.

So the ever camera shy Middlest had to help out. What a nice big brother!

This is another hat requiring acoutrements. I
will post an update when it's finished.

And when we got home from family vacation, I finished a WIP from last fall which will now be headed to the USA for a November birthday. I can tell you that because the recipient doesn't read this blog. Mainly because she cannot yet read… This childs hat was modelled by one of my gorgeous nieces. Yes, it's true, I have a rather beautiful family, extended and otherwise.

This is Velvet Acorn's gorgeous Paisley Cloche pattern. It was a pleasure to knit.

Currently I am knitting the second of the Fable Fingerless Mitts by Sian Parker - another extremely fun and quick knit - to go with the woman's hat from above. Are you knitting anything these days?

First Lavender Harvest

I love lavender. If it's not my favourite smell than it's at the top of the list along with old fashioned roses, lilacs, babies (when they're clean ;)!) and fresh salt air. I think it might be my favourite though. It was my grandmother's favourite smell and I do like tradition.

I think I may have tried to grow lavender before in Germany (in pots on the back terrace where they promptly dried out from lack of water, too much direct sunshine and did I mention lack of water? My bad. I tried again in Ottawa but the wee starter plants I planted just shrivelled up and died during their first year probably due to that lack of water problem again. I was a vampire in Ontario as every May I retreated to the basement where it was coldest (even with the air conditioning blasting in the rest of the house, it was still coldest down there) and didn't come out again during day light hours until early September so I didn't notice them drying out. I didn't bother trying when we lived in NS as it was only a three year posting and I didn't think I'd get to enjoy any established lavender plants before we moved. I was right as we moved after only living there for two years.

Not one to give up on a dream too easily, however, I bought a couple of starter plants last year and put them in our temporary garden next to our back deck. It's a temporary garden because eventually we plan to extend the deck for access to the clothesline and that spot will be directly over where I planted the garden. Why did I plant anything there knowing they would be moved? Because it's the most protected spot on our property and I was hoping to get some plants well established in our micro climate before having to move them further along the side of the house.

I really didn't think the lavender plants survived the winter as by Spring as they looked quite dead to my inexperienced eye. You'd think after killing a few of these beauties I'd recognize a good and dead plant,  right? Happily it's apparent that I can't as on this, their second summer, I managed to harvest my very first, very wee lavender bunch just before we left for BC in August.

Thrilled doesn't describe the feeling. 

Proof of Life

Hello out there! Helllloooooooo! It's me waving from a rather windy Newfoundland and Labrador front bridge (that's a front deck to you CFA's (Come From Aways)). And a special, SPECIAL 'hello' to M in Kingston, ON who tells me that one of the first things she does every morning is check out this blog for an update while she's enjoying her morning coffee. Bonjour, M!

I know I say it each time but where does the time go? Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to. With any luck, I'll have the opportunity to elaborate sometime soon. With any luck…

June: School and Grade One ended with a bang. I can't believe I have a seven year old! And I love his rock star hair.

I spent an inordinate amount of money decorating our front bridge (deck - see above). Total cost including furniture: $0.

Thanks for the gorgeous hand me down furniture, A!

Ah. Natural beauty.

July: With early July birthdays, the first week of July at our house is always a riot of birthday celebrations. It was a shark (Eldest) and pirate (Middlest) theme this year.

That's a capsized boat on the upper right. Eldest designed it
himself!

This is the second year that I've designed this cake. Middlest really
likes it.

Pinterest provided a wealth of ideas - like this
'fish and chips' sign.

The birthday brothers!

Onto August when we went on our big British Columbian invasion. I'm sure my in-laws are still in recovery.

We headed to Island View Beach almost as soon as we got off the
airplane.

And here we are, right back at school again (today was their first day back!):

Youngest was NOT impressed by his brother leaving.
He asked where both of them were, when I said that
they were both in school he said "I need more brudders!"

Middlest was crazy excited!

Whew! That was a whirlwind ride. I'll check back again soon, K?

Hooked Mats - A Part of Growing Up

I was alerted to the following videos from the CBC archives through Deanne Fitzpatrick's Hooking Rugs Facebook page and they are gems. Not only because they are about hooking mats, which you know I'm pretty passionate about, but also because watching them was almost like stepping into a time machine. These people, their language and dialect and their houses, inside and out, is a glimpse into my childhood. Mrs. O'Brien (and her sweet and supportive husband) are marvelous and I wish the videos would just go on and on.

1977 Edited Version of Mat Hooker Interview

I love the variety of mats displayed in this video. Many of the patterns are similar to the ones I used to see in people's houses when I was growing up. I'm told my great-grandmother used to draw her own patterns and was a very prolific mat maker. My grandmother too hooked, after the work of the day was done (how she didn't just collapse into bed alongside her nine children is beyond me. I can barely survive with 'only' three off spring). Their designs were usually of flowers and leaves though one of my Aunt's remembers a 'hit or miss' style that my grandmother did.

This is a picture of a mat made by a lady living in the same community my mother grew up in. Another one of my Aunt's won it at a time (that's the Newfoundland and Labrador word for a dance or a party usually at someone's house/the local hall, etc) when she was growing up. She still uses it in her kitchen. Lucky duck!

The following is the 'uncut' version of the interview with Mrs. O'Brien which is a little rough around the edges but the one I prefer as I felt I got to know her better. The interviewer also asks her many questions that I wish I could ask my grandmother and other relatives of her generation but have missed the chance.

1977 Interview of a Mat Hooker: Mrs. O'Brien, Cape Broyle

I've been thinking and doing a LOT of hooking lately. I'm working on a commissioned piece for a very good friend and this not so little mat will be flying off to the UK at the end of the month. So, in case you're missing me, I'm just hooking. All. The. Time. I'm not exactly sure how big it is but this is certainly my largest rug to date (I haven't time to measure so my toes are included in this picture to give you an idea of the mat's size). I'm learning lots!

Off again. I've important hooking to get to. And I think the boys need supper again (I'm swear I just fed them yesterday…).