Homemade toddler gift ideas

Surely one of the benefits of being home with the kids is having the opportunity to make stuff with them. Because it's still early in the year, I'd really like to try and make useful christmas gifts for the fam. Here's the collection of ideas so far:

A picture mobile

Pebble trivet/coaster

Clothes pin trivet/coasters

Picture magnets

Apron

Kitchen Towels

Reusable grocery bags

Using crayon drawings for decorating fabric

Edible Clay Dough

From the Jemez Thunder:

• 1 cup pb
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1-1/4 cup powdered milk

Stir, knead, add more powdered milk if necessary.

Ours was actually a little too dry, so I added some more honey and water. All in all, I'd call it a success.

Playdough recipe

• ¾ cup flour,
• ¾ cup salt,
• ¾-1 cup of water,
• the food coloring of your choice, and
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Mix it all in a pot over low heat until it looks like playdough. Knead in the food coloring.

the one hundredth entry

Things are only just settling into a new kind of normalcy since moving and the baby, and little knitting has been done. Since I've decided not to take pictures of work in progress unless it's something terribly remarkable, I don't really even have anything to show but this, from Weekend Knitting:



So instead of what I've completed, I'll show you two hand-crafted blankets I received for the baby. If any more nieces or nephews come along, this is the style of blanket I want to make for them:



And then there's this beautiful work from my mom's godmother. This is actually the same pattern I'm using for my latest niece, but her yarn and finishing choices are far superior to my own:

on mother's day in the UK

Since I've been back, it's been non-stop paperwork fun. The results, however, have been well worth it. I start work on Monday, and we're moving forward with buying the house.



In knitting news, I've been working on Popcorn - a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. He has a head, two ears, two arms, a body, and 1/3 of a leg. I'm a little nervous about putting him together, but the fun fur is so stretchy I think it will be very forgiving with mistakes.




I also want to say how great it was to see everyone in Santa Barbara. The baby shower was an unexpected treat - the gifts themselves were fantastic and so was the "shower activity" of having all the guests make onesies. Here's everyone's great work!!!

the other LA

Things have seemed crazily hectic over the last two weeks. I have, however, successfully presented at my first conference. It's always nice when you present what silly research you've been toiling away on and nobody says "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, are you on crack?"

In other news, last night R and I decided to Meet People. He went to indoor soccer, and I went to the knit group for the first time. The knitting group was great - there were women of all ages, and they were working on everything from beginning squares to fancy schmancy sweaters. There were probably 25 people that dropped in through the course of the evening. But wait, there's more!

Have any of you perused "Knitting in America/America Knits" by Falick (and can anyone tell me why the name changed when it was reissued)? Well, in the NM section there's a woman from Los Alamos featured. Not only is she a regular member, but she also gives discount classes to the knitting group at her house. I felt like such a freakazoid groupie at the level of excitement I experienced when she announced she was hosting a class at her house. SADLY it's next weekend when I'll be out of town. Maybe next time!

I need buttons

Besides welcoming the latest member of the family to our residence, I've actually been finishing projects.
today, washers come with DVDs. who knew?

I bought Debbie Bliss Aran Wool discounted at BBs right before I left. With this, I made the Aran pullover (it'll have buttons when I can find some I like) from Knitting for Baby. I made the 9 month size, figuring it's better to be too big than too small.


Second up is a sweater I knit for myself. I bought several skeins of gjestal naturgarn on sale from Elann forever ago. I wanted to do a thick yoke sweater in the round, but I didn't like the two color patterns I found. I made this one up, though I followed EZ's pattern for saddle shoulders. It'll be even better when I find buttons I like.


And finally... I've been wanting to sew for a while, and I finally just bit the bullet and bought a machine. First I made a pair of pants that literally fit me and R at the same time. My second effort was much better. It's a baby quilt for someone (I have a niece due at the end of the month, and I don't know if I'll send this or make something else), from Getting Ready for Baby. R picked out the fabric. I liked things that matched, but he seemed to think bright colors were the way to go. I'm happy with the way it turned out (as long as no one looks too close at the workmanship), and I LOVE ROTARY CUTTERS. I had no idea how great these little things could be.


Now that I've finished all of these, I'm out of ideas. But since we have a washer, maybe felted slippers?

meet roger

A couple of weeks ago, we found a deer in our front yard. Contrary to popular belief, the deer could not jump the 4 foot high fence to escape. He tried, failed, then hid on the ground for a while to hide his embarassment before loping off.

Sunday afternoon we saw this in our back yard:


I don't know what the neighbors think, as we never see deer in their yards. I'm just hoping they don't freak out and accidentally trounce the car.