:: Yarn Along ::

It's been so long since I've posted a Yarn Along. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post about a finished project later this week...

On the needles :: I'm working on crocheting balls for Operation Christmas Child boxes. I got the idea while finishing my last project and thought this would be a good way to use up stash yarn I have in a bunch of fun, bright colors and I even have a bag of stuffing stitting here not being used...I found this pattern by searching pinterest but there were about a million. I'm using the instructions for the smallest ball and I still think they are a good size. I'm hoping to make 3 for each box we'll be making...we'll see if I can find that many once it's actually time to put the boxes together.

On the nightstand :: I've been wishing lately I had more time to read...I'm really enjoying both of my books and I've pinned a few reading lists that I'd love to look into more. I'm reading Radical for a book club and I'm reading The House of Hades because I've read all the other books in the series (and they are SOOO good). I wish I had read ahead of #2 in his readers...maybe if I order the next set I'll have time to get ahead of him a little bit.

Handmade Christmas :: H's Milanese

My last handmade Christmas gift...it took a bit to photograph since I gave it to our wonderful babysitter before Christmas without taking any pictures of it. I had to ask her to bring it back so I could take a picture of her with it. We remembered this weekend. 

I have been so blessed to find H as our babysitter. I had asked and asked for friends to recommend a babysitter or share one that they use but I got nothing. So I finally joined Care.com and found H. Best decision EVER. H is a perfect fit for our family for babysitting. She's adorable and fun and young enough to be cool but is so good at her job that the kids know when she means business, listen and respect her and she has my kitchen clean and more laundry done while she's here than I do all week. LOVE her!

So when Christmas was on the way I really wanted to do something to show her how much she means to our family. I knitted up the Milanese cowl with my favorite yarn. It turned out great, even with my mistakes. The drape is really great. It is warm and cozy for our winter days and she seems to like it. Win.

Handmade Christmas :: a new hat for Mr. Wiedz's

You probably don't remember Mr. Wiedz's hat I made with leftover yarn from deciding on his sweater (ravelry note here). It was a plain but nice hat. And he loved it. And Miss H., our wonderful babysitter, who does more laundry here a week than I do washed and dried his 100% wool hat...it now fits #5 nicely. So Mr. Wiedz has been dropping hints.

"I need a new hat..."

"My "other" hat isn't the same (and really he's right about that...one of the first hats I made was for him with Red Heart yarn. Acrylic yarn just isn't the same after you've worn and worked with nice wool yarn.)..."

"#1 has the best hat in the family..."

So I picked up some really nice chunky super-wash wool during my quick yarn store visit in November and knit up this hat quickly (love chunky wool...love size 10 needles) during times Mr. Wiedz was not around.

I found a pattern on ravelry that had cables but was still masculine and I think it turned out just right! Mr. Wiedz loves it too.

Handmade Christmas :: jammies

I hope I can post about the handmade I got done this year...there isn't too much. For as little as there was handmade this year there are even fewer pictures of what was done so we'll see if I can even post about it.

One thing that I almost crossed off the list and almost gave up on were the Christmas Eve jammies. I have given the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve since #1 was a year old but the past four or so years I have made the pants each year (here is last year's post, inside that are links for other years). And each year they are a little comically large or too tight...can't seem to get them just right. But this year there was just so much on my list and a little baby and the sickies and a new fabric store that I had heard had all sorts of crazy long lines...

But I did make it to the store. The lines weren't TOO bad, I was able to run there while Mr. Wiedz came home for lunch one day.

And I decided that this year there was no need for the pants to be a surprise, after all I make them every year so they know what they're getting.

Last year my mom had to help me with waistbands because I had made my rises too short. She made contrasting waistbands and sewed them onto the top of the pants similarly to how I do the cuffs on the bottom. I decided to start that way and I'm so glad I did. Probably saved the pants!!! No seams!!! I was able to cut out and sew all six pairs in one day and add elastic the next evening.

Done! And adorable.

*I am notoriously late in getting shirts to go with the jammies each year. Actually last year I didn't even get shirts and they just wore whatever they were wearing that day to bed and the next morning. This year I got a great deal at the Children's Place's cyber Monday sale and got all the kids new shirts. They didn't match or "go with" the jammies but everyone loves their shirts and they all looked so cute.

Project :: Jammies

I have documented a little bit of my Christmas jammie sewing journey, here and here (scroll down to reason #5), are some examples. So this year I tried again.

I bought fabric with a coupon so I got nearly all the fabric I needed for twenty-some dollars and I bought the fabric early, like November or the first week of December. Then it sat in my sewing room waiting for inspiration. That insiration didn't come until it was two days before Christmas and my budget didn't allow for going out and purchasing jammies.

Necessity is the mother of invention...or in this case inspiration.

I got up really early one morning and was able to cut out four sets of pants before anyone else woke up. The flannel wasn't as wide as I was thinking so I couldn't fit the 5th pair of pants onto any of my fabric. That night, after a trip to the fabric store where there was no more red flannel of any kind and cutting out the fifth pair, I was able to sew up all the pairs, except waistbands. I texted my mother, who was staying at my sisters for a couple of days before heading here that next afternoon, asking if she'd be so awesome as to do the waistbands for me - I'm awful at waistbands. She said yes, so the next evening while I finished my own to-do list she sat and finished all the pants for me. Yay! Mom!

Though, she was worried that there wouldn't be enough rise. I even followed the pattern. I cut it out straight for #1 (it's a pattern we've used for her before), used the same pattern for #2 just with shorter legs, and folded the pattern down to the correct markings for #3 and #4. I used a current pair of pants for #5's. I was bummed that even though I had used a pattern there was still an issue. I really wanted this to be the year the pants just *fit*!

She added contrasting fabric for a waistband so that the pants wouldn't lose any of the rise by all the folding over.

The next day, before I wrapped them, I decided I just couldn't let the pants be 5-7 inches too long again this year. I measured everyone then during naptime I went out to the sewing room and measured inseams, cutting off the extra fabric and sewing the cuff back on the new bottom.

I wrapped them up. Placed them under the tree and have the best fitting Christmas jammies I've ever had. I say it every year, but I really plan to start earlier next year...so much easier to take care of things when you're not under the gun!

#5 refused to be in the picture.

Handmade

Now that Christmas is over I can show off some of the handmade that made it under our tree this year. I didn't take on too much as far as handmade goes and I'm happy to report it seems like just the right amount. People who really appreciate handmade or could use something I can make got something but I didn't go too crazy and drive myself into a dizzy trying to do too much.

First up was a project by the kids for their grandmas. And our first-ever freezer paper stencil project - fun! I found the idea in a Family Fun Magazine (they didn't do freezer paper but I think it worked brilliantly). I talked to each kid about what design they would like on their dishtowel. Then I cut out all the freezer paper. During nap-time the kids took turns painting the towels. Baby got some help putting his handprint on after he woke up. The kids thought they turned out real nice and the grandmas liked them too!

#1 found a project in a book we had from the library, Kids' Embroidery, that she thought her Grandma D would like. Grandma D is a big journal keeper so #1 embroidered a cover for a new journal for her. I forgot to take a finished product photo but it turned out awesome and Grandma D loved it.

My dad is a hankie user. A couple of years ago I embroidered some for him and now they are ready to be replaced. So he got some new hankies wrapped up under the tree.

Lastly, I drew #1 in our family exchange and thought she'd appreciate a cowl (or neck warmer as we like to call them). I had some yarn my mom gave me sitting in my stash waiting for a project and found a quick easy pattern (ravelry link). I paired it with a new journal and she was very pleased.

A few Catan rounds...

My littlest elf...such a sweet boy. He had a basketful of his creations that he handed out to everyone Christmas morning.

Preparing the meat. Mr. Wiedz wanted to teach his boys about cooking the Christmas meat.

Christmas Eve Jammies :: I've tried each year. And each year I've gotten a little bit better. Some more kinks to work out but I've almost got it.

Sticky buns :: Grammie N and #1 took over the preparations for our traditional Christmas Morning breaky and did such a fantastic job that I think we've started a new tradition.

Seafoam for Santa

Santa came!

All those stockings filled up great!

Mary and Joseph made it to Bethlehem and baby Jesus was place in the manger.

How #5 spent most of Christmas  morning. He ate so many chocolates that
he got sick of them and started just unwrapping them and throwing them on the floor.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in different rounds of our new boxing championships.

Oh, we had a wonderful few Christmas days! Staying home for the first time EVER and enjoyed every peaceful and chotic moment. Preparations were fun and for the most part unstressful. The company was delightful and the children were a joy.

Now for putting it all away.

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny, over at small things, again with yarn along. A single photo of a current knitting or crocheting project with a current read. I am really loving these posts, taking a moment to think about what and why I'm knitting or reading. I read...a lot. And I knit...not as much as I'd like but I do have 2-4 projects going either on the needles or in my brain.

I do love seeing what others are knitting and can always use some reading suggestions! Leave a comment so I can see what you're up to. And go over to Ginny's to see what others are up to.

On the needles :: FINISHED with my Christmas present (ravelry link). I finished these with many days to spare. And I decided knitting at Christmas not on Christmas presents is fun! I've worked on a hat for #2...to complete the collection (ravelry link) and I'm really itching to start a pair of socks for #5 (ravelry link). I never thought I'd be a sock knitter but here I am. Strangely, I'm also starting to feel like pulling out Mr. Wiedz's sweater. And I have a long list growing in my mind of knitting I'd like to accomplish this year.

On the nightstand :: Still working through The Secret. It's good and I'm getting to the end so some questions should be answered soon. We'll have to hit the library before school starts again for a new stack of books when I'm done. Maybe I can rope Mr. Wiedz into going with me.

Christmas 2011 - Decorating at Grandma's

Who has time to get out a ladder?

Grandmas Great with all of her great grandkids!

We are breaking tradition this year - and it is a little painful as we are "tradition people". For the second time EVER Mr. Wiedz will not be attending the Christmas Eve party with his extended family. (The first time when we had just recently moved to California and couldn't spend the money on going back up to Oregon so soon.) But last year our children started saying how much they wanted to be home on Christmas morning. Who can argue with that? Last year we already had so many plans in motion that making that happen was impossible but this year, we'll be home.

But the J Party is over 2 hours away. And a drive up and back to it in one already packed and tradition-laden day just isn't what we want to do with five children. I don't want to get home at 1AM and finish up being ready for the morning. We've never attended a Christmas Eve service...we'd like to start that as a tradition.

So it makes sense to not attend the party...except for Grandma Great. Her health isn't great. She's our last Great Grandparent. What if... Mr. Wiedz and I were talking about it and I suggested him going up to visit her and he mentioned her asking his help getting her tree up. I said, "perfect! Go do that!". Slowly through this conversation this idea and plan got formed to go up to Grandma Great's as a family and decorate with her. Then it grew even more to include all of Mr. Wiedz's cousins and their families.

So we had a decorating day at Grandma Great's! And it was a blast. She was thrilled to have her Christmas stuff out (though wondering how she would manage to put it all away) and to have a family day! And we all got some Grandma time!

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny, over at small things, again with yarn along. A single photo of a current knitting or crocheting project with a current read. I am really loving these posts, taking a moment to think about what and why I'm knitting or reading. I read...a lot. And I knit...not as much as I'd like but I do have 2-4 projects going either on the needles or in my brain.

I do love seeing what others are knitting and can always use some reading suggestions! Leave a comment so I can see what you're up to. And go over to Ginny's to see what others are up to.

On the needles :: got the heel turned on the Christmas present. I'm excited. I like the look of the pattern, the twisted stitches and it isn't difficult at all but I'm not a fan of paying attention to a pattern so I'm excited the foot is just stockinette. The only part left that I don't like is picking up stitches. That should be done today sometime and these should be finished by next week *fingers crossed*. I also cast on for a truly secret project...I've never knit anything completely secret before. Only after-bedtime knitting on this one and it is actually put away so not to be spotted or stumbled across. I think being secret makes me want to work on it even more...that or the really soft yarn and the way it feels as it's knitting up.

On the nightstand :: Still reading Take One. My reading time must be even more limited than I realized. I used to be able to finish a Karen Kingsbury novel in a day or two, three at the max. This one has taken over a week. It is just as fabulous as all her books and I love the way she develops her characters. A great book, just a tired, pregnant, homeschooling mama without a lot of private reading time.

What are you reading? Knitting or crafting? Join small things for the yarn along, leave a comment.

Project :: A Labor of LOVE

Many years ago, like 8 year ago. Mr. Wiedz asked my mom, Grammie N, if she would make our family quilted stockings. She did and they were beautiful! Then about a year and a half later #3 came along. No stocking for him. Each year Grammie talked about making new ones and each child made the job a little bigger. I bought those cheap red stockings with the furry white trim and they did look good, all uniform on my mantle, but they weren't our Grammie-made stockings. #1 joined in with the wishing a year or so ago, letting Grammie know how much she missed the beautiful stockings she had made for us.

I'm not sure what got into Grammie but this year were were BLESSED by the completion of our family quilted stockings!

All of the stockings use a collection of quilters cotton (I want to say Hoffman) and all of them have log cabin blocks making up the stocking base. Then Grammie did what Grammmie does best, appliqued different pictures onto the stockings to represent each of us.

I have a snowman collection so my stocking has a beautiful snow-woman on it. Mr. Wiedz's has an deer and an evergreen tree on it. #1's says "joy" and an angel.

#2 has a puppy and a frog, he was 2 months old when they were made so who knew what he'd like...but it is so cute!

#3 is our little chicken-farmer and Grammie put a rooster on his stocking! So perfect!

and #4 is our little expressive dude! He's life wrapped up in a skin! Grammie put just his most favorite things on his stocking. A goldfish swimming in a bowl! And a pirate too! She even used her fun machine to print his name on the pirate's shirt (hence why there's no photo of his favorite part of the stocking).

She even got a stocking done for #6, covered in stars since we don't know if it will be a boy or girls stocking or what #6 will be into.

Thank you Grammie N. Our mantel has never looked so perfect!

I'm excited to show you how these stockings also tie into the rest of our Christmas living room once my package from Grammie gets here and I get it put together...stay tuned (it may take me until after Christmas - just warning you).

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny, over at small things, again with yarn along. A single photo of a current knitting or crocheting project with a current read. I am really loving these posts, taking a moment to think about what and why I'm knitting or reading. I read...a lot. And I knit...not as much as I'd like but I do have 2-4 projects going either on the needles or in my brain.

I do love seeing what others are knitting and can always use some reading suggestions! Leave a comment so I can see what you're up to. And go over to Ginny's to see what others are up to.

On the needles :: Not too much on the knitting front. I spent my daylight car hours over the holiday weekend knitting the second half of the Christmas present. I've made good progress, they should be all finished and wrapped up in time for the big day. I cast on another puerperium a couple weeks ago and haven't gotten much done on it. I took it to our Pack meeting last night but when I got to the parking lot I realized the instructions had gotten removed from my bag. A real disappointment since it meant having to just *sit* during the meeting. I'll be double checking my bag from now on! I also think I'm adding these to my make for Christmas list...we'll see if I find the right yarn and needles in time. Looks like they'd knit up quick though...

On the nightstand :: I finished Penelope's Daughter. What a GREAT book. I loved it! The kids and I did a lot of Greek mythology and versions of Homer and the Odyessy last year so this was such a perfect grown-up go-along story! Love. After that I picked up another book from my stack from the library. Take One is just the kind of book I was looking for. I've read plenty of Karen Kingsbury to know I can read it quickly (so as to move on to other books in that library stack...they all look so good) but that I'll enjoy every moment. Already it is proving to be a good one...not staying on the nightstand like a good book!

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny, over at small things, again with yarn along. A single photo of a current knitting or crocheting project with a current read. I am really loving these posts, taking a moment to think about what and why I'm knitting or reading. I read...a lot. And I knit...not as much as I'd like but I do have 2-4 projects going either on the needles or in my brain.

I do love seeing what others are knitting and can always use some reading suggestions! Leave a comment so I can see what you're up to. And go over to Ginny's to see what others are up to.

On the needles :: I finished the first half of the Christmas gift. We have a 2 hour drive to our Thanksgiving festivities tomorrow so I'll cast on the second half and get to work. This is really my only knitted Christmas gift so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I finished the last hat, now everyone in the family has a mama-made hat, except mama. #4 likes his hat and enjoyed taking a minute to ham it up for the camera.

On the nightstand :: I finished the The Red Pyramid and had already gone to the grown up section of the library so I had a whole stack of books to chose from when I was ready to move on. I settled on Penelope's Daughter and it was such a good choice! I'm really enjoying it so far. It is definitely a take-everywhere-I am kind of book. Can't wait to read again whenever I have to put it down.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy the long weekend!