Elsie and Alma

Visit to Grandma's + Parties =

Me not blogging much this weekend.

The kids are off to Grandma's while Chris and I go to parties, and do crazy things like clean the whole house.

See you Monday!

Introducing Elsie

...who was born in Minnesota. She was one of the middle children of Nicholas and Maria Elizabeth (Mary), Swedish immigrants, and lived on a farm. I don't know as much about her early life as I wish I did (isn't that always the way with grandparents), but I do know her mother died when she was young, and she took care of her younger sister Florence. I know she had a sweetheart with whom she exchanged letters and that he is buried somewhere in France along with thousands of other young men who died in World War I. She eventually married my grandfather and she lived long after he passed away. She had a bright, gentle spirit, a mischievous sense of humor, and a creative gift that she made the most of in her later years.

She died in 1987 when I was 17, before I tapped that well of crafty knowledge. She taught me to crochet, and I loved it, but I didn't do as much with that gift as I should have. I remember watching her knitting and thinking what a complex wonder it was. I think of her every time I pick up my needles now. She tatted lace which is an intricate, tiny, painstaking craft I can't imagine enjoying much but is so lovely.

She wrote poems and learned to play the piano. She made things out of old Christmas cards and tile and I think maybe even beer cans (I could be making that part up; I am sure my mother will correct me). She knitted afghans for my sister and I when we completed confirmation (Lutheran), and let us choose the color. Mine is bright turquoise, and I still have it.

Every few years she went back to Minnesota for visits and sent me postcards of kittens and puppies just to say hello. When she came back, she shared detailed stories of her visits: who she saw, what she ate, how hot it was, and how nice it was see everyone.

She had an enviable button collection, two of which now adorn on a coat of my daughter's made by my sister. She loved to play cards and taught me a wonderful game I can't remember at all, not even its name. She made me hot cocoa and toast every Sunday after church. She never scolded (only once I can remember), she was never in a foul mood, and she laughed a lot, especially when she was telling us a story. She usually ended up laughing so hard she couldn't finish it.

She was devout, but still fell asleep during sermons on Sundays.

She did not ever learn to drive but never wanted for a ride.

She was a lifetime member of more clubs than I can remember.

She was the only grandparent I knew, since I was born too late to meet the rest of them properly.

She was Elsie.

Hey, let's go!

Those are the first three words in the English version of the song that plays during the title credits of "My Neighbor Totoro."

Here is the Japanese version (via Youtube, which has to be the best tool on the interwebs for finding this kind of thing.)

I like the English version well enough (the opening "Hey let's go!" fills me with a ridiculous sort of optimism: "Yes! Why not? Let's go!"), but I think there is something a little bit sweeter about the Japanese version. I couldn't find a Japanese version that actually played the credits along with it (UPDATE: FOUND IT!!!), but I only have so much time to scour the web for pop-culture reference material. I am already deep in the rabbit hole, and have watched not one, but two, live Studio Ghibli performances of "Songs of Totoro." It is time to stop.

A friend of mine (who also happens to be a fan of Totoro) is having a baby in March, and I gave her a Totoro gift package. The fabric I used on the waistband is Kokka (shown here at purl), a Japanese fabric with some squirrels, who are woodland creatures, and since Totoro is a forest creature, it seemed to work. The wee Totoro Chris picked up at Uwajimaya in the bookstore for me.

shirt and totoro plushie. had to hide it from the kids or it would never have made it out of the house.

pants (what the heck happened to the buttonhole openings? a bit wonky)

everything together!

I made the shirt doing the freezer paper stencil. It is SO SIMPLE. I'd share the details, but there are oodles of instructions out there on the web. The hardest part is cutting the stencil. I think I need better tools for that. Everything else was really easy. I can't believe how nice it turned out. This was my first one. Kind of stupid to make the first one as a gift, since it was midnight and anything could have gone wrong and then there would be no shirt, but that is what happens when you procrastinate: you take chances.

Hey let's go! Hey let's go! I'm happy as can be!

Knee Socks and Dresses

(preamble: i have been away for awhile. sorry about that. am working on a post that i want to get just right. in the meantime, here is something else i slapped together.)

This is a look with an expiration date, unless you are a Gothic Lolita or some other cool cultural subset that can get away with cute and slightly oddball fashion choices. I salute you. Me, on the other hand. I am not so sure, although I have reached the point with socks where I might push this envelope, for the right pair of socks, and the right dress, and the right occasion.

Anyhow.

I told you awhile ago that I started the socks for the girl, and while I intended to make them the same as her brothers (just above the ankle), I liked how they were striping up so much that I decided they would be SO CUTE as knee socks with just the right dress. Which she does not currently have. So I have to make it.

Enter cool wool blend on sale at Pacific Fabrics:

I love those stripes.

Picture a little girl, going on 4, with those purpley-gray striped knee socks, and a smooth wool suiting-type jumper, with a deep purple lining, and maybe some little boots or just black Mary Janes.

I love this idea. I just need to settle on a pattern I like. I really want piping in there also, but I am not sure that works with this kind of material. And while it is kind of bland, I would not be above some kind of simple/classy applique on the front of the dress. But it would have to be just right.

I fear the weather will turn before this outfit can be completed, so my next dilemma will be sizing it.

Decisions, decisions.

Tracing patterns

First off, I am a notorious starter of projects. Am less notorious for my finishing.

Second, this one, while being yet another project, does have an required end date, so that should take care of the motivation.

Third, let's not pretend I know what I am talking about. I am offering a bit of advice based on experience, mileage may vary. I hesitate to even call it advice. How about, "You should try to be smarter than me. Here's how." For those of you who already are, most of this will read as one giant DUH.

OK, onward.

My mom sewed quite a bit when I was growing up, and 99% of her sewing involved using patterns. I only mention this because I don't ever remember her tracing the patterns onto any other paper. We always just cut them out and used them. I assumed this is what most did, but I guess not.

Normally, my approach is the same as my mom's, but when making kids clothes, I realized that cutting the pattern to fit a 6-12 month old means I can't reuse the pattern pieces for older kids. And some of the best kids' patterns are pricey. I would hate to have to buy them twice. So, I bought some pattern paper and have used it a couple of times when sewing. I learned two things doing this:

One, don't shortcut the instructions, visual or verbal, on the piece. The first time I traced pattern pieces, I traced only the shape. I know. Dumb dumb dumb. I mean, as soon as you get everything traced, you want to put that big, billowy, unwieldy tissue paper away, right? Get it out of your workspace? Yeah, and all of the notes, such as "cut 2 on fold" go with it. Maybe an experienced sewist wouldn't need all the instructions, but I still need those reminders.

Two, take your time, go slow, treat it as its own exercise. I know most of the time I just want to get to the sewing, but if you want reuse the pattern at all, just relax and set aside tracing time as an essential step. 

Look at that "cut 2". That sharp grain arrow. Who do I think I am?

I got the whole thing traced in less than an hour. Not bad, really. And as I wrote the instructions, notes, notches, etc., on each piece, I got a little more fancy. It started to look like a REAL pattern.

When it is all done, I'll share it, including which pattern I used, but since it is a gift, I am going to be secretive for now.

Anyone else do this regularity? What is your tracing threshold? Cost? Irreplacability (is that a word? am going with it)? Obsessive-compulsiveness? Just curious.

Pop Up Valentine

This year, my son's kindergarten teacher requested the children make their own Valentine's. I can get down with that, but I knew I'd need to think carefully before diving into the expensive, labor-intensive, gee-gaw laden paper craft rabbit hole where I frequently end up. I had to factor in the waning interests of small children (and myself) in the face of high volume production. I was determined to avoid project fatigue, especially since we had to make twenty-six Valentines.

Which is a long and convoluted way of saying I didn't have time for anything too fancy pants.

See the enthusiasm with which it begins? This does not last.

So, I bought one of those giant heart punchers and some fancy paper, and figured we'd just punch out a crapload of hearts and glue them to squares of red paper, have my kids scrawl their names on them, and call it good. 

Punch away, you can punch away...

Soren, however, wanted to make pop-ups again, which I had done as a special project with his preschool class last year. As simple as they are, they're more complicated than what I had in mind, but his resolve was firm, and really, when I got the production going, things went quickly. Plus we staged it over the course of three or four evenings: one for punching out and gluing hearts, another for the backs, another for writing, and so forth. You might think that sounds kind of labor intensive, but we are talking hour long sessions. It went pretty fast, and I did a lot of prep work without kids.

Inside of the card: fold in half, cut two lines and fold opposite direction, glue heart. Simple.

The project is inspired by these Christmas cards I found on the Enchanted Learning site via a Google search. (I should say Bing for my many MS friends, but in my defense, Bing did not exist when I did the search. So there.) It did not take too much brainpower to adapt it to Valentine's Day, and you could easily use this to make just about any kind of card you want. For example, baby shower! A pop-up baby! No, sorry, that would be scary. But you get the idea.

You certainly don't need to make it as big as suggested, you just have to make sure whatever motif you choose for popping up disappears when you fold the card. In our case, the hearts peek out a bit, but this is kindergarten, not the crafting Olympics.

Glue backing to piece with pop up, making sure you don't glue down the pop up portion (easy to do, ask me how I know), and VIOLA, done. You are a genius.

If I was a perfectionist, I'd probably spend more time making it into a standard card shape and size, but as you probably know if you ever make anything with paper, you need to maximize usage, and I found this rectangle that barely fits the hearts allowed me to pretty much use all the red paper on a sheet without extra leftover. See my note above about "quantity." But it would not be hard to fuss around with the design until you found a card shape you liked and fit your motif. See my note above about "fancy pants."

The heart puncher was worth the money. Now, of course, all of our future home made Valentines will include punched hearts. I will need to dream up new ways to use them. Knowing my son, however, we might be making pop-up Valentines for a few years. He's a creature of habit.

A quick one to say hello

We are back from our ski trip and I've spent the last two days catching up on laundry and work. I am gearing up for a BIG project soon (quilt for school auction) and I have a feeling that is going to be the beast that eats my project time. Which is fine with me.

Had a great time skiing, and starting to see a time, not so long from now, when my children can ski by themselves all day. Oh yes, the day is coming. 

If tomorrow night clears up, I can share the valentine projects. If not, well, maybe something by Friday. Hope all is well.

Vacation Ambition

The fam and I are headed out for a ski trip and I do not plan to post anything at all. I know there are ways to post through my iPhone, but I can't imagine I'll have much crafty or gardeny nonsense to share with you.

Here is what I am taking along:

I took this picture with the iPhone since the camera is already packed. One of these items is the sock I started for Britt, the other is a scarf for me. I will share more details about these projects when I return.

I always have grand ambitions of knitting on these trips, but somehow I usually end up skiing, sitting in the hot tub, drinking beer, playing with kids, playing cards, playing in the snow, and reading trashy magazines instead. Not that these are bad things. They are just not knitting.

See you in a few days. Maybe I'll add a couple of rounds to each of these after all. I mean, you can only drink so much beer. And I believe I've established that knitting and beer go together. Knitting and hot tub, not so much.