Baby sleeping bag

A friend of mine living in the Netherlands got a baby some weeks ago. I wanted to make something a bit special since I had a bit of time and energy...

With my baby I found that using a sleeping bag is very easy and useful at nights. The one I have looked easy to copy, here is the result:

 

Setting up everything

Baby fashion model

Nice and cosy

The original vs the copy

 I made mine a bit longer than the original as I am hoping it can serve longer. The one I am using for my daughter is almost too small and she is only two months old...

The parcel arrived in the Netherlands, so I am finally publishing this post. I will most probably get on making another sleeping-bag for my own little darling but one size bigger. Babies grow so fast!

Guest post from Isabel, Spain

Last week I exchanged a couple of emails with a spanish friend, she told me I had inspired her to get back to spool-knitting. Here is what she wrote with two pictures to illustrate:

"Dear Fred,
I am reading your blog and love it! It's great seeing someone so much interested on sewing and knitting. In fact, this summer, after you showed the spool-knitting purse, I started remembering that I used to do it when I was a kid, and ended up buying some wool and making a scarf. I thought it a bit short.

Anyway, I'll explain what I did: I just took four balls of yarn (all in different greens) and knitted each one separately. Then I braided the four and added the fringe, as the person I made it for said she wanted it (plus, the truth is that the whole thing was quite short).  I ended up doing my own instrument out of the base of a kitchen paper roll.There are two cardboard tubes. I ended up using the one with the toothpicks because, even though I did not tighten the thread, the "battlements" bent. I didn't use the two discs for the scarf or the fringe. I used almost all of the yarn, but some of the cords were a bit longer, so I ended up creating a pompom.

The scarf is about 1.5 m, though since it is braided, it ended up being shorter. It took me about three or four afternoons (not complete; I only do this stuff when I'm watching TV)."

I don't know about you, readers, but I really like the idea and I will most probably get on making similar scarves as soon as I have a bit of time (and my other projects are finished)!

"I ended up doing my own instrument out of the base of a kitchen paper roll"

"The scarf is about 1.5 m"

Winter will soon be upon us...

I know that currently we are enjoying a late (very late) summer-like weather but I know that at some point winter will come. Therefore I have taken on my spool-knitting tools and my crochet and I made two hats and two scarves for my two little brothers (ok the older one isn't so little anymore but nevermind).

The scarves are my very first crochet experience. I had never done it before, thinking it was too complicated. In the end it was not at all and I quite enjoyed it. The only thing is that I must have missed some stiches along the way and my scarves ended up being curved. That's not really a problem. I fixed a press stud to keep them closed nicely as they are not long enough to make a knot.

The hats are made of spool-knitted cord.

Surprised by the size? No my brothers are not that small, here is the explanation:

My father-in-law often builds small wooden characters (about 30/40cm high) and when my family came to visit this summer, he made two with and for my brothers. Those two characters represent them and since they are meant to be standing outside in the garden I decided to have a little bit of fun and make them some garments.

Here is a last picture to give you a better idea of the size:

 Wishing you all a good day!

A reversible bag

One of my sisters had her birthday last month and my daughter being such an adorable baby I do occasionally get some time to sew stuff. I decided to make my sister a bag and not being able to chose between two fabrics I decided to make it reversible. The original plan was to include a top part with zipper but I do not get that much time and that would have required more thinking and work.

 

 I am generally satisfied with the final result except for the bottom part which I messed up. I will need to re-think the process of making it. Let's see what my sister thinks about it!

What am I going to make with all this?

Special offer in town, fleece blankets 130x170cm for 2,99€ - how could I resist? Well I could not and the day after taking this picture I bought a seventh blanket! This is so much cheaper than buying a meter of fleece.

Two ideas/projects in mind after finding two different patterns:

http://labobine.canalblog.com/archives/2005/08/26/752371.html
http://cyatutoriaux.blogspot.com/2009/12/scoodie-ou-echarpe-capuchon.html

I will be ready for the cold German winter this time!

Who is reading me?

I  have now been posting for a few months now and got comments from three different persons, two of whom I know well. The statistics shown by Blogger tell me that quite a few people from all over the world have had a look on my blog and I cannot help wondering who visited "me".

Please dear visitor, leave a comment giving me your opinion about my articles. I need feedback as well as new ideas and advice!

What happens when you leave your husband and your sister alone in the kitchen?

That was now almost three months ago. I was in the last weeks of my pregnancy and my youngest sister came to visit and help me at home. One day my husband was there (so it must have been on a weekend) and we decided to make crêpes. Nothing extraordinary one would say and I would normally agree. BUT my husband and my sister were alone in the kitchen, preparing the dough and she made a comment about the "yellowness" of the eggs. According to her when our mother makes crêpes the dough looks more yellow. She thought the dough they were making wasn't yellow enough. So to please her my husband added some yellow food-colouring to the dough... Weird idea.

I was in the living-room doing some spool-knitting and patiently waiting for the meal. Here is what came in my plate:

What colour is that? I am not quite sure a sort of greenish turquoise I suppose. After adding the yellow colouring, my darling husband wanted to have more fun and added some more colour, this time blue... Why not?

Incidentally here is what they were filled with:

 Mushrooms, grated emmental, ham pieces and mozarella. Once closed they were topped by delicious Béchamel sauce and a bit more grated cheese. 

The meal was both YUMMY (very!) and fun :) and that's what happens when one leaves a husband and a sister who gets on well alone in the kitchen.