Baby Washcloths

In 2012, I was blessed with being an Aunt AGAIN! I love being an aunt. There is nothing more joyful than having a lil one love you for all the little things that you do for them.  I also love spoiling them and sending them home with happy memories of "auntie time".  There is nothing better than having someone whom you are close to and can just be yourself with at all times.

So, for nephew G, I knit up just a couple of items for him.  A couple of baby washcloths, a hat and booties.  These are all very simple and easy to do patterns.  I'll provide you with links if I can or just information.

The one stitch I LOVE doing for towels is the twisted stockinette stitch.  You can find information on how to do this stich anywhere, but I pulled it from The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting by Margaret Hubert.  If you are new to knitting or want a great place to start to figure out stitches of different styles, this is an excellent source of information!  It provides great details on stitch counts and easy to follow instructions with fabulous pictures.  I depend on this book for everything I know about types of stitches.

My other favorite stitch for towels is the double seed stitch. I like it for the lacy look so it makes an average washcloth seem a little more fancy but gives it a nice set of bumps for a little bit of scrubbing power.  Excellent choice especially for small kitchen or kid towels....especially those kids which seem to become muddy. :)

Yes, I chose yellow because I like the sunny color but also it makes it very easy to wash with colors or lights.  I prefer the Peaches N Cream brand cotton, but if you prefer something a little easier to work with then the Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton is an excellent alternative. It's softer and more pliable.

Happy Knitting!

Peace, love and purl,

Coles

Crafting with Coles

I promised a post and here it is...although it is different to what I had planned so it's sort of a bonus post!

I've loved art in all forms since I was itty bitty and took as many art classes as I could growing up. The thing I loved about art is that even though you were given an assignment, you could still complete it to your liking and usually get a good grade. I always thought it funny that they "graded" art. How can you grade creativity? To me that always seemed a little weird but hey, it got me out of lots of classes which I had little to no desire to take.

Totally digressing.

So as I've gotten older, I've figured out my 'strong' artistic outlets. Mine are colors and shapes. I've always loved shapes and anything with spatial reasoning...oh yeah that's my bag. (This also links back to the interior design motive previously blogged about here. The best part about this being my outlet, is that my medium doesn't have to be anything in particular. I find I'm much better at working with solidified mediums (paper, wood, yarn) and making it into a particular shape, unlike those who can work with a pliable medium (clay, paint, wax) and molding it into a shape.


This all brings me to my next point which is what I did tonight. My nephew's birthday is on Saturday and since we're blessed with craftiness in my family, my sister likes to make sure as much of it is home made as possible. <3 My task tonight was to take paper pieces and wrapping paper and make placards for words and name tags for cups. Here is what I developed:

Name Placards



Cup Name Tags



My Nephew (yep he's adorable)

I love that my sister admired them so much and my nephew was SUPER excited about it. I told him he could have one of the placards with his name on it. He couldn't decide which one as he liked them all. He's so silly.

Do you do home made goodness for your birthday parties too?

RJ's Barn

Hi All!

This post is a little early this week as it will probably be..well a little long. :)

First off, I am home from my amazing vacation. I had an amazing trip to Washington DC to visit my BFF. We started our vacation off with a bang by going to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Then, we went to IKEA.

I love you IKEA.

I am a decorator at heart...I love decorating, however I chickened out on completing my interior design degree after I heard about drafting class. I now think, gosh how silly, and am putting it on my bucket list. I truly am terrible at measuring, so that will definitely be an interesting class...however I have jumped the track and turned around to start a new adventure on this blog. okay going back.

Anyway, so while at IKEA (insert angels singing), I was looking for gifts for my nephew, RJ. His birthday is coming up and I wasn't sure what to get him. I did get him a gift (yay!) but I also purchased this little adorable set because he has no toys to play with at his Auntie's house. I plan to purchase a couple of other things to go with it, but gosh what an adorable place to start.



This is the whole set.



And the little pasture folds up with storage room for the animals and accessories.



Finally the whole thing closes up and there's a little velcro at the top to keep it closed.

How perfectly cute is that? The best part is that it fits perfectly on my bookshelf and within reach of his little hands.

I love being an Aunt.