Joining a Congo!

I am joining a congo! It is a new one that will have its Grand Opening on January 1, 2009!

Naturally Charmed will have a selection of family friendly items stocking the 1st of each month. Right now we have Annette from Woolcreations, Michi from diggin' crochet and Clarissa from Peanut Butter Monkey! We will hopefully be adding new members at the beginning of next year. Please come check it out!

In other news.... Do you want to see what a 2 pairs of size 4 Toddler knitted pants look like?

Yup that is a 17" inseams on these bad boys! Made for a friends twin girls for Christmas.

Yarn is Western Sky Knits - Choco Rainbow custom with a dark pink instead of red.

I used the basic Belladonna longie pattern but did a variation for the cuff at the bottom.

They seemed to take forever even using magic loop to do both legs at the same time. I did the cuffs separately though. The magic loop is great for making sure that the legs are the same length....but I got a little tired of pulling the cord through all the time. I love how the yarn knit up and the pattern it made. I really like that even though there are the same number of stitches and the same sized needles used both pairs knit up with slight variation in the yarn pattern.

So I shot these off to Canada a couple

weeks before Christmas. Ended up

sending them Global Express to make sure they got there....they did!!!

Here is a photo my friend sent me of the girls wearing the pants!! They are gorgeous!! The pants also!

HATS!!

I knit these 3 Hudson Hats for a friends 3 little girls. I used various scaps of hand-dyed yarn. All wool yarns of various weights. The pattern is from Ky Baby Knits. I have a lifetime liscense to sell hats from this pattern.

The hats seemed to come in 3's! I then made three hats for a shower gift. One for the new baby, one for her older sister and one for her sister's doll. This pattern is from Leigh Spencer called "Sprout".

Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween

2008

The kids had a great time - Molly as a pink fairy (no other color would do) and Josh as a lion. He wore his skeleton sweats for most of the day though.

Josh is 2!

My little boy turned 2!

It is hard to realize that he is already 2 years old!

Customs!

I am getting through some of my custom orders! I still have many to do and start on - but the list is getting shorter! Mom is coming this week and it is my son's birthday so I really want to take next weekend off of sewing - but I also need to make some headway on a few more of these custom orders.





The knitting needle roll for Nicole! I LOVE how this one turned out! I can't say how much the colors just strike me - so pretty and bold.

I also finished a Reversible Flap Messenger Bag for Kendel. Came out truly lovely. She did a great job picking the fabric combinations.



The "Fiesta" from Robert Kaufman and then a green celtic fabric for the second side.

Busy!

OH my this has been a busy month!! And it is not over yet! Not only is my son's 2nd Birthday coming up at the end of the month....but I have a full line of custom orders to complete. Everything from messenger bags to knitting needle rolls to diaper bags have to be made!! Everyone is picking such diverse fabrics that it is just fun to sew everything up and see how it turns out!!

I listed my first stocking with the Chaco Reversable Flap Messenger Bags in August. I had 3 listed and 2 of them have sold! I'm hoping for some good feedback on them. I really like the one I made for myself....but I think I'm bias!

The Mermaid fabric is from the new line of fabric from Heather Ross. One side is the mermaids on aqua and the other side is a combination of the swimmig fish and the seahorse fabrics. The bag itself is brown. I really like this one and am glad it is going to someone to use and enjoy!

I have also decided to be an office licensee for Hudson Hats^tm from Ky Baby Knits. These are beautiful fun hats for kids and adults. They can be made "scrappy" from a bunch of different yarns or they can be made from a single skein.

I finished this one on our vacation to Glacier National Park. It is made from wonderfully soft Noro Silver Thaw.

My new favorites

I made this custom Chaco knitting bag and needle roll and it turned out so well it is my new favorite! I just loved how the color combinations came together.

I also totally made up the pattern for the needle roll as I went along (shhh - don't tell anyone...) . It took a little bit of trial and error but I finally got it to where I really like it and I didn't waist too much fabric! I've just always wanted something with a pocket or some way to lock some of the smaller needles in the roll without them sliding up to the top all of the time.

I've made a few more and I think they also have turned out really very nicely.

This Chaco knitting bag and zip pouch was also a custom order. I am not much of a pink person - but I really really like how this turned out. Something about the chocolate brown and pink look very nice together.

Custom Project Bags

Well I suppose I should post about my own little business. A few months ago I started sewing knitting and crocheting project bags. The first one I made was for my friend Michi.


She couldn't find exactly what she wanted anywhere so I told her I would sew her one to try out and see if she liked it. She "says" she likes it - LOL! She picked a wonderful fabric called "Habitat" I have no idea where or when I bought it and have not been able to find anymore of it anyplace!



After Michi said that she liked the bag I was off and rolling. Well I opened a Hyena Cart anyway. My little shop Chaco Creations is off to a small but steady start!
So far I have only offered customs. I have had one "in stock" item. It was a bag made from the "Knitmare on Elm Street" collection from Michael Miller.
I used the pink version (although I do have the teal and green versions also). It came out great! I was so happy to offer this bag - although a part of me wanted to keep it for myself.




The second custom bag I made was for Krystl. She chose a cool Indian inspired paisley fabric. Hers is the only bag I thought to take photos of with a project & yarn actually in it. I'm going to have to remember to do that more often in the future! Krystl says she loves the bag. The one improvement I made from Michi's was the drawstrings. I worked it now so that it is a continuous piece without a lumpy seam to disrupt the closing and opening of the bag. It involves more hand finishing - but I think it is worth it!

I was asked my Nicole at Laines Magnifiques to work on a collaboration for her shops 6 month anniversary celebration.
We chose a cool fabric with colored circles all over it on a light green. Nicole hand dyed yarn to match. I need to get photos from Nicole of the yarn because she did a wonderful job of matching the bag fabric! It was very impressive considering that she only had the photo of the material that I had emailed her when she was dying the yarn.
It only took a few days for the collab to sell! Yah!!

My only disappointment so far with sewing and selling bags is the one that didn't make it to its new home. The lady who ordered this custom actually won the slot in an auction for a fundraiser I hosted for the Missouri Midwives. She chose this beautiful floral print with cream and purple flowers. The coordinating fabric is a matching purple. The bag turned out so well. I shipped it off to her new home in GA and while the delivery confirmation says it was delivered - she never received it. I only had a half yard of this fabric so there is no reproducing it for her. This is the cautionary tale as to why insurance should be purchased. It would not get back an out of print fabric but it would allow for another bag to be made without the loss of money on either side of the transaction.



For a full look at custom bags and needle/hook rolls I have made so far go check out my Gallery.

Baby soakers!

I bought this beautiful yarn from Family Pendragon - It is called "Indigo" and is BFL Aran. I LOVE this colorway it knits up so pretty!!

I made the Little Turtle Knits soaker and Easy sweater for a good friend's new baby!! I had the soaker done and the sweater almost done when the "little" guy was born. He came out at 10lb 5oz!!!! Both Mom and Baby did great though and are happy and healthy.

Well of course I knitted up the small sized soaker and when I sent it to my friend - it fit.....barely! So she asked if it was possible to (and did I have enough yarn) for a larger sized soaker. The sweater will fit for a while.

I know I didn't have quite enough for another, larger sized, soaker so I contacted Melissa at Family Pendragon and asked it a quick custom would be possible. She said yes and they had more BFL Aran in stock. So she and her partner at Family Pendragon dyed up another 8oz of yarn for me in less than a week! I recieved the yarn last week and as soon as I get done with my present project I'll be knitting up a sized medium soaker to match the sweater!! Can't rave enough about Family Pendragon!

Right now I'm knitting up a sweater for myself. I'm using some wonderful Licorice Twist from Little Turtle Knits and a pattern from the Big Book of Knitting (Simply Knitting). I'm only a little way into the sweater and I love the way it is looking. I've upped the needle size to an 11 so that it is a much looser knit - good for summer into fall. Also because I don't know if I calculated the yardage right when I bought the skeins!

Oh and I scored a yarn bowl from June at Rising Sun Earthworks! I'm not really sure how I got it as they are pretty heavily stalked! Must have been my brothers fast connection since I got it while visiting my family in New Mexico.

It has been 2 months??

OK - I really need to do better at this! It has been a pretty busy couple of months with all the colds running through our house! I've gotten some knitting done and even a bit of sewing!!

I knit a hat and scarf for my husband....but I think my daughter uses the scarf more around the house dressing up!

It is Nashua Handknits Vignette in Earth! Beautiful stuff that. I loved working with it and it was really easy to knit with. I didn't use a pattern for either the hat or scarf - just some basic knitting....

It's a New Year!

Where did the time go? The end of the year came so quickly with travel and holidays. I did get a chance to visit my LYS before leaving for Christmas. I ended up walking out of there with 2 beautiful skeins of Noro Iro (color #18). I just fell in love with this colorway and the yarn is so soft! I've never knitted with it before but have friends who love Noro - so thought I would give it a try! I got the Iro to make a hat for my son. I made the Elf Pixie Hat from Craft Bits! http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=908


Used size 13 needles and it went really fast!! Turned out super cute - and only used part of one skein! I think the little dude will be getting a matching sweater or something!! I did re-do one of the ear flaps - got my knit/purl sides mixed up and wanted them to match. So instead of having one ear flap pink (like the very tip of the hat) it is now red.

I also walked out with a skein of Noro Silver Thaw (color #5) - it was on the sale rack - how could I not? I'm not sure what I'll be making with it but just love the colorway...maybe I need a new hat.....