Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A costume: My Little Lamb!

ZOMG.... so I still don't have my computer back *cry* and have become a bad blogger over the past few weeks 'cause of it. I have a really hard time getting onto the laptop to do my posts :(, but hopefully I will get it back SOON! And become a good blogger again! I have been a TOTAL FAIL at my month of Halloween 'cause of this computer issue and am sad that I didn't get more tutorials or posts up. I also apologize at the total lack of tutorials lately, I hope to remedy this SOON!!! So please be patient with me....

My little lamb!
So I thought I'd kill you with cuteness LOL... this is my daughter in her completed lamb costume! The hat we supper easy to make... I used this pattern off of Babycenter and did some simple alterations (my alterations are in Bold Red!):

Abbreviations
sts = stitch(es)
st st = stockinette stitch
rev st st = reverse stockinette stitch
k = knit
p = purl
rep = repeat
in = inch(es)
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together
dec = decrease
rem = remaining
RS = right side of work
WS = wrong side of work

Materials
1 - 100g ball of Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal (off white or white), 1 - 25 g ball of Anny Blatt Angora Super (Loukoum). US 8 double-pointed needles.

Gauge
16 sts and 22 rows to 4 inch square in stockinette stitch using US 8 needles.

Hat
Using Alpaca Regal, cast on 56 sts using picot cast-on as follows: *cast on 3 sts, cast off 1 st, slip stitch now on right needle back onto left needle (2 sts on left needle), repeat from * until there are 56 sts on left needle. This will form a scalloped bottom edge for the hat.

Beg with a k row, work in st st until hat measures 4 in from cast on edge. (Instead of 4 inches I did 5 and a half... this made the hat fit over her ears slightly instead of only on the top of her head!)

Shape top:
1st dec row: k2tog, k5 8 times (48 sts)     Follow this row as is
K2 rows                                                  P1 row, K1 row
2nd dec row: k2tog, k4 8 times (40 sts)   2nd dec row: P2tog, p4 8 times (40 sts)
K2 rows                                                  K1 row, P1 row
3rd dec row: k2tog, k3 8 times (32 sts)    Follow this row as is
K1 row                                                   P1 row
4th dec row: k2tog, k2 8 times (24 sts)    Follow this row as is
K1 row                                                   P1 row
5th dec row: k2tog, k2 8 times (18 sts)    Follow this row as is
Last dec row: k2tog to end (9sts)             P1 row, then follow row as is
Break yarn, thread through rem sts, pull up and secure.

Rabbit Ears
Cast on 12 stitches with the Alpaca Regal, then directly following, cast on 10 stitches with Angora.

The right side of the ear will have a panel of Alpaca in stockinette stitch, and a slightly smaller panel of Angora in reverse stockinette. So the inner ear section will fit snugly inside the ear flap, and feature just a little bit of texture.

Row 1: (right side) purl 10 stitches of Angora, Knit 12 stitches of alpaca regal.
Row 2: (wrong side) purl 12 stitches of Alpaca Regal, Knit 10 stitches of Angora.

Repeat in this manner for (instead of 12 rows I used 16 to make the ears longer, more sheep like) 12 rows total. Be sure to twist the strands of yarn around each other once so that the transition does not require seaming.

Decrease Row 1: (Angora) purl 2 together, purl 6 , purl 2 together, (alpaca) Knit 2 tog, Knit 8, Knit 2 tog.
Row 2 : work in pattern with no decreases (knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches).

Continue with these two rows until there is/are 1 angora stitch left and 2 alpaca stitches left. Cut the angora yarn leaving 5 inches of tail. Pull that through the remaining stitch to end that section. Cut the Alpaca yarn leaving about 12 inches of tail. Thread the tail through a needle, and loop it through the last two alpaca stitches.

Finishing: Use the long tail of alpaca (already threaded through the needle) to sew up the side seam. Fold the ear in half so that the angora sits inside the alpaca outer ear. Starting at the top of the ear, sew the side seam together.

Finishing
Weave in all ends. (Fold bottom of the each ear in half and stitch it together to hold the shape of rabbit ears. Attach the topmost corner of each ear bottom approximately 5 rows from the top of the hat and continue sewing the bottom of the ear along two of the seams created by the decreases in the hat.) Instead of these instructions I folded each ear but only joined them together at for the inside, and this allowed the edges to be attached to the hat pulled out slightly so that they would look more lamb like. In order to figure out my placement I put it on my daughters head... what seems to work is to start the bottom most corner about and inch and a half from the rim of the hat then sew upwords.... also the ears were placed slightly forward from middle on the side of each hat. 

My dog and my lamb :)
So all in all the hat turned out pretty good :) I'm quite pleased with it! I hope you like it and find the tutorial helpful!

Until Next Time.
Keep Creating!
Angie

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Lamb-ing it up!

YAY! So I finished the hat... I will have the how to make it and some pics up by the end of the weekend. I will let you know how I altered the original pattern... IT TURNED OUT AWESOME!!! I have also managed to finish sewing my own outfit today for the Halloween awesomeness that is Mary had a little Lamb.

So in the spirit of Lambs I decided to make a treasury today. I actually got Etsy working on this computer (yay) and so here it is....

'Lamb-ing it up!' by Sylvanfire

Lambs and Sheep galore!


12 Sweet Blue and White Baby...
$7.50

Cloudy the Lamb - Amigurumi ...
$5.00

50% OFF SALE Mary Had a Litt...
$3.00

Little Lamb - fused glass p...
$42.00

Nursery Room Wall Art, Playf...
$9.00

Lamb, Lion and Wolf Magnets
$8.00

Little Lamb Hat Baby Photohr...
$16.99

Skelanimals Lammy the Lamb E...
$2.00

baby lamb cuffs KNITTING PAT...
$5.50

Nursery Wall Decor, Girl and...
$9.00

Lamb PDF Sewing Pattern Stuf...
$10.00

Little Lamb Bonnet with ears...
$25.99

Mary Had a Little Lamb
$7.00

Original Painting Illustrati...
$39.99

Chii the Lamb Leather Purse ...
$43.50

Lamb earrings
$33.00

I'm in love with a bunch of the stuff on here, especially the Skel-lamb! I also love the Lamb Bonnet by Ewe N Me Boutique, who is a local artist that I have purchased from before (We got an AWESOME purple viking hat for Monkey when she was New Born!)

All this talk of Lamb popped the silly Lambert the Lion into my head. Do any of your remember this??


I had to share it for nostalgia sake!!

So Until Next Time!
Keep Creating
Angie :)

Monday, October 17, 2011

OMG! 7 Months already!

OMG... my daughter turned 7 months on the 2nd, and I finally managed to get the photoshoot done last week. With my computer being away I haven't had a chance to upload them until today... So here they are.... WOOT!


I decided to do a skully blanket for the background keeping in our Halloween Theme!! I think they turned out adorable!

Big Smiles for Mom!
Oooo what's that??
 We changed up the background and tried a toy... which mean I have a ton of pictures with things in her mouth!

Yummy Toy!
 These are the funniest... just like her parents... Dad plays WOW and Mom writes Blogs LOL!

Typing... ish

Can I eat this??
Look at me go!!!
Well, I have finished her hat and costume!! YAY!!! I will post a pic of the hat and a how too sometime this week! I am still working on my costume and will hopefully have it done before the party on Saturday... keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Until Next Time
Keep Creating!
Angie


Sunday, October 16, 2011

ZOMG Sheep!

So being my computer has been at the shop for the past week (and maybe next week *CRY*) I have been a bad blogger! I have, however, managed to find and put together MOST of my daughter's sheep costume for Halloween, and have started making mine. For mine I decided to buy some sheets on sale instead of picking up fabric... yay costume for 6 dollars!!!! I will post a how too once I'm done. I have also decided to make my costume more on the Mary had a little lamb idea instead of Bo Peep... What does this mean??

Mary Had a Little Lamb
Well instead of making a shepherdesses outfit (which I SOOOO don't have enough time to do) it's just a simple dress with a kerchief ! Which is So much easier. My husband is probably still going to be a farmer... Maybe I'll call him my Farmer in the Dale!! LOL!!!

I was going to post a Treasury on Etsy of all the fun Lamb/Sheep related stuff, but for some reason I'm having issues making the Treasury. Maybe I'll have a chance to do it by Tuesday. :)

So instead today I will just post some cute lamb crafts and stuff I found on Etsy and Online!!!

Sheep!!!
I found this cute Sheep tutorial online HERE! These are awesome easy crafts and they turn out SOOOooooo Cute!!!!

I found a cute Fimo Sheep but it won't let me post it here... but here's the Tutorial!

Rice ball Sheep!
Here are some ADORABLE rice ball sheep... find the Tutorial HERE!

Counting Sheep!
I found these on Etsy and had to share!!!! I love the fact that there's one Black Sheep... Find them HERE!!

Well, I will hopefully have a few posts this week (especially if I get my computer back!) and a couple of pics of costume prep and completion!!!! Hopefully you have been sheepishly inspired!! :)

Until Next Time!
Keep Creating!
Angie

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A Craftzilla Halloween!

Today I have an AWESOME guest post from an AWESOME lady! My computer is on the fritz and is at the shop at the moment so hopefully I will have it back soon so I can post new fun Halloween stuff on here, as well as the progress on my Halloween Costumes. For now have fun with Gillian!!!

Hi there! It’s me, Gillian (aka Craftzilla) from Craftzilla Conquers the World! Angie asked me to do a guest post, and I decided that given her recent talks at knit night about her family’s costume for Halloween, that I’d share some kids costumes that look easy to make and that I find incredibly adorable. Most of this images go to tutorials for the costumes, so make sure to click for even more fun costumes-enjoy! This one makes me a bit hungry for sushi, I won’t lie!

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest


Stop—cute alert:


So pretty, although I feel the baby might sit down in, oh 5seconds after putting it on them.


This one’s a hoot!


The little bulked up arms crack me up!


Most adorable superhero ever!


Where the Wild things are is such a great book!


I think I’ve come to the conclusion that anything food + babies is pretty darn cute
Source: etsy.com via Gillian on Pinterest


This one would be sort of meta if the kid was also listening to an Ipod (though bad for safety, of course)


Snails—so ingenious!


Hope you enjoyed these costume ideas, especially if you’re stuck for an idea for your little ones! Thanks for having me Angie! I’d love for all of you to come and visit me on my blog, Etsy shop or come and chat with me on Twitter! ♥ Craftzilla

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Costume Creation

YAY!!! So the costumes have started! Now to just find the time and the rest of the odds and ends that I need to finish them...

This is the hat pattern that I'm using. :) It's a bunny pattern but I'm altering it to make a Sheep hat!! I think it's cute and should be long enough to cover her ears in case it's cold outside! Now I just need to find a White Fuzzy Onesie to alter into a sheep costume!! YAY!

My own outfit has been put on the back burner until I'm done knitting that hat. So hopefully by Wednesday I will be able to show you some progress on that. I am also still hoping to finish a picture this week and post it up.

The suckiest thing happened... my computer is broken! :( It's currently getting fixed so that is why I haven't been on all week... and may not be getting a chance to post as much this coming week. However, I have a fun post by my friend Gillian from Craftzilla Conquers the World going up on Tuesday. So look forward to that!!!

Until Next Time!
Keep Creating!!!
Angie

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Artistically Autumn

So I decided to try and do Treasury Tuesday's and have totally failed in week 2 LOL. So it's wednesday and I'm going to post the Treasury today!

Autumn Doll!!
I LOVE doing treasuries on Etsy!!! Once I discovered this AWESOME function I have been slightly obsessed!!!!! (about as obsessed as I am with Exclamation Marks..... I so need to do an Exclamation Mark treasury lol!)

Today's treasury is on the theme of AUTUMN!!! I love autumn... this is mostly due to the fact that Halloween and my birthday are both in autumn. As well as, being in Canada the colours of autumn are AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I have started a new picture based on Autumn. I am thinking of trying my hand at mixed medium... maybe combining painting of some sort and collage together.... I'm not sure how it'll turn out so I'll keep you posted!

'Artistically Autumn' by Sylvanfire

The art of Autumn!


Original Watercolor Painting...
$28.00

Autumn Pixie - Fall-en Fairy...
$599.00

Autumn Kiss - Hand-Cut Silho...
$70.00

Acorn Bowl Fillers, set of 5...
$35.00

autumn art whimsical illustr...
$20.00

SALE Art Doll "About t...
$700.00

Autumn Celebration Origami B...
$52.00

Baby's First Autumn -(12...
$45.00

Autumn Birds Nest Fascinator...
$122.00

AUTUMN BEAUTY Necklace - O...
$18.00

Autumn Woodland Wreath
$79.00

Edible Autumn flowers, fall ...
$38.00

Patchwork Quilt, Fall or Aut...
$245.00

Leg Warmers Orange Autumn Fa...
$49.00

Orange autumn decor - Birds ...
$10.00

Leather Mask 'Autumn Le...
$22.00

If I didn't have a few costume ideas already I TOTALLY love the idea of being Autumn... with the dress and the hair piece! So Beautiful!! I also have a HUGE love for cupcakes and couldn't pass up the cupcake flowers.

I'm also madly in love with this doll artist now... I WANT!! *POUT* lol.... Maybe I'll have to actually pull out my clay at some point and actually try my hand at doll making like I wanted too YEARS ago.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it!

Until Next Time.
Keep Creating!
Angie