Sewing: Another Knitting Needle Roll

A longtime friend-of-the-family has a birthday coming up.  She moved away a number of years ago but has always kept in touch, sending us beautiful handmade creations when we had our kiddos.  I decided it was high time I gave her a little somethin’ handmade!

I love my knitting needle roll, and since she also loves to knit, I figured she might appreciate one for her stash of needles.  Since I already practiced the pattern on myself I knew what to expect and it came out much nicer this time. 

 
 

I filled the top pockets with needles for the sake of the photo, but I found a bunch of extras for the lower pockets – some of them vintage from my grandmother’s stash! – in my collection to pass on.  Again, I used Made by Loulabelle’s tutorial with a few tweaks of my own, and I got the pockets right this time!  I wanted to personalize it, so I put together a little quilt tag and and finished it off with some freehand embroidery.

If I ever get my Etsy shop up and running again, I’d love to sell some of these.

Knitting Needle Roll

One day a week the kiddos go to their meme’s and I scramble to get as much done as humanly possible.  This week, between cleaning out our coat closet, moving around some furniture and trying to keep my ever-growing craft area organized, I realized I should really find a better system for all my knitting needles. 

I used to only have a few pairs, but each new pattern seems to call for a different size, and when my grandma passed away she had a whole slew of needles which became part of my collection.  Whenever I would see knitting needle rolls in the store I would look at them with longing, thinking how wonderful it would be to have one for my collection… but the good ones can be expensive.  Since I’ve been learning how to sew I decided – by golly, I’ll find a pattern! 

And I did.

It was, quite honestly, a pain in my butt putting all the layers together, and I’m still not quite sure what needle to use with which fabrics and why thicker threads end up snapping even after I adjust the tension. *sigh*  And working with bias tape is another thing – I always pick one that’s too small and then the stitches don’t catch the underside.  But… I did it. 

inside, empty

 

outside

I kept referring back to the tutorial at each step, but as I was getting towards the end Phil turned the computer off and I thought I already knew the next step… so I ended up screwing up some of the pocket lines.  I assumed the lines for the smaller pocket matched up with the lines for the larger pocket and made them all the same, but I like the result better because I don’t necessarily need a larger space for needles or other contraptions.  I put straight needles in the large pocket and double-pointed needles in the coordinating size in the smaller pocket underneath.  No more knocking over their containers and trying to figure out the sizes! 

 

The tutorial doesn’t mention topstitching the finished product but hers looks like it was and it makes everything look neater, so I went ahead and did it.  I love the needle guard at the top which keeps the long needles from falling out.  Ah, organizational bliss!

I love me some shelves

I love to organize.  I’m always in search of The Perfect Organizational Solution for everything.  But I also have to work with what I’ve got.  Lucky for me, my hubby is pretty handy, being a carpenter ‘n’ all.  He actually asked me to prioritize our project list - no promises, though – and I told him I really wanted to have some shelves like these.  The first spot I wanted to put them was above the desk in Gwen’s room.  He just happened to have some old planks that he sanded down and re-finished. 

Voila!   

I love how they turned out and can’t wait to sprinkle some more floating shelves across the house – above the desk in the office, in the living room to spread around the photos and knick-knacks.  And since I’ve been simplifying our posessions I’m thinking an open-shelving plan for the kitchen would be sweeter than new cabinets.  Something like this or this or this?

Phil just shook his head at me when I hemmed and hawed over what to display on Gwen’s new shelves.  He told me I should let her pick what to display, but I maintained that I should at least give her some guidelines.  In addition to fixing up her desk area, I put some wall stickers from Auntie Nikki on her bureau. 

 

Josiah got his own wall stickers, and since his hand-me-down bureau (which I have yet to fix up) has pink drawer pulls I decided to boy it up a bit with the transportation stickers.  So cute!  I put the rest of them on the rail above his converted crib. 

 

 

I have a few wooden crates that used to belong to my grandmother and I’m always thinking of the best way to display them.  Currently one of them displays Josiah’s books ‘n’ things, but I’m thinking shelves, again.  I already took a cue from Pinterest and hung one on my kitchen wall.

What else can I organize?

Mind Jars and Bathtub Paints and Hair Feathers – Oh My!

When I first heard about Pinterest – a virtual pinboard where you can showcase and curate visual things that you love – I could tell right away that it would suck me in if I didn’t vacate the premises.  Here and there, however, blogs I follow have been mentioning things off their own Pinterest lists and of course I just had to check them out.  Eh, why not sign up – what harm could it do?

This definition of the website that I recently happened upon is a more accurate description:

pin-ter-est (n): A fun reminder of the clothes I will never afford/fit into, the home decor I will never afford/fit into our small home, the recipes and crafts I am too lazy to ever make, the sayings I wasn’t clever enough to think of on my own, the photos I wish I had taken but didn’t.

There is a virtual treasure trove of ideas, all sorts of “this would be nice” and “I could do that” or “someday maybe” and like I’m always telling myself “as soon as I learn how to sew! (or knit, or scrounge up a few more hours in a day)” 

I consider some of the time well-spent because it helps me organize ideas I definitely plan on utlizing - links to preschool printables and ideas or craft ideas I’ll be using during the week with the kiddos, a gift I want to make for someone, a new recipe I’m going to try.  And some of them are light-bulb-moment finds - aha, I never thought of doing it this way!  Stringing balloons looks so much easier than trying to tape them to the ceiling, zig zag streamers are such a cinch and way cooler than your average streamer, and why bother frosting the cake anyway?  Can you tell I have the kiddos’ impending party on the brain?

Suffice to say I’ve spent a lot of time “pinning” virtual items to my board, and then I have to check out the boards of those who’ve repinned my pins – ahhhh, the insanity!  I’m back to imposing a computer ban until the kiddos’ naptimes just so I can devote my undivided attention to them and get some other things done around the house.

Last week wasn’t the best for me - the kiddos were possessed by screaming, whining mosters and I didn’t have much motivation to get things done or keep them entertained.  I find that cleaning and organizing give me a feeling of control at times like that, so I’ll tend to want to vacuum a lot, pick up after the kids incessantly and get mad if they strew toys all over the house, make lists and dream about all the things I could do (hello, Pinterest).  I also made Chocolate Cake In a Mug a few times, which helps. 

Instead of just pinning and dreaming, I did in fact get around to making some of the projects.  I started off with the mind jar, hoping it might help Gwen calm down when she gets upset with Josiah and storms about the house.  She didn’t seem to get it; it’s pretty and glittery and maybe she’ll pick it up another time.

I made the bathtub paints the same night, both because I knew the kids would have fun and because I hoped it would stave off their usual bathtime whining rompous.  They had LOTS of fun, but when they decided to paint the walls I noticed some of the coloring seeping into the grout. *sigh*  It turned out to be no biggie, but I’ll have to look into some friendly food coloring.     

One evening I stayed up late browsing and bookmarking, and I came upon what seems to be this ever-growing trend for hair feathers.  Now, I don’t consider myself trendy and don’t care for fads, but I have to admit I fell in love with some of the ideas.  I pinned some favorites to my Hair board, and ended up buying Gwen and me some feather clips from a shop on Etsy – I can’t wait till they arrive!  I would love to try the “permanent” method, but I’ll have to buy some feathers for that.  In the meantime, I found a couple feathers I had around the house, made myself a fun little clip, and took it for a test drive:

Whaddya’ think? 

On my to-do list for the near future:
bottlecap flower wreath (I already have a bunch of bottlecaps!) 
coconut milk shampoo
apple tart
fall leaf mobile with the kiddos
oh, and I’m thinking about going on a dishwasher strike

Do you have a Pinterest board?  If so, what do you get out of it? 

 

Curriculum Craziness

I bet you’ve never gotten sidetracked googling something, have you?  One simple little search, and you’re in front of the computer way past your bedtime, clicking on way too many results, eyes aching from staring at the screen.  

Despite the fact that I’ve been adding to the ever-expanding list of favorite links for homeschool ideas and activities, I’ve been able to decide on a basic preschool curriculum outline for Gwen.  It feels weird to be doing this, since I never really wanted to do anything official for the kiddos, but it’s kind of exciting at the same time.  My organizing, list-making genes are going haywire!

One of the things that I keep telling Phil and my mom (who homeschooled me and my sibs for a number of years), is that I can’t believe how much work and preparation is going into a simple preschool plan - which isn’t even official school!  How will I survive the coming years, when the content gets meatier?  Someone please tell me it gets easier!  Maybe this is the practice round, getting my feet wet.

Since incorporating Biblical concepts is important to me, I decided to go with the ABC Jesus Loves Me 3-year-curriculum, using the supporting concepts that appeal to me.  I’m scrapping their outline, but I got the idea for having a theme and vocab word for each week from Brightly Beaming Resources’ Letter of the Week program.  I love that I was able to find these resources and tweak them to fit my preferences. 

Each of the two curriculums has different outlines and covers different materials for a different amount of time; it took a bit of time to put it into a schedule that seems doable for us.  And who knows – I may change it as I go!  I decided to put the material into a 3-days-a-week framework so we don’t get overwhelmed, but if Gwen wants to do some school activities on “off” days that’s just gravy.  It’s not like I have a shortage of resources!    

Basically, each week will have a Bible story and verse, theme, vocabulary word, letter, number, and shape or color.  Any supporting materials – crafts, activities, stories or songs – will revolve around these elements.

Thank goodness for free resources on the internet – I’ve found a host of wonderful offerings!  Here and there I’ve been plugging in activities and ideas for each week as I come across them.  I absolutely love the idea for Montessori-inspired Tot Trays and my Mom picked up some trays at Lakeshore Learning.  The kiddos took to them right away, and I love having their projects contained.  I think they would be content to sit at them for most of the day as long as I rotate their activities and provide snacks every now and then. :)

Totally Tots and its sister site 1+1+1=1, the inspiration for Tot Trays, has proved to be an excellent stomping ground for all sorts of ideas.  I’ve linked them to the right under some of my favorite homeschooling resources.  In addition to the excellent content, I love that it was designed for and by Christian moms who choose to homeschool.  Some of my favorite ideas: Tools 4 Tots (I like the Hide n Seek Bowls, Mix & Match game – which I already made! – Ocean Waves Bottle, and Paper Clip Colors, to name a few), sensory bins, Tot Books, and alphabet memory verse cards.

Here are some of my favorite resources (so far, and in no particular order) for coloring pages, worksheets, and other printables:
Homeschool Creations
Christian Preschool Printables
Preschool Coloring Book
Twisty Noodle (customizable pages)
First-School Preschool Activities & Crafts
Coloring Castle
Activity Village
Nature Detectives
Making Learning Fun
Crayola
DLTK Kids

My mom teaches Sunday School, buys loads of things for the grandkids, and sponsors children with Compassion International, so even though she no longer has littles of her own she still gets all sorts of kid-related stuff and puts together arts and crafts.  She started putting together lapbooks for her Compassion kids, and it got me interested in the concept.  I decided to try my hand at simple file folder games first, and created a few for the kiddos.

File Folder Fun has some cute ideas, and I made a few of their games, laminating the playing pieces and glueing envelopes on the back to hold them: Beautiful Bees color matching (a 2-color combination), Dinos color matching (a simple 1-color match for Josiah), and Cupcake Counting.  I haven’t used any yet, but Bible Story Printables also has some file folder games.

I finally decided to make a couple lapbooks to go along with our first preschool lesson, starting the end of August.  You can customize them any way you want, make them as simple or as complicated as you want.  There’s the basic lapbook, pocketbook, tot book, double lapbook… arrrgh, pick one!  The theme for the week will be the four seasons, and the Bible story is about Creation.  I did a seasons lapbook first. 

 

 

Most of the materials were printed from the season unit study at Lawteedah, and I also found some mini books for each season from DLTK’s database.  I had fun putting it together with all sorts of activity pages, a puzzle, matching and sorting games, and stickers.  I decided to do one on creation as well. 

At first I just printed out a couple activity pages that I found on Lapbook Lessons, but I ended up using some of their other creation printables to fill the lapbook. 

I find them labor-intensive since I’m putting them together myself, but as Gwen gets older she’ll be able to do more of it herself.  And I hope when she does the coloring and activities that it will have the stamp of her personality on it.  It might be neat to do a lapbook on the letters we learn each week, too.

Trying not to get too far ahead of myself, especially if Gwen doesn’t take to the idea – I don’t want to push it.  I tend to get ambitious then get disappointed when my ideas don’t go over well. *sigh*  At least I can be sure that the creation snack (a healthier version, anyway) will be a bit hit.