Hooded baby towels

We have huge amount of towels, I have tried to reduce their number by donating the not so nice ones and making rags of the really worn ones, but still we have too many. For the kid I made hooded towels from our own towels. I took three towels from the closet and cut from each of them a big square piece and one triangle. I first made the regular white one from a towel we have apparently stolen from a cruise ship (ups, sorry). It had the shipping company's logos on it and it was bit embarrassing to use. I cut off the logos and made the hooded towel from the rest. I used an bias tape on all the edges. I did want to use some other colour, but the brown was the only one I had enough of.

The white was a bit of a practice towel but the next ones I made funnier. In a book Strömsö there is a towel made for much bigger child, it's a orange towel with pointy ears and a white tail, the towel is like a fox. So from that I got the idea of making other animal towels. First I chose to make a frog from a green towel we had. The green towel had a pair from a light blue towel and since I did not want to leave that without a match I wanted to use the blue towel as well. I had bit of trouble figuring what character to make from the blue one, but I chose to make a shark from it. I think the towels turned out super cute and fun. 

 

There could have been so many options on what characters or animals I could have made from different coloured towels. I was also thinking of making some kind of monster from a lilac towel, but how many hooded towels does a kid need!

Almost like knitting in miniature

Besides the knitted jumpsuit you saw on the earlier post I have not knitted much. I have lots of ideas on what to knit, but I have been bit restricting my knits, because I would not like to buy more yarn and most of the yarn I have is quite itchy wool and I don't think that would be too good on baby's skin. I do have some cotton and just some baby wool.
 

From the baby wool I've made a pair of thumbless mittens and two pairs of quite standard socks. The green ones with the weird cuff are in Finnish called "train socks", maybe because the vertical stripes remind of tracks. Mine don't have exactly the right amount of tracks, but I will call them train socks anyway. These small things I must admit are really fun to knit because those finish so quick.

I also knitted a hat for the kid. It's the Aviatrix hat from Ravelry, it first looked quite complicated but it was really fast to knit and I learned a new knitting technique which is always fun. I used the Drops Alpaca yarn on this one, it was left over from the Icelandic gardigan, it is quite silky yarn. I hope it's not too itchy.

Sewed clothes for the kid

So what should I start this runway of baby stuff with? I have so much to choose from. I have mainly made clothes for the kid. Couple months ago I saw a book in a book store called Baby cool, it's originally a Swedish book but it's translated at least to Finnish. Later I loaned the same book from the library. There were lots of neat projects for children made from old adult clothes. There were even many patterns included in the book, which I very poorly used but the book was so inspiring!

The minute I got the book home I started going through our rag pile of old clothes and was super inspired to start working on more and more sewing projects. The book was so appropriate for me since I did not want to get much new fabric or yarn, which often is more expensive than the ready made clothes. (Here you can see that I'm contradicting myself. Remember some earlier posts where I said I have bought some fabric? But so far I've used only the welt rib knit fabric I got from Marimekko sometime ago.)

From a thrift store I bought some baby clothes, like that dotty jumpsuit, and used those as patterns. Most of the old adult clothes we had were from the time when we purged A's closet and he does not dress in very girly colours so most of the clothes I made ended up quite boyish or unisex. Unisex was what I was after anyway.

When I made these clothes I really did not pay much attention to the quality of the sewing. I just did not feel like spending too much time on the details I just wanted things done. So in some clothes the zippers are badly attached and some seams are really not straight at all, for some reason I'm not at all bothered by it. The kid will wear those clothes only for a few weeks so details and putting time on these clothes is really not the priority (I'm aware some people will disagree, but this is my solution). Anyway... point of this was that the kid will have some clothes to use and the rag pile got a lot smaller.

My favourite item to make was trousers, so easy and so fast! The short jumpsuit on the other hand was really annoying with the neck and the buttons. The longer jumpsuits with the zippers were not as bad, but not as fun as the trousers. I really like the orange jumpsuit that to me reminds of a pumpkin, it's so funny. I happened to have a green zipper in the right length and used that with out thinking much, but I like the result. It's humorous. Also on one of the trousers I used the front of a shirt on the bum side, it also turned out quite funny.

Those were the trousers and jumpsuits I've sewed so far. All of these were done almost two months ago. By the way I redid the hanger specifically to take pictures of the clothes for you. I shortened our regular wooden hanger and painted it yellow.

Source of inspiration for the blog

After the news about the kid I for a while even considered to quit blogging because I do not want a baby blog, that would just be too personal. I know I will do even more crafts related to the kid and I will have less interest working on the home stuff than I have before. So if I do want to keep blogging I need to include posts related to the kid, otherwise I will have no (or too little) contents in my blog. But this will never be a baby blog, let me tell you! This will continue to be a crafts and DIY blog like before but with a new source of inspiration.

Since I have done a lot sewing and knitting projects for the kid already I have created separate posts from those. I'm afraid if you are not interested in baby gear the next following weeks (or months...) will be quite boring for you. I even myself know that I might have gotten a bit too excited about the new possibilities in crafts after I realized I'm pregnant. I have not spent that much more time doing crafts than before but I've just changed the target. So far I have loved making children's clothes and stuff. Those things are so small that those finish in an instant. I have also spent lot of time in Ravelry searching for new things to knit and crochet. I'm not even finished with all the things I have started but yet I look new stuff to do constantly.

So today's post will just be a sneak peak of the stuff I've done. I have made proper posts from them all, so keep tuned.

Newsflash

The things I've shown in this blog are not the only crafts I've done since New Year. Besides the spring jacket and the night gown I have started all sorts of things and have finished lot too. So even though I've done a lot I have not wanted to show you what I've done. That would have been just too early. Now since time has passed and all my family and friends know I think it's safe for me to tell you guys too. Next pictures might open it up for you...

Yes yes.... we are having a kid. He or she should born around early September. So that is what's been happening here. (Oh and it's funny that just this Monday Santa from Homestilo came forward with similar news, really exciting and fun, I've been following her blog for more than a year and now Kaboom! she too had news like this. Her pregnancy is bit further though.)

This is now the week twenty in the pregnancy (for those who do not know, like I didn't, pregnancy usually lasts about forty weeks). Both me, the kid and A have been feeling surprisingly good. Only when I found out about the pregnancy I got a one and a half week long anxiety attack, which made me feel like I could not eat, sleep or even breath. But that passed once I got accustomed to the whole idea (and yes this whole thing was planned and all, I have no idea where the anxiety attack came from). But ever since that I have been feeling more or less normal, which of course is excellent, there has even been times that I've forgotten about the pregnancy thing altogether.

Anyway there is a newsflash for you!

Zen garden plans in miniature

First an observation:  Men build miniature scenes and women build miniature houses

When I made the Teahouse and googled about how to make a house and furniture and stuff in miniature I did not bump into a single instruction made by a man. But now when I googled how to make trees and bushes and grass I have not bumped into a single instruction made by a woman. I assume there most likely is some instruction made by a man about miniature houses and there must be an instruction made by a woman about trees, but they certainly are in the minority. I find this quite funny, both enjoy working in miniature scale, doing things that require meticulous work, but yet stick to their own areas so strictly.

So as said I've been googling about how to make miniature trees and bushes, also I visited a crafts store and sneaked in the railway hobbyist aisle to get some materials. The grass, leaf and turf material looks like some type of green sponge that someone has cut into tiny tiny pieces. I'm quite amazed I actually decided to buy them. Almost 5 euro a packet, to get... well... trash. I did think of cutting up some green yarn, but it would be a big job, so I bought the stuff.

I have spent quite amount of time thinking of the size of the zen garden I will make. I was thinking of getting some sort of tray where to create the scene. I want to keep the miniature garden next to the Teahouse I built which means that the garden would be placed on the table. In theory that would be good but how on earth can I dust a miniature zen garden, because I know dust will land on it and then it will look just horrible. I thought of building a sort of aquarium on top of the garden. But on one of my trips to a thrift store I found a clock (similar to this but way cheaper) that I knew I could use as a base for the zen garden.

I disassembled the clock and painted the base white. It is way smaller than what I had planned originally and I hope I can fit all the things I want to it. Anyway now I finally(!) have good plan for the Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse contest. And I just realized I have about two weeks to finish this, oh ou...

Also linking to Op-shop show off

Child's backpack

Couple of years back we were sailing with our friends' boat and we all got t-shirts with embroidery to show that we were all part of the "crew". Unfortunately they were out of small sizes and I got a shirt that I never wore because it was obviously way too big for me. It was still a nice gesture to provide us those shirts. 

About year and a half ago these same friends got a baby boy and ever since that I've been wanting to make something for the child. And since they still have the same boat and I'm sure their boy has already spent quite amount of time on the boat so that he definitely is a part of the "crew" by now, I thought that I will make something for the boy from that embroidered t-shirt.

I happened to loan a book Sikksakk from the library by May B. Langhelle. It's written in Norwegian and is at least translated to Finnish, but I could not find any English translation for it. Anyway it's a book about sewing clothes for children from used fabric like from curtains and adult clothes. In the book was a backpack pattern and that sounded like a perfect spot to attach the embroidery.

So I made a backpack. Their boy might be still a bit too small to use the backpack but it won't take long till he is big enough to carry the backpack. Techically the backpack is still not finished. I did not have any D rings at home, so the straps are now attached to each other with pins. The craft store just isn't open on Sunday and I did not want to wait to take the pictures. Rest of the material I did find from home, like the fabric, the eyelets and string. The buttons are extras that have come with some old jeans.

Summer shirt

I started making this summer shirt while I was knitting the Icelandic gardigan because I needed something simple to make. I made it more or less with the pattern from Picless. I did not follow it exactly so maybe that is why I do not like it that much. At first the shirt was too wide and short, then I washed it and pulled it longer, but now it does not drape. 

Well maybe it's a good backyard shirt.

Ups, I made artwork

The blanket in the terrace was a bit damaged by the squirrel ripping it. The squirrel had pulled loops of yarn from the blanket and it did not look too good anymore. I thought I would felt the blanket for crafts material and washed it with hot cycle in the washing machine.

But I did not realize that the black wool felted way better than the white wool, so the result of the felting was nothing as I planned. I assumed the result would be flat, just smaller and thicker. But it turned out like a giant, super weird felted hat. It is hilarious. A and I both could not stop laughing when we saw what had happened to the blanket.

So my plans did not really work out but I made 3D artwork instead. The blanket under the new artwork is to illustrate the scale that the blanket used to be.

Apple tree trimming

We have two apple trees, one of them makes big sour apples and when it does make them it makes quite a lot of them. The other apple tree makes tiny sweet apples and only a very few yearly. The other apple tree has never been cut I think and I heard that cutting it radically might make it produce lot more apples.

So I thought I'd give it a shot. I also did cut some branches off from the sour one but from the sweet one I reduced more or less half of the branches. According to my mom apple trees should be cut when "snow is bad", which it is definitely now, I might have been even a bit late with the cutting.

I did not have any power tools to cut the branches and some of the branches were quite big so the sawing was hard work. Also the cutting angle was sometimes very difficult and had to take short breaks while standing in the tree. My arm felt really powerless when I was finished. But I got the trees trimmed.

Also what was annoying was that because the snow was bad I sometimes sunk half a meter into the snow. Also my A-ladder was not very stable on top of the snow. I chopped the branches into smaller pieces and collected them to the terrace.

Our row house has a spring cleaning session each year around early May and to that they order a rubbish skip where everyone can dump their big gardening waste. I will take these branches to that skip, but that is one month away and for now I will have a hare feeding station on the terrace. One dude has already found it's way to the feeding station. Here it is cought red-handed.

Regaining the fluffyness to the sheephide

After a few months of sitting on top of a sheephide makes it a bit sad looking. The fur is all flat and ugly and the feel is not very fresh anymore. Like in the picture below.

To make the sheephide fluffy and fresh again, it can be washed. I know it sounds weird to wash leather, but it works. I have always hand washed the sheephide, but I read from somewhere that it could be even washed in the washing machine, I guess with wool cycle. 

I've washed this particular sheephide a few times and after the wash the sheephide looks amazing, like it's brand new. I have a quite cheap Ikea sheephide so for me trying this washing on the first place was not a big step. I'm afraid I have no picture of the finished product since I only washed it late last evening and the hide is still dripping wet. But I assure you it works, although I do not dare to suggest you to try this on your expensive cowhide rug. 

Return to Stockholm

We were in Stockholm over the Easter. Our friend was there on a work trip on Wednesday and Thursday and had planned to stay there till Sunday. He asked us to join him on the extended weekend and so we did. In Finland Friday was free and we flew to Stockholm on Friday morning and met our friend.

First thing we did on the Good Friday, after having lunch and coffee of course, was visiting the Skyview over the Globe arena. We decided to go there on Friday since weather was supposed to get cloudy and foggy on later in the weekend. But on the end the Friday ended up been the most cloudy, Saturday and Sunday were beautiful. 

On Saturday we woke up to a sunny morning and headed to the near by Östermalm Food Hall to have breakfast. They do sell alsorts of fantastic ingredients, like those slimy huge fish and other much more appetizing things. 

Most of Saturday was spent shopping. We split up for a few ours while our friend went clothes shopping and me and A visited design stores. I bought a few things, mostly fabric. I was thinking that I will show you what I got once I have done something from them.

Sunday was beautiful too and we visited a photografy museum Fotografiska after a really nice brunch. About all the people we had talked to suggested us to go to the museum and it really did not disappoint us. It was worth the visit and sore feet. After the museum we headed to the Djurgården ferry which took us to the other side of the bay in Stockholm. From there we took the cutest old tram back to the city. Then it was time for our trip to end and we had to leave to the airport. Stockholm was amazing, can't wait to go again, it's one of those cities I could even live in.