Fall/Winter Handcrafts

With the ~slightly~ cooler temps and the shortening days, my thoughts turn inward and of course they turn to handcrafts. Here are a few that I have planned for this fall.

First is en embroidery project of Alice and the Cheshire cat for Sophie's room.








Then I am going to finally begin working on the Baby Clothes Memory quilt for Sophie. It is made out of some of her most special baby clothes, I will cut into squares and then add fabric as a border and backing. Its going to be CUTE!










Here are some of the "magic" wands that I am working on, need to finish them. They are going on my Etsy shop soon, along with more hippie skirts.

















And I plan to learn to knit socks this year. Using the four needle method. It should be interesting. I have visions of whipping some up for everyone in the family, cozy wool socks for winter. Uuummm.

I am sure that more ideas and plans will be added to this list in the near future. Its shaping up to be a busy fall.

Sophie's current favorite story is "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. We love all of her books but for some reason this one is requested every night. Its a wonderful story and is one of those that includes handwork, the boy's baba knits him mittens, so I love it too. Check it out.

Knitting love

Here is a photo of the doll blanket that I knitted last week for Sophie. In the doll cradle that her dad made for her Christmas gift. Along with the felted wool patchwork blanket that I made a couple of years ago. Sleeping in it is her best friend, Jane, the Waldorf-inspired doll that I made before she was born. She sleeps with it every night. Her rocker is pulled up close, in case her babies should need a little extra mothering. So sweet. The knitting was to use some pretty yarn that I found on sale when, a local discount store stopped carrying it. I needed to get in some knitting and it wasn't too hard on my hands, since it was bulky weight and I used size 11 bamboo needles. I hate that the pain, keeps me from knitting as much as I would like to. Its one of my greatest pleasures and it seems that as soon as I learned it well enough to create some beautiful things, the pain began-arthyritis, I believe. Anyway, I do what I can......

Day 18 of my yoga practice. I admit that I wasn't as eager to get started this morning. I am a little sore from the Moon Salutation pose I started the other day. But once I did get going with it I felt great. Not to mention it loosened up my muscles and tendons and helped me not feel so stiff and sore. I still love yoga! The Moon Salutation pose is still difficult, especially the half back bend. I still shake quite a bit and it is actually hard not to hold my breath while I am in that one pose. But it is getting better and I am encouraged by the progress I am making in calmness and centeredness, and in flexibility and strength. Not to mention that my entire body is firming up beautifully!!! Much to my husband's delight. ;)

I have been inspired by the book "The Friday Night Knitting Club" to start a knitting project. Nothing too big or ambitious maybe a scarf or bag. I have not knitted anything in a while and reading this book about a group of women getting together to knit and share their lives has made me want to knit again. Another source of inspiration has been a couple of blogs that I frequent, one is http://soulemama.typepad.com/, another is http://knittingiris.typepad.com/, and yet another, http://nurturedbylove.blogspot.com/. These are all wonderful in every way, plus they are about families, knitting, and crafting and loving it all. Check them out if you have a chance. I will try to list a few of my other favorite blogs in a list soon.