Gloves...What a Nightmare!

Well, I have officially completed my first pair of gloves.  Probably will not be doing very many more in the future.  With me, though, you can never be too sure.  Sometimes, I like to do things until I get it right and they start to become easy for me to do. The gloves were tricky, and sometimes the pattern was not true to what needed to be done, but with a little frustration and a whole lot of determination, I persevered to the end.  I found out the hard way, that the pattern had a problem in stitch count when I completed my first two fingers and found out that they were coming out of the middle of the hand instead of next to the thumb.  A mutant may have been able to wear it, but certainly not my five-year-old grandson.  I had to take out those two fingers and try to pick up the stitches of the hand again without making it too noticeable.  The stitches were small and the yarn frayed quite easily, so picking up the stitches was the nightmare I faced.  All in all, the procedure is not difficult, and once I got the hang of it, the fingers went in quite smoothly.  It was also a challenge to work with the four double pointed needles and have another needle holding the unused stitches.  Needles just kept getting tangled up and crossed.  Sometimes, my finger would become twisted and I would have to take the stitches out (one by one on these occasions) until I got back to where I twisted and get things turned around. The second glove was much easier because I had worked out all the kinks and quirks with the first one.  Lucky for me that yarn is such a forgiving medium with which to work.  I can often cover up mistakes...sometimes not completely unnoticeable as with these gloves...but other times they look great.  I won't worry too much about these gloves if Ellis isn't crazy about them, I am just happy for the experience in making something I have never done before.  With practice, I'm sure I could make a pretty decent looking glove.

Last year's hats.

This year's mittens and gloves.  I opted to not make the gloves out of red because the yarn was too thick. I think the will get more use out of these gloves, anyway.

This completes my Christmas projects.  I now need to start making puppets, puzzles, and games for my new Sunbeam class at church.  I get a whole new group of kids in January.  It is exciting this year because I will have two of my grandchildren, Dot and Joey.

Ezra's PJs

It is midnight and I am recording my latest project completion.  I have had Ezra's pajamas cut out and ready to sew for some time now, but have not been up to doing it.  I started this past weekend, and by doing at least one pair a day, I have now finished the five pairs.  Here they are:

This shows a sample of what they all look like.  This, however, is the only pair that I put tread proof bottoms on the soles of the feet.  I didn't think to do it until I got to the last pair, so I did it with these.  The others have soles that match the PJs.

This shows the prints on each of them.  Trucks, (of course), animal heads, trains,  backyard with dogs and doghouses, and jungle animals... I couldn't decide which to use, so I used them all. 

I also got a picture of Joey and Lexi wearing their hats and mittens when we were out for our walk yesterday.  Here they are modeling them for Grandma.

I was a little worried that it wouldn't be cold enough for them to use this year, but it was definitely cold enough yesterday.

I have been working on Ellis' gloves.  I have had my problems, but I will tell about them in my next blog when I have finished both gloves.  I did get the first one finished today.  Should be done tomorrow.

Mittens, Mittens, and More Mittens

If you want to know what I have been up to, well I have been knitting mittens most recently.  For a while I was working on a new project called, 'Keeping America Warm'. It is a project that makes afghans, hats, and other accessories for needy people around the country.  You can complete whole projects, or just pieces and send them to be assembled and sent to needy people.  I decided to knit a complete afghan, rather than just do a block and send it to be added to other peoples' blocks.  I will post a picture of it when I have it finished.  It is a ways away from that.  Anyway, in the meantime, I decided to make Christmas mittens for the grand kids.  I made the hats last year and now I have made mittens to go with their hats.  I got the idea for doing mittens when Kim asked me to make mittens for Dot and Lucy.  She didn't care what yarn I used, she just wanted mittens.  I made them, and then I decided to also make mittens for all of the kids.  Since it is Christmas time, I decided to do the Christmas mittens.  Here they are with pictures of the hats that I made last year.

These are the mittens for Dot and Lucy that inspired me to make the Christmas mittens.

These are the hats made for Zoe and Jackson last year.

These are the mittens for Zoe and Jackson made to go with the hats.

Dot's and Lucy's hats from last year.

Dot's and Lucy's mittens.  Dot's are really the same size as Lucy's.  They look smaller because of the angle of the shot.

Hats for Lexi and Joey.

Mittens for Joey and Lexi.  Joey's are the green and look smaller because of the angle again.

Ezra wasn't born yet, so he had no hat last year.  Here is his hat and mittens made this year.

 I have finished a pair of mittens to go with Portia's hat, but because I will not be seeing them until Christmas day, I will not be able to deliver them to her until then.  I still need to make a pair of gloves for Ellis.  I think gloves are in order for him because he is older than the other kids.  I haven't decided if I will make his red to match his hat, or if I will make them from multicolored yarn.  The pattern I have calls for sports weight yarn and the red that I used for his hat is heavier.  The multicolored yarn is a lighter weight and would probably be more useful to him than the red ones.  I will decide when I start to make them.  I will post a picture of their hats and mittens/gloves when I get the gloves finished.

Now I'm Done

I finished Ezra's dress pants this morning, so I am done with clothes for a while.  I still need to sew Ezra's pajamas, but I will wait for a few days at least.  I really don't feel like sewing anymore right now.  I still don't know what I will do with my time, but I will think of something.

Dress pants and shirt all set for my handsome little man.

Almost Finished With Clothes

I was able to finish three more articles of clothing today.  I sewed Joey's other dress slacks.  They are very plain, but should match anything and will look nice with a sweater during the colder months ahead.  I also was able to sew Ezra's casual pants and his dress shirt.  I could not do the dress pants until I got some thread to match.  I thought I had just about any color I needed, so I didn't buy thread when I got the material.  Well, I must have just run out because I still have a bobbin with the color I need on it.  I got the thread tonight, and I will get the pants sewed tomorrow.

Joey's dress pants made from gray corduroy.

Ezra's dress shirt.

Ezra's casual corduroy pants.

This is Ezra's pants again, but they really are the color like above more than this. I took this picture to show them from the front view with the shirt that I bought to go with them.

The pants I am making to go with his dress shirt are from the same pattern as the casual pants, but I am not putting on the side pockets.  They are being made out of a dark olive green corduroy.

One More Thing Done Today

These are the leggings I made to go with Portia's skirt. I looked on line and could only find the pattern for leggings that calls for using old knee high socks.  I don't have any of those, and I wanted to use some ribbed stretch knit material that I had that matches the skirt very well.  I made up my own pattern and I hope they will fit tight enough.  The idea is right, but I'm not sure about the fit.  Hopefully, the cuffs will be tight enough to stay in place.  I may have to adjust them if they are not.  No big deal.  It is easy enough to do.

The leggings by themselves shows a closer color to the actual color of the leg part.

This shot shows how the leggings are the color of the dots and one flower and the cuffs are the color of the background color of the skirt itself.  I'm afraid they look a little like pajama bottoms, although they look wider here than they do in person, so maybe they will be okay.  We'll see when she can try them on.

Sweet Success for Sweet Little Girls

Another successful day at the machine.  I was able to finish the jumpers for Zoe, Dot, and Lucy, plus sew the hems in Joey's suit and attach the hook for his pants. Here are the jumpers.

These are the identical jumpers for Zoe and Dot. No, they are not twins, but they are very close to the same age, only nine days apart.  I sewed them simultaneously, step by step since I was using the same material and pattern.  It made it so much easier that way.  I did not make the tops. They are store bought.

This little jumper and top is for my little Goose, Lucy.  The top is the one that I had made for Lexi, but since it didn't match anything I made for her, and it did match Lucy's very well, I decided to give it to Lucy instead. I think it looks very nice with this jumper.

Now, it is back to the drawing board to see if I can figure out how to make some leggings to go with Portia's skirt.  I might go online to see if I can get some ideas.  After I make them, all I have left to make are the two pairs of pants and a dress shirt for Ezra and one more pair of pants for Joey.  All of those things have been cut out and are ready to sew.  Once these clothes are all finished, I will get back to Ezra's pajamas for his Christmas present.  I have them cut out, but they need to be sewn.