Christmas crafts circa 2006 (the good ol’ days)

We’re in the middle of Seasonal crazy, you just can’t avoid it.

I thought I would remind you of some good seasonal stuff from 2006 – when I could muster a little more energy for crafts than one small window of paper snowflakes.

In 2006 Phil and I had a second baby and simultaneously started blogging about children’s crafts and activities over at kiddley.com — we soon discovered that maintaining multiple blogs, jobs and having a newborn was enough to drive anyone bonkers so we dropped it (the blog, not the baby) in early 2007. We were sad to let it go as it was a popular spot and kept us motivated to try some great things we would otherwise never have considered.

One thing that was especially super awesome about kiddley was all the guest posts we got for the holiday period in November and December. Some of my all time favourite craft and parenting bloggers were so very kind and generous with their time and creativity, contributing their favourite projects for the season. I look at this list of amazing women and think about the years since and all the things that have happened in their lives : the sweet things, the sad things, the successes and the friendships. I still consider these women some of the most important on the internet, to me and to their legions of fans.

Look and find:

Advent stockings from Amanda Soule of Soulemama

Crazy hat crackers from Amber Carvan of Kids Craft Weekly

The incredibly popular Gumdrop Wreath from the beautiful, beautiful Alicia Paulson of Posie gets Cozy

Dress up paper doll and ornament from Sarah Neuburger of The Small Object

Christmas fun jar from Andrea Corrona Jenkins from Hula Seventy

Junk Food Ornaments from Heather Bailey of Hello My Name is Heather

Tealight Place settings from Carly Schwerdt from Moopy and Me

Festive Bird Finger Puppets from Lyn Roberts from Molly Chicken (sniff! miss her)

Paper Santa Lucia crowns and hats from Stephanie Congdon Barnes (oh and how I miss her too!)

Pecan + pretzel + chocolate = delicious from Amy Karol of Angry Chicken

Camping with kids and Presents for kids to make for their friends and Cheap and Easy Gifts for multiples of  kids from Kathreen Ricketson of Whipup

Planning for the holidays from Asha Dornfest of Parenthacks

Paper garlands from Fiona Dalton of Hop Skip Jump

Christmas Piñatas from Alison Brookbanks of Six and a Half Stitches

Pom-pom garland from Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane

Making candy cane and lollipop ornaments from Christina Gordon of Jam Fancy

Pinecone hedgehogs and Origami Advent Calendar from Myra Masuda of My Little Mochi

Advent Stick Jo from Artsy Fartsy Mama

and last but by no means least,

Fall Leaf Art from Blair Stocker of Wisecraft

 

Nanny McPhee and the Crochet Rug

We’ve been fairly knocked over by Nanny McPhee these holidays. The first one has been on high rotation on the dvd player and we bustled along to the Rivoli on Wednesday to fully enjoy Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. I love the art direction of both movies so much. Beautiful colours and textiles and painted wood.

To add a little of all that to our home, I am making my own Nanny McPhee crochet blanket (screenshot from the film above, top). I thought it might look nice on our bed – but to cover a queen size bed will require 1024 squares! That’s an awful lot of hooking. In the last three days I have managed 9. 1015 to go. I need to get quicker or it might end up on the sofa as a far smaller throw. Or maybe a doll blanket.

Old Noey & New Noey

Noey 2005

2005 Noey and 2010 Noey Redux

New Noey in old (washed and pressed) dress

I have just finished working on a special project.

The top photo is Old Noey, first made and sold in February 2005. She was one of my very first batch of kitten softies. After Noey travelled across the sea, she was given to a little girl and was much loved and cuddled – for almost five fabulous years. But after all that cuddling she started to wear  thin. Stuffing started to come out and her head had become distorted. There was a little breakfast cereal on her stockings and my hand stitching had started to unravel — so much so there was a fair chance that her head would come off altogether. So Old Noey came back here again for some R & R, special stuffing based chicken soup, and Australian sunshine. She’s had a good holiday and now has roses in her cheeks and a fresh spring in her step. She’s packed her new spare sundress and her journal and she’s heading back to Georgia, USA to little Tess who has been waiting patiently for her return.

Give Away and small knitted hat tutorial

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I have been making little ornaments for gifts and thought I would share my super simple knitted hat pattern with you. (please use it for personal use and gifts only! Thanks folks).

The little wooden blank dolls are from Winterwood but you can get loads on etsy from sellers such as Goose Greese Undone or Gemmielou. The head diameter of the ones I use is about 2cm.

I use 4 ply sock wool and I like using the variegated stuff (is that what a yarn buff would call it? the Patons stuff is called “Patonyle”) so that I get spontaneous stripes and patterns. My needles are size 2 3/4 (that’s  12 English size and 2 US size apparently!).

So; make a cup of tea, crack out the gingerbread, wield your long skinny needles and…

Cast on 20 stitches

Row 1: Knit 2, purl 2 and repeat until the end of the row

Repeat for two more rows to make the ribbing.

Next row: Knit row

Next row: Purl row

Next row: You will now begin to decrease to make the pointed hat. Knit 2 together and then knit to the end of the row.

Next row: Purl 2 together and then purl to the end of the row.

Repeat until you have one stitch left on your needle. Cast off.

Turn right sides together and sew sides together using row ends, leaving the bottom of the hat open. Turn inside out, using a chop stick or a knitting needle head to push the tip through. Embelish with sequins and beads or with simple embroidered details. Glue it to your little doll’s head.

And now the give away part – I will be making three of these little christmas ornaments to hang on the tree and will give them away to three lucky commenters. All you need to do is leave a (one only) comment  (of the creative and eloquent kind – natch!) on this post and I will draw three random numbers out of the hat next week. Comments will be closed on Monday 14th December 2009 7am Australian EST. Thanks! xx

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Edit to say: Comments now closed! Thank you. I will draw three winners later today.