I Cutted It, Grandma

Another Cora adventure.

I got a new book about knitted toys--The World of Knitted Toys--and Cora found some kittens that she wants me to make for her. She loves to look at the pictures in my books, but this time she did more than just look. She just finished Kindergarten and they had been practicing cutting out circles. (It did look like a big circle, I must admit!) She brought me the picture of the kittens and said "I cutted it for you, Grandma, so you won't lose it."

Some tape and time and it is now mostly back in the book. And I managed to save the pattern so I can make those kittens for her!

Still making mittens for the Rez. Using up some dark colors so the boys will have some choices, but I would rather make pretty ones!

And Another Pair Hits the Dust!

Sport yarn, doubled. Makes a nice tweed pattern!

I think I will make the next pair with doubled worsted wt yarn and see how that goes!

Letter Person Parade

Today was the Letter Person Parade at Cora's school. Each of the kindergarteners got to choose their favorite letter and then wear a costume for that letter. The kids were so cute!

Cora chose the letter A and she and I planned her costume together. Made of pink fabric (of course!) it pulls over her head and has a giant A on the front. On the back panel, I had Cora use a permanent marker to make lots and lots of A's. Then Cora came up with the idea of making "flaps" with the same green fabric and putting more A's on them! Which we did! No problem knowing which letter Cora had chosen! Not to mention the fact that she got to be at the head of the parade! Hmmmm--smart girl!

I finished a pair of wool baby mitts and have only the thumb to knit on a pair of Purple Mittens. Very pretty. I think I may make some thumbless toddler mitts now.

Collection of Mittnz so far

Just a quick post to include a picture of the mittens I've finished so far. The beige ones on the left are sewn of fleece and are nice and warm. I'll probably make more of those later.

Cora Can Tie Her Shoes!

Now this may not seem like much to adults, but to a 6 year old, this is big stuff! Cora has a pair of pink shoes (her favorite color) that she has been begging to wear to school. Her mom says she can't wear them to school unless she can tie them herself. (I suspect the kindergarten teachers agree!)

Rachael showed Cora a few times, but got frustrated with her. After watching all this for a while, I told Cora that I would make her something to help her practice tying. So I made her a small pink pillow about 4 X 8 inches, sewed pink bias binding into strings and sewed them on the pillow. Now she has something large enough to see and to manipulate. We spent several afternoons and evenings learning how to make bunny ears and how to wrap them to make a tie. Slowly Cora began to master the process.

This morning she got up, got her pink shoes out, AND TIED THEM HERSELF! I was so proud of her! And off she went to school with her pink shoes on! One more milestone in her life! It is so great to be able to participate in her life this way. Wish I knew if Piper can tie her shoes. She is 8 yrs old, so I suspect she can. Will ask her next time we talk.

Knitting News:
Working on a blue and white 5 hr. boy sweater. Turning out nicely.
More mittens in the works.

Sewing News:
Trimming up the pattern for Snow Sack. Looks like an easy pattern to make of fleece for the babies at the Rez. Has small, large (up to 25 lbs) and two doll sizes. I plan to make some doll clothes, too.

Will trim my pants pattern tomorrow. I have grey knit fabric for those.

More Sideways Mittens

This is such an interesting pattern to knit. You can find Mariella's Sideways Mittens here. The variegated pair is the child size version. She also has an adult version, which is what the orange pair is. They are both are made the same way. I slip stitch each mitten together instead of sewing them--I crochet better than sew! It makes a strong attractive seam. Because they are made in garter stitch, they are warm mittens even in acrylic--more so if made in wool. It is a great pattern for using up small amounts of yarn.

I plan to make child size mittens for my local school. They always have children who forget their mittens or simply don't have mittens (poor kids are everywhere). We get cold and snow here in upstate NY. And the kids have to have mittens to put on if they are going be able to go outside at recess. I thought I would put together a Mitten Box and take it to my granddaughter's school in Sept/Oct. If you live in a cold part of the country, you might consider doing the same. As a retired teacher, I can tell you that we appreciate community support for caring for our students.

Right now I'm still working on the Mitten Blitz for Cheyenne River Reservation. Those will be mailed at the end of September. The goal of the blitz was for each participant to make 7 pairs of mittens and send them to the Rez. I've more than made my personal goal, but will continue to make more to send to the Rez. Over 600 kids at the Rez, so we can't make too many!

Movies:
Love Comes Softly. A Hallmark production set in the west. Nicely done and enjoyable.

The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep as a fashion tyrant! Enjoyed it very much. What a view of the fashion world!

Both of these movies were great knitting movies!

Sewing:
I picked up a couple of patterns for myself this week. One has capris, shorts and tops and the other one has dresses in several lengths.

I want to make some shorts and pants for the hot weather. Later I want to make some casual dresses in cool fabrics. Heat and humidity! Ah, yes, summer is definitely here!

I will also be sewing some shorts for the kids on the Rez.