photos – Page 8 – Cowtown Knits

Not Your Average Pillowcase

September 5, 20122 Comments

The Mother Huddle’s Fat Quarter Pillowcase Dress is another pattern I’ve used a lot. I’ve made three already and have the fabric to make another one this weekend. I think I originally found this on someone’s Pinterest board and knew I needed to make it ASAP. The first one I made was so cute, but P absolutely would not wear it. The monumental fights we had over this dress made me alternately irate and sad. Eventually I felt so bad about it that I decided to start again from scratch for P. This next one turned out even better and she is willing to wear it on occasion so all was well in the end. The other two dresses, as well as the dress-to-be, are going to my friend’s three little girls. I hope I get a chance to see them all worn together!
The tutorial is really great. The pictures are clear and so are the explanations. I did have a bit of a problem in that my fat quarters were not quite wide enough to cut the bottom panel correctly for size 4. I ended up just trimming the sides up a little and making it a bit narrower than it called for, but it still fit fine. I’m sure that part of the problem was that my fabric wasn’t wide enough. I got the fabric for the first one from Fabricland but apparently they are discontinuing their fat quarter bundles. Fortunately, I discovered that Walmart carries tons of really cute bundles for $12. Unfortunately, there are so many that I can’t help buying more and making more dresses. If you are a friend of mine and you have a little girl, don’t be surprised if she receives one of these for her next birthday.

The Other Person Who Lives Here

August 30, 20123 Comments

I’ve already introduced you to my kids so now it’s time to tell you about the other VVIP in my life, my husband C. He is a mild-mannered scientist by day and a mild-mannered sports-fan by night. He is an incredible father who took paternity leave to be a stay-at-home-dad while I finished university. He really is my “better half” as he possesses all of the important qualities in life that I lack. Like, say, organizational skills, money skills, anger management skills, garbage removal skills. Girls really do like guys with skills!

He’s also very knit-worthy. He has already worn through the first pair of socks I knit him and is pestering me for more. His Rogers-esque Cardigan Jacket gets worn a lot. The sweater was pretty labour-intensive, with a lot of seams and a lot more stitches than your average cardigan, but it was worth it. The look would not have been the same if it had been a simple top-down raglan. We both love how it turned out, and I’ve been known to steal it from time to time.

Mr. Rogers Cardi — Mr. Handsome masquerading as Mr. Rogers

And Sometimes I Sew

August 29, 201213 Comments

I learned the basics of sewing back in junior high school home economics. I actually got a C- in that class, which is pretty ironic given that my current occupation is home-ec in a nutshell. I hope I’ve improved, but I guess it is possible that I’m still barely-passing. My husband would never tell me if it were true, and that’s just one of the things I love about him.

Though I learned to sew way back then (more years ago than I’d like to count), I never had my own sewing machine and didn’t feel like I was missing anything. But then I became a mom, and lived in a house that wasn’t a glorified bachelor pad. Suddenly it seamed like a sewing machine was something I was supposed to have. So last Christmas I asked for one and, lucky me, I got it! It took a while to get my sewing mojo as it required taking some of my precious free-time away from knitting. But once I got started I was off to the races. I’ve finished a few projects since then, and I’ll share some of them with you in the coming weeks.

This afternoon I was inspired to show off my most recent project, the Urban Unisex Hoodie by Heidi & Finn. I got some cute pictures of A wearing it while running around at the park and wanted to share them with you. My choice of fabric (a light-weight fleece and lightweight jersey) wasn’t the greatest as some of the seams got very thick and my machine had a hard time getting through. I also think the nap on the fleece bunged-up (that’s a technical term) the machine so I had to do some impromptu manual-reading to learn how to clean it. The thread frayed and split a lot, which I’m chalking up to bad thread choice for the fabric, though that is a highly uneducated guess. In the end, I’m eager to try the pattern again with different fabric as the finished product is quite cute.

: Urban Unisex Hoodie

Who Are “They” Anyway?

August 28, 20124 Comments

As the tagline says, I knit when They let me. In my case, They refers to the two mini-people who inhabit our home. A is my 3.5 year old boy. He is a cuddly, sweet, charmer who is sharp as a tack and has a very quick wit. P is my 1.5 year old girl whose sweetness is mixed in with a bit of spicy. She is feisty, stubborn and independent, three qualities that I think will take her far in life. They are pretty awesome if you ask me.

I get to knit on the rare occasions when they aren’t demanding 100% of my attention. When I do get to knit it tends to be projects for them. I love the instant gratification of kids’ knits, and they are by-far the best models. But really, I’m just taking advantage of the young years when they don’t yet have an opinion about what they wear. I’m sure it won’t be long before there is a moratorium on wearing anything made my mom.

Until then I can do this…

And this…