It’s been awhile since I shared a good amount of photos. Figured I’d try to make up a bit!

I made this for Baby 4 recently. The sweater is from this pattern, although heavily modified. (Specific mods listed on the Ravelry project page). The booties are a modified version of the Perfect Little Booties pattern. The longies pattern is of my own creation. The yarn I used is Mosaic Moon’s 3-ply merino in the Elements colorway.

I’m also improvising a crochet baby blanket pattern called “Subtle Stripes,” this is a photo of the prototype blanket-in-progress. Don’t mind the orange juice splatters, Dana is a messy cup drinker!

Miss Bean turned FOUR on May first, can you believe it? (Pay no heed to the deck-building going on )

Guess who loves to get the mail? Noah loves to help out, being the eldest definitely has its privileges!

D-man. At almost two, he’s still our little Draco with that white blond hair.

I need new photos of The Team, these are recent, but from the last few months. The boys both have upcoming birthdays- Dane turns two on August 10th & Noah will be six on September 16th. I have some cool handmade gifts in the works for the both of them, but they’ll be getting other fun things as well. Noah has especially asked for the Indiana Jones Lego video game.. he’s such a little gamer now! I’m looking forward to all the ice cream cake (it’s a family birthday tradition!).

Posted in crafts, knitting, milestones, the team & written by Niki —
4 Replies »

For Ella Bean’s fourth birthday we gifted her with a fabulous retro play kitchen. For some of her small gifts, I improvised up a few things for her new kitchen- including this super quick, super simple to make cup of milk.

This is a beginner (easy) pattern.

You’ll need:
worsted weight yarn (cotton, acrylic, wool is my personal preference) in cup color & small amount of white or off white yarn for the milk. If desired, you can use a contrast color to embroider on the cup like I did.
size G hook
stuffing (wool roving or polyfill)
darning needle

NOTE- Do NOT join rounds!

Making the cup-
Round 1: With cup color, 6 sc into a magic ring (6 sc).
Round 2: 2 sc in ea st around (12 sc).
Round 3: sc in 1st st, 2 sc in next st (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) around (18 sc).
Round 4: sc in the first two sc, 2 sc in next st, (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st) around (24 sc).
Round 5: sc in the first three sc, 2 sc in next st, (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st) around (30 sc).
Round 6: sc in the BACK LOOPS ONLY of each st around (30 sc).
Rounds 7- 21: sc around
Round 22: Slip stitch into each stitch. This creates a “cup edge.”
Finish off leaving a long tail (about 9 inches or so) to sew milk to the top of the cup.

Making the milk-
Round 1: With white/off-white, 6 sc in a magic ring (6 sc).
Round 2: 2 sc in ea st around (12 sc).
Round 3: sc in 1st st, 2 sc in next st (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) around (18 sc).
Round 4: sc in the first two sc, 2 sc in next st, (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st) around (24 sc).
Round 5: sc in the first three sc, 2 sc in next st, (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st) around (30 sc).
Finish of with a slip stitch & weave in yarn end.

To assemble, sew “milk” to round 21 & leave about an inch & a half opening for ease of stuffing. Stuff somewhat firmly, then finish sewing the gap. Weave in the yarn end well as this is intended for a child’s toy, bring yarn to bottom of cup & pull slightly then snip the yarn end.

Super simple!

(You may not make these for profit without a license, only for non-profit charities or personal use/gifting.)

Posted in crafts, crochet, crochet patterns & written by Niki —
3 Replies »

The blog has been fully updated & theme renovated. I still have a few minor kinks to work out, but they can wait as they aren’t of any importance at all (only to me!).

I wanted to get all my blog work finished so I can get to work on finishing up my new online shop, KnitKnots! I plan to open in September once Noah & Ella have begun school for the year. I will start out selling my one of a kind patterns, dyed yarns, & handcrafted play foods for children. Eventually I will sell apparel as well, but I’m starting out small.

Not only do I plan to sell my handcrafted goods again, I have always greatly enjoyed purchasing handmade goods as well. I can’t tell you how many times this year alone I’ve purchased something lovely from Etsy or Hyenacart, but I can say that I haven’t stepped foot into a Wal-Mart!
The founder of Hyenacart recently created a wonderful, interactive website for those of us who buy handmade (or those working up to buying handmade!)- Inspire Handmade. There are loads of great stories from work at home parents & other good information to be found at Inspire Handmade. Totally worth checking out!

Posted in buy handmade, knitknots, site, wordpress & written by Niki —
2 Replies »

Sorry about the downtime & temporary ugliness/craziness, I FINALLY upgraded Wordpress & I have a renegade plugin messing with the blog script. Should be fixed soon!

Posted in site, wordpress & written by Niki —
3 Replies »

I’ve been feeling pretty nasty (lots of morning sickness) the last few weeks. I’ve also been pretty picky over food.. even losing interest in one of my faves- TACOS!
Many of my favorite foods I can’t seem to stomach right now. I’ve also been having some really ODD (for me, anyway!) cravings:
- Cherry limeade from Sonic
- French fries from Wendy’s (or other fast food joints)
- Kraft Mac & Cheese (which is really crazy since I haven’t been able to stomach that nastiness since I began making homemade macaroni & cheese these last five years!)
- Worlds of Fried Things: fried mozzarella cheese sticks, fried pizza (read about that on a blog, now I can’t help but daydream of the stuff, LOL), fried cheese curds like they have at the Minnesota State Fair.. the list goes on!

Now I’m not a junk food person (not like I was when I was younger at any rate!), so that’s why I say these cravings are odd, LOL.

Texas Pete, my all-time favorite cayenne pepper hot sauce, has become a non-thing as it upsets my tender tummy. I lived on that stuff when I was pregnant with Dane, even to the point of drinking it!

Pregnancy is such a blast, isn’t it?

Posted in food, pregnancy & written by Niki —
2 Replies »

When I found out I was pregnant, I took out all my pattern books & searched for a nice, simple, yet adaptable newborn hat. Unfortunately, my books only held patterns for infants about the age of three months & older.. so I did what I do best- improvised myself a new baby hat pattern in a “true” newborn size.

This is an easy pattern, suitable for beginners.

You’ll need:
4 double-pointed needles (DPNs), size 5
4 double-pointed needles (DPNs), size 7
worsted weight yarn, about 100 yards (this is an estimate)
darning needle for finishing

To knit the hat:
I made this pattern with the intention of knitting different styled ribbing. You could also make this a rolled-brim hat by simply knitting in stockinette stitch for an inch, then purling a row before beginning the rest of the hat.

That hat I have pictured here features a brim in the “rib/seed stitch” as follows:
Cast on 54 stitches on your size 5 double pointed needle, distributing the stitches over three size 5 DPNs.
Round 1: K 2, P2 around
Round 2: P2, K2 around
Round 3: K 2, P2 around
Round 4: P2, K2 around
Round 5: K 2, P2 around
Round 6: P2, K2 around
Change to your size 7 double pointeds, then knit until hat measures four inches from the cast on edge. For a preemie sized hat, knit only until hat measures three & a half inches & for larger micro-preemie size; three inches from the cast on edge.

Decrease your stitches as follows:
Decrease round 1: K 6, K2tog around
Decrease round 2: Knit
Decrease round 3: K 5, K2tog around
Decrease round 4: Knit
Decrease round 5: K 4, K2tog around
Decrease round 6: Knit
Decrease round 7: K 3, K2tog around
Decrease round 8: Knit
Decrease round 9: K 2, K2tog around
Decrease round 10: Knit
Decrease round 11: K 1, K2tog around
Decrease round 12: K2tog around
Finish off by using your darning needle & draw through the remaining stitches AT LEAST twice, then bring your yarn end through to the wrong side of the hat & weave in.
That’s it! Hope you enjoy.

(You may not make these for profit without a license, only for non-profit charities or personal use/gifting.)

Posted in knitting, knitting patterns & written by Niki —
2 Replies »

The Ice Cream Cone pattern has been altered to reflect the NEW pattern. I really love how the new pattern turned out, hope you do too!

I’m going to be working on a new theme before I upgrade, so if things get weird over the next few days to a week- you’ll know why.

Posted in crochet patterns, site & written by Niki —
2 Replies »

I really need to update regularly, don’t I? The summer is always the busiest time of the year- have to keep these wild beasts entertained! There is a lot of change going on for us right now. I haven’t read blogs in forever, and for that I’m sorry. Once N & E are in school this August, I should have a little more time for blogging!

One thing I NEED to do to this site is upgrade my blog & change some things around. I just have NO patience right now (because we can only get dial up in our area, it takes a LOT longer to web browse & I really don’t have the time for much internet with this lot! )

I know I’ve blogged before about free patterns I want to add to the blog. These include:
- Changing the Ice Cream Cones pattern to the new version
- Cup of milk (or juice, ect.)
- True Newborn Sized Hat in knit (photo of finished prototype below)
- I’m also planning a “pattern series” in crochet (possibly in knit as well) of play foods that are based off items found in the Harry Potter movies.. this is in very early planning stages
- Converting ALL my patterns into .pdf files for Ravelry (I’m also publishing some for sale)

What can I say other than I procrastinate?

The pregnancy is going well! I want to thank each one of you who has wished us well, it means so much. I’m feeling very pregnant (around 6 weeks was when my symptoms started to vanish with the miscarriage) which is a FANTASTIC sign!
I’ve had one midwife appointment (which went great other than losing about ten pounds!) but I will not begin seeing the OBs until I am around 10-12 weeks. It really isn’t imperative until then because early in a pregnancy, I know what I need to/can’t do. I’m also taking a different approach to this pregnancy, as I don’t have that “impending doom” feeling I’ve had about pre-term birth the last few times I’ve been pregnant. I really think we WILL have a Valentine Baby, if I go a small bit early- a birthday gift for Daddy!

I’d love to end this with a photo or belly shot- but being only a bit over 6 weeks pregnant, I have no belly yet. (Unless bloat counts! ) So here is a tiny woolie set!

Newborn longies & hat set in Sushi Sonnets hand dyed by Dyeing to Fly @ HC.

Posted in crochet patterns, knitting patterns, pregnancy, site & written by Niki —
4 Replies »