Flowered Gnome Skirt
The flowers I cut out of some flannel and simply sewed onto the skirt with a zigzag stitch…same with the yellow dot in the middle. They aren’t perfect but at least they don’t look like eggs. I did add suspenders out of tubes of yellow fleece but they were bulky and wouldn’t lie flat. So I took the suspenders off and I think the outfit looks just as good without it.
Olivea's Unfelted Hat
Another integral part of Olivea’s gnome outfit is the pointed pink hat. I used this Gnome Pattern, but switched it up from a light weight yarn to use lamb’s pride bulky again. With 10.5 needles I cast on 76 stitches, and instead of 4 rows between decreases I used 2 rows between.
One run through the washer and dryer and it fit me, a second run through the washing machine and it fit Liv. The final step was to add on some needle felted flowers. So yesterday I bought a needle felting kit and went at it last night. Needle felting is a blast. I will definitely be using this technique to embellish more in the future.
One wash later, it fits my big head.
The Felted Hat
My adorable fleece flower.
My daughter Olivea is 21 months old, and this is the first year we’re going to try trick-or-treating. Naturally I wanted to make her costume. I wanted to make it last year as well, but I found a really cute fleece flower outfit at a thrift store and never finished the costume I’d started. And because she’s adorable here is a photo from last year.
This year she’s going to be a gnome girl (that’s what she was supposed to be last year too). My inspiration was this costume I saw at Walmart last year.
The Inspiration
I thought it was adorable, but I didn’t want to spend $17 on something I could make myself. Of course then I went to Joanns and spent $20 on materials and didn’t get it finished in time.
I also thought that the big flowers looked more like eggs than anything floral.
This year, I got out the materials and got started early. As a knitter I decided to knit the hat and shoes. I’ve used 3 skeins of Lamb’s Pride Bulky and these patterns: Gnome Hat and Elf Shoes. (ravelry links)
Today I’ll show you the Elf Gnome Shoes. They were knit in a bulky pink wool, and I used some left over green Knit Picks Merino (doubled) for the green squares. I knit this pattern verbatim, and it was quick and easy.
Pre-felting these puppies fit my size 11 feet. After 1 run through the wash and dryer, and one more run through the washer they were Olivea sized! After the 2nd run through the washer I stuffed them with paper to shape and dry them. They are still a little big, so she can use them as slippers for this winter and probably next winter too.
And the results. Tune in next time for the next piece.
Weighing in at 11 inches
And at a precious 5.5 inches
I love to craft and create and write, so it seemed natural to start a blog. Feeding into the creation of this blog is that I recently turned 30 and would like nothing more than to stay at home and care for my girl. If I clicked my heels three times and was granted my perfect life I’d have more children and spend my days crafting and cooking for my family. When I was younger I had iron clad goals. I knew, with all the arrogance of 21 year old beginning her career, what my future would hold. Now I know I should be looking for more professional challenges, and I just can’t bring myself to care. The only goal I am passionate about now is my family. I’m struggling with whether or not that should depress me…
I have some small skill in a number of areas. I love to cook, sew, knit, spin, weave and will try just about anything. I appreciate the beauty in small things and love it when something pretty sneaks up on me.
My daughter’s daycare gave me this impatiens in a baby food jar decorated by my 17 month old. I have tried many times to grow flowers in my fairly dimly lit kitchen window and failed. But this little impatiens has grown and bloomed all summer long, and it makes me smile everyday.
Some Small Skill 