FO: A hat and a pillow

I finished up the selbu modern hat, just in time for the last dip in the temperatures this spring in Wisconsin.  We are slowly starting the climb into warm temperatures and it has now been a few days since I've worn a hat.  I'm excited for summer to arrive!

I modified the pattern slightly in that I used a different cast-on.  This second photo is a close-up of that work.  The tubular cast-on is fantastic - a nice stretchy rib to keep the look uniform and fit snug.

I also wanted to more close fitting hat (less tam and more toque) so I dropped one pattern repeat around.  Thus I only did seven repeats around instead of the recommended eight.  I have not yet blocked the hat, instead opting to let it stretch on it's own.  I think the fit is just perfect right now and I don't see any puckering in the stranded knitting that I am concerned about.

The other object I recently finished was a quick pillow.  This is a practice pillow - to learn how to make piping and put together a folded pillow cover that was relatively snug fitting.  I just sort of winged the construction but used this incredibly detailed and informative tutorial to make the piping.  All the material is left over from a project my Mom recently completed for our girls that I will post about next.  DH is not thrilled with the bird, or bright turquoise color and says it looks like something that could belong in our non-existent vacation home in Florida (haha).  It is bright, I admit, but it is growing on me.  I think I'll keep it around for awhile.

Weekend sewing

Over the weekend the girls and I found ourselves with a 50-degree, rainy day and Dad gone for work. What were we to do? The girls declared it a sewing day, and I happily obliged. It wasn't weekend sewing with Heather Ross (that book is arriving later this week!), but it was weekend sewing to be sure.

Last time I sewed with the girls I had each one sit in my lap and work the fabric into the machine. This time, I showed them how to use the foot pedal - with their hands.

Olivia has sometimes complained of her back hurting while we drive in the car (but at no other time?!?), so she asked that we make a car pillow for her back. Abby wanted one too. They picked out the fabric themselves, and I cut it. I started the stitching, but they completed it. I got out the poly-fil, but they stuffed the pillows themselves (all the while claiming that tutus, princess slippers and swim goggles were the required wardrobe for the project). I sewed them closed, but they will be the ones to use and love them.

To distinguish the pillows from one another - since they picked out identical fabrics - we used their first inital on the back of the pillows. I cut out the first letter of their names from an extra iron-on patch I had lying around.

Once the girls had their pillows I knew I'd have an extra 20 minutes while they immediately played with them. I got to work on a small, quick project that I've been wanting to try for some time - a coffee sleeve. Thanks to Erin of House on Hill Road for making the project so quick and so easy to pull together. You can find her tutorial here.

New Pillows

It was pillow week here at The End of This Row...









My Mom surprised the girls with a set of Eric Carle's Very Hungary Catepillar pillows this past weekend. We had been talking about the lack of pillows for the older girls at their two day/week daycare and my Mom said she had the perfect solution. As you can imagine, the girls love them! The littlest ones' pillow will have to stay at home for awhile, but it is very cute in her room for now.

My Mom's project gave me the inspiration, along with Tigerlily Tinkering's recent room-makeover-with-pillows, to give pillow covers a try. It didn't hurt that my Mom provided me with a book that had basic directions. I did a set in the gold circle fabric for our library (my primary school work place) which now cover some, IMO, gaudy maroon floral pillows that came with the couch. The bigger pillow is for our living room which was in need of some color. It now covers an ever-darkening cream-colored pillow that was starting to see some major wear from little shoes and feet.

The fabrics I used for the three pillows were gifts. My mom gave me the Amy Butler awhile back and I received a huge roll of the gold-toned fabric from my good friend Lily this past summer. If you haven't checked out her Etsy shop yet, you should. She is one talented woman. Makes me begin to realize that I need to start paying my good fortune forward...

These covers are deceptively easy to complete! In fact, I made all three pillow covers in under an hour. Yes: I ironed and cut the fabric, sewed and covered the pillows - and had them back on their respective couches - in under 60 mintues. I could hardly believe it. Granted they aren't anything fancy; just your basic knife-edge, fold over closure pillows, but still. Complete craft gratification during naptime?! Can't beat that.