FO: Valentine’s Countdown

Yesterday, I promised a full post on the Valentine’s Countdown, and thanks to some lovely comments on it, I decided to do the full post today!

The Sugar House Shop, where I purchased the pattern for BK’s advent calendar, posted some new countdowns earlier this month, and I found I was helpless to resist. When I purchased materials for the Christmas calendar, I had also purchased the materials for the birthday countdown to get free shipping (I know I’m not the only one who commits to multiple projects just for free shipping, right?). And it just so happened that the ice cream colors I chose for the birthday countdown were almost an exact match for the Valentine’s Countdown.

I decided to see how much I could squeeze out of the 9×12″ felt sheets I had purchased for the birthday countdown, and it easily handled an ice cream scoop, two hearts and I still have half of it left over (yes, this means I will probably make even more of these projects :-)).

I swear, this project just flew by. I enjoyed it so much!

I only made one small change, which is that the pattern called for some printable Stick ‘N Stitch, which I could not find locally. I did some research, and found out that the new printer Mr Snips recently bought for us allowed you to print a mirror image of your file. So I did that, and used the iron-on transfer pen instead. It worked out great!

I only have one regret on this project, and it is that I only used the white floss on the dark pink hearts. I think I should have also used it on the purple. BUT – BK loves dark pink so much and she really likes the purple/pink combo, so I’m trying not to feel too bad about it. It’s difficult to read the purple ones from far away, but just fine if you’re near.

In fact, she loved the combo so much, she requested it for my one addition to this project. I recently found out that she can write her name backwards flawlessly, so I had her write her name backwards in iron-on transfer pen, and then I transferred it to a purple heart. I stitched over it with some pink, and now we will have a permanent memento of how sweetly her little 4-year-old hands write her name in 2018. It is, in fact, my favorite heart. And she will really like it because it means she will get a 15th chocolate out of it. I plan to fill the little hearts with a combination of Hershey’s Kisses and Andes Mints, both of which are the perfect size for these sweet little pockets. 

Here’s the big ta-da!

I’ll leave you with just one pro tip on this one. When threading the floss through the top to string them all together, using a safety pin was making me crazy. I pulled out a long plastic tapestry needle from my knitting bag, and it sailed through the tops like a breeze!

Now bring on January 31st, so we can fill this up! 🙂

Challenge complete

Hello and happy holidays to you all! I meant to get back here before Christmas to give you an update on the advent calendar, but I was so consumed with that, and then with a wee sweater for my friend’s little boy, and the Christmas preparations that it just didn’t happen. But what I will tell you is that I completed the advent calendar very late on December 18. I’m very pleased with it.

First of all, a few close-ups.

The bunny is the first animal I completed, because I was trying to dip my toe in gradually, and he didn’t require any embroidery for his face. He just has this adorable (magnetic!) fluffy felt ball tail.

Then, I made the fox. I did have to have a couple of goes on the eyes, but I got there OK in the end.

The owl is perhaps what I am most pleased with it. I finished him according to the pattern. My daughter named him “Harold MacCaw.”

But I just kept looking at him, and felt he needed a little more sparkle. And because after I had finished handsewing the border of the snow globe with white, my daughter asked for more gold, I decided more gold was what he needed. So I decided to try to layer them a bit like feathers to make him both more bling-tastic, and to add some feathery texture.

I then moved no to the deer, which gave me no troubles. I was getting into the swing of it.

And the sweet little hedgehog.

And then the skunk last, because he was BK’s least favorite. Though I love his little face.

But the piece-de-resistance is the star – outlined in gold sequins. I *love* this one.

So here it is, all together — the grand ta-da!!!

This was a fantastic project and I loved making it! There were a few minutes of stress, mostly due to my compressed timeline, but overall it was really great. So great that I’ve already purchased the materials to make the birthday countdown (though thankfully I have a few months to finish that one!).

I only had the one little hiccup with the instructions, but Jennifer was fantastic, and made it right for me immediately. The instructions were very clear, and good enough for a sewing novice for me. I also found the sewing of tiny things to be more enjoyable than the knitting of tiny things.

I hope all of you have had time to spend time with your family and friends, and that you’ve found a little craft time for yourself in amongst the festivities. The new year is rapidly approaching and I hope to see you here to talk crafting some more in 2018!

Heroes in a half shell

The very first thing I knit for BK’s advent calendar turned Valentine’s countdown, was a Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I cannot describe how deep and how passionately my child feels about Michelangelo, and the Turtles in general.

We have Bitty Babies, and beautiful dresses for them to wear, and Build a Bears with fancy clothes and all kinds of other things, but her stuffed Turtles (she has these) are what get to wear the nice clothes and use the nice accessories. Michelangelo is the one always selected to go on trips when limited toys can be packed on the airplane, or even a short car trip. In short, my daughter loves the “party dude.”

From the very beginning of planning the countdown, I knew I wanted the things to be stuff that reflected who she was, instead of just holiday baubles. I wanted this calendar that I am making with my own two hands to be full of my love, but full of my daughter’s personality. And the first thing that had to be on it was Mikey.

She then requested Donnie and Leo, which I happily obliged. She doesn’t like Raph all that much, so she originally didn’t want him, but then changed her mind. I haven’t made him yet, but he’s on the list.

I made these in a similar way to the tiny ornament, using the ornament pattern from Handknit Holidays, knitting on a smaller needle and not increasing so many times. I added on the eyes and mouths (details like these are so much harder than you think – especially on such tiny things! I had to redo them a few times) and then also tied an extra bit of yarn to the back to make the ends of their masks.

Turtle power!

 

Switching directions, and counting down

So, I mentioned that I was going to make BK an advent calendar. But shortly after I posted that, she declared that she did not need another Christmas calendar. And she already has a Halloween countdown, too. But what would be good is a Valentine’s countdown, she said. Well, count me tickled! That saves me making ten excruciatingly small knitted items! And BK loves a good countdown.

Since I had only made a few items, and had not really done anything totally committing me to Christmas (like sewing a giant felt tree), this is an easy turn. There are two things I made that I’m going to have to scrap for the countdown, but still plan to turn into little ornaments for her tree she has in her room at Christmas. The first is the ornament I shared last time. And the second is this cute little guy.

He was originally a gnome in Teeny Tiny Mochimochi, which I purchased shortly after deciding to undertake this project. There are several really cute things that I love in this book. It was an extremely easy mod to change his clothes to red with some black pants/boots, and ta-da! you have Santa Claus.

But when BK got up the next morning to find him on the couch, she asked, “Where is his nose?”

So mod #2 was adding a little button nose to please her.

 

I hate to say it, but she was right. He did need a nose.