Knit for the Penguins

[Katie Rose here]

Jezebel.com has a story about a knitting emergency involving penguins. I'm sure you are all interested, so I'm linking it here.

Here are the penguins:

Jezebel.com writes:

Skeinz, a yarn store in New Zealand, is calling on knitters throughout the world to knit sweaters for the penguins affected by a massive oil spill that occurred earlier this month.

Go check it out.

Peppermint & Polly on a Vintage Quilt

I have no idea who made this quilt. It was in my parent's house for as long as I can remember, and now Penelope is enjoying it with her friend Peppermint. I love the mismatched floral fabrics used in the quilt. 

Penelope loves that they match her elephant and her outfit! Does anyone know what quilt pattern this might be? 

Quilts in my Office

My office at the law school is chock-full of my mother's quilts. First there is the one that she loaned to the law school to put in the lobby of my office suite:

It makes it easy to give directions to new 1Ls. We just say: "Turn right at the giant yellow quilt."

Then, I have two quilts in my office. One is by the door, predominantly gold and "Carolina Blue":

And the other is in my reading nook; this one is warm tones, browns and beiges, but also with light blues:

Kobo is my new BFF

[Katie Rose here]

I received a my new Kobo Glo ebook reader in the mail the other day, and I'm in love.

My new KoboGlo. It's rad.

I know this isn't strictly a fiber arts post, but here's the thing.

One of the reasons that I love this ereader so much (and so much more than the Barnes and Noble Nook that I used to own) is its physical appeal.

Or "interface" in tech speak.

Kobo, since its beginning, has used a quilted design on the backs of its readers to create a "softer" interface, as well as a grippy texture. They use a physical metaphor of fiber and fabric to make the devices more user-friendly.

Here's the quilted back of mine.

I picked turquoise because I could.

The reader has an excellent built-in reading light, but still ends up being smaller than my old Nook. I love holding this thing.

Just the right size.

Here is a picture of my new reader in its natural habitat.

Seriously, people. I'm all about this thing. Plus, my local indy bookstore sells their ebooks through the Kobo online bookstore.

What's not to love?

:::

Update Jan. 2014: My law students say that Kobo readers are the "hipster" eBook readers. Who knew?

FOs: Elijah Elephant and Sandals for Penelope

[Jordynn here]

I spent the last few hours the night before I went into labor finishing this Elijah elephant for Penelope. I had no idea that I'd be waking up the next morning with contractions 5 minutes apart!

This was a relatively quick knit. Some of the instructions seemed confusing when I first read them, but made sense once I tried them out. I used some Vickie Howell organic craft yarn (which is 35% milk fiber, 65% cotton) that I had in my stash, and stuffed the elephant with the kapok fiber I ordered a few weeks ago. 

The only thing I had left to do was create the eyes. My mom, a very experienced crafter, finished those for me this week so Penelope could enjoy her first stuffed toy. 

Then, she whipped up these cute barefoot sandals using t-shirt fabric. She used this tutorial from Ucreate. 

These are perfect for a summer baby. Not only do they stay on her feet, but they actually fit. Penelope has mommy's long feet and toes, but none of her shoes marked "newborn" are small enough. The booties she wore home from the hospital were actually an "extra preemie" size that I ordered from Etsy--and her dress was preemie size as well--even though she was a 7 pounder! 

Here's Penelope modeling her sandals with her new friend, Peppermint the Elephant. She's lying on her Connect Four Baby Blanket, which I posted about back in March. 

Read more about Peppermint the Elephant on my Ravelry project page. 

FO: Penelope Marguerite

[Jordynn here]

She finally arrived on August 13, 2013! Penelope Marguerite weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz and measured 21 inches long. Here she is modeling her first knit hat:

In Greek mythology, Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, who outwitted scores of unwanted male suitors (while Odysseus was off on his adventures and presumed dead) by saying she would choose when she was done weaving a funeral shroud for her father-in-law--and unravelling her work every night. A good name for the daughter of a knitter!

Here she is in her going home outfit, with hand-crocheted booties I purchased on ebay. 

Nine Months of Crafting: High Contrast Mobile

[Jordynn here]

The Playard we got for Peapod came with a play gym/mobile set up, including the usual stuffed toys that go with such items. (They are on everything--the bouncer, the swing, etc.)


















I decided to swap out those toys for something black and white for her to look at in her earlier days. I was inspired by this blog, which offers a nice tutorial on how to make your own mobile using felt.

I made eight squares each in black and white, and then used the rest of the felt to come up with some geometric patterns.

  

Each square uses two pieces of felt in the background color. I used fusible interfacing in between to make them stiffer, and then used embroidery thread in the contrasting color to stitch the pieces together. 

I initially tried to use a hot glue gun to attach the smaller pieces of felt for the pattern, but then ended up going over most of them in embroidery thread, anyway. This made it a bit challenging to get the needle through the layers, in places. Next time I'd skip the hot glue and just slog away with the embroidery thread. 

Next I attached each square to a clear shower curtain hook using fishing line. 

The only problem is that this mobile has attracted an unintended user. Why is it that all baby items are irresistible to cats? Here is Leo testing it out.