Monthly Archives: December 2019

Kitchen Reno

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I’ve never been one to do home repair.  I know I’ve got plenty of DIY skills, but I also know that I don’t have the kind of skills to, say, lay tile or re-hang a door or renovate a kitchen.

I do, however, have the skills to renovate a play kitchen!

(FYI, this is going to be a long one.  And there isn’t going to be any knitting involved.  You have been warned.)

Anyway, we had been thinking that our kid would appreciate a play kitchen for a while.  After all, one of his favorite things to do is to pull out pots and pans from our cupboards, pretend to stir something (usually puzzle pieces or pompoms) with a wooden spoon.  He’ll then repeatedly say “Cook!  Cook!” until someone acknowledges what he’s doing and takes a “taste.”  It’s very sweet.

Now, as you know, I’m an elaborator.  I could just buy a play kitchen, but no!  I had to do something fancy.  I started my search for a used play kitchen that needed a makeover.  I tried the kid’s consignment shops, Goodwill, I even looked on Craigslist.  And I didn’t find anything that really spoke to me.

But, then, driving home from a playdate, I saw it- on the side of the road.  A really nice home-made play kitchen that needed a little TLC!  It was fate!  A free kitchen!  Right there, less than a half a block from my house!

I hopped out and tried to shove it in the back of my car before the kid realized I wasn’t going to let him out of his car seat.  I couldn’t close the trunk, but it was only a half a block, and my kid was losing it, so I figured I could make it to the house if I just drove carefully.

Well, I immediately hit a pothole and the kitchen fell out the back of my car and busted into about fifteen pieces.

The kid was completely beyond reason at this point, I had smashed a play kitchen across the street (right in front of the previous owner’s house, I might add), and several neighbors had definitely seen what I had done.  Not my best moment.  Luckily, a neighbor stepped up and helped me load the pieces back in my trunk (and let me borrow some bungee cords).

Long story short, I got everything home and got the baby calmed down.  And, now I had a bigger project than I had expected.

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Clearly this play kitchen had started life as a TV stand and some extra lumber, and someone’s very talented grandparent had converted it into a kitchen.

I got to work, taking off the hardware, removing the DVD “burners”, and sanding all the pieces.  I bought a new faucet, paint and some nails and came up with a plan.

First thing, I reassembled the shelves and put the counter top back in place.  (I thought about waiting until after the pieces were painted, but I’m glad I didn’t.  Turns out I’m very bad at driving nails, and I would have totally ruined the paint if I’d done it the other way around.)

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Then a few coats of paint.  (The green looks distinctly more avocado than I had envisioned.  It took a while, but it’s growing on me.)

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Then I broke out the painter’s tape and added in green details on the shelves, cook top and the side.  It really was starting to look good!

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Then I installed the new faucet (which was definitely easier than installing a real faucet), put back the doors (which was more difficult than I had imagined- one of the hinges must have gotten bent in accident, and didn’t want to shut all the way), and cut a piece of plastic for the oven door (that I installed with some truly toxic-smelling glue).

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Then it was time for the last few details- burners made from painted wood circles and cut-up tongue depressors, some chalkboard paint for the “menu,” a new sink, and a hook to hold a kid-sized apron.  Then the grandparents supplied the kitchen with lots of adorable pots and pans, baby cookbooks, and my mom sewed a huge basket of felt food

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Then all that was left was a big red bow on top, and we were ready for Christmas morning!

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I’m happy to say, he loved it!

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I think it was the big winner this year (well, at least until he opened up the beeping, flashing trucks from his great-grandpa).

It was a really fun, and something so different from my usual projects.  I really enjoyed putting it together!

Did you do any Christmas crafting?

New Pattern: Radish Pullover

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It’s almost Christmas, and I have a present for you!

It’s the pattern for my Radish Pullover!  It turned out so well, that I just had to write it up.  And I hope you like it, too.

IMG_2276It’s a fairly simple bottom up, seamless pullover with a V-neck and 2×2 ribbing around the cuffs, hem and collar.  There is a fully-charted stranded Radish motif that runs across the sleeves and belly, and the pattern is sized from 0-6 months up to 8-10 years.

This sweater is a great way to use up those partial skeins of sock yarn that I’m sure you have laying around your stash.  The brown doesn’t use more than a half skein, and the radish colors (green, red and white) are only used for a handful of rows each.

And the best part? Since the inspiration for this sweater came from my kid’s favorite book, Sheep in a Jeep, I’m donating all proceeds from this pattern to the Children’s Literacy Initiative, a fantastic organization that supports teachers and their students to help every kid learn how to read.   I’m trying a “Pay what you can” model this time, so you can get the pattern for free, or donate up to $15 (or whatever feels right to you).IMG_2257

So, head on over to Ravelry and pick up a copy of the Radish Pullover so you can make a sweater for your favorite little reader!

Inspiration: His Dark Materials

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I always get nervous when they make a movie or TV show from my favorite books.  I mean, I get excited, too, because yay!  They’re making a new version of The Golden Compass!  But also, oh no!  They’re making a new version of The Golden Compass…  there’s no way it’ll be as good as the book.

Well, I’m very pleased to inform you that while HBO’s new His Dark Materials isn’t exactly a word-for word retelling of the book, it’s really really good!

(Here’s where I tell you to go read the books, if you haven’t read them already.  They’re so stinking good… Though, I probably haven’t read them since high school, so I should probably get them out of the library again.)

Anyway, the girl they have playing Lyra, Dafne Keen, is insanely talented, and a total bad ass (pardon my French).  She’s feisty and fierce and exactly the kind of 11-year-old that I want to be when I grow up.

And, she wears some pretty killer knitwear (after all, she’s running around in the arctic tundra! You’ve gotta bundle up while fighting for the fate of all mankind while riding an armored polar bear).His-Dark-Materials-1208770

We’ll start simple.  The mustard-yellow scarf.  It’s a nice, long (but substantial) scarf with a simple rib pattern.  Something like this Mistake Rib Scarf from Purl Soho.

mistake-rib-scarf-mm-600-6-294x441_medium2And her gloves!  Did you see her gloves?  All that fine color work?  To die for!  I don’t think I’d ever have the patience for all those little ends, but man, I’d love a pair like these Bright Gloves by Lesley Smith Designs.IMG_20190325_122756226_medium2

But the thing that really sets off the outfit is her fantastic, cozy hat.  I’ve been watching that hat since it showed up on screen a few weeks ago, and I’m still not 100% sure if it’s knit or crocheted.  I think it’s crocheted, which would make sense, crochet creates a much denser (and warmer) fabric, which would be great for the extreme conditions Lyra faces in the North.  It’s not exactly the same, but this Common People Hat by Martin Up North has the same vibe as Lyra’s.IMG_E6300_medium2

Long story short, give it a watch (and a read), if for no other reason than for the woolens.

To the Nth degree

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Sometimes I get carried away.  I can throw myself into a project a little too deeply.  Especially when it comes to fixing or cleaning something.

For example, this morning, I had intended to sweep around the back door of our house, and before I knew it, I had the whole kitchen swept, had spot-cleaned a spaghetti stain from last night’s dinner from the wall (thanks kid) and was finishing up a load of dishes.  It’s not a bad thing- my kitchen’s now a lot cleaner.  But, it did take a good half hour to do a chore that I had expected to take about two minutes.  (Though part of that was the kid “helping” with the broom.)

That same thing happened with my socks from last week.  I had finished fixing the little hole in the toe, posted about it, then put them on.

Then, I realized that I really should reinforce that bit of the heel… and the ball of the foot on the other sock was looking a little threadbare… oh and over here was a bit sparse, so it could probably use some help.

Well.

This happened:IMG_2419.JPG

They turned out ridiculous.  (Pro tip: Don’t use pink yarn to darn toes… you’ll think that your toe has busted through your sock every time you look down.)  But, I should be able to get a couple more years’ use out of them now.

Although, I do see a couple spots that could use a little more darning…

Have you ever gotten carried away on a similar project?

Mending

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I feel like I’ve been on a streak lately, where everything I pull out of storage is full of holes.  I found two sweaters, a tea cozy and a hat that needed repair, and I just tried on my most favorite pair of socks, and my toe went right through the tip.

Fair warning:  The following are photos of an *ahem* well-loved sock.  Not exactly the pretty things you might be looking for in a knitting blog.  You have been warned.

Anyway, the toe:

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You can see that these socks have already received some TLC- I patched up a big bare spot on the ball of the foot last winter.  Now the toe’s busted through and the heel is about to go.  Some might give up on so worn-out a pair of socks, but not me!  I worked dang hard on these bad boys, and I want to wear them!

It’s time for my favorite knitting mending technique- the duplicate stitch. (This tutorial is more about using the duplicate stitch for decorative use, but it’s the same idea if you want to use it for repair.)

Whenever I want to darn a piece of worn-out knitting (usually socks), I use duplicate stitch, carefully going over the worn-out spot (plus a little extra all the way around).  It’s a way to reinforce worn stitches with a new layer of wool.  I carefully trace the knit stitches with the new yarn, following the path of the last few fibers of the old yarn.

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And when there’s a real, honest-to-goodness hole, where the yarn has fully broken and there’s nothing left to “trace”, I use a knitting needle to hold my stitches until I can hook them up to the other side of the hole, building new “knitted” fabric to cover the space.

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Until, the hole is covered and the sock is good as new.  Well, you know what I mean.

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Now I just have to repeat with all the other sad socks in my drawer.

Do you ever mend your knitting?