First, she made a double sided UCLA fleece blanket. Hubby was ecstatic about the UCLA print. After all, UCLA is near and dear to his heart. Plus, the blanket is SOOOO soft!! (We know it’s intended for the baby, but we just may steal this for ourselves instead haha)

The underside of the blanket:

And a matching baby hat to go with it! Too bad it doesn’t fit Hubby’s head. I would have made him wear it all over the house… haha!

And then a very pretty nursing cover for me. I love the print!!

And lastly, this is not really homemade, but I appreciate it just the same – Hello Kitty socks! For my hospital stay!

Thoughtful, handmade, personal. We love it. Thanks Les!!

A handspun, handknit, and handsewn Baby Surprise Jacket!

It’s reversible too, with a very cool lining. I absolutely love the colors:

Complete with Cheri’s etsy shop label (so professional and clean looking too! So impressive!):

(Visit her etsy shop here for all things children’s apparel, handspun yarn, and other gifts: Enchanted)

* * * * *

And then there is a quilt that was put together by my high school friend Karen:

Aren’t the colors gorgeous?! I am so in love with this blanket, I know it will be one of my favorites. I was so touched by all the time and effort she put into this. And it has a yellow fleece underside:

And another delightful label lovingly placed at the edge:

* * * * *

Lastly, handsewn baby leg warmers by Esther! Aren’t they adorable??

And just for kicks, I always love the gifts given by other fellow moms, who are always thinking practically.

Love the handwritten note on top. Thanks Esther! =)

So I purchased freezer paper at my local grocery store and downloaded some clipart/images online. I traced those images onto the freezer paper, and with my x-acto knife, I cut them out. Here are some of them:

So here’s the lowdown on how to put them together:

1. Prewash your fabric. Do not use fabric softener!

2. Set your iron to the setting that corresponds with your fabric of choice. For the onesies, since they were cotton, I had it on the cotton setting.

3. Iron the freezer paper stencils onto your fabric, shiny side down (for me, this took no more than 10 seconds). Don’t make the mistake of ironing them on shiny side UP, or then you risk ruining your iron (and melting the wax/plastic side all over your iron plates).

4. Using foam/stencil brushes, apply fabric paint onto your stencil in an up/down motion (as if you were stabbing the fabric with your brush). You want to be dabbing the paint on, not brushing it side to side. If you brush it side to side, you risk having paint accumulate on the sides of the stencils, and having paint bleed underneath the stencil. It’s best to apply a couple of thin coats of paint, and do them evenly, rather than just gob it all on at once.

5. Wait for the paint to dry, then carefully peel the stencil off the fabric. With this particular fabric paint (I used Tulip Soft Fabric Paint from Joanns), the instructions say to let the paint dry flat for 4 hours. I didn’t wait the entire 4 hours to peel the stencil off – I just waited until it wasn’t completely wet. Probably 5 minutes or so is good enough for peeling off the stencil, then let it dry completely for the remainder of the time.

6. After that, I would recommend sticking them in the dryer on medium/high for 10 minutes (with no fabric softener), to heat-set the paint.

Washing instructions: When you want to wash them, turn them inside out and wash in warm water, tumble low/medium.

Easy huh? Here were some of my samples:

Here are some of the girls working on their onesies at the shower:

Some of their work:

Nice huh? I would post more pictures, but the rest of my pictures ended up dark and/or blurry. (I’m still a newbie with the camera manual controls.) So instead, I’ll leave you with some REALLY GOOD cupcakes we had at the shower from Sibby’s Cupcakery.

(If you couldn’t tell earlier, the shower was ocean-themed.) =)

Made myself a pair of cluster earrings. Didn’t have headpins on me, so I went creative and put little spirals on the ends of the wire (click for a close-up)

I’m totally wearing these today, and very proud of it. =)

All frosted:

And ready to go!
(ETA: container is Wilton’s Cupcake Heaven Boxes)

Birthday wishes to two good friends – both knitters! (Yay for Cindy being converted!) =)

I’d say, half the fun was the Stitch ‘n Ride train ride itself. I didn’t get a snapshot of the goody bag that each of us got, but let’s say we were all very impressed by it. =) We were even interviewed by a local paper and got our SnB group pictures taken and everything. So that was fun!

This is how crowded the Market was. Sometimes it was hard to get around because of the sheer volume of people in each of the little booths.

Just a few of the MANY walls of yarn displayed:

Books (the line at the Webs booth was huge):

Alot of groups all over the country and Canada were there, as well as some well-known knitting personalities! I have to say, I’m a bit shy, so I didn’t really approach people… I always feel stupid about that since they must get alot of attention already as it is. I went by the Ravelry booth, and Jess and Casey were very very nice and down-to-earth.

Can you believe that wall is made up of THOUSANDS of Ravelry member avatars? People would stand in front of it, staring at it, looking for their own avatar (I didn’t even try).

There was also a knitting fashion show (runway and all), tons of spinning wheels, exotic yarns, exotic needles/tools, and everything in between. I thought one of the coolest parts of all was seeing everyone attending, who was wearing a knitted item. Almost everyone was wearing or displaying a knitted piece, and in a crowd, you can easily pick out a handful of knitted items of patterns that you’ve seen online, in a magazine, or wherever. And that was pretty awesome. Everyone’s stuff looked great!!

We got back on the train go back home – and share in all the bounty we had purchased. I held myself pretty well and didn’t spend more than $200. Others, well, I can’t speak for everyone else, but some went all out, and I’m sure some stashes were increased twice over if not more. I’ll leave you with a final picture – one of my favorites of the day.

Angela, sniffing some of Cheri’s yarn:

=)

First of all, I’m finally on Ravelry! I first heard about Ravelry 3 months ago, but didn’t sign up because I tend to be cautious like that… don’t want to jump on the bandwagon until I know it’s worth my time. And then when I realize how cool this site is, I finally signed up in early June. I’m still uploading my projects and pictures very VERY slowly (in between packing)… but if you’re on, find me there under my usual screen name: roofth. =)

Second, I was tagged by the lovely Ayelet with a Rockin Girl Blogger badge! She’s a sweet gal from the other side of the world, and if I could, I would tag her right back with this little award. Instead, I’m supposed to award this badge to 5 other rockin girl bloggers… and I realize it’s so hard to do so… I have so many friends out there it’s so hard to choose!! If it were up to me, I’d be giving out 20 of these badges, seriously.

Here you go!

To the following:

1. Kaity – she’s my younger sister’s age, and makes a ton of very cool stuff. She’s also down-to-earth and a very cool chicka.

2. Caitlyn – I know her as Chor, but she’s been an old friend who by chance happened to discover and love knitting the same time I did! A very talented friend. Her hubby is very talented too (musically and video game inclined, as well as other things, I’m sure). =)

3. Jen – we bumped into each other online and discovered not only how similar we are in background/personality/interests, but we have a handful of friends in common! I can’t go without a week without saying hi to her online. Oh, and she’s a speed demon knitter. If you don’t believe me, I have a YouTube video to prove it to you.

4. Laura – This girl I met up with when I was in KL on vacation a couple years back. Her life is so incredibly full, I wonder if she has time for crafting! She’s also super talented, and super sweet! And engaged!! Too bad she’s across the Pacific Ocean or then I would totally want to hang out with her. =)

5. Agnes – This gal makes the coolest stuff, seriously. Garments, socks, intricate lace… all her stuff is gorgeous! Check it out here. Plus, she’s in the south bay area, my old stomping grounds!

This past weekend, Cyndi, Lynette, Caitlyn, and myself got together for a fun brunch and some knitting! It was so fun – the last time we got together was maybe 6 months ago?

We all brought something homemade – Caitlyn made yummy chocolate chip biscotti and fruit salad, Cyndi made cinnamon buns, Lynette made cupcakes and scones, and I brought my homemade quiche. With mimosas in hand, it was YUM!

The spread:

Our knitting:

A group photo:

Thank you to Caitlyn who hosted, and thank you to Cyndi who provided these pictures. =) We were lame enough to completely forget about taking any pictures of our outing, until the very last minute. That’s how terrible we are as bloggers (evidence: me having to borrow pictures from Cyndi just so I can post about it here). =)

And just to show how lame of a blogger I am, there’s another knitting outing I completely forgot to document here – Stitch ‘n Pitch! It happened a little over a month ago (I know I’m late) and it was alot of fun. I’ve never brought knitting to a sports event – too self-conscious to do it. But it was so much fun when there are whole entire stands of knitters knitting/crocheting/stitching away while watching/yelling/cheering the game! (I’m quite sure there were +50 of us, with friends and family in tow who had joined in.) Marin from SnB threw the first pitch too! I’m sorry I don’t have a shot of that, as we completely missed it. =(

The free tote bag provided for us:

Raley Field sign:

Knitters in the stands – people from our local SnB group, the Guild, and everyone in between!

Lacy and myself:

Here’s to more fun outings with knitterly friends! =)

It’s Karen’s cat!! Thank you!! What a cutie, huh? And friendships are already being forged in my household (e.g. Blobby):

And this gift was quite a while back, but I was thrilled to receive little stitch markers from Toni. Aren’t they pretty?

Lastly, I’m finally presenting pictures of some baby blanket collaborations I participated in. The blankets were put together by groups of friends in secret, and in the past couple weeks, have finally been received by their intended recipients (and their newborns). It was a whole lot of fun, and a special way for knitting friends to knit together something special for a new mother!

This is Regina’s blanket – squares made by various local SnB members. (P.S. See the heart in the middle? That was one of my squares) =)

Another blanket collaboration was for Lynette. This project was especially unique as it involved a group of long-distance friends. We all took a color and did our squares, and it was seamed by Caitlyn, Cyndi, and eventually, Stephanie (photo courtesy of Stephanie, more details here).

If I had received a blanket such as these, I would have felt so honored and blessed by the work done by my friends. A blanket of blessings, indeed! (And such fun to help in the giving process as well!) But alas, no babies here (yet). In the meantime, I’ll be here, cuddling with my new cat. =)

In anycase, I wanted to share with you a couple pictures from the latest “Stitch ‘n Ride” with Debbie Stoller! A couple of us from SnB came along for the ride.

Yours truly, with JJ (who is camera shy):

Sara & Marin:

Debbie brought alot of crocheted pattern examples from her “Happy Hooker” book.

Sara is proudly modelling “Cupcake” (pattern on p. 165):

Sara modelling “Short ‘n Sweet” (pattern on p. 168)

Debbie also gave a short crochet lesson:

And signed some books!

Here is my crochet progress:

Close-up of a square:

I am realizing that once I’m getting the hang of crochet – it’s actually alot easier than knitting, and it goes by much faster! Of course it eats up much more yarn and the textures are different, but I’m enjoying it alot so far.