Catch Up Time!

What have I been up to, you ask? Well, many of you know that I started a knitting blog a while back called, "The Knitting Maniac", and although I'm been M.I.A. over there lately too, I just have to say... although I am crazy about knitting, I am also a little maniacal (is that a word?) about other things besides knitting!

Sewing. That's my latest addiction. I've always loved to sew, but with 6 kids, it just isn't that easy a task compared to knitting! I can grab my knitting bag, click my needles a while, and then set it down anytime I want to move onto something else.

With sewing, I am messy. Just being honest. I end up taking over the Dining Room table and have pins, threads, scissors, fabrics... you name it... ALL OVER THE PLACE!! I'm like a kindergarten kid gone wild who was left alone too long with glitter & glue! Just a freaky mess!

But when I set my mind to something, all that stuff doesn't matter. I plan on how to keep kids out of that room and then get to work! And sewing is instant gratification. Knitting can take a good solid week to finish something of beauty where sewing can take a good solid....HOUR.

Here is my new love... shirred shirts. They are great in the Spring/Summer and also in the Fall/Winter with a matching solid shirt underneath!

This is a shirt I made for my Squeaker and I'm working on her woolies to match! They will have a hip skirty and capris legs. And where you see the green line of bumpiness... I am planning on planting a few flowers there in some way, shape or form. OOOOH I love matching sets!!!

This shirt design is great because of the buttonhole in the back! You pull your ties through and the straps can grow with your child!

And then you tie a bow and "ooh" and "aaaah" over it's cuteness!!!

AND the exciting news is that I am going to start offering shirts with custom woolies! Here is a glimpse of a little something I have up my sleeve. Well... actually... in a bag up in my room.

FOURTH OF JULY SETS!

Last night, I grabbed my Cestari Color Card that I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER doodle on because I cherish it so much...

and I headed to my favorite fabric store with one of my favorite friends! (Hi, Jessica!!!)

I bought lots of fabric, including the two you see above the undoodled on card. I took the photo with the yarn colors that match...including a pitiful little red ball of yarn because I don't have a full skein at the moment.

And here is the other set I plan on making. As you can see...one is blue fabric with stars and the other is red fabric with stars. Very 4th of Julyish!!! I can't wait to see how the finished set looks!! Once I am done sewing the shirred tops, I will be listing them as custom sets!

OK so before I add more fabricky (I know that isn't a word, but I think it's cute) photos, I thought I'd throw in a few photos of my Squeaker.

Most mornings the older 5 kids are still asleep when Daddy, little Squeaky and I come downstairs. Like this morning. She woke up (she sleeps in between us) and said, "Dad. I down stay-uz?" (we live in Maine... she can't help it.) And he said, "you want to go downstairs?" and she said, "ya." So... he picked her up and we all headed down to get the coffee started.

Lately she's been randomly yelling up the stairs to each child, one at a time, until someone answers her! It's hilarious. (especially because they are all cranky sleepyheads and she drives them bananas!!)

In this photo, she got her littlest big brother to wake up and he got a nice wave!

And the other day I walked over by her play area and she was in her rocking chair with her prayer bear just relaxing...

Awwww... my little Squeaker...

OK...back to sewing talk! Sorry!! I just love that little honey!

Last year, my parents went to visit my brother and his family in Guatemala and brought me back a beautiful wrap skirt! It is my FAVORITE!!! So...I analyzed it to death and created patterns for myself and my girls!

Here is my middle daughter's wrap skirt (my first tester creation) ~ I made it in 4 sections and this is it laid out flat :)

And here is what it looks like all wrapped up!

And here is my little bean the first day she wore it! I took the skirt to Target and got her a cool top to wear with it :) And since I hadn't washed my floors (shhhhhhh!!!) I had her wear little socks over her tights!

And this is my oldest daughter's skirt. She turns 11 next week. How is that possible??

I decided I like the skirts better when they are tied on the side!

My big girl. I can't believe in 2 years she'll be a teeeeeeee.... a teeeeee... a teeeeeeeee... oh nevermind. I can't say it. Isn't she pretty?? We call her "Pocohontas" :)

Isn't her hair cute???

And this is the 2nd wrap skirt I've knit for her :) This time I decided to change it from 4 panels to 2 so that there is no seam in the front! (I cut on the fold instead of separate cuts!) Another change and I like it much better!

So... the perfected pattern...

Future fabric for me and my middle girl for wrap skirts. I LOVE batik and she LOVES pink!

And I've had my girls stay away from the computer as I've posted this because I am going to make their Madame Alexander dolls shirred dresses for their birthdays! This is the fabric for Miss Pink Lover...

and this is for my "soon-to-be" 11 sweet daughter... (she is a purple & peace sign lover so I chose the peace fabric that had purple in it! I chose the green fabric mainly because it would look fun AND it would match a lot of other fabrics I have so I can make something else with the leftovers!)

And this is a shirt I will most likely sell as a custom set. I sewed it from a cute "Frogslegs and Ponytails" pattern but I calculated wrong for my Squeaker! I believe this would be better for a 9-12 month size. The only part that didn't fit well was the armpit area. It was a wee bit too short. But look how CUTE it is!! I love patterned fabric because you can match lots of wool to it!

Even colors you wouldn't think would look good are little accents in the fabric and the wool just brings them out nicely!

This is the first shirred shirt I made for my little one. Please don't look at the tiny white line in the shirring that was caused by me not paying attention. I flipped over the fabric by mistake and that is the elastic that SHOULD be on the back. Oh well, she doesn't care ;-) I will match woolies to it soon for a nice Spring/Summer outfit!

And since I am into all this matching jazz, I brought some ladies knee highs to match up because I am going to make homemade baby legs out of them. I will make a shirred shirt with the fabric and make her some cute summer shorts with the wool! She'll be a funky monkey!

So...there ya have it. That's what I've been up to!!

Stay tuned for all the fun sets I'll be selling and if you have any questions, ideas, etc... please let me know!!!

Bridget

Custom "Barn Owlies" 4 Sarah

This is the 2nd pair I've knit based on my 10 year old daughter's longie design! It is of her favorite hooty bird... the Barn Owl!

Enjoy them, Sarah!!

Squeakin' Cheeks ~ Price List...

One of the hardest things about running my shop has always been what to charge. I want to be fair but also not lose money in the process!!!

I think this is a common issue for hand-knitters because it is very time consuming to knit every little stitch, but it's hard to make enough money to make it worth the time. I've struggled over this for years and really think I have finally come to a place of contentment with my price list!

I've been over priced before and, after looking at my old price list, I realized some things were fair and some were just crazy!! haha

SO, quite a while back I started keeping track of the weight of each size woolie and figured (to the last ounce!) approximately how much yarn it took in yards! I've been taking really specific notes and my newest price list is based on these figures.

I am charging .16 per yard plus less than retail cost of the yarn. And if you figure in how many yards I can knit in an hour (which I figured one day was around 40ish ~ but it really depends on how fast I am knitting, so it can vary) then I would be earning about $6.40 a hour. That isn't even close to minimum wage, but I am happy that the price covers my yarn and I am making a little money doing what I love. Knitting for other children makes my heart happy and being HOME with MY children, doing what I love, makes me even happier!

I personally think my new prices are very fair for something as treasured as hand knit woolies!

So that's it. My new price list (you can click the photo above to check it out!) and an explanation. Now it's time to get into gear and start my day!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Barn Owl Longies

My children love to sketch out designs for me to knit up at some point. Some are kinda crazy and just about impossible to imagine knitting up, but then some are GREAT and just HAVE to be created!!

This is a pair I recently listed on my shop that my oldest daughter designed. She is 10 and has a great eye for it!!

Introducing.......... BARN OWL LONGIES! (Click the link to view them on my shop!)

First off...here is the little designer...



and here is her sketch...



And this is what I came up with when I got my needles clicking... (back view)



and even the front is cute with all the speckles!



Do you have any ideas you'd love to see in longie form? Let me know and I'll see what I can whip up for you!! squeakincheeks@hotmail.com

Time to knit! Goodbye for now!

My Squeaker's Candy Tree Longies.

My sweet little Squeakie has a new pair of woolies for this Fall/Winter! I finished them today and made sure to do a little photo shoot of her outside in them.

Here they are! I designed the little tree on the back and my 10 year old daughter told me I should add roots and a bird at the top. She's a designer at heart and I know she'll be very active on my shop in the years to come!









I love how she crosses her fingers and ooooh her little "dedos" are so cute!!!

(my brother is a missionary in Guatemala and taught her that "toes" are "dedos" in Spanish. Now if you ask her what they are, she says "day-doe" ~ baby talk melts my heart!)



Squeakie, you are the silliest little girl with the cutest cheeks in town!!! I love you!!

Contest Winner's Budgie Bloomers are DONE!

Back in April, I held a contest called:

Squeakin' Cheeks Needs a Slogan

The winner, Sara M., ended up finding out she was pregnant and asked if I could wait to knit up her longies after she found out what she was having! I thought that was a GREAT idea! (since she has a boy, she was thinking that if this baby was a girl, a fun ruffly pair would be nice!)

She chose her colors (neutral "Sea Holly" and "Wheat") ~ I ordered her wool and set it aside until she was ready!

At the end of September, she found out she was indeed having a Baby Girl, so she contacted me and I got my needles clicking on her Budgie Bloomers!

Here's what her little Miss will be wearing once she is big enough to fit into them! (they are a 16" Waist & Rise and 8" inseam!)



All packaged up and ready to go! Congratulations, Sara & baby GIRL!!!!!!

My Wool in a News Video Clip!

A repeat customer of mine, Jamee, sent me this NEWS CLIP and wrote "your longies are famous!" hehe

She was part of a diapering segment on this local news channel and it's great to see that she teaches others about the wonderful world of cloth diapering!

In this video, you'll see her and her two children (I've knit for them both!) and her little guy is wearing longies that I knit while she was pregnant and then on the table you'll see her newest custom, "Tiger Stripes", over to the right of the cloth diapers! How fun!!



Check out the video here!

Economy stinks: Parents using fewer disposable diapers

Thank you, Jamee, for sharing this with me!!!