This week my nephew turned two. I asked Lance to call his dad for ideas on what he likes so we could find a gift for him. Among other things, his dad told us that he likes m&m's. No surprise there, I guess. Most two year-olds probably like m&m's.
My only problem was that I couldn't find a pattern to sew/crochet one. Several recent projects involved all the things I needed to know to create my own crochet pattern, though, so I decided I'd make it up as I went.
Here is the pattern that I used. You can follow it to make your own chocolate candy man or any circle shaped guy. I'm kind of reminded of those Little Mr. and Little Miss book characters when I see the body before I add the face.
Let me know if you have problems or see any mistakes.
My son loves Elmo. I'm not really sure why this love started, because he loved Elmo long before he ever saw Sesame Street. Elmo shows up in a lot of his books, on sippy cups and even his toothbrush, so maybe that's why.
I looked for an Elmo doll for his birthday last month. All I could find were the really hairy Elmos. After seeing what happened to my son's current favorite toy, "Monkey," with his matted fur that's full of fuzz, and dried grass, and who knows what else; I couldn't bring myself to make a purchase. Plus, Elmo dolls cost more than I think they should. I have a hard time paying 20-30 dollars for something that's just going to be dragged around and slobbered on (or worse, Monkey has been in the toilet...)
I decided to look around online for a pattern to crochet Elmo. I found exactly ONE pattern. I didn't like how Elmo's mouth was open so WIDE in the pattern, but I couldn't find another, and I didn't want to take the time to try and make it up. In the end, I made the doll as instructed then sewed the mouth closed a little on each side with red yarn. It seems to have done the trick.
The only problem I had with the pattern was on the black part of the mouth. When I made it as big as it instructs, it's WAY too big for Elmo's mouth. I ended up leaving out several rows. My logic was that if Elmo's mouth opening is 23 stitches across, the mouth insert ought to be the same. So I suggest following the mouth pattern until you have 23-24 stitches and then stopping. I also recommend that you follow the advice to put something stiff inside the head to keep the mouth flat. It looks a lot better that way.
I'm saving Elmo for a few weeks until the baby comes so big brother can have a new someone to cuddle as well. I'm pretty sure he's going to love him though.
Recently, I came across three craft projects I wanted to try. I decided to tie them all together and make one outfit. I had some Christmas fabric I picked up from the remnant section a while ago, so I decided to make it a holiday themed set.First, I made the skirt. You can find the tutorial here. This is a really easy project. I plan on using it a bunch more times in the future. I know I have a few shirts/onesies I've purchased that don't have a matching bottom. I'll just be able to use fabric scraps I have on hand to make the skirts. In fact, the original tutorial was a skirt made from and old t-shirt and jeans.
Next came the shirt. The original pattern comes from Martha Stewart's website. A lot of people complained on there that the instructions were not specific enough to follow. I didn't really try to follow the instructions from there because I'd originally found the "kimono shirt" idea on this blog. She is pretty detailed in instructions and pictures, so I just followed her.
She switched the ties to buttons because she didn't want to have to mess with the ties. I didn't really want to have to mess with ties either, but I liked the way they looked. In the end, I just sewed on three bows to the front, and used snaps to keep the shirt closed.
The other change I made was that I used more binding on my shirt. The original design just calls for using it up around the neck. I put it around the sleeves and bottom to add some extra color, since I was using such a plain fabric.
Lastly, came the kimono shoes. They are SO easy to make. It's just a few pieces of fabric. My only fear is that they won't stay on wiggling baby feet very well. I'm planning on using these shoes to see how it goes, then making a ton more if it works. I would imagine that you could even use a little bit of elastic across the top or something if you wanted to make an extra strap. I also think using them with tights or something would help them stay on better too.
