Three

Snowden is really into glue right now. If there is not glue involved, it’s not a valid art project. It all started at Grandma’s house when she got to glue styrofoam shapes onto a purple construction paper elephant cut out. She glued with such passion and concentration that night I wondered if we would ever get her home. At Target this week we bought Snowden her own bottle of Elmer’s and she has been busy glueing something to paper every day. I realized it is time we can get a bit more involved with crafts around here. At the library I picked up this great book, Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas. There is a lot of ideas way too advanced for the patience of a two year old but a lot of inspiration regardless. It reminds me of two things: the papercraft book my Grandma gave (or loaned?) me when I was younger–I want to find i–and this Usborne book from 1987. I loved this book, I seem to recall that I had several dresses strikingly similar to the Skater Tank Dress back then too.

It really is this bright, the American Apparel Skater Tanks Dress. This past week the three of us went shopping on University Ave and each came away with some new clothing item(s). Sean got an organic cotton pocket tee from American Apparel, his favorite. To distract Snowden from climbing the stairs yet one more time I mentioned that we could look at the kids section. She saw this day glow pink dress and pulled it off the rack immediately. She says “mama, this is my size, it looks pretty fine.” She tried it on right over her t-shirt and asked Sean if he would buy it for her. He bought it. She wore it out of the store and we washed it each  night for two more days so she could wear it again and again. It’s really practical and very comfy looking. I am going to copy the shape and make her more. Not because she needs more, it’s just a classic example of “it would be so easy to make that!” For decorative inspiration for these future dresses I think I’ll look back to Urban Outfitters where I purchased two graphic tees. There are some great ideas here for pattern and color on knitwear. And I might revisit this book for printing techniques: Lotta Prints. I haven’t tried any computer printing onto fabric yet. Don’t know if I want to go there, seems like something I won’t like, process wise.

Last time I was in a yarn shop I couldn’t resist buying a beautiful ball of Crystal Palace Taos wool in a brown/turquoise (cacao menta) color combination for myself. I browsed Raverly on several occasions trying to find the right project for my single ball of yarn and finally settled on making myself the Foliage Hat, a free pattern from Knitty.com. The hat was simple to make and I like the leaf pattern even if this variegated yarn doesn’t do it justice.

I put the hat on once finished and I knew immediately that I would never wear it. It fits too snugly and looks like a swim cap on me. I left it lying about the house provocatively hoping Snowden would decide that she wanted to wear it. My subtle approach to giving her something I made worked this time! Wrap a gift up in paper (see birthday apron) and she doesn’t like it, won’t wear it, wrinkles her nose at the sight of it. Giver her a regect piece of knitting by leaving it on the floor for her to discover and all of the sudden “mama knit you hat!” (every time she say’s “you” right now, it mean’s “me”, a grammatical quirk I just love). I’m so happy she likes it and it looks amazing on her.