Natural girl

I am beginning to think our girl might have been born in the wrong country. I think she may have been more comfortable in an area where less clothing is the norm, Zambia, Papua New Guinea or some such place. This kid LOVES to be naked. You would think with the weather finally turning cold and a drafty house, she might prefer to be a little more covered. Nope. It is all we can do to get her dressed to bring her out in public.

On Christmas night, we were at my parents house, quietly eating dinner. Lily stood up on her chair and loudly said "Is everybody done eating? I wanna DANCE!". The then proceeded to tell everyone that she wanted to "dance naked".

Too soon there will come a time when she can't go around naked, but being a 2 year old, she can still get away with it. Who am I to stop her? I say, "be free, my sweet pea".

Not wearing clothes can have it's advantages. Like while painting for example.



It makes cleanup much simpler.















I swear, I think she is the cutest thing ever.

Handmade gifts

I love giving handmade gifts whenever I can. Each year I try to make at least a few handmade things. This year I made a lot of them. I got such a kick out of the way Lily squealed "Knitting!!!" as she opened each of her gifts. If you are interested in the patterns I used for these items, the links in the text below will take you to my Ravelry project pages.

I think I'm most proud of these socks for my favorite girl and guy. If you look closely, you can see a little blue paint on Lily's knees, evidence of one of her other Christmas gifts, an art kit for her easel.





Next up is the hat I made for Lily. It was a quick knit, but I it turned out cute. I've had this yarn forever. It was knit up into another hat that I never liked, so I ripped it out and made this out if it. I ran out of the Malabrigo, so I added some of my handspun yarn to accent the blue.









The thing I've made the most of, are these felted slippers. I won't show pictures of all of them. I made 11 pairs for Christmas and birthday gifts over the last few months.



I like to dress the kid ones up. I had made a Cookie Monster pair for my nephew and Lily loved them so much that I decided to make her an Elmo pair. Of course, now that she has her own, she doesn't like to wear them. That is the way it always goes!





I made 2 of these Market bags for the sister-in-laws in the gift exchange.



I made this hat for my mom.



A few of these wash cloths were made.



This technically this isn't a gift, it's for me. But it is something I've been working on for quite awhile, and finished just in time to wear on Christmas.







I also sewed pair of pajama pants for Lily, they have bananas all over them. I don't have any pictures of that at the moment.

Now, on to the next project!

Sweater sleeve dog coat

I've been meaning to post this little tutorial for some time. Over the years, I've made quite a few dog sweaters out of sweatshirts and felted sweaters. It all started on a camping trip when the weather turned cold and my poor dog Chloe was shivering her little tail off. In a pinch, I fashioned a sweater for her out of the sleeve of an old shirt the hubby had brought along. It worked so well, I kept making them. It works best for a small to medium sized dog. Sleeves (especially sweatshirt ones) stretch more than you might think.

Here is how it's done.

If you use a sweater, find an old 100% wool one and run it through the hot wash and dryer. You want it to be good and felted so that it will be less likely to unravel. You can also use and old sweatshirt arm.



Depending on the size of your dog, you might be able to leave the sleeve cuff on. In this case, I cut a little off the cuff off to make the opening a little wider.



Next, cut armpit side of the sleeve to make it the length that you'd like for your dog.



I use a zig-zag stitch to sew around the raw edges. This gives the openings a little stretch.



Next, I cut holes on either side to accommodate the dog's front legs. it is best to measure the distance between the dog's front legs and make the holes that far apart.







Zig-zag around these holes.



That's it. Try it on and let your pooch show off a little.

Evolution of a Christmas photo

Last year I neglected to get my holiday cards sent out, so this year I was determined to get it done. Following the time honored Pagac family tradition, I tried to get a photo with Lily and the dogs. At first, it looked like it might work...





Chip was doing fairly well, but Tater was another story.



After a few minutes, Corey noticed the chickens high-tailing it across the yard to Lily. It boggles my mind, but the chickens LOVE her. They follow her like puppy dogs in the yard and let her carry them around without resistance. They became this tame from her spending so much time playing in the coop this summer. I've never seen anything like it and my family has had chickens nearly all my life.

Lily sees the chickens coming to her...







Pretty soon, the dogs were forgotten.











Every good chicken deserves a kiss, right? Bird flu, shmird flu.













And the one that made it on the card...



Thanks to my friend Aimee for the hand-me-down handmade dress she's wearing in the pics :)