So... I finally got around to taking some photos of my latest works:
These are trousers for Anders - made from my mum's old skirt. I was so sure I'd fail, I didn't want to waste money on new material. He's worn them once and EVERYONE commented on how great they were - having no idea that I made them (of course I proudly told them all, whether they cared or not!) I was surprised at how easy they were to make, and how persistant I can be - I stuffed up the waistband, had to unpick the whole thing (and I'd stupidly used 1mm stitches thinking it'd be really strong - almost impossible to unpick). I nearly gave up then, and there are some holes in the material where I unpicked the trousers not the stitching, but they were ultimately fixed and finished. I'm definitely not buying trousers for him for a while when they're so easy to make! 
This is my giant cushion - I just loved them in the shops and wanted one, but two other upsides are that it helps relatives of mine who can't easily get up from our very deep, soft couch and it's sooooo comfortable to lie on and watch telly when I'm too tired to do anything else :) 
I have a lot of pregnant friends and decided to try to make bibs - I never had enough, even though I had at least 20. I only had to buy terry toweling for the back-sides (so they absorb spew and dribble) and the front sides were from bits of material I had lying around from previous abandonned projects. I've made 15 and have another 1 or 2 to go, and again I was surprised at how easy they were. Maybe they'll fall apart in the first wash or actively repeal spew, who knows, hopefully the recipients will be too polite to tell me if they do!
More bibs, and a little bunny I knitted with leftover wool from Anders' jumper. I'm going to try to make a bunny for each baby too as they're little and cute, easy to make, and safe for babies. The patterns and instructions for everything I've done I've found on the internet - usually on people's blogs. I'm not good at research and I don't spend much time on the computer, yet I've found all these simple, reliable, free projects with very little effort on my part. Yay for the internet!
Botched Jobs:
I've stuffed up pretty much everything I've made so far.
- My soap has rusty marks from where I dried it on metal racks - next time I'll use plastic ones.
- Anders' knitted jumper was too short - I should have measured it but I didn't. It took me two nights and a lot of guts to pull the bottoms apart and knit some additional rows.
- The trousers were too long, Again, I measured them against other trousers of his but should have put them on him. I'll have to take the hems up before he wears them again.
- My cusion was over-stuffed and felt like a brick. I had to unpick the inside pillow section, take some stuffing out and sew it again.
- the toy astronaught I made Anders was really cute but I forgot to pull out the arms when I turned it inside out (photos next time) so the arms don't have any stuffing in them. The eyes are also a bit wonky, but I figure he's an alien - they can be however we imagine them to be.
I have started so many new things and done each one of them once. Of course the first attempt at most things isn't going to be perfect, and it's been really frustrating at times, but I keep telling myself that I'll know how to do it better next time (and I will) and I've really surprised myself at how patient I've been and how willing I am to problem-solve and fix something when - if it was something I'd bought that didn't work - I would have just thrown it away.
I've also been busy in the garden but I'll save that for next time! :)Happy holdiays everyone who has them :) x
