Jan/Feb Sewing Adventure Project

I was not at all excited about this project... I mean, it's a scarf. I live in IOWA- our winters are practically arctic. I have enough scarves... one for each coat, with a matching set of mittens and a hat. I'm way picky about my mittens, so when I find a set I like I buy the whole shebang. And really? THIS is the example?



Right. I can't think of a single instance in reality where I might wear that. Not only is is nowhere near my style, it isn't practical for the insane cold. No creative juices or outside-the-box thoughts were flowing.

I read and re-read the description of this thing, and decided to make a manly version for hubby. Surprise him for Valentine's. In the car last night, I asked him hypothetically what kind of scarf would he make if he could design it himself... turns out, he doesn't want another scarf- he likes the one he has. The Prince, however, NEEDS a scarf. "So my neck and face don't get cold, mom! And I want a rocket one!"

Fan-freaking-tastic. The last time he wanted a "rocket"-something, he was not thrilled with my finished product.

He brought up the topic of his new scarf again this morning, so I suggested maybe Cars fabric, or Diego... he thought Cars would be really great, and he wanted one that had The King on it. Uh-oh... I've never seen fabric with anything but Lightning McQueen or Mater... but off to the fabric store we headed. Miracle of miracles, we found BOTH fleece and flannel that have Lightning, The King, and Chick Hick! It was "just what he wanted!!!"

We also found some cute fabric for the Princess, and extra fleece to make her a set of matching mittens. As soon as we got home, he insisted that I put the fabric in the washer so I could get started making his scarf sooner. Before dinner, both scarves were done (except for the button), and they are so cute! The kids' patience was wearing thin, so I'll have to do the button placement in the morning... I'm not doing it as the pattern says, because the Prince wanted his scarf to be long enough to wrap around his neck like mommy and daddy do... so the Princess' scarf is long enough for that, too. I wish I'd made his longer, but it will do the job. They are both 40 inches long (the directions said to make them 33 inches), his is 6 inches wide and hers is 4 inches (as opposed to the 7 inches indicated in the book).


flannel on one side


fleece on the other


flannel on one side


fleece on the other

Princess is an independent thing, she has to do everything for herself like her big brother. She is also very petite (she recently jumped to the 10th percentile). I can't find any mittens that fit her that have thumbs- all the baby mittens I've found are like socks for their hands... she HATES this, HATES that she can't do anything with them on. So tonight I decided to make her the set that is later in the book. I traced her hand and decided that I'd need to shrink the pattern to fit her hands (because it says it will fit kids ages 1-3). Several tries later, it looked like 85% was the right size.

I felt like Finny tonight. I was not having any fun making these darned things. I realized just how frustrated I was when my computer announced the time (I've set it to do that), and I swore at the computer. Yikes! Talk about taking out my frustrations on an innocent bystander! :) But the mittens are done. I used the same fleece that is on her scarf, so they'll match- good grief I hope they fit her! At this point, I think they'll fit once she has her hand in, but I'm not convinced that her hand will fit through the opening. Frick.



A couple of shots of the happy kids wearing their new scarves:





How about one more cute photo to close with?


My kids and their cousins playing in our front yard in early December- we gave their Grandma an 11x14 of this for Christmas