Pretty in Pink Child Scarf

My daughter was sick today so it was a lazy Sunday for me. It mostly consisted of watching movies, taking care of a sick child and knitting in-between that. My knitting project was a child scarf that I decided to create on a whim . I enjoy making kid scarves because they knit up quickly due to their size. Also, they're generally more bright and cheerful which just makes them fun. Usually I gravitate towards more neutral colors but when designing for a child, anything goes. I find myself saying,

pink and red? why not

fringe? sure

pockets? they do come in handy

applique? the more the better

And so with that line of thought this scarf was born. Simple knitting pattern below.


Supplies:

US Size 10 1/2 knitting needles
US Size 6 knitting needles

Dark Pink, Light Pink and Red 100% cotton 4-ply yarn

Tapestry needle

Scraps of Fabric

No-sew, iron-on adhesive

Child Scarf Pattern

Using the 10 1/2 needles cast on 12 stitches with all three yarns combined.

Row 1: (k1, p1) all the way across
Row 2: (k1, p1) all the way across

trim red yarn, you will now be knitting with just the pink yarns

continue the the k1, p1 rib stitch to desired length of scarf.

For the last two rows add red yarn again and knit two more rows of k1 p1 rib stitch

Bind off.

Add fringe using all three yarns.

Weave in any loose ends.

Pockets

Using size 6 needles cast on 12 stitches with red yarn only. Leave a long tail that will be used to sew the pocket onto the scarf.

Row 1: Knit across
Row 2: Pearl across
Rows (3-14) repeat rows 1 and 2
Row 15: k2tog, knit across to last two stitches, k2tog
Row 16: Purl across
Row 17: k2tog, knit across to last two stitches, k2tog
Row 18: Purl bind off

Make 2 pockets

Hand stitch both pockets onto scarf .

Adhere fabric scraps to adhesive paper. Place fabric with adhesive on pockets and iron to adhere. There should be directions with your adhesive paper on how to do this.

Hopefully these directions are clear. I'm a little rusty writing patterns and realized I've forgotten some of the jargon. If you have questions, leave them in the comments. I'll do my best to answer questions.

*This scarf was made for a 4 year old child. You might want to increase the width of the scarf by 2 or 4 stitches depending on the size of the child.

Pumpkin Pancake Patches

The other day I thought it would be fun to make some pumpkin shaped pancakes, just because. Then I took it a step further and decided to make them pumpkin flavored. And for the record, I made these in the afternoon. I don't have time to be making fancy pancakes before I take the kids to school. If I serve anything besides cereal for breakfast, it has probably been prepped a day earlier. Well, minus parfaits but I digress. Below I share the recipe along with how I shaped the pancakes. I'm sure there are fancier ways to do this but who really needs to be spending more time making pancakes, not me.

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

Adapted from Allrecipes

Dry Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
3 T Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1 1/2 Cup Milk
1 Egg
2 T Melted Butter
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix dry and wet ingredients is separate bowls. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

Set aside 1/2 cup of pancake batter. Add green food coloring to the 1/2 cup of batter. Place in a piping bag or squeeze bottle.

*You can color the rest of the batter orange if you wish. It will already have an slight orange shade to it from the pumpkin puree. Food coloring can make food bitter so use it sparingly.

Set griddle to 300 degrees (may vary depending on griddle). Lightly grease pan.

Pipe the stem onto the griddle making it twice as long as you actually want it to appear.

Pour orange batter on the griddle just how you would for regular pancakes. Just make sure it covers half of the stem. This will prevent the stems from falling off. Once bubbles form at top of pancakes, flip over and cook a little longer.

Serve with warm maple syrup and butter.

Watch your pumpkin pancake patch disappear.

Halloween Craft: Chalkboard Pumpkins

Where has chalkboard paint been all my life?! After using it for this craft project I'm completely hooked. And I can tell you, it's going to take all my crafty restraint not to paint the entire house with it because I love it that much. That said, don't be surprised if there's more chalkboard paint posts in the future because I'm already brainstorming.

As you can guess, I painted a pumpkin with some chalkboard paint. What I like about this project is that you can keep the pumpkin for years to come. Also, children can participate in this craft by drawing on the pumpkin. If they mess up, no problem, just erase and draw again.

Brief "how-to" below:

Supplies:
Craft Pumpkin
Painters Tape
Chalkboard Spray Paint - comes in orange too!

Cover pumpkin stem with painters tape. Spray pumpkin with about three coats of paint. Let dry for 24 hours. Start drawing.

Weekend Retreat

Over the weekend my family and I attended a retreat at Redwood Christian Park in the Santa Cruz mountains. On the grounds is this unique ark shaped building. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing pictures of it. After all, it's not everyday that one comes across a giant ark.

A Grove of Redwoods

Banana Slug

Painting The World with Our Imaginations

It's amazing how just switching from paper to leaves can make painting new again. Both my children loved this project and didn't want to stop painting. They kept gathering leaves, painting, gathering leaves and so on.

I'm always saving various containers for craft projects. I used baby food jars for the water and ice-cream mochi containers for the paint.



For fun we scattered some leaves on the ground. I can't help but think of Gene Wilder singing "Pure Imagination" when I look at these leaves.