a little knitting for a little tomte, and a hobbit house

This little fella has kept us busy lately. So much growing to do! He grew out of his first pebble vest, so I knit him up another one, and used some of the same yarn (along with a lovely soft silk alpaca blend) to make the super cute Alfalfa hat for him. He grew out of the hat the next day, but it was fun while it lasted. I used the notes for knitting the pebble in the round from my previous vest--love this pattern so much--he really does wear it every day (unless it is recovering in the wash basin from an especially messy mess). The yarn is Cascade 220 on size 8 circular needles.

 And my daughter has been doing some creating of her own. This is a hobbit house (she did have the help of dad on this one). We visited a local plant nursery recently and were inspired by some very charming fairy gardens on display. We all wanted to come home to make our own miniature homes for traveling tomtens, fairies, gnomes, etc in need of shelter. This one was scattered the next morning by an unknown creature. My daughter was disappointed, but applied what she learned from the three little pigs and build the the next house with bricks. It is still standing!

Hearts (and lungs)

This little one caught herself a cold that developed into quite a case of pneumonia. (She likes to sit and look out the window, watching the chickens scratch and peck around the garden. Not quite as entertaining as Dinosaur Train, but almost...)

Even with a fever and oxygen dipping down to near-hosptilization level, though, she is a tough one to keep down. She has a lot of spunk. So we've been taking breaks from reading books and watching chickens to make valentines.

Both ideas here came from The Chocolate Muffin Tree, and they were both so fun.

 These are the shaving cream marbled valentines.

And these are the blotto hearts. Each time my daughter opened up the folded heart to discover the design she exclaimed "Mom, this is BEAUTIFUL!" Yes my dear, they are!