soy silk scarf and playfood

I'm stocking two items tomorrow at Wonderland. The first is a 3 piece play food set including a lemon, lime and orange. It's a great gift for any child looking to start or expand their set of play foods.



The second is a scarf that I knit with SoySilk, a soybean based yarn that feels like silk. SoySilk is created from the by-products of tofu manufacturing. I bought this yarn a couple of years ago at a local yarn store because the colors were beautiful and the yarn was so soft. I finally found a perfect use for it. It'll make a wonderful gift for any woman or girl who values environmentally friendly, hand made items.



Visit my store at Wonderland by following this link: http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=2260&category=36

Charity Auction for Domestic and Sexual Violence

Last year when I won the charity raffle hosted by Elliebelly for 8oz. of organic merino wool, I knew I wanted to create something to continue to raise money for charity. Two issues that are very close to my heart are domestic and sexual violence. Having volunteered and worked for a rape crisis center in the past, I've worked first hand with survivors of sexual violence and know how important these agencies are.

I've knit these medium longies and am selling them by auction to raise money for 2 non-profit agencies. The auction begins on Tuesday, October 14th and runs for 1 week. I will split the sale price between the two agencies and donate 100% of the sale price between the two. You can find the auction here: http://hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby/index.php?c=9&p=17482

The two non-profit agencies I've chosen--the Women's Rape Crisis Center and Caring Unlimited--offer much needed crisis intervention as well as longer term support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. You can visit their websites to learn more about their specific programs. They are both registered 501(c)(3) non profits who serve their communities and are often the only place survivors have to turn for assistance.

From personal experience, I know how important these centers can be to people who are reaching out for help. They may be just looking for a listening and sympathetic ear, finally talking about the abuse they've experienced, or they may be looking for someone to accompany them to the hospital to seek medical care. They may be seeking help with safety planning and finding a safe place to live, or they may be seeking longer term support through support groups and counseling. No matter what the reason, these agencies assist survivors in meeting their needs and beginning the healing process.

Thank you for helping me to raise money for these two important agencies!

Hand knit toddler sweater

After a vacation to Disney and a busy month of knitting customs, I've finally finished this toddler sweater I've been working on since mid summer! I'm in love with this rolled edge sweater that I knit with "Woodland Tale" on Targhee by Mosaic Moon. It should fit most children who wear sizes 2T through 4T.



I'm listing this sweater for sale in the new Wonderland Congo which has its grand opening on Friday, October 3rd. The listing for the sweater is here: http://hyenacart.com/prod_details.php?id=74427&vid=2260. I've also got a free for shipping lottery running for a piece of wool play food.

completely immersed in customs!

Since early August, I've been almost completely immersed in custom orders. While I'm enjoying all of the wonderful yarns I'm getting to work with, I haven't had time to stock my store in a while. I'm hoping to have my next stocking on Tuesday, September 30th. Maybe if I write it down I'll stick to it!

I'm also joining a brand new congo--Wonderland--and our first stocking is in early October. I'll be writing more about that soon.

In the meantime, here are a few recent customs I've finished up. Thanks for looking!

The first is "Tropical Parrot" by Selah.


These longies are knit with "Stacey" by Bugsnugger.


And these longies are "Blue Hot" by Purewool.

"Bananafish" soaker

Last spring I bought some Bananafish on BFL by Beemer Knits to make our friends a baby sweater and hat for their baby shower. Here was my blog post about it: http://pumpkin-pie-baby.blogspot.com/2008/03/two-finished-gifts.html

I had only a little bit of the Bananafish left but plenty of trim. So I made this small soaker using the trim as the body of the soaker and Bananafish on the waist and leg cuffs.



It's available to purchase in my store now!

A skirty to help Dressing West turn 1!

A couple of months ago I bought the Juliette skirty and soaker pattern by Over the Moon. I finally had time to make a skirty from the pattern. I made this cute and fun skirty for Dressing West's 1st birthday celebration.



Kate of Dressing West came up with a unique way of celebrating. She's having a directional stocking--North, South, East, and West. When asked which direction I wanted the skirty to be a part of, I chose South. The colors in the skirty remind me of the pastel colored houses one sees in the Carribean and south.

The skirty was knit with "Florry" on Corriedale by Three Irish Girls. It's the first time I've made an elasticized waist and I'm really happy with how it came out.

The skirt will be available to purchase on Saturday, August 23rd at 1pm here: http://hyenacart.com/dressingwest/index.php?c=0&p=42223

"Blooming" longies

I recently got some beautiful dyed Targhee yarn through a Mosaic Moon co-op. I knit these custom longies in her "Blooming" colorway. I really enjoyed knitting with Targhee. The yarn takes up color in an interesting way. The colors aren't as bright as they'd be on merino or BFL, but they're very rich and deep. The yarn itself feels sturdy but soft.

Inspire Yourself to Buy Handmade

Ever since the birth of my second child, I've started making more handmade and buying more handmade too. I used to be a bargain hunter, shopping all the big box stores to find the cheapest prices. I'd buy things just because they were inexpensive. Over time, though, I realized that I was filling my home with lots of things I didn't need. More important, though, I started to wonder at what cost I had bought these things. What was the cost to workers somewhere in the world who had to produce these items so cheaply? What was the cost to our environment of transporting these goods across oceans and continents? What was the cost to our economy since very little is produced in the U.S. anymore?

Don't get me wrong. I still love a bargain. But I value the time and effort it takes to make something. I like making purchases that enable a person to do work they enjoy and that fulfills them. I like to make purchases that help support that person and her or his family.

These are some of the reasons I buy handmade. However, a big inspiration to me are the women in my family. To read more about why I make and buy handmade, read my entry here at www.inspirehandmade.org: Making Connections Between Generations. If you find it inspirational, click on the little star at the bottom of the entry. If you feel inspired, write your own entry too.

Don't forget to sign the pledge to buy handmade.

2 new customs

I've caught the knitting bug recently and have been back in the habit of knitting every day. I've been working on 2 customs recently and am really happy about how they came out.

The first is a pair of longies knit with "Lime Rainbow" on BFL by Midnight Spectrum. It's a size newborn/small for a baby arriving in December.



The second is a medium soaker knit in single ply purewool. I don't know the name of the colorway, but I think it's beautiful. It's perfect for fall: gold, green, blue, purple, and rose.



More custom spots will be available next week on Tuesday, August 5th!

I've really been enjoying the summer--lots of visits to the beach and playing outside--so it's sad that I'm already thinking about the fall. But I'm cleaning out my projects drawer so that I can begin to stock it with new knits for the fall and winter. I'm offering up everything in my projects drawer for huge discounts. I will no longer be offering in stock crocheted longies and soakers anymore, so all of my in stock crochet items are on clearance! The sale starts today at 2pm and continues until they're all gone. Visit my store here: Pumpkin Pie Baby.

Here's a peak at one of today's offerings:

Market bags for little farmer's market shoppers

A customer who ordered a wool play food set from me this week asked if I had any ideas about what to put the foods in. I had thought about this since starting to sell the play food. But this weekend I sat down and worked on a few ideas. I came up with a darling market bag for the fruits and veggies. It's crocheted, stretchy, and the perfect size for little shoppers.





My daughters now want a market bag too for our weekly trips to our farm share. This is our first year participating in a farm share and it's been an adventure for us. We've been introduced to all kinds of new veggies--from kohlrabi to chinese cabbage to beets--and I'm getting reacquainted with my love of cooking. I'm having to search out new recipes for all these veggies. Here are some of my favorites so far.

For kohlrabi, try it roasted with butternut squash: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ROASTED-KOHLRABI-AND-BUTTERNUT-SQUASH-236414
For swiss chard, try this roasted, creamy dish: http://beyondsalmon.blogspot.com/2006/07/technique-of-week-how-to-cook-swiss.html This was so good, I'll forever be buying swiss chard!

Birthday cake

I recently made a bunch of play food for a swap and one of the items I made was a birthday cake for a 2 year old girl. Here it is:

I just love it, especially the 2 little lit candles. I've added birthday cakes to my list of play foods now and another custom set will be available at my next stocking on July 8th.

What a great birthday and our newsletter!

So Pumpkin Pie Baby celebrated our first birthday on June 10th and it was a huge success. I had a wonderful time collaborating with other women on Hyena Cart and I'm proud of the beautiful sets we made. In fact, three of our sets made it into the Most Spotted list on Hyena Cart! And, we had 902 invidivual visitors to our store on our birthday! If you missed it, you can see some of the sets on my Flickr gallery.

But I wanted to write about Pumpkin Pie Baby's new newsletter. Starting July 1st, I'll be sending out a monthly newsletter with store updates, previews, and information about our products. Most important, though, our newsletter will contain exclusive discounts for subscribers! To join our newsletter, simply visit our homepage, scroll to the bottom, and fill out the "Join the Mailing List" box. You'll then be receiving our newsletter soon.

Turtles

Tomorrow is the big anniversary stocking and this past weekend has been very exciting for me. On Friday, I had 441 people visit my site. And the Woodland Animals set, pictured in a blog post below, was one of the most spotted items on Hyena Cart this week.

I wanted to write about another set that will be stocking tomorrow. It is my favorite of all the sets being offered tomorrow. It's a 3 piece set for turtle lovers! The shorties were knit with Purewool's "Warm Ice" colorway. It worked up so nicely and is a beautiful blend of oranges and blues.



Samantha of My Beautiful Girl made this amazing fitted diaper from Kumquat's "Sea Life" knit fabric. The diaper inner is bamboo terry and the snap in doubler is topped with organic bamboo velour.



Carson of Fuzzy Britches appliqued a turtle T-shirt to match the turtles found on the diaper. She did an amazing job with this turtle--he even has stars on his back!

Lobsters!!

I love lobster. It's my guilty pleasure. I feel so bad for lobsters. Every time we're in the grocery store my daughters want to say hello to the lobsters in the tank. They want to know what they're doing in there, and I'm always tempted to say "Well, they're piled on top of one another in this tiny little space waiting for someone to come along, boil them, and eat them." But I don't want to say that to them. My oldest is still trying to figure out where food comes from. As in, is chicken really chicken? Does it really come from a chicken? And what kind of animal does a strawberry come from?

All that morbidity aside, we've put together the cutest little lobster set. The set includes an embroidered 12 month T-shirt by Rhonda of Closet on Queen Creek and a small pair of knit shorties. The yarn for the shorties is "Prize Fighter" on BFL by ...a time to dye. I really love knitting with BFL. I haven't knit with it for a while, and I really think it's one of my favorite yarns. It's soft and it is on the heavier side of worsted, so it just really makes for a beautiful knit.



Rhonda also embroidered 2 cotton flour sack towels with lobsters and I'm offering them as a free for shipping lottery starting Tuesday. Go enter!

Previews are up for my first anniversary!

I'm really excited to start previewing some of the sets that will be available next week for my 1 year anniversary. I had a lot of fun collaborating with other WAHMs.

I'm really happy with how this set turned out. It's a collaboration with Andrea of Lollipop Tree. This set started with the yarn. I fell in love with this colorway, it's blends of reds, blues, golds, and tans. It's Midnight Spectrum's "Sunrise Over Pike's Peak" colorway. I wanted to stay with the idea of the outdoors and mountains and forests. I found this Japanese fabric online and sent it to Andrea to pair with a T-shirt. She found this perfect red T.

So I'm calling this 2 piece set Woodland Animals. The fabric, T-shirt, and wool all coordinate perfectly.

Happy Birthday to Beneath the Rowan Tree!

Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree has put together an amazing collection of items for her first birthday celebration! Every day is a celebration of a new color. I made this skirty for the orange stocking day. It's actually "Fiona" dyed by Three Irish Girls on Blackberry Ridge merino. Fiona is made up of oranges, reds, and yellows. It's vibrant but not too much so. I'm especially happy with the eyelet patterning on the skirt.



Click here to buy this skirty!

Here are a few other items Lori has available: check out this needle felted hedgies set!



And these ladybugs too...

Our birthday is almost here and big rave for Mama Stone Creations!

Pumpkin Pie Baby's anniversary celebration is approaching very quickly...June 10th to be exact. I'm excited to start posting previews soon, this weekend I hope.

Ashley of Mama Stone Creations made me this banner. I love it!



Stay tuned for previews.

Finally Stocking on Tuesday May 20th

So it's been a while since I was able to stock my store, but I've got a few items that will be coming available on Tuesday. I'm really pleased with them all! I had fun taking pictures outside the other day. It was a cloudy day so it was just right for capturing the colors accurately. And I have this little apple tree in our back yard that makes a perfect backdrop for all the wool.

I made this darling little skirty from the "Esther" colorway by ...a time to dye. I was able to find a coordinating blue at my local yarn store for the undershorts.



I knit these shorties from Purewool's "Sky Blue and Chocolate" colorway. I really enjoy knitting with Purewool and I have another order coming to me from a co-op that I can't wait to get.



Lastly, I'm doing a $HC auction for this pair of small/medium shorties. They'd be perfect for a boy or a girl.



You can find all these things on my Hyena Cart here.

Spotlighting Laines Magnifiques

This week's spotlight is on Nicole of Laines Magnifiques. Nicole offers beautiful hand dyed yarns, knits, and shirts both at her storefront on Hyena Cart and at the congo Artiste. I was looking through her gallery to pick my favorite colorways, and Alice, Atticus, and Benjamin immediately jumped out at me. But then I was checking out her in stock offerings at Artiste and I'm in love with Sour Grapes:


Becca is beautiful too:


Both colorways are soft and subtle looking and they're on an alpaca/merino blend yarn which must be amazing to knit with!

Spotlighting Hot Salad

So my feelings of being unproductive persist, even though I'm knitting EVERY day. I'm working on my stocking for my 1st anniversary in June which gives me no time to stock my store now. But rest assured that I'm working on some amazing things and as the items for the collaborations start to arrive, I'm starting to feel more excited!

In the meantime, I'd like to highlight another amazing WAHM, Nita of Hot Salad. Nita makes the most precious and adorable shoes for babies, called Puchi Toes, I've ever seen. They are lined with flannel and made of cotton. I'm imagining my feet in a pair right now and it feels lovely.


She also now makes play dresses from recycled T-shirts that are fabulous! My oldest daughter loves to wear skirts and dresses, and she loves to play too. If this were a Red Sox or Patriots t-shirt, we'd be all over this.


These are just two examples of the items she offers. She sews a wide range of clothing items as well as products for children with special needs. She has an extensive gallery here and she stocks at the congoes Unique and Inspired.

Wool play food!

For the past few weeks I've been working on customs so haven't been able to stock my store. The fact that I'm not stocking my store makes me feel unproductive, even though I knit and crochet every day. So here are some of the things I've been working on lately.

I finished up this fruit and veggie basket as a custom for a little girl's birthday gift. I'm really pleased with how they all came out. My favorite is the little eggplant.



I made some more playfood for another project I'm working on. For some reason, I really wanted to make a head of lettuce. I think it came out very well for my first one! I enjoy the challenge of coming up with the patterns for the fruits and veggies as I crochet them.



I've also been working on more shorties and these are a recent custom knit with Purewool's "Blue Warrior" colorway. The colors worked up very nicely.

A new custom and donation for a raffle

These are my two newest finished woolies. The first is a custom pair of small longies knit with "Emory" by ...a time to dye on BFL. I thought I was going to be able to finish the whole pair with 1 skein, but I had just 1 leg cuff left when I ran out of yarn. Luckily my local yarn store came through with a coordinating blue.



I made this pair of shorties for a fundraising raffle. It's a medium pair of shorties knit with Crema and Chocolate on Purewool. This was my first time knitting with 3 ply purewool. I know how everyone talks about how soft it is, and it's definitely soft, but I actually liked most how neat and clean the stitches look. You can find the fundraising raffles here. So many talented mamas!



Now if only we could have universal healthcare. That would really be something.

Spotlighting Tush Cloth Diapers and Blue Goose Designs

I have been lax in spotlighting other WAHMs on Hyena Cart, so today I'm doing two to try to catch up: Tush Cloth Diapers and Blue Goose Designs.

I noticed this beautiful diaper this week:

This is a Tush Nocturne hand dyed diaper called "The Sleepy Aubergine." I noticed this diaper because I love eggplants and the deep purple color of eggplants. It was stocked at the Venus Vanguard congo on Hyena Cart this week. Tush Nocturnes are fitted overnight diapers that look lush and comfortable. If you look at her blog, you'll also see how beautifully she dyes her diapers. Tush stocks at both her own site and at Venus Vanguard.

My other spotlight this week is on Blue Goose Designs. Formerly Baa Baby Naturals, Blue Goose Designs offers organic and hand dyed knit longies, soakers and shorties as well as other knit baby clothing. Andrea, the WAHM behing Blue Goose Designs, has been in business since 2005. Her extensive gallery is filled with beautiful items.

I also love her informative page on wool. I've referenced her chart several times in my process of learning about all of the different kinds of wool and their properties.

Her sister site is Wild Child Yarn, where she offers hand dyed yarns. Check out this beautiful colorway on 2 ply merino, and it's still in stock:

Two finished gifts

One of my husband's closest friends is having a baby next month and we're both invited to the baby shower. I made this sweater and hat for the baby to wear next winter. I used Beemer Knits' Bananafish colorway on BFL.





And about a year ago, my sister mentioned to me that she wanted some kind of ear warmer. I made this one for her from the Calorimetry pattern on Knitty and, while I finished knitting a year ago, I just yesterday sewed on the button. It's almost April, so I don't know how much wear she'll get out of it this year, but it's going to be 32 degrees on Easter so maybe she can wear it then.



And just a note about the wool I used for this. I bought this yarn at City Knitting in Grand Rapids, MI, and it was dyed by Yarn Hollow. It's a wool/mohair blend. Typically I don't like mohair, but this is very nice and not scratchy at all.

Two New Customs Finished!

I just finished up 2 customs and I'm really happy about how they turned out.

This first pair of capris was knit with the "Mermaid" colorway by Ky Baby Knits. These colors are so vibrant in person and the colors striped very nicely throughout. The mama I made these for wanted a ruffle and after three tries, I finally found a ruffle I like!



These shorties were knit in a variation on the Peppermint Chocolate Chip colorway dyed by Beemer Knits. The colorway is a blend of pink, grey and beige. I would never think to put grey and beige together, but it's beautiful and soothing on this yarn.



So I've got several more customs to work on and some personal knitting to do before I'm able to stock my store again. In fact, I'm working on Crumpets for my daughter's Easter dress and I'm worrying that I won't get it done in time. That's not my only worry about this dress. My daughter is also very picky about what she'll wear, and I'm afraid she'll refuse to wear it come Easter. But she likes girly dresses, so I'm crossing my fingers. I'll post pictures of it when I'm finished.

Charity Raffle

This is my third and last post for today!

I've donated this pair of newborn/small shorties to a charity raffle to benefit the family of a three year old girl recently diagnosed with leukemia. You can read all about it here and purchase tickets for many great items donated by WAHMs.

Spotlighting Beneath the Rowan Tree

I've been a little lazy getting these spotlights done lately, but I'm hoping to get myself back on track.

Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree dyes and hand paints all of her clothing items. While she carries mainly clothing for children--T shirts, dresses, hoodies, pants, and shorts--she also carried items for women. One of my favorite T shirts she's created is this Birds on a Wire, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why it's still in stock!



In reading her blog today, I saw that she's been working on a series of items featuring characters from Alice in Wonderland. She's been using the works of John Tenniel as inspiration. I love 19th century children's illustrations, and I love the illustrations Tenniel did for Alice in Wonderland. Here's an example of what Lori created. She's a talented woman to take those illustrations and render them beautifully on fabric!



Lori also carries Square Roots--wooden play tiles that she's painted, and Art Pops-- molded crayons on a lollipop stick!

Check out Beneath the Rowan Tree on her blog or her main website . Lori stocks on her own Hyena Cart, on the congos In Their Hands and Take Off Your Shoes, and on Etsy.

Newest custom: grape hyacinth skirty version 3

Last September when I was visiting my local yarn store, I spotted a lime green and purple yarn that together looked stunning. So I bought them in hopes of making something. Finally this January I pulled the yarn out to make a skirty and I've since made 2 more each with slight variations.

The latest version features star stitching around the bottom of the skirty, a small pocket and a few embroidered flowers.