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Category Archives: Handmade

Board Games

Written on September 27th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Art, Cognitive, Good times, Handmade, Language, Preschool aged, Saving money, School aged, Social

One thing I love about Missy 10 belonging to such a small school (50 kids total!) is that they have time to do such cool things. Sure, at the end of term, they had the usual watching of DVDs, which I don’t mind. But they also had the kids make their own board games.

I’m happy, because I was going to eventually post about this idea myself, now the school has saved me the hassle. Although this is loads of fun for kids, there’s many benefits to be had without them even realising:

Having kids make their own board games let them:

- Make choices and design something, giving them a feeling of autonomy and creativity

- Have an opportunity to problem-solve and mentally plan something in advance.

- Have a maths experience that is more fun than usual. It also doesn’t feel like maths!

- Be sociable, take turns, share, cooperate and be a good sport.

- Use their own imagination.

- Have ‘something to do’ during school holidays; not only as they play the game, but during the creation of it.

- do something fun that is cheap and resourceful.

The name of this game is an insect themed version of snakes and ladders. Missy 10 has added instructions on how to play at the bottom. You can make counters out of just about anything: buttons, coins, even cut up paper or cardboard. You can use a dice you already own, make one out of a box or create a spinning dial. Anything extra that needs to be made just means your kids will be busy for longer.

Of course, you have to be careful if you have under 3′s in the home, due to the small parts in the game. I’m loving that my youngest child is now three, because all three kids are at the perfect age to get pleasure, educational benefits and social skills out of it. Most importantly, they’re all interested!

Missy 10 plans to make more of these over the holidays. I will post her different versions of the games over at Hear Mum Roar’s facebook page, if you’d like to see them. If you have any board games your kids have made, I’d love to see photos of them too, so please upload them to the ‘school holidays’ album so we can all be inspired!

What are your kids doing these holidays? Are you over it yet, or still enjoying the break?

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On My Mind

Written on July 1st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Handmade, Projects, Saving money

From today onward, I’ll be joining in the ‘On my mind’ photo feature from Down To Earth. It’s one of my favourite blogs, full of inspiration. The idea is to post a photo of what is on your mind that day.

Like most mums, I have a million things on my mind today. Can we get the man who pumps septic tanks to visit us soon? I’m sure at this time of year he’s very busy! However, my partner and I are keen to get ours emptied soon in this cold weather.

We have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon, as my carer support worker and Phams worker cleverly picked up that I’m getting depression (occupational hazard, I’m told). I’m looking forward to getting some much needed medication and feeling better for it.

But what I’m thinking about most of all, is how much I can’t wait to sit down tonight and over the weekend to finish this jacket for Missy 3. I’m in the process of designing an ultra simple, ultra fast pattern for this so I can run a jacket up within hours in future. If it works out well, of course I’ll share the pattern.

I’m finding it’s getting easier to find the time to knit, these days. Of course I’m busier than I’ve ever been, but I love knowing that my kids are now old enough that I can knit whilst they’re awake without inquisitive fingers unravelling the yarn from the needles. I love that our cat Sookie is old enough now not to play with the yarn as I knit (but I still can’t leave it on the bench for a second or he’ll rip it to shreds! I learnt this the hard way when I was designing a beautiful pair of knitted gloves for my mother!)

I also find being a mother, I appreciate my crafting time so much more than I did when I was single. Time in general is more precious now, definitely. Especially time enjoying doing something I love.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and that you leave me a comment to let me know what’s on your mind.

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Sewing Kids’ Clothes..fast!

Written on June 14th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Handmade, In the home, Organisation, Projects, Saving money

I’m going to state the bleedin’ obvious here: sewing clothes for your children saves money. If it’s a hobby of yours, it’s enjoyable, a creative outlet and it’s so rewarding. I love how children appreciate clothes made by me, so much more than the bought stuff.

There’s just one little glitch: time. You can be the world’s best dressmaker but if you’re flat out looking after your kids, how the bloody hell are you meant to actually finish projects in time for your child to wear them? They just have such an annoying habit of growing, don’t they?

This is a constant challenge for me, despite having my own dedicated studio especially for these types of projects. I have worked out a few ways I can fast-track some projects to ensure they’ll be whipped up before the kids outgrow them. I’m still not sewing as much as I’d like to be, but it’s a start. I find when you’re a mother and you want to do something, doing what you can just has to be enough a lot of the time. I’m finding winter is an especially helpful time to make your own garments, as that’s where the savings can really kick in. I’ve mentioned my frozen toilet on facebook recently, so I know some of you have a fair idea of how cold it’s getting out this way!

Opt for pull-on styles

If you can cast your mind back to last year, you’ll remember this dress:

This was made for Missy 3 (then 2). It’s a peasant style and is fully elasticised; no buttons, zippers or other fastenings. I also like this dress sewn by Fiona over at Inner Pickle. Very simple, but beautiful and versatile. Other easy pull-on styles include skirts, pants made out of knitted fabrics (although there are some good pull-on versions for woven fabrics too if you look for them), t-shirts and jumpers.

Opt for less detail in the pattern

Below is the pattern of a dress I’m currently working on for Missy 3. It does have buttons, but only two. It also has some applique which counts as detail, I know.. But if you look at the style, it’s a very basic shift dress. No frills, pockets, sleeves, etc. I could make the dress itself quickly if I chose not to do the applique. However, this one is cute enough for me to be willing to add that extra detail. I find it’s much easier for me to spend time on details such as hand embroidery where I can sit with it in front of the telly, than to look for more time with the sewing machine. This will be very warm, and I’ll be able to pick up some cheap but cute stockings and skivvies to go under it.

What if you don’t even have time for that?

Well, cheat! Missy 3 outgrew that dress I made in the first picture too fast. It was very roomy, except in the underarm area. It still had loads of room for a skirt. I didn’t have to cut out a pattern, do seams or hems.. I didn’t have to sew those beautiful tiers again. My plan was to simply chop the top off, make a quick casing and chuck some elastic in. This didn’t take long at all. Not even an afternoon. Missy 10 was in the studio with me. She likes to poke around her grandma’s and great-grandma’s sewing baskets that I inherited, and pore over the treasures inside. And did she find treasure? Reams and reams of white lace! I was in such a hurry to run up that casing and be done, that it didn’t occur to me to use this lace until I saw it.

By quickly adding some to the hem and tiers, this skirt looks relatively different to the original dress. I’ll be stocking up on lots of brick-a-brack like this from now on. It’s a super fast way to revive old clothes. I have a pile of dresses (from both Missy 10 and 3) next to my sewing machine. Everytime I get a minute, I’m going to hack the tops off, and elasticise the waists. Too easy, and far less wasteful.

I like to attempt to give as many items in this house at least a second life, whenever I possibly can. Dani has shared before how she’s cropped long pants into shorts for her two kids when they were younger, and it seems mad not to!

More basic: sew a rectangle

In other words, sew a simple skirt from scratch. It can be tiered, or a basic elastic-waisted skirt. Even if you came up with your own design, it’s very hard to stuff up if you can sew in a straight line. If you want to go into slightly more detail but retain the simplicity and speed of a quick skirt, you might like the market skirt. I think this looks adorable! The pattern is free, it takes 2-3 hours, and I’m definitely adding it to the repertoire.

Mend.

A great use of a sewer’s time and skills can be the simple act of mending clothes. Remember that? When people would actually mend their clothing rather than just throw it out and buy something new straight away? A while back, I was reading over at Down To Earth and she was talking about this subject, and I realised at the time that it rarely occurs to us these days. We’re all too busy, too rush, rush, rush! It’s not as pleasurable in the creative sense as actually making clothing, but by god it can save money.

We should all take a leaf from Rhonda’s book and start making our clothes last longer. Again, this can be done during tv time.

Learn other clever ways to upcycle clothes

I find Violet Le Beaux to be a briliant resource for this stuff. A lot of her ideas could easily translate to children’s clothing. She’s forever chopping up her clothes and making them into even better ones.

But I like spending time on long projects!

Me too. There’s no reason we can’t still do that. You can always make lengthier, more detailed projects on kids’ items that won’t be grown out of. Think bed linen (patchwork quilts are truly precious, and many children love to hang onto these right into adulthood), cushions, room decor, and so on. With these projects it doesn’t matter so much if it takes you longer to complete them.

If you have a fast sewing tip, I’d love to hear from you.

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Vinegar Cleaning

Written on May 24th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Going green, Handmade, In the home, Saving money

I know a lot of people are aware that white vinegar is an awesome way to clean the home. It’s cheap, doesn’t contain nasty chemicals and is much healthier for the family. It’s also far better for the environment than harsh chemical cleaners.

I’ve been using white vinegar for many years now. I started out just using it mixed with essential oils such as lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree and lemon scented tea tree. Of course, there’s many other great oils that can be added, but these were the ones I regularly used.

Now, living out here in the middle of whoop-whoop, it’s a little more of an effort for me to just race to the shops to grab some essential oil. Sometimes I’ve needed to clean the house then and there, without time to replace those empty essential oil bottles. What’s that saying? Necessity being the mother of invention? Anyway. Maybe someone else has already come up with this idea, I don’t know.

I’ve been a little bit mean with some of you on facebook, asking you guys to guess what I’m doing with the bottles in the picture above. These are three white vinegar bottles that were empty to start with. I’ve picked some plants from the garden (from left to right in the photo): wormwood, lavender and mint.

How to make it:

I’ve picked as much of each as I could carry, then chopped it finely. I pushed them into the empty bottles, then topped them up with white vinegar. So basically, they’re pickled herbs, and when they’re ready to be used, need to be strained first. I am saving the wormwood for summer when the flies really get out of hand around here. The lavender just smells pretty and is so soothing. (Don’t use in pregnancy, though). I’ve also heard that floors mopped with mint essential oils mixed with vinegar can deter mice, so I’m curious as to whether or not it’d worked with my pickled mint. I’ll update this blog as I find out.

I’ve found, having made these concoctions a few weeks ago, that the wormwood becomes potent quite fast. The lavender needs a little longer, perhaps a week or two, and the mint needed the longest. In fact, the mint smelt like salad dressing for a long time! It’s only now, a few weeks down the track that it actually smells like mint! I’ve heard that slugs dislike mandarin peel, so in future when I have some fresh peel, I’ll try pickling some to see if it’s useful. Because our home is over one hundred years old, we often get disgusting slugs on our floors!

The ways I’ve used this vinegar so far include:

- Making up spray bottles of one quarter vinegar solution and the rest, water. Makes a fantastic all-purpose spray cleaner.

- Adding a splash of this vinegar solution to the mopping bucket water.

- Mixing the solution with baking soda (also known as bi-carb of soda, they’re both the same thing) to make a paste. This makes a good scrubbing paste for cleaning the bathtub, shower, stovetop, etc. Basically, anything that requires a little extra ‘oomph’. (Edited to add: don’t mix vinegar and baking soda into a paste then store it in a container or bottle. It’ll explode! Just make up enough to use once at a time)

- To unblock the sink with baking soda

- As a final rinse in the washing machine.

…But the job my kids like doing best with pickled vinegar is scrubbing the cereal-encrusted dining table with a cloth nappy splashed with straight solution. How great is it to be able to get kids so involved in nature, and to be able to let them clean up safely without worry about them handling poisons?

As for me, I’ve not bothered buying any essential oil for cleaning for a few weeks, now. Don’t get me wrong, the oils mixed with vinegar are still by far cheaper than buying chemical cleaners. However, I’m so chuffed that I can use something natural, nice-smelling with useful properties (eg pest control), and it works out cheaper still!

I remember when I first began cleaning with vinegar all those years ago. I remember being gobsmacked at having less headaches in general, and not coughing and sneezing when I cleaned anymore. And it works just as well, if not better. Vinegar works as a disinfectant and an odour neutraliser. Of course, it does smell strongly for a few minutes, but once the smell fades, it takes those stinky house odours away with it.

I can’t wait to try some other plants/scents in this way. What do you think would be good ones to try?

Other reading:

How to clean carpet naturally

Homemade air freshener

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Making Pom Poms

Written on May 1st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Craft, Fine motor, Handmade, May 2011, Projects, Saving money, School aged

Yes, this is a pom-pom made from the french knitting kit I mentioned the other day. I’m not overly thrilled with it, because of the technique used to wind the wool on:

Having made pom poms in the past the old fashioned way (winding yarn around cardboard circles with a hole in the centre), Missy 10 and I both thought this would be much easier. It was, but we didn’t like the effect as much as how it turns out doing it the old fashioned way. There was a lot of trimming needed afterward to make it look circular, and we didn’t like how the tied-up centre turned out, either. It didn’t seem as secure. Violet Le Beaux recently made heart shaped pom poms by wrapping the yarn around something rectangular with great results, so it could be a personal preference thing. I’m determined to make some of her cute heart pom poms very soon though, I think they’d look awesome on the end of some beanie ties!

This is a great activity if you have a child who’d like to dabble in wool/yarn craft, but isnt yet confident/interested in learning to knit or crochet. It still provides yet another opportunity to work the fine motor muscles and to problem-solve. It can be pretty tricky cutting those loops of wool, so a child will have to dig deeper than using just average scissor skills! They won’t be able to cut all that yarn in one hit, and will have to learn other ways to do it, such as snipping just a little wool at a time.

Making pom poms with children also encourages them to concentrate on this task for a longer period than many other activities this generation likes to do. I think it’s good to involve children in activities which don’t necessarily provide instant gratification in a matter of minutes. As with most wool crafts, school aged children are given a chance to lengthen their attention span and to learn about patience.

When Missy 10 made her pom poms, she quickly learned that although it’s a simple project, these make great gifts. She made a toy for Sookie the cat, and we both gave some pom poms to Missy 3 to play with. She was over the moon to be able to carry them around and cuddle them. Missy 10 did attempt to decorate one pom-pom into a toy character, but unfortunately, Sookie tore it apart within seconds of its completion. In time, we’ll make more pom-poms, and show a bunch of cool things kids can make either for themselves or others.

In future, I’m thinking we’ll buy one of those plastic versions of the cardboard circles, as a compromise. It’s tedious cutting out cardboard every single time, after all.

This is the perfect weather in Australia to be snuggling up, making pom-poms. I have fond memories of making them as a child, and making funny toys out of them. What did you do with pom-poms when you were a child?

Other reading:

French knitting

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Teaching kids to knit

Crochet for children and finger knitting

Flower looms

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School Holiday Craft – French Knitting

Written on April 29th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in April 2011, Craft, Fine motor, Handmade, Saving money, School aged

School holidays ended this week (sob!). Missy 10 kept herself busy these holidays with plenty of craft, which she loves. A few weeks prior to the holidays, I was in Big W and found this cute kit for roughly six bucks, so I made a point of grabbing it in advance (it was in the knitting section).

These are also sometimes called a ‘knitting nancy’. We thought this one looked really cute. It also came with a bonus pom-pom maker, which I’ll write another post on shortly.

This is a simple, cheap and fun activity for school aged children. It’s more of a structured activity than a creative one, but let’s face it, school-aged kids are ready and able to learn crafting techniques at this age, and enjoying mastering them. Once mastery is gained, creativity can come into play if the child chooses. They could use the cords created for decoration, for example on knitted toys (the post I’ve linked to wasn’t decorated with french knitting, I instead used i-cords, which looks very similar to french knitting and could be used in the same way), as ties on beanies or other clothing.

Kids are attracted to this craft for the fun, but they get so much more out of it than they realise (or need to know):

- This activity is highly cognitive, as they try to remember the steps in the sequence of french knitting. Kids are challenged to use trial and error, experimentation and problem solving, just to get the little loops over the spikes! Are they pulling the yarn too tightly? Is it too loose? Your child will be encouraged to reflect on the consequences of every attempt they make to get this to work, and tweak the way they try it on each next attempt.

- Eye-hand co-ordination is challenged quite a bit, as they really need to look at what they’re doing to make their own hands match what their eyes can see!

- Because this is very fine, close work compared to preschooler craft, it helps children to become more skilled at using their hands, strengthening them at the same time.

- It’s a beautiful way for parents or grandparents to spend with the kids in their life. I don’t think this generation values this sort of interaction as much as previous generations.

So many families are obsessed with filling each day up with play dates, extracurricular activities and so on. Whatever happened to spending time with the adults in a child’s life, learning new things with them? I love that when I craft with my daughter, it’s a perfect opportunity for her and I to slow down, de-stress and reconnect. I’m all too aware that soon she’ll be a teen. I’m all too aware that she spends so much time at school, and less time with her dad and I as a result.

I think once our kids start school, it’s so easy to let that time together slide and for parents to become disconnected from their children. We need, as a society, to re-claim that bond with our children. What better way to do that than by teaching them new things? And please, if you’re reading this, and you and/or your child aren’t crafty, don’t think that’s that’s the only way to spend time and connect with your school-aged child. I’ll be talking about lots of ways we can keep that bond alive with our older kids very soon.

Did you french knit as a kid? Did you have a wooden cotton spool with four nails bunged into the top, or did you have a store bought ‘knitting nancy’?

Other reading:

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Teaching kids to knit – school holiday fun

Crochet for children

Flower looms

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Happy Birthday to Missy now 3

Written on April 26th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in April 2011, Good times, Handmade, Preschool aged, Projects

Can you believe it?? It feels like we only just celebrated her 2nd birthday, and yet here is our youngest daughter, growing up on us and turning three. I tell you, you can’t afford to blink with this parenting gig, can you?

I feel so guilty. I know she would’ve loved her very own birthday party, just like Missy 10 had last year. We were genuinely going to have one, then, argh! Life happened. I hadn’t gotten around to taking her to playgroup yet, so although we know some other little kids around her age, there wouldn’t be too many kids to invite, as we still settle into this town. Also, time really has gotten away on us. I’ve been weighing up my options with regard to visiting my mother, who as some of you would know, has recently had a stroke. She’s now in rehab, and doing much better than was originally expected. I’ve not been able to visit her yet, but want to as soon as I can.

Then, there’s the issue of my partner’s treatment. Would you believe he will be getting admitted to hospital after all, even after my recent announcement that he wouldn’t be? We’ve been making plans for that time, stepping up his appointments, getting extra workers, and so on. It’s basically been consuming all the time we’ve got, lately.

So yeah, not only do I feel guilt about so many things these days (and obviously, wanting to fix my blog back to its former glory or better), but I’m trying so hard to fight the feelings of guilt about giving Missy 3 a great birthday. I’ve been floundering under the pressure of everything going on lately, to the point where the time immediately after my mother’s stroke is just this blur that I don’t remember very well. I do know, though, that I wasn’t much help to anyone. I wasn’t writing down my partner’s appointments, or helping to ensure he was getting to them. It really felt that my brain had packed up and gone elsewhere. It still feels a little like that, but less so.

So, no party this year, and we managed to bugger up the cake as well! Because her birthday was on Sunday and all the shops were closed from Friday onward, we ended up giving her her birthday cake days earlier, because we had to buy a cake, due to not yet having an oven at this house. I was worried about confusing her, but she and the other two kids were happy, so that’s all that matters, and no amount of self-flagellation will make a difference.

Missy 3 and my mother actually share a birthday, too. I’m normally not able to talk to my mother on the phone, because the rehab doesn’t allow it, but they made an exception for her birthday. This was the first time I’d spoken to her since her stroke, so it was good to be able to catch up. Of course, it re-ignited the guilt about not having visited her and round and round we go… But hey, it was good for both of us, and made the day even better.

I made these two cute toys for Missy 3:

A knitted gingerbread man and snake. I know how much she adores the story, and she loves handmade things. I had been working on this toy for a while, and was pleasantly surprised to see how big and cuddly it ended up! As for the snake, I discovered a knitted rectangle in my sewing drawer the day before her birthday. It was for a door snake for blocking drafts that I started making a long time before I had our last two children. Knowing how crazy my daughter is for snakes (she likes to get pieces of wool and make believe they’re slithering all through the house), I quickly fashioned it into a cheerful snake toy.

Well. She hated the gingerbread man! (Keep in mind, I’d shown her the pattern months before, and she’d said she liked it) So, we talked about being polite when getting birthday presents, then gave it to Missy 10 who’s besotted with it. Missy 10 agreed that if fickle Missy 3 changed her mind later down the track, that she’d give it back (she knew I was planning to make one for her in future, also). Missy 3 has since teetered from loving the toy to loathing it. I think she’s just getting used to it…

She really loves the snake, which I find hilarious, given its simplicity and how little time it took to make it!

All in all, despite an insane amount of mummy guilt this year, it was a great day. I just keep reminding myself of the important things in all of this: the five of us got to spend time together as a family (we were expecting my partner to go to hospital before this, so we felt very lucky) and no matter what’s going on, how buggered up our plans have been this year, and how scrambled mummy’s brains are these days, is that she knows she’s loved. Everyday Missy 3 tells me, ‘I love you Mummy, I make you happy. You love me, and you make me happy’. In all of this craziness, I just have to hang onto the stuff that matters the most with both hands and know that that’s what will get us all through this. And you know what? Despite everything that (in my mind) went ‘wrong’, we all had a truly lovely day.

Now, please make me feel better by regaling me with your stories of birthday guilt!

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Knitting Project For Children – Finger Puppets

Written on January 16th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Craft, Experiences, Fine motor, Good times, Handmade, January 2011, Projects, Saving money, School aged

Remember yesterday, when I mentioned Missy 10 was knitting something special to her? Well, here’s the end result! (Well, part of it, actually. She still wants to glue a felt shell and tail onto the back) In case you can’t make out what this is, it’s a finger puppet of a Pokemon character named Squirtle. Yes, she’s obsessed with Pokemon…

She knitted this up in 8 ply acrylic yarn, on 4mm knitting needles. She started off with ten stitches, and just worked a rectangle until it was the length to fit her finger. She ran a needle through the stitches on the needle, then gathered them. She learned that this is how fingers on gloves are often finished off. I showed her how to fold the rectangle in half and sew the seam. Next time, it’ll be her turn to attempt it. Then, to customise her character, she made up some felt shapes, drew some detail onto them then glued them onto the puppet with craft glue. It was very simple, but she thrived on the creative process; deciding what she wanted the puppet to become, designing the features, and fiddling around putting them on.

I also gave her a fabric marker pen to work with before she cut the felt shapes out. This lets her erase what she felt were mistakes, with a wet cloth. I also taught her not to use hot water to do this, as this can set the ink into a stain. The great thing about fabric markers is that the ink on the fabric eventually becomes invisible anyway. It lets the work turn out a lot less grubby-looking than drawing on the fabric with a lead pencil.

I also looked through my own knitting stash, and have put together small stash to start her out with. Some balls of acrylic yarns, a knitting needle measuring gadget (great if you have a pair of needles where the size has worn off, but the needles themselves still work well), tape measure and some knitting needles. All of these things I already had, and either wasn’t planning on using or I already had duplicates of certain items. She was psyched!

We’ve decided to make our knitting together a one hour a day (minimum!) date. It’s nice to knit with someone who shares your interest, and both of us can’t stop chatting excitedly about all our ideas, and about knitting in general. We talk about what high school would be like, events in the past and her feelings on them, her friends, pretty much whatever she wants! Also, as my stress as a carer has really heated up lately, my carer support counselor has been driving home to me the urgent need for me to ensure I give myself self-care, or as it’s more widely known, me time.

I know me time should probably not be spent with my offspring, but if it makes me happy and relaxed, then honestly, why not? I’m very blessed to have the sort of child that even when I need down time, I choose to spend it with her.

She’s interested in making a scarf, next. She’s also looking forward to playing with her new puppet once the glues dries, and decorating her room with it. It’s also something fun we can make for Missy 2 and Mr 4. They love imaginative play, so these will be excellent homemade toys to nurture that.

Can you think of other handmade toys your school-child or you can make?

Other reading:
Teaching kids to knit: school holiday fun

Science experiments for school aged kids

Crochet for children

Book review: Zombie felties

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Teach Your Child Knitting

Written on January 16th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Craft, Fine motor, Good times, Handmade, January 2011, Projects, School aged

In Australia, we’re in the last weeks of the Summer holidays. It’s been fun, but now everyone’s getting a bit tetchy. Few of us have unlimited funds to do ridiculously exciting outings everyday, but it’s becoming clear before the kids get on each others’ (and our!) nerves, that they need something to do.

This is I why I think it’s great to teach school-aged kids how to knit. Missy 10 already knew the basics of it, but because she’s usually so busy with school, doesn’t get enough time to practice. What better time to have a go, than during school holidays? Our kids have hours and hours of time on their hands, and whilst it’s a great time to play and relax, sometimes kids don’t know what to do with so much spare time.

Knitting is also really cheap to get started with. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on beautiful wools down the track, but for beginners, cheap is best anyway. And to be honest, for the amount of time spent concentrating and being quiet (oh yes, I went there!) I’d say it’s a damn solid investment.

Even for my own knitting, I like to be relatively frugal. I use knitting needles that have either been handed down to me, and if I don’t have a certain size, nine times out of ten I can source them at the op shop or ebay for a dollar or two. I prefer old knitting needles anyway; to me they feel like there is magic in them. I can picture the ladies before me working on their projects, and feel as though I’m extending the continuum. Any money I save here allows me to buy high quality wools and yarns. I believe once you’re an established knitter, you deserve only the best materials.

I also have been able to to source many patterns for free on the internet, or for a couple of dollars. Ravelry and Knitty are my two favourite resources for knitting. There are also some great, easy knitting patterns for kids online. When I was nine, I became obsessed with knitting! I started out by reading beginners’ knitting books, and doing the projects in there. Basically, once your child can knit, there’s no reason for them not to start out on any beginner pattern that catches their eye. I also used to enjoy designing and knitting clothes for my toys.

Another great thing kids can do once they’ve mastered the basics of knitting is to attempt sampler squares of different patterns, such as stockinette stitch, moss stitch and ribbing. If your child enjoys the mastery of a computer game, there’s a fair chance they’ll get a kick out of a challenge like this too!

Ok, so knitting is cheap and enjoyable for kids. What are some of the direct benefits for the child?

- Knitting builds fine motor strength

- It challenges their eye-hand co-ordination

- It gives them great spatial awareness

- It is a great cognitive (intellect) building activity

- It encourages children to think in mathematical terms. Don’t believe me? Try knitting a pattern from a graph, or attempting a sampler pattern!

- Knitting is a great way for children to explore a new material. They learn about how fabrics can be made, the way they interlock together. They learn about how different sized needles, and different wool/yarn thicknesses affect the work they’re doing. They learn by working with the yarn and feeling it for long periods, the different properties of different fibres. For example, working with mohair is an entirely different experience to working with pure wool. Cotton doesn’t stretch very much, acrylic yarns don’t stay nice for very long, and so on.

- Knitting gives children a challenge and a purpose.

- Knitting gives children with a taste for fashion an outlet to channel it towards.

- It encourages children to have patience, and to work towards a goal.

- It keeps them quiet for hours!

So, how does one start out teaching their child to knit? I like to grab some 8 ply acrylic yarn (I usually can’t stand this stuff, but it’s perfect for learning on), and the needles in the size that complements the yarn (check the label for suggestions). I make sure I do it when I have a lot of time. Knitting with a child is a bonding experience, and not something to be rushed. It should be pleasurable.

It’s best at the first learning attempt for the grown-up to cast on the stitches and work one or two rows. This enables the work some more elasticity, which in turn makes the learning process less awkward. My Gram taught me to knit, by teaching me to recite as I worked, ‘in, round, under, off’ throughout the process of knitting one stitch. When you’re teaching a child to knit, a lot of this is repetition based, and takes a lot of practise. I’ve found it helped if I worked on a garter stitch sampler at the same time, (when my daughter was just starting out) so my daughter can look over my shoulder and see the ‘flow’ of the process.

As your child becomes more used to working with the needles and yarn, they’ll develop a comfortable habit in how they hold both. They will get their own little flow going! Knitting is a great confidence builder, too. What I love about it, is that a child can follow a pattern to learn the skill, or to make a certain, wanted project, or they can create something entirely original, if that is their wish. It can be as structured or open-ended as they choose! My motto with knitting is, build the skills first, then you can create anything later.

My daughter is really keen to learn more about knitting now, so we’ll be building up a cheap but nice stash for her. She’s really excited about this! You’ll be able to find out in a few days, what exactly it is she’s knitting!

If you don’t or can’t knit, why not consider asking a relative or friend who can, to teach your child? Do you or any of your children knit? Why not start with your child these holidays?

Other reading:

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Crochet for children

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How to get rid of flies

Written on November 1st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Care, Challenges, Going green, Handmade, In the home, November 2010, Saving money

Flies, flies, flies! I hate ‘em. I also hate spraying toxic chemicals around the house, so unless I do something a bit more natural, I’m screwed. We have wormwood growing in our backyard, and I remembered our gardener telling us that we could make a fly repellent out of it, so I decided today was the day to try it.

To cut a long story short, I picked it, boiled it, then strained it.

This made rather a lot. Once it was cooled, I poured it into a spray bottle and squirted it around the house. It seems to be working so far! I dropped all the cooked, strained leaves around the backdoor also, in the hope it would deter flies and mosquitos as well.

I was talking to my good friend Myrtle from Mimsical Soaps who knows a lot about this sort of thing. She told me that if you boil the wormwood with some chilli, it makes an excellent spray to prevent fruit flies. So I must start growing some and I’ll try that too.

Edited to add: this mixture went mouldy very quickly, so next time I would probably add some vinegar or vodka to the water to help preserve the spray and let it last longer.

The other thing I was busy with today, was picking loads of flowers from the front garden. I stripped the bushes bare of daisies, lavender, roses and geraniums. I was worried how I was going to dry so many flowers, and didn’t want to fiddle around tying them all into bunches and find places to hang them. So, I took an ugly lace curtain that came with this house when we bought it…