a hippie with a minivan

Happy Solstice!

What a beautiful view from my kitchen window this morning… and a great way to start winter.

YULE

So the shortest day came
and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries
of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
to drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
to keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us — listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day.
As promise wakens in the sleeping land;
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.

–Susan Cooper

Holiday pictures…

WordPress is making it easier and easier to add pictures to posts and I use the Galleries on my Photography blog so I decided to try it here also…

Here are the holiday pictures I took two days ago to put in the yearly photo book we make for family. I set up lights in my living room as it was a grey and miserable day and had a quick photo shoot.

You can see each picture larger and even comment on individual photos as well as on the post as usual.

Hope this works for everyone!

Listen to your baby…

Cat Ears and Tail… (Crochet Pattern)

Wilhelmina is often a cat… or a horse.. but mostly a cat and can spend hours being one.

Now that I am crocheting, I thought it would be a great way to make her some ears and a tail.

I looked for some patterns but I couldn’t find anything that looked like what I wanted so I decided to make it up as a went along.

I am going to do my best to write this out because as I said, I made it up as I went along and I am still not 100% sure how to write one yet and am doing this from memory, but I will try my best. Hopefully at least it will be a starting point.

The tail was quite easy. ( I used worsted weight yarn and a 5mm hook)

Round 1 : Make a magic circle (or chain 3 and join with a sl st) chain one, and then HDC (half double crochet) six stitches into the circle and join with first stich. (6 hdc)
Round 2 :chain 2, 2hdc in each hdc and sl st in starting stich (12 hdc)
Round 3 : chain 1, hdc in each sc and do not join or turn but continue going around and around until you reach the desired length. (I made it about 19 inches)
When you are the length you wish, with the working stitch completely to one side, squeeze the circle together and sc across the top so that is closes the tail. chain one, turn.
HDC the next 4 rows and TO leaving a long tail (you will use it to sew the tail on the belt)

The belt…

Chain as many stitches to achieve the desired length for the waist plus another inch or two for where the button-hole will overlap, chain 2 and hdc into the second chain from hook.
Row 1: HDC across the whole row, chain 2, turn
Row 2: HDC in 2nd stitch, sl st through next two stitches this will create the button-hole) HDC until you reach the end, chain 2 and turn.
Row 3: HDC in 2nd stich, HDC until you reach the stich before the 2 sl st in the previous row. 2 HDC in that stitch, skip the 2 sl st and then HDC in the next stich and to the end. chain 1, turn.
row 4: SC in the next 6 stiches and then join to the 3rd row with a sl st (this is reinforce the top of the button-hole without widening the whole belt… though you can HDC and go to the end if you want and have a wider belt)

Sew a button onto one side of the belt and then sew the tail into the middle of the belt.

Now the ears…

The headband was actually a knitting mishap where I messed up half way through and did the opposite that I was supposed to. Instead of unravelling it, I made it into a headband. It is about 4 inches wide and tapers at the ends where they meet and is K, P for half and just P on the other.
You can use the same instructions for the belt to make the headband though, minus the button-hole it you don’t want it… just chain the length you want it to be and then crochet the rows in sc or hdc until you get the desired width.

For the ears themselves… (make 2 in the inner ear colour and 2 in the outer ear colour)

Round 1: Make a magic circle or chain 3 and sl st to join. SC 6 in circle, tighten the circle (where the magic circle comes in handy)
Round 2: [SC, chain 2, SC] in same stitch, SC in next, [SC, chain 2, SC], SC in next st, [SC, chain 2, SC], SC in last stitch. Join with sl st to first st. chain 1.
Round 3: SC in same stitch, SC in next stitch, chain 2, (should be above the last chain 2) SC in next 3 st, chain 2, SC in next 3 st, chain 2, SC in next st and join to first st and TO. ( I then tied both loose yarns together in the back of the ear and cut the ends off)

Place the inner ear and the outer ear together and SC around the whole outside to join the two together and make the outlining ear. TO leaving a long tail.

Sew the ears where you want them to be on the headband.

Isn’t she adorable?

Writing the pattern out was actually easier than I would have thought, but I might have made some mistakes so don’t hesitate to point them out if you see them 🙂

note: please do not sell items that are made from this pattern unless you buy the License, and if you do make something please give due credit and send people back to this page. Thank you!

___________________________________________

Not everyone can crochet or has the time to do so, so if you want to make these items and sell them, you may purchase a license to do so.

-One Limited Commercial License = One pattern / tutorial

One License must be purchased for each person who makes or sells the tutorial / pattern (so if two people are making them for an etsy shop of craft fair, both must buy the license)

I still retain copyright on the tutorial / pattern itself.

Lastly, when selling or listing the item, design credit must be given to A hippie with a Minivan with a link to this site or pattern.

Also, if you wish you may send me the link to your shop so that I can send people to you!

By purchasing the license, you agree with the terms

Thank you! and happy sewing!

20.00

Salt dough

I shared the recipe for these a couple of years back but I thought I would make an updated post…

We put our tree up this weekend and while it went up I decided not to put all of the old salt dough ornaments that we had made before. I did keep a select few, but I wanted to leave a bit of place so that we could make more and so we did…

Yesterday, I made the dough and we made our ornaments and then the boys used the rest to make their own things to then paint and play with (mostly furniture for Lego and Mega Blok figures) and we dried them during the afternoon…

The dough is simple to make and even more simple when using a Food Processor as it kneads quickly and the more you knead the dough, the more supple it will be.

For the dough you need:

2 cups of Flour
1 cup of Salt
1 cup of water

That’s it… dump it into a bowl or the food processor and knead until soft and supple, adding more flour if needed. I doubled the dough (but only used 1 1/4 cup of salt) so that we could have fun with more but really, the normal recipe would have been sufficient.

Roll out the dough and cut out the ornaments, or shape them freehand. Place in the oven at 250 and bake for about an hour or two until they are hard and dry. Don’t forget to poke holes in them before you stick them in the oven! You can use a straw to make the perfect sized hole.

Today we painted them. We actually don’t get the paints out that often around here so the kids always have a great time painting… I should really do it more often because I find it so much fun also!

(letting them dry after being painted)

After painting them, I added some Mod Podge to the ones I made to give them lustre. Using a water based paint and the Mod Podge wasn’t the best idea but I was able to work around it and work with the paint coming off slightly and I actually love the effect it made. (especially the snowman and the strawberry)

(in the strawberry, the wreath, and the cupcake, the hole for the string is going from side the side)