Mini-M decided a while back that she wanted to knit - she has received lovely knits from a whole host of family since she was tiny, and indeed now sometimes gets to choose what Granny S will knit her next! And whilst I'm all for aiming high, I'm pretty sure that knitting is beyond most 2yr olds, and definitely beyond Mini-M.
After a bit of planning, however, we gave sewing a go...
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| Future seamstress at work?!! |
First up, we went on a shopping expedition to John Lewis. On a side note, we probably go there too much. The other day as we were driving past, Mini-M looked out of the window and said "Is that John Lewis Mummy?" It was. I am now suffering middle-class-toddler-brand-identification-guilt (if such a thing exists).
We chose some 16 count Aida fabric, 3 colours of tapestry wool and some darning needles. It was all going well - we had managed to negotiate 3 different colours, rather than pink x3. Mini-M was carefully carrying the wool, when all of a sudden she was off - running across the shop unravelling wool in her wake.
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| Find a hole, push it through and.... |
As I pegged it after her, she stopped suddenly in her tracks and to complete the scene, her leggings fell down. I am not exaggerating for comic effect. For that moment of that day I was most definitely the parent that can't control their child that old ladies tut at! However thankfully it was 9:15am and the only other people in the haberdashery department (where she started her sprint from) and the luggage department (where the trouser-falling-down incident happened) were the staff, and they seemed quite entertained by the diversion int he absence of customers to serve. So trousers pulled up, we took a rather dishevelled skein of wool up to to the till to pay!
Later at home I dug out an old embroidery hoop to keep the fabric taut and make putting the needle through easier, which has helped a lot.
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| Pull! |
Obviously Mini-M can't do the knotting or needle threading, however she can find holes to put the needle through to make stitches, and chooses where she wants the wool to go. She's also very keen on choosing buttons - although her tastes are a little more bling than my own!
I'm not sure if we're calling her masterwork 'finished' yet - it's taken several sessions to get this far, but the novelty doesn't seem to have worn off yet, and there are a lot more buttons in the button tin...
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| Tasteful is not the word |
Post sewing Mini-M declared she wanted to do some wool snipping. A few minutes later, she toddled off to the kitchen to get a bowl. On her return she happily entertained herself cutting long pieces of wool into very short pieces of wool, and putting them in said bowl, explaining as she went that she was making wool for her babies, because they would be hungry in the night, and they liked wool. No shortage of imagination that's for sure!
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| Chopped up wool in a bowl = 10 mins peace and quiet! Who'd have thought |
