Dish Towel Modification

Have I mentioned we have a small house?  Well, we do, which includes having a small kitchen.  While our kitchen reno (still a bit in progress - haha) added some space, as in we tore down the wall between the small kitchen and small dining room.  With the reno we also managed to fit in a dishwasher - hallelujah!  The only issue was that the hooks my mom had attached to the their old frig, which we were incredibly lucky to inherit, were just a bit too low for our dish towels, causing them to catch in the dishwasher door.  If you hang them from the tag that is, and if you try to hang them via the halfway point, they always fall off.  Boo.

Well, this past weekend, I was suddenly struck with an easy, quick solution.

I should use some kind of ribbon at the halfway point on the long side to make a permanent hanging loop, from which the dish towel can hang.  No more falling off and ending up on the floor OR getting caught in the dishwasher.  YAY!

Star Wars Scarf

It's sad, but I had one of those weekends where I did tons but didn't feel like I got anything done.  Ever had one of those?

Well, one of the things I wanted to get done and did get done was a scarf for my oldest son.  He informed me last week that he wanted one, so I broke out my stash of fabric, looking for things I thought he would like and that were long enough (2 yards).

I found I had 2 yards of this fabulous Star Wars fabric.  My son agreed that the fabric was awesome!

To make it nice and warm, I decided to use the same anti-pill black fleece that I used on my nephew's Borussia Dortmund (soccer) scarf, but unlike that scarf, I wanted it to be an infinity scarf like the one I made for my niece so that it couldn't fall off accidentally.

Knit Hat Fix

Like most things, my kids can find a way to break it.  My oldest has this store-bought knit hat, and one day, I saw it sitting in his coat rack cubbie by the door looking a bit unraveled.  I have no idea how he managed it, but he did.  It was, however, not completely dead, so I thought I would try to resuscitate it.

I had some lovely non-pill black fleece from another project that just happened to match the black and gray color scheme of the hat.  I decided I would use it as a lining for the original. 

Necessary fabric.  Check.

DIY Kids Tool Belt

The inspiration for this came this past Saturday night.  My parents kindly took the boys for the afternoon.  Our usual pattern when this happens is to eat dinner with my parents in the evening.  When we arrived, my mom told me how my oldest son had worn this toy tool belt all afternoon, putting different things in as his tools.

The second piece to this puzzle starts with the dollar sale at our local secondhand shop.  I picked up several pairs of 2T jeans.  Well, I checked the snaps, but somehow forgot to check the zippers.  Whoops!  So, of the 4 pair I bought one had a broken zipper, but I figure for a buck, I can suck it up, and into the upcycling pile it went.

Now, put these 2 things together, and you get a very easy DIY kids tool belt!

Fix a Small Hole in Knit Fabric

My kids are lively, crazy, sweet, dirty, fun trouble makers, who can put holes in anything, especially their clothes.  This post is just part of my journey to save and reuse.  Recently, my oldest put a hole in one of the sleeves of one of his favorite long-sleeve tees.  I know how this hole came to be.  When he is upset he pulls the ends of his sleeves over his fists and bites at the fabric.  The result over time was a hole, which I am pretty sure he helped along by poking his finger through the hole when it appeared and before I noticed it.

Next on the list of repair is another pair of pajama pants, which have a similar hole, but it is definitely not as a result of biting, because if it were, my son should be performing for Circ du Soleil.  Because the hole is located in an area at the top of the pajama pants in a non-stress location, I believe that the fabric was just weaker there for some reason and finally came apart.  Naturally, I could be wrong.  It is just a theory.

Scissors and Pajamas Don't Mix

A little while ago, I was folding laundry, and discovered there were some very intentional holes in the pant's leg of one of my oldest's jammie pants.  It was very clear that these holes had been made with scissors, and I was not a happy Mama.  As it happened, my son had already fallen asleep, and I am glad for it because it gave me time to calm down before I talked with him about it and to decide on a consequence that would be appropriate.

The next day I was able to talk to him calmly about the problem.  One of his biggest concerns was whether I was mad at him, and I was truly able to say that I was not mad.  It was a good feeling and allowed me to make the points below with a calm, matter of fact demeanor.

1. The pajamas needed to be pulled out of circulation.
2. This means I have to wash more often to get his pajamas back for wearing or buy another pair.  This costs Mama time and/or money.
3. There is no punishment for this first time, since he didn't know the ramifications of his actions.  BUT the punishment for cutting up any clothing in the future would be the loss of one of his prized Lego sets, and it would not be returned.

Lego Star Ship Enterprise

To put things mildly, I am a Star Trek fan.  You may have already guessed this from the blog name.  I like Star Wars too - the ORIGINAL 3 movies, mind you - but I like Star Trek more than I like Star Wars, so much so, that I (with my husbands agreement, of course) gave both of my boys Star Trek inspired names.  When I was pregnant with my oldest, I watched Star Trek Insurrection (Next Generation) and there was a little boy named Artem.  So, he was christened Artem Forssell - Forssell being the last name of my husband's favorite soccer player at the time.  Our second son, Briggs Tiberius.  Briggs is a family name and Jim T. Kirk - the T is for Tiberius.  To put things in perspective, I love watching the films and movies, but I don't dress up like a character and go to conventions, although I am not ruling out a convention or two.  :)

After that super long explanation, I have been waiting anxiously for my oldest, who is six, to want to watch it with me.  With the most recent film, Star Trek Into Darkness, it finally happened!!