Kapa glavu čuva - You should leave your hat on

Ovo je malo zakasneli post, iz više razloga. Prvo, proleće nam se smeši, pa nam kape još neće dugo biti potrebne, a drugo - ove dve kape su već odavne saštrikane i uveliko nošene, a nikako da budu fotografisane i objavljene.
Prva je rađena po ovoj mustri. Jako se lako plete (kad naučite da čitate Dropsove mustre) i veoma mi se dopalo da pletem „pirinač” bod - to se sad ređe sreće. Predivo sam dobila za rođendan, od moje drage prijateljice Tijane, koja je savršeno odabrala boje :) Pošto mi je preteklo prediva, saštrikala sam i ovaj grejač vrata, tako da sad imam komplet.

This post is a bit belated, for more than one reason. Firstly, spring is upon us, so I won't be needing caps for long, and secondly - these caps have been finished long ago, and already worn a lot, but I never got round to taking photos of them and publishing them.
The first  one was knitted according to this pattern. It's very easy to knit (once you get used to reading patterns written by Drops) and I very much enjoyed knitting moss stitch - you don't get to do that much these days. The yarn was a birthday present from a dear friend Tijana, who picked the colours perfectly. Since I had some yarn left, I knitted this neck warmer as well, so now I have a set.

A ova „marsovka” je saštrikana za Eminog najboljeg druga iz vrtića - Dimitrija. Sećate li se ovakvih kapa? Jeste li ih i vi nosili kao klinci?

Mustra je ovde, ali je zahtevala mnogo prepravljanja, pošto je ovo predivo daleko deblje od onog navedenog u „receptu”.

This balaclava was made for Ema's best friend from daycare - Dimitrije. Do you remeber these caps? Did you wear them as kids?

The pattern is here, but it required a lot of tweaking, because the yarn I used is much thicker than the one called for in the „recipe”.

Ideje za dan kada veje - What to do when you're snowed in

Pečati od krompira

Ovu ideju sam pronašla na nekoliko blogova. Veoma je jednostavna i vrlo je verovatno da u kući imate sve sastojke potrebne da je sprovedete u delo.
Potrebni su vam krompiri (manji), modle za kolače (mogu biti i plastične i metalne), nekoliko sunđera za pranje sudova i tempere.

Potatoe stamps

I've found this idea on several blogs. It is very simple and you probably have at home all the things you need for it.
You need some potatoes (smaller ones), cookie cutters (you can use both plastic and metal ones), a few sponges for washing dishes and tempera paint.

Utisnite modlicu u krompir do dubine 6-7 mm.
Press the cookie cutter into the potatoe 6-7 mm deep.

Dok se modla nalazi u krompiru, nožem odsescite okolni krompir i izvucite modlicu.
With the cookie cutter still inside the potatoe, use the knife to cut out the extra potatoe around the cutter, then remove the cutter.

Izlijte malo tempere na pokvašen sunđer, razmažite prstom i spremni ste za pečatiranje.
Pour some tempera paint onto a damp sponge, use your finger to spread it around the sponge evenly,
and you're ready to go!

Uživajte :)
Have fun!

Piši-briši vežbanke

Ova ideja potiče sa bloga Škrabalice i Mame koje ne radi na repeat. Ema i ja često radimo vežbice spajanja, rešavanja lavirinta, zaokruživanja i slično, a na ovaj način možemo iznova raditi vežbe koje su nam se dopale.
Potrebne su vam fascikle od providne folije (poznate pod nazivom „gaće”), flomaster za belu tablu, sunđer za brisanje (mada se taj flomaster uredno briše i ubrusima, toalet papirom i sličnim), odštampane vežbe i fascikla u koju ćete ih odložiti. Vežbe možete naći na Internetu, ima ih u izobilju. Samo ukucajte u Google „(free) printables for three/four/five year olds” i pojaviće se puno toga. Ima ih i na sajtovima koji su vezani za određene likove iz crtanih filmova, pa možete naći Pepu, Doru, Bena i Holi, itd., što ovakve vežbe čini mnogo zanimljivijim.

Reusable printables

I've found this idea on Škrabalica and Mame koje ne rade na repeat's blogs. Ema and I often do exercises that involve linking, circling, doing mazes and similar activities, and this way we can do those that we like over and over again.
All you need are transparent folders, whiteboard markers, sponge for erasing them (although all kinds of soft paper, such as tissues, can do the work), printed exercises and a file where you'll store them. Exercises can be found on the Internet, in abundance. Just google "printables for three/four/five year olds" and you'll have plenty to choose from. There are printable activities on sites devoted to cartoon characters, so you can find Peppa, Dora the Explorer, Ben and Holly and many others, which makes these tasks much more fun.

Moj novi hobi - My new hobby

Reč je o vezu - konkretno o pokrstici. Već dugo razmišljam o tome i listam časopise sa šemama, ali nikako da pokušam (uvek je bila još jedna zanimljiva mustra da se isplete). Vezom sam se bavila i ranije, ali ne pokrsticom nego šlingerajem (kako se to u mojim krajevima zvalo). Prikupila sam sav materijal i sutra ujutru, uz malu pomoć stručnijih od sebe, bacam se na posao. Javiću utiske :)

I'm talking about embroidery - cross stitch, to be more specific. I've been thinking about it for a long time, looking through magazines with patterns, but I've never got around to try it (there was always another interesting knitting pattern to try out). I've done embroidery before, but not this kind. I've bought all the material I need and tomorrow morning, with a little help of a friend who is a knitter/cross stitcher, I'm going to give it a go. I'll let you know how it works out :)

Moj prvi štrikaton - My first KAL

Do ovog štrikatona je došlo sasvim spontano - jedne večeri u prijatnom društvu sa Heklicom i čašom sangrije. Veliki deo ekipe NS Needles se takođe pridružio ideji i nastalo je divno druženje sa iglama i novonastalim šalovima. U pitanju je mustra Amy Meade, pod nazivom 3S Shawl. Za izradu šala smo koristile predivo koje smo dobile od koleginice pletilje Spomene, sa kojom smo se divno družile jednog letnjeg popodneva.
Učestvovanje u ovom zajedničkom poduhvatu je bilo sjajno i radujem se nekim budućim štrikatonima.


This KAL came about very spontaneously - one evening in a lovely company with Heklica and a glass of sangria. The majority of our NS Needles knitting group joined the idea and it turned out to be a great time spent with needles and our newly made shawls. The pattern we used is called 3S Shawl, by Amy Meade. The yarn we all used was a present from a fellow knitter Spomena, with whome we spent a lovely summer afternoon last year.

Taking part in this KAL was a great experience and I'm looking forward to some more of them.

Princeza Holi i naše malo kraljevstvo - Princess Holly and our little kingdom

Nedavno smo imali maskembal u vrtiću. Ove godine sam bila malkice ambicioznija nego prošle. Sećate se da sam pominjala da su nam Ben i Holi sada omiljeni likovi, pa je Ema odlučila da će da se maskira u princezu Holi. Krila smo dobili u jednom od onih časopisa o princezama, pa sam ih sačuvala za neku ovakvu priliku. Kruna je rajf na koga su prišivena dva žuta oblika krune od hamera. Čarobni štapić smo napravili od silikonskih modli za kolače (u obliku zvezde). Isekla sam im dno i zalepila jedno za drugo, napunila koflinom i umetnula štapić koji se dobija uz balone. Nameravala sam da i zvezdu napravim od hamera, ali sam se bojala špicastih ivica i mnoštva dece.

Recently we had a costume party at Ema's daycare. This year I was a wee bit more ambitious than last year. You probably remember my mentioning that Ben and Holly are our favourite cartoon characters, so Ema decided to go as Holly. We got the wings from some magazine about princesses, so I saved them for an occasion like this one. The crown is a hair pin with two crown shaped yellow cardboards sewn together. The magic wand is made from sillicone star shaped cake moulds. I cut out the bottom and glued two of them together, filled the wand with some amigurumi stuffing and inserted a stick that kids get with balloons. I was planning to use cardboard to make the magic wand, but I was afraid of the combination of pointy edges and small children.

A ovu Holi sam pravila jako dugo. Vodila sam se mustrom za Pepu Prase, ali sam morala izmeniti lice, oblik tela, dodati krila, krunu i kosu. S obzirom da mi je ovo prva polu-samostalna mustra, jako sam ponosna. A Ema, kada ju je izvadila iz paketića, samo je uzviknula: „Mama, ponovo Pepa!”. Toliko o tome...

The other Holly took a looong time to make. I used Debbie Birkin's Peppa Pig pattern as a guide, but I had to change the body shape and add the wings, crown and hair. This being my first semi-personal pattern, I am very proud of it. But when Ema pulled it out the Christmas gift bag she just said: "Look, mom, another Peppa!" So much for that...

Čestitke - mada ne novogodišnje (Cards, but not Christmas ones)

Obe naše bake imaju rođendan u novembru, pa smo iskoristile priliku da obožavano crtanje vodenim boja uobličimo u čestitke. Jedna od Eminih omiljenih tehnika crtanja vodenim bojama (mokrim bojama, kako ih ona zove) je crtanje prstima, pa smo se toga držali.

Pravili smo buket cveća tako što sam ja nacrtala drške cveća, a ona je umakala prste u boje i dodavala cvetiće. Ukoliko dete ne želi da igra po pravilima, pustite ga da stavlja tačkice gde god želi, a vi posle docrtajte drške cvetova.

Planirala sam da napravimo takve čestitke i za novogodišnje praznike, samo da umesto drški cvetova na slici bude kontura jelke, a da tačke predstavljaju ukrasne kugle, ali smo bili prezauzeti sa selidbom i majstorima, pa jednostavno nije stiglo na red ove godine.

Both of our grandmas have birthdays in November, so we used this chance to channel our beloved water colour drawing into making birthday cards for them. One of Ema's favourite techiques when using water colours (or wet colours, as she calls them) is finger painting, se we stuck to that.

We made a bunch of flowers in a way that I drew the flower stems, and she dipped her fingers into the water colours and added the flowers. If your child doesn't like playing by the rules, let him/her put the dots wherever they want and add the stems later.

I was planning to make similar cards for the upcoming Christmas holidays, but with a drawing of a Christmas tree in stead of the flower stems. The dots were to represent Christmas ornaments. However, with our moving into a new flat, I was too busy to see this through. Next year, perhaps.

Norveško zeleno - Norwegian Green

Konačno sam ga završila! Počela sam još u junu, ali su me vrućine omele, tako da sam se tek nedavno prihvatila igala. Mustra je savršena, nisam morala ništa da prilagođavam. Jedina zamerka mi je obrada teksta karakteristična za Dropsove mustre (sva uputstva su data u jednom pasusu, mali prored, teško se mogu snaći prostim bacanjem pogleda). Ali, kad je besplatna, ne smemo se puno žaliti. Ukoliko neko od vas poželi da isplete ovaj džemperak, a ne razume baš engleski, neka ostavi komentar i poslaću vam prevod. I ubaciti veći prored i podeliti tekst u pasuse, obećavam.

Sve u svemu, veoma sam zadovoljna sa ovim radom, iako nisam imala dovoljno prediva (nedostajala mi je jedna trećina štringle da završim okovratnik). Ali, ne primeti se, zar ne?

I have finally finished it! I started knitting it in June, but the heat waves put me off Alpaca yarn, so I decided to finish it only recently. The pattern is perfect, I didn't have to change a thing. My only complaint is about the layout of the text, which is characteristic of all Drops patterns (most of the instructions are given in one paragraph, with very small spacing, it is difficult to find where you are by just taking a glance at it). But it's free, so we shouldn't complain.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with how it worked out, even though I didn't have enough yarn (I needed a third of a skein more to finish the yoke). But you wouldn't have guessed, right?