I haven’t had a lot of spare time, but I did manage to get the 2nd side of the house completely done with stonework, yay! One more side to go, and then I’ll give it all a good paint. I’m also looking into making the roof wood tile, I bought miter scissors which take some getting used to but slice through popsicle sticks pretty easily. I have two types of wooden sticks, one more like stir sticks which I’ll probably use to design the floor. I’ll also have to give a thought to the inside walls, I haven’t decided what I want to do there yet. For now, the outside remains the focus.
Progress on the sleeves! I have four more repeats of 5 rows then I’m on to the ribbing (then I need to repeat the entire thing for the other sleeve) – once those are done, all that’s left is to finish the yoke and this sweater will be done. If I dedicate a little bit of time for it each day, I’m hoping I can finish it before the end of the month. We’ll just have to see how that goes. Normally I knit in the evenings, but I have been so tired I haven’t had the energy to do too much. My kid is in love with the colours, and she may get a year or two of use out of it I hope before she out grows it, as kids tend to do.
The house is coming along! I don’t get a lot of time to work on it, so it’s going quite slow but that’s OK. I have 1.5 out of 3 walls completed (the back being open means I don’t need to remodel that section, shew). For anyone who didn’t hear, I’m going to remodel the plastic house to look like stone. I’m using mod podge and egg cartons, then I’m going to paint the entire thing, add shadows and highlights with pastels, then paint the windows, add some stained wood trim, and eventually add some moss between the bricks, too.
Progress on the sleeves is coming along! I’ve got 7 more rounds of 5 to go, every 5 rows (approx) is a colour change, and then I’ve got the cuff and of course the second sleeve. After that it’s the collar, and then this sweater for my kid will be complete! Hopefully. I’m trying to be better and get at least a few rows done each day. Working with fingering yarn is always a drag on larger projects and I’ve been feeling quite tired so it has been taking me longer than I was hoping.
I’ve been planning out what I want to do with this Calico Critter starter house ever since I learned you could remodel them. The first thing I did was fall down the rabbit hole of miniatures. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and I joined a lot of facebook groups. There are some insanely creative people out there! One technique I learned (fairly popular) is to take an egg carton, rip it into little pieces, use some mod podge, and vola, you have stonework! I decided that is what I would do with my house.
The general idea is to cover the entire outside in ‘stones’ then paint over it with a neutral stone-like colour. Then take some pastels, and bring out the shadows / highlights. Once that is done, I want to add stained trim to the house using thin stir sticks, and then I want to also add some moss in sections to give it a bit of ‘life’. I’m also contemplating adding a window box with some flowers, but for storage reasons I don’t know that I want to (I still have the box for this house, and I’d like it to still fit inside of that box even once modified).
In the meantime I’m also contemplating how I want to decorate the inside. Originally I was going to have a ‘typical’ house. The kitchen and living room on the main floor, and the bathroom and a bedroom upstairs. Now I’m not so certain I want a ‘typical’ house. I’m thinking a library and small kitchen nook might be better suited. I also need to figure out how to build a front door since this house is missing the one that came with it. A ladder to get upstairs would also be nice (it came with one, which is of course missing).
For now, it’s a neat little relaxing project to work on here and there. I don’t expect progress to move too fast, I already know I’ll have to order more mod podge and a glue gun (and some glue) as well. I did purchase miter shears so that I can cut things (hopefully not myself), I’d like to make real wood floors and picture frames. All of those little details are things I’ll have to work up to, for now it’s just one step at a time.
stargrace 
