Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
I apologize for the neglect of this blog. It’s just hard to sit down and post when you have a chubby little guy pawing after you wanting milkies and lovies all day. I end up making things while I nurse him or when it’s late at night and all the boys have finally…finally!…gone to bed.
my sewing machine has taken a back seat to the fiber arts: knitting, crocheting, needlework. Those are all easy to do while you breastfeed. I have quite a few projects in my queue. MORE than I want to even talk about. I recently moved things around in my craft zone and piled all my “incompletes” on top of each other. really, a lot are “never starteds” and it makes me feel like I haven’t done ANYTHING in a long time. Ever since the beginning of my pregnancy, I’ve been less enthusiastic about crafting. On the other hand, I’ve been totally gung-ho about collecting craft supplies. Seriously! I don’t usually buy full-price, though. I gather coupons, I visit garage sales and thrift stores, and I scour closeouts. Just the other day, I visited a JoAnn that’s closing and bought 15 zippers! 15! I don’t even make things with zippers, BUT they were 90% off and I couldn’t resist. Who DOESN’T buy something that’s 90% off??? Crazy people, that’s for sure. I also bought a whole bunch of Gütermann thread at 80% off. The store closes (it’s actually moving to a new, BIGGER location) tomorrow and it’s making me anxious! I want to go right.this.very.minute. I think I may wipe them out of thread and zippers. They’re already out of useful yarn (wool) and only have yarn I’d pretty much never use (novelty). I would like to scour the remaining fabrics, but I usually have a baby attached to me and he gets fussy when I stop moving, so I tend to go in and come out really quick. Maybe I’ll check out the 90%-off remnants bin. There’s bound to be something in there I can use, right?
this is the chunk who keeps me from my sewing machine..
but I can make things like this while I nurse..
on the needles:
deliciously lemony socks
Friday, October 24th, 2008
my faux-flap hat. it incorporates “ear flaps” into the design (sort of like ganomey). It’s worked top-down in DC throughout.
I made a few extra.
click here:
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
As many of you know, southeast Texas just got hit by a hurricane. I live in Houston, so my family and I “hunkered down” at my aunt’s house. Power went out before midnight, Friday evening, and isn’t predicted to come back on until after next Monday. That’s going to be a whole 10 days and 11 nights without power. They actually said it may be later, so who knows. Fortunately, my mother-in-law got her power back on Sunday afternoon. We’ve been here since Sunday evening. The boys and I only had to spend 2 nights in hot sticky weather. We are so thankful! My heart goes out to all those who lost their homes and/or loved ones as a result of the storm. Everyone in this area–be well!
Anywho…I brought 2 projects with me for hurricane fun. I sewed the buttons on the BSJ the first night. The next day, when the power was out, I brought out my embroidery project only to discover my embroidery floss had been chopped in various places. Guess who did that. Nathan! I remember the other day, finding my scissors where I never leave them (under my chair!). He must have climbed on the desk and fished them out of their container and tried to “cut” things. the floss is a mess and not salvageable. It’s in little hanks, so one cut makes like 30 pieces of string or something.
I can’t wait for more fall-like weather, so Andrew can wear his new sweater!
coconut buttons!
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Celestine in progress.
lots of baking.
pretty, new shoes.
Friday, July 11th, 2008
I’m at a loss. I just finished knitting and seaming and weaving on the BSJ#2 and am now thinking about buttons. It’s so colorful, so I can’t imagine the perfect buttons! I’m leaning toward something earthy, like maybe wood. I’m going to have to visit some craft stores this weekend to look for some.
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
With an infant (7 weeks as of Tuesday morning, 6:39am) getting all my attention and a toddler doing crazy things to try and get my attention, I hardly have any time to sit and knit (or do other things..). I usually leave most of my own personal desires for the night time. Right now, the toddler is fast asleep and the baby just nursed himself into oblivion, so I have free hands!
One of the major perks of breastfeeding is the fact that I can knit while I do so! For the past week or so, I’ve been working on BSJ #2. At the rate Andy is growing, I’m highly doubtful he will fit into BSJ #1, so I started a new one. I wanted something a tad bit more colorful than the last one, so I chose to knit it in Noro Kureyon! I’m about 60-70% finished with it. I didn’t work on it at all on Tuesday, but I did get a chance to take a photo of it while baby slept.
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
I started a new knitting project–for myself! I received an early Mother’s Day gift in the form of a HiyaHIya 9″ circular. I decided to finally wind up the orange sock yarn seen in my header and start knitting some socks. They’ll be a mother’s day gift to myself.
I wanted a simple, yet interesting pattern. My due date is in less than 2 weeks, so I want to be sure I have something easy to put down and pick up. I decided on Twisted Tweed from schrodinger knits. it’s a beautifully easy pattern!
Tonight, I took a little break from knitting and made 2 cards for 2 people who are having baby girls. One is having her baby shower this Saturday and the other is having her shower in June. I wanted to make sure I had these done before the newborn arrives. i can certainly knit and nurse, but it would be hard to wield scissors and/or an x-acto knife while nursing.
I just need to figure out what sort of envelopements to use. they measure 6″x6″ so I may just have to make something.
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
shorts–
Pattern: basic shorties with a roll-down waist in 1×1 rib
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino in “denim marl”
Needles: US 6
booties–
Pattern: Saarjte’s booties in the round
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino in “worn denim”
Needles: US 4
Hat–
Pattern: spiral striped hat (no pattern. just cast-on half in blue, half in gray and then spiral the colors up)
Yarn: Paton’s classic Wool Merino in “worn denim” and “dark gray”
Needles: US 6
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Bonnet–
Pattern: Feather & Fan baby bonnet
Yarn: leftover Araucania Nature Wool
Needles: US 6
Slippers–
Pattern: improvised crocheted baby slipper with criss-cross straps
Yarn: leftover Araucania Nature Wool
Hook: H/8 (5.00mm)
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
here’s my updated list of to-do’s before Andrew gets here:
- finish his blanket (90% done–see sidebar!)
- make some rice or flax packs for labor (I’ve sewn a few circular ones and even the long skinny one I mentioned in a previous post)
- finish the next pair of knit shorties (80-90% done–just need one more leg!)
- make a boppy or other nursing pillow. I bought a used, but sanitized “Brest-friend” pillow at the thrift store for $3!
- knit the second arm on the gown & i-cord ties.
- sew some nursing pads
- get my birth announcements ready (so all I have to do is insert a photo/s, info, and print them)
- relax.
so, in the past 5 days, I’ve only finished the shorts and made progress on the blanket. However, I’ve also made 2 pairs booties, a hat, and a bonnet (for another baby). that’s 4 things that weren’t even on my list! The offer was made on the house we were looking at, yesterday, so I suspect I’m going to be knitting, crocheting, and sewing a TON this week and next. I am SO nervous.
