A wee bit of crafting

I actually started this blanket in January.  I have had partial skeins of yarn that I love from soakers I have knit over the years and I wanted to do something really special and beautiful with them.  So I started knitting this pinwheel blanket, not actually knowing who to give it to.  I picked it back up this summer and realized I had the perfect person to give it to :)  A good friend (and fellow knitter) is having a baby in November and I thought she would really like it.  Can't wait to see her bundle of preciousness all wrapped up in it. 

 Issy's pinwheel sweater.  It turned out pretty generously sized for her, but that is okay with me.  That just makes the knitting more worth my while.

 One of my godsons just had his first birthday so I knit him a winter hat.  Hopefully he isn't as hat-averse as George is.  Need to mail this. Today, perhaps.

Another good friend had a baby a month ago and I thought this sweet little owl print was just too adorable not to be made into a blanket.  And I had some blanket binding from George's Curious George blanket that I made last year that I knew would match just perfectly.  

As I look at the calendar, I am wondering where 2011 went. It seems that the older I get, the faster time goes. I remember being a little kid, sitting in school and thinking how slowly time went and wanting it to go faster so I could get to be grown up and do all sorts of things. Not sure it is as glamorous as I thought it was :)

The first ten months of 2011 are a blur of nausea, fatigue, doctor's appointments and newborn days. So exhausting.

Totally worth it.

George is pretty awesome. He was sooooo intense at first, I was a little concerned that I couldn't keep up that kind of pace and not go crazy. But he is kind of pure joy now, for the most part. When he is awake, he is pretty easygoing. He likes to be held, but he also really likes to sit across from you and talk and coo and make eye contact. He has this really goofy little laugh if you tickle his cheek or rub your fingers on his belly. He likes his siblings over the top crazy attempts to make him laugh. He usually ends up taking a pretty good nap in the swing most days, which has been really nice.

He's still a big boy. Every so often, I pick him up and it seems like he gained weight from the last time I put him down (which is never more a couple of hours). We will have to do a weigh in soon- I would be interested to see where he is at at almost three months. He is now filling out 6-9 month clothes. After having my little peanut Adelle, it is nice not to have to worry about weight gain.

I have no idea if he will continue to be easygoing or how things will progress over the next few months. It has been my experience that you just never can tell with babies. Easy babies can be challenging toddlers. High maintenance babies can be easy toddlers. And they are all kind of tricky when they are three ;) I will just be thankful for this mellow time right now.

In crafting news- instead of trying to find tapers that will inevitably not fit in my Advent wreath, I decided to make another Advent wreath. In fairness, many of the baubles were falling off my wreath since I have had it a number of years and the kids tend to mess with things. I used this idea from Catholic Icing: Making your own pink and purple Advent candles. Per the suggestion, I got all my materials from the Dollar Tree and was able to do it super cheap. Which makes the frugal part of me very happy.

I even got the ribbon at Dollar Tree. Who knew you could get ribbon so cheap? Since I could only find purple little decorations, I used some spray adhesive to glue loose pink colored glitter onto the silver ribbon to incorporate the rose color.

George took an excellent nap on Saturday afternoon, so I was able to make his Curious George blanket. I ended up cutting it down to the flannel size, for a very warm blanket. Then I put blanket binding around the edges and I loooooove it. So much. I want to look at it all the time. My corners are not perfect (to say the least) but they are passable.

Even he likes it

I knit this hat last spring, my sister Michelle knit the earflaps on for me a month ago and I finished the pom pon the other day. Like.

The sweater is coming along. I finished the first sleeve yesterday and it is on the needle with the body. Knitting second sleeve. I might actually get it finished (assuming it ends up fitting well, also)

Picot edge. This pattern actually calls for a straight edge at the bottom, neck and sleeves. But I like the picot edgy for a slightly "dressier" look, so I am just doing the straight edge at the bottom and the picot on the sleeves and neck.

The craftiness is back.

When I was pregnant, I pretty much went into survival mode. I didn't want to bake, didn't particularly want to knit, didn't want to read books or sew. I fed the littles, taught them what they needed to learn, took them swimming and just made it until my next doctor's appointment.

As I was looking at my likes/dislikes post, I realized that since I have had him, it's like I have woken up. I want to knit, bake, sew, read, teach the kids all sorts of exciting stuff, cook adventurous meals. Pretty much everything except for clean the toilets and fold laundry ;) I feel like I have come out on the other side of gestation. It is wonderful. Now I just have to pace myself.

Here are some projects I am working on currently. I have conundrums with the first couple. I am a very indecisive person so I need all of you crafty friends to tell me what to do.
Pretty excited about this one, actually. This is going to be a blanket for George (obviously). The Curious George fabric is fleece and the blue fabric is flannel because I wanted to back it. But we have indoor pets and fleece attracts fur, so I got flannel. I prewashed it because I anticipated that the flannel would shrink. It shrank. A lot. Enough that I will have to cut a considerable amount of the CG fabric. I think I have two yards, so it will still be a big blanket. But still.

So tell me, crafty friends, what to do? Go ahead and cut the CG fabric down to flannel fabric size and bind it together? Or just put the blanket binding around the CG fabric and have it be one layer. I think it will look good either way. The flannel combo will just give me a thicker blanket, though smaller.

Blurg. This one is ridiculous. George is growing extremely fast, so I need to make him so new fitted diapers. So I bought this flannel. Cute, right? Well, one evening, he was actually being pretty mellow so I went ahead and cut the fabric.

Um, yeah. I hadn't prewashed or dried it. So now I am not sure what to do. Should I sew around the edge so it doesn't fray and then wash and dry it before putting it together? Or should I just put one together, wash and dry it and see how it ends up?

Oh, the dangers of looking before you leap.

This is going well, though. I am making the Hourglass Sweater from the book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I got the yarn before I left Idaho. It is gorgeous and soft, though I hear it isn't tough and pills like mad. Oh, well. It is going to be my Christmas sweater, as long as I can finish it in time. I just finished up to the sleeves yesterday, so I just have the sleeves and yoke to knit in the next few weeks. Doable, right?

I also sewed a flag for Isaac's Tiger Cub troop, I'll have to take a picture of that soon. And there is a baby sweater that needs seaming, though I am not sure it'll fit anyone.

And more crafting on the horizon. Not enough hours in the day!

Craftiness, Part 2

In this post from May I had some pictures of Adelle's wool diaper covers and her newborn fitted diapers. I have been working diligently to make her some small fitted diapers (because frankly, my kiddos seem to outgrew newborn things veeery quickly). Here is what is completed so far:These are the ones that have been cut (well, one of these is fully cut and the other three still need an inner layer and a soaker) and are awaiting assembly. My goal is to have 12 of the size small. Getting there!

Her prefolds came on Tuesday and I took some time yesterday to embellish some of them. I just cut out some flannel and sewed it on the middle panel. Simple, but I really like the way they turned out. So now she has seven embellished prefolds and eleven plain ones:

Back in February right after we found out that the baby was a girl, I bought some onesies to turn into t-shirts to wear with her wool diaper covers. This project has been met with mixed success. Being a relatively novice sewer and not really taking the time to research it, I didn't realize that working with knits is different than working with other fabrics. So I charged ahead and pretty much mutilated the first onesie I tried to hem (the purple one on the left). So I not-so-skillfully covered my mistake with purple rick-rack :D I think that might be the "we are staying home today shirt". Although, perhaps not surprisingly, Issy really really liked it. My girl likes sparkly things ;)

I am pleased with how to the other two turned out though. Have to learn somehow, right?

Craftiness!

I still have a couple of posts to finish up my Kansas pictures, but I am now getting behind on blogging current things, so here are some things we have been up to lately.

The nesting is in full force! Starting in my second trimester, I began to knit a wool diaper cover stash for the baby. And here it is! I can't promise that I won't knit anything else (in fact, as I was going through her dresses, I realized I really don't have a blue or green one, so I might need to do make those) but this is a good start I think :) She has two Sheepy sacks in the top corner for easy nighttime diaper changes. The four covers next to those are size small. And the ones on the bottom row are all newborn size. My sister Michelle knit three of them and gave them to me when she found out she was having a boy- lucky us :)
I have also been working on sewing some cloth diapers for the babe. Here are six newborn size fitted diapers (absorbent but not waterproof- used with a cover, for those who aren't familiar with diaper lingo) I have four size small diapers completed, and I am aiming for twelve of those. I am going to get some prefolds and contours and viola! diaper stash complete!
Here is my trusty little sewing buddy. He likes to sit by my sewing machine on a stool and watch me as I sew, and on occasion "help". He must be growing up because up until recently I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that he would sit next to me for what amounts to 30 or 45 minutes at a time and just chat and behave himself. *sniff* My baby is getting so big!

He really likes the cloth diapers for "Baby Dell" He is holding a whole stack of them here.

While I was in Kansas, Joann Fabrics was having a sale on their snuggle flannel, in all sorts of cute prints . Who can pass up a bargain? So I bought some that I hemmed and made into receiving blankets for when the wee one is born. When she outgrows the need for receiving blankets, they can easily be recycled into material for larger cloth diapers.

Here is a blanket that trimmed with ribbon, similar to one I made for a friend a couple of months ago.

All my little helpers. They were enjoying tea and trail mix while I cut out some fabric.

First day of spring and completed sewing project

The weather has been gorgeous here the last couple of days- in the high 40s and 50s and sunny. In order to celebrate this happy occasion, the kiddos and I took a walk/ bike ride yesterday afternoon. They were pretty excited since their bikes have been put away for the last few months. Gorgeous! Spring is finally here :) And yes, I realize that there is a good deal of snow on the ground still. It is melting fast, though, and I am hoping it'll be mostly gone by the time we get back from our trip.

I went to the "big city" a few days ago to visit a friend (thanks for having us, it was fun!) We had to stop at Walmart to get some reusable containers for packing, so I made my way to the fabric department to see what I could find. And I got this adorable Monkey flannel! I love it, it makes me nerdily happy. A friend is due with her second babe in a couple of weeks and I have been meaning to sew something up for her. So this evening I sat down at my trusty Bernina and sewed up a little blanket and two burp cloths for the new little one. My sewing definitely isn't perfect, but I like the way everything turned out. When I get my prefolds, I might try my hand at embellishing some!

Close up of the Moon/Star/Cloud Monkey Flannel

Modifying the Very Baby All-in-One pattern to be a fitted

Before Liam was born, I bought the Very Baby AIO pattern to make some fitted diapers for him. I had heard good things about the way it fit and it seemed simple. Since I wanted an absorbent diaper to be used with a cover instead of having it's own waterproof part, the pattern needed some modifying. Some of these modifications are just personal preference and don't change the way the diaper works or fits, mostly just aesthetics and I will note that.

The tedious part, cutting out the pieces. I have an outer layer (hot air balloon flannel), inner layer (it has been a while since I bought this, but I want to say blue suede cloth... it is very soft against the skin) and some scrap cotton that I will sew the abosorbent layers too. This middle part will not be seen at all, so I just get cheap stuff out of the clearance fabric. Note: if you are going to use light colored outer or inner, make sure you use a light colored scrap, you don't want this showing through.Sew the absorbant layers to the scrap piece of cotton. I am using a microfiber towel here, trifolded (for a newborn). You can get these in the automotive department of walmart or target, they are relatively cheap and very absorbent. Any kind of cotton works well too, though, so a cut up old t-shirt will do if that is what you have. You kind of have to tweak layers to find out what works as far as absorbancy. You want a balance of what works for your baby/something that cleans well and doesn't take forever to dry. I suggest erring on the side of less until you figure out what works, since you can always throw a doubler in if you need to.

This is one of those personal preference steps. The directions call for sewing all the aplix on at the same time after you have put the diaper together. I, personally, like to sew the aplix that will be on the outer on before I put the diaper together. Less layers to go through.

Now we are going to put the diaper together. Here are the layers before you pin it: the outer (balloons) and inner (blue) go right sides together. Then put the absorbant layer on top, pad down. Pin these together before you sew them, pinning the sides, and what will end up being the top back (the long part). Leave the short part (what will be the front) open so that you can turn it rightside out later.All three layers sewed together. Get ready for the elastic.The pattern has marked where to put the elastic for the legs and back. I think it works well. After you are done with the elastic, turn the right side out. The the absorbant pad should be against the inner and the right sides should end up out on both the inner and outer.Personal preference again. After I turn it right sides out, I straight stitch along the outer edge of the elastic. This makes for a tidier edge. I do this for both the leg elastic and the top back elastic.Fold over the part that did not end up being sewed together with the rest of the diaper. Sew these top edges together.

Sew on the aplix. The outer ones on each side close the diaper. The inner ones are so you can fold over the outer ones for non-sticking in the laundry.

On my top outer flannel, I sew on some more aplix so that I can pull it over to make it snugger.All done!

Diaper and belly

The first diaper I've made for Adelle. I used the Very Baby pattern- very easy and cute. Issy was particularly excited about it. I am about halfway through a second one and cut out all the pieces for five more. She is going to have a spoiled tushie by the time she is born.

The belly at 22wks. I think she grew in the last week. And yes, I wear this shirt often. Don't worry- I wash it. I usually do our laundry on the weekend and it is one of the first I grab for since it still fits nicely.

Upcoming projects and some knitting

We went to town today so that the kids could use the gift certificates that their Grandpa got them for Christmas. While we were there I picked up some goodies for future crafting.

Some simple, cheap onesies for Adelle. I am going to find a yarn that compliments all three of them (I am thinking a light green or light pink) and knit some little newborn shorties for her this summer. It is really hard to find just plain t-shirts for newborns (as opposed to the onesies with the snaps) so I will just cut off the bottom of the onesie and hem in up into a shirt so she can wear with with her wool. Sweet and a relatively easy project.
I had to buy some girlie flannel for diapers. I have the Very Baby pattern to make some fitteds, though I might try another pattern too. Issy and Isaac helped me pick out the fabric, I think they did good!


The finished Curly Purly kimono. I bought this yarn on sale at the LYS shortly after we moved here, it is Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb (wool/silk) It is gorgeous, vibrant colors and soft and wonderful to work with. I started this kimono pattern because I really love way it looks finished. Unfortunately, there is an obscene amount of seaming, so I put it away for a year and a half because I didn't really have anyone to give it to anyways, and therefore not a ton of motivation to seam it (because I really loathe seaming). But I was looking through my unfinished projects last week and decided to revive it for Adelle. Good for evenings in the mountains. I loooove the way it turned out!
And a picture sock update! I had finished the cuff last night and then today at the yarn shop I did the heel flap and turned the heel, and started the gusset at the ankle. I am in the home stretch!