I got to go to the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat this year! The first time I found out about it it was too close to the time and I’d never heard of it before. The second year I knew about it, there was some pregnancy complication or something and the next year I had too little a baby or somesuch. There just always seemed to be something that meant I couldn’t go!

Then this year I *could* go, except I forgot about signing up until three days later, so the only class I was interested in was full. Of course. Because Madrona is crazy popular that way.  But I put myself on the waiting list and lo and behold, a spot opened up! So I got to go! It was somewhat difficult figuring out the logistics of getting there on just the Sunday with my one car family, but we worked out it and I went very early on, of all days, Valentine’s Day. Isn’t my hubby sweet and forgiving? Yes. Yes he is.

So Madrona was pretty damn cool. The class was great — it was on steeks, one of the few techniques I really want to learn but haven’t worked up the nerves to try — and now I feel like I can steek anything. So that’s good! The teacher, Mary Scott Huff (who incidently has one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen and I want it) was great. She made steek samples for us to cut (cutting someone else’s knitting! SO much easier! Ha!) and had these great printouts for us to keep. Steeking was definitely successful.

So pictured above are all my successful steeks — hand sewn, machine sewn, and a crochet steek. I like the look of the crochet the best but the machine was fastest, and also the most versatile.

The home work was a little shocking (a whole cowl — colorwork no less — in a little over two weeks, since I signed up late!) but otherwise, really good. I don’t think I have a picture of the completed knitting but instead only the steeking process. Here it is marked to be cut:

(Note: Some people did horizontal lines instead of the “bird’s eye” pattern. SO MUCH EASIER to cut because the guides are already there for you!)

And then cutting:

(Also, who was the idiot who went to a steeking class without scissors? That would be ME. Doh. Thankfully Mary had a cute pair she let me borrow. Geez.)

And then all cut! I mean steeked!

After that we cast on for the buttonband which I haven’t finished yet, so no more pictures. When I got home I was in a hurry to finish up some hats for our upcoming snow cabin trip so I still haven’t gotten back to this year. I’m intending to gift it for the holidays, so I guess there’s no hurry.

The marketplace was also good. I think I expected more since I’ve heard such spectacular things about it, but still, very good. Things you can’t find elsewhere. I sort of wish I was more of a spinner, as it seemed more aimed at spinners, but all in good time I ’spose. I can’t imagine why I don’t have a picture of my purchases, but I don’t. OH but I did make this token Madrona hat!

… made from Leticia yarn at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. (Pattern is the Unoriginal Hat by the Yarn Harlot.) I also bought some gorgeous pink merino fiber from them, and some fiber elsewhere but the name escapes me now. I also got some pink yarn from a new dyer out of Portland whose name also escapes me (great blog post, right? Geez.) just like the purple in the cowl, thinking I could make a pink version as another gift. I love the purple but in all honesty I think the dark color gets lost and pink will stand out more. Hmm was that it? Yes, I believe it was. Fun times :)

The best part though? Hanging out at a table full of friends and knitters and spinners at lunchtime. I think next year — or whenever I can go next — I’d like to only take a half day class — if that — and just hang out with some great people. That would really make me happy :)

P.S. The other really great thing about Madrona? I wore my new vest, finally finished, and got so many compliments on it! That was really special for me. Also, I just knew so many of the sweaters I saw were handmade and it was really an honor to be around so many talented people with such great taste! Just a great atmosphere. Can’t wait to go back :)

I just figured out today that I neglected to post any of my christmas holiday crafts. Whoops. Better late than never?

Well, I guess it wasn’t a high priority because I didn’t actually do a lot. For the kiddos we decorated their dollhouse christmas trees. We made these last year but this year I decided they needed some ornaments. Cute, yes?

Then I also made a couple ornaments based on a blog entry I have since misplaced (eek, sorry!) and while I liked them, I wish they were a lot smaller. This entry advised not making them under 4″ and I have no idea why, I would much prefer then around the 2″ mark, I think. Anyway, we did these as part of our monthly child-friendly craft group. I planned six but made two. Hmm. Oh well, here they are:

(The wool bead garland was from last year and I liked it so much it stays up all the time!)

While there are many christmas-related things I have been meaning to make (tree skirt, more santa sacks), the only thing that was somewhat urgent was a stocking for the baby, I mean toddler. Last year we could get away with him not having his own stocking, but at almost two I figured this year he would notice.

I really didn’t want to knit one as  I wasn’t overly pleased with Boo’s, and it would take too long, so I got it in my head that I should use my newly acquired wet felting resist skills (courtesy of Spiderfelt classes!) and make a blue stocking with polar bears on them (inspiration from Chasing Fireflies catalog but the stocking is no longer listed so no linky). This turned into a project of ginormous proportions.

First I had to find the perfect color blue, which I was lucky enough to source from local Etsy shop Indigo Crane Fiber! When I did the math on how big I wanted to stocking to end up, the only water resistent item I had on hand that was large enough was a trash bag. This sucker was HUGE. And it looked like I was felting Cookie Monster.

I also wanted it somewhat sparkly, so Leah suggested sandwiching a sparkly layer between blue layers, which I did. I got this batt from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy, but had a helluva time getting out the black. Next time I’ll either make more time to place a custom order somewhere, or find a source for just the angelina myself! This is the middle layer — more blue went on top of this and then I began the wet felting process.

Anyway, it worked, for the most part. On one side you can see some of the black peeking through, but I think the appliques will hide it. Here’s the stocking after its initial wet felting, flipped over where you can see that ginormous trash bag resist.

And the whole thing layered and sopping wet. I didn’t have a piece of bubble wrap that was big enough either!

It took a total of four days to felt this to a level I was happy with. Here’s it’s clearly getting smaller, but still huuuuuuge! I think my toddler could have fit in it at this stage! By this point I had removed the resist and was felting it in stages on my glass washing board.

Believe it or not this was the final size. For some reason the foot was the right size but it was still too tall, so I just hacked off the top. If it were for me I probably would have just folded it over, but since it’s a kiddo and I had an appliqued design in mind, I just cut it.

That is actually the last photo I have because I didn’t get around to the applique — of course. I DID make the white felt for the appliques though, using the same method with sparkly white stuff in between. I usually get the urge to do christmas crafty stuff in the fall so I think I’ll just leave it til then ;) Bean didn’t mind — christmas is totally overwhelming at his age no matter what. A plain blue stocking was totally fine.

In a way, though, I wish I had just sewn the stocking, either out of fabric or wool felt yardage, because this sucker is THICK. Luscious and lovely in every way, but nearly impossible to hang because it’s rather heavy. So hey, it may end up as an under the tree decoration. Or I may devote wall hooks to our stockings as I could also envision making one for Boo that’s red with snowmen on it. Ah well — I have a year to decide!

So there you have it. Random christmas posting in February!

I have a trip coming up where I’m taking both children on a plane to visit my family on the other side of the continent. I’m both excited and filled with anxiety.

On the one hand it’s been absolutely ages since my oldest has been back to where he was born. While my mom and dad have both seen the kids recently, others whom I care a great deal about have not, and I don’t like that.

Since the kids are both older I feel like the trip will hopefully be better than those past, i.e. not quite so much work. (Although I recognize I might be overly-hopeful in that department, but I am choosing optimism here.) We tried to work it out where hubby could come too, i.e. help on the plane, but in the end it’s just me and the boys. It’s going to be better that way for many reasons, but OH MY GOD THE PLANE. You can sense the panic rising, yes?

So I’ve been plotting and planning in an effort to stem the tide of anxiety. Here are my current ideas for entertaining a preschooler and a toddler on a 4+ hour flight across the flippin’ country:

• Felt finger puppets designed to go with to nursey rhymes
  i.e. the three little bigs, billy goats gruff, jack and the beanstalk, hansel & gretl, ugly duckling, etc. Are there others that would be good? Here’s where I admit that I don’t know many nursery rhymes and I certainly don’t know all of those listed above. This would be homework for me not only in stitching finger puppets (I keep telling myself how hard can it be?) but in memorizing the stories!
• “Finger play” book, like Eentsy Weentsy Spider: Fingerplays and Action Rhymes
  I wish I could remember where I ran across this suggestion, but I know it had to do with a recent change to airplane rules where you are not allowed to get up or do anything for the last hour. Expecting children to behave themselves for an hour in the incredibly unnatural setting of an airplane is folly at best, but if that rumor is true, and if I can get my memory to work, maybe I can teach some of these types of “action rhymes” to the kids to pass the time. It’s worth a shot.
• I Spy bags, first seen here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/aebaby
  I love that this shop sells both completed versions and DIY kits. I will of course attempt to do it all myself first (although I’ve never purchased sewable clear vinyl before.. where does one get such a thing? And where do you get tiny crap?) but as time passes, I may well buy some. We’ll see. The I Spy books are suddenly popular around here so I think this will go over well throughout the trip. I wonder if one could design them to have different stuff added as time goes by? I guess you’d risk spilling ten tons of rice around if you did that!
• Crayon/pencil rolls with paper/sketch books
  I have scoffed at pencil and crayon rolls in the past as unnecessary, but now I understand the wisdom. You can keep track of said crayons/pencils. An excellent idea both for when on an airplane and travelling in general. Of course I will attempt to make these myself, but if pressed for time, they can be ordered. Yay! I am as yet undecided on whether both kids get crayons or if elder gets pencils, whether to use plain paper (or staple them into books) or get real sketch books, or just tiny books that can be included with the roll, or some combination thereof. Must think more.
• Quiet book for toddler
  This is a project that I’ve had in mind for a long time, in fact since my preschooler was a toddler, and I know I’ve written about it before, but of course have yet to make it. I did get as far as setting aside some baby clothes with intriguing closures to make into a book, so I could, if I had the gumption, square them off and make a quiet book of zips, buttons, snaps, etc. We’ll see. This is probably the least likely project to get done, which is ironic because it’s for the child who is going to be the hardest to occupy for that length of time. Perhaps I should revisit my priorities! I’m just not sure how to go about making the actual book.
• Car playset
  I usually bring a “car playset” that folds up compactly but opens up into this little 3D playset for Matchbox-sized cars. The kids think it’s pretty cool, I usually have cars anyway, but I’m undecided if it is value-for-space if you know what I mean.
• And of course, don’t forget the usual suspects!
  • Favorite and/or new books including one about airplanes for the new-experience-toddler
  • DVD player (FULLY CHARGED!), with reliable and favorite (and possibly new) cartoons or movie
  • music (possibly videos) on the iPod, possibly kid-friendly games on the iPod (but then possibly not because I don’t want it broken but as a last resort?)
  • …and then headphones (maybe two sets? Will they be able to share? Do I need a splitter?).
  • Actually the drawing materials and paper and books are “usual suspects” as well, but the rolls are new so I did those in a separate listing.
  • Workbooks for eldest (Mazes, coloring, math, dot-to-dot, stuff he likes doing anyway)
  • Coloring books
  • Mama’s Little Book of Tricks
  • Sticker books (although I’m annoyed at them now because the stickers always come off??? But we have several so might as well.)
  • Leapster for the eldest, but do I need to bring the Gameboy so the toddler has something to copy with? This is what we do at home to distract the younger, and hey sometimes I even get in some Tetris play, but do I really want to do this on the plane? Hmm.
  • Cars. Of course. Maybe even trains.
• Random idea: Paper dolls
  I have a set of paper dolls that have been floating around because I pulled them out of some kid’s catalog ages ago. Might as well bring them along, no?

As for when we’re there.. Obviously I don’t want to pack a ton of toys. The preschooler is actually at an age where it doesn’t take a lot to “entertain”. He can do a lot of things with me — cook, go for walks, watch a variety of shows with us, read books, play on the computer, draw, take pictures (CAMERA! Must take the camera) etc. I’m really not that worried about him. I will probably back some card games like Uno and Go Fish and that might be it.

The younger though… ay yi yi. So much energy with such a short attention span! He loves to do stuff with me too but that attention span means he won’t do it as long. There are a number of things we can purchase while there, like bubbles, and of course the grandparents have a random sampling of child-friendly items as well. He also is quite keen on wandering houses picking up random objects, so strategically placed tupperware type containers will work well. In addition to the plane items though, I’ve thought about making this kitchen playmat to play with while making dinner with regular kitchen objects, or bringing even more books. I prefer light and easily packed, which the mat fulfills, but books not so much, so I dunno. Maybe I can convince my Dad to cut up some 2×4s while we’re there for blocks. We’ll see.

I’m sure there are more things I haven’t thought of that I might add at some point. But for now… this is what I am thinking. I wonder if it’s too much? Perhaps I am overly-anxious? It will be fine, right? Right.

I heard someone ask once what the big deal was with travelling with kids; they thought travelling with children was wonderful! I had to force myself not to snort with derision. Maybe your children are blissful travelling companions, but so far mine have proved challenging at best, and I’m often more exhausted on coming home than I was leaving, and that’s saying something! On the bright side, it’s almost always gone better than I anticipated, so at least there’s that.

In the end, I am the sort of person who packs enough food and diapers in case we get stuck in traffic for six hours on the way home (seriously, it’s happened to me before!) so I may be overdoing it. But it’s got to be better than not being prepared. I hope.

To finish things off, here’s my theoretical craft priority list for airplane travel:

• Felt finger puppets/play sets (think houses for three little pigs, etc.)
• I Spy bags (Need to collect random teensy stuff! Plus vinyl for windows.)
• Crayon and pencil rolls, possibly with pockets for paper. Fold out books might work better?
• Kitchen playmat
• Quiet book

Shopping list:

• Teensy stuff for I Spy bags
• Vinyl for I Spy bags
• Paper for plane — books? Sheets?
• Fingerplay book mentioned above

Best get started!

One of the loveliest things about winter is how nice it is to knit with wool this time of year. Especially lovely, nice, soft wools like the ones I have in my happy little hands!

This first project, the Girasole blanket by Brooklyn Tweed, was started at a class January 3rd at Little Knits, and I’ve slowly been working on it ever since. The yarn is Arauncania Nature Wool which was half price, which is obviously a wonderful thing when you’re talking about 1800 yards of worsted weight wool!

At first it was super fast but now it’s definitely plodding along. I believe I’m halfway through chart D… and there are I think three more charts to go. Ugh. I don’t even know how many stitches are on the needles at the moment, but it’s a lot. There’s no point in saying “one more row” because that could easily be 20 minutes or so, depending on what else I’m doing at the time :)

On the bright side, this chart is a no-brainer and it’s a pleasure to sit and knit while watching something juicy like The Tudors.  Slowly but surely this will be done. I like the name “girasole” — I’ve been told that means “sunflower” in Spanish. I actually have this insane idea that this would make a lovely Christmas gift for some family members, but then I remind myself that KNITTING A BLANKET is in fact an insane idea and I really should never do it again. So we’ll see.  I don’t quite know what possessed me to think I could or even should knit a blanket. For one thing, we have plenty, and for another, it will take forever. I guess I just really like the look of them. Everyone needs a giant doily for their couch, right?

Ahem. Moving on!

So while working on a blanket, a sweater for Boo that needs the sleeves cut off and re-knit (he keeps growing!), socks that also need to be lengthened (see growing statement above!), a sweater for me that needs to be seamed, and who knows what else is lurking about in the UFO pile, I decided I needed something quick, pretty, and functional to make myself feel better. Since the babe needs a hat that covers his ears for our upcoming snow trip, I decided to work on that. He’s got a little head, right?

I decided on the Toasty Topper pattern from Knitty. The yarn is leftover Malabrigo — OMG the lushness!

I modified the pattern a bit since my gauge was smaller and I wasn’t sure about the scarf. I increased a couple more times than called for although frankly I wish I had done at least two more beyond that — it’s a smidge tight but hopefully blocking will take care of that? It won’t last more than this winter though for sure :( I’m not taking it out though!! Because of the gauge I did two sections of short rows, which worked fine. I only did 20 stitches for the “scarf” and added two buttonholes on the ends. I have buttons sewn on the outside of one section and the inside of the opposite so it stays buttoned.

The buttons are cute, and they work pretty well. The scarf buckles a bit under baby’s chin and I’m not entirely sure why. Too much fabric? Not stretched enough? Not enough space over the face? Oh well, it does work. The hat fits fabulously over the back of the head at any rate. I do really like the pattern, I just figured my kids would untie a scarf in a heartbeat.

In fact it’s cute enough that eldest now wants one of his own! Except he wants more of a balaclava style. I think I’ll just rejoin after the short rows for him and knit the ribbing down in a circle, maybe even with some decreases, although I spose it still has to fit over his noggin. I guess I’ll try it on him as we go!

Anyway.. the hat made me really happy. Finished quickly and now I feel like an accomplished knitter again!

How to make very simple little felt gnomes!

Recently I was at a friend’s house with just the younger lad, and we were playing with some cute little gnomes. They were enchanting in their simplicity and the kids adored playing with them. After a quick perusal of their construction I decided they would be easy peasy to make and how cool would that be for our monthly kids handcrafting group? My friend said she had purchased them at a local Waldorf-inspired bookstore, so when I got home I looked up Waldorf gnomes.

I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. There were a few tutorials for what I guess is a more traditional gnome with a wooden bead for a head, and I found some people more like what I was aiming for on Etsy, but nothing saying how to make them. I thought, well, how hard can it be?

Turns out not hard at all! Literally, my five year old made one almost on his own. Then several people saw the pictures and asked how to make one, so I thought I’d do a tutorial. I’ve never done a tutorial before so hopefully this will look okay!

Now, on to the gnomes!

What you’ll need is very straightforward:

• Piece of felt (I used stashed craft felt but pretty much anything that doesn’t need hemming, and is slightly stiff, would be fine)
• Coordinating embroidery floss
• Strip of wool for stuffing
• Needles and scissors
• Template

I made my own template after some experimentation. I ended up with a circle of a 4″ radius cut into quarters. I cut a reminder for a hole for the face but you can move this depending on how tall you want your gnome to be. It’s easy to make shorter gnomes, just make the length down the sides shorter. I tend to cut out from the template first and then shorten.

I tied a knot at the bottom of my thread and started at the top of what will be the hat in order to hide the knot. For the younger set it also works well if you tie both sides of the thread together at the bottom, creating a double thickness of thread, so the kids don’t pull the needle off the thread repeatedly causing you to go partially blind trying to re-thread that needle umpteen times!

The stitching is done using a simple whip stitch while holding the edges together.

Again, for the younger set, it worked well to use safety pins to hold the edges together.

Keep whip stitching down the sides until you get to the top of the face. Then go through only one edge so that the needle is on the inside of the hat.

I tied a knot through one of the interior stitches and cut it with a bit of tail. I figured the tail would get hidden by the wool, but you can also tie more knots to your comfort level and thread the tail back through the previous stitches.

Hat is done!

Next start below the face the same way — knot on the inside, whip stitch down the front.

Incidently the first gnome I made was a) very, very small (2″ radius), and b) I didn’t cut a hole for the face. I figured if it wasn’t stitched up it would be open and therefore make a face. Which was true, it did — just not a very big face! Opening up the face with some crescents cut into the fabric helped a lot.

Keep whip stitching down the front. Another tip: To make the whip stitches horizontal, bring the needle across horizontal and angle down for the next stitch. I know that’s probably obvious but if I wasn’t paying attention I would start going across at an angle and bringing the needle out at the horizontal which resulted in a slanted whip stitch. Not that there’s anything wrong with slanted whip stitches, I just liked the horizontal look better!

When you get to the bottom, tie off the same way as you did at the hat, i.e. bring the needle through just one side of the felt, and tie a knot through the back of a previous stitch.

Tada! Sewn up gnome clothes.

Next, roll your wool into a little bundle. I use my fingers but chopsticks or pens/pencils work just as well, if not better!

For my five year old I had him wrap it around his pointing finger so he would be ready to insert the wool when he was done.

Next push the wool up into the gnome.

You might want to play around with positioning so that the face has a pleasantly smooth surface and the wool is tucked up into the body.

Next you define the neck with some simple running stitches around the gnome under the face.

Leave a tail of a couple inches to tie the bow.

When you get back to the start, cut the thread off with another 2 inch (or so) tail.

Tie loosely and pull hard on the tails to pull in the neck.

Then just tie a bow as best as you can and clip of the tails however long you like them.

And you’re done! Really simple gnomes! Make a whole family! My kids love them :D

One final note: Sometimes the wool wants to come out the bottom of the overly-stuffed gnomes. I was thinking about sewing a circle of felt to the bottom to prevent this, but haven’t bothered yet :)

So there you go! I hope this was helpful in making your own little gnomes! This was a great project for our crafting group. Everyone enjoyed digging through felt scraps and embroidery floss to pick out their colors, and even children as young as three were able to sew these mostly on their own, needing help with knots and re-threading needles. Such a great, simple project with a lovely and sweet result! They’re great fun to play with as well :) Next I hope to make some sort of playmat or even a little tree playhouse sort of thing.

Good luck!

It’s been a while since I babbled about bikes. When I was surprised by this last pregnancy, researching bikes fell to the wayside because biking while preggers wasn’t really an option for me, what with being not only a clumsy novice but on anticoagulants. Biking with an infant under a year also wasn’t going to be on my list of things to do, so I tried not to think about it too much.

But then everything went pear shaped and I continued to not think about it too much.

However, recently I entered a contest for a Zigo, a new-ish family bike that I haven’t talked about before. I didn’t win (probably deservedly, I’m sure there are people that really can’t afford this and would use it a lot more) but now I can’t stop thinking about it. Could a Zigo be the answer to my family biking dilemmas?

I haven’t mentioned this bike before, even though I knew about it, because I didn’t think it was really what I was looking for.  I think it’s novel and a good idea, it is just very different from my original vision. Which means, of course, that it’s more sporty than stylish and more functionally specific as a kid carrier than a universal cargo carrier that I’ll keep for a decade or two.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get a bike that would fit every single need: carry myself and the kids, carry cargo like groceries, something that could be carried on the car to other destinations, plus be a bike I wouldn’t feel silly in by myself and would last me the next decade or two even after the kids have long outgrown being carted around. Also, it’s also important to me that if I’m looking for something to last a a long time that it somewhat reflect my personality. I know that sounds shallow, but I can’t help it. I want to love my bike. And the Zigo? It’s not as sexy as a Betty Foy nor is it as cute as the Radish. It’s a dilemma.

I thought the answer was an Xtracycle, but for several reasons I couldn’t make up my mind. Should I get a unified frame like the Surly or should I add a Free Radical to a regular bike? If so which bike? Should I get a new one with bells and whistles (and there are so many to choose from!) or should I get more of a beater? How much Dutch style do I want? Could I get away with just a FR8 family (be still my heart!)?

And then there’s the blatant fact that I just couldn’t shake feeling unsafe with the whole damn idea. I’m just not that good a cyclist. I wouldn’t trust myself not to fall over at the slightest gust. Could I risk doing that with my kids? But I desperately want exercise to be a part of my daily life, not some horrible chore. So I kept going back and forth between Xtracycles and trikes like the Christiana. A trike felt like it would be a lot more stable, even though I wouldn’t be able to take it anywhere in the car and I would feel silly by myself.

And so on and so forth. I could never made up my mind.

But the Zigo… I realized many wonderful things while perusing the website:

• The kid carrier folds flat. Ah ha — that might fit in my car. The bike portion could fit on a rack. I could take the kids to Green Lake or the Burke Gilman! Check!
• I also realized I could put a pannier on the back to tow the eldest’s bike so I could carry him in the Zigo when he was tired. That’s one of the reasons I was even looking at cargo bikes to begin with instead of just a trail-a-bike. Check!
• The Zigo in kid mode is essentially a trike, which my gut tells me would feel a whole lot more stable. Check!
• I could take off the kid carrier and ride it like a regular bike, albeit an odd small wheeled bike, but a single bike nevertheless. Check!
• I wouldn’t have to put the toddler in a bike seat, which was a concern for hubby. Check!
• I believe, although I haven’t seen one of these in person, that this bike might be narrow enough to navigate the sidewalks instead of the scary arterial roads around here. Check!
• Bonus: The kid carrier can be a double stroller, which I don’t have but wish I did. Unexpected check!

I was very surprised with how well the Zigo fit my criteria.

So what don’t I like? Well..

• The sporty look is not me at all. But I can live with that. The green is lurvely.
• I really don’t like how the kids are at car exhaust level, like a trailer, but I can see how that’s safer as far as center of gravity goes than up high on a regular bike.
• I wonder how a Zigo does in a dooring situation?
• Also it just doesn’t have the cargo capacity of something like the Madsen or the Xtracycle. It looks to be specifically built as a kid carrier, which gives it a limited lifespan.

Notice how much shorter that list is than the former? Me too.

So there you have it. A new, surprising and unexpected contender that the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Of course I absolutely relish the idea of toting the boys to fun locales, of Boo practicing his biking skills and the babe enjoying all of this with us, but then I wouldn’t have to harass Boo to finish the trip, I could just cart him the rest of the way when he was done. I could take the Boo to school down the road and it would actually be fun instead of a pain. I could do a myriad of errands by myself should I gain the confidence to do so. I’m still not 100% assured of the safety of the whole idea, which is a major concern for the rest of my family, but at a minimum we could enjoy the trails and Green Lake, and for me, it would be worth it just for that. In any case, surely something like this will have good resale value in the Seattle area.

Of course all of this depends on us not having another baby, but still. It’s a good idea. And even if we do have another baby, the idea can hibernate for another two years. Since right now it’s only January, I’m going to keep mulling it over. But for now, I like it. I like it enough that I’m thinking about going for a test ride sometime. That would be fun :)

We have this little friend for whom I love to make stuff. I’m not sure why I always get inspired by her birthday, but I totally do. One year it was the Pointy Kitty, the next year it was a felt cupcake. It’s always something I’ve been wanting to make and then suddenly the time is right!

This year, I was told our little friend loved animals and I suddenly had this incredible urge to make a birdcage similar to one I saw once upon a time in a kid’s catalog somewhere.  (Apologies for the terrible photos. Combination of taking photos at night plus just wierdly shaped birdcage!) This is what I came up with:

The bird itself is the pattern out of Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. For reasons that made sense at the time I decided to use wool felt for the brown part, which I never remember until I’m trying to sew it, does not really sew all that well as the seams are so thick. But oh well, it worked out okay. I love the pink rick rack for the hanger, should our little friend wish to use the bird as an ornament. Or hang it in a tree? Or carry it on her wrist? Who knows?!

The cage itself was trickier. I ended up using two stems of floral wire twisted around and then sewn into a fabric tube. I connected the stems by winding them around each other, going in between every intersection with random yarn, and then sewing over all of THAT with some more felt. That was sort of hard and complicated and messy.  And way more hand sewing than I generally do.

The final touch was a very fancy ornament hook that I happened to find at the bottom of our ornament box. Initially I was going to glue it on then I thought, eh, it’s okay if it moves around! If you pull up on it the bird is secured (if, for example, you are carrying the cage around or it’s hanging somewhere) but you can also pull it down to take out the bird. So it’s not too bad.

All in all I really liked this project. It’s pretty big, although I didn’t measure it, but I’d say around 5″ across. It would be fun to do some smaller versions for ornaments. It would also be fun to do a much bigger cage and more birds, maybe even with wire claws so they could hang onto various birdcage accoutrements. Of course I’ll probably never get around to that, but is fun to consider!

And then I finished another gift recently. This is a baby sweater for our neighbor who has a baby girl (plus two older boys around my boys’ ages). The picture is AWFUL (I don’t know why my pictures have been so horrible lately?) but the sweater is cute. You’ll have to trust me on that.

The pattern is the February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann and the yarn is totally random stashed sock yarn. It took just over one skein. I’ve decided to start making more sock yarn projects because apparently it takes me a year to make a pair of socks and at that rate I have more than enough yarn for the next decade!!

ANYWAY. I screwed up a couple times. For one thing I put the buttonholes outside the button band. I know. Wha…?!? Rectified that by sewing the buttons into the buttonholes and crocheting tiny loops to go over then that were attached to the other side. I also completely and utterly inexplicably did the button band down the lace section as moss stitch. Why on earth did I do that? I have no idea. I hate moss stitch so evidently I subconsciously wanted to torture myself. As if knitting a garment out of sock yarn isn’t torture enough. And then I had to rip back the body once when I was quite close to being done because I realized I hadn’t added additional stitches under the armholes and that was why it was looking so small. Whoops.

So as it is, a project that should have taken at most a couple weeks has instead taken a month! I hope it fits, that’s all I can say.

There are a few other knitting projects coming down the pike.. my vest just needs buttons (although I’m fairly disappointed with it in general) and my tulips cardigan just needs to be sewn up. I’m on the yoke of Boo’s sweater and currently plotting hat and mitten projects for the boys. And a bigger baby sweater.. you know, in case that one doesn’t fit. Insert eyeroll here!

Well, this post is majorly late, but we did some cute, very preschooler-type crafts for Halloween this year and I wanted to document that. Better late than never!

First, Boo wanted to make some spiders, so we headed to the craft store for supplies, wherein I learned my boy is just as bad in a craft store as I am! That was a fun trip! So, the spiders:

These are, obviously, very, very simple to make. I twisted two chenille pipecleaners together for each of the legs and we glued on a big ole pompom with googly eyes for the head. Super fun, and these guys were ALL OVER the house! We even put glitter on some of them. Any excuse for glitter!

These were Boo’s versions made all by himself. One or two pipecleaners holding one pompom.  I was surprised how much even just THAT looked enough like spider!

Then we made these bats which were a project Boo did at preschool. He made one at school, came home and declared we had to make more. I wasn’t up for painting, so we covered our toilet paper rolls in felt. Worked just fine! Aren’t they great? Boo had his hanging upside with the wings wrapped around, which was cute. (But apparently I forgot to get a picture of. Oops!)

I got to have my first stab at making a Halloween costume this year too! Several months ago Boo requested a “caterpillar costume” as he’s a bit obsessed with caterpillars. Figuring that 1) we weren’t likely going to be able to find one of those and that 2) how hard could it be?, we set about making a costume. The same craft shop trip that procured the pompoms and pipcleaners produced the fabrics for this getup - he picked them out all by himself. He’s got an eye for the glam, no? This wasn’t initially Halloween related, but turned out to be finished just in time for said holiday!

It’s not obvious from the shot but I think the design is somewhat interesting. It’s basically a tube with a hood and a pocket for wings on the bag. The hood can be flipped up for “cocoon” mode as it covers Boo’s face. Then when he’s ready to be a butterfly he can reach back and grab the wings and pull them out. If I made any mistake on these it’s that the pocket on the back is too low. I think the wings would look better starting higher up. Well and then there are basic sewing errors like, oh, forgetting seam allowances for heming armholes and stuff like that. Whoops. No harm done though. Thankfully Boo loves his caterpillar costume!

(Incidently, the Bean’s costume was purchased because we didn’t already have one in that size, it was cheap, cute, and I couldn’t be arsed to come up with anything!)

Finally, the requisite pumpkins!

Best part of the pumpkins was Boo’s participation. I had him draw on his pumpkin with a dry erase marker (saw that tip on the internet — you can wipe it off!) and I thought he did an AWESOME job. We only had a tiny argument about why he couldn’t do the actual carving himself. His pumpkin is on the right, in case that’s not obvious :)

The funny thing about the kiddo being in school this year is that he’s suddenly WAY more into holiday stuff than ever before. I guess that’s a good thing as I usually need a swift kick in the ass to do much for the holidays. I’m generally a grinch. Halloween was really fun, though, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

2 a.m. is never a good time to write a blog post. But I can’t sleep, and have the urge to write. So here we are.

I’m sitting here with my two boxes — Abigail and Jack — and wondering what I’m supposed to do. I’m stuck. My body very much wants to never be pregnant ever again. My heart very much wants another baby. My mind just can’t make sense of it all. And so, I wait, undecided, unable to move forward because I don’t know which path to take. In any other situation I’d let the fates take me where they may, but I’m fairly sure in this situation it’s not the fates talking, it’s just biology, and biology doesn’t have feelings.

There are more reasons than I can count to not have another baby. For one, I just never envisioned our family with more than two children. My body is not in great shape, my back hurts a lot, I am overweight, and I don’t want to do any more shots. I doubt, at this point, that pregnancy really poses any serious risk to my health, at least in the blood clot department, but there’s still the possibility that you can’t ignore.

I want to move on. I love my children but kids can be a pain in the ass. I’m looking forward to a life with no more diapers, no more breastfeeding, and while I’m sure the tantrums aren’t done, I do appreciate the use of words. I look forward to more time to craft, to doing more elaborate things with the kids, to trips, and discussions, and sharing movies and books. I like the idea of older kids. I’m not so enamoured with the daily rigors of a newborn. I feel more like myself now than I have in at least five years and it’s hard to give that up for another three or four years. I might even get a job one of these days.

And yet. I sit with my boxes and wonder. I’d get to revisit all those things I thought I’d never see again. First smiles, favorite clothes, belly laughs.. another chance at all the wonderfulness that is a baby.  Pure adoration. Nobody loves you like your baby loves you. My oldest would adore a baby, and there’s nothing like seeing your children grin at each other. Truth: I expected to have another baby and I want what I’ve lost.

I wonder at how unfair life can be. I fear what could possibly be next if we did try again. Could we tolerate yet another loss? Are we fighting a losing battle? Should we cut our losses and run? Nevermind all of the run-of-the-mill things parents get to worry about with illness and birth defects. I was naive enough with Jack to think that nothing could go wrong, because it just couldn’t after what happened last time. And now I know never to think that way ever again. Sometimes I’m amazed I can make it through the day just knowing how things can go wrong in a mere second, how life can change, hell, life can just end. I’m almost constantly aware that I should be living every second for what it’s worth, but that’s so exhausting I can’t summon the effort.

So we wait in limbo for our minds to decide, for our hurt to heal, for our hearts let go. The fact is I’m not sure I want another baby, I think I just want Jack. But I can’t have Jack. So I hold a box. And wait.

We’re at our first official hand me down handknit! Witness the Robin Hood Jacket on two different children! The original:

And baby bro wearing the wool while camping this weekend:

It’s probably just me but I find this HILARIOUS! And happy. Very, very happy. Obviously they’re different sizes but since the Boo would only submit to wearing the sweater a couple times I decided to start in on the little guy early.

Course he’s already developing a flair for the dramatics, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

Incidently, I made one change to the sweater since I last talked about it, however many years ago that was. I crocheted along the back from shoulder to shoulder across the hood. It was way too stretchy and the top button wouldn’t stay buttoned. It’s much better now.

(Oh and yes, those are the same shoes too. I hang on to everything!)

ETA: Oops I realized that this isnt exactly true.. Bean has been wearing Boo’s soaker shorts for a while now. So this is the first hand me down sweater. So there.