Spring Swap

Katie sent me a wonderful package for the Dogs on Thursday Spring Swap.

What a wonderful package! It included some Sugar & Creme cotton, towels for Mercy, a squeaky squirrel, a tug toy, a package of sunflower seeds to plant, and some gourmet dog treats in the most adorable basket. Oh, yeah.. there was a package of chocolate & carmel Werther’s Originals… but I um, ran 6 miles yesterday and threw my willpower out the window. ooops. Thank you Katie for such a lovely swap!

Here’s an action shot of Mercy with her new squirrel toy:

All you dog people out there know how hard it is to get a non-action shot when you introduce a new toy!

This was the first swap I participated in since Sweet Pea was born… and it was fun! Thanks to the gals at Dogs On Thursday for putting it together.

It’s in the bag!

I have a new knitting bag… and love it!

I used McCalls Pattern 5283 with a few minor modifications, namely getting rid of the zipper pocket. I didn’t have the right size zipper on hand nor enough fabric in my stash, so I went without! I purchased the wooden handles from Joann.com, as they are only available online, and BEWARE- there is only ONE handle per package! I didn’t realize that until I received a package with only one.

In my new knitting bag would be my Hourglass Sweater, waiting for sleeves. I made the length of the lower body about 2 inches longer than the pattern suggested due to my new, ahem, post-pregnancy measurements. I knit the body on size 6 Addis but don’t have a 12 inch size 6 Addis for the sleeves…. do you think that a Denise circular would work or would that mess up my gauge?

Also in the bag is Sweet Pea’s Cabled Coat. I’m about 6 1/2 inches on the back and have learned how to cable without a cable needle! Not having to worry about a cable needle definitely makes things move along a bit faster.

After a warm spell, the ski country finally got some snow. Saturday we will be off to hit the slopes while Sweet Pea and Mercy spend some time with their Grandma. And we’re still praying that Sweet Pea will take her bottles like a champ!!!!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Shaken, not stirred, for the yorkie…

This is Mercy’s food bowl.

Ghetto, I know.

However, it was a last resort this summer when ants invaded our kitchen. For some reason, ants won’t climb up and under the lip on this plastic bowl to get to Mercy’s food. I was SO grossed out by the ants- simply horrified! I guess if you have one ant that finds your dogs food, unprotected, that little ant will tell his entire family tree. So all my dog loving friends, if ants find their way into your puppy’s bowl, try using a plastic container with a lip. it worked for us.

After switching to the plastic ghetto bowl, Mercy was unable to dig inside of her bowls before eating. Weird, I know, but it was part of her routine- dig, dig, dig, remove one piece of food, run to the living room, toss said piece of kibble on the floor and roll around on it before deeming it safe for consumption.

NOW, Mercy will paw at the sides of her bowl and cry. It took a while, but we finally figured out that if we shook her food around, she would start her dining routine.

Stirring her food doesn’t work. It must be shaken.

Are all yorkies this wierd?

Mercy’s midmorning nap interrupted…

So what have I been up to while waiting for labor?

I have started making some handmade Christmas gifts like this tissue holder. The Sew Mama Sew Blog has an entire month of handmade gift ideas… and sewing gifts is a wee bit faster than knitting them, no? They have links to free tutorials at various reader’s blogs. Check it out!

What I really like about the tissue holder idea is that you only need a 6 x 7 piece of fabric for the exterior- which totally lets you use up some of your scrap stash. Plus, what woman hasn’t been a position where she wished she had tissues in her bag?

I’ve also been working on my hourglass…

I have about 9 or 10 inches of the body done… I wish I could try it on to see how it would fit- but I will have to wait on that. Until then I am comparing it to some of my favorite sweaters that I own.

Maybe a baby post next time…. I hope…

Run, don’t walk

All you seamstresses out there, RUN, don’t walk, to your local Joann’s! Simplicity and McCall’s Patterns are 99¢ each!

Clockwise from left:

- Sewing Room Essentials-McCall’s M5348 - I’m dreaming about my someday craftroom… I have to figure out a theme… vintage? Modern?

- Fashionista Aprons- Simplicity 3752- Might as well look sexy in the kitchen, right?

- Semi-Vintage Aprons- McCall’s 2947- I thought these were cute, maybe not as risky as the fashionista ones… but still fun.

- Knitting Bags- McCall’s M5283- Have I ever mentioned that I REALLY NEED a knitting bag? I like the vintage look of the wooden handled one.

- Poodle Skirts- Simplicity 5403- My husband and I love the 50’s look, so I figured next year for Halloween we could be the 50’s family.

- Animal Rag Quilt- Simplicity 4993- I’ve never made a rag quilt before, but these look fairly straightforward and will make great baby gifts for our expectant friends. Of course I’ll do a test one for our baby!

I scored these great patterns for my 2008 project lineup- because I will have so much time once the baby is born. You’ll notice the absence of garments (with the exception of the poodle skirts) as I am not too confident in my garment-sewing skills. I’d like to take a tailored garment class at Joann’s next year before jumping into that sort of sewing.

Now I get to shop for fabrics!

Mercy seems to always find her way into the laundry basket when I bring it up to fold clothes in the living room. Too bad we haven’t figured out how to train her to fold it! I’m working on another pet bed for the living room so maybe she won’t get into the laundry all the time.

Sew What? Skirts!

 

 

This skirt was a cinch to make. I used some fun cotton material from Joann’s and the only modification I made was to have the skirt openn in front and tie in the back. I just felt wierd about the opening being in the back. The ties make it easy to adjust for my 6 month pregnant belly and what will happen next month too!

I have really been enjoying the Sew What book and can’t wait until AFTER the baby is born when I can make something for a skinnier me

We’re off to my SIL’s wedding for the weekend so I’ll see ya’ll when we get back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amy Butler Fever

I’m all about the Amy Butler patterns. I would be all about her fabric, but it is SUPER expensive for my frugal taste!

Nappy Bag #2- a graduation gift for my brother’s girlfriend. She’ll be using it for college books, etc. My brother likes to tease her about her love for enormous bags, saying that she could hide an illegal immigrant in there. I think the bag will be perfect for school.

I learned while making this bag ALLLLL day yesterday that JUST because you have made the bag before doesn’t mean that it’ll go faster the second time around. I actually failed to read the directions properly and ended up putting the lining in backwards, requiring me to rip out seams and redo the right way. That mistake cost me about an hour at least!

Next bunch of grad gifts are for my cousin- the Bedside Organizer and Oversized Laundry Bag from Amy Butler’s In Stitches.

All the pieces were cut late last night and I’ll start putting them together today!

I love the clearance section in the fabric stores. You can find such great stuff at a bargain. I thought that the pink and orange were fun, dorm-ish colors and I know that any additional organizational items are always great to have while at school. The bedside organizer is definitely on my own list of house projects.

The cotton camisole from Last Minute Knitted Gifts is in full swing! I finished the lace section and now it is just straight stockinette for a while. You’ve got to love those Purl patterns, never any seams. The Jo Sharp Cotton is hands down the best cotton I have ever worked with. This project will be a quick one I think.

And last but not least, our little painting helper:

Note the paint on her fur. She wanted to help, I guess!

Blocking, swatching, and frogging- oh my!

The Paton’s V-Neck Sweater, knit with Wool of the Andes, has been blocked and she’s ready to be seamed, never mind that it’s over 90 degrees in most of the country! The blocking project took up every conceivable space in my basement- the sewing table, the cutting table, the laundry folding table so no sewing took place yesterday. What’s a girl to do? Start a swatch? No, I organized my spice cabinet and discovered that I had two celery seeds and two ground turmerics. I can’t think of one recipe that I have used either of those in, but thankfully I will not run out any time soon!

Jo Sharp was swatched for the Last Minute Knitted Gifts Cami while I was waiting to get the oil changed in the car.

And Sizzle has Fizzled and will be tossed to the frog pond. Sorry Sizzle, but you were never meant to be. I’ll be repurposing the yarn for the baby’s room, project to-be-determined. Perhaps a blanket of squares.

Today I’ll be going up to the beach to watch my friend’s daughter at their beach house. I have babysat her since she was barely a year old- and now she’s 10! Amazing how they grow up so fast. I have been teaching her to knit over the past few years. We’re working on a purse right now. Somedays I wish it would be rainy so we could knit all day, but I do get some poolside knitting done on most sunny days. I have my Dublin Bay socks I could work on, but the cast on edge looks weird and I haven’t decided if I should bag it and try again for the 4th time or have faith that blocking will change the edge. Seaming up there might be difficult and the lace edge on the cami would require too much concentration- and I will most likely be starting and stopping to help little S with her project every few minutes. So many choices…

I’ll be happy to come home to some homemade kiwi sorbet that Keith and I made this weekend:

It’s incredibly refreshing and quite easy to make.

7-8 kiwis, peeled and quartered

2 tbsp lemon zest

6 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

Combine 1 tbsp of sugar and the lemon zest. Set aside.

Combine water & sugar in a pan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat. Let chill in refrigerator 1-2 hours (or a half hour in the freezer like I did). Blend kiwi, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a blender or food processor. Add sugar/water syrup to blender and mix well. Transfer to and ice cream maker and follow your manufacturer’s instructions.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can just freeze the mixture in an 8 x 12 dish. Once frozen, let thaw slightly, remove from dish and blend in a blender or food processor.

Yum!

maternity shopping

After running some errands and driving my brother to his job, I decided to stop at the mall and pick up a few new Yankee Candle scents. Of course I had to pass by the Motherhood Unnamed Maternity store to get to Yankee Candle, so I decided to stop in a see if I could nab some great finds. They have great tank tops for only 7.50 and I am definitely all about those this summer.

What you have to know about pregnant women is that some of us aren’t super comfortable with our expanding bodies, even though we know it is only for a season that we are all puffed up, we still feel less than gorgeous. Some of us still have innie belly buttons, which tend to look like the Grand Canyon in the middle of our snug t-shirts. Our chests have exploded and some of us have just gotten big all over. Knowing that, shopping can be a difficult experience to find something that looks nice on the body that we think looks like a whale.

Enter in 20 year old college student that works there.

“So, can I help you find something?”

“Um, I’m okay, just looking.” (as I browse through the sale racks)

“Here, I thought you might like these. I’ll start a dressing room for you.” She shows me several items clearly 2 sizes bigger than I need.

“Uh, thanks.”

“Don’t feel bad about how you look, I put on the fake belly and I look RIDICULOUS pregnant. So it can’t be that bad.”

Great, I think, you weigh 90 pounds soaking wet and have twigs for legs. I’m sure you looked ridiculous.

I smiled.

“So, are you looking for a particular color or style?”

“Not really, whatever may catch my eye I guess.”

“Yeah, by this point you are probably not worried about fashion or how things look, just for something that fits you, right?”

I wanted to shake her! Not worried about fashion or how things look, just something that fits over my expanding tummy? Mind you I am 5 months pregnant, and I am not enormous yet. Hello! I still want to look pretty and I don’t want to be wrapped in a burlap cloth!

I politely tried to explain that while fit is important, so is looking nice and feeling confident about yourself. She didn’t have a clue. I bought the tank tops and 1 shirt- I could have found more but I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Do they train these people???? Do they know that pregnant women have all sorts of emotions and crazy hormones floating around? Thankfully I’ve been pretty much on the up and up, otherwise I am not sure if I would have bit my tongue.

In other news, I have finished the back of my Paton’s V-Neck Sweater and am now on the sleeves. I have decided to knit both at once, even though it takes longer to get some length, at least you know you have the same number of rows on each sleeve. I don’t really like keeping track of every row and then repeating the exact same thing.

My secret pal package arrived:

I am so blessed by my secret pal! She has hooked me up with goodies galore- and what has been almost as tempting as the infamous Tim Tams is the Jo Sharp cotton… how I want to cast on for it’s intended camisole. The color is so gorgeous and the yarn is so lovely but I must finish the sleeves of my Paton’s Sweater. Must finish the sleeves!

My Secret Pal also knit me a few cute items, and I’ll share two today:

A little watermelon hat and the baby kimono from the Mason Dixon Knitting book I have been admiring for so long! The little hat is poised on a grapefruit, as I have read in a few knitting books that a grapefruit is the approximate size of a newborn’s head. So small and yet I wince at the thought of squeezing that out.

In sewing news, the fabric for the baby’s room has arrived, some from Purl and some from Caroline Creative. I won’t be working on the baby stuff for a while, too many sewing projects in queue, but soon enough.

Happy crafting!

Some FO’s and a project round-up

Viola- the Nappy bag!

A cell phone pocket and ample pockets inside- I am liking this bag as a knitting bag but do see it’s true purpose as a diaper bag. Plus the fabric is cute and I’ll probably be toting around a diaper bag more often than a knitting bag in a few months- although there is room enough for a small project in addition to oodles of baby apparatus.

I only broke 3 needles on this project and ended up going up to size 16 to finish the strap edging.

I also busted out my Sew-What Skirts book and made my first a-line drawstring waist skirt.

Everybody has a bummer first project, right? Thank heavens that fabric was super cheap. The book teaches you how to draft a pattern and I ummm… drafted a little too much flair on the skirt so now it just looks plain weird. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again!

The baby sweater is finished!

Pattern: Child’s Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Size: 0 - 6 months

Yarn: 1 skein Lorna’s Lace Shepherd Sport in the beautiful “Bittersweet” colorway

Thoughts: I loved this little sweater project and loved watching the colors change. There is some interesting pooling on the bottom half of the sweater, where it was knit in the round, but I don’t mind. Because it was knit in the round, no seams to sew!

As we are preparing our home for a baby, we have been in major cleanup/ organization mode. Our office is now in the basement as is our guest bed, though disassembled! Through this I have been attempting to organize my craft stash, particularly the yarn corner in the living room. Lord knows that will have to move once our baby is mobile! In going through my yarn, I made a list of all the projects that I have in queue:

Paton’s V- Neck Sweater- yes it’s 100% wool and I have been working on it just to get it done and out of queue! Strangely though, the 90 degree weather makes it feel as though it is felting in my hands so this project has become an air-conditioning only project.

Hourglass Sweater - cast on, cast off, for now this baby is just skeins of yarn waiting to be cast on again. I’m thinking September would be a good time to pick this back up, especially because the color is so similar to the Paton’s V-Neck.

Wild- legwarmer/socks- I need to make one last little sock footie.

Sabres hat for the husband- needs to be done before the start of the NHL regular season. Anybody know when that is? Tomorrow? Yikes!

Baby Matinee Coat- ha- this photo is deceiving. It’s all ripped back to the wee beginning due to, ahem, gauge issues and cotton yarn. It’s for 6-12 months so I’ve got some time.

Last Minute Knitted Gifts Camisole- I’ve got most of the yarn and have decided to make this a post- partum project, serving as a knitting project and motivation to shed the baby weight so I can actually wear it.

Alpaca Scarf- for my dear husband who thinks he is allergic to wool. I have about 4 rows done! I’m hoping to have this one done before the chilly weather sets in.

Dublin Bay socks- Knit with Lorna’s Laces Bittersweet of course! I;;m telling you, these people that can crank out socks are just ubelievable. This is taking a while. Part of me wants to finish them in the next month before we go to San Diego since I bought the yarn there and my in-laws could see the finished product live and in glorious color, but part of me wants to frog it and start over.

One… two… eight knitting projects (I haven’t counted up the sewing ones).

Do I have room to make this lovely bag?

I don’t really have a knitting bag. I have bags that I use for my knitting, but I have never purchased a bag solely for knitting. So, I am working on the interim knitting bag which is really a cute diaper bag by Amy Butler.

Even the directions say that it could also be used as a yoga bag, college bag, beach bag, or knitting bag. All of my pieces are cute and ready to be interfaced and sewn tonight. The best part about the bag is the fabric that I scored at Wal-Mart- it was only a dollar a yard!

So, interim knitting bag you ask? I’m not due to have our baby until the end of October or early November so I figure I could get some use out of the bag until we have to pack the “hospital bag.”

That way I could have a bag while I knit this:

The pattern is from Vogue knitting and it calls for worsted weight yarn. I think that if I bought the yarn through knitpicks.com I’d have a total cost of $35. I fell in love with stranded colorwork while making my wild legwarmers , for which I still technically need to finish one footie, and think that the chart pattern would be a snap to do. Knitting with two colors in both hands makes me feel like I have mad skills and I really want a knitted knitting bag! This market bag/ knitting bag/ super cool bag is what I am thinking about doing for the Tour de France KAL, which starts in a few weeks. I’ll have to do a project roundup this week and see if it’ll fit.