My momma poncho is done

I have always worn my children. It's something I believe in. I started with Charmie from the beginning and it's become somewhat an addiction for me. I love all of the different kind of cloth carriers out there for helping us to be able to bond and care for our little ones. After researching different slings and carriers for Charmie I came across outerwear for mommas and babies who are slung. I really wanted one then, but could not and would not afford the $100+ price tag. . . so alas I had no sling wear.
That is until now!
I had found a knitting pattern on Little Turtle Knits for The Babywearer. It spoke to me, but I couldn't get the motivation, etc. to make one. I decided I needed one though for Zuri and I to wear. She's a little to small to be in it now since she can't hold up her head so Mardie makes a great model. I still sometimes sling him anyway.

It's reversible so here he is on the back.

Here's the poncho flat

And Mardie on the front.
I can see that the opening gapes a little more than I'd like so I will devise some sort of closure probably with either a drawstring or knit on ribbing. I have to decide.
I started this 3 knit nights ago so it's been about 7 weeks in the making. I took plenty of breaks for nesting, having a baby, finishing up other projects, etc.
I'm very happy with how my color combinations in the yarn worked up. I wanted a variety of color, but nothing too bright, loud, etc. I used a single strand of chocolate brown wool held together with one of 4 different hand painted yarn and changed colors every two rows. I had a main handpaint that was used every 4 rows. So the color went like this: always one strand of MC, row 1-color a, row -2 color b, row -3 color a, row 4 color c, row 5 color a, row 6 color d, repeat. This gave me continuity of my main strand and main handpaint, but then tastes of the other variations.
This was a great experimentation for me in mixing various handpaints/varigated yarns. Without the main color they didn't match each other and didn't go together, with out repeating the main handpaint the color would have jumped around more than I would have liked. This effect produced a mottled look, there isn't really any pooling and there are subtle stripes. All things that I love.
I'm am looking forward to Zuri and I getting a ton of use from this garment, it was definately worth the knit.
My only regret is that I didnt' get it finished in time to wear as a maternity poncho.

I altered the baby neck opening. I added 4 rows of 2x2 ribbing in size 10 needles and then bound it off in the original size 13 needles for stretch. It's stretchy enough to fit over Mardie's head still, but acts like a moc turtleneck and tapers in nicely. I'm sure with Z it will still be large for a little while.

sewing Projects

Here's the cover for my MOPS notebook. Sorry the picture is sideways. It's a mini quilt and I used photo fabric to make a collage of family pics. I used MBK to embroider MOPS 2007, Creative Activities, Doreen Ray ad then put my lable onto it.

I got tired of those plasticy placemats. They slide around, they are hard to clean, they start to look cruddy. ICK. Here's my solutio. I quilted the boy's placemats. I let them pick out the front side and I chose the Veggie Tale backside. I will be making some more. Here they are after their first washing. The quilting fluffed up a little. The boys actually keep them cleaner and their area neater than with the yucky other ones.
Mardie's placemat.

Charmie's Placemat

View of the reverse fabric.

These placemats are the start of our "paperless" journey. We are starting to use cloth napkins and cloth towels in lieu of paper.

Mardie and his Lightning pants

After making Charmie's race car pants I remembered I had some Car's licensed print fabric that I meant to make them both pants from. I whipped these up in about 15 minutes for Mardie. I used no pattern and they fit perfectly except for the leg cuffs are just a little too tight. I will need to either remove them and redo them or add feet, or some other hem. These don't have pockets.

A chance to revisit my blog

It's after 4am again! I seem to be drawn to posting at this hour. I finished the pants and they ended up being for Mardie who was born September 11, 2004. So much has happened since I posted this first blog entry. I've made many more projects. I've knitted most of a sweater for Charmie from Debbie Bliss's baby knits for beginners. I've knitted a triangle soaker with ribbed legs for Mardie. I have also crocheted several purses, knitted some scarves and sewn a few items too, including the Amy Butler Nappy Bag diaper bag! I'm really enjoying crafting for my needs these days.Oh yeah, I got a knitting machine for Christmaas thought I haven't completed any projects on it yet. . . I've made a few rectangles for practice but have yet to make anything more, and my mil got me this cool program Instant Stitch that aids in generating patterns for needle work. I have so many projects that I want to do and several that are started. I'm going to have get to seriously documenting this stuff, so far I've just been taking pics of my completed projects.