I felt like dying today. . .

I didn't feel like or have time for anything major.
I did get some housekeping done.
I went through some baby things to pull out more gender neutral things that I will probably use for Zuri. . .
We ran some errands as a family.
I shopped for groceries.
I decided I felt like dying



I had to make my potion.
I took some white distilled vinegar.
Some water, more than the vinegar.
And some cheap store brand drink mix.


These I combined into a glass casserole and mixed well.
I figured this concoction might just do the trick.
Then I got out two of the first soakers I ever knit.
They are knit with undyed, LB Fisherman's wool.
I started with Fruit Punch.
I chased it with Berry Punch.
After they were dyed I threw them into the wash on the short hot cold cycle with 2 dryer balls and the pretty stitch patterns turned into
felt. The colors are more vibrant that the photos show below

This soaker was a size large and is now a size small.
The one below was already felted some from large to medium and it is also now small.

I need closure

I finished this up tonight too. . . the hat and tucking in all the ends. I just need to find closures, probably buttons for the kimono and the diaper wrap. The hat and kimono patterns are in the One Skein Wonders book. I modified them both. For this kimono I made the sleeves a little wider than the pattern called for. I also made the cross over panels wider and used a scrumtiously soft wool/silk blend yarn, Frolich Silky Baby Lambs vs. the Bamboo. I used Karabella Aurora Melange 100% extra fine merino for the Scallop-Edged Hat and wool diaper wrap. I made up the pattern for the diaper wrap from looking at other diaper wraps that I have and like. I added crochet edging around the leg openings to stabilize the stockinette stitch and build a poo containing guesset. This cover is nb to small size with plenty of stretch.
I need to now go shopping for buttons for the kimono and diaper wrap to keep them closed on little Z. The picture doesn't really capture the yarn very well imho. The set does match. The Karabella yarn has three strands (plum, pink and grey) twisted together so when knit it looks heathered. The kimono is the same bright plum that's in the other yarn, vs. purple. I'm trying to decide if I have enough for some booties or mary janes. . .

Hand knit legwarmers take 2

I finally finished these. I really had put them to the wayside, but I needed the needles that were in use to make Zuri's Scalloped Edged Hat so I quickly finished them during Grey's Ananatomy. I am glad I made these. They are much smaller than the others I've been sewing, but will be wonderful when she's a tiny newborn and just home. They do have plenty of stretch too due to the nature my yarn choice, Cascade Fixation so both in lenght and diameter they have plenty of give. This pair measures just about three inches longer than the first pair.

Wise Owl, meet Frog

Well I finally found some that are not like the others. . . I will be making these up and selling them too!

Stay tuned, more creatures to come.

Classic Black and Basic Black

I guess because I keep going to the same stores I'm having a harder and harder time finding new styles for my leg warmers. This past week the only neat ones I wanted to make were these bamboo black textured ones. One has a cable and the other a seed stitch separated by ribbing. I think they will both be great accessories as black goes with everything!

Progress report on other projects. . . I'm ashamed to even try to list all of the ones that I am planning or have in the works. I'll just say the kimono #2 has everything but 1.2~ sleeves and seaming done. Then I can start the matching longies. Depending on how this outfit comes out I'm tempted to make it her take me home outfit, but we'll see. I think in order to do that I would want a hat and booties to match and I don't have patterns or ideas in mind or an excess of the yarn I chose, though the yarn for the kimono I can get another ball at my lys.

NB recycled longies

I found another wool sweater. I've been looking for one like this for a while. Nice and soft with pretty pattern. It was a 3/4 sleeve small GAP merino wool. So after felting the sleeves were only big enough for a nb, maybe a small if stretched. I love these tiny pants. I'm going to use the rest of the sweater later to make a soaker in a larger size.

Nano Necklace

My latest accessory needed an accessory of it's own. I wanted something to protect it but to also facilitate wearing it so that I can use it. I am pretty mobile being a mom of 2 soon to be 3 and I don't have too many pockets on my clothes these days. Thanks Kristi for making your pattern free. It was enjoyable to knit, easy to understand, and will be super functional!

Zuri update

We had our 31-32 week ultrasound today! Everything looked wonderful. The placenta has moved from 1cm away from my cervix well up the back of my uterus so it's no where near causing any problems for a natural delivery for Zuri! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!
Also a box of clothes I bought from another momma off one of my mommy boards came in the mail today. These clothes are 0 through 6 months in sizes so they will cover her for a while!
I'm working on a 2nd kimono but this one is working up "smaller" in gauge so I'll probably be knitting it for longer. I know basically how bit Iwant it to be though so that's not a problem to get the shaping right.
I hope all of you who read this have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

knit night work

Last knit night I bought some NZ pure wool to knit into a wet pad for Zuri. Last night I put it onto the knitting machine there and zipped out this large rectangle. It measured 50"x36". Originally I wanted to get a sheep skin or fleece, but after researching them I decided I'd let some poor lamb live and knit one. Since this was to just be a rectangle I saw no need to knit it by hand. Once I got it home I bound off the ends and added a crochet edging at the sides. Since it's stockinette stitch and my side border isn't very wide it wants to curl up

Here's the pad after felting. It's almost a square. 24.5" x 26.5" after two cycles in the washing machine, one to felt with a small amount of laundry detergent and my dryer balls for agitation and one with lanolin wash and conditioner no balls. It did shrink and felt denser with each wash. I think I want to lanolize it again in the sink since a lot was going on and I didn't stop it from rinsing in time.
The ends curl because they are a different yarn and I didn't use a stretchy bind off, the sides are more so, they have the crochet finish and it felted at a different rate. All in all I'm very pleased with the finished product. It will be great for her hammock or for just about anywhere I want a soft, cushiony pad that also has water resistancy.
It didn't fade by the way, the colors are just as vibrant as the first pic. I just took this pic in poor lighting.

Emergency Kimono

I grossly misunderstood information from a friend and my sis about baby clothes for Zuri. . . needless to say there probably aren't going to be as many as I originally anticipated. Lemonade time. But I have to be honest, for a 24 hour period my planning self went into panic mode until I had a plan. Now things are looking much better. As they always do in the morning, after sleep and when there is more information found, like stashed unisex clothes in the attic and clothes from others. . .
Sunday I decided to take the situation into my own hands a little and knit Zuri some kimono tops. It was very late by the time I decided so I cast the first 5 stitches for this one and fell asleep. Yesterday into late last night I finished the knitting and this am I finished the seaming and ends. I just need to find buttons for the closure. I am going to make a few more of these. This is NB size. It is the Bamboo Baby pattern from the One Skein Wonders book. I used the recommended yarn, South West Trading Company's Bamboo. I'm going to try to make at least one more in cotton or cotton blend and another in wool or wool blend. They are pretty quick to knit and I think they can serve as either over shirts or little jackets depending on how I choose to dress her.

As with the pinwheel it was fun to knit this for her. I don't know if I would have broken down to do it if I would have gotten tons of clothes. . . I'm off to make more lemonade!

Not Another Legwarmer

Today was a weird day. Well not weird really, we've had this kind of day before, but not for a while. Today we repurposed several things around our home, rearranged some major spaces and did some long needed cleaning and de-cluttering. It's hard to explain without going into details so here's the short:
1. removed tv, vcr, dvd, stereo from armiore to make room for Zuri's things
2. put stereo into boy's room for nite nite music and play music
3. move vcr to bonus room
4. remove old tape eating vcr from bonus room, get stereo in bonus to work w/o over heating, re set up all componets in bonus to run w/o having to unplug anything and store videos and toys in existing storage areas to eliminate extra pieces in room
5. dust everything that got emptied, moved, rearranged, etc. and surrounding areas.
At times it felt like a lot of piddling around. But the finished product at the end of the day left Rocky and I both pleased with our efforts. We either gained better functionality of an item or use of space and did it all with no cost other than our time and brain power.
On a completely different note for the first time Charmie wrote his name all by himself today. I'm so proud of him. Way to go son!

Also my kids use bibs. . . for messy times and times when they are wearing clothing I don't want stained they still do. I know many of my friends say that their lo's no longer use them, or no longer will use them, or they have never bothered with them, but my kids still use them at home and when we are out often they get a napkin kerchief to protect their clothes and save my sanity.
Sometimes though bibs aren't handy. Sometimes I only have a napkin that is too small to make a kerchief. That's where the below item comes into play. It's a ribbon with a clip on both ends. It's for Zuri, it works like the clips the dentist uses to hold the paper bib on you when you get your teeth cleaned. This one is a little longer than it needed to be so I'll just tie a knot into one side of it to shorten it. I have clips and ribbon to make more. . . I just have to find the ribbon.

Two more pair

Less juvenile. More plain. The stripes are only where you see them, ie they don't repeat elsewhere.

The lone pair

I finally found some that are not pink, purple, or white. . .

sweet dreams

Thanks Jenny for the idea of stars. I think they suit this color soaker well.

girlification

Last night I discovered 100% wool felt at my craft store so I splurged and picked up some to play with. I hand knit these longies for Mardie I started before he was born. . . I found out many months later I was twisting my stitches, and I made them up as I knit so I had to improvise for the crotch. . . Anyway these were sitting all boyish in Zuri's NB stash and I decided this would be a great opportunity to girly them up. I needle felted this appliqued flower using my 100% wool felt. I think I'll be doing many more. This was freakin' fun! Many of our wool soakers are boyish or gender neutral. This is the perect way to bring them into the time of Zuri!

embelished prefold first attempt

I decided to see how embroidery would work on one of my undyed prefolds. I like the design and concept. I skipped a few steps so my result could have been prettier. Over all it's still very functional so I think I'll try another later. . . The hardest part is always choosing the design. . .

Stained and Finished!!!

Our collaborative effort is finally completed and useable and looking quite sharp in my kitchen. We all love it and I'm sure we will be getting tons of use from it. My husband did a super fantastic job with all of the cutting, measuring, angles, calculating, staining and finishing.

THANKS BABE for such a beautiful piece for our home, and to help with the kids cooking time. This one is so nice I may make the original one disappear!

cabin o'legwarmers

I made 9 more pairs today for Zuri. I'm finally finding some other types of colors to blend into her stash, but the whole spectrum of yellow, green, blue and purple is really untouched so I'm off to search for more!

Cookie Monsters and more legwarmers

I hate Halloween. . . But the Ray boys love it. Here are my cookie monsters after eating some mini oreos that they scored a few nights ago.

I made more legwarmers for Zuri today. I am getting excited to see these combined with her cloth diapers.

kitchen sink

Well here's my pic. I saw it first on Jennifer's blog but went to the source on Karina's. Here's what I see. I've been on this kick to keep my counters clear so this is how it really looks. . . and has for the last few weeks, no doctoring I swear!
Hanging above is my potrack since my pots and pans will fit into my cabinetry (stupid new construction). I have a sheer over my window. It's not hemmed or finished, just pinned into the valance. It went up a few weeks before the house next door was being constructed and the neighbors closed.
Behind the sheer are all of my daily cleansers; homemade window cleaner, veggie wash, spray bottle of plain water, 7th gen dish soap, and Melaleuca Tough and Tender multisurface cleanser. Also in the window are 2 cups of soil that the boys are gowing grass in for Awana, a smooth stone that means something to me I just don't remember what, a small statuette from a highschool friend, a Romanian wooden spoon from my ils travels and a little saying from a dear lifetime friend, "Piglet said, 'The Best Things come in Small Packages, don't they Pooh?' 'Yes, Piglet, very often they do.'"
On the counter from left to right Breville Juice Fountain Compact, PUR water resivoir, some Method soap, a dish towel, some dirty dishes, electric coffee pot and of course one of the microfiber towels that I use in place of paper.

Lacks character huh? But that's how I like it. Pretty clear and clutter free. I seem to get out of control if I allow clutter so I can't let it creep up or it's crazy!
I do plan to redo all of the window treatments in my dining and living room and this window in the kitchen will be part of that project. I'm sure I'll post when I do it, well that is if I make them myself.

Legwarmers take 2

Here are the other 2 pair. I need to find some other colors but for now I'm sure these will go with plenty of outfits.

On both these two pair and the other two when photographed they look like the two sides are not even, but they aren't as bad as the picture shows. Just to see the look I slid these up Charmie's chunky 4.5yo leg and they went well up his thigh, but they are still a good size for a smaller leg to fit well down onto the foot and cover the leg. I think I've found a new project that I love to make. I doubt I'll be knitting any more leggins when I can whip up these.

More sewing. . . legwarmers take 1

After knitting some, I decided to sew some. Here are 2 pair of baby legwarmers I made for Zuri tonight. I found out how to make these today. I still have to sew up the other two pair over the next day or two.

merino wool sleep sak

I love my kids in sleep sacks. The boys used to wear them almost constantly at home from my memory until they were walking age. They are wonderful for co-sleeping. They keep baby warm, but baby can't kick off the sack and the arm holes give enough ventilation that they don't overheat.
I wanted to get a wool sleep sack for Mardie but didn't want to pay the price, they are not cheap. I finally this time around found one used for Zuri that is super soft. After getting that one I decided I wanted to try to make her one. Wool sleep sacks act as a diaper cover so with cloth diapering it just makes sense to have one step instead of two!
Here's my attempt. I took a super soft merino wool sweater, felted and lanolized it and recycled it into this. It's slightly larger than the Disana one I bought so this will work for her through a longer time period. I put snaps at the shoulders instead of buttons and ties at the bottom for easy diaper changes. The other sack has no bottom opening. There is about 4" of fabric tucked in at the bottom so as she grows if we are still using this one I can move the ties, or devise some other clousre for the bottom.
For some reason this wouldn't photograph well for color accuracy. My countertop really washed out the color. This table gives a truer color but the sack is actually a little more rose than lilac.
I think I am going to make her some more.