More knitting updates

Diaper soaker keychain/ornaments for swaps and friends.

The green one above and teh blue/purple below are from my own HANDSPUN yarn! Yes I can make yarn now.

This skirt is probably my most favorite knit that I've ever made and I'm so happy that I made it. It is knit in Hempathy, a hemp blend yarn. I love, love, love to wear it and will definately be knitting and possibly crocheting another skirt.

Here's my Klean Kanteen 40oz. cozy that I knit. It is knit from a wool hemp blend and handdyed, but not by me, yarn. I love it. The handle fastenes onto the stroller or another bag easily but also allows me to carry the bottle in my hand.

more crochet and knitting updates

This is the first hat I crocheted for Zuri. I made it from two different organic cotton yarns. I love it as her sun hat because the bill gives her eyes a lot of protection.

I made this blanket as part of my knitting group, the Charlotte Purls, spring KAL. It's called the Hemlock Ring. It was my first project in lace. I'm very attached to it. I knit it in Ecological wool made by cascade. The wool is not dyed, the sheep it came from are just this brown color.

I made this felted yarn bowl as an experiment in a travel/unbreakable yarn bowl. I like it, but need to line it.

This is the second hat I crocheted for Zuri. I also used organic cotton yarns for this one. I embelished it with a crochet flower. This one too provides nice sun protection.

Crochet and Knitting updates continued. . .

well this vest I was making for Rocky from like 3 years ago is an ugg. I decided to just scrap it. I finally brought it out to have him try it on to determine how much more to knit and it's WAY too big. Maybe my bad for measuring him when he was laying down?

coffee cup cozy I knit for a yarn swap on Ravelry. I literally knit this I think in about 30 minutes. My partner has a thing for coffee. I hope she still uses it.

I made this needle case from hemp twine from Hobby Lobby. It's crocheted. It ate my hands up, but the result is nice and sturdy. One day when I get a chance I think I will crochet up some bigger baskets like this for decorative/storage purposes.

sewing updates

Here are some sewing projects I've done since I blogged last. . .

Klean Kanteen cozy's for the boys. I actually made these into this morning. I got their Kanteen's late last week and I don't think I will have time to knit cozy's so I embroidered and sewed them. I am still deciding whether or not to leave them as is, add a cord and cord keeper to the top, or add elastic to the top. Thoughts?

I didn't make this needle roll, but I modified a Lantern Moon circular and straight case to fit my Knit Picks Interchangeable set.

I made this for a reuseable bag swap a few month's back. I shouldn't have signed up for the swap. It was all I could do to drag myself into my sewing room to make this. My partner was so sweet about it and made me the cutest bag, and some hand crocheted cloths, as well as getting me some crystalized ginger. . . but honestly doing a swap so soon after baby was asking way too much for where I was.

Z on her caterpillar

Look What I can do!

yet another crafty love

I know that spinning isn't new to anybody but me, but I Lurve it! Thanks Janet for reintroducing me to the craft. I can so see this becoming another addiction!
Pictured above the top of my new Fidelis wheel in action as I draft and spin a wool blend, merino bfl and some other wool. This roving that you see bits of as I'm spinning was hand dyed by a lovely lady in my karma swap on Ravelry.

Here is my FIRST and second singles ever. The first is the cream, it's the practice roving that came with my wheel and spindle pictured below. I spun a bit on the spindle, most on the wheel. It's mostly white with streaks of brown wool, nice and soft, long fibers though so it was easy to spin. The green on the right was the blend my fellow Karma Swapper sent to me just because! It looks like camoflauge. It too is super soft!

My signed #4 Limited Edition Meggie supported Spindle, what started it all for me with Jan at ford4him on Etsy.

My first handspun. I spun the singles and then plyed them together. It's thicker than I was aiming for but who cares, it's my first one ever and it actually looks like yarn!

Baby girl's amazing feats

As most parents are, we are proud of our kids. Here's baby Z with 2 of her amazing feats. . . she's been going potty since a month, sitting unassisted like this for 3 weeks and saying hi like this for around 3 weeks as well.

Look Ma no Training wheels!

The training wheels came off last night. The movies I took last night were as good on Charmie's part, but the camera didn't like the dark. Here's his daytime version!

Book Signing

Z and I went to a book signing by Stephanie Pearl McPhee the original Yarn Harlot. Cool lady, lots of good stuff to say! We got our pic on her blog twice though one pic is so tiny only I know we're there.

It's been a while. . .

Photo "shoot"
71 pics
results:

Lots of weird things have been happening lately. For one I haven't been blogging much. I've been sucked into an alternate universe on Ravelry the best designed forum site ever where I exist to knit/crochet/swap and just live in the fibery goodness. Sorry to those of you who used to get a kick out of reading my blog. I will return again. Hopefully as I get used to being a mommy to a small brood of preschoolers you will hear more from me soon. But for now I spend much of my free time to be online in my happy place on Ravelry.
Updates in other areas. . .
I've picked the idea for my belated Chrismas swap, swap partners (C, J and K) hold on, your goody is coming just as soon as I can get some quality time in the sewing room! Which first needs a massive cleaning as I've been stashing stuff in there left and right.
Well I said it, I may as well elaborate. The yarn diet has been broken on so many levels. I plan to return to it, but I've had some binging issues. I got some goodies with my birthday monies, the books I already blogged and many more and a touch of yarn from a LYS. But then I got some other yarn online from swaps and some from perso to person swaps and well lets just say I've brought quite a bit of yarn into the Ray home the last month or so. I've been sending out yarn too though. . . I said I had been swapping. I've also sold some and given some away.
Books, books, books. I Lurve me some books. These days I can't get enough of my books. (Once again thanks to my parents and in-laws for the birthday monies. I've stretched them far far far and have sought out steals and deals, used coupons etc. to get my books at great deals.

3 months

my Birthday! and yarn diet updates

I just had another birthday at the end of February. . . It was a good one. I didn't do anything terribly special, life went on, kids needed to be tended, the house needed to be maintained. . . Z had her 2 month check and the reports of her growth are all good. She does have reflux but for now it doesn't need medication. She also may have a dairy sensativity so I started a dairy free diet. It seems like when she has dairy she's more likely to have colicy periods, digestive tract upset, and irregular sleep. That wasn't good or great news, but it could have been worse and at least now there's a plan to deal with her irritability.
Rocky worked extra hard to be able to be home to take me out to dinner. That was nice, to not have to cook and get some yummy food. He, my parents, and his parents gave me money for my birthday. I was glad because I have been wanting/needing some goodies for my hobbies an this was a good time to get them.

Since I had money I have been shopping the local craft stores on their 40% and 50% off coupons for these books! I love, love, love books, they tie with gadgets in things I love to gather. I already have some new projects queued in Ravelry from these knitting books so this was perfect.
You will notice a jewlery making book. That's my latest persuit/hobby. I'm loving making things. I have some projects that I'm itching to do. I just need to have the time. . .
Janet got me these two yarns, two that I have never gotten before for myself, but have been wanting ever since I heard of them. I cannot wait to knit them up.
This is sock yarn by Noro and I LOVE Noro's color combinations. These are going to be some neato socks!

This is the softest, loveliest merino by Malabrigo that is going to be a soaker for Z, that is if I don't steal it for something soft and lovely for myself.

And now a word on my yarn diet. I started it a week or so ago. So far I've been able to resist purchasing new yarn, though I've been tempted. Getting money, being in 2 yarn shops and multiple craft stores, and just being online have been making it hard, but so far I've been good. I plan to stay on it and knit from my stash until I can fit my stash back into the storage I have for it.
You see right before Christmas time my lys, RaveKnits, closed it's doors. The shop owner had a mad crazy liquidation sale and during the sale time I got a ton of yarn, needles, tools, patterns, books, accessories for knitting, and even some of her fixtures for storage in my craft room.
Before this point I had adequate storage for my yarn stash, but since then, especially since I haven't rearranged and set up the new fixtures yet, I have more yarn than I had space for.
Also since Z has come along and started to get older my time for knitting or any crafting has severly decreased. The slower I knit the longer it takes to burn up the stash. . . so I guess I need to get to knitting!

What happens when your baby spits and you knit. . .

My baby spits. . .
Her brother did before her. . .
She has reflux. It's not so uncommon in babies. It's not so uncommon to me. Two of my three children have had reflux. I thought Zuri wasn't spitting excessivly at first since I was comparing her to Mardie and he had a severe case. I just ALWAYS have to make sure that I have a burp cloth close buy because there will always be something coming up. Sometimes it's a trickle, sometimes it's in waves, sometimes it's a gush. But there's always something. I love my spitting babies. I feel for them though as it must be horrible to have heartburn all of the time. It must be uncomfortable to be wet a lot too.
I finally decided to do something for Z.
Today I designed, knit and completed a whole project! I cannot believe it as normally I don't get to knit for periods of time since the reflux makes for a somewhat fussy baby.
I made this:

It's a bib top. Not an original design in that I've seen these before, but an original idea as I haven't seen them before solely for the purpose of being a bib. It's knit in very soft organic cotton in seed stitch. It's shaped at the bottom and gathered at the neckline.
I finished the top edge with an applied i-cord and then crocheted the back straps and sewed buttons on the ends.
(Z is also wearing Chicken Butt for the first time today! It's so soft, the gathers don't bother her at all and it's a great soaker to hold pee too!)

You can see the tiny buttons here peeking through the fabric on the side.
The soaker is an interlock CuddleWool one-size diaper cover. I'm loving these with my Cuddlebunz and other brand one-size fitted diapers.

Here's a back view of the little tiny straps.
I'm so happy to be able to start and finish a project in a day again, let's hope this lasts!
I'm going to be making her some more of these but they will probably be different designs and styles. The common denominators will be that they are 100% organic cotton, and bib tops.

Firsts

First:
lace
shawl
cables
beaded row counter

I found The Luxurious Nursing Shawl in my new Nature Babies book and knew that I needed to tackle lace to have one, an added bonus is that I am also learing how to make cables! At my knitting group meeting I also learned how to make beaded row counters like the one to the right of my work. This is the first knit shawl that I have made. I have always wanted to learn these things. I guess I was just afraid to try before.

Barter Clogs

I've always been a fan of well made toys. I love, love, love HABA toys and all of my children have had some to play with, especially in the early years. I had a renewed interest in them however with the recent scares/concerns over lead in the materials that make up toys. So when Z was on her way I made a conscious effort to make sure that the toys that were to be for her early years were safe. Either hand made in the US with safe, if possible organic materials, and I added a few more toys from HABA.
Some of them were used and some were new. A few of the used ones came from my dear friend Vicki. Her girls have outgrown them so it was time to pass them along. We decided to barter. The first installment was the socks I completed right before Z was born.
Here's the 2nd installment.
You can see from this picture before felting how oversized they are.

Here they are after felting.

They turned out just like I watned them to and only after 10 minutes. I hoep they fit just right and if they need a little tweaking, Vicki can re-wet them and custom felt them the rest of the way!

what I see when I wake

3-in-1 bag done

1 week of knitting
1.5 machine loads of felting
70 minutes on dryer rack in dryer +1 evening air drying time
3 hrs fabric shopping
20 min to cut lining fabric
30 min machine seaming
3 hrs hand sewing
all with Zuri breaks, and it's finally done!

pre felting, yes this covers the chair!

Post felting.

Lining, with compartments for:
1. Zuri
2. Knitting
3. Me ;)

a few pics

A quick family pic for Mardie's Awana Valentine.

Daddy and Z.

Z on me. Catching a nap.

naptime