What it was last night:
(Short) fingerless Adrienne gloves in Manos Del Uruguay, knit in the round because seaming is not my strong point. I took out the ribbing last night, because I wanted it to be snugger, but by then it was after 1am, so I just left my needles in it and planned to rework it this morning over coffee.
What I found in the hallway when I woke up:
Hmm, my needles. But wait…. if they are here….
What I found on the kitchen floor:
Toddler for sale, toddler for sale, one sneaky, sly toddler for sale.
Everyone is sick, so other than visiting with Angie who drove 5 hours to see us, we’ve been sequestered inside this week. When I haven’t been accosting my children with the dreaded nose sucker, I’ve been knitting to keep from losing my mind. I quit knitting there for while when my hands were swelling so badly, but fell in love with this yarn the other day, and decided that Ella needed a winter set.
I managed to get a scarf/cowl thing, mittens and a toddler sized calorimetry (I only cast on 70 vs the adult 120) all from one skein, knit on my trusty pair of size 7 circulars. The neck warmer has a crystal button that holds it on, and can be worn like this or more ruffle-y (to cover the chin on super cold days). It was inspired by this scarf pattern, but I decided I would rather Ella not have a full length scarf, since it would just get lost or drug through the mud. The mittens are just a smattering different patterns online, and I am tempted to add some ruffles to them with the bit of yarn I have left over.
Oh my goodness, both girls are asleep right now, so I am going to go run the shower while I lay on the bathroom floor and try to breathe. Go away snot!
Ella is endlessly fascinated by my camera lately, so yesterday I gave in to the whining and let her wander around a friend’s birthday party with it. Out of 50 photos of the floor, there were also a few worth keeping.
Both of the women in the background are named Alice also.
Birthday girl Chloee playing peekaboo (as well as the balloon graveyard)
Alice knocking on the glass, begging to go out side with the boyyyyssss
Hi, I’m a cheeseball.
I celebrated Tom’s first day off in two weeks by throwing the kids at him and hiding in the basement. He’s working all day on Sunday, so let’s call it an early Mother’s Day present, aye?
And because I got almost an hour and a half without anyone grabbing for the hot iron, I made a dress.
When Ella was little, a snarky person told me “You can always tell when someone makes their kid’s clothes, because they use… different fabrics.” Ella was wearing this little smock dress, which I still love and made Alice wear the other day. The woman was a grandmotherly sort who always came into the quilt shop I worked at, so at first I hadn’t realized it was a dig, so I smiled and said “Thanks!” while handing her her change. She looked at Ella playing on the floor behind the counter and leaned in close, “You won’t make her wear things like that to school, will you?”
Why yes I will apparently.
I found both fabrics in the remnant bin at Joannes the other day, which made me happy. I have.. way to much fabric to be buying more, but if it is on sale, it’s not really buying it right? Wait.. yes it is. But I used the fabric right away, so it did not go into the basement abyss, so I’m telling myself it doesn’t count.
The dress is just the simplest of simple A-line dresses, but I added pockets at the last minute because I can always get Ella to wear something if I say “But it has pockets!” And lo and behold, when she took it off today, we found a bottle cap, a handful of rocks, a M&M mini candy, an empty Monkey pill bottle (it has been empty for a while), 2 dimes, and a bracelet. Pockets: just what a hoarder needs. I still need to do top stitching around the top, and hem the bottom, but all in all, mission successful.
And since I was on a roll and the girls were not screaming, we rearranged the basement play area into a little bedroom for my nephews. My sister and her boys are coming in about a month, and we are setting them up with their own area down stairs, so that they never leave they feel comfortable. There is also a bedroom downstairs that my sister will use, but it will be nice for the boys to have an area to hang out in the morning before the house is awake/after Ella goes to bed upstairs.
The shade is there because the lights are all on one switch, and I figure Ella may be taking naps down there on odd days until the boys get here, and I want to be able to keep her asleep without having to work in the dark. Plus, it feels like a tent, and what kid doesn’t love a tent?
Tomorrow will not be as productive. In fact, since Tom’s new shift starts at 4am every morning, I may never be productive again.
Filed under: crafty
Since I can never seem to get a full craft post written, how about a quick “What I am working on” post? Alright.
This is going to be a wall hanging (I may even just mat & frame it) for my midwife. I sketched it a few months ago, but finally started cutting & sewing yesterday (while destressing in my craft dungeon). I still have to add a few important things, but I’m really liking it so far. Can you guess what the idea is? I have to figure out how on earth I am going to make the key piece without it looking corny or clunky, but I want to have this done within the week. Knowing me, if I take longer it will just get shoved in a drawer. I’ll post a final picture soon.
Just in case you were wondering how I slept last night (and I know you are, you beautiful, considerate person you!) , the answer is: As well as you can with a tiny person strapped to your chest.
It’s been a rough couple days for little Miss Alice, and since my job title is “Chief Cuddler” I have been doing a bit of overtime.
Aside: When did the term change from “House Wife” to “Stay at Home Mom”? What does it say about the shift in the focus of a woman’s nurturing that our “job title” is no longer based off a husband, but rather our kids?
I don’t know what is going on with Alice, but I am starting to remember how trying the next couple months can be. Is it teeth? Does her belly hurt? Why won’t she eat? Is it something I ate? Why won’t she sleep? Is she sleeping too much? Did Ella give a concussion?? Wake her up! Why is she crabby? Is it her teeth?
So, that’s where I’ve been. Alice has been strapped to my chest, and screams when I dare sit down, so I’ve been trying to be productive down in my craft dungeon. I’m working on a few birthday gifts for a friends little girl, a baby gift for another friend, and then some random little things like always. But hey, I sold something on Etsy! Sure, I just set the shop up to make something for Sara (Thanks Sara!) but it’s got me thinking of actually doing something with this crack craft habit. Ignore the craptastic banner, it’s what I could come up with in the 15 minutes I had my arms free to use Tom’s computer (and thus, Photoshop. We can’t find the disk to reload it on my computer. Waaaaaaa.) It’s actually a banner I appliquéd the bear/cricket on, and will eventually finish and stitch the name into. Ella is my Bear, and Alice is my Cricket, and I am the big sap between them.
Duty calls.
Guys! Why didn’t you tell me it was only three days until Christmas?! Holy.. lord. Jesus. Baby Jesus. In a sleigh.. no, a manger.
I can’t even begin to make a list of what all I had hoped to accomplish before Christmas, and have given up on. I am trying to be gentle with myself, because obviously when I try to be super-mom my boobs revolt and sent me to bed for 36 hours, but Booo is what I say. Ella is going to Pam’s for a few hours tonight and I will try to at least wrap the few presents I managed to order/put together before Cricket’s birth. Tom has tomorrow off, so I’ll also make a list of things we still need (like peppermint schnapps! Ohh hot chocolate, how I love to spike you! Or this works too.) and send him out into the madness, possibly with a toddler. Mwahahaha. I also might make sugar cookie dough, which I can just throw in the fridge and pull out when I need to distract Ella for a couple minutes (because this girl loves to use the cookie cutters. If I wasn’t so scared, I would make her some play-doh, but I like my floors too much.)
So, the girl’s Christmas outfits are not handmade, the majority of Ella’s gifts are second hand books and toys, and anyone who doesn’t live with me is getting a gift certificate. I can live with that. This year. Next year I’m locking both the girls on their side of the craft room and using up some of this fabric I am drowning in. That photo I linked to above? I think the fabric is sexing it up down there in the basement and multiplying, because there is no way it would all fit in those cubbies now. Of course, that may have more to do with my compulsive fabric buying, and the fact that my mother in law owns a fabric shop (and a storage unit of her own random fabric collection) but whatever.
My grandma sent the girls some little quilts for their birthdays, and I love that they have great-grandma blankies. This doll is from her also, and is among Ella’s favorites. I have a strange relationship with my mother’s side of the family, partially carried over from my mom’s own muddy relationship with them, but also of my own doing. I would say “It’s hard to explain” but really, whose family workings are easy to explain? Regardless, I am glad we (meaning, I) have started talking again, since I truly do want my kids to know their family, even if they are so far away. My grandma also sent a piggy bank that had been my aunt’s for the girls, and three unicorn figurines that had been my mom’s. One is a potpourri holder, and has had the same smelly scent in it since I was little, and as soon as I opened the box I felt six again. It was a very welcome Christmas present.
Head over to Toddled Dredge tomorrow for the conclusion of her advent series, which has been thought provoking and refreshing, even for those of us with a… hard to explain relationship with religion. Because other people have an easy to explain relationship with the Lord? I don’t know. Really - I don’t know. Maybe someday I’ll try to explain why my view of religion can only be described as muddy, but for now, head over and read Veronica’s post. The clarity of her vision is inspiring.
The second best thing about being overdue? Having an excuse to tell your very proper inlaws to “Shut up”. I’ve slipped twice in the last few days when they have called “Just to see…” and once even started the phrase with a very mature, very eloquent “Dude”. Also, I love that they assume we just won’t call when Cricket is born - they live a mile away from us, we have dinner with them at least once a week, we’re planning a birthday party for Ella this weekend, and they think we are just going to forget to call them? Show up to the birthday party and nonchalantly bring a baby? (Oh this old thing? I’ve had it for ages, but wasn’t sure if I was going to return it until today. I think it matches my eyes, so yeah.. I’ll keep it. You can borrow it sometime if you want…)
And because apparently being very pregnant also makes me very domestic, I made the kids more semi-matching hats.
Note to self: patterns are your friends. Consider using them.
Today is a lazy lazy day, and it is showing through in this post. I have a handful of things I actually wanted to write about (some of which have nothing to do with pregnancy, crafts or housework, I swear) but instead I think I am going to go curl up on the couch with Ella and work on the advent calender I still have not finished. Maybe THAT is what Cricket is waiting for…
I *heart* my camcorder - I spent the last few hours tinkering with it and the oh so stylish Windows Movie Maker, and am half convinced that maybe I’ll just start video casting my blog. But.. then I would have to put on pants more often, which sounds hard, so.. no.
For the record, there will be no webcasting of Cricket’s birth - if all goes well and I don’t look like a jackass for parts of it, I may make a small video afterwards, but let it be known: My Vagina will never grace the internet with its presence! I know, I know, you are all so disappointed, but I thought I would break the news to you now, so that you have time to process it and come to terms.
But as a consolation prize, I made you this video.
Today is a lazy Sunday, where Tom only works one full time shift instead of his regular two. He is talking about quitting Job A (which has good benefits but has become increasingly poorly managed and has put he and a few coworkers in very dangerous situations) and just working Job B for a while, while applying for a few much-more-ideal jobs. Of course this sounds lovely to me, since the more he is home in the next month, the less likely I am to become stuck in screamy-mom-mode, but it also scares the crap out of me, since hello impulse buyer. Anyone know of a job where I can make $2957456 a day, do nothing, and not have to think? Let me know, I’m perfect for the job!
Filed under: crafty
I’ve been nesting like a mad woman the last few days, which means crafts crafts crafts. Of course none of these crafts are off of the list - there is a reason those things are unfinished I think - but rather, these are all quick, instant gratification crafts. Like this new sling I made today, which took a half hour. Did I really need another pouch sling? No, but look, it has lizards on it. Awesome. And then there is the boppy cover, which I actually did need to make - an hour max, and half of that was drafting a pattern from a Boppy cover we already have. Robots! Double awesome! And then there were these two necklaces, one to match my outfit today, and the other that will be a nursing necklace (when it is not being commandeered by Ella of course.) And then there are more belly cozies, tiny hats, and other small gifts for people I love (no pictures since they are surprises). I finished Christmas presents for the women in my life, and am now sitting on a few idea for the guys - why are guys so much harder to craft for? No problem, I plan to work on Ella’s birthday presents tonight, and then will start working off the long list of things featured over on this site this month (every day is another category, with great tutorials. So.Hard.To.Resist. so I won’t. Ha!) The crafting - it is taking over my brain.
AND THEN I started cooking. Sweet potato fries, and waffles, and oatmeal cookies, and homemade mac and cheese, and fruit popsicles, and right now I am soaking barley for chicken and barley soup. And these were just the things I got to today before I ran out of dishes and time. I.. um.. don’t usually cook. Which is to say: salad out of the bag with a can of kidney beans mixed in is a pretty standard dinner around here. Poor Tom is going to come home and be under the impression that I am a good wife all of a sudden, not relizing that oh, wait, this is temporary.
Either this baby is coming soon, or it is a lonnnng way off and my body is smart enough to distract me from the waiting.
