more baby crochet

 

I made these for a friend of mine who had her little girl a few weeks too early.  I looked online for some crochet patterns and found this hat pattern, and this really quick and easy bootie video tutorial.

 

after hunting for the hat, I decided it was simpler to find regular baby patterns and adjust to make them fit the measurements I needed (which I got from here) than to find a preemie sized pattern.

 

I added an extra row of puff stitch and two rows of single crochet at the bottom on the hat instead of one like the pattern said to do so it was closer to the measurements I was looking for.

 

for the booties I used a smaller hook than what the lady in the video did, and I only made the toe 1.5" long, and 1.5" for the sides and back so it was the recommended 3".

they look so small to me, but I've been gauging her size from photos of her head and feet compared to peoples hands as well as going off the size chart for 4-5lb babies.  I'm still worried they won't fit, but they worked up so quick I can always whip up another set if I need to.

crochet washcloth

I crocheted some washcloths to put in a basket for my Nana's 80th birthday.  I used a natural looking ecru yarn by Sugar 'n Cream and this pattern.  with an H hook, the 2.5oz skein got me two washcloths with maybe 12" left over!  cuttin' it a little close so I'm glad I was able to make two finished washcloths and didn't have to buy another skein just for a few yards or something.  I'd like to do more but I think each one took me about two hours to do, so if I have time and get a chance I might go get another skein and make two more.

I ironed some ribbon to a piece of 8.5"x11" freezer paper and ran it through my printer to make the label so she sees that I made them for her in case I don't get to see her open the basket.  makes it cute, too :)  there's so many tutorials out there that tell you how to use your inkjet printer to print on fabric, but here's one I found that covers the basics.  I don't recommend using ribbon for smaller fonts since it spreads a little before the ink dries and looks fuzzy.  since this is just packaging, and even though I heat set it after I printed, it won't make it through the wash.  there is some kinda liquid stuff (Bubble Jet Set, I think) you can treat fabric with to make it washable after printing, but I haven't tried any yet.

pancake doughnuts

I got Leo hooked on pancakes for breakfast a little while back.  it's always been one of my favorite breakfast meals, so I don't mind that much right now!  I was making them every morning for about a week and decided to make extra and freeze them instead.  I've never had much luck with pancakes holding their shape when re-heated, and Leo was super frustrated when they fell apart and didn't stay on the fork.  my mom used to have a sandwich maker that we'd make pancakes in and they were less flimsy than flat pancakes, so I thought I'd give the mini doughnut maker a try and see if that would work the same.

I like using the Hungry Jack extra light and fluffy mix that just needs water - super convenient!  I pretty much eyeball the water to mix ratio and they always turn out just fine. I found a clear condiment squirt bottle that works great to fill the mini doughnut maker without drips and wasted globs.  they're so much easier for Leo to eat and I think they have a better flavor after being frozen and re-heated than regular pancakes do.

 

I make as many as I can stand to do at one time and freeze them in baggies.  makes a quick breakfast for Leo that he will rarely turn down, and if I'm feeling like pancakes but not the mess of making them I can steal a few for myself as well!

weekend away

Matt and I took a long weekend just the two of us.  we left Leo behind and went to stay in a cabin in Broken Bow, OK.  it was really nice!  the reservation got mixed up and we ended up only being able to stay one night :(  but that was alright.  I love the place we stayed in - the cabin was covered in wood from floor to ceiling and smelled awesome!  we fell asleep to the sound of crickets and frogs.

we tried a nearby pizza place when we got there - it was okay.  I've had better pizza, but it was a pretty cool place.  I was feeling kinda sick from being in the car all afternoon and not eating soon enough, so we went to their gift shop the next day and bought a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt for Leo, some natural, handmade soap for my mother-in-law, and a tomato spread for my parents.

we went to Forest Heritage Center Museum and saw a bunch of old wood stuff and made a smashed penny for Leo's collection of smashed pennies from places he's been (even though he wasn't with us) to someday make something cool like the leather bracelet shown here.

we also drove around looking for antique stores and gift shops, and ended up going to an auction.  that was pretty fun :)  we bid on some small stuff and won an antique shaving mirror.  I love it!  I've been putting my rings and earrings in the little routed out spots at the front of the drawer (I'm not sure what would have been stored there originally - razor handles?) and maybe later I'll line the drawer with my leftover embossed felt so stuff doesn't roll around in the drawer when it's open and closed.

we plan on making this a yearly trip (or a when-we-need-furniture trip!)  they had some cool stuff that went for what you'd probably pay for new, but it was REAL wood and good quality.  we went later in the day and that might have been the difference because I noticed the smaller the crowd got the less were there to bid and stuff sold for less.  we'll be taking our truck next time and look for a dresser or something.  I wish we had room for some of the really cool things they were auctioning off - who couldn't use a giant 5' square glass pie safe in their kitchen or a 7.5' x 9' mirror in a gold frame? ;)

1 down, 2 to go

my first trimester has been checked off the list... now I just gotta hold out for January and hope the 2nd trimester energy kicks in soon!  I feel a lot better than I did, but I feel like I skipped over the short feeling-good stage and jumped into hip and rib widening, and round ligament pains.  looking at how big I am already I'm not really surprised, but I was hoping for a bit of a break between stages of discomfort!

this is me at 14 & 20 weeks the first time, and me at 14 weeks this time!

I was expected to show quicker this time, and am fine with it since I've only gained the 5 pounds suggested for the first trimester, but am really not looking forward to the "any day now?" or "is it twins?" questions from people (I got enough of that the first time at 6 months).  why are people so rude at such a sensitive time??

at least Leo has learned to be nice to the baby and not hit momma's belly anymore this past month, and now when we ask where the baby is he rubs my belly... then his, and then daddy's if he's in the room!  Leo's becoming more and more interested in babies and other children so I'm hopeful he will be nice to the baby when he/she gets here!

names

when we were planning for Leo we picked out his name well before he was conceived.  we did the same this time, but it was a little easier since we already had our girl name.  we're keeping with Naomi Allison for a girl, and decided on Jack Curtis for a boy.

 

my doctor told me at my appointment Monday that she wasn't going to do another sonogram until September :(  I don't want to wait that long to find out which name we'll get to use this time!  I also don't want an unsure answer, so I guess we'll be patient...

I've been looking a lot online for new ideas for the nursery, so it'll be nice to know which direction I'll be going in before I get too tired to mess with it.  until we find out I'll just keep collecting ideas for both so I'm ready.  we'll be moving Leo to a new big boy room soon and using his nursery for the new baby, so I don't need to change a whole lot, but I'd like to update it a bit.  I'm excited about some of the things I wanna do to it and can't wait to get started!

sun shades

Leo spotted some cute sun shades as we were standing in line at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago.  he was so cute about it!  he never was interested in wearing hats or glasses before and would pull them off and throw them, but he wore these from the store to the car and long enough for me to snap a picture in his car seat...

then before we were out of the parking lot he twisted the arm and snapped it off :(  I only paid a buck so it wasn't as devastating as if he'd done that to his $6 pair, but it was a little annoying.  I glued them back, and then he did the same thing again!!  this time I decided to remove both arms and attach elastic to the frames.

 

I sanded the hinges flush to the frames, drilled two holes on each side to be stitched through like a button, measured Leo's head, and stitched some slightly snug elastic to either side.  I suppose I could have made it adjustable with some kind of sewing notion for that sort of stuff, but they fit with little stretch right now and if we make it through the summer (which would surprise me!) with them I'm sure they'll stretch enough to accommodate his head.

 

crochet cuff

 

I don't remember what I was searching for, but I came across this pattern online and thought it'd be a good sitting-still project that I could do while not moving and keep my mind off of things.  the pattern does say that it's a fairly small bracelet (6 1/2"), and I think mine came out a little smaller, so if you need it longer maybe add an extra row to each end or something.  it works up fairly quick, but after two I was satisfied enough to stop!

I used regular 6-strand embroidery floss ('cause that's what I had on hand) and a 3.25mm hook, which I thought was gonna be a pain in the butt, but it's not so bad to work with. I stiffened it with hairspray so it'd hold its round shape in the middle, and added a button to the end.

the next one I did with 3 colors, sorta just played it by ear for the flower part, and paid more attention to my tension.  I didn't stiffen this one so that it stayed soft (the stiffness of the first one makes me feel sick - weird, I know).

 

I'll probably need to give it time before wearing them since thinking about putting on jewelry is an unsettling feeling at the moment, but I'm glad I tried them out and feel a little more confident about using a smaller hook on future projects.

from Leo

for Father's Day I searched online for ideas of what to do for Matt from Leo and ended up on this blog.  I loved the hand card idea and on the same post was a painted canvas - I stole used both ideas O:)

I traced Leo's left hand and used the template a bunch of times to make a few more cards to give to his Pawpaw and Papaw.

I got a canvas for Matt (that I painted turquoise) and a wood plaque thing for my dad (purple - his favorite color) and we just went layer by layer with different colors.  I tried getting Leo to paint in different spots, but he liked the middle the best.  I was getting disappointed in Matt's so to save it I decided it needed a hand print, which Matt loved.  we still haven't hung it yet, but there's a lot of things around the house that have been waiting to be done so it's just another thing to add to the list!

the secret's in the sauce

I haven't been posting much lately because all my scheduled posts ran out in the end of May when we got kinda busy going out of town and with our anniversary and my birthday stuff...  it's also about when I started feeling really crummy from morning sickness!

I'm 9 weeks and sorta in and out of feeling well, so not much has been getting done at all.  we found out on Mother's Day so I had a few weeks of feeling fine to think about what all needed to get done, but once the hormones kicked in I was out of commission for a couple of weeks.   it hasn't been as bad this time around, but having Leo to keep up with isn't really helping me take it easy when I need to - this post has even taken me about a week and a half to write!

the day after we had Leo Matt asked when we could do this again.  I don't know if he was going for a serious conversation, but I seriously answered him with "I could do this again next year", so that's when we planned on giving it another go.  this time it took almost twice as long, and just like with Leo it seemed like every month someone else was finding out they were pregnant and not me, but after 7 months of let downs we finally have our baby #2 on the way!  January 18th is the due date, but Leo was 3 weeks early so it could be a December baby.

I surprised Matt with a small bottle of "Preggo" when I told him - he was thrilled! at first he looked at the pictures and thought it was sweet, then I told him to read the label, and he just laughed at the pun.  I thought I was going to have to explain it to him for a second, but it finally clicked.

I've been trying to get back into posting things I've done (I have a lot of drafts waiting to be finished) and I'm hoping once I feel better I'll be back to making things again and posting on a regular basis, but just looking at my computer makes me sick - one of the strange morning sickness triggers I'm experiencing - so it's probably gonna be a while!

watermelon carving

 

I made a carved watermelon bowl for a beach themed party I went to recently.  I found some simple hibiscus flower clip art online to try and it worked up pretty good.

I used a small, round watermelon and drew my design on with a dry-erase marker so it would rub off later.

traced the lines with rubber stamp carving tools, then carved away the inside of the design.

I did the design before I carved the melon so it was easier to work with and I could wash it down after I was done and get rid of the marker lines.  it tends to dry up depending on how long you work on it (took me 2 hours start to finish) so washing it helped to let it soak up some moisture.

 

I cut the top off and scooped out the inside, rinsed it out, patted the outside dry and wrapped it in plastic to set in the fridge until later that night, then I filled it with fruit right before I left.

 

it was so easy to do I would definitely carve one again if I find the time!