Recent Projects

Here are a couple projects I managed to finish up the latter part of the summer.  I realize we're well into fall now, but I had loaded these pictures as a draft and apparently forgot about finishing the post and publishing it, so here they are now.  One of these days I'll get back in the swing of things. (Maybe.) (OK, probably not.)

Taggie Blanket Version 2.0

I had made a blanket like this when Melanie was a baby.  It was actually the first thing I made for her, and all three girls used it.  Then when I was shopping at a fundraiser garage sale this past spring (on my birthday actually) I had left it on our stroller as I carried Amelia around and chatted with some friends that were working the garage sale.  During that time the blanket went missing.  Whether it was stolen outright or someone thought it was for sale and bought it we'll never know this side of eternity, but needless to say I was very upset that the blanket was gone.  Scratch that, I was heartbroken, which I realize is a pretty big statement to make about a blanket, but I was.  I cried, and those of you that know me well know I don't cry about much unless I'm pregnant, and even then it's few and far between.

  A generous friend gave me a gift card so I could go buy some new fabric to make a new blanket, and I searched multiple stores in the hopes of finding the same fabric again.  I finally settled on a new print to make a blanket, but just thinking about it made my heart feel heavy.  The other blanket had lots of sentimental value to me since it was the first thing I made as a mother for my child. I felt in a way that someone had stolen a part of the memories of my daughter's early months, which I realize isn't true, but that blanket held so much sentiment of those precious first months I was seriously having a difficult time letting go of it.  

So imagine my joy when I found some of the same fabric in my fabric tub after scouring stores in the hopes of finding it again (4 years later) and checking my fabric stash multiple times.  I was thrilled!  It was folded and tucked inside another piece of fabric.  St. Anthony really came through on that one!  I still had a lot of the same ribbon I used on the first blanket, so I set out to make a second blanket, buying a little more ribbon to supplement the ribbon I had used up.  There was one important difference in the second blanket though.

I added a couple "tags" made from some of my personalized sewing labels.

While I realize this won't ensure the blanket may not go missing again, I feel it will help I.D. it as ours if it accidentally gets left somewhere (not that I've let it leave the house on very many occasions so far!)

As silly as it may seem, I am thrilled to have a second chance to wrap some more memories up in this new blanket.

I also finally finished this sock giraffe for Amelia.

It wasn't a difficult pattern to do, I'm just an incredibly slow knitter that doesn't take much time to actually work on projects. As a result, seemingly simple things such as a small toy take me around six months to finish (I started the giraffe shortly after Amelia was born, when I finished knitting her blanket)

 I sewed on some pink felt spots for a finishing touch and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  

I do enjoy knitting quite a bit, it just isn't relaxing for me to do when the girls are running around since I get distracted by their antics, and since I gravitate towards projects that require quite a bit of counting and actually paying attention to what you're doing I just tend to not knit when they're awake and needing my attention.

Amelia seems to enjoy her giraffe as well.  I would like to find some sort of little rattle insert I can put in toys I knit/crochet for babies, but it's nice to have a quite toy as well.  And leaving it quiet will probably extend its longevity beyond infancy as a toy that is enjoyed and doesn't just sit on a shelf.

I personally find this picture to be especially sweet.

The chew test is definitely the real seal of approval, and the giraffe passed with flying colors!

A Few Completed Projects

The blanket I knitted for Amelia

You can find the pattern here

I had planned to  back the blanket with some smooth minky fabric and use satin blanket binding on the sides to give it a more finished look and to hopefully decrease the likelihood of snags in the blanket. Unfortunately when I took it in to the extension office for advice on how to go about doing so they recommended against it due to the difference in the amount of stretch between the fabric and the knitted blanket.  I'm still really pleased with how it looks, I'm just a bit too nervous to use the blanket much at all since I spent so much time making it!  Silly, I know, but it is what it is.

A couple hats I crocheted for Amelia (pattern found here).  The one on the right is made from Caron Simply Soft yarn and is actually the one I made to go with the outfit the girls gave her at the hospital.  It originally had a ribbon threaded through it.  I whipped the aqua one up for Amelia's newborn pictures and made the little flower clips from some silk flowers I got at Michael's (the cheap $1 clusters that have three blooms on them).  I purposely crocheted a bit looser on the aqua hat since the pink one was already getting a bit snug on her.  It's made with I Love This Cotton yarn. 

You can see Amelia "modeling" these items in her newborn pictures.

Amelia's Newborn Pictures and Claire's 2-Year Pictures

We had pictures taken when Amelia was 3 weeks old for both Amelia's newborn portraits, Claire's 2-year pictures and a new family picture.  Here are some of my favorites that aren't already featured on the blog.

Claire was getting changed for her pictures, that's why she isn't in this one

Claire was just getting over her first ear infection (a double ear infection no less!) so she wasn't quite as quick to smile as she usually is.

And We're Back...

Yes,  I realize it has been quite some time since I last posted anything.  I've had a long list of pictures with blog topics written down for quite some time, and I was in the process of resizing the pictures to be loaded, which I tend to do over the course of several days.  The reason this takes so long is because we tend to take ridiculous amount of pictures in the course of a month, and I try to limit my blogging time to when the girls get to watch their video for the day, and since most Veggie Tales are about 30 minutes long and that has been Melanie's choice lately, that doesn't leave much time for this little indulgence of mine.  And if I get behind it starts to sometimes feel like more of a chore than indulgence at times, so I start avoiding it.  So there.  My reason/excuse/confession behind the lack of posts recently.  We can now move onward.

 Most of you probably already know this, but a couple weeks ago Matt has his appendix taken out.  It started on a Tuesday when he just wasn't feeling well.  He originally thought he had some sort of intestinal bug, feeling like he had a really bad, constant stomach cramp that wouldn't let up.  He slept very poorly Tuesday night, and when he couldn't keep anything down for over 12 hours he started checking his symptoms.  He read somewhere that 12 hours is the longest you should wait if your problem happens to be your appendix, so he decided to go to the doctor around 7:00am Wednesday and they got him in at 8:15.

After a blood test and a CT scan it was determined that he had acute appendicitis and he would have to have his appendix removed that day.  It was about 10:30 at this point.  He came home from the doctor (his mom had taken him since he didn't want me to have to wake the girls up and try to keep them waiting at the doctor's office during the whole thing. plus I had a playdate scheduled that day and he didn't want me to cancel.  I tell you, he's always thinking of others!) and was able to rest since the stomach cramp had finally subsided.  His surgery was at 4:00, so his brother and mom shared babysitting duty so I could take him to the hospital and be there during and after surgery.  He was excited to have the pain taken care of, and even requested that I ask him some silly questions while he was coming out from under anesthesia and inform him of his responses once he was more lucid.  I wasn't allowed in the recovery room, so he was already pretty with it by the time I saw him.  He did inform me that he told the joke about the different types of engineers while in recovery, figuring he would take advantage of the drugs excuse to be a bit ornery.  If you haven't heard it, ask Matt to tell you next time you see him.  I won't repeat it here.

He was out of recovery and headed up to the room by 8:00.  The nurse on the way up seemed to have been amused by Matt.  She informed me that at some point he asked the nurses if he had said anything to embarrass his wife, which she found funny and cute.

Matt spent the night at the hospital, quickly getting bored and texting me after I got the girls in bed, which thankfully went really well without dad, who is always present for the bedtime routine.  He seemed most excited when he finally got to eat, saying "I get jello!".

Matt called bright and early at 8:30 to say he was ready to come home.  He was obviously getting antsy after his one night in the hospital.  We got him home and he proceeded to spend the next several days hanging out on the couch for the most part, watching the start of the NCAA tournament and sleeping.  During surgery the doctor found an umbilical hernia, which wasn't aggravated, but they went ahead and took care of it as a preventative measure since he was already out.  As a result he was put on a 20lb. weight limit for two weeks, which means he hasn't been able to pick Melanie up or have her sit on his lap for a while due to the incisions.  She's done really well with it though, showing genuine concern for dad's "owies" and talking about the "doctor fixing daddy's tummy".  Matt's follow up appointment is today, so hopefully the weight restrictions will be lifted and life can go on.

And as you all know, it is difficult for me to post anything without pictures, so here you go!

One of the nurses came to give me Matt's wedding ring, having been instructed by the patient to "Look for curly hair".  Hey, the instructions worked.  Out of the 10 people in the waiting room she came right to me.  This is the bag she gave me his ring in.  I didn't even notice what the bag was for until I went to pick him up the next day.

This is Griswald Dixie, the Appendix Monster.

While I sat in the waiting room during Matt's surgery I started knitting this monster (which is much cuter than my monster, but appendicitis isn't cute, so I guess that doesn't matter.  Anyway, I digress).  It kept my hands busy, my mind occupied and reminded me to pray for Matt and his surgeons.  Granted I changed my mind on how I wanted him to look, so none of the pieces you see in the final product were actually knitted while Matt was in surgery, but that is how Griswald started.  And in case you're wondering about the name, the one odd question I was able to think of to ask Matt was "If you had a monster, what would you name him?" to which Matt replied Griswald (and then promptly said "Wait, is this the silly question you're asking me?").  Before I had decided to get Matt in on the naming process I had thought of Dixie due to the similarity to appendix, so I decided that would be the monster's last name.  I realize his horns look more like antennas, but without them he looks like a strange moldy bear, so they're staying.
*Update* Matt hadn't seen Griswald before I posted this.  When he saw Griswald upon getting home he was excited to see that Griswald had claws.  It's the little things.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for a post, and then trudging through this one.  We will now resume our irregularly scheduled programing of pictures of our kids being cute.

Claire's Hat

In typical Elizabeth "everything has to match" fashion, I made a hat to match Claire's coat, the same as I did for Melanie last year.  She really likes it - a lot!  Whenever I go to get something out of the hall closet she toddles over and gestures at the shelf and makes noises, and is very happy when I get her hat down and let her wear it, whether we're going somewhere or not.  Here are a few pics of her in her prized hat.

The ensemble

A closer shot of the cables

 

  I taught myself some basic crochet with the help of some online videos so I could make the flower for the finishing touch.

 

Bundled up and all ready to set out on an adventure!

Claire's Easter Sweater

What do you do when you find a cute dress for your daughter to wear for only $10 but can't find a sweater to go with it? You spend $30 on yarn and make one yourself of course!

I used a merino wool/cashmere/silk blend wool by Debbie Bliss, which is what the pattern called for. I tried to find a less expensive option, but couldn't find one in the right color, so I ponied up the cash for the yarn so that Claire's Easter outfit would *hopefully* be what I had envisioned.


This was my first venture into knitting a garment, and I think it went OK. I definitely won't be entering this into any contests, that's for certain. First off, I forgot to put in the button hole and didn't realize it until several rows later (it's amazing how missing just one yarn over can cause such a hassle!). To bypass this problem I just sewed a button on top and then sewed snaps on the back side so it can still be fastened shut. Next, if you maximize the size of the picture you can see next to the right side seam where I wasn't paying attention and did my moss stitch pattern where it should have been stockinette. I didn't notice it until I was a few rows past it, and it was getting late and I didn't want to bother with fixing it. I'm no good at "un-knitting" things and taking rows out without having to basically start over, and I was rather pressed for time since it needed to be done by Easter Vigil and I started it just 10 days before that (and finished piecing it together a mere 2 hours before I had to leave for the vigil!), so I decided to leave my "signature" where it was. It fits Claire just fine and was nice and warm for her first Easter, which was unseasonable chilly. For pictures of the whole outfit check out the Easter post!

Melanie's Hat

So I got Melanie's super cute coat at Target, but couldn't find a hat anywhere to go with it, so I resorted to making one to match. I found a pattern in a Patton's book that I liked and it knit up really quickly, but was unfortunately too short in the crown due to what I think was an error in the instructions which said to knit in stockinette for 3 1/2 inches from the beginning of the work (which is the same amount of space called for in a newborn hat I just made for the baby- hmmmm.....), but I think it would be more accurate to go for 3 1/2 inches from the edge of the ribbing. Anyway, the hat didn't cover Melanie's ears, which kinda defeated the purpose, so I decided to try and save it by making some ear flaps to piece on it.

As you can see from the picture below, the ear flap idea, while less time consuming than making another hat, didn't quite work out. The combination of the brown plaid and the ear flaps was just too reminiscent of Elmer Fudd for my taste and not retro-chic like I was hoping for. So I redid the hat, making it longer in the crown and a bit smaller around since the 2T I had originally done was a bit too generously sized for our petite little lady. I also added the decorative stitching line above the ribbed edge since I didn't feel there was enough of a feminine touch to the large quantities of brown going on with the ensemble. But now Melanie has a hat that both fits and matches, and I'm happy with it, and she seems to enjoy it as well - we can't go anywhere without it!

Be vewwy vewwy qwiet... we're hunting wabbits!
The new and improved hat

Hamming it up for the camera
As soon as you take a picture she comes over and expects you to show her how it turned out in the review screen of the camera. She's so vain!