Grandpa's Flannel

My Dad...words cannot describe how I miss him. Like the flannel shirts he often wore, he was strong and dependable, but soft at the same time. It makes my heart ache to think of how our baby girl will never be held in his big gentle hands, or snuggle on his flannel-shirted chest, smelling faintly of sawdust and Irish Spring soap. This project idea came to me belatedly, after all Dad's shirts had found new homes among family and friends. However, my sister graciously gave me some that she had taken when I told her about my wish to wrap this baby up in a little bit of his essence, so that she might know him in that way. Thoughts of my Dad filled my mind with each stitch I made while creating this snuggle sized blanket. I will never look at it without remembering him and feeling that his spirit is here with us still.

My Addiction

I have a knitting addiction, though the hot summer weather always makes me a little less motivated to sit and knit. This is my current work in progress, a simple cable patterned cardigan in a golden-mustard color.



Photo A Day challenge, inspired by Fat Mum Slim.

In The Summertime

The first days of June brought with it some HOT days (90+ degrees in the shade!) giving the garden a boost and sending us running for our swimming suits and sunscreen. Within the span of a few days, we had filled more days with street parties, wading pools and Popsicles than I could remember having throughout the past two summers combined. Of course, last summer is a blurry, sleep-deprived memory due to the fact that Isaac was barely out of newborn stage, and our outside time was greatly limited to the shade. The summer before that I was pregnant, feeling queasy, and you could not have paid me a thousand bucks to put on a swimming suit. So, armed with a new kiddie pool, complete with a mini slide, and some SPF 60, we are ready to wring every last bit of fun out of this summer.I had been so looking forward to warmer weather and not having to dress two squirming boys in hats, mittens, boots, etc., etc. to go play outside that I quite forgot it takes nearly as long to put sunscreen on two squirming boys. I had also forgotten that sunscreen is messy stuff, as they smear their little SPFed bodies up against windows, appliances, and unfortunately, all over the piano. After finding that the black finish came off with the cleaning cloth when I tried to clean the sunscreen off the bench day after day, I decided that we were in desperate need of a piano bench cover. When an Internet search turned up few options available for purchase, Curtis said, "Why don't you just sew one?" I thought about for a minute before continuing my search even more furiously, because I really didn't feel that I had the time or energy to come up with a pattern. Alas, I could find nothing suitable for our extra long bench. So began a several day project, with me measuring and re-measuring, crawling around on the floor cutting fabric scraps of fabric, and sewing them together while perched on a toddler-sized chair in front of the sewing machine I had placed on an end table in my make-shift sewing area in the foyer. The best (and maybe the only good) feature of the area being that it was located on the other side of the baby gate and out of reach of the kiddos, so they could safely play on the other side while I worked on my project.Several days later, we have a brand new quilted piano bench cover...

I was so happy when I slid the finished cover over the bench and it actually fit that I may have done a little dance. OK...I did do a little dance, and the boys laughed at me. This project just might have given me the confidence to actually finish the quilt that I started over a year ago (the scraps of which were used for this cover). Though I may need to set up a better sewing area in a corner of the basement. That toddler sized chair just isn't cutting it :)

Afghan in Progress

Quite possibly my favorite thing in our little living room is this painting, called Spring Leaves by Teri Jonas. I love the colors and the feeling of calm that it evokes every time I look at it. We got it shortly after I read the book, Tuck Everlasting, and it reminds me of the forest clearing described in the book.In fact, I love the colors so much that I was inspired to crochet a cozy wool afghan for our living room picking up on the colors in the painting. The afghan is a simple granny square pattern that I simply kept making bigger and bigger (instead of making a bunch of little squares and later sewing them together). I have a very bad habit of starting these large projects and then not finishing them, but the changing colors help keep my interest while the mindlessness of the pattern allows me to work on it little chunks of time and when there are other lots distractions. I was on quite a roll too, almost two-thirds finished and rather proud of myself, before I realized that I underestimated how much yarn I would need. So this project is currently on hold because the yarn I need is now on back order. Actually, a benefit of this pattern is that we can use it right now, it is just a little on the small side. (Isaac, as you can see, had his own ideas about how the afghan should be displayed for pictures.)
With the afghan project on hold, I have been working on a few quick little projects, including a vest for Isaac using a robin's egg blue color that I had gotten for the afghan and then decided didn't quite work with the color scheme. This was my first time using this particular pattern by Georgie Hallam (details on ravelry). Like her other patterns, it is well written with lots of room for personalization. I added a little orange elephant color work just for fun, but I like how it ended up matching Isaac's amber teething necklace so well.

So there, now that I have shared the afghan project with all of blogland, I will be less likely to set it aside and never finish it. Right?

More Sewing For The Boys

Thanks to a few long naps from the boys this past weekend, a Daddy available to tend to them when they were not sleeping, and a late night or two, I have finished a couple more pairs of pants for Isaac using the Quick Change Trousers pattern from Handmade Beginnings. This time I made them 18 month size with 12 month length, and they seem to fit pretty well with room to grow. First up, Elephant pants, lined with flannel.
Next up, and quite possibly my favorite thing that I have ever sewn, the Fairytale pants. This pair is reversible. On one side, red linen (left over from a tunic I made for myself) with The Three Little Pigs on the bum...
Turn them inside out and they are brown corduroy (from a pair of pants that didn't fit me) with Little Red Riding Hood on the bum.

They are thick, warm, and oh so cute! The pictures really don't do them justice. Especially when the second I step outside to take pictures in some natural light, the toddler starts yelling through the open window that he has to use the potty. Then moments after I put said toddler down for a nap and sit down to try to edit the quickly snapped photos, the little babe wakes up and stakes a claim to my lap throughout the remainder of the blogging/photo-editing session. But I digress...

I consider myself a pretty novice sewer, but after making a couple pairs of these pants, they came together pretty quickly. Now that I don't have to read each step several times, I can make a pair in about 3 hours, divided up into many, many, many smaller chunks of (nap) time. I have not yet tried to size them up for Noah, but it is on my 'To Do' List, along with about a million other things.

Another recent project was a crayon roll for Noah's Stockmar block crayons. I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly what I wanted, so I combined a few different ones to come up with my own. It turned out ok, but I am considering this one my prototype. It is made from the same red linen and Three Pigs fabric as Isaac's pants, with some cotton twill to tie it up.

The pockets are not as deep as I would have liked, but all the other dimensions came out pretty well. The elastic down the middle is for holding regular stick crayons, which we don't have yet. I may make another one or I may just live with the shallow pockets, because although the shallow pockets will bother me from here to eternity, do we really need two crayon rolls? Probably not.

Now I need to put the sewing machine away for a while and get to work on the several knitting projects I have in progress and the many more I want to get started before cold weather sets in.

~Jen (and Isaac)

WIP Wednesday

This is my first work in progress post in a long time. Part the reason is that my Tea Leaves cardigan is still in progress, and really, who wants to see the same project over and over again? The main reason though is that I had not been spending much time knitting as of late. There seems to be three categories to which my time is allotted: "The Things I Need To Do", "The Things I Should Do", and "The Things I Want To Do." Obviously, taking care of the boys and the basic tasks required to keep our house livable fit into the first category. Many things that fall off the bottom of that list land on the "Should Do" list; things like bathing (I know, this should be a need, but most days it is not) and yard work. That leaves knitting and sewing way down on the "Want To Do" list. I have found though, that by leaving the things I want to do for last, they never, ever get done. And at the end of the day, I feel a whole lot better about myself and my day if I am able to do just an hour of those things that I was considering optional. So I found myself thinking that I should re-prioritize and really try to spend just a little part of each day working on something from the "Want To Do" list. Who cares if I don't bathe anyway? Isaac and Noah don't seem to mind. A happy Mama is much more important than a Mama that smells good, right?

However, I had grown a bit bored with the Tea Leaves cardigan and was in need of a project to get me motivated to knit again. A package came from my sister at just the right time to help pull me out of my knitting funk. A fellow knitter, she sent me two skeins of super soft Malabrigo yarn, possibly in response to an email I sent her with this attached (only fellow knitters and Twilight readers will really get a kick out of it). Also in the package was a mostly completed light-weight jacket for Isaac. Ironically, the pattern, called Duck Soup, has been on my own knitting "To Do" list for quite a while. All I had to do was seam up the hood, block it, and add a toggle closure. Ta da! Nearly instant knitting satisfaction!
Chunky Isaac really fills it out, but will hopefully get a little wear out of it in the coming months. Since I finished up the jacket, I have been making an effort over the last week or so to fit knitting back into my daily rhythm. I sneak it in during those precious minutes when both the boys are napping, or after they go to bed at night. After much searching for the perfect pattern to use for a winter jacket for Isaac, I decided to use the Duck Soup pattern with a few modifications. The first time I saw this pattern, my intention was to use it to knit an oversize jacket and then felt it. Instead, I am going to make it to size and then line it with fabric. That is the plan anyway. I have never done a combination knitting and sewing project before and I really hope it turns out.The jacket is knit seamlessly (except for the top of the hood) from the top down with raglan sleeves. I should have done a provisional cast-on so that I could have seamlessly sewn up the top of the hood when it is finished, but the yarn wasn't cooperating. It is Brown Sheep's Lanaloft, a single ply, 100 % wool yarn in a color called Roasted Pepper. Overall, it is working pretty well, but it is loosely spun in parts and a bit splitty. There is also a lot of plant debris in it. The sheep must have had a good roll in the grass and weeds before it was shorn.

I don't have a lot of experience in knitting garments, and it makes me nervous when I need to make changes to a pattern. Choosing a size is complicated by the fact that Isaac is not even 6 months old and already wearing 12 month clothing. I am using the 4/5 yr pattern to accommodate my smaller gauge and hoping that it comes out to be about 18 month size. Instead of a garter stitch border, I am doing seed stitch. I am also going to use buttons instead of toggles. A good couple of hours were wasted just trying to figure out my buttonhole placement and technique. I added a few stitches to the front panels to create an over-lapping button band. I am still searching for the perfect fabric to line it with.

To top it all off, I am going to make him a new hat with this beautiful yarn from Crystal Palace called Mochi Plus.Here's hoping my new rhythm sticks and I make some good progress on this in the coming week.

~Jen

WIP Wednesday

This week I took a break from my three (or four?) other projects to make something special for a friend and coworker's beautiful baby girl. Baby Wren made an early and rather eventful arrival a week and a half ago. Thankfully, she and her mama are doing well and she is growing fabulously. I had been waiting to get started on this project until I knew whether she was a girl or a boy. Yeah! A girl to knit for! I bought this yarn (Paton's Wool in Woodrose Heather) the week before Isaac's birth thinking that just maybe I would need to be knitting something in my favorite girly color, a nice dusty rose. However, Isaac says rose is not his color, so hopefully Wren will like it. The pattern is the Child's Placket Neck Sweater, from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I made this sweater once before in the days before Noah was born, so I knew it was an easy knit, though I plan on adding a little something extra to make it special. Since she is a summer baby (and it has been in the high 80's around here...in WI...in May!) I chose to make it a 1-2 year size so that it will hopefully get more wear. Thank you to Wren for giving me a chance to get some girly knitting done!

~Jen

A Knitted Farm Playmat: Part 1

It was back to work for me this week. (Gosh, those newborns look and feel so small after hefting around my chunk!) That means back to daycare for the boys. Even though they are only there for 3.5 hours, twice a week, it is really hard to leave them. Especially poor Isaac, who will not nap while there. Our kiddos are not the kind of kids that can nap in a bright room with music or talking or other children about. Nope, they require a dark room, white noise, and a tummy sleeping position (a big no-no, I know. But when your baby has reflux, you will do anything to help them sleep). Poor Isaac is an overstimulated mess by the time Curtis picks him up. But, I digress...

Due to working Tuesday and Wednesday, this is my belated 'Work in Progress' post. I have this habit of starting multiple, rather large projects at once. I like to have a few different things going so I can choose to work on whatever project I am in the mood for at that particular moment. I currently have the Tea Leaves Cardigan, socks, and a shawl in progress. Add to that my current project and I will be busy for a long, long time.

The first time I saw a knitted farmyard playmat, I knew I wanted to make one. For those of you who have never seen one, it is a mat or rug that has different fields and gardens laid out for children to play on with toy animals, tractors and such. I got the book, The Knitted Farmyard, but it just looked too overwhelming and actually involved very little knitting and lots of embroidery. Then I saw the knitted and felted version in Living Crafts magazine, but I didn't really care for how the separate 'blocks' were all square-ish. I wanted the more realistic look of the Knitted Farmyard version.

After some thought, I decided to go with the Knitted Farmyard version, but designed my own pattern. I thought if I was going to do this, I might as well do it on a large scale. I drew my pattern on 3' x 5' piece of paper, then laid a 3' x 5' rug canvas (from Joann's) over the top and traced my pattern onto the canvas with a black marker, leaving a 2 inch border all the way around for finishing. After gathering up all my green and brown wool, I got started with the embroidery using 3 strands of worsted yarn in tent stitch.
Oh my. This is going to take forever! BUT... I really, really, like how it looks so far. The fields are latch-hooked, another thing I have never done before.
This is not the difficult project I thought it would be. The only intimidating part is how long it is going to take. But it is actually nice, mindless stitching, and the various textures and colors keep it interesting. I told Curtis that he could work on it too, if he wanted. He declined.

Well, I will never finish anything if I use my precious baby napping time blogging. Maybe Isaac will sleep all day to make up for not sleeping the previous two days? Probably not...
~Jen

WIP Wednesday

I have not made a lot of progress on my knitting projects this past week, as we have been busy with a project of a somewhat larger scale: The moving of our office to the basement to free up the small room for Isaac. As Noah is a very light sleeper and Isaac is a very noisy sleeper, I don't think it would be fair to Noah to simply put them in the same room. Isaac is currently sleeping (and I use that term lightly) in his crib in our room, and while I don't foresee us moving him anytime soon, we will need to do some painting and preparations of his room before we move him into it. Which brings me to my little project for the week. Here is a sneak peek of the mobile I am working on to hang in his new room.

This move has meant some big changes for our family. The biggest (and best change, in my opinion) is that our main floor is now completely media free; no computer, and no television. However, this has posed a bit of a challenge for Curtis, who spends a good amount of time getting caught up on work in the middle of the night while he holds a restless Isaac. Did I mention (for those of you who don't know us personally) that our basement is not finished? Yup, that's right.

So, from a corner of our rather dark and chilly basement, I wish you all a wonderful day!

~Jen

WIP Wednesday

I am all about knitting for myself lately, it seems. After a couple years of knitting for Noah and then the coming baby (who was too big to fit into anything I spent hours and hours knitting for him), I am finally adding some pieces to my own closet. I will (hopefully) not be changing sizes as quickly as they are, so the bigger investment in time to finish these projects seems like a decent trade-off.

That brings me to my current work in progress, the Tea Leaves Cardigan. Yup, another sweater for me. The Shalom was actually the first garment I have ever knit for myself, and this will be number two! Because I am a knitter for goodness sakes! I shouldn't be wearing the old hooded sweatshirts with the broken zippers and holes worn through the elbows that I have had since before I even learned to knit! I chose Knit Picks, Wool of the Andes, a 100% Peruvian Highland wool for this project mostly because it was the only natural fiber yarn I could find in this pretty light gray color. I believe it is called Dove Heather.

As I said in the previous post, this project will keep me busy for a while. That's really alright since I don't expect to be needing a sweater soon, as the weather is finally warming up. Speaking of..it is time to get outside and plant some onion sets before the little one wakes up from his nap!

~Jen

WIP Wednesday

I am still plugging away at my Shalom Cardigan, but to keep things a little more interesting I will share a different project this week. I started working on my first quilt during the last weeks of my pregnancy. It is a Turning Twenty quilt, made from twenty fat quarters of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric. The cool blues, greens and yellows match our living room and kitchen perfectly, and I love how the punch of pink and red stands out in contrast. Before Isaac was born, I got as far as sewing together all the individual blocks.

Then, for obvious reasons, it sat untouched for a couple weeks. When Isaac was 3-4 weeks old and taking some lovely, long newborn naps, I finished sewing the blocks together to complete the top of the quilt. I also decided on and ordered a backing fabric that has more of the pink for contrast (the floral pattern on the lower right).

I got as far as washing the backing fabric, and then it sat, once again untouched for a few weeks. Isaac's morning naps are now much shorter and more hit and miss than before. Yesterday, however, I did manage to get the backing fabric ironed and ripped to size. Ironing six yards of fabric is a big accomplishment, I think!

Isaac woke up from his nap when I was halfway through with the ironing and was kind enough to sit in his refurbished bouncy seat as I finished up. I am still so amazed that a baby of mine will sit for a few minutes without being held that I felt compelled to photograph it!

Ok, enough chubby baby cuteness...

My goal for this week is to get the backing of the quilt sewn together. After I pick up some batting, it will be ready for (eeek!) actual quilting. That part is making me a bit nervous. I mean, I really don't want to mess it up after putting so much time into it. I want to do free motion stippling on the sewing machine, but will definitely need to practice on a smaller project before taking that on. Plus, I don't even want to attempt it until I can be sure that I will have several hours of uninterrupted time. In other words, this project is probably going to sit again for several weeks (or months) until I finish it up.

Happy crafting everyone!

~Jen

Down Again

Just when I thought I was on the mend and ready to have this baby, BOOM!, I am knocked down again. This time with a sinus infection. Baby has hung in there per my request to wait until I feel better. Poor thing! It probably thinks it has the most fickle mother in the world. I do however, have a few recently finished projects to share (some of the photos have been up on Flickr for a while now). First up, Fiddlehead Mittens I finished (a while ago now) for myself. They are toasty, warm wool, with a really soft alpaca lining, all from Knit Picks.


I also finished the Branching Out lace scarf for our midwife. It actually went faster than I thought. Blocking it out was a difficult feat!


I also made some Reading Mitts (fingerless gloves) for our other birth attendant. They are made from Debbie Bliss Fez, an interesting combination of merino wool and camel.


Now for some baby projects...
This first one was a quick project. It is a kicking sack (kind of like a strapless sleep sack) made from an old felted sweater. I just cut the shape from the front and back, using the ribbing at the bottom for the waistband, sewed the two pieces together, and ta da!

After making the kicking sack, I started looking around for an actual sleep sack knitting pattern that I liked and couldn't find one. I finally settled on a vest pattern and then just continued to knit, knit, knit, increasing a few stitches every few inches. I finished it off with a drawstring casing to close it up and keep those little footsies warm.

That brings us to the end of my pre-baby "To Make" list. I did start working on a shawl to keep me and baby warm during future nursing sessions. It is made out of wonderful Malabrigo yarn, and is a pattern so simple that I may even be able to handle knitting a row or two at a time in my soon to come post-baby, sleep deprived fog. The other project is not such an easy undertaking: it is a full-size quilt for our living room made of of Heather Bailey's new Nicey Jane fabrics. This one may take a while, but I am really in no hurry and I think the finished project will be perfect for snuggling under.

I hear our little chatter-box calling that he is awake...

-Jen

Preparations

With only a few weeks until the expected arrival of the new baby, there are lots of preparations being made around our home. I am anxiously counting down the days until my last day of work (6 more shifts!) in between finishing up several projects and preparing for the birth. Here are just a few glimpses into what is going on around Our Quiet Place these days.

32 week belly.

An embroidered banner to welcome Baby and celebrate Valentine's Day.

Books and rice filled hot pack on the nightstand.

A knitted gift for our midwife.

Relaxing lighting for my nightly baths.

Baby supplies, and pink and blue hats made from old t-shirts. Which color will it be?