R is for Rhinoceros

Another knitting finish! This rhinoceros is the latest in a string of knitted animals for Leah's nursery:

A is for Alligator
B is for Bear
F is for Flamingo
O is for Octopus
S is for Snail
T is for Turtle

Pattern: Rhinoceros (rav link)
Source: Kath Dalmeny, World of Knitted Toys
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Silver (held double)
Needle: US 3

And a gratuitous Leah picture! She's 14 weeks now, and more wonderful every day.

Garter Yoke Baby Cardigan

I started this little baby sweater while I was still pregnant with Leah, but just finished it today. I was in a bit of a rush to finish it because she is growing by leaps and bounds. She's only 6 weeks old, but she's already wearing 3-6 month clothing! This sweater was sized for 6-12 months, but it barely fits her.

The pattern is Garter Yoke Baby Cardigan (Rav link) by Jennifer Hoel. The yarn is Jo Ann's Cuddle knit up on US 4's. It's a very simple pattern, and I'd love to try it again with a heavier yarn to get a larger size.

In Leah news, she's just starting to smile this week. You can see a little bit of her dimples in the picture above, but then she pulls her all-out grin and your heart just explodes with happiness...

Baby Leaves Hat

God, isn't she adorable? She's wearing the Baby Leaves Hat (rav link) designed by Paula Dean Nevison. It's knit in Sublime Yarns Organic Cotton DK in colorway #145 - Yogurt on US 4's.

It was great fun to knit this while I was pregnant - baby knits are so fun and quick, and the lace pattern in this made it all the more interesting. It's a free pattern on Ravelry; I highly recommend it.

Baby Steps, So To Speak

So, 3 weeks after Leah was born, I've made my first attempt at craftiness.

I've had the instructions for this origami Christmas ornament kicking around for 3 years. I've made a few tries to fold it over that time, but they all ended in frustrated crumples of paper.

This one was 90% done in December, but has been waiting for the last few steps (the ones that always fail me, incidentally) since then.

Today I managed to take it to completion, which involved taping the two halves together, making a hanger, and gluing the gathered ends up. I'm really pleased with the outcome, and simply thrilled that I was able to do something crafty again!

This craftiness brought to you by the heretofore undiscovered combination of Boppy and swivel chair. No babies were neglected in the creation of this craftiness...

Leah Colleen

This is Leah Colleen.  She was born Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 1:54 pm, weighing in at 8 lb 6 oz and 20" long.  We're home now, but I'll probably be gone from this space for a while.  Nice to know I have such a cute excuse, huh?

What Have You Been Up To Lately?

I've been desperately trying to keep myself busy lately. Here's a couple pictures of what I've been up to:

I finished a baby hat and Maggie modeled it for me.

She got me back by sleeping on my face.  A couple of times.

I'm working on a new sampler quilt out of the 2008 Block-A-Day orphans.  This is the general layout...

And this is my first mock-up.  What do you think?  I need feedback people!

I also tried another recipe out of Martha Stewart's Cookies - Chocolate Pretzels.  Not as chewy as I would have liked them to be, but shaping them was fun.

This desperate plea to the child has been on the fridge for the last week or so.  My due date is the 11th...here's hoping!

Art for the Nursery - Finished!

All done! I could tinker and fuss with these for another month, but thankfully I have Patrick to prevent me from doing just that. They are framed and on the walls in the nursery.

For Jane - who asked if I was spelling out the baby's name with my letters - no, these letters were chosen for how fun the animals would be to build out of fabric. We will be naming our little girl Leah.

Art for the Nursery - L is for Lion

This is the second of our animals for the nursery.  There are a few things I'd change about it if I had to do it over again, but I really love the plaid border and the way the print for the mane worked out.

Art for the Nursery - E is for Elephant

Right now we have empty frames on the walls, waiting for the artwork project that has been brewing in my imagination for the last few months. This is one of 6 that I have planned.

This is fabric fused to heavy watercolor paper, with Pigma Micron pen and watercolor touches to finish it off. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I'm looking forward to tackling the other 5.

T is for Turtle

Pattern: Piecrust the Tortoise
Source: Debi Birkin
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Forest Heather and Edamame, Knit Picks Stroll Multi in Lilypad (each held double)
Needle: US 3

If you follow that link to the pattern, you can see she did a whole ton of embroidery on the shell. I left that out. I was happy with him the way he was.

And he seems pretty happy too.

Nursery Developments

Last night I finished the bumper for the crib, and today we had some great sunshine in the nursery, so I thought it was high time to take some pictures!

I used this tutorial to sew the bumper, and all in all it turned out pretty well.

And since the light was so good, I also took photos of the baby quilt. I am so happy with how this turned out. This is just the top; I'm making curtains before I worry about backing it.

A Bunch of Finished Objects

First up, we have a whole slew of finished animals for the nursery. Why the sudden rush? Well, I had a few that were just waiting for their finishing touches, and finally found my safety eyes today (there's been a big move as we clear the sewing room out of the nursery and move it to it's new location in the ex-guest room).

O is for Octopus

Pattern: Aristotle the Octopus
Source: Nicola Coffield
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Multi in Princess Multi (held double for head, single for legs)
Needle: US 2

F is for Flamingo

Pattern: Flamingo
Source: Spud & Chloe
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Cotton Candy, Cosmopolitan, White and Black (all held double)
Needle: US 3

B is for Bear

Pattern: Grizzly Bear
Source: World of Knitted Toys by Kath Dalmeny
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Bison (held double)
Needle: US 3

And this is an old project that I said was finished earlier, but only just reached its intended owner (in truth, I hadn't woven in the ends until Sunday). This is Mauer, and the general consensus is that he looks quite dapper in his sweater:

Pattern: Shawl Collar Sweater (blogged earlier as modeled by Maggie)
Source: Essential Baby by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran
Needle: US 7 & 8

A is for Alligator, S is for Snail

I (finally) have two stuffed animals to show you!  The first is my Alligator.  Here's some technical specs:

Pattern: Plush Alligator by Kristi Benedict

Source: Ravelry

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Forest Heather (top) and Edamame (belly)

Needle: US 1

Alligator from top side - you can see his little toes very well from this angle.

Alligator Side View - the pieces are just whip-stitched together, but I like the effect.  You can see at this angle that his eyes (actually bobbles) stand out from the top of his head a little.

Alligator Belly View - I love that the designer included a garter-ridged belly!  For the non-knitters, this means that he has little ridges all the way down his belly - like a real alligator.

Next up is my finished Snail.  Now you may be thinking, "An alligator and a snail?  For a girl's nursery?"  Well, these are going to be joined by many other animals, some of which will not be creepy crawly scaly things.

Pattern: Garden Snail by Hansi Singh

Source: Amigurumi Knits

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Suede (held double for top) and Malabrigo Silky in Indiecita (shell)

Needle: US 3, US 1 for eye stalks

Snail from Side - the body was knit all as one piece, first the top, then picked up stitches around the bottom edge and knit in, then grafted and stuffed as you went.  As such, there was no opportunity for pre-stuffed blocking and my snail has a bit of torque.  I pinned him down and soaked him for a while, but that has only eliminated some of the twist - that's why his butt is twisting up and towards the camera...

OK, I know what you're thinking.  You used Malabrigo Silky for a kid's toy?!  But it was the perfect colorway and I had a leftover skein that didn't go with anything.  And, because these toys don't use a lot of yarn, I still have most of that skein left.  I'm really happy with how the shell looks.

I knit the eye stalks on smaller needles so they'd be nice and tight and stand up firmly from the head.  I love how they turned out.  Adding the embroidery for his expression was a little tricky because the black embroidery floss had to travel all the way up the eye stalk (from where I anchored it in the head), make the two stitches that form his eyes, then all the way back down the eye stalk without showing.

Maggie seems to think that C is for Cat, hence the group shot.  This picture gives you an idea of the scale, though.  Both animals are roughly the same size (about 8-9" long), but that was more luck than plan.

So Behind!

I have now finished two knit animals for the nursery, but my pictures are upstairs and I'm just dropping this note before work.  I'm so behind in posts!  This lovely long weekend I:

• sewed eyes on A is for Alligator
• finished construction on S is for Snail
• had a great visit with Connie where she
• gave me a beautiful Baby Surprise Jacket and matching booties for Little Miss (pictures coming)
• helped me work through my massive list of knit animals (P for Penguin, Pig, or Panda?  Pig!), and pick out yarn to go with each project
• ate the bagels I brought like a little bird after her gall bladder surgery (poor Frank)
• went to Ikea and got frames for the Little Missery (term for the nursery coined by Patrick) and end tables (finally!) for the living room
• "helped" Patrick paint the new sewing room (I'm not a terrific amount of help, really)
• visited the Inimitable Michelle and saw her nursery.  She's 5 weeks ahead of me and oodles more prepared.  I am a wee bit jealous!  Still, getting there...

So it was a very busy weekend.  You can hardly blame me for not posting.  What?  You say you still blame me for not posting?  You say you know how much time I spent reading other people's blogs and watching Top Gear and there's no reason I couldn't have uploaded those photos by now?

Well I'll just have to try and do better this week.  Pictures coming soon!

It's A Girl!

So we found out Tuesday that we're having a girl! This is very exciting news, and finally enabled me to buy my fabric for the nursery:

I went with Hoffman Fabrics' "A is for Alligator" line. I ordered enough (I hope) for curtains, the bumper, and a baby quilt. Right now I'm racing the clock to get some Christmas presents finished before it gets here, but I'm also thinking about a series of knit animals for the nursery - or is that biting off more than I can chew? Softies are usually fast and fun projects, so it might be the perfect project.

Absentee Blogger

OK, so I've been gone a while.  Bit over a month actually, and posts were pretty sparse in the 2 months preceding that.  My first trimester "I'm so tired all the time" excuse is no longer holding water, so I'm switching to the brand new shiny excuse that I've been working almost exclusively on Christmas presents for people who regularly read this blog.

Everything is going really well with the pregnancy, and we find out the gender August 17th.  There are lots of changes to the house coming (we are nesting, hardcore), some of which include my sewing room.  I'm bound to have share-worthy pictures there.

More is coming, at some point.  Don't abandon me (like I've abandoned you, of late)!

I-2, Kaye's Courtyard

I-2, Kaye's Courtyard (13 pieces). Not much to say about this one, except that I picked a nice simple block because that is the level of brainpower I'm functioning at this evening.

I had always read that pregnancy messed with your mind, but I was definitely not prepared for it. I've gotten to my car only to realize that my keys were several floors up in the building I'd just left. I've left my ID, then thought it was lost, had it replaced, then found the old one. What did pregnancy brain do to you? I need stories...

The DJ Tally:
58 blocks
3 triangles
0 kites
1,108 pieces

I-1, B-4, and Baby

I haven't touched the Dear Jane project (or anything else, really) in about a month, but my DJ group met today and I was able to get a block done. Also, I have the one from last month's meeting, before all progress screeched to a halt.  (That first trimester really takes it out of you, huh?)

B-4, Chris's Soccer Field (21 pieces). I finished this one at the end of May, and never got around to posting it here!

I-1, Ralph & Nelda's Wedding (20 pieces). This one I started and finished today. It was nice to do something this afternoon besides nap, but it was especially nice to see all the ladies from my group and talk about techniques and progress on our projects. One of our members is doing her DJ entirely in batiks. Every block turns out so dazzling and crisp-looking.

So the DJ Tally is:
57 blocks
3 triangles
0 kites
1,095 pieces!

And, because I really like you guys, here's a picture of the project I actually HAVE been working on. Thor, God of Thunder (11 weeks).



A brief explanation to head off the questions - no, we don't know gender yet.  We call him "him" because I find the term "it" repugnant and saying "he/she" is too cumbersome.  So we picked a fetal name, "Thor", and that is his name for now.  Cute, isn't he?