Archive for the 'baby' Category
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Toddler-Wearing?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
When Mazie was little, I wore her first in a sling, then a “snuggli” then back to the sling, then to several kinds of wraps. I really liked carrying her that way, and for the first four months of her life, it was the only way I could get her to go to sleep.
Now, she’s a big girl. She walks, runs, and loves her independence. Until I’m trying to do something in the kitchen. Then it’s “up, Up! UP, MOM!!!” (she calls me “mom” now. She’s 18 months old, and going on 18 years!) So…I need a way to carry her around and still bake bread, do dishes, etc. I’ve been just letting her sit on the counter, but I’m nervous. I was thinking, too, about getting some sort of stool or something that she could stand on and help me stir, knead, wash, etc. BUT…then she’s still several feet off the floor and not really stable.
I’m thinking about making one of these It’s a generic pattern for one of these….but I am really intimidated for some reason. I’m not exactly sure what my hangup is…
Carrying Mazie in something *I* made doesn’t make me nervous. I make our food because I like what I put in better than takeout or store-bought…so why won’t the same be true for this? I can double-reinforce everything, make sure I use proper weight fabric, and make sure it’s comfy and cozy!
OK. You convinced me. I’m going to try it! I’m SURE I have some fabric that will work.
ETA: Found these two: One is an upholstery fabric and the other is a lightweight corduroy. Either would work great!
Mazie is in an owl phase, so maybe I’ll do that one first. I’ve also got a little owl quilt in progress, it’ll hang over her bed.
Sorry for the fuzzy picture, the FO pic will be better! 
Those little multi-colored eggs are going to look like owls when they get their eyes.
In other domestic news, I found a simple recipe from this book online, and whipped it up on Sunday. It was so easy, and the bread is incredible!
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A day in which I do not knit…
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Mazie woke up at 7 am today! Usually she sleeps until at least 8, if not 9 or 9:30. But she doesn’t feel very well. She’s got a runny nose and a cough. We took her to Urgent Care today just to make sure it isn’t bronchitis or pneumonia. It isn’t. Just a cold. She’s asleep now, poor little thing.
Here she is yesterday doing the sign she made up for “guitar”…she holds one hand out and with the other one she strums her belly.
I’m not knitting today, after the hubub of the last few hours I’m not even looking at yarn. Well, I have to look at it because I’m basically surrounded by it…but I’m not looking at yarn longingly. I might even be shunning yarn.
Next weekend is two really good freinds’ baby shower. And I want to make something special. SO. Remember back when I was quilting? I’ve decided to finish one of the tops that I started and give it to the new baby.
Here are the life stages of this quilt so far:
Pile of partially-assembled strips and squares:
Top:
Cutting the batting:
I found a really cute automobile-themed flannel for the backing. It’s Mazie approved, so I think New Baby will like it, too.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAZIE!!
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Mazie is officially One Year Old!
Here are a few birthday party pics:
We had an early birthday party at my Mom’s while Tonya and Jason were here for New Year’s Eve. She didn’t get really messy, and she doesn’t like the taste of cake!
Here we are at Young Park yesterday, on her REAL birthday. She got a new big rubber ball and a few Hotwheels. She’s tasting the cupcakes, but really only wanted to chew candles.
Mazie and Daddy…we spread our blanket out on a hill, so she practiced running up and down, up and down.
Posted in baby | 2 Comments »
Mazie is 9 months old!
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Stats:
height: 29.5 inches
weight: 24.5 pounds
95+ percentile in height and weight!
Posted in Uncategorized, baby | No Comments »
More teeth already!? (and) SURPRISE!
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Wow! I read in one of those “what your baby will do when” books that there’s a rule of four with baby teeth. Four teeth in four months. We’re already on tooth three, and four’s peeking through since I took this!
These top ones are a lot bigger than those teensey bottom ones were, and they seem to be moving right on in! Mazie’s doing pretty well with them, thank goodness. They don’t seem to be bothering her as much as they look like they would.
In Knitting news, I was given my first ever surprise party on Sunday!!
My knitting group lured me over to Marjorie’s on the premise of a “Mother-daughter day” with Marjorie and her mom. And when I walked in the door…SURPRISE! They had organized a tea party for the release of Glam Knits. I really had no idea that they were planning it. And everyone came, too. Even Becky who just had surgery, and Marsha, who owns a sewing shop and works all weekend! It was just so sweet and amazing. Cindy brought all of her vintage hats for us to wear.
Even Mazie got to wear one.
Knitting has started up again over here Chez Glam. I’m working on a pattern for publication, and the needles are smoking. I’ve knit up 3 and a half balls of Therapi since last night, and have exactly that much left to go.
Here’s a sneak peek:
We’re also full steam ahead on the new Mission Falls Spring ‘09 booklet. I don’t have any designs in it (too booked at the moment) but I’m coordinating. It’s going to be CUTE.
As I have a spare moment, I’m still making little shoes. These are so addictive! They’re so fast to whip together, and the color and stitch combos are just endless. I think I’ve got 8 or 9 pairs so far. I *might* enter a few in the fair.
Here are the two newest pairs of shoes I’ve made:
The pair on the right are soft natural-colored suede with lavender soles, turquoise topstitching, and turquoise heart applique. The other ones are the same suede, but with pink soles and stars on top. I found that I can use the decorative stitches that my machine does on the leather. I really think it adds to the look!
Posted in events, baby, sewing | No Comments »
Mazie updates and more sewing
Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Wow! We have two bottom teeth now! I have been getting not more than 2 hrs of sleep in a row for about the last 2 weeks. Last night was the longest sleep I’ve had, and it was about 4 hours. Man. As stressful as my old job was, it’s nothing compared to teething!
I’ve been making Mazie so many little things, the soaker sets, the fleece pants, and even more little clothes, that I’ve decided to put a few things in my Etsy shop. I tend to do things assembly-line style, so I’ll cut out 6 or more of the same pants or shirt at the same time, and we just can’t use that many!
So Every once in a while, I’m going to post the overflow on Etsy. Everything there will be new and unworn, just the products of my overactive sewing.
In other Mazie news, we have crawling AND standing!
Posted in baby, sewing, etsy | 1 Comment »
Lovely long Labor Day weekend means that I can get some sewing in!
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Having Nate home for 3 days is so nice!
I was able to fit in some sewing time yesterday, and made four pair of little pants:
It was raining this morning when I took the pics, so they’re really moody. Moody little yoga pants! These are from the “Crescent Moon Yoga Pants” pattern written by Samantha of Little Comet Tails. I’ve tested some of her patterns before, and I really like them! I used her diaper pattern for the last 2 batches of Mazie’s dipes. They’re trim, fit well, and use up fewer snaps than some of the other patterns I’ve tried. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
These little pants are great because they have a gusset on the back, so that they fit over big cloth-diapered bottoms. In “regular” clothes, I have to buy several sizes up in order to accommodate the diaper, so the waists are too big and the legs are too long. These, I can make in her weight range and the waist fits. And because I’m sewing them myself, I just hem them to her inseam.
On Saturday, Mazie had her first swimming lesson. She got a little bit grumpy toward the end, but overall, it was a success. Here we are in the water together:
(I had to wear that tee shirt because I couldn’t find my most recent swimsuit and had to use one from several years ago. Ob-SCENE!) There were some kids in the class that were a lot older than Mazie, so they were doing things like jumping off the edge to the parents, floating on their own, etc. We were focusing on trying to get her used to the water, letting her put her face in, seeing if she’d kick. Little things like that. It was fun, and a great way to start of the weekend. It was really nice to wake up and all get ready for a “Family Activity.” The weather is great for indoor swimming, too. Kind of gray and rainy. So we felt really cozy afterward.
We’re still waiting for her second bottom tooth to come in. We were up most of the night last night, until at least 4 am. Poor baby!
Posted in Uncategorized, baby, sewing | 4 Comments »
Finished soaker set!
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
SO…here’s the finished soaker set…on a very wiggly Miss Mazie.
She’s hard to catch sitting still these days!
The soaker is basically a big triangle that you fold in on itself, then seam a little, then it’s all done. I also add a crochet chain tie. Here’s how it looks before it’s all stitched up:
(I think I took that photo at night.)
So things around here are going along ok. We’re not up to much new as a family…nate’s still working at the museums and I’m staying home. But I still feel like we’re just SO BUSY. It’s deadline time again, so lots of projects to finish up by the end of August / early September. Trying to get those done and in the mail. I just sent the supply list from Glam Knits to Knit Happens, so that they’ll be ready for the workshop.
We signed Mazie up “Water Babies” lessons at Gym Magic. She goes every Saturday at 9:30 am. I took her over to the country club pool the other day to meet up with her friend Sylvie, and she was such a natural in the water. I think she’ll really like her class. I’m glad I chose Saturdays, so that Nate can go with us. Actually, Saturday was the only day left…there are a LOT of Water Babies in las Cruces, I guess.
Yesterday, some of my mom-friends and I got together and helped one of the moms make some little stuffed cloth birds from spoolsewing.com for her baby’s baptism party. The fabric she used is a really pretty coordinating group of prints by Anna Maria Horner. I used the same fabric to make these hats for the girls:
They’re reversible, so one side (what the pattern calls for as lining) is this kitzchy New York print and the other side is the boutique stuff.
I tried out some of the embroidery stitches on my new machine, and I think they came out pretty well! I had to enlarge the pattern for Mazie’s hat, and then reduce it for Sylvie (I had my modified templates with me, but not the pattern.) Both hats are way too big, so I threaded a length of yarn through the ribbon trim and gathered the hat a little bit. As the girls grow, this can be cut and then new yarn added and tied to the correct size. The hats are completely reversible, while the pattern isn’t…go me!
I did both hats in an evening, they were so easy! (This is a rather heavily modified version of Simplicity 9784
Here’s one on my sleeping model:
Sorry so many pics today, I guess that’s what you get when I don’t post for a while!!
Posted in just chit chat, baby, sewing | 2 Comments »
finishing the purewool set
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
Here’s the finished sweater, just need to tack the tie around the back waist.
Here’s the soaker as it sits now:
The main piece is finished, and I’m just adding the ribbing. The top / waistband knitting is just a continuation of the main piece (switch to 2 x 2 ribbing for 1 - 2 inches.) The leg ribbing is picked up at each edge and knit also in 2 x 2 ribbing for about an inch or however long you want. If you’re making this for a cold-climate baby, you could extend the ribbing or just knit stockinette legs. Since we’re in the Southwest, I’m just knitting little panties.
Here’s a video showing how I picked up the stitches for the ribbing:
(It’s kind of “Blair Witch Project” in its wobbliness, so look out!) Hopefully as I post more of these, they’ll get better!
You can tell from the photo above that I finished dyeing the contrast yarn. I used about 5 packs of various blue and green Koolaids, and it turned out pretty much the way I wanted it to. I colored the stark white parts without changing the color of that original pretty blue-green.
I’m going to see how much yarn I have left before I decide whether to add anything else to the sweater. I like the sweater as-is, so probably won’t add much if anything.
Gratuitous Mazie video:
We bought her this toy yesterday, and it has everything she loves: Mirror. Music. Lights. Buttons. Levers.
Now that I know how to make and upload videos, you’ll see a lot of them!
Posted in Patterns, baby | 3 Comments »
Mazie has her first tooth! (and I have some new yarn…)
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Here’s my baby with her FIRST TOOTH!
I was trying to get her to smile, but of course she was suddenly shy. This little tooth is so welcome in our house! Now, if only his partner would hurry up and come in, we’d all have such happy goodnights!
She’s been so good, actually, through the process. We have such a happy baby!
Here she is in a little dress that my mom just finished for her:
The yarn is some weird off-brand cotton/nylon blend that I got on eBay years and years ago. It’s got a great texture, though, and that nylon adds a nice stretch. I love the color, too. I made a sweater for my MIL on year out of it.
Here’s MY new yarn!:
It’s three skeins of 100PureWool that I bought from Cindy (who is in my knitting group here in LC.) She ordered it online and the color didn’t match the description at ALL, so, to help her get over the trauma of ordering, waiting, arguing, feedback, etc., I took it off her hands. I’m sweet like that. Any time there is mint green / icy blue yarn in danger, I’ll come to the rescue. I love this color, and it goes so well with Mazie’s skin.
I’m dreaming up a soaker / sweater set for fall. This yarn is so soft, it’s great for next-to-the-skin baby stuff. Despite poor Cindy’s experience, I jumped at the chance to buy this from her! I’ve only used the singles before (to make this…scroll down.) The plied version is really soft, too. I did a swatch and I like it best on 7s.