working on my to do list

I just didn't have it in me to craft at my normal speed last week. I went to bed early almost every night. But now I need to get back to it. Crafting keeps me sane. I have ideas beyond my current to do list, but I feel like I need to work on it first before I move on. After that, I need to work on a gift for John's cousin's new baby. John's Mom asked us to make something that will be a gift from her, and she's paying us to make it. Cool! John will be making a cradle like Mary's snowmen have, and I'll be making a knitted gnome, pillow and quilt. So, I need to get moving on my current list before I can do that.

So:
1. "gotta finish my shrug"--not yet. It's next. I've already finished it once and didn't like it. So I ripped it out and started over. It seems to be a theme around here these days.

2. "gotta dye up that yarn"--dyed and skeined. need to wind it into balls.
That's only half of the variegated. I dyed up a full 8 oz since I didn't know how much I needed and I can always use the scraps later.

3. "want to make something for April"--done. I made this freaking bag 4 times before I was happy with it. Ugh. I seriously considered giving up on it. Not that it was hard, it just didn't look the way I wanted it to. So I started over. And over.
The handles and base aren't that blue in real life. They are really purple. It is super overcast out today. I hope she likes it.

4. "want to start on the girls bunnies AND knit up a dozen Easter eggs to hide with Mary"--this is on the bottom of the list now, but will be done before Easter.

5. " oh and that painting I started last weekend" done. I want to start a collection of small houses for my desk area. The felt one with the crocheted roof came from Etsy and I love it.

I'll be working on the shrug tonight. Even though I don't want to. But I just can't put it off any longer.

Before and after

Before:


After (all the ones from the pic of them stacked up in the rocking chair, plus some turquoise blue and olive green ones):

Dye job

These are the diapers I dyed up. I used Dylon dye. Each package is supposed to dye a half pound of dry material. But when you finish up your first batch, you can put more items in the dye bath and get a lighter color. That's what I did with the purple and the orange (though the second orange turned a little peachy). I have one more batch dyed, but I still need to wash them up. It's olive green. I was worried the items would come out too green, so I think I put about a pound of diapers and shirts in the dye bath.

Mary helped me fold and sort this stuff this morning. When she saw the shirts, she said "oh, those are really small." Yeah. I don't think she's ever seen a newborn. At least not lately. I think she thinks her 10 month old cousin Lucas is a "baby." Anyway, here are the shirts.

The one on the bottom of the pile (top of pic) is actually a second batch from the light green. It's interesting how it turned out a light teal color instead of light lime. I just try to go with the flow with dyes. I never know what I am going to get. This is my first time dyeing cotton, but I've dyed wool yarn many, many times.

I got a ring sling custom ordered this morning. One more thing off the list. This afternoon we are going on a tour of the hospital. I altered the diaper pattern I had downloaded and finally made a diaper that should fit an actual baby. I think I'll make a couple more of those and then put the sewing machine away. Our dining room has been my sewing room for way too long.

35 days to go!

Mmmmm, Pie

Yesterday morning I walked out to pick mulberries for a pie. As soon as I stepped off the deck, I could smell the berries. The tree is completely covered in them. I had no problem picking the 6 cups I need.
I think I am going to go out today and pick more. I want to freeze them. I wasn't planning on doing that this year, but there are so many that I just can't let them go to waste. There are ripe ones right now, and red ones too that will hopefully be ripe in the next week or so.

I got a lot of painting done on the hutch this weekend. I have one more coat to put on it. I am waiting until John finishes the doors to paint them. I do have a couple coats on the drawers. I really need to find new hardware for them. I am thinking something black. I just had to see what it is going to look like with my Fiesta in it, so I took a couple pieces out to the garage.

I think it's going to look great! I can't wait to see it finished and with all the Fiesta in it. I think Mary and I might try to get the last coat of paint on it today. I swear this hutch was white 25 years ago before Mom had it refinished. Every time I look at it I start to have a memory of looking into a white painted hutch or cabinet. I really wish I knew what I was remembering.

I got the brown/blue/green/purple yarn knitted up. I made it into a diaper wrap instead of a soaker. The buttons still need to be put on (if I even end up using those) sometime. I made this little soaker this week too. That's it for soakers. I am working on one pair of longies today and then I MUST make diapers.
When I was out on the deck, Mary saw me and asked me to take her picture. I was in a hurry, but it actually came out pretty well. She loves playing in that down spout! Hours of fun! Then she finds some dirt and makes mud.

I hope you had a good weekend too. Sorry there's no picture of the pie! We ate it all last night:). John's Mom and Step-Dad helped us with it (Mary just ate ice cream). And they gave us 3 starts off their red raspberry bush, so hopefully in a few years we'll have raspberries too.

DIY and a busy weekend

One of the good things about crafting items yourself is that you can fix them if they don't turn out exactly right. I made these longies for the baby a while back:

I looked online several places to see what a small inseam should be. Then as I was making the cuffs, I realized that they were too short. I have no idea why I started the cuffs before they were long enough. I stuck them in the re-do pile and finally got back to them yesterday. Here's one leg redone and the other one still short.

Here they are done, almost 2 inches longer than they were before. I thought I had plenty of yarn to finish them, but by the last few rows I was pretty nervous. When I was done, there was only about 4 feet of yarn left.


The yarn I dyed up a couple weeks ago (pictured below) turned into a beautiful little soaker. I was going to trim the legs in orange, but didn't have enough left to do that so I did it in the body color.

This is what yarn looks like right after it's dyed. This will be either a soaker or shorties for Firecracker. It should be dry tomorrow.

So, that's what I've been up to since Thursday. I also got a little bit more done on the hutch. John's working on the shelves and had to re-do the parts where the drawers slide in and the thingy that holds them up. Yesterday we worked outside on landscaping. This afternoon we went swimming which made Mary very happy! Then we had a cookout which was tasty. For dessert, I picked these mulberries off the tree right outside the back of the house.



That's a 6 cup container almost half way full. I picked those in probably 5 minutes. I like them plain, but I think tomorrow I'll buy some vanilla ice cream and pick another 3-4 cups of them. Yum!

Gifts!

It really is true that I rarely make anything for myself. A friend of mine just moved for the millionth time, and I thought she might like a little housewarming gift. She told me her favorite colors are brown and green. So here's what I came up with:
These little dishcloths did not want to be photographed! I tried outside, inside, flash on, and flash off. But they are done and going out today.

Next on the needles will be a soaker for Firecracker.
I hope it is enough yarn! I weighed it out, but it sure doesn't look like much. I have no idea what those rocks are doing on the deck ledge. I think they are some project of Mary's. I also made another diaper for Firecracker yesterday. I am still working on perfecting the design. I am not the world's best seamstress. But if they work, I'll be happy. It's so much cheaper than buying them (and THAT is so much cheaper than using disposables).

I'm off to the doctor this morning for a prenatal checkup. Same old stuff. I'm 29 weeks today. We need to name this kid! I wish I could just peek inside quickly and see if the baby is a boy or girl!

New baby stuff

First of all, if this sweet baby inside of me doesn't get off my sciatic nerve soon, he/she is going to get a serious talking to as soon as he/she is born!! I suffered for the first 4 months, then felt great for a month, and now I am in miserable pain again. I've slept sitting up on the couch for the last 2 nights. Only 106 days to go!

Since we will be cloth diapering this new baby, I am currently working on his/her wool "stash." So far I've made 2 soakers, one pair of longies (which I now worry aren't long enough), and one pair of shorties. I've been dyeing up some of the yarn myself too. It's fun. I am trying really hard to make everything gender neutral since this baby will be a surprise.

Here's a yarn I dyed up a couple weeks ago.

It was supposed to be green, blue, yellow and MEDIUM purple, but the purple came out really dark. Oops. Oh well, the joy of dyeing.

I did this one last week.
It's actually several colors. That isn't the best picture. It's orange, 2 blues, 2 greens and yellow. I am knitting it up into some shorties right now. I started today and hope to finish Friday. Maybe sooner if I really get going on them.

I have some ideas for a few more colorways, but I need to pull the undyed yarn off the skein and weigh it first, etc so I haven't gotten to it. Maybe next week.