favorite skirt.

I've been needing a skirt like this for weeks now. It turns out this babe is riding pretty l o w, and I cannot stand waistbands. Even my full panel maternity jeans feel like they are cutting into my guts when I sit. I keep telling my husband I'm going to go find some giant, tacky mu-mu's on my next thrifting adventure (now that I see these, the mu-mu seems even more tempting), but I'm glad I have this skirt in my life so it doesn't have to come to that.

 Helllllllo stripes! I can't get enough of them and I don't even care if it's a complete fashion faux-pa. Is it?

 All I did to make this skirt was find an over-sized tee on the clearance rack at Old Navy...

 ...Then I cut the shirt off at the armpits, folded over a 1in waist and inserted some 1/4in elastic (it's just what I had closest to me). Similar to this tutorial, but without the A-line shaping. Easy peasy! 

This skirt is SO comfy!! It sits right under my belly, and I can't even feel the elastic. I might wear this every day for the rest of the summer. And then I might get some leggings and continue to wear it through the fall. I'm thinking it will be a great post-baby wear as well!

:)

It was another hot and sunny weekend (though not very productive, I must say), full of front yard picnics, splashing, playing in the dirt, and of course knitting. I love the kind of days where I skip the laundry and enjoy the sunshine with my babes. Good thing we soaked up all the sun this weekend, because the rain clouds are starting to roll in! 

It's really beginning to dawn on me that the laundry will in fact always be there, but the sunshine and the kiddies who want to play with me will not.  :)

longies for the babe.

I might post about something other than knitting soon. Maybe I'll even finish sewing these. But don't quote me on that! For now, I have to show you something that I am so happy to have finally finished. These little pants first started as a soaker WAY back when Maxi was still in diapers. And tiny. Then, when I realized I wouldn't finish it in time to fit Max, I frogged what I had started and began knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman's baby leggings pattern for my nephew born last summer. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn and didn't get around to ordering more until my nephew, Baby G, was too big for the pants. It was around the time I realized I no longer had a recipient for the pants that they made their way to the very bottom of my knitting basket and have lived there for nearly a year. A year! Needless to say, I'm pretty happy that these are finally finished. They will be going to Little No. 3.

You can see the details on my Ravelry page. 

:)

this moment.

inspired by SouleMama.

another baby knit!

I just can't stop knitting for this babe. Yesterday, while Mad was at ballet "camp" I finished this kick back / snuggle sack I have been working on. I'm super excited about it, and couldn't be more pleased with how the yarn looks. When I first got the yarn in the mail, I wasn't sure I'd like the color knitted up (it can be hard to tell on the computer screen!), luckily it pooled nicely and the colors are awesome. :) It's also softer than I thought it would be. Hopefully Baby likes it as much as I do.

The pattern is Kicking Bag for Babies and the yarn is Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn in Seven Dwarves from Knit Picks.

I'm usually not that great at matching different fabrics, but I think I've finally matched up enough of my stash fabric to finally make my girlie a couple Bo Peep Skirts from Anna Maria Horner's Seams To Me. I've made a few things from this book so far (though I've been wanting to make everything if only my time and fabric budget would allow!), and I love it. The patterns are well written and I feel like I have learned something new with each project. 

I'll let you know how they turn out.

:)

the perfect buttons!

It sure didn't take long for the perfect buttons for my baby sweater to materialize. When my mom saw the sweater, I told her I was thinking little wooden buttons were what I had to find, and about 30 minutes later she knocked on my door (we live next to each other) and held out six little buttons freshly cut from a twig she found near her chicken yard. Perfection, I tell ya! I am always amazed (still!) by my mother's creativity. By the next day or so she had the holes drilled and the buttons sanded smooth and polished. I LOVE the way they complete the sweater.

Thanks Mom!! :)

EZ is a genius.

Behold, the infamous Baby Surprise Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman. This is a project I have been wanting to do for quite awhile now, but hadn't been brave enough to try until quite recently. I'm so glad I did. If you're familiar with EZ, then you know many of her patterns are written more as a series of suggestions rather than clear cut instructions. But, as I found out, if you just trust what she writes without second guessing anything you don't understand, but knit on with faith (she is, afterall, a knitting goddess!), you will realize that the bath mat you thought you were holding about halfway into the project miraculously gains the potential to actually become a jacket.

And here it is:

This is what it looks like before seaming. See the resemblance it holds to a tiny bath mat?

And the seaming is a piece of cake. I used the original pattern from her book, The Opinionated Knitter, which only has instructions for one size. She does point out that by using a different gauge with the same number of stitches, you can alter the size. After first starting with fingering weight yarn on size 2 needles, I quickly realized it was going to be much smaller than I was aiming for (a definite newborn/preemie size), so instead I restarted holding the yarn double and jumping up to size 4 needles, ending up with something closer to a 3-6 month size.

The yarn I used was Knit Picks Imagination in the colorway Wild West. Love it!

And since I held the yarn double, I went through my two skeins before I finished the sweater. So I finished it off with some leftover City Tweed from the hat I made baby last week.

All that's left is to find the perfect buttons. 

:)

I finally got some new photos that better show the colors of the baby blanket I'm currently crocheting and I had to show them off. The first photos just weren't that great. This is more what the blanket is looking like in real life (oh, the wonders of natural light in photographs!). This blanket is just so fun, and I think I'll actually be able to finish it. My mom will understand why I say that. She taught me to crochet when I was in third grade. Together we decided that I should finish a twin-sized afghan she started and had all the yarn for in a cute little tote bag. It lived under my bed and I'd work on it every once in a while, but was never really crazy about it. I found it again when I was packing for college. I think I probably did a total of 3 color changes, which equaled about 6 inches of length added to the afghan over almost a decade. Haha!

This one has been really fun to work on though. It's a do-able size and I get to change the color to whatever I want, whenever I want, which really adds to my interest in the process. It doesn't take long to do a color stripe or two, so it's fun to work on whenever I have a few minutes to spare. Plus, since the colors are totally random, Madelynn sometimes thinks its fun to help me choose which color to use next.

I think I linked to the pattern in my last post about it, but just in case, it's this one. There are lots of really cool projects of this blanket on Ravelry, which are so fun to look at. Maybe one day I'll get up the gumption to try a color-themed throw for the living room.

:)

summer knitting!

I have a couple recently completed projects, as well as a few more in the works. These are all for my fall babe, and I'm loving the patterns! The first is the pattern Baby Socks, from the book More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. (I completely recommend this book, by the way. Full of great projects that aren't too time or yarn consuming (let's face it, sometimes its tough to knit on a budget). I want to knit each one. That doesn't happen for me with knitting books very often. My usual luck with books and cd's is that I buy one and only like the cover project/title track. But that is definitely NOT the case here!!)

I am completely in love with knitting these. They are done in slightly heavier yarn that what I normally think of when knitting socks, which means they call for a larger needle, which means a whole pair knits up in no time at all. I'm pretty sure I'll be making one in every size, in every color in my stash. After all, an October (or November) babe needs warm to have warm toes, right?

This hat is also a pattern from the same book, but I accidently made it less pointy. (Details here).

I was unsure whether or not to undo the top and fix it, so I tried it on this baby-head sized melon and am thinking I'll just leave it alone for now. Cute, right?

Lastly, I'm using some sock yarn from Knit Picks to knit a kicking sack. I can't wait to finish this project. The yarn, by the way, isn't supposed to be striped at all. It's a hand-painted yarn that I got on super sale. I wasn't crazy about the colors (which is sometimes hard to tell on the computer screen), but felt ok about it because it was SUCH a good deal. I am so happy that the colors ended up pooling the way they did. I love it!

So there you have it. The sunshine is good for my knitting. :)

reflection

We have been so blessed with sunshine over the last few days and enjoyed every minute of it. It has given this mama lots of time to sit in the sun with yarn in hand, while being surrounded by the sounds of littles enjoying the summer. Knitting (and crocheting!) for this babe in my belly reminds me that I first learned to knit the summer I was pregnant with little Maximus, which doesn't seem that long ago, but oh just look at him now! I have been doing an awful lot of reflecting lately, with one kiddo about to go to school for the first time, one completely out of diapers, and another new life on the way, and am coming to realize how quickly time flies. I am so thankful for where and what life has brought us and for who I am sharing it with.

:)

a good 4th.

We hope you had as great a 4th as we did this year. Ours was quiet but very enjoyed. It included lots of watermelon, corn on the cob, a lunch picnic, sparklers, a small firework show thanks to Daddy, and lots of rest for this mama!

Look at this girl. Just look! She is getting so grown up.
And she reminds me daily that she is an almost kindergartner. 

It seems to me the more I realize just how fast my kiddos are growing and how quickly my family seems to be expanding, the more I enjoy just being with them. And so, a nice quiet summer holiday was just perfect, and leaves me today feeling oh so blessed!

:)

a saturday dinner

 Today was the perfect day for learning how to grill pizza. 

We may never bake it in the oven again. 

Hope you all have a safe and happy 4th!!

:)

:)