Charm & Whimsy

Adorable pixie, elf or gnome hat for baby - free pattern!

Here is the charming Stella Pixie Hat I made from the beautiful book Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren. I've always loved the look of vintage patterns but found them difficult to follow for one reason or another which is why I was thrilled when Kirsten's book came out.The designs in this book are based on vintage patterns with sizing updated to today's yarns, needles, etc. Super! She hosts a great tutorial series on knitting from vintage patterns yourself - reading them and altering them to fit. Check it out here.

For this hat I used a wool, variegated sock yarn but for the life of me can't find the tag. I'm pretty sure it was Malabrigo but I can't be certain. It was a pleasure to knit with, I hope I find the tag so I can buy it again!

It's a quick, easy hat since it's just a rectangle with one side sewn up and a band collar. However, the pattern called for the kitchener stitch to sew up the seam...that's the part I got stuck on (frustration turned elation blogged here). Thank goodness for the KnitWitch!! Her instructional video saved the day. The hat pattern also includes instructions how to scale up the hat from infant to adult size in case you need to whip up a whole set for the fam. 

Warning - this hat on your beautiful baby will elicit squeals of delight and hushed whispers of adoration from random strangers on the street. As if your baby wasn't cute enough - this hat ups the "Awwww" factor. I'm thinking of making one in red to go for the gnome look.

It's your lucky day!!! I found a free PDF pattern of this hat over at Craft Magazine. Yippeee!

Enjoy!

Wishing you Happy Holidays & a wonderful New Year!

This is my favorite time of year!

There is something magical about the lights, the promise of goodness and the sparkle that you get from giving. I'm especially thankful that this holiday season we have a beautiful, healthy baby that has made our twosome a threesome.

Wishing all of you a wonderful rest of the year and all the very best for 2010!

Much love & craftyness,

Sue

My recommendations on must have items for taking care of a newborn baby.

***Updated!*** I realized I left off some can't live without items

I'll admit it...when I was registering for our baby showers I was so overwhelmed by Babies R Us that I left the store hyperventilating twice before I even filled out the paperwork - let alone using the gun thingie and choosing things! Thank goodness my VBF Missy helped me through that first visit with the gun - even then, it took us another couple of visits before I got through the whole store. There is just SO MUCH STUFF! Given that we live in a 700 square foot house - the idea of needing/having all that stuff was as overwhelming as choosing it.

So - now that our baby Monster is nearly 3 months old (!!!!??!?!!) here is what we couldn't have lived without. Every baby and family is different but this is what worked for us and if anything I just need to document this in case I forget it all by the time #2 comes along (yeah the whole "mommy brain" thing is unfortunately true).

Feeding

• Cloth Diapers - Great as burp cloths and general purpose cloths to keep around. Babies leak a lot. I wouldn't recommend these as actual diapers though (that's a whole other post since we are doing the cloth diaper thing and I have opinions!)
• Gerber BPA Free Clearview Nursers (bottles) - We have tried every bottle out there. Seriously. The $9 bottles, the $5 bottles and sure enough - the $1 bottles did the trick the best. They are not as easy to clean as the wide mouth bottles but they're inexpensive and Monster didn't choke while drinking (i.e. the Avent newborn nipple had him gagging because the flow was too fast, whereas the Gerber newborn/slow flow nipple was perfect). We use the medium flow nipple now since he's drinking a formula with rice starch in it - more on that later! 
• Bottle drying rack - We hand wash our bottles because our dishwasher does not really clean without leaving hard water stains. I just happened to like the design of this rack since it sits out on our counter all the time (ours is white). Love it! Right now it's sitting on the counter with 8 bottles, 6 pacifiers, 4 nipples and 3 pump thingies. It holds a ton and also disassembles for washing.
• Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags - These are awesome, easy to use and can sterilize anything from bottle nipples to pacifiers to breast pump tubing.
• Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump - This is a necessity if you want your partner to feed the baby or if you want to breastfeed once you go back to work. This one's awesome!
• Gilligan & O'Malley® Women’s Side Sling Nursing Tank - Chocolate - This is a GREAT top and makes nursing outside of the house really easy without hanging out all over the place. You can't beat the price too - at approx $17 you could get two of these for the price of one Glamourmom tank and frankly, the G&OM tank fits much better.
• Boppy Pillow - Yes you'll need one. Your arm will get tired holding the baby whether you're nursing or bottle feeding or just plain hanging out. We also use it to prop him up while playing with him - and by playing with him I mean staring at him endlessly for hours.
• Maya Sling - I find there are many times I just don't feel like whipping out the stroller/car seat beast and find it easier to "wear" my little guy in a sling. Plus it"s nice snuggle time, he loves it and typically falls asleep. i also  love that both of my hands are free. i find myself wearing him at home more often enaling me to actually get stuff done! We really like the Maya because it's incredibly adjustable (between Sweetboy's size and mine) and there are so many different positions for the baby.

• 

Nursery

• Vicks temp/humidity gauge - I am forever worried that the room is too hot or too cold. Too dry, should I turn on the humidifier?? I don't know!! Argghhh. This has helped tremendously.
• Little Noses Saline Drops - Now that our heat kicks on regularly I find this indispensable. His little nose gets so dry you can hear his raspy breathing. A room humidifier is good but this adds moisture right where you need it! 
• DEX sound machine - This is a wonder machine. It provides background noise to lull him to sleep and keep him asleep. As an example our backdoor is next to his crib - he doesn't bat an eye when we let the dog out/in or when the dog barks outside.
• Lamp with a dimmer - I bought ours from IKEA and modified the shade to fit the nursery theme. We leave the lamp on all night long - really low when we're not in there but easy to turn up a wee bit when we're changing him or during a night-time feeding.
• Flannel Lap Pads - These are awesome. They will save your sheets, changing pad, car seat, etc. They also sell them in crib size.
• Sony BabyCall Monitor - We really like this one. We live in a small house so I don't know what it's like in a big house that needs a lot of range but the sound is clear and it picks up everything little breath. It enabled Monster's transition from the co-sleeper to the crib in week 5.
• Swaddle Blanket - Swaddling is the only way to soothe Monster if he's fussy or unable to sleep. It is magical how it turns him into a quiet, sleeping baby burrito. This SwaddleDesigns blanket was a shower gift and it is the most used because it's so big it really wraps around him. Even now and he's 12 1/2 lbs! It would also be really easy to buy a nice flannel or knit jersey material and hem the edges to make your own swaddling blanket. I would suggest nothing smaller than 40" square. The square shape is the trick - the popular ones sold in the stores are rectangular and useless IMHO.
• Glider - They come in all shapes, sizes and prices; however, getting one is not even up for discussion. Get one. You'll thank yourself with every rock back and forth, in every wee hour, every night. Seriously.
• Co-Sleeper Bassinet - I borrowed my sister's and it was fantastic for that first month. It has wheels and we would move it from the living room to the bedroom. It can secure to your bed or be free-standing. It also folds up in a little carrying case.
• Swing or bouncy seat  - You'll want at least one. These are the ones we have and the are must-haves because I can strap Mason in one, take it with me to shower, or put it next to me while sewing, doing laundry, cooking (ok let's not kid ourselves I really don't cook) or just use it to soothe him. Wouldn't you like to sit in a reclining vibrating seat that bounces? Heck ya! Sign me up.
• Boudreaux's Butt Paste - Monster had terrible diaper rash from disposables which is one of the reasons we went to cloth. However, to clear it up before we made the switch we used Boudreaux's natural version in the green tube. We tried A & D and a couple of other natural remedies and this one worked the best for us.
• Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Lotion - Unfortunately, Monster has my terrible dry skin. This is a wonderful, emollient lotion without being greasy nor smelling like "baby". My baby smells wonderful without all the crazy perfumes. Besides I can't stand smelly (read fragrant) things and I don't want anything to come between me and giving my boy a million smoochies a day. Also love things in pumps - makes it easy and one-handed.
• California Baby Calendula Cream - This is miracle cream. I hear newborn skin rashes are normal but one day he just broke out in these horrible, red bumpy things all over his face and neck. Then they became sort of scaly. Not pretty and looked itchy. I put this cream on his face and it cleared up within 2 days. I apply it to his face whenever I think about it (every couple of days). He has the most beautiful, soft skin. Perfect for smooching! It has a mild fragrance that is actually pleasing. This stuff is awesome, I've started using it on my own face!

Music

• Catch the Moon, Lisa Loeb & Elizabeth Mitchell - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this disc. It is sweet, charming, lovely and fun to sing the songs. I play this every night as I put down the Monster and can sing him "Butterfly" or "Big Rock Candy Mountain" anytime and he will quiet down no matter how upset he is.
• Arrullos/ Lullabies In Spanish, Jose-Luis Orozco - Another wonderful disc. I wanted to sing to our baby in Spanish but could barely remember the songs my Mom used to sing to us when we were little so while searching iTunes I came across this disc and although my Mom never sang me any of these songs they are beautiful and Jose-Luis' voice is very soothing. "Duerme Duerme Negrito" and "Los Pollitos" are Monster's favorites.

Books

• The Happiest Baby on the Block - This book (or the DVD) is really super and you don't quite appreciate how super it is until you find yourself unable to sleep and then you remember to use the techniques in this book and then your little Monster calms down and sleeps and then you can drift off to sleepyland and then you'll be dreaming you want to shake Dr. Karp's hand, or kiss him or make him some cookies or something. Good stuff.
• The Baby Book, Dr. Sears - Comprehensive and extremely helpful when your trying to figure out your tiny little person who relies on you for everything. Also helpful at 3am when you're exasperated and want to know why your baby keeps growling, grunting and making other weird noises.
• The Nursing Mother's Companion, Kathleen Huggins - Another great book for those of you who are nursing. It's a wealth of information and a must have if this is your first baby or the first time you are breastfeeding. Thanks Mom!!

Alrighty then! That took forever but I hope you find it helpful. I'm sure I will in another couple of years! Especially since there are details from my pregnancy and the first month or two of his life that I thought I would never forget and I can tell you they are slipping away. This was also a good way of sharing more pictures of my gorgeous Monster.

I would love to hear what you couldn't live without. Please share it in the comments, thanks!

My greatest crafty project of all.

I've been neglecting my poor crafty blog all these months - sorry my friends! I have a lot of projects to catch up on here but first - my greatest craft project of all...my darling boy!!

Mason Robert
Born October 5
6 lbs 11 oz
19 inches

Here we are on our first night home from the hospital.

Sweetboy - don't be jealous but I'm in love with another man. Albeit a very little one. You'll see more of this gorgeous little hunk as he models Mom's crafty projects.

Hope you're all enjoying the holidays!

Nursery mural continued - sweet baby animals riding a train and a baby update.

This was actually the first detailed part of the mural that I finished. I've been thinking about this mural for many years now and used several of my favorite japanese fabrics and japanese craft books (embroidery mostly) as inspiration. It was so much fun to paint, I didn't get a chance to paint everything I wanted to but think there is enough there that it still has the whimsy I had hoped for.

The details are painted with acrylics from Michael's (and I think I bought some at Wal-Mart too, they're just the tiny little bottles) and the wall paints (greens, tree colors, and sky) are BEHR wall paints in eggshell. Clouds are high gloss BEHR trim paint.

 

 
I had to get my first "baby" Chester into the mural! Still working on adding flowers and such. One of these days. Hopefully before he's old enough to want to paint over all this.

The glider was a project I had hoped to finish before he got here but alas - I will have to get the sewing machine out during naps or Papa time. The brown thing with yellow on top is a shredder, was planning to sew a slipcover that looked like a tree stump and the green thing next to it is a file cabinet. Another slipcover I was hoping to get to. We'll see if time permits during maternity leave.

On bedrest now, baby Mason will be arriving this coming Monday via c-section due to some complications over the last week or so. Preeclampsia AND he's breech. Good grief, he's keeping us on our toes. He's going to be a few weeks early but our ultrasound Friday showed him looking good and measuring just right. I'm sure everything will be just fine and we can't wait to see his sweet face.

Posting may be sporadic the next couple of months or so as we get used to our newest addition. It's hard to believe we're going to be parents in a day and a half! Today is our 11 year wedding anniversary. I can't think of a more wonderful present we're giving to each other.

We can't wait to meet him :)

Nursery mural sneak peek... vikings, a whale and trees oh my.

So while my hunky handyman boyfriend was busy fixing the tub yesterday, I busied myself working on the mural in the nursery.

Here's a sneak peek of what I've done in the last couple of days. More to come soon.

 

A bit of background, Sweetboy was a viking in previous life so I thought I should commemorate it for our boy. So above his crib, I've painted a fierce viking ship to guide him through life. The little viking will hold a sign that says "Sleep tight". Yes - a bit sweet for a fierce viking but it's a baby room for crying out loud. Work with me. There is white "foam" on the cresting waves, click on the bottom picture to see. I think that's my favorite part. I just have this thing with dots.

Alright - next post, the animal train. Can't wait to share the whole thing with you...

Handyman Sweetboy saves the day! Oh and $3500 too!!!

Last week when Sweetboy moved the cabinet on the patio to clean the floor (baby shower coming and he's been very sweet and helpful, even more than usual) he discovered some water spots on the stucco which meant there was a leak on the other side...likely the tub. GASP!

We weren't sure where the water was coming from and we had recently had that drain snaked so we called the plumber back to check it out in case he knocked something loose. Now let me set the stage here, Sweetboy and Doug (neighbor extraordinaire) LOVE home improvement projects so they're circling this poor plumber, hovering to see what he says is the problem. After he diagnoses that the drain pipe from the tub has corroded after 50 years and come apart, he walks out to his van to write up an estimate.

In the meantime, Sweetboy and Doug are plotting the fix and by the time the plumber came back to the door with a $3,550 estimate to fix it (mind you, it was like 5 minutes later), Sweetboy had already removed the diswasher, cut a 2' x 2' hole in the plaster wall and was doing his best impersonation of a bonafide plumber, crack and all!

That's actually the offending pipe from the tub on top of the dishwasher. The white part...completely corroded and in pieces, good grief.

The hyper-clean side of me needs to point out that the tub is dirty from the work being done. I keep a spotless tub, ok more accurately, our cleaning lady does - but still!

Voila! Shiny new pipes and no more leaks. I love this man.

So after a couple of trips to Home Depot, 3 six packs of Pacifico and McDonald's for the whole gang, we had a completely replumbed tub and a new p-trap. All on one of the hottest days this summer. I think it was about 87-90 degrees in our kitchen (105 outside). Poor thing. All said - we spent less than $100 for materials and refreshments...way to go Sweetboy!!

Imagine that, hunky & handy...I'm a lucky girl indeed.

How to make an IKEA lamp into a whimsical mushroom lamp.

I'm working feverishly on the nursery and while it's almost finally together furniture and organization-wise, I still have to finish the detail painting of the mural and other little touches. Today I focused on the lamp.

 
I purchased the LJUSÅS SALBO at IKEA a couple of weekends ago with the idea of a mushroom or toadstool lamp. Someone suggested a dimmer lamp would be best for night feedings and this one fit the bill. I really liked the curvy base but the little green shade had to go so I also bought a FANSTA shade in a bright red.

I've been thinking about what would be the best way to attach white dots to this fabric shade. So today I tried white felt, white card stock and then plain white printer paper. Tape it on top or cut a circle into the shade and back it with the white? Let's see.

 

Gather some round items to be your pattern and a pencil. Trace onto your paper (I have felt and cardstock here from my trials but ultimately went with plain white printer paper).

The felt (top left) was translucent but it would attract dust and be hard to clean. The card stock (right) was nice and bright; however with the light on it was too opaque. I liked the printer paper best (lower left) because it was bright with the light off and with the light on it was a little translucent letting the light come through.

I tried cutting the shade itself (and did a crappy job I might add - it was really difficult to cut!!) and then sticking a circle of paper on the inside. While it looked good without the light off - I didn't like how it looked with the light on. So - back to taping the dots on top of the shade.

After cutting out different sized dots from the printer paper I used double-stick tape to affix them to the shade and VOILA!! A lovely, whimsical mushroom lamp.

The stuffed momma and baby hedgehogs in the pictures are also from IKEA :) Good luck!
 

Crochet bobble baby sweater

Hi all, been a long time. Just trying to get through these last few weeks of work, very busy these days.

On the homefront, I've been a crazy crafty mofo for my little bun in the oven. I haven't nearly done as much as I had wanted but now that I look back on it - I've really managed to make a lot! It's been a crafty extravaganza - will try to post more soon.

So this was the first sweater I made for him (I had made 3 girl sweaters before seeing the little twig and berries on ultrasound - will save those for baby #2). I love the bobbles! This yarn is a little heavy though. Sweetboy says it will be like a weight lifting vest and he'll grow strong. This from the man who wanted to name him Genghis Danger. Nuff said.

It's really a beautiful blue green color, looks more blue here.

I love this picture! They look like little outy belly buttons.

There are lots of great, simple patterns for babies and toddlers in this book, Easy-to-crochet Cute Clothes for Kids by Sue Whiting. Some darling little girl patterns too. New yarn at Michael's, nice to work with I think it looks great worked up but a little heavy like I said above. Wonder how it will wash? I should really get in the habit of washing gauge swatches - do any of you do that? I don't have the patience and just start projects.

Alright then - as you can see by the time of this post - I'm at the point in my pregancy where I'm not sleeping well but will try to go back to sleep and catch some Zzzzzs.

Sweet dreams!

Spatula beater blade for your Kitchen Aid, fantastic.

Got this BeaterBlade the other day from my local cake shop. Was thrilled they had the right size for my Kitchen Aid and I couldn't wait to try it out. It's awesome!!

No more stopping the mixer and scraping down the bowl while mixing. The batter was silky smooth and no chunks at the bottom. Love it!

This one looks pretty snazzy too. I like the blue and the circle in the middle.