Pieceful Creations

For Burps

With my newest due date, I have 102 days left til Baby M is due to show up. (Apr 2nd is my next ultrasound due date for all of you wondering about gender...)

I decided to pull out my stash and found a few skeins of Shine (knitpicks, cotton)

Having seen the super popular "Mason Dixon" dishcloth around the blogs for months now, I looked through my collection and found the original pattern from around 1992 (it was a free hand out at a store I shopped at once) Changing it a bit so both my yellow and blue skeins would be used equally I came up with Baby M's first burp cloth. (I made about 10 of these type of blankets back in 1994 for Christmas)

Instead of crocheting around the edges I picked up stitches with the yellow and knitted a few rows with it then changed to blue and did some seed stitch. I increased a bit at the corners each time around, maybe a bit to much... it seems a bit wavy, but it's going to work and is nice and soft and baby friendly patterned.

I have extra Shine left over in pink, yellow, green, blue, orange... I'm thinking of doing a plain stripy cloth with seedstitch boarder (seed stitch is my newest favorite thing ...)

I'm also thinking of scrapping my baby blanket idea and getting some more shine. Price wise it's not bad, and it's just so soft.... I'll wait til after the 2nd before I decide on colors.

103 Days

and counting...

Been living in apartments all of my adult married life. Such as that is, there is very little garden space.

I grew up with a backyard and gardens and a house full of live, growing plants (and animals but that's a big no-no in this apartment complex)  Maybe my thinking about a new baby, and life, has me thinking about my childhood. Or maybe I'm feeling the need to nurture something. Either way, I went to Walmart this Wednesday night and looked around the garden center.

I was sad. I realized, somehow, even growing up with plants galore around me, I failed to get passed down any real special talent and latent knowledge about how to deal with them. I saw alot of pretty plants but then fear gripped me with the knowledge that they would need replanted, watered, cared for etc. I panicked.

I have, in the past, tried growing stuff.  It didn't work very well (cha cha cha chia!) But I'm older and wiser now, so maybe this time, it will be okay.....

And, I'm cheap. I just can't bring myself to buy a 5 or 10 or 16.00 plant (even if it's pretty) knowing I'll kill it with in weeks.  So I found these 2 kits.  Baby Tomatoes and Jalepeno Peppers, for 2.00 each!

That's more like it.
The kids are excited, and waiting for Tom (in the green pot) and Peppa (in the red - for hot!) pot to grow.  (named by my oldest) I've told them not to hold their breath.  But it's all good fun...

It's not a cat or dog or fish (fish! *J* I could do fish again, really, cute little neons... I mean when they die they don't turn into what ever our last fish did.... shiver... okay I know, I know) but it's life...maybe...

Day 3 of the Growing Experience

A Bit of a Funny

The below arrived in my email today.
I laughed.
By sharing this with you I am not: Making a religious statement nor a political one. I can if you want though (grin)

I'm just sharing what I thought was pretty darn funny.

(those of you who do not live where I do might not get some of these, but trust me, they are a tiny bit funny)

Top ten reasons to vote for  Mitt for President

10) The National   Cathedral could be renamed the National Tabernacle

9) NASA could   commission a satellite to 'hie to Kolob'

8) The Secret Service could   be renamed the Sacred Service

7) All official government prayers could   include the phrase 'that we all can get home safely'

6) Napoleon   Dynamite could get someone other than Pedro elected

5) The President   could not only explain things in Layman's terms, but also Lemuel's terms  

4) The President could issue pardons in exchange for 100% home   teaching

3) Not only could he pronounce 'Nuclear' but also 'Mahonri   Moriancumer' and   'Maher Shalal Hash Baz'.

2) At his inauguration he would swear on the   Bible 'as far as it is translated correctly'

1) Finally a first family   large enough to fill up the White House

(Pastor Dave Roberts in Sandy, UT)

Cleaning

We've been going through boxes and tossing things like crazy. We hope after 7 years of living in an apartment (or at least this one) that this summer might find us living somewhere else. We shall see about that, but just in case, we are downsizing big time.

It's amazing what you find in boxes that you forgot you had. There was one box labeled just "Cameras" We found alot of stuff inside, like:

My very first game counsel.   The original Pong (probably from around 1975) I loved playing this game! Last I remembered it still worked. But it takes a special connector and 4 size D batteries so I haven't' been able to try it out.

Then there were the old cameras. Some were made out of what must be steel. They were so heavy. There was one camera that still has film in it, with pictures taken (I remember it being my child hood camera we used for still photos) Makes me wonder what is on it!

We also have a reel to reel projector and old movies. But we have no empty reel so couldn't try to watch them (and memory stirs that something might be broken on the projector... I think it did something like burn the tape last time)  But some of the reels are labeled "Tina's first Christmas, Birthday, and stuff like that.... wow)

Last but not least we found a box that had "Old blankets" listed on the side. 
Looking inside I found this.

It looks familiar? I've seen it all over Blogland as the new and great
Mason Dixon dishcloth pattern.
I also found the pattern. It's copyrighted 1992.

I remember making about 8 of these blankets in various colors around 1994. That was the last time I knitted for almost 11 years. 
How the Old becomes New!
Just think, I was knitting 'cool' when 'cool' wasn't 'cool' And interesting enough, I wasn't knitting twisted knit like I did when I restarted in 2005. Odd. I must of untwisted them when purling.

Ideas ahead

Last night J and I watched that Herbie movie (the newer one) It wasn't to bad, I think the kids might like it. While watching it I set about designing my 'easy to knit, but won't bore the death out of me baby blanket that will not have lace in it' (abbreviated as: Etkbwbtdoombbtwnhlii)  .... anyone but me see the word DOOM in the middle of that? uhoh.

My idea: Light purple yarn. Knitted in stripes. Purls and Knits only allowed. Textured stripes with seed stitch stripes, knit til bored or the pound of yarn runs out.

Will see how it works (doom doom doom doom) I casted on the 207 (whoops 209 darn math) stitches and sit there with it ready to knit the seed stitch edging (k1,p1, repeat forever and an inch)

In other news, I knitted 2 whole rows on my Project: Design a Shawl. I'm up to row 80 now.
(click to see larger)


The new Issue of Knitty is out and has some pretty patterns (I didn't go eww so much this time with this issue)

But my friend Isela of Purling sprite is published in it this time! Check her out.
How to knit needle free


With her new Loom Knitting book published and out and well loved by all who have it, and an upcoming appearance on Knitty Gritty, she's famous! And I knew her when.. (rofl)

Coco Rose Sweater

Another finished baby sweater (wow this one went fast) I followed the same pattern as the one in the below post, but changed it a bit. I knitted in the round until it came to divide for the front and back, and knitted the sleeves in the round for the 4.5 inch (newborn) then knitted back and forth. I think that made it go so much more quicker.  In the future, I think I'm going to make another one with the button band all the way down the front.  I'll knit the sleeves in the round though for the length needed.

I also did a wider bit of seed stitch on the edges and button band. I think it helped with rolling. I didn't have enough yarn for a hoodie though, so this one goes with out.  I got the yarn at Joanns and it's baby friendly, wash it and toss it acrylic. I am still looking for a pattern where I can find some nice soft (maybe shine from knitpicks) cotton yarn for a summer sweater.  But I'm on a roll with this pattern.

I believe I'm going to gift this to a New grandma at church for her granddaughter. She's one of the few 'real life' people who have shown interested in my knitting and have asked if I would knit something for her before.

Yesterday I shared fabric I'm hoping to use for a Moby Wrap.  Nicole, one of my 3 faithful readers (grin) asked if I thought a Wrap could be knitted. While I guess it's possible, and I had thought about it after not finding good fabric on my first few trips (read: fabric on sale) I'm not sure it's doable.

First, Moby wraps are 24 inches wide by 6 yards long. That's alot of knitting. They need to have some give, so stretchy fabrics are used.  Knitting definitely creates a fabric that has give, but sometimes it's to much give, and sometimes not enough.  I would be afraid that unless it's quite thin yarn (sock weight or below?) the wrap might just be to heavy. 6 yards really adds up.  Still knitting 24 inch wide (say you got 4 stitches to an inch, that would be near 100 stitches) for 6 yards. (if you got 4 rows to an inch that would be ummm18 feet x 12 inches = 216 inches x 4.. 864 rows??? eeek)

A true moby wrap, really isn't that expensive, and I thought about buying one. I still might, because then I'd have the right fabric and they taper the ends so you don't have all the bulk at the end when tieing your knots.  It's hard to judge what will and won't work when I don't have anything other than a light weight baby doll to carry around the house lol.....

I'm not 100% sure the fabric I bought will really be doable in the summer weather. I looked for a cotton knit blend, but all they had was polyester. (unless I wanted to buy the $5 to $6 dollar a yard fabric which would have been silly when I can get a true moby for $30 to $40.00) I couldn't pass up this fabric though, since it was only 1.76 a yard and in pretty colors I like. So I'll try it.  I need to finish sizing it soon, as it was much wider than 24 inches. I may or may not seam it.  If it doesn't work, maybe I'll be able to make a little dress or skirt for the 4 year old. 

She Knits, She Knits

Okay. I'm not a pitiful and lost knitting mommy after all. I can knit. And I can do a pretty good job, for my first try. Now I have 121 days left to fine tune it and get it just right!

Proof:
My first baby sweater (or any sweater for that matter)
Pattern: Daisy from Knitty.com
Yarn: ?? something soft and cream from stash. Probably acrylic.
Details: Xstitch floss and buttons, in a tealish blue, girl or boy friendly I hope.
Size: 0 - 3 months (hopefully)
Problems: Seaming.  Pattern (slight flaws)

Pictures:







Future Plans:
Another sweater knitted from Coco-Rose color yarn.  Probably for a grandma at church who just had her first baby grand-girl. I'm going to use the same basic Daisy pattern, but change it so most of it is knitted in the round (bottom, and sleeves to a certain point) If it works, I bought another skein of a blueish/purple heathered yarn that I will make another 'in the round' type daisy.

This is the yarn:


Then I also bought some pretty fabric in the sale section. I'm trying to make a Moby Wrap.
I hope it works, to make carrying the baby around easier.

Rain Falls

This is Olivia Faith.

We've been praying for her. For God's will for her. She 's been ill, her little heart just couldn't keep up with the huge spirit she was given...

It's been hard for many of us, even us who have never met her in person, but know her parents, her twin brothers, her older sister.   

The answers to "why" sometimes seems so silently unfair...
Her fighting spirit and such a struggle, seems so special...
The doctors inability to fix what is wrong, seems so scary...
The faith and love of her parents, seems so strong ...
and our pleading and prayers seem .... well... words fail me.

Today, Olivia Faith went to a home we all look forward to and
cry when someone we love goes there. 

The rain falls. His rain.

(modified from a song I used to sing my son when he was a baby)

Don't you fret, sweet Olivia
You won't feel any pain.
A little drop of rain, can hardly hurt you now
You're home, that's all we need to know.

And He will keep you safe, and He will keep you warm
and His rain, will make our flowers Grow.

The rain that brought you here, was heaven blessed
The clouds disappear and you're at rest
A breath away from where we are.
Welcome home, little star.

So, don't you fret, Dear Olivia
You don't feel any pain
And that little drop of rain, won't ever hurt you now.....

Sweet Dreams Olivia. Spring is coming, and you are already a beautiful flower in heaven's garden.

T.