A Baby Blanket Rant

    This one has been brewing for a while. All of my fellow crafters know that there's nothing more special than making a blanket for a wee newborn babe. I have noticed in the last few years, however, that there are no photos forthcoming from the new mommies of their tiny little bundles of joy wrapped up in all of our hard work.


    After all these thousands of years it apparently has been determined by medical experts that babies are not to be covered by blankies while sleeping. No more bumper pads in cribs, no toys of any kind. Nothing but the baby, in very heavy jammies, in the crib. How, I ask you, has the human race survived? We all laid our babies on their tummies to sleep. Now that is forbidden as well.


    I may have told this story already, but I feel the need to repeat myself. A year and some months ago, my daughter had two friends who were both pregnant. Coincidentally, they have the same name. One's baby shower was in November and one was in December. I made for them both my signature baby blanket. However, I didn't want them to be exactly the same. So I made one the usual twelve pointed star, and the other I made a circle. They were both lovely, if I do say so myself.


    I decided in my mind which mommy got which blanket. However, at the last minute I changed my mind, and the circular blanket went to the first baby shower. It turned out that the Yarn Goddess spoke to me that day. For the mommy whose baby got my circular blanket had also gotten a round bassinet! The blanket was the surprise hit of the shower.


    I know my blankies are well loved and hopefully used, but speaking for all my fellow crafters to all new mommies: Please lay the baby on each hand made blanket and snap a photo for the crafter. Post them on facebook, or send them in an email. All we crafters really want is to see our hard work underneath that adorable little baby.


   All crafters, I believe, would like to know that their efforts aren't being kept all folded up in a drawer, never to be used. We want them to be used and even abused. We want to see them with spit up stains on them, or even worn out!


   Speaking for myself, I won't be making any more baby blankets. And that makes me a little sad. With any luck, the two ladies will read this and get my blankets out and photograph their adorable little girls sitting on them, or dragging them around. That's all I really want.

   This Rant is now at an end. Thank you, and Good Night! Please keep in mind that it's tired and I'm late.....
   

A purchase for future Grandbaby

    Last week when I was shopping with Sara in Target, I spotted something. The first thing I saw was this adorable face:

I went right over, and there was the cutest little three piece set, in newborn size. I fell in love with it! It comes with two onesies, a short sleeve one:

 

 

     I thought this was appropriate, since her hubs Mike is in a rock band. He plays the drums. Then there's the long sleeve onesie:

    It was so perfect, I threw it right in the basket and bought it. It's OK if I show it here, Sara saw me with it in the store. But she can't have it yet. It's mine to play with!


    On a different note, I somehow managed to fix the problems I was having with my laptop. Even the USB ports are working now, hence the photos! In desperation, I was looking around in the programs in there, and found a free trial version of one of those "cleaner upper" programs. I ran it, and it fixed the problems! I'll worry about it again in two more years.


    This means I can now show you the photo of my home made laundry detergent, when they were turned upside down, and it separated after twenty minutes:

 

     TAH DAH! There it is! One more thing, then I'll not tell you about the detergent any more. I used it again today when I washed our sheets and pillowcases. It worked very well, I'm convinced. And that's the last you'll hear of it.                                                                               

 

 

The Cicada's Bad Day

    This morning, as we were driving to New Jersey, my Hubs happened to mention that he noticed that I have a cicada stuck to the bumper of my Jeep. After we got home this afternoon, I went and looked, and darn if he wasn't right!


    And just like he said, it looks like his head is stuck in a hole in my bumper, and the rest of him is just hanging there. Of course, I took a few photos.

    Looks like this cicada had a really bad day. And yes, we made it back from New Jersey in one piece.

Miss Kim Blooms!

    My Hubs sent me a text message as he took his truck down the driveway to empty some stuff out of it. It read - "Miss Kim has flowers!". I ran outside to look at her.


   And indeed, she had bloomed! After several days of rain, the May lilacs arrived! I ran back inside and grabbed the camera, then ran back outside to snap a few photos.

 

     It's hard to see in this photo, but closed, they are a light purple, and when they're open the blooms are white.  Then I went downstairs, and checked the other bush. The one with the Russian name I can't remember. She has blooms too! Only two, and they are a darker purple. Here they are:

    The second one is a bit blurry because the branch was swaying in the breeze. I'm so thrilled that they have all bloomed. And after only one year in the ground. It was worth waiting twenty four years for!

Dang it all

   Well, dang it all, I missed another fracking day. I was busy again yesterday. Hubs decided to go down to the house in Fishkill, and I was going with him. He thought I should go to mom's and help her pack more. He was right, as usual. So he dropped me off, and we got some more packing done.


    After he picked me up again, we went shopping at Sam's Club. There were some things we were running low on. We ended up spending more than I thought, so I decided not to ask for more pistachio nuts. He noticed, and mentioned it. I told him I felt bad about the cost of our purchases, and he said it would have been OK. I really don't need to have them, anyway. The granola diet seems to be working.


   I've also been so busy, I haven't had time to take any photos! And it looks like I'll be busy the rest of the week too. Tomorrow is mom's moving day, so I'm expected there most of the day. Thursday I have an MRI scheduled. And Friday, all I have is Stitch n Bitch, but anything could change at the last minute.


    As for my crafting, I got a lot of knitting done this morning, when I escorted my friend's mom to the doctors office. Their car has broken down. After that, I picked Bonny up and we went down to the craft store, where I got some yarn to make my mom a half circle crocheted rug, for in front of her sink in the new apartment. I have started it already. I was going to use a P size hook, but it was too loose. So I went down to an N size. Still too loose for me. I ended up with a K size. And I am using two strands of cotton yarn. I like it better now, it's tighter, still soft and a bit cushy.


    Hopefully one of these next few days I won't be too busy, and I can finally take some photos! Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

WIP Photos, SnB report

    This morning, we had our Stitch n Bitch, the first one in three weeks. Last week, the weather was ominous, snow was coming down. The week before that, some of us had appointments that we couldn't change, so OFL (our fearless leader) decided to cancel.


    So this week we had some catching up to do. OFL is working a a gorgeous cardigan for a friend's birthday , Jan is still plugging away on her beaded lace shawl, and I brought two projects, but only worked on Sara's sweater. We had a good breakfast, and got down to knitting.


    Afterwards, OFL and I hit our local second hand store. I've been in there before, and was pleasantly surprised! They have so much stuff! Antiques, furniture, books, records, clothing and so much more! If you live anywhere near Hyde Park, I recommend stopping by.


    Now, for years, I've been searching for a leather coat for myself. I won't pay full price, so I've been looking in the Salvation Army, and Goodwill stores. I've had no luck so far. Until today, that is... I found an awesome leather coat today! It wasn't as inexpensive as Goodwill or SA, but still nowhere near full price. I left there a happy woman. Even Kim found a coat, and she looked awesome in it. She didn't want to pay the asking price, even though it was 25% off. So she asked, and they gave it to her for even less! She was happy too!


    And now for the promised photos! First up is a photo of the soft soft yarn that I'm using for the cowl:

    Here's a photo of my progress so far on the cowl:

    Next up is Sara's sweater, which you really can't see, because it's all curled up. But you can see the glorious color!

   And lastly, here is the yarn I chose for my own sweater. I hope the color comes out properly!

 
    Well, it's not too bad. I haven't started this one again yet, can't decide which size needle to use. I will probably go up to the size 9, and make a size small. But it starts out with the same number of stitches as the medium. So maybe I'll just stick with the medium. Who knows?

Post Felting Photos

    Who knew? When I threw the bucket bag in the washer then in the dryer last night, I never expected it to dry quickly. Based on past experience, it usually takes two, if not three, dryer cycles to dry my felted things. And even then they are still damp and must hang over the baseboard heat overnight.


    But yesterday, there was a change in my usual felting routine. I needed to wash my jeans for work today, so I threw them in with the bucket bag and the tennis balls. When I went down to get the jeans out of the dryer, the bucket bag was also dry! Completely! I was shocked to say the least. But at least I can now post the after felting photo! I also measured it, and it's now about 7 inches tall.

    I really like the way the denim blue came out, I may do another one, just in that color. If anyone were to make this bag, my advice would be to use a solid color for the bottom, if you are going to use a variegated wool for the body. The crochet stitches show the colors differently, and it may not be pleasing to some people. Personally, it makes no difference to me, I like things that are different.

Shawl Progress and Skull Making

    This morning I didn't really feel like knitting, so I went into the patterns for skulls that I found on the internet. I picked one out, a neat one designed by Sandi Marshall. I got out my hook, and started crocheting.


    On the first attempt, I got as far as round three, with no problems. When I started doing round four, the grinning teeth part was being placed next to the first eye, not under the nose. So I frogged it, back to the beginning of row four, and attempted it again. Going slower, and reading more carefully this time.


   Nope, the teeth were still lining up with the first eye. I frogged it again, read the pattern again, and decided just to wing it myself. Here is what it looks like:

    I may have another go at it, I'm not entirely happy with the teeth area. And, ad you can see, I changed my mind about the color, I think black would look better than light gray on the dark gray shawl body.


    When I was babysitting for Miss Malia today, I got quite a bit of work done on the shawl while she napped. I think I did about 6 rows! Then I stopped to take some photos. Here is a photo of how it looks now:

    And here it is with the skull in place:

    The shawl is getting small enough that I could put it on a shorter length needle, but I can't find one. They must all have WIPs on them. Working on a 60" needle is getting  

crazy! It's getting tangled up in itself!  Oh, well, I shall just have to persevere.