a little inspiration

Well hello!  Look at these little lady bunnies!! Mable and Sable are twin sisters.  They like many of the same things but each have their own sense of style and character.  Mable likes pretending to be a mouse ( Mrs. Frisby to be exact), playing with dirty children (you can tell by her already dirty dress), and having her ears nibbled by teething tots.  Sable is a little more reserved with my children, she is ready for an adventure and has just gone off to make her way in the world. I felt one day that I had to make a little bunny doll for Anjali and when I said it Emerson suggested making a second one for our newest little friend in Baltimore.  I thought it was the perfect idea.  I'd like to make about a dozen more for the many little friends we know.  I can tell they are good toys because everyone in the house wants to play with them. Of course, once they were here I knew they needed dresses.  Crocheted sweater dresses to keep the c...

You can tell that this has been an unusual year because the sweaters are coming in late.  I can't believe how long ago this one was completed.  Of course, that baby never came.  Instead this sweater graces our sweet Anjali Eirwen.  It does seem as if perfect for her.  I loved finishing it with miss matched buttons.  The mornings are already so very cool and delicious and one days like today, when the rain falls and the clouds make everything dark and grey, you want to sit all day with a cup of tea.  I am in need of some new teas without caffeine for the season.  Any recommendations?  Her brother couldn't help but get into the photo shoot. :)  I have a long sleeved sweater in red and grey ready for her whenever I find the right buttons.  His is still a work in progress.  He gets bigger each year and the sweater takes so much longer now!  I used to do them almost all in a day .  I let him pick the colors ...

Some days it seems like it is raining even inside.  This was Papa's version of escapism on one of the more turbulent days in the first week.  Luckily, as routine begins again I think things are calming down.  The babymoon is over but I think it was more than anyone could really take.  (Except for the laying in bed part for me.:) Here she is wearing the shirt E colored for her.  Probably for the only time.  We went to the doctor today and she has grown 2 inches and is up 5 oz from her birth weight.  I've already taken out the first round of clothes because she is out of the tinier newborn items.  So amazing how fast she is growing.  I feel like we may have also just hit that first growth spurt that means they eat around the clock for a day or two or three.  She has been so easy so far, just like E was, I remember being totally caught off guard when he decided that if he wasn't eating he was fussing around two weeks.  And then j...

I've been hooking a whole bunch for this baby.  I love making baby things because they are so small and you feel truly accomplished in a short time.  Also, I don't have to follow much of a pattern with these things anymore.  I'm not all that keen on directions... I'd like to let you know that all the pink was chosen by E.  He loves it and hopes for Sissie to come out everyday now.  The sweetness is killing me and between the gluten thing and my hormones I am totally in love with him all over again right now.  Sometimes I just want to snuggle kiss him until he can't stand it any  more. Last night he fell asleep on Papa and me while Papa was reading in front of the fireplace.  I could have eaten him. {this is still waiting for buttons} See?  I am supposed to be writing about the things I crocheted for Sissie, but I can't stop thinking of Emerson!  He just told me she should be out in time for dinner.  When Papa gets home....

Emerson was in need of a new hat.  He loves all the pink and purple stuff coming in for Sissie.  And he loves berries.  Blue berries especially.  I thought these two colors looked like the outside and inside of a blueberry.    Mmmmm. Yum. And I wanted him to have an elf style hat.  Because they are dang cute.  And how many more years does he have to wear such a thing?  Or will he want to?  Right now he loves to put things on the moment I am done.  Before I have even really finished the final touches.  I adore that. We used the last couple days, as the storm came and went, as an excuse to get a lot more packing done.  The kitchen dishes are almost all packed away and the office continues to move along.  All the off season clothes are in boxes.  It was surreal to stand in the kitchen quietly wrapping dishes in newspaper while watching the rain and wind out the window.  Hoping beyond hop...

I am a storm of crochet.  I made tiny baby bonnet in a day.  And I tore half of it out to start over once.  I have been washing diapers to prep them so I can pack them away and not think of them again until she is here. She.  This is taking some getting used too.  I said "it" all the way through my pregnancy with Emerson.  I said "it" for 9 weeks before I miscarried.  I said "it" for the last 14 weeks or so.  "It" is hard habit to break. So in addition to she, until we are really settled on a name, and even afterwards, her nick name will be Sissie.  This is what my grandmother went by most of her life.  In this pregnancy I have felt Grandma Sissie by my side many times, even though she dies when I was 15.  Her husband, Jerry, died the year Emerson was born and I know he too would have been elated to know I was having a little girl.  He would have known she was nearby too. So, Sissie she will be.  I pulled out the gold...

Now that we are spending all day everyday together I am working hard to get nap times in.  Mostly they happen in the car or not at all.  I try to always have something to do with me.  Crochet is so wonderfully portable. After my miscarriage I got a sweet little package in the mail from one of my best friends from high school.  (Oh, the wonder of facebook!)  It was full of yarn and what a perfect gift for hands that are always seeking to be busy. I had a hard time deciding how to use it.  It wasn't a whole lot, but it was beautiful.  I wanted to make it into something for myself but Spring was coming fast and the need for scarves and hats was almost over.  Finally, I came across this shawl pattern (ravelry link.)  It has been the perfect thing.  Warm, but not hot.  Perfect sized even for Emerson to use when he is chilly.  I wear it way more than I expected and with this chilly, rainy weather it adds just the coziness I...

  This little sweater is called Bombay Love .  I made it for a certain someone who will be joining our family around the middle of September.  The white is a super wash wool I had a little left over of and the other is the Donegal tweed I have so much of.  I'm saving the button choice for after we find out the gender. I feel very lucky that the first trimester has so far been much, much easier on me that it was with the Bug.  But it is a time of very low productivity (at least outwardly.)  A time for resting and dreaming and doing the work you can while your feet are up and the dog is curled next to you.  So, you can imagine, I'll have a few crochet projects to share in the coming weeks... I've been waiting to say anything here until I had told the Bug.  It was weird because I really had no idea how he would take it.  If he would care or get upset or ask lot's of questions.  And (have you noticed?) I am terrible at keeping secrets....

Today Desi got a sweater.  She is so cold she sleeps under the covers with us.  Happily.  Zo was so much harrier!  I can see Desi's pink skin right through her hair on most of her body. I was looking on ravelry to find something new to do with the yarn I had been knitting into a sweater.  Yeah- that whole knitting thing didn't really work out for me.  Maybe the next thing I try will be smaller.  I definitely can't count :)  Here is what my sweater looks like now: As I was looking I stumbled upon the pattern for a granny square dog sweater and figured- why not?  With crochet I can easily finish something like this in a couple of hours and whala!  Here you go. Isn't she sweet?  Her transition into the household is really going well.  I even bought her some balls to play with because she is finally getting playful.  And frisky.  And she isn't too afraid of the Bug as long as he doesn't have a drum stick in his h...

I have been making things over here.  When no one is looking.  Sometimes I sit and watch movies and crochet all afternoon with only my bladder to interrupt.  It really is quite amazing.  So different than the last couple years.  I found a pattern that was kind of like this but in knit and realized that though I know the basic stitches I can't read the patterns and don't know how to do anything that isn't called knit or purl.  So, while I wanted to make this sweater for the Bug I knew I was going to have to resize the pattern.  I couldn't even tell where you were starting on the pattern so I didn't know how to go about resizing.  But I know how to make a baby sweater in crochet.  I know how to resize.  I even taught a class on making fake ribbing in crochet.  So I had everything I needed. This was going to be all blue.  But I ran out.  Wow did he get big!  I know this should have been expected but I had no id...

I can tell Spring is imminent when projects are just spilling out of my brain into reality without being able to stop them.  Yesterday I started thinking of a skirt I wanted to make and by the time I was in bed it was done.  No hesitation, no pattern, no fear of mistakes.  Not that there weren't any mistakes, just that I didn't let them stop me. But, I don't have any pictures of that yet so let's look at the cardigan I finished a couple of weeks ago.  This was a very fast, satifying project that I had added to my que in ravelry in September 2009.  It took me all this time to work up the nerve to make it and it really only took two weeks of working to finish it (and I basically took a week off in the middle.)  So easy.  I am thinking of using the pattern and altering it into a dress.  Sounds cute right? And then there are E's new pants.   I got the pattern from Dana .  It was the first thing she put up for Celebrate the Bo...

In the last few months I have been crocheting like mad.  It is so easy to drag along everywhere and do a few stitches at a time and that is about the speed I am going these days.  First of these projects finished was Senor's Sweater.  It was super easy and I loved making it.  The yarn is called Mirasol Tupa Aquamarine 817 Yarn and it was a delight to work with.  I know there will be more projects coming with this kind of yarn because I bought about a gazillion skeins of it way back when .  Here is the ravelry link . The next thing I finished was this little hat for a dear friend who is due to have a little girl next month.  Since I knew she loved the sweater that this yarn came from.  I was sure I posted a finished picture but can't find it right now...  Anyway, this is a party hat for a little girl's first day! And last, but not least, here is a picture from the start of my very first sweater made for me (ravelry link).  It...

 {from my first visit to the zoo}  I'm still here.  I am struggling through getting used to a new computer and camera along with the normal winter blahs. So no new pictures.  I always feel with out images my words aren't enough.  Tricky. I finished Senor's sweater in time for his birthday.  It fits really well.  Slimmer than he is used to, but I think it looks great.  I can't wait to actually take a picture.  You all are going to be impressed.  Promise. This weekend I am taking my first ever mama break.  I am going to sunny Miami for a conference for school.  So. Happy!  I need some sunshine and rest.  I need to be re-energized by other people passionate about helping the world to a better place.  And helping yourself along the way. I am about to start seeing clients.  Are you a busy mom?  If you were going to get support in the kitchen, health and life balance what would you ask for?  Wha...

I've made about a bajillion things I should have shown you all but I was waiting until after the holidays.  I've really had the itch to crochet, perhaps because I have been so cold. I made another Acorn Cap but for an adult ( a special order) and sent it off to live in Spain with out getting a picture of it.  It was done in a darker colorway of that amazing Cascade Yarn - Eco Duo Yarn. This one is called Chicory.  Yum!  I had a bit left over after that and used it to make Senor's Christmas gift.  (He requested a hat.  How sweet!)  I had some yarn from the Bug's cap so I used that as well.  Now we look like a match set. (I love that yarn so much I made myself an infinity scarf with it in an amazing lace pattern.  It is blocking right now.  If we really get the snow they are talking about maybe I can get a pretty picture of it tomorrow.) John seems to like the hat.  These pictures don't do the yarn justice.  I made the li...

Click on the photo to get to the funny video that I almost posted. Have a wonderful weekend!

I have been squirreling away a couple skeins of  Cascade Yarn - Eco Duo Yarn - 1706  since the spring.  They feel soooo good.  I knew I wanted a hat for myself (or maybe a scarflet) out of them but felt so selfish keeping them all to myself.   I knew the Bug was going to need a warm hat for the coming season and I wanted to make one for Senor as well.  But I started with an Acorn Cap. As is so often the case, my idea was to follow a pattern but after I got started I saw where the yarn wanted me to go.  With all the acorns everywhere and the squirrels eagerly eating and hiding the nuts we see a lot of these little caps.  Whenever we walk I always find little hands full of the season's bounty.  E doesn't much care for bright leaves ( he likes the crunchy brown ones.)  He doesn't have much interest for perfect, intact acorns (he likes the caps and the split open nuts.)  And so this little hat should be perfect.  Ri...

I had never really liked the end of summer when I was little.  I loved the hot sun on my skin and the cool grass on my feet.  Now I feel like I betray summer as I rejoice for autumn's arrival.  Maybe because I love making quilts and sweaters.  Maybe because of the soft crispness in the morning air.  The golden light and the butterflies and the frantic squirrels. The last few weeks I have been imagining a little boy's vest.  A warm piece that keeps him warm inside before we break down and turn the furnace on.  That will keep him warm while playing in the leaves. I made up this pattern myself and just finished it today (sitting on the porch, in the sun, where it is 90 degrees!) I made the stitching run a bit the opposite direction most sweaters would have.  I am going to have to wait for a cooler day to put it on him.  I'll get better pictures of it (perhaps in use?) because it seems all of my pictures taken of finished work lately are terrib...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. From Soule Mama. Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Today Senor and the Bug are visiting grandma's house.  So I have been working on this: And this: And these: The sweater is a new sample for the baby sweater class ( I just realized I never put up a picture of that.  I am far too distracted!) I teach at Lovely Yarns in Hamden.  I am taking July and August off (you know because I work sooo much :) and finishing up a few new patterns (like for the cape ) to teach starting in the Fall.  I have a couple of these on order for babies arriving towards the end of summer.  I love crocheting for babies.  I feel like you can add love and blessings in each stitch. The blanket is for a wonderful friend who keeps coming back for more items.  It seems like every time she has a gift to give she asks if I can make it.  I love that.  I can't even begin to tell you what a compliment it is.  There will be many more of these little quote blankets I am sure. The last picture is silliness....

The last couple of weeks I have been working hard on a very special gift.  One of the pieces is this tiny baby cape.  Doesn't it just make you want to squeal a little in delight? It has been so fun making it.  Each and every stitch was made while thinking of tiny babies and tiny baby moments.  I thought of the Bug's birth and his first few months. I thought of  what it felt like to hold him for the first time, how the love almost knocks you down.  How you can't help but stare at them when you are supposed to be napping with them.  I thought of how good it felt to be a mama, so much simpler and more natural than I ever expected.  I would like to think I wove that into this sweet little cape and that it will somehow transfer on to the new mama who will be using it soon for her own special, perfect, divine little person. There are a few more items in this set, hopefully I will be back tomorrow with pictures.