29

Just a few highlights from my 29th birthday.

I got to spend most of the day in my jammies, knitting.

We got all dressed up and went to a very nice Italian restaurant with my in-laws. The food was good, and I got one waiter to make a double-take at my dress. Always a good feeling.


In all, an excellent birthday.

Two FO's

On December 20th, my friend Ana gave birth (after 26 hours of labor) to a healthy, 9 1/4 lb baby boy. Welcome to the world, Alfie! I am incredibly proud of her and very happy that everyone is healthy and happy.

And, I have a great picture now of the blanket I made, that I mentioned in the post previously about the baby shower.

Look! It was part of his coming home ensamble!

Here's another shot, shot, of the happy (but tired) mom and baby.


I can't wait to finally meet him on the 31st!

Merry Christmas

Finally! I can post pictures of the things I've finished!

Here's Jenny's Fetching hat


And Mom's Funky Felted Pillow


And Jeff's Completed Socks


And, as a treat for me, I finished my Maizy Socks. They're incredibly comfortable!



Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a picture of Mom's pillows. Mom, could you snap a picture of them for me please?

We also got to see my brother, his wife and family. Ben is still as precosious as ever, and Ally is just starting to walk. We never got a picture of her with the Anouk on, but it's going to fit her just right.

There is a term for this!

So back 2 posts ago, I posted the question of a name for an item which is promised to an expectant mother and the completion of it often coincides with the birth of the child. While time will tell if the item I made was such a thing (we gave it to Ana last night, and she was already having some cntractions), we do have a name for it.

Kidsmet.

Bonus points if you can point out where Jeff got the idea from. I'll give you a hint: Take away one letter.

More craftiness

In addition to finishing stuff up for Ericsson's arrival, I've been furiously working on stuff for Christmas.

But I don't want surprises to be spoiled.

So I'll just say this. Mom's stuff is done and looks cool, Jenny's thing is done and looks cool. Mom Kass's thing is almost done (but looks cool the way it is!) and will be done tonight.

If you're on Ravelry, here is Jenny's thing.

And here is Mom Kass's thing

Is there a term for this?

Of course, when a crafty person has a friend who is pregnant, they will often make stuff for the baby.

At the shower, I presented them with the completed blanket. Which I just realized I completely forgot to take a picture of before giving it to them. Dammit. Oh well, I'll certainly see them and the baby often enough and will have the opportunity no doubt to snap a picture of him on it.

I also presented them with a nursing pillow form and fabric folded around it, simply because I didn't have the chance to complete it before the shower.

Anyway. The title of this post refers to an item which, after it is created, the baby is soon born. I seriously wonder if there isn't an official term for it, as it's been the topic of discussion rather frequently on the knitty board. Well, Ana and Eric are now safely in their newly finished house, and much of their stuff has even been unpacked and put into its rightful place. During the move when the comment was made that the simple relief of being moved would spur things along, Ana had said she hoped Ericsson would wait until Tuesday to be born.

So I hope I was in posession of the "craft item that the baby is waiting for." Because it's done now.

Safe delivery, Ana; Safe journey, Ericsson.

Baby Shower

This past Saturday was the baby shower Jeff and I hosted for our friends, Ana and Eric.

Here are some of the highlights!

Ana is just adorable pregnant, and is here with Eric modeling the matching hats she made for him and their son.


The guys all played the game "sympathy" and wore a backpack with the same amount of weight in it as Ana has put on during her pregnancy.



(I think Phil is worried that he's the Baby Daddy)

Phil didn't take motherhood very seriously.


Brianna showed us what fun Eric and Ana have to look forward to (the bouncy ball was incredibly exciting, although it was too big for her to pick up)


Everyone decorated onesies with fabric markers, and came up with both some very silly and Very VERY silly ones (okay, so a couple were artistic as well)


It was a lot of fun! We need to host awesome parties like this more often!

Productive Thanksgiving!

So after actually very little debate at the LYS, it was concluded that the Anouk was best like this. One flower, and four adorable buttons. I can't believe I was able to find buttons that perfectly matched the flower I already had on there. The button holes work well, although they do catch a little on the flower petals. If Amanda has problems with it I"ll figure out a solution. But the important thing is it's done in time for Ally's 1st birthday! Not that she'd necessarily remember and be annoyed that she didn't get anything for her birthday, but it was important to me to set and meet the deadline.

Amanda may still want more flowers on it (which is fine), but it's easier to add flowers than take them away.



Also, for her 1st birthday pictures, Ally's getting her pictures taken in an adorable green Christmas dress. Amanda came up with the great idea of wanting elf booties for her to wear. So based on this link and blowing up the size to meet the actual size of her foot (which Amanda traced a shoe for us) Mom and I came up with these!



Productive Thanksgiving, no?

Ally's Jumper

So here it is so far. I still need to weave in all the ends, add the button bands and sew on buttons. My question is how many more flowers?

Silly quiz

Silly, but fun, not sure I agree with the whole "born to clean" thing, but it's definitely a skill I'm working on.

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!








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Kimonos and Coincidence

It's funny how The Fates can bring people together with interesting stories to share.

I was at Michael's today, picking up the framed kimono that my Grandfather brought back from the Phillipines after World War II. As I was looking at the kimono, now framed and hanging beautifully (see picture below, sorry about the flash in the picture) a woman asked me where it came from. I gave her what information I had, and she informed me that she was from the Phillipines. Apparently the lion with a swirl motif is common to Mindanao, which is from the southern phillipines, and the kimono is made out of a traditional indonesian silk Batik. It is definitely Philipino in its fabric art and style, but the kimono pattern is obviously Japanese.

At that time, the Phillipines were occupied by Japan, and they attempted to integrate the culture by making traditional dress. She thinks that based on the size and coloration that it was a man's kimono, although my research indicates it is the informal kimono of a single woman (based on the length of the sleeve compared to the height). She didn't really know why it would be so, that the style would be of a woman's kimono, but the fabric be what in that time was masculine. The lions are masculine, there are no orchids in the flower patterns (they appear to be carnations) and orchids were the most feminine flower. Also the lattice pattern is more masculine.

So what can we conclude from masculine fabric made into a feminine garment? Was it some wealthy man's lounge robe, and he had no idea that the cut was feminine? A philipino woman with tastes in fabric that tended to be more masculine but still wanted to display her marital status in the length of her kimono sleeves? A geisha's danna visiting the philipines who wanted to bring back something interesting and different, chose fabrics he liked, and then was killed or captured by my Grandfather's platoon who then took this and the two other kimonos from him?

If only fabric could talk.



Additionally, one of Jeff's coworkers is from indonesia. She confirmed that it is

a batik silk, that it's gorgeous, that it is a masculine fabric because purple was viewed as a masculine fabric in most Asian cultures, and that the lions are a chinese symbol, like fu dogs, and the flowers are very Indonesian. I'm just happy it's safely preserved in my house, and Jeff and I will hang it after Thanksgiving.

Apparently she is

We've asked her this many times, but this is the first time we've gotten the answer on video. Hopefully you can consider this your cute for the day! (also I wanted to play around with loading up a video on blogger)

Better

So after some deliberation I decided since it will actually take less time to re-do the top than it took to do it in the first place that I should just keep on going with the Anouk.

Here's the process now. See how much more like a little dress it looks? Yeah, I'm an idiot, but at least I think I'll be able to get it done in time for Ally's Birthday.

Anouk

Dear adorable little jumper,

Oh, how I've tried to like you. I bought the softest yarn, I made you machine-washable so that the recipient's mom wouldn't have a problem with your care. I bought such bright colors that will go so well on my little niece.

But the acrylic started to hurt my hands. I was introduced to what a wonder and joy real wool can be. But I tried. I really tried to finish you. For Ally.

Then, after an entire evening of knitting on you, I see this.

Need a close up?


Yeah. Kinda forgot a whole ton of decreasing.

Decreasing that should have happened at the beginning of the time I sat down to knit you. Knitting that would have made the end go so much faster. Damn you, directions that are split between pages!

So do I finish you, or do I send to to the frog pond where you belong and start again with a nicer yarn. Or do I make you into a sweater? A big, bulky sweater using 2 strands of yarn at once so it's over fast, like a band-aid pulled off a hairy arm.

Ravelry . . .

Has been sucking away all of my extra time.

Seriously. They must somehow transfer small amounts of crack through the internet.

I've found so many things I want to make, my stash has been photographed and catalogued, my queue is growing, and I'm sure I still haven't even scratched the surface of what all Ravelry can do for me.

I've already had to budget my Ravelry time pretty severely. I'm going to devote Saturday morning before the in-house Karate Tournament to ravelry-ing. And that's it. I got Christmas presents to make!

In all seriousness, Ravelry is awesome and I love being on it. But ohhhh, the Siren's call!

Here's a screenshot. These are my stashed yarns. I haven't even included any of the acrylic yarns.