The Big O N E

(I’ll post their birth story soon, but for today, I’m wiped out. Enjoy some birthday cuteness!)

For All the Grammies (and Grandmas, and Mimis, and Nanas, and Mee Maws)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Getting Back to It

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t been around lately. Since Rich’s birthday at the end of March, in fact. And it isn’t because I haven’t been making things, or I’ve been to busy to write anything, or any of that: I have a few dozen photos of at least 8 projects I’ve worked on, plus recipes and meals; I even wrote (on paper) an entire post. It’s more that what’s been on my mind for the past while, I wasn’t ready to fling out into the Great Interwebs for all to see.

The thing is, I am homesick. (Sorry, Mama. I’m not trying to make you cry.) Homesick with a capital H. When we first moved, it was a grand adventure; everything was distractingly different and charmingly new. But a couple of months ago, it came down on me like a wall. That was a nice adventure, okay, and now let’s go home.

It probably has something to do with spring in Florida being my very favorite season, and spring in Michigan being, well, gray. And muddy. And cold. Florida spring isn’t too hot yet, just warm and balmy and less humid. There are orange blossoms (and if you’ve never smelled orange blossoms before, you haven’t really lived) and new leaves and so much sun.

It probably also has a big something to do with Florida containing roundabout 99 percent of my family. My family is pretty fantastic, if you haven’t met them. I just tried to write lots more about them, but these little typed words sound so flat and cliche. So I’ll just leave it at ‘fantastic’.

I actually began this post with every intention of writing something insightful or reflective about homesickness, but the words are still jammed up.

I think I’ll end with this:

You need a village, if only for the pleasure of leaving it.  A village means that you are not alone, knowing that in the people, the trees, the earth, there is something that belongs to you, waiting for you when you are not there. 

Casare Pavese

A Birthday Spectacular

Today was Rich’s 30th birthday. I think he’s good and sick of me telling everyone he’s turning thirty, but I think it’s wonderful. A new decade! Think of all of the ick and messes and figuring out who you are and where you want to be when you’re in your twenties… it’s DONE! And now, it’s a fresh set of years with so many Big Things already done and our little family facing it together. We had a wonderful, relaxed day of simple meals, The Muppets movie, a shopping (browsing, really) trip, and cheerful and cooperative babies.

A very happy birthday to my best friend and sweeeeeeet love!

Naptime Craft: Springtime Baby Sweater

WHERE have I BEEN, you ask? Well, after a crazy run of brother-in-law’s wedding, my family visiting, sick babies, and general craziness and havoc, I’ve had my hands full. But I have not been idle! Actually, that’s not entirely true. With the change of seasons, I got a little craft-stuck: I could not, for the life of me, think of anything to make that wasn’t a big fluffy scarf or mittens or some other wintery thing. Plus, I was bored of making the same ol’ projects. So I decided, what the heck. I’ll give something more complicated a try. How ’bout a baby sweater? Sure. And if it’s a disaster, I’ll rip it all out and wind the yarn back into a ball and never speak of it. It will be my disastrous little secret.

So I hopped on Ravelry and searched through their patterns, automatically tossing out anything that was knitted (duh, since I don’t knit), super girly, or super complicated-looking. This left me with just a handful of patterns, two of which I thought had the most potential. Then I got freaked out by the prospect of sleeves, and piecing it together, and ending up with something inside out… Which left me with the Bombay Love pattern from Yarny Days. And PEOPLE, this pattern ROCKS. It rocks in an all-caps, italicized kind of way. It is adorable and so easy it’s shocking.

This short-sleeved little sweater is crocheted in one piece from the top down. There is nothing to piece together, no separate sleeves to make, nada. And it’s worked in double crochet, so it goes very quickly. As usual, I made a couple modifications of my own, but nothing major to the pattern.

Here’s what I used:

• Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn in Seaspray (for the sweater) and Red Barn (for the edging and closures). It uses less than one skein for a whole sweater!
• A size J-10 (6 mm) crochet hook
• A large-eyed needle
• 2 buttons

A few notes:

• You can easily change the size of the sweater by changing hook and/or yarn size. Mine is larger than hers (worsted weight yarn and a J hook gave me a sweater that I think is 6 month size, meaning, it was a little small on my boys) but it took a couple tries to get it the size I wanted. I started another sweater, again with worsted yarn, but this time with an H-8 (5mm) hook and it’s more like a 0-3 month size.
• The pattern author recommends 2 sc in each corner when you’re doing the edging, or the edges will curl. I’m still having a little curling, so I would recommend 3 sc in the corners.
• I sewed on my buttons so the sweater front is crossed over the other side. I like this look, plus mine turned out a little wide, so this made it narrower. For a very chubby baby, this might make it too slim.
• The pattern author made her sweater closure by knitting a cord with double-pointed needles. Like I said, I don’t knit, so you have a couple options. You could buy a little bit of cord or ribbon, or (and this is what I did), you could crochet a simple closure. Here’s how I made mine: ch 26; leave enough chs to make a loop that your button can pass though; sc in each remaining ch and fasten off.

So gather your yarn and head over to the Bombay Love pattern at Yarny Days. Get a move on!

Naptime Craft: Baby Leg Warmers

If you remember my Fashionable Lovelies post a couple weeks back, my brother-in-law is getting married this weekend. Both boys are in the wedding (because it would be pretty awkward to only include one twin) as ring bearers; they’ll be pulled down the aisle in a little sled the bride-to-be fixed up for them. This means FANCY clothes for my baby monkeys—and all white. I looked everywhere for white baby pants. I decided, finally, against sewing pants, since they would have to be lined to not be see-through. The only pairs I found to buy were either a) too thin or b) too holy-cow-these-tiny-pants-are-$40-per-pair expensive.

So what do you think I did? Bought a big skein of white yarn and made 2 pairs of baby leg warmers. I looked at all the crocheted baby leg warmers patterns I could find, like this one and this one here, but finally settled on this one from Alli Crafts. It’s a little fancier-looking without being too girly, and W O W, did it work up fast! I will definitely make these again for a baby gift, maybe with a little matching hat?

Here’s what I used:

• Red Heart Super Saver yarn in White (I barely made a dent in 1 skein after completing 4 leg warmers.)
• An H-8 (5mm) crochet hook
• A large-eyed needle

Then go visit Alli Crafts for the pattern. And while you’re there, you really should check out her many other awesome (and FREE) patterns!

Work in progress: You can see the neat ribbed effect from the fpdc.

Notes:

I used Alli Craft’s own modification to fit 6-9 months. My boys wear 6-9 month clothes and this fit perfectly with the yarn and hook I used. (Her original pattern was much too small for them; I tried it first and pulled it out. Great for a newborn, though.)

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I did add a ribbed bit to the top cuff to make it look more finished. Here’s what I did:

1. After completing your final round, join with slip stitch and chain 6.
2. Turn, single crochet in back loop only beginning in the 2nd chain from the hook. Slip stitch into the top of the last round.
3. **Ch 1, turn, sc back loop only in each sc (5 sts). Ch 1, turn, sc back loop only in each sc (5 sts); slip stitch into the top of the last round.
4. Repeat from ** all the way around the leg warmer. Slip stitch through back loops of first and last rows to connect. Weave in ends.

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I recommend a nice, soft yarn if your baby will wear these more than once. The Red Heart is fine since they’ll wear them once, but it isn’t very soft.

Ash Wednesday

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Selection from the Ash Wednesday liturgy, taken from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979.