New Crochet Pattern, a Stitch Idea, and a Sleep Breakthrough

It's done!  My new pattern for a flower embellishment:

I had this idea for a kind of retro, almost cartoon-like flower a while ago, based on the kinds we tend to associate with the 1960s and '70s, flower power, hippies, etc.  But I could not for the life of me get the petals to be rounded like this without either curling up or running into each other.  I finally got it all figured out on Friday and made up a couple demos to show off in my listings for the pattern.  (It's listed on Etsy, Ravelry, and Craftsy, as usual.)

These would be so cute decorating a hat or purse, or a bunch of them sewn all over a vest or skirt!  I think they lend themselves to children's clothing really well, but adults with a fun fashion sense could totally wear them too.  Here's how one looks on my adult sun hat:

And just this morning, while I was lying in bed snuggling my baby, I dreamed up my very first crochet stitch!  I went to Yarn Cloud yesterday for new yarn to make a blanket for the new niece we'll be getting in a few months, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for this blanket, when bam!  A new crochet stitch! It's probably been done before, but I've never used it or seen it in a book (as far as I know -- I do like reading books of different stitches).  If the blanket turns out well, maybe I'll sell the pattern for it!

Speaking of snuggling my baby, last night was a Big Night.  She slept in her own bed for half the night!  She's almost 5 months old now, and I had started putting my other two kids in their own beds at night when they were about 4 months old, but timing just has not been working out with this one -- we were gone two weeks ago, we've got another trip coming up soon, and then next month we're going on vacation.  I tried starting her in her own bed a few times, but she wasn't going for it, and I figured with all that upheaval, it just was going to have to wait.

But last night she kept waking up every half an hour, and I got fed up.  The fourth time she woke up, I said, "That's it!  Little girl, you're going in your own bed.  If you cry, so be it -- Mommy needs sleep!"  I nursed her back to sleep, put her down in the little travel bed next to our bed, which is where I've been trying to get her to sleep at nights (she naps in her own room during the day), and she stayed asleep!  So I lay back down, figuring I'd get maybe half an hour before she woke up and yowled.  But lo and behold, when she woke up again, she'd been asleep for two hours!!  I put her back in her own bed, and then she slept for almost three hours!!!  What an amazing relief!  This morning, for the first time in weeks, my back hasn't complained when I got up (sleeping around a baby this size is not comfy after the first few minutes), and she's actually been in a pretty good mood too.  Here's hoping this continues!

Featured on Crafty Saints!

I came back from a short trip to Chicago to find that my egg pattern got featured here on the Crafty Saints blog!  That was some lovely news to come home to :-)  I also sold a couple more patterns while I was gone, which enabled me to order some hand-dyed yarn on Etsy today for my Secret Project.

Why was I in Chicago?  For my new niece's baptism!  My brother's wife had their first baby a little over a week ago, so off we all flew on Friday.  Man, flying with three kids?  Lots of work.  They were all really great on the plane, except for the last 10 minutes of our flight home, when Sadie objected vociferously to having her tray table stowed and told the entire plane in no uncertain terms what a "Bad, bad Daddy!" she has.  But we had a great time in Chicago, spending lots of time with my parents, my grandma, and my brother and his wife and new baby.  It's very nice to be home too, though, even with four loads of laundry staring down the barrel at me.

I just have to share a photo of the beautiful baptismal gown my mom crocheted for her newest grandbaby:

Isn't it amazing?  My mom is a phenomenal crocheter, as you can see.  My sister-in-law crocheted the blanket, and the two have matching rosettes.

Visiting the Garden

{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. – soulemama

(feel free to link to your own ‘this moment’ post in the comments below)

To Market, To Market

{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. – soulemama

(feel free to link to your own ‘this moment’ post in the comments below)

Hoedown!

Monday, we spent some quality time in our new garden.  First, the kids helped me break up clods of dirt and get everything ready for some planting.

They have enough shovels and rakes and implements of destruction for 4 or 5 kids, but hey.  This way they don't fight over trowels and scoops.

I got this hat at Colonial Williamsburg last summer specifically to be my gardening hat.  It's perfect!  Well, almost -- the inside gets caught in my hair a lot, so I'm thinking of sewing up just a band of fabric to go around the bottom of the crown to save my hair and act as a sweat band too.

All we got planted was a row of carrots, but it's a start.  We have lettuce and tomatoes started inside to transplant later.  We need to build our fence higher, though -- the way our neighbor tells it, we have mutant bunnies around here that can leap houses at a single bound...

No Pictures, Please!

{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. – soulemama

(feel free to link to your own ‘this moment’ post in the comments below)

Breaking Ground

{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. – soulemama

(feel free to add a link to your own ‘this moment’ in the comment section below)

Birthday Socks

{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. – soulemama

(feel free to add a link to your own ‘this moment’ in the comment section below)

Back. Again.

Since the last time I blogged, we've moved, we're mostly unpacked, and I'm starting to get back into crafting. At last! Which means I'm also getting back to my blog :-)

I just listed this sweet hat in my shop:


It's a 6-12 month hat I made from 100% merino wool. Divinely soft! And I love the happy, springy colors, don't you?

Here's my current project:


Yes, I'm knitting! Crazy, I know. I realized I'd pretty much forgotten the little I'd learned about knitting, so I decided to jog my memory and use up a bit of left-over yarn and make something small for Mercy -- I was thinking a Barbie blanket for her to play with when she's older, but I think I'm going to run out of yarn before I make a whole blanket, so it'll be more like a Barbie throw or rug or something. But again, don't you love these colors? Bright and cheery, and I love them!

And finally, my friend Julie from This Cosy Life gave me this gorgeous yarn as an early birthday gift:


It's hand-dyed cotton chenille from Etsy shop Crochet 4 U 2 Dye 4. I'm going to make Mercy a sun hat from it as soon as I finish my little knitting project. Fun, fun, fun!

Confessions of a Control Enthusiast

This post is going to get personal. Just so you know. Not in a weird, icky, tabloid way; I'm just going to discuss some stuff that's going on in my life and some of my own inner struggles. It's not going to be one of my happy, perky crafting posts.

I am a control enthusiast. I borrow that term from Joss Whedon, who used it to describe himself in the commentary on some episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I forget which one. I loved that term, because I feel like it describes me better than the more usual "control freak." I am enthusiastic about controlling things. I like to have plans, I like to know what's going to happen when, and I often have a real difficulty dealing with having my plans changed. It's something I struggle with a lot lately, since babies and three-year-olds rarely adhere to any kind of coherent schedule and don't generally consult me about what I think their itinerary should be today.

Well, today, a bunch of stuff in my life totally derailed. I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but we're moving to Virginia because my hubby's being transferred to a new position in DC. This is really exciting for us, and we've already gone there and found a new apartment. We were told that our travel-down-there date would be January 27th, and then Larry would have the 28th off to help unpack, and he'd be able to start work the 31st.

And now those plans have all fallen through. The moving company won't get here to pack up our stuff until the 28th and, according to them, it could be several days -- up to two weeks! -- before they deliver our goods. I don't know what kind of Mickey Mouse moving company this is, but frankly, I think something is rotten in the state of Connecticut. This is but the latest in a long series of screw-ups, mistakes, and fall-throughs involved in this transfer. Everything seems to have gone awry that could possibly do so, from lost paperwork to bank snafus to illnesses.

And I realized tonight that maybe this is a message from God for me. A reminder that I can't control much of anything. I can call myself a control enthusiast, I can make plans all I want to, but in the end, God "works all things after the counsel of his own will." (Ephesians 1:11b) The truth is, I need to stop trying to control my life, my children, and the US Department of State, because that's not my job. It's God's job. I need to quash my hubris, quell my pride, and stop trying to do his job for him. Because, clearly, I'm no good at it at all.

So, with much prayer for strength, I am going to try not to make any more plans about this move. I am going to just deal with each day as it comes and trust that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) We will get moved to Virginia, our worldly goods will be delivered to our new home, and in another month we'll be smiling as we realize everything worked out after all.

Hand Knit Hand Me Downs

My friend Julie from This Cosy Life has had an awesome idea. Those of us who knit and/or crochet occasionally make something that doesn't fit its intended recipient, that doesn't turn out quite the way we wanted, or that we're just plain tired of. What do we do with those handmade items? If we give them to a thrift store, will the person who acquires it know how to care for it? But throwing them away is wasteful, and storing them forever is impractical.

So Julie has created Hand Knit Hand Me Downs, a Flickr group for people with hand knitted or crocheted items that they no longer have a use for, but that still have good wear in them. You offer them for free, only asking that the recipient share a photo of the item being worn/used. Anyone who knits or crochets can join and offer or ask for items. You can join the group here, and also with the complete rules for joining.

I've joined, and I've already thought of several items I'm going to offer once I've finished moving. So in a couple weeks or so, lol. Speaking of moving, we went on our hunting trip and found an apartment, so won't be long and we'll be living in the great state of Virginia! Woo!

2010 in My Rearview Mirror

It's been such an amazing year! My daughter came into the world, my son turned three, my brother graduated from law school, my husband got a new job that he'll be starting before long... and my shop has done me proud.

I don't know about you, but the last few days of the year always make me introspective. What went right this year? What didn't? What do I need to work on in the coming twelve months? What do I want to improve on?

I know my parenting skills need work. I lose my patience too often, even my temper sometimes, and I need to get better at maintaining my cool. I also need to take more time for Dano -- he's had a rough ten months, having to share his world with a noisy little stranger. I try to spend Mercy's morning nap time with him, doing whatever he wants, but lately I've been squeezing laundry or dishes or checking email into that time slot, which is not at all fair to him. Having my Mom here the last week and a half illustrated very clearly to me how much he's missing having lots of attention -- he soaked up her time with him like a happy sponge. Sure, all kids want more attention than they get, but I feel like I've been capitalizing on his ability to amuse himself too much lately. So no more multitasking during Mercy's naps unless it's truly unavoidable.

Creatively, I've had an awesome run. I've nearly completed my fifth novel -- one of my aims for January is to finish the first draft so I can let it sit for a few months, then see if I think a rewrite would make it viable, publishable material. Who knows -- by the end of 2011, I may be on my way to getting a novel published!

As for my more crafty creativity, I've done well there too. I've had satisfying sales with Huggermugger, I've created some new products, and I've got ideas for more. I want to collage more composition-sized notebooks, try out some new hat patterns, maybe even branch out into something altogether different. I'm currently crocheting a cardigan for myself, my first attempt at crocheted clothing if you don't count hats, scarves, and mittens. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy New Year!

Yarn, Glorious Yarn!

I took Mom (and my kids) to the local yarn store today, A Stitch in Time. What bliss, what joy! I bought a yarn winder and swift! And also a bunch of yarn, including this really interesting kind made from corn fibers. It's really soft -- I can't wait to use it to make some things for my shop!


I also bought yarn for a custom order for a baby hat, which is what you see on my swift and winder here. It's a lovely super-wash merino, with pretty pinks ranging from dusty rose to delicate pink. I'm going to start that hat as soon as I've posted this and linked to it on my Facebook page.

A First

If you're wondering what I've been up to for the past couple weeks, wonder no more. A good deal of my time was spent crocheting this dress for Mercy. I bought a couple hundred yards of divine hand-dyed yarn from my friend Julie back in June -- it's the same as this yarn she's selling in her shop, ThisCosyLife. I knew I wanted to use it on something special for my baby girl, but I just couldn't decide on a project. I wanted to try making her a dress or other piece of clothing... but I've never crocheted clothing before. I felt daunted by the idea.

But I started looking at crochet patterns for baby dresses. I couldn't find any I really liked -- they were all too complicated or too frilly or just not what I wanted. I wanted a simple, sweet sundress she could wear to church or the mall or whatever.

Then I said to myself, hey, I know what I want -- why don't I just make up my own pattern? I make up patterns all the time! What's the worst that can happen -- I have to unravel it and start over. Big deal. I knew my 200 yards of yarn from Julie wouldn't be enough for a whole dress, but I had some wool yarn left over from another project that was a lovely peach and just matched one of the colors in Julie's yarn. I figured between the two, I'd have enough.

So, after much trial and error, ripping out stitches and redoing, I have the sundress I wanted. Simple, colorful, and feminine without being fussy and frilly. I even had enough of Julie's yarn left to make a matching diaper cover! I found these perfect buttons at the craft store, and my first attempt at crocheting clothing was complete!

I plan to offer my original pattern for this dress in my shop soon -- I just have to write it up first :-) And now that the dress is done, I can get back to blogging and post about the two books and three recipes I've been meaning to share.

An Unpleasant Milestone and The Farmers' Market

What a week! Mercy cut her first tooth on Wednesday, which means we have had a cranky girl for four days. At least now I know why she didn't sleep well on Tuesday... but she hasn't slept well since then either. That first tooth is such a killer :-(

Anyway, I took the kids downtown to the local farmer's market today. It just started up last weekend and is supposed to run through October. When the weather cools down a bit this fall, I'd love to walk there with the stroller, but today we drove. I bought tomatoes, blueberries, and a bulb of garlic. I haven't tried the tomatoes or garlic yet, but the blueberries are excellent! I'm going to have to find some recipes to make with them, as I doubt they'll last long even in the fridge. Hmm, maybe blueberry pancakes for breakfast tomorrow? :-9

Adieu, Adieu, We're Going to the Zoo!

I'm finally getting a chance to post about our zoo trip! Things have been crazy here -- we took off for Boston for a couple days to help my brother and his wife pack up their moving van 'cause they're deserting us, sniff sniff sniff. Between packing for the trip and then unpacking and doing laundry, I have had few minutes to call my own. But right now, both my little ones are napping, so maybe I can get this written and posted.

Dano loves the zoo. We took him to this same one three times last year, and he remembered it pretty well. We walked through their rain forest exhibit first, where Dano loved the birds and was leery of the monkeys, but thought their ocelot was awesome. Here's a shot of his favorite way to check out the animals: crouch as close as possible to the glass/fence.
After that, we lunched at one of their many picnic areas, where Dano ate his sandwich as fast as he could "so the ants can't have it," then roamed around, climbing on rocks, while I fed Mercy and myself.

Usually she loves the stroller and conks out in it, but this time she was at The Zoo! She wanted to see the animals! She had to ride in the sling so she could see! In fact, she refused to have her head inside the sling pretty much the whole time -- she had to peek around it to see everything.


Okay, I've got a recipe, a book review, and shop news I've been wanting to post for over a week now. And a giveaway! I plan to get that rolling tomorrow, then do the rest next week. Adieu!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

(That means "happy birthday" in German.)

Yesterday, I turned thirty. My hubby planned to take me out to the restaurant of my choice when he got home -- he drove to work instead of taking the train so he could be home half an hour early. But for whatever reason, Dano decided he needed a longer nap than usual. A marathon nap. Usually, he goes to sleep at three-thirty and wakes up anytime between five and seven. My husband got home at 6 as planned, but Dano didn't wake up. We waited. We puttered around doing odd chores. We waited. We gave up on him and made grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Dano slept on. We eventually woke him up at eight-thirty so he'd be up a bit before bedtime and we wouldn't have to worry about him waking up at four in the morning with his usual, "Boing! I'm awake!"

So we went out for lunch today instead. I chose to go to Cafe Little Europa in Brookfield. We'd been there for supper last summer and enjoyed it, but never made it back since. It's a charming little place, and we had a lovely lunch. They had a box full of train tracks and blocks, which Dano loved. He almost didn't want to stop playing to eat, and hopped back off his chair as soon as we'd let him. My hubby had Weiner Schnitzel and I had Sauerbraten, and we ended with yummy dessert: a slice of chocolate mousse cake for me and Palatschinken (a thin crepe) ala mode for my hubby. Dano had macaroni and cheese, but he liked the cheese Spaetzel that came with my hubby's entree just as well. Next time we go there, we'll have to remember just to get him that.

The owner, Manuela Young, has a blog here that is quite fun to read. She's actually from Germany, and we had a nice little visit with her today. She held Mercy for a while so I could eat more easily, and got along with Dano well too.

I know most of my readers and followers don't live around here, but those of you who do and who enjoy trying new foods, I absolutely recommend Cafe Little Europa. It was the perfect place for my slightly belated birthday celebration :-)

Life Lately

Life is starting to settle down a little. Finally! Mercedes turned 6 weeks old yesterday, and while not every day is smooth sailing, at least I'm not physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted every evening. Tired, yes, but not at the end of my patience and energy anymore. We had a great Easter :-)

It helps that we've got Mercedes used to going to sleep at 10pmish instead of midnight now. It also helps that Daniel's adjusting more and more every day to not being the center of his universe anymore. And it helps that she's old enough and it's warm enough that I can take her to shops and things without so much worry of her catching something. I still haven't taken her anywhere really crowded, but we did go to the local train museum (aka Daniel heaven) last week, and to an independently owned yarn store (aka Mommy heaven) that I just discovered not tooooo far away.

It did rain a bit last week. Daniel stayed busy with painting after lunch one day. I figured out a quick way to make him a little painting smock: I took one of my hubby's undershirts that was stained and on the rag pile, cut it off below the breast pocket and trimmed the sleeves, and it's perfect!


And these are Mercedes' tiny feet, which I adore. She's already got little arches! That amazes me no end, because Daniel's feet curved outward for months and months, they were soooo chubby. She's chubby everywhere else, but not those little feet! They're long like Daniel's, though -- she's in some 3-6mo socks already.

So, that's life here lately. I've got some craft projects in the works too, but I'll post about those some other time. Hope your Easter was joyful. Happy spring!

The Flight of Time

Mercedes will be a month old on Monday. How is that possible? Two weeks, that I could believe, but a month? Where did those four weeks go? Sure, I've changed about 900 diapers, sung a million songs, taken her on lots of trips to the playground with Daniel, emptied and refilled the dishwasher a few times, folded some laundry... but a whole month?

Honestly, this makes me feel terribly unproductive. I've been neglecting my shop a lot -- despite working up and taking photos of 20+ new items before Mercedes was born, I've managed to list six. I have a brilliant (I hope) idea for a new product, but I haven't managed to make a prototype yet. I bought incredibly cute fabric to make a new ring sling to carry her around in so I don't have to use the plain blue one I made for Daniel (and thus I won't get any more questions about how old my baby boy is. He's 2 1/2, thanks -- the baby in my sling is a girl, see the pink sleeper?), but I haven't managed to do that either. I did make some brownies today, at least. And I've been doing some writing. But I have all these projects I just can't seem to get around to. ARGH! Very frustrating.

On the other hand, I've done an amazing amount of snuggling with Mercedes, I've built Daniel umpteen bridges and tunnels for his trains, and I've even read a couple books that have more than 20 pages and don't star Winnie the Pooh or Thomas the Tank Engine. So my time has not been wasted, I guess. And the new product idea and ring sling aren't going anywhere -- maybe I'll get to them this weekend.

No, this weekend I should box up all the clothes people have given us for Mercedes so we can actually walk in our bedroom again without knocking over some pile or other.

Urgh.

One Week Old!

I had my baby last Monday! As I had suspected, I had a girl. Why suspected? When I had my ultrasound at 20 weeks, she wouldn't uncross her legs, so we never found out what I was having. But back in early June, I woke up one morning with the firm conviction I was pregnant and having a girl. The pregnancy test confirmed the first fact, but I'd had to trust my gut on the other. I was convinced last time around I was having a boy, and I did, so I was pretty sure I was right this time too.

Daniel is getting pretty well adjusted to life with his little sister now. The first few days were really hard for him because Mommy can't do everything for him that she usually does, like pick him up and carry him. But he's starting to enjoy his new role as a big brother now, and loves bringing toys over to show to Mercedes, especially the new wooden tracks he got this week for his Thomas trains. He even kissed her on the head this morning!
So now you know why I haven't been updating this blog or my shop for a while. Hoping to ease my way back into both now that life is settling down a bit....