P52 2012 - Mallory Cowl

Today’s project 52 photo is of me, not by me. I figure I need to get in there every so often, though.

My husband fancies himself a bit of a photographer. I’m here to go on the record… that I agree and disagree. He can find focus on my manual focus lens pretty darn well, considering he rarely uses it. But a portrait photographer he is not. A less flattering set of photos I have never seen. Here we have the best and second best of the set.

Best – angle is still a bit unflattering for my head shape, but at least I’m smiling (at my girls who watched through the doorway.) When I saw these photos I went and checked for Double Chin, because I am known to get one if I’ve been slacking off and I have definitely been dipping into the poutine a bit lately. But my fears were fairly unfounded, things are not perfect and it’s time to start using the second trimester workout video that came in the mail today, but it’s not half as bad as the angle on these photos led me to believe. This is, however, one of the best of the lot.

Second best. Yes, this really was the second best out of about 20 photos. I was talking. I was asking if it looked better when I was smiling or not smiling, and if I should be looking at the camera or not. He was wearing a tshirt because he hadn’t bothered to put his jacket on and just wanted to get back inside.

How unprofessional. It’s like he doesn’t even take me seriously when I say, “Come take a picture of me in this cowl I knitted.”

I’ve already gushed on and on about the Mallory pattern. I used a knitca.com wool yarn and Shannon from luvinthemommyhood.com’s pattern. It’s perfect for Winnipeg where that little v neck on your peacoat is ever so stylish but terribly impractical. It’s doubled up, and if it’s –40 and the wind is howling I can do the one wrap around my neck and the other around my face. The wool isn’t like wearing silk, but it’s not too itchy either. I can wear it comfortably and will even likely knit up a matching hat.

I’m a knitting machine!

I can only assume that, like some sort of disease, knitting is contagious. I used to do knitting, when Nicole was just born. I jumped into it with both feet, starting off with a baby sweater. Things went swimmingly (despite my fear of cables) until I tried to knit a beautiful brown sweater for myself in a bamboo yarn. It took me a year of picking up and putting down (because I’d pause for a few months here and there) because it was a really fine gauge yarn. When I finally finished, the sweater was drapey, lovely, yummy looking. And absolutely positively did not suit my figure, at all. I was traumatized. I’ve barely picked up my needles since.

Then I repinned this little vest pattern, and a friend commented that she’d knit it and it was a quick, simple, lovely knit. Feeling bold, I knit it up for Olivia. Having made it too small, I made it again. This time it was a bit roomy but perfect, in my opinion. I had deliberately made it a bit long so it would last a long time. And then Nicole stole it and claimed it as her own, and because she’s kind of a twig, and the vest was made a bit roomy and long, it actually fit her. I did enjoy myself, and noted that knitting is quite good for watching Shows. But it was supposed to be a one-time deal.

More recently, Shannon finished her Adult Mallory Cowl pattern. “Well, that looks pretty simple.” I thought to myself. “I bet I could find my big-girl pants and make that.” Then I filed it away in my brain / Pinterest forever. OR DID I? No, the stars aligned. I won the ability to choose a WagJag deal from www.bargainmoose.com and the only thing that interested me was a $60 credit to www.knitca.com … soon after, there was yarn on its way. Lots and lots of yarn. “I can just crochet with the rest of it when I’m done the Mallory,” I thought to myself.

 

some of my lovelies; the first is already my cowl 

But no. I finished the Mallory up lickity-split. (stars have not aligned for that photo yet. I even put on makeup yesterday, and straightened my hair today. But no, not yet. On the bright side I look 57% better than normal lately.) And something was lit up inside of me. Something about those rows of little v’s… they called to me. My first love is still crochet, and I do have this pattern started, but then Olivia and my couch conspired together to have the hook go missing. I need to start buying doubles of my hooks, because is it just me, or do hooks go missing 600% more often than knitting needles? They fall out of your work so much easier. (although I’d cry if my kids pulled my needles out of my work. I’m pregnant, I can cry over whatever I want to cry over.)

So now until I have either found the missing hook or bought a new one, I’m starting up on this pattern. Both sweaters are for Nicole, but seriously, I know for sure that provided she doesn’t mutilate it, items knitted for her can be passed down to the next little girl. We may be betting on team pink, but I’ll still reach for the size four pattern first. Not to mention if I make something for Olivia she’s like “Oh clothes, can I rip them off easily to be free and naked? No? Then it’s not exciting.” Whereas for Nicole she’s so excited she’ll steal things from Olivia and stretch them to fit.

And if you’re wondering, pink. It’s all pink. I have some grey yarn and good intentions but the public cries out for pink. And the public includes daddy, of course. (the first pink yarn pictured is for this one, the second is for the flower bolero.)

Kicking Pillows

I’ve been on a bit of a pillow kick lately. I bought some sweaters a while back to turn into pillows for my livingroom and finally got around to it the other day. I have to shrink up the front pillowcase a bit, it’s a bit wide. The one behind turned out a bit sad and misshapen so it’s hiding back there for a reason, but it’s perfect to shove behind my back. The nicer pillow was kind of an ugly sweater, I think. Covered in pearl and rhinestone buttons, including the sleeves, it was… a lot. I paid around $2 and cackled all the way home, then asked Chris if he liked my pretty new sweater. I was expecting awkward silence but I like to take home ugly things and pretend I love them and then laugh and explain what I’m doing with them, so he had picked up on the pattern and was on to me. Whatevs.

When I did the second pillow I had learned from my mistakes a little bit, and decided I would make my pillow open-and-closeable. Next time again, I’ll do this a bit better; After I’d already cut out my pillow shapes, I decided to use the bottom hem of the sweater as my button plackets. So I had to piece it together a bit, but next time I would just cut off the bottom hem first and have the front and back pieces as two perfectly good placket pieces. This sweater had an actual hem instead of ribbing so it worked out quite perfectly. Add in some fabric-covered buttons and you have a happy pillow. Nicole tried to steal this sparkly princessy pillow and refused to give it back, until bedtime when she realized that sparkly gem-covered pillows aren’t great for putting your face on.

Pillow forms are about $5 a pop at walstoremartplace. So for the pretty pillow, which (mildly imperfect placket ignored) would have cost about $30+ and not been washable, I spent about $7.

And for the record, I used white thread and a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine. Yes, my serger is perfect for this kind of project, but it had pink thread in it, which would have shown through. (ask how I know. Pillow number one, that’s how.) I have another project in mind which calls for that pink thread so I didn’t feel like rethreading it when a zig zag works perfectly fine and I knew this pillow had a life expectancy of about a year. (I have kids and a dog. The dog likes to sleep on it like a big priss, and the kids like to throw it on the floor for her because it looks funny.) After the pillow is permanently stained and half the buttons are gone, I can take the pillow form and make a new pillow! 

Tomorrow I’ll share an even cooler pillow project that will come with a bit of a how-to. I’m trying to decide if I should go for a full-blown tutorial, since I’m pretty sure I made it up, but I have to do a quick search first to confirm that. If I do do a full tutorial I won’t reveal the project until I do.

I’ve been very on-topic and that’s almost disturbing, so I’ll random it up a bit with a little tale I just remembered. I like to self-diagnose on google and WebMD and a few months ago I was feeling completely exhausted and under the weather. I had some cramping as well. I plugged all my symptoms into Web MD and I was informed that I was experiencing terrible PMS, or pregnant.

“Stupid WebMD. Wrong on both counts.”

Lol nope.

Friday Favourites

Does anyone feel crazy over how I spell that? If I recall, the American way is favorites. We Canadians do love to sneak u in wherever we can. Interpret that as you will.

 

If this isn’t the prettiest cookie I’ve seen all year, I don’t know what is. I kind of want to make them for Shannon’s knitalong and feign total innocence over my loose interpretation of knitted mittens. Except I think actual mittens would probably be easier.

 

Speaking of Shannon, she released her Mallory Cowl adult pattern this week! I have yarn on the way for this. Ironically, by the time the yarn arrives our butt-numbingly cold spell will have ended and we’ll be experiencing normal weather again. For now.

 

This needs no explaining. Where I found it on Pinterest, the linkback brings you to Facebook, but obviously this is brought to you by the cynical minds at www.someecards.com

 

I made this French Onion Soup last week. And then I ate it. And then when I could find it in me to fit more food in my body, I ate it again. And then I ate it again the next day. Because this is quite serious and generous when it says it serves six, and Nicole isn’t a soup person, and mainly because it’s amazing. I used Canadian Rye Bread (it’s a different creature. When we ordered rye bread in North Dakota, the waitress took one look at our bewildered faces and kindly said, “You’re Canadians, aren’t you…?”) and chedder cheese on it because it’s what was in my kitchen, and it was magical. This recipe calls for red wine, and it gives it a nice richness that just… yumm. I want to make it tomorrow.

 

Oh, how sweet, how fresh, how darling. This simple little leaves headband just makes me think of warm weather and fresh air. I love it.

 

Googiemama’s 4-bunk bed is only the beginning of as far as this lovely bedroom is concerned. Not only do each of the beds have their own light and privacy curtain, there’s hidden storage. There’s space to play. There’s a striped ceiling. There’s dresser space for four girls, and sparkly light fixtures, and some of my favourite colors. Go look, it will make you feel like a slacker if you painted your kids walls and called it a day last time you redecorated. (guilty.)

 

I think I have some more rad things I found this week but my monsterface baby is sitting beside me – she is supposed to be in bed, to start off with – and she’s pulling my hair, right in the back where it hurts. If I go “OW!” and scold her she laughs this out-of-breath-I’m-laughing-so-hard laugh. This baby does not take me seriously, at all. My mom-voice has been known to cause grown men to stop dead in their tracks. Stuff of legends here, folks.

But Olivia? Olivia laughs her bum off at me.

I never thought I’d be a mom who would ask her husband to give her kids trouble for her. But there are times when Chris walks in the room and I turn and desperately ask him to give her trouble for something, like pushing the glass top off the coffeetable or standing on the dining room table. If he sounds mildly displeased, she bursts into tears. I’ve tried all range of emotions, facial expressions, etc. and I am just a clown as far as she’s concerned. A sitcom character. I sincerely hope she outgrows this.

a monster, the likes of which the world has never known

And to conclude on yet another unrelated note, I’m in my second trimester now! Exciting. I celebrated by feeling the constant desire to put food in my belly lest I feel unwell. I need to stock up on celery or something…

P52 2012 - miles of smiles

Olivia greets me cheerfully while people-watching in the front window

This picture could definitely be sharper in focus, I’ve been coming to realize that my auto focus doesn’t actually necessarily do a better job than when I manually focus with my favourite lens. Kind of a bummer, actually, but at the same time a good thing; on both parts, because that means I don’t actually need a new lens, it won’t likely actually help me out that much. I could maybe use a new camera body so I can bump my ISOs without killing with noise, but boohoo cry me a river because that is not on the menu. Mama needs new shoes. Or rather, new places for shoes. More square footage. By reno or moving van, this just under 1000 square foot home is at maximum capacity with 3 adults, two children, a dog, a business, and a ridiculous amount of hobbies betwixt them all. Sometime in the next year, something needs tweaking. Time will tell!

Speaking of what time will tell, I heard Baby V3’s heartbeat yesterday! Always such an awesome thing. I hope I’m not alone in sort of suspecting that I’m not actually pregnant despite all signs to the contrary until that little galloping sound. Baby V3 had a heartbeat over 160, so we are placing our wager in the Team Pink category just for fun, old wives tales, and the fact that this is the third fast heartbeat in a row. But once again… time will tell!

Nicole’s Skirt Project

First off, a quick follow-up to Monday’s post. Little Hailey’s heart surgery was successful with very few complications. She did better than expected, swelling is not bad, and she is busy healing up. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with her family, we are glad that the waiting can be with a lighter heart now, and hope that soon they can be back home! (If you’re curious, her dad is my cousin.)

Now, onto the project I did with Nicole! Thursday’s post left you with an image of Nicole heart at work (haaa) cutting away at her skirt project.

Before I give it away, here’s a few more images, see if you can guess what kind of skirt she was making!

Does that line give it away a little bit??

Teehee, I’m sorry, when those pants slipped down I couldn’t resist. Hard at work! There was so much focus, it made my day. Here’s the skirt we were working on… the circle skirt tutorial by Dana at MADE!

After I’d sat down with a coffee and some sailor-talk to figure out the maths (anticlimactically, the maths were stupidly easy, so I had to browse Pinterest for a few minutes to finish my coffee) and let Nicole choose a fabric out of my stash, the whole procedure took about an hour. Ten minutes of that, at least, were spent rethreading my serger with pink thread, and then re-rethreading it after I’d tried to take a shortcut and learned a valuable lesson that sergers don’t take shit from nobody.

The fabric Nicole chose is from Ikea, my mother in law (aka Nana) brought it and a few others down the last time she was visiting. She watches the as-is section for me. (our Ikea is supposed to open this year! Right around the same time I have a baby, I hear! Do they have prime parking for people with babies??)

So, I’ll break down Nicole Did and Laura Did.

Laura did the maths. Nicole chose the fabric and the length of skirt she wanted. Laura drew on the fabric with the magic fabric marker. Nicole cut the skirt out and chose the color of thread for the serger. Laura rethreaded the serger lovingly, serged the raw edges of skirt + waist elastic, and sewed waistband elastic into a circle and pinned it like mad. Then Nicole + Laura sat together and slowly sewed the skirt to the waistband with a zigzag stitch. Then Nicole wore the skirt and gave joint credit to both of us for making it. (which is funny, because she spent more time on it than I did, and if she tosses sprinkles on or chocolate in to a batch of cookies she claims full credit.)

It’s a big old full spinny skirt. I’m actually surprised she wanted it so long, she would have gone floor length if I had let her. I went and did a more practical tea length so she wouldn’t land on her face all the time. Once summertime hits, I’m going to invest in a rainbow of tanktops so she can wear this skirt and others like it with joy and happiness and leggings-turned-int0-modesty-shorts-because-she-ripped-all-the-knees.

She was so excited about her skirt that it was impossible to catch a good picture of her. “Well, what of outside?” you ask. I missed my window of Uncommonly Decent Weather and it is –40 (C and F match at 40, kids) with windchill today, so, yeah. No outside shots. (“Wait, what?” ask those of you who weren’t here last year. “Winnipeg.” I say, and we both nod sagely.)

But here is a shot of the skirt folded up a bit. The waistband is literally just a thick white elastic. I could have dyed it if I wasn’t doing a quick project that I didn’t want to turn into a non-quick project. I really recommend Dana’s Tutorial. I’m thinking about making one for me, with that elastic it would likely work great as a maternity skirt this spring. I bet you could whip up an entire family’s worth of skirts in an afternoon, it really is that easy, especially if you serge the bottom hem.

Prayers

Hey everyone, I know I had teased about posting about the sewing project Nicole and I did the other day and said it would go up today.

However, I’m not feeling the blogging today; today my cousin’s little baby girl, Hailey, in in surgery. As I type this, the surgeon is operating on her tiny little heart. It’s been a long hard road of ups and downs for her and her family since she’s been born, and the goal along the road has been to get her healthy and strong for this surgery. She was flown in to Vancouver last week after the local doctors had determined that there was nothing more they could do for her here and it was time to head there for her surgery.

Say a little prayer for her and her family (mom, dad, and big brother) today, if you well. So far everything is going well, and there are so, so many prayers going up today that this surgery will go great and that she can be on track for a ‘normal’ life… no more tubes, IVs, or hospitals.

____

So I thought I posted this when I wrote it, but I didn’t; so I’ll give you the update. The surgery is complete, things went well with very little by the way of complications. If all goes well in the healing process, hopefully the family will be headed home in no time!

Friday Favourites

I think you should all know that the song in my head right now is The Little Peoples rendition of “Music is to dance to, if you like to dance, me I like to dance each time I have a chance… like a ballerina or a hip hop diva…” actually, now that I think about it, I suspect that is a Little Peoples original. Anyways, now that you have that critical information in your minds, lets move forward.

 

I know I shared a link with you in the Christmas Dress post to a peasant top tutorial that spans many sizes, but that involves creating your own pattern. If using a pattern is more in your comfort zone, this sweet little 0-3 m Peasant Dress pattern will be right up your alley,and a darling baby gift.

 

Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Depending on how recently I’ve birthed a child and the amount of energy that tends to be directly proportional to the activity of said child, in the opposite direction. This year, Olivia is climbing on tables and continuing to defy death on the regular, so maybe not… but then again, this chain of hearts is so charming, I might just shove her in the pack’n’play and go to town. (I have no idea what the original site says, at all. For all I know it’s a string of chinese cuss symbols. In which case, my bad.)

 

I am all about charming today, I guess. Doesn’t this just make you smile? It just makes me smile. This is another foreign site, I have no idea what those Brits are saying, either. Juuuuust kidding. This link is a via but credit where credit is due… from the link you can find the etsy shop of the crafty lady who makes these little charmers. Sigh. I’ll take the sewing machine sewing kit and the red/turquoise bunting makeup bag, plus the embroidery hoop art of course…

 

More bunting! I am the last person to jump on the bunting bandwagon… that or I just needed the buntings to get really, really tiny. I do love tiny things. And ruffles! Guys, this cake (link is to a roundup of cakes) wouldn’t even be that hard. A medium consistency buttercream icing in pure white to do the ruffles from the bottom up, after icing and smoothing both cakes… the same tip to do the white ‘ribbon’ line around the bottom of the upper tier… and then dowels. The bunting looks to be bakers twine hand stitched through bunting.

 

Oh, you guys. You know Katy Dill always has a winner up her sleeve, and this sleeve is no exception. Even better, this is actually a tutorial for a cute little cross-over bodice shirt. For some reason it took me until the last pictures to realize this shirt was for one of her baby Dills (I know, that picture is kind of a giveaway, but I only noticed the sleeve. I’m a little excitable, you’d be surprised to hear.) and I got quite excited about the thought to make it into a maternity shirt. And you know what? I still may. A crossover top, cute little ruched sleeves, and then just toss some extra room into the front of the empire-waist top with either gathers or pleats… I like it. Probably gathers to go with the sleeves. I have a nice, flowy black and white knit large-print floral. Say that ten times fast. Anyways, hey ho lets go. Maybe next weeks project? And I know, not all of you sew and those of you that don’t are probably all like SUUUUUUURE dear, whatever you say. Sorry. Here’s food again:

 

This is The Pioneer Woman’s Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika. No, wait, let me finish before you stampede over there. I haven’t made this yet, I bought all the ingredients I knew I didn’t have onhand and I marked it on the calendar to make yesterday and got terribly excited. I didn’t buy beef because I have a large portion of a cow in my chest freezer, and I didn’t buy beer because I requested a manfolk (there are two here) do that. When I went to go grab the beef to defrost, I realized that basically all I have left are Tbone steaks and ground beef. Not helpful. I also did not have beer. I could have just picked up beer, but I didn’t want to make two stops when I had thought I’d have a stay-at-home day. I explained to my hubby that I didn’t have beer or beef, and Stew With And Paprika sounded much less appetizing. So we ordered pizza. The end. Now I hope to make it this weekend. Wish me luck, and have a great weekend!

What’s your favourite recipe? What do you like better… tiny things, or oversized things?

P52 2012 - Hard At Work

This week I had a project in mind for Nicole and I. She’s always asking me to sew for her lately, ever since I made her the Christmas dress. I’m quite pleased, don’t get me wrong, but it occurred to me to sew something WITH her. When I told her she was going to sew a skirt, she asked for the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love (amazon.com referral link) with excitement. I handed over the book, but gently told her that while she could definitely look for inspiration, for her first sewing project we were going to go for something a little simpler. And I’ll share more about that on Monday’s crafty post!

Look at me all following a pattern. Crafty on Monday, free days Tuesday and Wednesday, P52 on Thursday, and Friday Favourites on Saturday. Kidding. Anyways, we’ll see how long it lasts, but I’m happy with the structure so far… a little planning and structure around here has been a long time coming!

If you’re a blogger, do you follow a schedule, or go with the flow? And either way, do you think I’m crazy for wanting to ease into sewing with my 4 year old? She’s not into Zhu Zhu Pets or Barbies – although she loves LaLaLoopsy mini figures – but crafting is where her heart lies. Do you craft with your kids? Or do you leave crafts for school?

Yes, Ryan Gosling. Yes you may.

 

Yes you may give me a hand massage.

I know, everyone and their dog has been reposting these handmaderyangosling memes. I just can’t resist this one, it’s my favourite.

Reason one: Of course Ryan Gosling can give me a hand massage. That’s a given. If Ryan Reynolds would treat me to a nice lunch and then go fabric shopping with me and hold all the bolts, then my day would be pretty much complete.

Reason two: Egads, after 6 hours of crocheting – which I have definitely done, more than once – ‘a hand massage’ is the best three words you could possibly say. Unless you’re saying, “I bet you could sure use a hand massage.” and then walking away, in which case, you’re probably evil and possibly my husband.

Reason three: I always love a hand massage. Last weekend my hubby randomly surprised my girlfriend and I with a spa trip for a massage and pedicure  (things like this totally null out his Dark Side, which was noted in reason 2), and I always forget until the middle of the massage that when they say ‘any areas in particular’ I should say ‘80% hand massage please and thankyou’ because quite honestly, that’s my favourite. Possibly quite a waste of a massage, but yes. Hand massage. Yesssssss.