{Their World}

Every once in a while I'll leave my camera unattended, and later find the strangest, and sometimes most entertaining photos when I go to upload my memory card on to my computer.
Here are today's winners:

At Last, She Knits! {yarn along}



I've spent the last few glorious {albeit sleepless} weeks in a drunken romance with Lotte.
I can't get enough of her, I just soak up every second I can.
We spend a lot of time curled up together on the couch while she eats. {or should I say, "snacks"?}

This has led to a lot of Internet time...and while I can't type with both hands, I can watch netflix, and YouTube!
Late last night while Lotte was in one of those "I'm no longer hungry but can we still play?" moods, it dawned on me to check out YouTube for knitting instructions. I can knit flat/square things in basic stitches, but circular knitting has always left me puzzled and confused, and my poor needles always end up shoved back in a box for "later". A girl can only knit so many scarves!

 I'm a hands on & visual learner, but I don't know anyone personally who can knit, {that lives anywhere near here anyway}, no one in my family knits,  and unfortunately I had always attempted to learn from what I like to call "the book of poorly illustrated diagrams".

But with the help of a few videos I've finally figured out circular knitting. I messed around with working four needles, and magic looping.{What an incredible concept!}


I found an easy beginner pattern that I'm really excited about trying.

I don't think that I'll  try alternating colours just yet though...one step at a time!

p.s. I haven't been reading much lately other than a few magazines. I'll be working on finding something soon though. My hours are numbered, so whatever book I find has to be worth my time!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny today in the weekly Yarn Along...

I've finally finished the little grey picot sweater for my niece.
I actually finished this up a couple of weeks ago, but didn't add the buttons until last night. I had to add something pink to it, so that she'll actually wear it! (She's rather choosy about her outfits, you see...) I also made a little hat to go with it. She won't be getting this until Christmas, but I'll be sure to take a picture of her in it when she finally gets it.



I've gotten a little further on the baby blanket-I love that this has such a simple pattern, so I can take it anywhere and pick it up where I left off without looking at the instructions-until I get to the border that is.

 I've been taking this blanket along with me everywhere to keep my hands busy.

To the midwife's office, the hospital when I visit my sweet itty bitty niece and nephew (who are doing fabulous, by the way, and are no longer so itty-bitty) and even to church.
I've mixed the pattern up a little, and I'm using two different shades of pink, just for kicks.

I finally found a book of my own to read.

Aside from the boys' homeschooling books that is. As fun as they are, I need a break from Daniel Boone, William Tell, and every other macho historical hero!

I'm a good chunk into "the Help" and have fallen in love with it. I adore the way that it's written from the different perspectives of each character, and that it's written in the way that they would actually speak.

Unfortunately though, having always struggled to fight my already "southern" accent, I find that after reading a chapter or two my accent starts to come back.
The boys pointed it out this afternoon, I hadn't really noticed. Zeke asked if I had been speaking with relatives back home on the phone. It comes out after those long phone calls sometimes, I just can't help it.

I'm loving the book so much that I'm afraid I'll now be disappointed with the movie!

DIY+Pregnant Brain



Without getting into too many details-the baby is going to be a little longer than we thought. We were afraid that she was going to be early, and now that she isn't, I sort of feel like I'm living life in limbo.
I don't know if it's just me, or women in general, who find the strangest tasks to pass time until a baby arrives.

Suddenly, the weirdest things pop on to our 'to do' lists, and become oddly important. And the tasks seem to grow weirder and weirder with each baby.

Right before I had Reuben, for some reason, I decided that my living room futon needed a new cover. Not great timing, but not so strange.

Before I had Zeke, I needed to get all my Christmas cards done early-not just written, that wasn't good enough. They had to be handmade as well. Oh, and I had to make a bunch of "snowflake" ornaments that I had seen in a Martha Stewart Kids magazine, out of pipe cleaners and borax. Yes, that's right, pipe cleaners.


My mom also contributes to this fun little routine-I think that she nests right along with us. When I was pregnant with Zeke, she decided that for some reason, I had too many kinds of salad dressing in my refrigerator and dumped them all together into one bottle-and then afterwards laughed about how that probably wasn't really helpful but it just seemed so important at the time.

That, and that's what her Mom always did to "help". Grandma even had a sick little motto about her own tendency to condense one's refrigerator contents..."Best kinds mixed!!"

I couldn't help but laugh last week, when the two of us sat in my living room, and we found ourselves performing the strangest tasks yet-all in the name of "getting ready for baby."

 Well, maybe not stranger than the salad dressing.

Mom had suddenly decided that it was time to pair my family's odd socks. I had quite a stash, several bags actually, and she got them all out and started playing go-fish. She actually found quite a few matches. Apparently I do not need to add socks to my Christmas list this year.

I, on the other hand, found myself cutting up toilet paper rolls, and actually using them for crafts, like I was a first grader all over again. 

After getting some raised eyebrows from Mark and my sister when they found my hidden stash of empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls-and I refused to tell them what they were for, I got down to business.

Cross legged on the couch, huffing and puffing through "false" labour (lemme tell ya, there ain't NOTHIN' false about contractions-whether they're doing anything productive or not) and gluing bits of cardboard into a floral pattern.

As absurd as it sounds, it didn't turn out half bad. I plan to take this carnival act one step further and bring spray paint into the game-something bright and shiny, and hang it on the wall over the little Miss's crib.

For the record, after he saw the finished product, even Mark admitted that my strange little creation was actually kinda cool.

...

If you'd like to make your own flower, all you need is toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls) and craft glue.
Flatten the rolls, cut into bands (a toilet paper roll should give you about four circles).
Pop them out a bit so that you have a flower petal shape, and glue together on a flat surface, in any pattern you desire!

Yarn Along : Picot Bottomed Pee Pee Pants

Joining Ginny again in today's Yarn Along...

I've finally finished up a little project-wee soaker pants. I tried to find a pattern I liked, but they all seemed to be knitted, and alas, I cannot knit. (yet...) And the crochet patterns that I did find all seemed to be really loosely stitched, which sort of defeats the purpose.
So, I took a stab at making up my own. I still have to make a little drawstring of some sort, as these are perfectly square to accommodate those puffy little diapers.
And an added funny bonus, they're self standing!

I know these posts should include what I'm reading, however I haven't done much leisurely reading at all lately. Almost all my reading has been from the boys' homeschooling curriculum. (Which I confess, I rather enjoy...especially the history.) Right now we're starting into Canadian History with "Discover Canada".
I'm trying to get the boys off to a good start in so that we can take a few days off when the little Miss arrives.

I'm in the last stretch of pregnancy and scrambling to get some things done around here. However, I've been told to take it *really* easy at least for another week, until I hit 37 weeks. My midwife is afraid that I'll go early if I move too much. So I've been folding laundry, and organizing boxes etc from the couch...slowly crossing things off my list. 

Luckily, I have the sweetest mother and sister in the world who have come over to help me on several occasions and do the things that I'm not supposed to be doing. (Painting, carrying laundry and boxes etc-since we had to completely empty our baby room-it was our storage unit!)

Last week I made this baby sling (sewing is a sitting activity, thank goodness!!) I may post a tutorial on it soon. I love the way it fits and holds a position snugly. I even tried it out with my 3 year old niece. She thought it was pretty funny to be put in a baby sling, but cooperated for the sake of my experiment. I told her it was for the baby, and she happily obliged.

I've just started on this sweet little baby blanket in a really yummy strawberry colour. I really don't think that I'll get this done before the big day, but I'm quite OK with that. It's just going to be something to do when I *have* to be sitting...and maybe something I'll pick up now and then after the baby is born as we're cuddling. I can't wait for all those sweet snuggles!

Yarn Along

One of my friends, Rachel, has been blogging these glorious photos of her knitting work in stages and I asked her if I could join her in her weekly post. Apparently it's not just her, but a whole group of classy gals-with Ginny as their ring leader.

I'm not much of a knitter-(i can make a washcloth and a scarf, that's about it-think *square things*) but I have been crocheting quite a bit lately. Basically, any time I have to put my swollen feet up, I'm either illustrating, carving rubber stamps for my shop or crocheting.


I started this adorable little sweater last weekend. 
I'm fairly new at following patterns. My mom taught me a ton of stitches, and I've been crocheting for years, but I didn't know the names for any of the stitches, their abbreviations, or how to read a pattern.

Although it seemed to go smoothly for the most part, I ended up making it a little larger-which started out by accident (wrong gauge really..doh!) but then decided to continue it and make it for my 3 year old niece, who will fit it quite nicely.

I still have to do the sleeves and find the perfect buttons for it.
My nieces paternal great grandmother just passed away (Granny was one awesome woman!) and I'm told that she left a huge button stash-so I'm hoping to find some buttons from that collection for her.

Oh, and by the way, this sweet dresser is going to be our change table-It's the perfect height! All I have to do is add a cushion to the top.
(There are drawers, they're just already moved up to the baby room- I haven't moved the actual dresser yet.)


I'm debating at painting vs. refinishing. *neither of which will happen before the baby, I'm sure.*
I'm normally all for keeping old furniture in it's original state unless it's already been painted. But my sister told me that this would look neat with just the drawers painted, or everything painted BUT the top....

Any opinions? Either way, it's adorable!