Well the time has arrived for baby #2 to make his entrance. We are going in tonight and I am so hopeful that we will have him by tomorrow afternoon. Prayers for a speedy and safe delivery are more than welcome!
Here’s a last minute project I did for his room. A $10 frame from Target, a vest I knit, and some darling socks a friend from church made.
Ever since I started cloth diapering, I wanted to try out a soaker cover. Soaker covers are knit with 100% wool and are praised for their ability to “breathe” and wick moisture into the cloth insert. I finally got around to making one for Elias. I figured if it worked well for him I could whip up a few smaller ones for the new baby.
I used the pattern Curly Purly Soaker. You can find this FREE pattern HERE. It was pretty easy to knit, although I relied heavily on other feedback from Ravelry users. (If you are a knitter, you HAVE to be on Ravelry. It is free and an incredible resource!!!)
As our days get hotter, I can really see how the wool is much more breathable than some of the other covers I have. I also think Elias really enjoyed wearing it around for the first time. Even though it is 100% wool, it seems pretty soft against his skin.
I used one of the inserts I made from Tony’s old t-shirts and a couple pins…eventually I plan to purchase a different fastener instead of the pins.
Another plus to wool soaker covers, is that you don’t have to wash them as often as other covers. I’ve heard you only have to wash it once every week or two! The power of sheep! One of the reasons you use 100% wool is that wool has a natural oil in it called lanolin which helps contain the wetness involved with diapers. I bought a little bottle of detergent that has extra lanolin added to help the soaker retain that benefit.
The verdict is still out on the soaker cover, but just thought I would share some of our latest adventures in babyville.
I know, I am supposed to be quilting now that all my old knitting projects are finished, but… Knitting and pregnancy just go together so well! I can sit in the lazy-boy, kick my feet up, and be brainless with a pair of needles. This is another project that I cast on and finished in a couple days. It is Debbie Bliss’ Baby Leg Warmers from her book Design It, Knit It: Babies
I have been doing an itty bitty amount of quilting. Here are some new blocks I put together. They are not finished yet, but I had to show you something to prove that I do actually sew.
I discovered that this bird print goes perfectly with a lot of my modern prints in my stash. Fun to mix them all up!
And here is what I do a lot of during my day. Mommy stuff. Elias is 14 months now and we are busy discovering new things every day.
Last week, I cast on and completed a new knitting project! (Remember, I had to finish everything that was on my needles before I started something new.) I decided on some Duffers. They went together so quickly! I actually made 2 slippers in one day, but decided that the first came out too small, so I had to make a third one the next day. The pattern is easy and FREE! You can find it HERE.
This project does involve felting which means that you make the original slippers larger than you want out of 100% wool. Then you wash them in hot water until they shrink to the size you want. Here are my original slippers pre-felting. I picked the colors, soft pink and natural, right after I found out I was having another boy. I think I was craving some girly sweetness…
I ran the slippers once through a hot load of laundry, but decided I didn’t want to babysit my washing machine, so I finished by hand. I filled my sink with hot soapy water and then went back and forth from that to an icy bowl of water. That worked fine, but was taking a bit of time, so I boiled some water to try and make it go faster. Talk about lack of patience! (The way felting works is that the hot water relaxes the fibers in the wool and then you shock them back with the cold water, causing your item to shrink.)
After 3 days of air drying, they are finally done! Almost. I sewed on some buttons this morning, so that I could easily see which was the right and left foot. DONE! Happy feet.
Another knitting project done! I finished the rather ugly old-school sweater about a week ago, but I have been waiting to have my lovely husband take a picture of me in it. (To prove to you that it actually fits!) We took the picture this morning…he was being a bit of a lazy camera man…and then, as only a husband can say, informed me that there was no way I would want the picture on the internet. Supposedly my hair was crazy and I did not look blog worthy. So you get the sweater on a hanger. I’m so glad it is done!!! 7 years in the making. In all, it turned out pretty good. I probably should have done a couple more rows on the neck, but I was so scared it was going to turn into a mock turtle type neck that I made it a little short. Tony also informed me that the neck is somewhat square. I said I liked square necks. :)
This morning I was also naughty and took a trip to the library before Elias got up. Just what I need. More reading. My brother would make fun of me for my reading material choices, but I know what I like. Christian historical fiction. I’m a sucker for it.
And JUST finished, are my first ever knitted socks. I love them! I keep telling Tony he is jealous, he just hasn’t realized it yet. (He’s currently scrambling to update our March Madness brackets because I have declared that I am whooping him. HA! I really think I might be.)
