my family

Knitting

I’ve been doing a lot of crazy things to get ready for this baby.  Mostly I’ve been trying to get the house organized… in spurts that has left the place a mess.  Who’s going to clean that up?  I have also been doing quite a bit of volunteer work, which always adds to the chaos.  The other thing I have been doing a lot of is knitting… as the title of this post says.

Ezra adopted my first creation as his own.  I wanted to wear this scarf to the park on St. Patrick’s Day since it was a bit chilly in the morn’.  Once I put it on, Ezra said “Hey, that’s mine!”  So he got it, mostly to convince him to be photographed.

I had combed his hair (I’ve discovered the benefits of water and a fine toothed comb to get out the knots) and he had chosen to wear his boots with his shorts, which didn’t leave much room for his legs to show.  It was a funny look and I wanted to capture it.  It wasn’t until he put the scarf on (“I want it to cover my mooouth”) that he agreed to a photograph.

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My second project is for baby X.  He will need a few hats.  My friend Heather and I made a trip to this super cute yarn shop called Knitty Cat south of here.  After the owner, Ann, helped Heather figure out which combination of patterns she should use, she gave us tips on which yarn to choose.  We were then left to find the best colors for the job.  I really wanted to make something too and I since I have no idea what I’m doing when it come to knitting, I decided we could each make the hat.  Heather thought that was a good idea and reminded me that this babe will need a few things that are just his.

This is how the little hat has turned out.  A few mistakes, but nothing earth shattering.  I figure the mistakes will make it obvious that someone, rather than a machine, made this hat.

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I guess I should finish this project, but I’ve already moved onto a blanket.  I need to give these little needles back the Heather.  It’s just so tedious getting the tail knitted.  Tonight, I’ll do it tonight.

Getting Ready for Baby

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The other day we spent after school time at our neighbor’s house.  They have this super comfortable rocking chair that is also super modern.  It reminded me of my chair search a couple weeks ago that turned up some uber-chic rocking chairs.  After that search I looked at the more standard, and affordable, chairs… blah!  Why would I want another one of those?  The last one, although wonderfully useful while it lasted, was very noisy and not very stylish.

Anyway, Zach came to our neighbors to help round up the kids and I mentioned their rocking chair and how we really need one.  Once home, my researcher began a looking on Craig’s List while I was busy getting dinner ready.  By dinner time he had found the chair.  A white Herman Miller shell with arms and a rocker to boot.  For those of you not into vintage modern furniture, let’s just say it’s a very cool chair.  Maybe you’d think this isn’t the most comfortable chair in the world, but our shell chairs for the bar are actually quite comfortable.

So, I called the seller and he was free that night.  After dinner we began to head out when there was a knock at the door.  I had completely forgotten we had an appointment with the EQ.  Well, we said our apologies and headed out the door.  Nesting errands trump visits from people.  Ha!  Sorry guys.

Anyway we got to the seller’s house and he had an upholstered rocker.  Even better.  I sat, rocked, checked it out and we chatted about the history of these chairs.  He said the rockers were made for expecting office workers.  Cool.  It looked good and fit me well; we paid the man and headed home with our treasure.

Once home I realized I could really use this chair in my office while waiting for the baby.  So comfortable.  Not sure I’ll be able to give it up once the baby comes.  I’ll just be nursing and surfing all day long.

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Ezra and Machines

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When Ezra saw this grouping of meters, he got very excited.  When asked if he would like a picture next to them he said “Yes!”

Ezra is totally boy.  He loves fight scenes in movies and tv shows, he loves cars, but mostly he loves, loves, loves any kind of weapon and often asks if he can have a blood sword.  Lately he has been asking if he can have a knife from the kitchen to walk around with.  Oh, he wants to draw blood very badly.  Sounds like he might need a shrink…

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More and More Shirts

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Over the past few months we have made quite a few more of these freezer paper shirts.  They are quite easy and pretty fun to make with the kids.  I have even hosted a shirt making demo/party and taught a few home schooled kids how to make these shirts.

These images are from the demo at my house in December.  It was very hot working in that room.  I sometimes wish for curtains on these windows… but only when entertaining in the day.

That was a great day and it is always nice when everyone is happy with what they created.  I think the most fun is peeling off the stencil to reveal the finished product.

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This next shirt was the one that I probably learned the most on.

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I learned that the background color cannot be painted too dark, or it will bubble if I try to iron on another stencil.  So we painted the figures first and made masks for them so we could paint the red over Leah and C3PO.  In any case this shirt was a huge hit and the girl who received it was wearing it the last time we saw her.

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This was our next venture.  If you notice, the yellow of the toilet is not painted solidly.  I think we painted the blue of the water last, so could make it a solid layer.

Below are a few images of the reaction this shirt got:

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He had to put this shirt on immediately.  Was it the toilet or the cape that made him so excited?  Who knows.  All I know is that he was ecstatic to receive clothing.  Ha!

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We had fun putting this one together.  This was India’s first sunset to paint.  It was also our first attempt to fade the color… if I added water to the paint would I have achieved a smoother gradation?  We’ll have to try that next time.  This shirt was for a tiny baby who’s father is Indian.  I can’t wait until he’s big enough to wear it!

Hats

We all got hats from Grandma this Christmas.  Not just any hats, either.  She knitted a hat for all her kids and their spouces and their children.  The whole family got hats… Hummm, I wonder if the if Jennifer and Jay got hats.  They live in Arizona where it is too hot for anything like a stocking cap to be worn, ever.

Anyway, to say “Thank you” and as a birthday gift I took photographs of the kids in their hats and made a nice storyboard wall hanging for Grandma.  When the box came, I think it took her only a minute before she called to let me know how much she likes it.  Of course I had to get one too.  It is hanging in my office, which I am slowly trying to fill up with images.

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