Three steps forward, two steps back.

ust a few days before Justin left I picked up a new stash of super colorful alpaca and bamboo yarn. It was definitely a splurge but I knew that it would be something fun and new to work on and occupy my mind in these first few days/weeks.
Now, it's not as if I don't already have about 5 unfinished projects going on already--and I am making slow progress on them--but I hit a roadblock on this one project in particular that really frustrated me, so I shifted gears from knitting on that one to starting a crochet baby blanket in my new yarn.
I love crochet for many reasons, one of which being how quickly it works up. I only sat down with this blanket maybe three or four nights for a couple of hours to get this far, and I guess I got so wrapped up in enjoying the mindlessness of it that it's taken me this long to realize I made the blanket way too wide for a baby blanket. I tend to do that...my blankets are always gargantuan. I was tempted to just keep going on this one and have it be a regular throw, but with the yarn being so pricey and my original intent for it to be for the baby's room, I'm going to go ahead and take it all back apart.
The past couple of days have felt like that in more than one way. I have been keeping myself busy and getting some good things done, but somewhere mid afternoon or evening time I sometimes hit a wall. I guess it's when I get tired enough to really sit down and stop to think, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the amount of things to do around the house, and by my fresh feelings of loneliness. It's not crippling or anything, and I do feel like I'm making progress, but like the blanket, I sometimes feel I've taken three steps forward only to have to take two back. Still, that's one up for the day and that's not bad.
It's hard for me to grasp that tomorrow will be August. That means I've got a bit over two months until the new little one arrives, and that's a tiny bit stress-making. Her room is a catch-all for toys and diapers and the crib is full to the brim of junk I needed out of the way. I have about an eighth of the painters tape on the wall where I intend to paint some stripes, a chair that needs re-upholstering, prints to frame and hang, clothes to sort and wash, and a better storage solution to find for Evie's toys that now occupy the middle of the room. That's a lot, but it wouldn't feel so overwhelming if it weren't for the fact that just about every other room in the house needs some TLC too.
On a side note, Evie is now claiming Justin as an alibi for other mysteries...when her second tennis shoe went missing this morning she exclaimed, "Daddy...tookit...Af-gan-stan." Turned out, it was actually in the kitchen.

Wrist action

Justin gave me some fantastic yarn as part of my Christmas present. He chose several colors, and got me one skein in each, so I needed a project that would not require too much yarn. After long admiring Sandra Juto's Wrist Worms, I thought I would try my hand making something similar for myself.

It took me several tries, experimenting with different stitches, circumferences and lengths, but I finally arrived at a pattern that works for me. I chose to make mine are lengthier than Sandra's, but I wanted to retain the beautiful simplicity of her design.

Sadly, for both the heathered grey and the burnt orange colors, I need a second skein in order to have one for each hand! I'd rush to order another, but Justin and I are experimenting with a personal spending hiatus in order to focus on what we already have (but that's another story...), so I'll have to wait a little while in order to complete the pairs.

I suppose, however, that really I'm just fine with only one for now, seeing as my left wrist is living in a brace these days. I was diagnosed with tenosynovitis last week when I finally broke down and saw the doctor after about 6 months of chronic wrist pain. It's been mostly in my left hand, although my right hand will occasionally begin to hurt too. It's funny to me, because Justin and I had termed it "Mommy Wrist," to know that apparently it's a common ailment among mothers because of all that baby-liftin'. I am supposed to wear the brace for three weeks. If there has not been improvement by that point they do a steroid injection into the place where the tendons are inflamed. Yikes! I am looking to avoid that, so I've been dutifully wearing my brace, although I feel rather silly doing so as it is such a lame injury. People have been asking me with concern what happened and I feel sheepish giving the ultimately boring explanation of "inflamed tendons from baby lifting."

I was thinking of spicing up my explanation...maybe instead I could tell of...arm wrestling with Katee Sackhoff...my new hobby watermelon juggling...or an unfortunate encounter with a wild turkey at the OKC zoo.

Deck the Halls

I have about six craft projects in the works at any given time. It's so easy to keep gathering materials for them, and you can come across so many neat ideas for things; it's much more difficult finding the time to actually do them.

Lately I've been looking around and taking inventory of all the unfinished projects...my granny square blanket (I've lost most of my motivation on that one as it came through the move a little musty), another crocheted afghan I'd nearly finished only to have to unravel and rework due to shoddy joining technique, a Christmas quilt, stockings (indefinitely on hold), oh, and there are so many more. I decided it was a good time to stop collecting and start working with what I have. First up was this ornament wreath I've been wanting to make ever since I came across this photo on flickr by pixiegenne. I still like hers more, but I think I made a fair approximation, especially for a first attempt.

Almost there...

We're making progress on a lot of fronts here lately. We're less than 20 days out from our flight back to the states now, I'm up to 13x13 rows on my blanket and, most exciting of all, Evie has taken one or two steps on her own!

Check out the video with Evie almost walking!! She is so close now! We flipped out the other day when she took two tiny steps hands free to get from the coffee table to the travel crib. She doesn't make an attempt all the time, but I just know it's coming soon...

I've decided to add two more columns and maybe 4-6 more rows on the blanket, although I think that will make it larger than most throws. I am a sucker for oversized blankets, though, and I figure I can make another--perhaps in fancier yarn--that is more "normal" sized.

The second move date is this coming Thursday, and I'd love to finish the blanket by then, althoguh there's no practical reason why it would ship better finished rather than incomplete. I'll still have remaining yarn either way; I already have ideas on what to do next.

I've been treading water, so to speak, in so many ways the last few weeks, having to wait on many of the things that are left to do before leaving. I've been cleaning around the apartment, but all the major cleaning needs to wait until closer to our clear date, otherwise I'll just need to do it all again. I'm anxious to get more information about buying our car--I contacted Houston VW dealerships back in July to get preliminary info, but now I'm waiting for the end of August to see what deals and incentives will be available in September for us. All exciting things. All teaching me patience. Or at least making me wait.

Tooth Fairy Bags from the Purl Bee

Evelyn has been two-toothed now for a few months, but until today there hasn't been any sign of more to come. Until today. I can see the makings of two more teeth, her top front ones getting ready to take center stage. Exciting!

As if in honor of this occurance, I came across this cute craft project idea on the Purl Bee today. It will be quite some time before we need these in our house, but I'll keep them in mind for the future! From Molly's Sketchbook, I give you The Purl Bee's Tooth Fairy Bags.

Granny Progress

The granny afghan continues to grow. I have 10 rows x 11 rows now, making for 110 little squares. I think when I finish this project it would be wise to do another pattern (maybe a ripple!), but this one is so addicting--it's just like popping popcorn. One more. Just one more. Okay, one more. They make up so quickly and it's so fun deciding which color to add on next. I think I have one instance where there are two squares using the exact same color combination, but I think all the others are unique variations.

I haven't yet decided how big I'm going to make this one. I love blankets and I always seem to make them HUGE. Shouldn't blankets be big enough so that they can cover two cuddling?

We're having a bad day today

When things are going bad, I have the tendency to want them to stay that way. "What?!?" you ask, "Michele, that makes no sense! Don't you want things to get better?" The real answer is, of course I do. The answer when I'm in the depths of my pity party (You're not invited, thanks, it's a party for one. I like feeling alone. And miserable. Go away, I have no friends.) is No. Life sucks. And then you die. The world is out to get me. Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms.

Today just started off on the wrong foot. I was up really late last night finishing my homework for class--I'd put it off until the last minute and HAD to get it done last night. Evelyn was cranky when she woke up. She didn't want to take her nap this morning. I somehow feel a little dizzy and keep bumping into things today. I've hit my head twice already. Ouch. I haven't showered in a day. (I should be showering now, but it feels better when you're miserable to be dirty too. Don't want to do anything that might accidentally make me feel better.) The weather is super crappy and cold. We went out to run errands and of course no one was friendly. I felt fat and dirty and blech. We came home and I called the Nurse's hotline--I've been meaning to for a week now; Evie has a bit of an orangey tint to her skin that comes and goes. I don't think it's jaundice; her eyes are perfectly white and she doesn't have the other symptoms listed online for jaundice. I think it's much more likely that it's something like carotenemia but I want to make sure of course that she's okay and I'm not brushing off something serious.

Well, the nurse on the hotline said I should have her seen within 3 days. Now I feel kinda guilty because I've noticed this orangey-ness for a while now and haven't been compelled to spring into action on it. It seems to come and go and she acts normal and healthy. But I called in to get an appointment, and of course, they don't have any appointments. My options are 1)the emergency room 2)call non-stop and be on hold for the next 5 hours of my life to see if they have an opening that becomes available. I freaked out on the woman on the phone, pushed to the point of tears as Evelyn spat apricots at me and I stared blankly out the window at the gray. She gave me the number for the nurses line here in Baumholder; the other line was apparently stateside.

On top of it all, I can't help but have these huge nagging paranoid doubts about my ability to be a human being, let alone a mother. I haven't been eating that well--nothing sounds good, and I worry that Evelyn's diet isn't up to snuff or that maybe my breastmilk isn't giving her all of what she needs. I'm afraid that my lifelong food issues are going to be passed on to her.

I know it isn't as bleak as it feels right now. Thankfully, Evie has settled down for a nap, and will most likely be in a better mood when she wakes. I probably just need some more sleep myself and to go take a shower (and workout--which I haven't done in over a week!).

On a completely unrelated note, here are some pictures of Evelyn being adorable with my growing afghan:

Granny Progress Report

It's been a long time since I first posted about my granny square afghan ambition. I have made a good bit of progress as you can see:





I have to say, though, I'm slightly bummed...I came across a posting today on a blog called Smosch and as you can see, her afghan much more closely resembles the one that first started me down this path...

This was the one I first saw:

The good news is, I never feel as though a project is wasted. It's not that I don't like mine so far, it's just not as close to the pattern as I'd hoped. I struggled trying to figure out how the scallops around the edges were made, experimenting with shells and other stitches until I settled on what I have now. Still, I've gotten a lot of practice with this one, and I can make another attempt when I'm finished. I saw some progress photos from Smosch that I think will give me a better chance at achieving a closer pattern:

I can see now that hers are really three rows of color in a circle and then the cream edging is what completes the square. I think the slight rippled effect comes naturally from the shells...we'll see if I'm able to get it closer next time.

I keep you posted on how my first attempt turns out and maybe post the pattern that I made up if any one is interested.

Oh, and Evie is fascinated by the little squares for sure. This video is pretty much the same thing for 2 minutes, so if you get the jist you can call it quits early. Personally, I could just watch her grunt at them all day. It's like she has some sort of secret sorting process going on there, or that she's looking for a particular one or testing for defects or something...

Granny Square Experimentation

I came across this GORGEOUS crocheted granny sqaure afghan on Ohdeedoh a while back and since have been itching to try my hand at one. I followed the instructions they had linked from their post, referencing Crochet Cabana and although they are great instuctions, the result doesn't look much like the blanket above. Phooey. So I began experimenting...








I think I'm getting closer...I'll be posting my progress. These little squares are addictive!

Sewn Paper Valentines from The Purl Bee

I found this craft idea today and wanted to remember it for the future and as inspiration for other card making. For full instructions and a template for the heart, check out The Purl Bee.

Paper Wreath Tutorial by The Red Thread

I was browsing around today and stumbled upon this awesome paper Christmas wreath tutorial. Now of course, you don't need a Christmas wreath for another 11 months, but with different paper, it could be a Valentine's Day Wreath or Easter, or the 4th of July...

New Project Underway

I owe so much of my creativity to my mother. When I was growing up, she was always working on some project or another...okay, more like 5 or 6 some projects or another. ;) I loved watching her and she would often give me scraps to make my own creations while she worked. I especially loved the holiday projects, and although I don't remember her making them, our homemade Christmas stockings have always had a special place in my heart. They are green (her favorite) and white mostly and have our names sewn into the top in cursive. After Justin and I married and I moved to join him in Oklahoma that September, one of the things I set about to do was make Christmas stockings for us. The fabric that I found wasn't exactly what I had in mind and I ended up setting out without an entirely well worked out plan for their design. The shape was based on my mother's design, as well as the patched toe and heel.

We moved to Germany a few days before Christmas that year, and as you can see, I only had time to finish Justin's stocking. Mine was in pieces and we just hung the "guts" and laid my goodies in front on the hotel room floor. After Christmas had passed, I changed my mind about the whole design (as I often do) and planned to come up with a new idea for the following year. I found some great fabric online and after (way too much) deliberation settled on a design that pleased me.

This go around I was much more pleased with the outcome and actually finished 3 stockings: one for me, one for Justin, and one for Chokydar. I'd done this maybe around October, and by the time I'd decided I'd like to order more fabric so I could make matching stockings for our future children, the fabric was sold out. Try as I might, I could not find any more any where.

SO, this year I again have searched out fabric and now that I think I've settled on some that I like, I'm going to get a whole bunch of it so that hopefully, I can make some stockings to last. Third times the charm?