Wordless Wednesday: Getting Out of the House

Crafty Goodness

I apologize for those of you who come here for fabulous stories or wonderful photography... or even for crafty goodness. Instead you get me. Bleh.

I borrowed The Knitchick's Guide to Sweaters from the library this week. I wasn't all that impressed with any of the adults' sweaters and most of the kids' sweaters were equally unattractive. I'm picky. It's true.

There were however two fantastic baby sweaters that I couldn't wait to get started on. Unfortunately, I'm not a seasoned knitter with a huge stash of yarn and all the needles you could possibly need. So, my favorite of the two will have to wait a little longer. But, I did have all the necessary ingredients for the sweet little sweater vest, Oscar. (Plus, I love that name!)

I knit up the front and learned how to cable! I guess I'm not sure what I was so scared of, it's not any harder than the ridiculous pair of socks I'm working on (and have been for over a month). I liked the pattern so much that I decided to make it for real. I ran to the store and bought some yarn I actually liked, came home, knit the front AGAIN. I spent Friday knitting the back, seaming it and blocking.



And when it was done, I realized that I don't have a little boy sized 12 months. Sometimes I get a little carried away. So, this sweet little number is off to my sister Rebekah and will hopefully fit her Ethan before too long!


I really should make it again in size 2 for Lucas. But, I'm already on to another project. I have Crafting ADD. It's a serious illness.

Excuses, Excuses!

My dad is the awesomest, most talented woodworker I know. We've been the recipient of some of the coolest gifts (and others that I have failed to document here!).

In November, when we went to my parents' house for a visit, my dad gave me my Christmas present. A baby cradle. He's making one for each of his children. They're to be heirlooms. I just need to decide which kid I like best. The cradle will be the item I hold over their heads and use as threats when they decide to become teenagers.

At any rate, my dad asked that each of his children take a picture of THEIR child/children sleeping in the cradle, so that he could post it on his website. I received a slightly annoyed instant message from him a couple of days ago, "Libby is the only picture missing now..."

*Sigh* Sorry Dad!
You're more than welcome to put THIS picture on your website. Perhaps it will explain why I have not yet taken a lovely picture of my daughter in the gorgeous cradle you built.


1. Libby. Trying to sleep. Trying.
2. The cradle! You built it! Thank you! We love it. Really.
3. Very large bin of clean laundry that needs (and has needed for about a week now) to be folded and put away.
4. Lucas. Sweetly "rocking" his "Bibby." Do I really need to go on?
5. The crib bumper from Lucas's crib that's been sitting in this corner since before Libby was born. Awesome.
6. A very large pile of maternity clothes that needs to be given away/sold.

Again, Dad. You're more than welcome to put this picture on your website. There's also this picture, but you did say you wanted the cradle included in the picture...

Indoctrination.

After much deliberation, we decided to have a Family Movie Night on Friday.
There was popcorn.
There was pizza.
There were gummy bears.

There were stunned children.
There were wide eyes.
There was much excitement.

There was this man.


And since then, there has been many many pictures of Death Stars and R2s and Luke's Medal.

Star Wars? Bring. It. On.

(Yes, that's right. Until Friday my children had never seen the movies. We only watched Episode 4: A New Hope. We're old school that way.)

Next up. Swiss Family Robinson.

Ready for Summer.

It has finally warmed up here in Florida. I suppose that's a little odd for those of you in colder climates. To you, we've always been warm, but frankly, this winter was the coldest weather we've had in the 4.5 years we've lived here.

But "Winter" is gone thankyouverymuch. And with the arrival of 70 degree weather, we've cast off our long pants and sneakers in exchange for shorts, capris and flip flops. Wahoo!

The moral of this story is that the end of "Winter" left me with a pile of these.


Almost every pair of jeans the girls own have at least one knee with a monster-sized hole in them. At least one of those pairs was brand new as of three weeks ago. Grrr...
As I am not yet ready to part with a large portion of my daughters' wardrobe, we're going to be sporting the fancy cutoff thing this summer.

And truly, this is basic, but I'm sharing how I did it. Consider yourself tutorialized.

Need:
Ratty Jeans with Holey Knees
Cute Fabric (I used a fat quarter)
Thread


First, I measured the leg width where I planned to cutoff the pants. Double that. Then double THAT. That's the width for the fabric that you'll need.


Pick your saucy fabric (this one is a Michael Miller print).


Go ahead. Cut em off!


Take your rotary cutter and cut your fabric. If you're cool like me, you're using your sweet quilting ruler that has been broken by your children who were riding it around on the tile as a skateboard.



I cut a 22 inch by 3.5 inch for each leg, but obviously, these numbers are custom for you. Go ahead and iron the strips in half.


(Um, so this is the part where you ignore that my fabric just changed, because I made two pair and forgot a bunch of pictures the first time, so I took them when I made the second pair.)

Open up the fold you just ironed, and with right sides together, sew the short sides together.



Refold along the ironed, uh... fold. You now have a loop.


Now, with your sewing machine stitch length the longest it will go, sew a basting stitch as close to the top as you dare, I did it just under a 1/4th of an inch.



With the right sides together, matching raw edges, and seams, pin your loop to your shorts.


I matched the seam of the loop on the inside leg of the shorts and then found the middle of the other side of the loop and pinned it to the outside leg seam. Does this even make any sense?

Now, pulling your top thread, gather it up. Pin frequently to hold it place.

Making sure to reset your stitch length to a normal length (which I forgot to do three times), sew your ruffle on. I made sure to sew just below where my gathering stitch was, so it wouldn't show on the right side.

Okay, I guess you could be done here, but I wanted to be sure my ruffles laid the way I wanted. Turn your pant leg inside out and flip the ruffle down. Stitch the seam allowances towards the pants.

Did I mention you're done?



Well, as soon as you do the other leg.

And that whole other stack of pants.

Aren't they just the cutest thing ever?! I'm contemplating adding a ruffle to the bottom of some of my shorts just because!

This may or may not be a picture of my 4 year old son, wearing his sisters pants, because I needed them modeled.

This little project only takes maybe a half hour, unless you have to stop to feed babies, make lunch or change diapers. Good luck to you.

Wish You Were Here.

This is for everyone who has wished they could be here. To hold Libby.

To sniff her sweet "new baby" scent (aka milk).

To nom on those luscious baby cheeks.

To rub that precious baby head with the soft-as-feathers hair.

And to just generally enjoy this brief period of time where the veil is so thin and you know they're still receiving last-minute instruction.

But mostly, this post is for my mom. We miss you.

Follow Up.

Also known as: Yes, Even I Take Bad Pictures.


But these pants are only gonna fit for just so long. So I took the picture. I'll try again soon. They're as hilariously awesome as I'd hoped.

In fact, I'm about to cast on for a slightly larger pair (less obnoxious colors, however).

The Encore

I think I'll try to get a couple more "professional" shots this week, but I'm running out of sleepy, curly baby time.