Shh, I'm counting!

Toy overload!

2014-03-29T18:17:00.001-04:00

I had a short obsession with making toys, this is what came out of it!

Seaming and making faces on toys have never been my strong sides, but I seem to finally be getting better at it!

Reasons not to sleep

2013-03-11T08:39:00.002-04:00

by

Mélie Monsterbutt

1. I'm not tired (repeat ad infinitum)
2. It's hard to sleep.
3. The wall is scary. It's too red.
4. The ceiling is scary. (Not very subtle hints of wanting a rainbow ceiling are added when I ask why)
5. I don't like my stuffies, they're scary. (Starts talking about all the stuffies I should make for her)
6. I don't want Max (her favorite stuffie 5 minutes earlier) to look at me!
7. There's pee in the bed (nope)
8. I want to pee in bed so daddy can smell it! (I don't even...)
9. The bed tickles me!
10. I'm making sheet shoes! (She wrapped her feet in the bed sheet)
11. I'm thirsty!
12. My water is old! (nope, filled her water bottle right before we went to bed)

2 hours. About halfway through I started keeping track of her excuses for future humiliation.

Needless to say, #8 is my favorite.

I love

2013-03-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

my new crochet hooks (Clover Amour) and the Rilakkuma case I got for them. So colorful, cute and happy! I smile every time I see them :)

The picture is not amazing, but you get the idea.

I've been upgrading my tools lately, also got a full set of ChiaoGoo interchangeables, the ones with the red ribbon on the case. Best circulars ever! Nice and pointy, don't come loose from the cable, and the cables have zero memory, thanks to the steel wire inside.

Itty bitty baby hat! Look! IT'S SO TINY! It's standing on my netbook, to give you an idea of scale.

Sir Hexipufnstuf

2013-02-11T09:29:00.001-05:00

Did I ever post this "little" guy here? He's not actually so little, measures over a foot across the middle. He makes for a very nice pillow, and right now is doing service as belly support at night!

Yep, I'm expecting another little girl - she's supposed to leave the warmth of the belly sometime in the beginning of April.

I'll try to get better at updating this thing. I'm still trying to find a good blog client for Ubuntu - it's not the easiest thing ever, let me tell you! The blogger editor is sadly a nightmare to use for anything else than plain text.

Itty bitty cross stitch!

2012-07-02T17:30:00.001-04:00

I'm not a fan, though. These are a gift for a friend :)

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Blue's Clues and a hat

2012-04-28T22:13:00.001-04:00

Mélie loves Blue's Clues, and kept wanting me to show her pictures of Tickety Tock and Slippery Soap on the computer.

I made her little stuffed toys instead, and am quite proud of them. They have been approved by the recipient too!

This is the first version of Soap. I had to make him as fast as I could, Mélie was waiting impatiently right next to me the whole time.

Tickety Tock got legs after the photo was taken. It was handed back to me with a demand for "Toes!"

Slippery Soap has been made twice now - version 1 had an unfortunate accident involving green play doh, so I made a new, improved version. This time I didn't have to hurry so much, so I could make bobbles instead of using beads.

Oh yeah, and Mailbox stopped by too. He's not quite as loved as the other two. I suspect the reason is that he doesn't open.

I have to admit that I'm quite proud of how they turned out!

I've been very lucky lately - I also made a really pretty purple sun hat for myself. Just look! It's a terrible picture, but you get the idea. The dc join in the back is practically invisible, how awesome is that?

I'm sorry!

2012-04-06T12:47:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry I haven't responded to comments for so long! Blogger was supposed to send me notification emails when people commented, but I never got them - today I logged in from my computer for the first time in forever (I usually update from my phone now), and discovered a whole bunch of old comments.

I'll try to be better at keeping up with my blog from now on :) Might even update more often!

Here's a pirate bunny nugget I made for boogerbutt!

Quick and easy toddler toys

2012-01-12T14:42:00.001-05:00

Pony beads plus shoelace with knots on both ends = hours of knitting time for mommy

Metal rings like the ones you use for keyrings, covered in various crocheted shapes and colors. Shoelace with large button as stopper. Instant lacing toy :)

Obviously neither of these are for the really young ones, and adult supervision is required - choking hazard and all that.

Fosh

2011-10-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

...is what Mélie calls fish. She thinks they're great, so I made her one.

She just fell asleep, holding it in her cute, little hand :)

Eggplant shorties

2011-09-29T23:15:00.000-04:00

My phone ate the post! Oh well, here's a picture of Mélie's new nighttime shorties.

Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/middle-out-woolies

Ooops...

2011-09-23T18:51:00.001-04:00

I may just have ordered yarn... It fell into my shopping cart, really, I swear!

A Crazy Zauberball in purples for me, and some Rico Cancan in purples for the little troll, so I can make her a tutu!

Mommybrain

2011-05-18T14:35:00.001-04:00

Oops. Looks like I posted about the same socks twice... *sheepish grin*

I lovelovelove these socks!

2011-05-18T00:06:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Yarnissima's Spice Kids
Yarn: Socks that Rock in Deck the Halls

Second pair is already halfway done, that should give you an idea of how much I love them.
They fit Mélie perfectly!

Pretty socks for a pretty girl

2011-05-13T20:47:00.001-04:00

Yarn: Socks That Rock in Deck The Halls (love! It's all squooshy and pretty)
Pattern: Yarnissima's Spice Kids (fits Mélie perfectly! I love the heels, they're proper heels! Not all shallow like many other toddler socks I've tried.)

Adorable chubby baby legs in pretty socks: Priceless.

I had

2011-05-10T23:55:00.001-04:00

all these plans about how I'd be amazing and post every day, with witty observations, nice pictures, the works!

Then life happened and I forgot.
Sound familiar?

Mélie is going through a growth spurt, and the more she eats, the hungrier I get. I can't keep up, it's crazy.
I'm considering hunting down a bison or something equally big just to keep for light snacks.

Secret!

2011-04-25T20:33:00.001-04:00

Not really. I'm just trying to make sure A stays asleep, so I'm hiding under a blanket while writing this on my iPhone. This is how I do most of my "internetting" these days, my shiny purple netbook is neglected and sad.

Anyway. I made these socks for Jeff. They're based on "Toe-up socks with a difference" by Wendy D. Johnson, but made in worsted weight yarn, and are obviously larger since man-feet tend to be more demanding size-wise.

Did I do the math? Not at all. I made a half-assed guess based on what my gauge usually is, and winged it from there. They fit, so either I'm a freaking genius, or I'm very, very lucky.

Yarn: Cary's BFL in Cameron, by Three Irish Girls.

Look how pretty they are!

2011-03-09T23:55:00.001-05:00

And it's all in the yarn. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, in Purple Mustang. I love this so much! Very soft too.

Finished these socks last week. Sunrise Socks, by Wendy D. Johnson. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select in Iris. They're a little bit short, but after having worked on them on and off since December, I just needed to finish them before losing my mind.

I have a problem!

2011-03-02T23:19:00.001-05:00

Which yarn do I use next? They're all so gorgeous!

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Stripes!

2011-02-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

Another finished soaker.
Yes, I do knit other things. I just never have time to finish.

I ran out of yarn again, which is why it has a nifty design feature of two purple stripes.
I swear, of all the soakers I've made, only two of them did not want more yarn than I had. Greedy little buggers.

For my sanity's sake I have decided that I will never knit another soaker unless I have twice as much yarn as needed. Because clearly they're cursed.

Dear soaker

2011-02-11T19:16:00.001-05:00

I hate you.

You don't deserve a skirt.

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Can't sleep

2011-02-10T21:26:00.001-05:00

...so instead I will tell you about the soaker that refuses to let me finish it.
Ok, to be fair it's more about my obsessive tendencies than anything else.
First I ran out of yarn right before the end. I had to use a different color to finish. Of course it drove me nuts. Bright idea: I'll add a skirt to hide that part!
So far so good, right?
Wrong. After having started the skirt, I decided that the wrong color section was way too annoying. I frogged back quite a bit, and made stripes instead. Woo!
Got tired of purling, so went back to working on the skirt. At this point I had circulars dangling from each end of the soaker.
After having knitted on the skirt for a couple of hours, I realized I'd run out of yarn. Again. Frogged, started again with fewer stitches for a less full skirt.

That's where I am now. Halfway done with the skirt, still not done with the decreases on the soaker itself. Purling, you know. Not in the mood.

This thing better be cute when it's done! Despite being in pastel colors, despite not being perfect... Just be cute, please!

At least I got to watch a couple of movies in the process. Terrible, cheesy movies.

Soakers and longies

2011-02-08T20:25:00.001-05:00

are all I have the time to knit these days. I have a large pile of gorgeous sock yarn waiting to become socks, but the little miss comes first.
Not that I'm suffering - knitting with Malabrigo in lovely colors is far from torture! I'd just like to have warm feet soon. I've finished 5 soakers and one pair of longies so far, with one more soaker on the needles.
Of course now A has started getting a rash... I really really hope it's something random and not her diapers. She never had a single rash with her prefolds, so I know it's not the detergent.
I'd still use the prefolds, but they're too small to pin, and I hate using Bummi covers + trifold. Hate. The covers always get wet on the edges around the thighs. Besides, A knows how to remove them, even through her clothes.

I wish I could afford to get her only Fluffymail diapers. They're so wonderfully soft, no irritating seams, and more absorbent than anything I've tried! Doesn't hurt that they're pretty as well :p

Girly longies

2011-02-06T09:05:00.000-05:00

...on a very cute little girl :)

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3 wool soakers

2011-01-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

...with varying success. I'm still figuring out the perfect fit.

#1 (Curly Purly soaker) is made with 4 strands of lace yarn held together - it was the only non-superwash wool I had available at the time. At first I had made the leg cuffs too narrow, so I ripped them out and made a quick crochet fix. Then that wasn't long enough, so I added a bit more later. It looks craptastic, but it works.

#2 (Vanilla soaker - NO GRAFTING <3<3<3) is made with lovely mmmalabrigo. At first the waist was too wide, so I felted it a bit... by tossing it in the dryer. Bad idea, it ended up being too short, leg cuffs too tight, and waist ribbing utterly useless. So I ripped out the cuffs and waist, and redid them in a contrasting color. It's now my favorite night soaker - the felting made it bulletproof!

#3 (punk_knitters soaker, with added short rows) is the last finished one. I started this while waiting for an order of more malabrigo. It's all scrap lace yarn, 4 strands at a time. Super fast knit. I think I need to add a bit around the legs, I can see some diaper poking through if I'm not careful. Even at that, it lasted through the night with no big disasters.
I expected it to be really ugly, but it's actually not so bad. The color changes are completely random.

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Look what I got!

2011-01-04T20:26:00.001-05:00

One of my aunts knitted me these beautiful socks for christmas!

See the little hand in the corner? Yeah, Amelie-Vanille grabbed both socks and ran away with them. She’s got taste!