Renovations

Content has been rather baby-heavy around here for a while. I make no apologies, since the same is true of my life, but maybe some other things do happen occasionally.

I recently acquired an adorable little coat at a secondhand shop that had once fit a toddler until it met a sad fate in the hands of a washing machine. (Pardon the photo, I broke all my own rules out of sheer impatience.)

Its once-proud woolen sleeves and hood were reduced to the ridiculous. But I loved the idea of the coat (wool sleeves and hood, soft velour body, kitten-soft fleece lining, double-breasted, neutral colors), so I took it home. I had vague plans for copying the original idea and knitting new components and attaching them in the proper parts, but I didn't really know how I wanted to do that and I had no undyed yarn hanging around anyway. And then I happened to go to the Pendleton Wool Mill Store with a friend of mine and picked up many generously-sized pieces of blanket header for a song. Less than a song, maybe a hackneyed whistle, it was stunning. I felt very clever for being there, and for scooping it up. This fabric is far softer and lighter than the average Pendleton blanket fare, and those large expanses of undyed wool beckoned to me...

Let me preface all this by saying that I am not, by an stretch of the imagination, a sewer. One Who Sews, or seams or whatnot. I do own a machine, which has been mainly employed for the Sewing On of Patches in Male Pants. I happen to have a bevy of friends who are extremely gifted in this realm, however, and they make it look so easy...Plus, as a veteran(ish) knitter, I flatter myself that I know a thing or two about garment construction.

I ripped off the Lilliputian sleeves and hood, pondered for a bit, and decided to just sort of jump in.

I busted out a paper bag, got to drawing shapes on it, said some quick prayers, and merrily hacked away at my beautiful new cloth. Then it was just a matter of putting pieces in place. 

Ta-Da!

Once I had the hood mostly assembled, I paused. It was so plain, it just begged for some applique. I love applique, just ask my poor friend Heidi how often I have abused our friendship (and her sewing skills) because of my love of applique. I found some buff wool fabric scraps, and cut out a bunny, because an adorable, soft little coat needs a bunny.

I am busting my buttons over here, folks. This came out way better and was so much easier than I had dared to dream, and it was so FAST! And with any luck, it will fit for the cold months next year, as well.







I put some pleats in the hood so that it could be extra deep, and with the sleeves rolled up now it's a nice trench coat for the Little, so I am optimistic. I think I may add another row of buttons, just the two leaves it kind of breezy about the legs.


(Ahahaha! This kills me.)

Stand back, folks, I'm getting all kinds of cocky and ambitious. I've even done some knitting, as I said before, but I have to hold my son down and take some more photos before you get to see. 

Also, totally unrelated, but my friend Alex had this on her blog for a contest, and it was bewildering and hilarious, so in case you have been dying to find out what your steampunk name is, die no more: Steampunk Name Creator. You're welcome. (Somehow mine is 'Her Royal Highness Amelia Bucket'. What?!)

{5}

That was a whole month, wasn't it. Cripes. So much happened that was blog-worthy, too! I can't wait to show you! Well, apparently I can, but don't take it personally. It's not you, it's me.



Today Anaiah turned five months old, so we're feeling pretty solid about this babydom business. I do laundry incessantly, but mainly because I (perversely) enjoy it. It makes me feel productive, I suppose, and also allows me to dress my children (and possibly myself) in the same four outfits over and over. Thanks to some wonderful friends, Anaiah has more clothes than she could even wear before outgrowing them, yet laundry I do. Perhaps because the same cannot be said of my wardrobe.

I did not in any way intend to open with an exegesis on housework.



Five months! So we made a birthday cake out of rice cereal and milk, thus introducing her to a lifetime of comestible earthly delights. And folks, she has been ready for ages, so this was a banner day for her. One of the internet mumbo-jumbos I came across at some point said that you can tell your baby is ready to start solids when they exhibit a number of signs, most notably 'eager eyes'.


"Eager (somewhat-crossed-in-intense-focus) Eyes." Check.





Anatole was never very into the rice cereal, he didn't get too excited about food until he met his first avocado. But for Anaiah, this stuff was ambrosia (food of the gods, not the strange Jell-O confection).









She was very put out when the bowl was empty since I had (I thought) frugally started with only a couple tablespoon of the stuff. And brother was so adorably and outrageously excited that he can FINALLY have some part in the feeding of her! This kid. If he could make milk for his sister, he would, joyfully and abundantly. It slays me how much she adores him, he just lights up her world and can make her laugh like nobody else. This is why siblings are so important, my friends, I just think they give you something that no one else can.



So what else has transpired for our Littlest during this month...She rolls over! Exciting! She is wicked good at grabbing things, putting toes in her mouth, stealing all the crinkly bits (haha, her first food *almost* wound up being a chocolate donut with rainbow sprinkles when brother thought he had put it and its crinkly bag out of her reach and then turned away...), and mimicking sounds.  I swear she has said 'Hi' dozens of times, and even 'Hello' at least twice (in no way are we approaching real first word material since she does not yet greet people spontaneously, but she is trying hard), and she tries to make chicken sounds when she sees them. She's really bad at chicken sounds, but her version is way cuter and more harmless, so she gets the win there. She learned that tubs are for splashing! She is kind of a maniac in the water, but in a tiny way, a tempest in a teacup. Or a thimble.

I'll stop there with the baby stuff, if anyone is still out there because this used to be a fiber blog, I have news for you: I actually knit some things this month! But I'm going to wait for another post to tell you about them. It's late, I have a baby to wake up to tomorrow. Cheers!