First Birthday!

Today my little Beast finished his first journey around the sun. It's really hard to believe that he's only been with us for one year.



But now, after a long day and a trip to Wakulla Springs, he's finally asleep. And I think, as it was 365 days ago, I'll go join him.

Yarn Along, Swaps, and More.

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.

I've been terrible about posting. About, well, everything. B and I came down with some body-ache-flu-thing and we've been cleaning like crazy people for his mother's visit. She's arriving today and I still don't feel that things are up to par.

I didn't get a picture of what I'm reading. I'm actually waffling between books. First I picked up The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. Then I picked up Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - which I've already read. This morning I picked up a book about Bach flower remedies by Stefan Ball.

I just don't know what I'm in the mood to read.

Knitting. I'm still knitting a doll - I didn't take a picture of it though. I'm also knitting fingerless gloves for a swap with a friend. The picture doesn't do the yarn justice. And the cables look funny when not stretched as though being worn.



Here are some things I've made recently.



A leaf washcloth. It doesn't look great, but it feels lovely.



Wee peg gnome hats. These are for a swap hosted by One Hook Wonder.



A rainbow bird. B and the Elf told me that it looked like a Beluga whale or manatee before I added a beak. Hrmph. Boys.





These are flower gnomes and acorn babies (that look more like acorn capped Tibetan monks to me!) for a Yahoo group swap.

And now! The swaps I've received but have been horribly remiss in posting about!

First, the peg doll swap that We Bloom Here hosted.



And the lovely (and well loved already!) doll that Belle + Bee sent for my boys.



He can also be a knight! (The Elf loves this costume - though we've misplaced the belt at the moment)



And a super hero! (The Imp's favorite!)



There. And now I need to get back to prepping the house for company and the Beast's first birthday (can you believe he'll be one this Friday?!).

Complete!

The hair that wouldn't end - it's done! Over! Finally!



She done and listed in my shop.

Now I can finally focus on the copious number of swaps that I signed up for.

Yarn Along - Doll everywhere!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



I couldn't fit all of my knitting into one photograph (though I suppose the doll hair isn't properly *knitting* exactly). Right now I have three sets of needle occupied. Crazy, right? Starting on the top and going clockwise: Doll-in-the-round in Sawya, doll shorts in Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton, doll-in-the-round in Spud and Chloe's sweater. I'm nearly done reading Twilight's Dawn by Anne Bishop. I still need to write a review of The Circle Cast for LibraryThing, though (and then I'm passing it on to a fellow blogger - if I ever get around to emailing her back *falls over*).



And the doll hair that wouldn't quit. Believe it or not, she has a bald spot and needs more bangs. I had to run to the yarn store yesterday because I ran out of her hair (210 yards and I need more?! There has to be a better way!). Lucky for me they had one hank left of this colorway. With luck I'll get her hair done today or tomorrow, give her a trim, and then focus on her clothes. Whew. And then she'll be off to the shop.

That's a lot of hair.

Every time I work on this (temporarily armless) doll, I hear that line from Tangled: That's *a lot* of hair.



Can you believe that? There's more yarn on her head than in her entire body! In fact, I ran out - 210 yards and I still need more. Bleh. There *has* to be a better way to do this. I've ordered a tutorial for long hair form Adirondack Patterns. I'm hoping the technique is something other than what I'm already doing.

So. This weekend? Yeah. It was all hair all the time. Except for a trip to EarthFare where I indulged in The Best Soda Ever. I don't generally like soda. It's too sweet, too thick, too.. ick. But this. Yummm! Lavender soda! Just sweet enough and ooooooooooh so good.

The Sewing Bee

Go visit The Sewing Bee over at Happiness Comes in little bits... - this is my first time participating!

I was intimidated by this. Sewing, to me, brings thoughts of ironing, pinning patterns, sewing machines. Ugh. I am not a fan of those things - and they aren't terribly crazy about me, either. So there I was, working on some playmats for my Etsy shop when it hit me. I was sewing! Handsewing, but sewing all the same! So I thought I'd jump into the fun.





I had a little Imp helping to test the stability of my tree (with a bee and Howl's Moving Castle figures by Mamaroots). Both mats are done now. And I have to say that I'm quite pleased. It's amazing how addicting it is to sew these things - though that tree did give me some trouble. I even used pins! The dreaded pins! And used my limited quilting knowledge to stabalize the batting inside. Sheesh. Who knew I'd enjoy *this?!*

Yarn Along!

I decided to participate in the Yarn Along I've read about on several blogs. You can be a part, too. Stop by Small Things to read about it.



Knitting another doll. I'm about to cast on the arms. This one will be slightly smaller as I'm using a different weight yarn and smaller needles. The yarn is Sawya - it's a pima cotton/alpaca/silk blend. I think I love it.

I'm still reading The Circle Cast by Alex Epstein. It's still quite enjoyable, though it's meandering a bit right now.

Tomorrow I'm going to participate (for the first time) in the The Sewing Bee. Woohoo!

Sizing.

I'm having a heck of a time finding some sort of standard guide for sizing longies and shorties. My kids are all veritable giants (in height if nothing else), so I know that I can't use their clothes for any range of "normal" (my 11 month old wears 4T shirts, as does my 2.5 year old).

I've googled and found.. either conflicting information or completely useless information. Anyone have some advice?

Based on measurements for diaper covers (mass produced wrap-style) and some "standards" I found for handmade clothing on a forum somewhere, this is what I've come up with:

Newborn: 11 inch waist, 12 inch rise, 6-7 inch crotch-to-ankle
3-9 months: 16 inch waist, 14 inch rise, 8 inch crotch-to-ankle
9-18 months: 19 inch waist, 16 inch rise, 9 inch crotch-to-ankle
18-24 months: 22 inch waist, 18 inch rise, 10 inch crotch-to-ankle

Do those sound right? I always just measure the boys and knit from there.

It's about time!

That's what my husband said when I announced that I'd finally listed something in my (defunct) Etsy shop. I've been talking about listing some longies, some peg gnomes, some knitted dolls. I've had grand plans. Grand plans. What I'm lacking is time. So my sad little Etsy shop (where I previously sold handmade blank books) now has one whole listing! Woo! In all honesty, I probably spent longer on the banner, policies, etc than I did on writing up the listing. Gah.

Anyway. This is the shop. Whee!