Decisions & Photography

So I’m pretty much done with my baby blanket and it’s time to choose a new crochet project. I’ve been thinking about making a baby cardigan. I only have time to make one, but I’ve found several patterns that I like and I can’t decide which one to try. So here are pictures of the cardigans, keep in mind that whatever colors or detailing I implement in the finished project will be gender neutral, so don’t let flowers or ruffles or whatnot throw you. I’ve indicated what pattern it is below, along with a note about changes I’d make.

With the exception of the bottom right one, all of these were actually designed by a mom with a baby, so I’m pretty sure any of them would work in real life to put on an actual kid. I’m intending to make a long-sleeved version of whatever I pick – it’s rather rare for it to be actually warm here, so I’m not worried about weight and the upcoming summer.

From top to bottom, and left to right. These are all Ravelry links, so you may not be able to access them without a Ravelry ID.

1. Swing Set Cardigan by Linda Permann (I’d add  long sleeves)
2. Bombay Love by Rima Aranha (I’d add long sleeves)
3. Baby Kimono Wrap by Susanne Visch
4. Anna Cardigan by Robyn Chachula (long sleeves, front ties, and no flowers)
5. Sorrento Hooded Cardigan by Mon Petit Violon
6. Baby Hoodie (& hat) by Caron Yarns (add front ties)

OK! Now that I’ve got that out of my brain, let’s try something else. Here are my two favorite pictures I’ve taken lately.

Mmm, fennel.That lovely lacy plant is fennel, which grows wild here, and in this particular park, grows well over six feet tall. It remains tasty, however, no matter how big it gets. But I digress. Most likely, I am hungry and it’s hard NOT to remind me of food in some way.

What I intended to say before my stomach stepped in is that this picture is from Temescal Lake. It’s 5 minutes from my house, a small lake created by a dam and improved in one of those charming 1930s Army Corps of Engineer projects. It has a tiny beach, lots of fishing, and a couple of rustic stone buildings with a cafe, cookout areas, swimming amenities and such. We take Wesley there on the weekends and walk, and play ball with him in the open fields.

We walk near dusk, when the lake is calm and the ducks are out and the sky is beautiful. Pacific coast sunsets rarely fail to impress. It’s a peaceful spot. It’s hard to remember that the land depression the park sits in was created by the Hayward fault subsiding. The park and lake actually sit right on top of the Hayward fault line. If an earthquake happened? Perhaps this park would not be the calmest place to be. Of course, if there really WAS a big earthquake there’s not a spot in the area that would be calm.

On that note, I shall depart to go stare at my baby blanket, and attempt to finish it!

Drool, etc.

Back before I was thinking much about having a baby (September 2010), the Purl Bee posted some baby bibs made from Liberty Fabric that I thought would make a good present for a gestating friend. If you haven’t seen them before, these bibs make use of terry cloth for a backing fabric, which seems really useful, since babies seem to produce a lot of drool and other various things that need cleaning up. At the same time the bib pattern is dead simple, and the bibs themselves turn out very simple and easy-to-use as well.

Fast forward a year and here I am gestating my own baby. One day when I was at the fabric store I recalled the baby bib pattern and decided I might as well make some functional and pretty bibs. So I gathered up six different fat quarters I was fond of and some terry cloth fabric that was on sale. I originally was going to make 6 bibs, but once I got home and looked at the pattern, I realized I had just enough fabric to make 12 bibs. I was very pleased with this plan because I’ve seen what store bibs look like – I think they’re generally atrociously ugly. I do like to bring a little prettiness to things if I can.

As it turns out I didn’t follow the instructions very well (surprise surprise!). The idea is that you’re supposed to sew the bib layers and then cut them out along the sewing line. Instead I cut them all out first, and then set about sewing them. All that really means is that

1. Mine are about 1/4″ smaller than the Purl Bee bibs, which isn’t a big deal and
2. It took me a lot less time to cut them out since I could cut the fabrics in multiple layers and also
3. I wouldn’t have had enough fabric for 12 if I’d done it that way (more like 9) so yay! Fabric better used!

My one issue at this point is that they don’t have snaps yet. I got pearl snaps, but due to the thickness of the terry cloth they didn’t work. So I’m exploring other options at this point, perhaps one of those snap pliers, because this whole idea of whacking snaps through thick cloth with a hammer is not the best tool option I’ve seen. Has anyone used one of those before? Do they work? I recall seeing one that Jeff’s grandmother had, because she used to put pearl snaps onto little shirts she sewed him …

In any case, I’ve realized that due to general exhaustion, I’m going to have to choose carefully which few projects I really want to complete before this baby gets here, because although the bibs didn’t really take that long to make, it took me three weeks to get them cut out, sewn and topstitched (an hour or two three times). The amount of energy I have left over from making the baby for doing other things is very small and frequently spent on working. Which is fine, but it’s very important to me that the baby has handmade items among the store-bought things, so I’m going to put some effort in to make that happen.

This is kind of a side note, if you’ve read this far, but I’m looking for ideas for food to make – cookbooks, blogs, recipes, whatever. My requirements? Low carbohydrates, lactose-free and (hopefully) vegetarian. Impossible, right?

The reason that I ask is that I appear to be hovering close to gestational diabetes, which is not good. Pregnancy creates insulin resistance and it only increases as you get closer to term, so I have to start being really careful … Added to that, about four weeks ago I became lactose intolerant, to the point of allergic reaction. I had no idea this was something pregnancy could cause. Plus I’m at least trying to be vegetarian and … well, sometimes with all these complications it’s really hard to know what to eat!!  As other people I’ve read online have done, I’ve been pretty lax about the vegetarian aspect of my diet lately, because I have to be (protein) – but let’s face it, since I think meat is disgusting it can be pretty difficult to go that route without getting nauseous.

I’m a pretty healthy eater in general, it’s just that this combination of specific requirements is difficult, and so I’m looking for ideas. I’d be very happy to be pointed in some tasty directions.

Off to contemplate what I might possibly make for dinner tonight, and to crochet a couple more rows onto this baby blanket. I swear I’m going to finish this! The blanket will be 30″ x 40″ when done, and it’s so far 30″ x 31″. Close!

Wishes: Happiness

I told a friend the other day that when I make something for The Kid, it’s usually a way for me to express a wish for my baby – health, happiness, warmth, safety, that sort of thing. In this case I made bunting, which is a wish for joy.

I also put a little thought into what the baby might like, so this bunting features a complex pattern with high contrast colors, both elements that babies tend to be fascinated with, from what I understand.  Plus there are all sorts of gently waving parts when you turn on the fan. It’s probably hung to high to be interesting at first (I think sight range is initially something like 18 inches) but it will be there for a while.

I’m actually pretty thrilled with how it came out. As you can tell, the room is quite white, and our landlord forbids painting, so I’m looking for ways to inject color into the space in fun ways.

It may also be true that I love rainbow colors.

I’m thinking in terms of wishes these days because of the odd contrast of fragility and sturdiness of babies, and I suppose humans in general. There’s lots I can try to do to help this little person in the world, but there are lots of things out of my control, too. Sometimes all you’ve got is the hope that things will work out okay and hopefully make sense eventually. I’ve had a lot of those moments during the last six months, and at those times I’ve just tried to put my wishes into something I make and hope for the best.

This wish is for happiness. I suppose I am remembering babies watching something or someone that fascinates them with either a big wide-eyed stare or giggling at something. That was always awesome. That’s what I was going for.

Plus, these rainbow colors are quite cheerful. I loved rainbows when I was growing up. It actually made me really sad when therapists started telling people that children who draw rainbows are probably depressed. I was not depressed, but I loved rainbows. Therapists can be crackpots.

This also makes me feel better about color. Anyone who knows me knows that I have strong feelings about how completely inappropriate it is for people to be shoehorning tiny infants into genderized roles before they have a chance to find their own personalities. This often translates into a general distaste for the blue/pink themes that follow you everywhere in the new-parent world. Add to that my general dislike of of pink and pastels in general, and … well. You can tell I’m not really a candidate for 90% of the stuff marketed to parents.

So rainbows and primary colors make me feel a lot better.

If only the rest of the room were as done as this banner. If you looked below this, you’d see about 18 sewing projects on a table where the crib is supposed to be. NOT READY YET. Luckily I have three more months.

P.S. Details:

1 – Yarn: A combination of things. There’s orange and oatmeal from Vanna’s Choice, another orange and green from Red Heart Soft, the blue is TLC Essentials (nasty yarn, that), and I have no idea where the red is from. The label was lost years ago.

2 – Hook Size: If only I’d written it down. But I did not.

3 – Triangle Granny Pattern: I made up the triangle pattern from looking at my inspiration pictur/blog post. At some point I went looking to see if there was a pattern, and on one of Loretta Grayson’s Flickr photos I found reference to a triangle granny from Lee Ann Hamm. It’s pretty much what I did, except I simplified the first two rows. If I make more triangle grannies I’ll write it down this time.

4 – Tassels/SC/Chains: As far as the tassels and connections go, I figured out the tassels as I went, and the whole thing hangs together with a single crochet in the top of each triangle connected by five chains between. Each end has a dangling end of 50 chains. Then I went back and added a second row of single crochet along the whole thing for stability.