A Collection of Craftiness

I haven't posted much about my knitting or sewing adventures lately. I have been working on a few things here and there over the last few weeks (ahem, I guess I should really say months). I've had some successes, some mediocre results, but thankfully no downright failures in craftiness.

I've started knitting what I call a "distraction" project every month. A smallish item that I can finish in one month. It's motivated me to get projects finished and it keeps my mind busy so as not too dwell on things that are out of my control.

So far I finished my Abalone cardigan, a pair of monkey socks and this month I'm working on a pair of socks of my own design

The Abalone was a bit of a disappointment. I made it a bit too long and didn't do quite enough increases along the edging so it curls a bit. I haven't decided whether or not I'll keep it. I never managed to get a decent picture of it, but I'll share my sort of bad, taken in the mirror self portrait. (taken before blocking)

I love my monkey socks. This is the second time I've knit this pattern. It's so easy and intuitive. They'll have to keep till fall though. It's been far to warm for wool socks!

I'll show you my latest project another day, when there's actually something to show. In between I've also knit a couple of baby shrugs for some of my girlfriends little one - but haven't taken pics yet - and a special blanket square for a communal blanket project I'm part of right now.

The weather has been warming up beautifully so it's that time of year where new pjs are in order for the little menfolk of the house. Both tops are from Fishsticks Designs. Little Toddler Man's is the Charlie Tee and Baby Boy's is the Lap Tee. Little Toddler Man is crazy about anything related to building or construction so he was the happy recipient of a new pair with dumpers and cement mixers on them!

Baby Boy is crazy about monkeys. Could be because my nickname since birth for him has always been "Monkey-Roo" or maybe because he is a little monkey! So he got a pair of stripey sock monkey jammies. ('scuze the peanut butter on the pjs! That's what happens when you photograph something after a toddler who refuses to wears bib has eaten breakfast!)

The warm weather also had this momma wanting a new handbag for the season, so I whipped one up using some fabric in my stash. I love this bag! I even did a zippered welt pocket in the lining! I used the Pleated Bag tutorial from Deliberately Domestic.

I've been really annoyed with my ironing board lately. It's my own fault really. I somehow manage to have minor little disasters like the day I accidentally ironed some fusible web onto the cover. My cover was a mess. Scorched in spots, sticky, and falling apart. So I made a new cover. Isn't it pretty?

One of my favourite projects lately was another gift for a friend. I can't tell you how much I really love using Fishsticks Design's Austen Lee Romper pattern. I think this is the fourth or fifth time I've made it! This time I did a Superman theme for a super little fellow. Took me a few practice attempts, but I was really pleased with how the freezer paper stencil I did for the appliqué patch turned out in the end!

Baby Boy also got a new pair of training pants. He's showing an interest in potty training so I thought I'd better get going on making a set. So far I've made one to add to the two I'd made previously as my failed overnight reusable "pull up" prototypes. They work great as a daytime trainer even if they're a disaster for overnight use! (Told you. The kid is monkey obsessed!)

But what I've really loved sewing lately the most is diapers! First up was a Birdifull Stitches' Fattycakes pocket diaper. I made this one quite early in the spring, but I don't think I ever showed it to you. It's ok, it works, but not my favorite, although Baby Boy appreciates the pirate monkey PUL (my dislike stems probably more from my own sewing issues than pattern issues mind you.)

My latest three I LOVE LOVE LOVE! I started out by using the Whittey Bums pattern as a starting off point, then added some features I like from other diapers, a covered back welt pocket opening like the Bum Genius, leg gussets like Monster Pants (I used a great little tutorial from the Sleeping Baby site for those) and narrower wings to accommodate Baby Boy's rather pudgy thighs.

Did I mention I love these diapers? I'm a bit addicted to what I've morphed the pattern into!

So, that's what I've been up to crafty wise! How about you? Any projects on the go?

Now, you'll have to excuse me. I've been multitasking by cooking while typing this and breakfast is ready to be served! Mmmm mmmm good as Baby Boy would say!

A Summertime Recipe

Summer came early to the prairies this year. A mild winter was followed by an incredible spring. Which means we've been cooking on the BBQ a whole lot. One of my favourite side dishes is potato salad. Not your run of the mill potato salad that everyone grew up eating. Oh no. This is different. It is a concoction I threw together one night that has truly become our favourite potato salad. I might venture to say possibly the best potato salad going! Because I'm busily tooting my own culinary horn, I thought I might as well share my recipe. I hope you like it as much as we do!

POTATO SALAD (Note: measurements given are approximate. I rarely measure. For the dressing start with a little of the seasonings, (maybe 1/4 tsp?) you can always add more, and any fresh veg you like should be just as tasty! Increase or decrease how many potatoes you use to make more or less. Make more dressing if you want it creamier. As written, the recipe serves 4)

Ahead of time bake 4 potatoes and cook 1/2 lb of bacon. Chill completely.

Salad: mix all together in a bowl
Cubed baked potatoes
Chopped green onion
Diced cucumber
Diced red pepper
Crumbled bacon
Finely shredded cheddar cheese

Dressing: mix together in small bowl, pour over salad and gently toss to coat (here's those approximate measurements!)

1/2 c mayo
1/4 c sour cream
1 1/2 - 2 TBSP parmesan cheese
1 1/2 - 2 TBSP grainy Dijon mustard
1 TBSP chives (I use dehydrated, but fresh woul be so much tastier!)
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Dill weed
Pepper

Enjoy a fresh taste of summer!

Nom. Nom. I was going to take a photo before supper, but forgot. Sorry. I know most bloggers would have a delightfully photographed setting for you, but well, it's late, and how artful could I get with leftovers and my cel phone's camera anyways?

In other areas of my creative side, I've finished a few projects, have a few in the works and approximately enough on my "hope to do list" to fill up the rest of time. I think I'll tell you about them another day. As I said, it's kind of late.

Taming Toddlers

Looking at that picture one would think the boys live a peaceful, quiet little existence...

Buahahahahahahahahaha!

They're 18 months and 33 months old. Peaceful and quiet happens when they're asleep. They are busy (and I do mean busy!) boys. Little Toddler Man has been on the go since before he was born. I once ended up in the ER when I was pregnant with him because after a slip on the ice when I was 24 weeks, he didn't move. For an hour!!!!!. I was overcome with fear. From the first fluttering I felt with him, he never went that long without moving! He was fine, obviously, but it just goes to demonstrate his state of perpetual movement. Baby Boy wasn't such a mover before he was born, and when he actually sleeps he's pretty still (I used to hold a finger under his nose sometimes to feel if he was still breathing he could be that still.) But when he's awake... B-U-S-Y!!!

So taming the busy toddler beast takes all sorts of forms here! Play dough, baking, drawing, reading, building towers, or the best one outside playtime are just a few of the activities in my bag of tricks. Sometimes, though, we can't get outside and then woe is me. I spend the day retrieving toddlers who are busily scaling baby gates, or like one day noticing out of the corner of my eye, as I was separating the kitten and one of the dogs, a 2 1/2 year old happily skipping past the window in the pouring rain). Left to their own devices mayhem often ensues.

In light of the madness that is two small active tots, I jumped on the chance to sign up for a "busy bag" swap with my October Mommies Group on Rav. I can hardly wait to get our twelve different activities in the post! I have lofty dreams of being able to go to the loo without disaster.

For my part, I decided to do Cupcake Decorating from Mommy Saving Mom. It's such a cute little template and I thought it would work for little ones like Baby Boy who can just have fun decorating and for older ones like LTM who can do shapes, colours, counting etc.

A few evenings watching tv and my cutting was done and most of it used supplies I had on hand already. Win! I'm pretty happy with the results! Hopefully the kids like them too.

Since I was already thinking about busy bags, the other day when I was going on the third day of a migraine, and Baby Boy was napping, Little Toddler Man was bored and looking for something to do. Born of a desperate need on behalf of my aching head for five minutes of trouble free toddler, LTM and I set to work. He helped me by picking out colours of felt and mixing paint. Then he "helped" by matching the parts together as I finished sewing. We managed to whip up a set of "Popsicles" for the Popsicle match game from Babblin Brooke. Between the making of them and the five minutes immediately following peace and quiet happened, so again. Win!

Today has been a cool dreary day so the boys and I made another matching type game using paint chips and clothes pins. Good fun was had by all as the boys chose colours, LTM practiced cutting on the scraps and Baby Boy investigated the engineering of clothes pins by systematically trying to take apart each and every one of them. Oh and trying to glue everything in site. Oodles of fun!! I figure there's all sorts of things can be done. Matching, grouping, counting. I'm sure there's more.

So, now we've got a few more things in our arsenal of keeping the boys busy and out of mischief and we'll be looking forward to even more when the swap packages arrives next month!

I feel like I've painted a rather bad picture of the boys. Like they're little maniacs hell bent on trouble with a capital T. Some days they are, like any self respecting toddler should be, but don't get me wrong. They do have moments that they are content to do a quiet little activity or play happily together. Besides, I've always said, and I really do mean it, that I'd rather have my busy, inquisitive, eager to discover the world around them children, then couch potatoes that just want to sit in front of the tv all day! They keep life interesting and are light in our lives.

And they're cute. Which is a good thing some days!

Now. If only I could come up with a busy activity for our Pyrenese Newf cross, Bella. But aside from getting a flock of sheep for her to herd, I'm not sure what that would be!

We're off to go have our outdoor play time now, so I'll leave you with these few ideas for "taming the toddler". What are your favourite activities with your little one?

Baby You've Come A Long Way (or Wow! Cloth Diapering Has Changed!!)

I had been thinking a lot about cloth diapering in the last few months. I cloth diapered the oldest three, but when I was expecting Little Toddler Man I had no interest in the extra laundry or rinsing dirty diapers, so he used disposables. I started thinking about cloth diapering Baby Boy, but I felt I was a little busy to add any other household chores into my life. But, I kept thinking about it, and then the cost of diapers started going up, and Baby Boy can only use one type of diapers or he suffers terrible diaper rashes.

One day I mentioned to my Mama's group that the next baby will be cloth diapered (oh, hang on. No that wasn't an announcement. We're still waiting and hoping for that next one). Someone mentioned why wait? And then I thought about it. Why wait indeed! Baby Boy is going to be in diapers a while yet. So I made some tentative steps forward to making the switch.

Wow! Things have really changed. People were tossing around terms like AIO, AI2, PUL. Cloth diapering my oldest three meant about three dozen squares of white flannel, about a half dozen plastic pants and a couple sets of diaper pins. A diaper pail with water and vinegar to soak the diapers in between washing. Not much to think about, no choices to decide on.

Oh how diapers have changed! My friend, Melissa over at Monster Pants was super encouraging, as were my other mama friends. They educated me on what the scoop was, gave me awesome links to patterns and tutorials, explained the washing of these new style diapers.

I made two diapers. What a learning curve! The first one I made I used the Little Comet Tail's Tighty Whitey Hipsters. I made them as AIO using the monkey PUL from the Babyville Boutique line. I also used Velcro. I didn't like the fit on Baby Boy, but have since switched it to snaps and now for some reason it fits great! The second one I made was from Ottobre. I used the owls from Babyville Boutique and modified the pattern to make it an AIO as well. For whatever reason the Velcro is fine on this one.

A friend sent me a dozen and a half Bum Genius Diapers she no longer needed, so we've made the switch! I'm still putting him in disposables at night - I just can't seem to get a stay dry solution down pat yet, and he still uses them when we go on day trips to the city, but for the most part he's a cloth diapered tot now. And he likes it. If given an option he always picks cloth. Best part, so far no diaper rashes! (and rinsing isn't so bad and if I'd remember to ever use that roll of disposable liners I keep forgetting about it might be even easier!)

Time Flies

I was thinking it had been awhile since I posted last. What I didn't realize was how long that while had been. Time has a bad habit of slipping away so quickly!

I seem to recall the last time I posted, I alluded to a super, secret quilt project. So I'll start there! I have given it to the recipient so I can finally show it off! It was meant to be G's high school graduation gift. A remembrance of her Grade 12 exchange trip to France. Except life has a tendency to get away on me, I'm a queen of procrastination so she got it this winter. During her second year of university. Better late then never I suppose. I'm glad I finally finished it, and I'm glad she liked it!

"MEMORIES OF PARIS"

Next up was a couple of Marsan Watchcaps. I'm making (BF)G, Little Toddler Man and Baby Boy identical matching ones. It's a great pattern, easy, mindless and about six thousand miles of twisted rib (or so it feels by the time you're on the third one!)

Here's LTM modeling one of them.

I also knit a quick pair of socks! Actually I think I was working on them last time I posted. They're Tiny Tulips by Cherry Flip. It's a sweet little pattern that screams spring with the little tulip design. And because they're ankle socks with an easy to remember stitch pattern they are pretty much instant gratification knitting!

"Hurry up Spring Socks"

And last but not least in knitting is my very, very favourite project!!! I've been wanting to knit these mittens forever, so when my Mama friends from my Due in October 2010 group on Ravelry sent me a very generous gift card to my LYS I decided I was going to use some of it for yarn to make my Lilac Mittens.

"Comfort Mittens"

I've had some machine time too! I've been mostly just doing small easy to finish projects!

Sewing kit and tea wallet for a swap

Mug Rug for (BF)G

New undies for LTM (from Fishsticks Designs)

My Jane With A Pop top that I started absolutely forever ago

So that's a round up of my craftiness as of late. I've so many projects I want to do but so little time to do them in! The little boys keep me busy and are full of adventure (not to mention fearless) so crafting time is very limited when they're up and by the time they're tucked into bed I often find myself knitting a few rows then dozing off in front of the TV. But as we all knows time flies, and little ones don't stay little for long. I know full well how fast a little toddler suddenly becomes an adult, all grown up and making a life of their own. It happens in a blink of an eye. It really does, so it's ok if the crafting has to wait sometimes.

Craft On!

So it's been a busy time for me crafting wise. Little Toddler Man and I have got into a fairly good groove where he plays with toys kept specifically in my sewing area or plays on the piano (also in the same room). Occasionally a game of match the charm squares, put the pins in the pincushion or sort buttons amuses him as well, allowing me a bit of time on the machine while Baby Boy naps.

I decided to try a couple of patterns from my Sewing For Boys book. LTM has been showing a lot of interest in taking himself to the potty, but I've found that most of his pants aren't really accommodating. Whoever thought zippers and buttons on toddlers' clothes a good idea must have either not had a toddler of their own, or they didn't mind as they spent countless hours running a small tot to the bathroom all the while the tot was arguing, "No! Me do!" (or is that just in my house?)

So, I chose the Little Heartbreaker Pants. I really like this pattern. Simple, easy on, easy off, adjustable elastic waist. Perfect. I also love the details, the Hong Kong finish on the pockets - who knew it was called that? Not me, but I like it - and the red railroad fabric I used for the waistband facing and pockets - I sometimes wish I could put them on him inside out so everyone could see the details!

Before I did the cuffs I wanted to check the length, so LTM happily tried them on. Poor Baby Boy felt left out. He came running to me tugging at his pants and babbling and gesturing wildly. I asked him if he wanted mommy to make him new trousers as too and a mad bobbing up and down of his little head and repeated smiles and "uh huh" and it was pretty obvious. He wanted new pants too. I promised I'd make him a new pair the next day.

I thought I'd do the Treasure Pocket Pants for him. I thought using the denim for facings might be a bit bulky especially on an elasticized waist, so I dug through my bin of cottons and found enough leftover to use the construction print I'd made his shopping cart harness from back in the spring. So, his pair has the cotton print on the waist and hem facings as well I made some bias tape out of it for the pockets. I really love these pants on him and he was really happy too, so win, win again!

Moving right along, LTM has grown so much lately that all his pajamas are getting ridiculously short on him so using my favourite Kwik Sew pattern, I whipped up a new pair of flannel jammies for him one afternoon.

I had another couple baby gifts needed so a set of Baprons for one little one and a Austen Lee Romper for the other were my next projects. I had used up the last of my good colours of bias tape on the last few baprons I had made so I made my own. I really think if I'm going to do that again I'll get one of those handy little gadgets for making it. Well I'll get one as long as it saves me from more burnt finger tips. Ouch!

I also finished a project that's been on the go for three years now, but I can't show you pictures or say any more about it just yet. It's a super secret surprise for someone!

Oh and under the category of reuse and repurpose, I cut apart a sweater I knit when I was expecting LTM, that was itchy and ill fitting, not to mention at some point one of the dogs or cats had chewed a big hole in it. I've never worn it, never will, and with the gaping hole it's not as though I could donate it anywhere. So part of it became cuffs for a super quick pair of polar fleece mitts I made for myself before taking the little boys out to play yesterday afternoon.

In knitting news, I'm on a sock kick! My friend, who is a fantastic seamstress and owner of Monster Pants (need diapers? Check out her Facebook page, she makes adorable ones!) is also a fantastic knitter. To cheer me up she sent me a gorgeous pair of hand knit socks! I love them and now remember what I love about hand knit socks, so I've fixed the holes in my Pomatomus socks and cast on last night for a quick pair of Tiny Tulip socks!

Now. If you'll excuse me, Baby Boy is napping, LTM is having a quiet time and I have some knitting to do, although I suppose I should tackle the dishes, do some laundry and mop the floors first...

Pizza Night on the Prairies

We live in a rural area, the closest town is about 15 minutes from us. Delivery is not an option. We probably could get take out pizza, but chances are it would hardly be hot once we got it home, plus the choices of pizzerias in town are abysmal. Why spend $$ on crappy pizza? So we make it here at home. Even Baby Boy, who is (shudder) a finicky eater likes it. Little Toddler Man loves it too, so I thought I'd share my recipe for no-fail yummy crust and a few of our favorite topping combos!

Pizza Crust
(makes three - four crusts depending on the size of your pans)

Heat oven to 205 C / 400 F
Mix 2 tsp of sugar into 2 cups of warm water
Dissolve 2 pkg of yeast in warm water/sugar and let sit about ten minutes
Add 2 tsp salt, 2 TBSP oil (at this point I usually throw in either oregano or basil or even sometimes some minced garlic)
Stir in 5 cups of flour, then knead dough until smooth and elastic.
Cover and let rise (I usually find a half hour long enough)
Divide and roll out crusts and place on pans that have been liberally sprinkled with cornmeal.
Bake in oven ten minutes (this prevents a soggy crust in the end so you don't want to skip this step.)

VARIATION: N likes to make a stuffed crust. So easy to do! Simply cut strips of mozzarella cheese and place along outer edges of pan, leaving enough dough to fold over the cheese and seal. Nom. Nom.

Cool your crusts a few minutes while you finish preparing toppings (this takes me an inordinately long time because I have two toddler sous chefs helping me!

Toppings

Ham and Pineapple - kid friendly favorite as evidenced by the fact a certain LTM ate no less than two and a half on Friday night and Baby Boy had close to two slices!

Spread about 1/4 cup zesty (or your favorite) pasta sauce on crust
Add well drained pineapple chunks and lots of diced ham. Don't skimp on ham and use luncheon meat. No, no, no. Go for the gusto and use real honest to goodness ham. You won't regret it! Promise!
Top with mozzarella cheese

Spicey Chicken - (BF)G loves this one!

Spread about 1/4 cup ranch dressing on crust
Mix cooked, diced chicken breast with Franks Buffalo Wing Hot Sauce to taste and put on crust
Finish topping pizza with chopped tomatoes, red pepper and of course lots of cheese. For this one I like to use a combo of mozzarella and cheddar.

Greek - or Eat Your Veggies

Spread about 1/4 cup of pasta sauce on crust
Top with chopped tomatoes, green pepper, red onions and black olives. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella and lots of crumbled feta cheese.


Bake pizza at 400 F for about 10-12 minutes, then switch to broil for about 3-5 minutes. Remove and let sit for ten minutes, cut and enjoy your feast! I guarantee you'll never want take out or delivery again!