5/10/2011 - Obsessed with knitting...

It's amazing how much craftier I've become since having kids. When I was a little girl, my Grandmother was always trying to teach me to knit, crochet, sew or quilt. I hated it with a passion and even went so far as to try to sleep over at friend's houses when Grandmother was coming for a visit. I was not a very good granddaughter, was I? Birthday and Christmas presents were always knitting needles, crochet hooks, or sewing kits. The only one of those I actually appreciated was the cherry pie knitter. The rest went unused. The problem I think was that I couldn't find any practical use for the stuff. Grandmother wanted me to help her on a King size double wedding ring quilt, or to learn to knit dishcloths and potholders. I think if I had realized then that I could make barbie sized quilts and knit little stuff for my dolls, like maybe small rugs for the dollhouse that I might have been more interested. That's not Grandmother's fault, I just couldn't see any use for it and didn't want to learn.
Fast forward to today.
With my hubby unemployed when I was pregnant, I tried to make my own stuff whenever possible.  I made a wool mattress for my cradle from two old army blankets, one mine, one my Father-In-Law's.  To hold it together I made a pillow sham from an old sheet to fit the size of the cradle and stuffed it with the blankets.  It made a firm but cozy sleep surface.  I sewed a nine patch baby quilt, made curtains to cover some of our bare windows, sewed diaper covers and longies for the baby and knitted hats for my two big kids on the Knifty Knitter Looms that my son wanted me to buy him at a yard sale several years earlier.
Now I was hooked on seeing something emerge from the basic raw materials, the things I sewed and the hats I knitted started from nothing. I love the feeling of accomplishment when you see the finished creation and the look my kids give me when I give them something I made just for them.  So I joined the church knitting group.  These are mostly older women, but there are one or two younger women.  They taught me to cast on and off, and taught me to knit and purl.  The rest I've learned from YouTube videos, and the facebook for knitters, Ravelry.com.  I am a slow knitter so I haven't made many things yet but I have a start.  I knitted an Ipod cover at the request of my son, fingerless mittens for the baby for playing outside, and diaper soakers and shorts.  My current project is a blanket for my baby made from the softest yarn I have ever felt, a birthday gift from my husband.  This time I DO appreciate the gift.  Thanks Dear!
Unfortunately I have designs in my head for so many projects that I will never have the time to do them all.  Between homeschooling, kids programs and day to day life, I barely have any time left over.  My scrapbooks haven't been touched in a year and a half.  I need to dejunk the house, clean it and organize and plan craft time into my day alongside meaningful bible study time, homeschooling, taking care of my Husband and Children and trying to keep up the house.  I used to be able to get more done in a day.  Maybe after Lilypie quits cutting teeth I can catch up on sleep and get my energy back.

8/9/2010 - August Days

I can't believe Lily is 8 months old!  Her first birthday will be here before I know it.  She is such a Joy in our lives.  Lily is the best birthday and Christmas present I ever got!  Today is our anniversary and we went out for Thai food.  The owner of the restaurant came over to hold Lily and talk to us for a bit.  She talked about child rearing in her country and how different things are here.  The funny thing is we are already doing some of the things she mentioned.  I wanted to ask her about potty training practices there as we have begun teaching Lily to go on the toilet, but we were out of time.  We had to get home to pick up the kids from VBS.
About 10 days ago we started playing around with EC - Elimination Communication or infant potty training.  It is absolutely amazing to me to see Lily peepee on the toilet.  I never knew that you could really do this...  Of course she still uses diapers but we're using less diapers now that we know about EC.  She still wears mostly cloth diapers and disposables at night.
As for diaper covers, I've learned to knit now so that I can make her wool diaper covers.  They are so soft and comfy.  She seems to like them.  Here is the newest one.  I still need to sew some bigger fleece ones.  Fleece ones are much faster to make than the wool ones.  I like them both.  For fall I'd like to knit her a pair of legwarmers to wear with her diaper covers.