Common Threads

Freezer Paper Onesies

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:46:54 -0800

Liam had a co-ed baby shower on Sunday and one of the things our guests did was make a freezer paper onesie. We did a test run the week before to make sure that the process was smooth and that we had all the supplies. The top row is the test run with family. The bottom row are the products from the shower, minus two that were still being created.

We made sure there were plenty of different sizes of onesies, newborn to 12 months, so that he would’t run out, or rather so that we could actually use them before he outgrew them!

People were creative in their creations. We have Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Where the Wild Things Are, Fox, and a few other “name brands” mixed in the batch. Liam will be a walking advertisement. Well, maybe a crawling and drooling advertisement.

Jordan had a lot of fun creating his onesie. His is the lion. The front is the front facing lion, the back is the back of the lion. He even made it so that the mane transitions from a red to an orange color. So creative!

FO: Liam’s Newborn Hat #1

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:22:05 -0800

Finished the baby’s first knitted hat and used one of his stuffed animals as a model. The stuffed animal isn’t quite the size and shape of a newborn’s head, but you get the idea. It’s a simple ribbed hat that will grow with him. Details on Ravelry, of course.

Happy MLK Day and 3-day weekend! So glad it’s a short week ahead.

FO: Fabric Cork Board

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:31:09 -0800

There were so many little pieces of paper that I wanted to keep track of for Liam, so I made a small fabric cork board for his room in fabric that matches his bed skirt and quilt. The quilt is still in process. I only need to tack down the binding, but am waiting for my maternity leave to do that finish work.

My inspiration was from here. I really like her use of color and I may do something similar in the future. But for now, I figured coordinating fabrics would be good. The one difference is that I didn’t use press board. I merely got some 6 x 6 cork board and pieced it together. It didn’t make for the smoothest transitions; however, once it has paper pinned to it, I’m sure it won’t be too noticeable. It’s also a little more flimsy, since it’s pieced.

In case you’re interested . . . the dimensions are approximately 6 x 24”. The fabric pieces are 4 x 2.5”. I cut longer 4 x 6 strips of linen for the sides. The top and bottom are 3 x ~30. I cut the sides cut down after stapling to reduce bulk on the back. Since it’s so light, I just affixed it to the wall with double sided tape.

I realized that I don’t sew a perfect 1/4” seam and quilting hides many imperfections that stand-alone piecing does not. I’m still pretty pleased with the way it turned out and figure that we’ll get some good use out of it.

As I’ve gone back to work, I’ve realized that I have no time for blogging during the week, so I may become a weekend blogger at least until I go on maternity leave. I get home at a relatively early time, but I come home tired and all I want to do is sit and knit. I don’t normally sew during the week. Sewing isn’t as easy to pick up and put down.

FO: Mom’s Monster Shawl

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:04:30 -0800

I’ve finally finished this behemoth and am now able to move onto other projects.

A while back, my mom asked me to duplicate a worsted weight woven shawl that she had gotten in Mexico years ago. I don’t weave, and didn’t want to just make her a garter or stockinette shawl, so I chose a use the Kinetic pattern and adjust it a bit. Following a 48 row pattern repeat for about 65-70 inches is monotonous, especially when you basically double the pattern width.

It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I didn’t get it finished in time. It wasn’t quite long enough.

I’m so glad to be done with this that I immediately cast on for a baby hat for Liam. A quick knit, compared to this one! Details for this monster shawl are on Ravelry.

Ravelry T-Shirts For Sale

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 15:52:57 -0800

It’s a bummer how work can get in the way of crafting and blogging. Although I come home at a relatively early time, I still come home tired and not wanting to do much more than sit on the couch and knit. It could be other factors besides work, though.

The goal (hopefully tonight) is to finish my mom’s monster shawl. She wanted me to replicate a worsted weight woven shawl that she had gotten in Mexico years ago. I don’t weave, so I’m knitting it. Unfortunately, the thing is huge. I’m so glad that it’s almost done!

As the post title suggests, I have some Ravelry t-shirts for sale. They’re the first ones that they made way back when. Never worn. I ordered them in a Medium and they’re too small for me, so they have been living in a drawer for the past few years. This is a drawer that we had to clean out for the baby, so I’d thought I’d see if anyone wanted them in blog land. Here are some details:

• Size: Medium (but it runs small)
• Never worn nor washed
• Both say, “where my stitches at?”
• Paypall only
• $10 per shirt, includes s/h within the U.S. Email me if you’re outside the country.

Drop me a line, if you’re interested.

FO: Picture Holder

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 11:40:44 -0800

Not sure what else to call this. It’s not a picture frame, although it was.

While cleaning out Liam’s closet on Christmas Day, I came across an old frame that had nothing in it. I finally went and bought some cork for it yesterday. I’d bought the ribbon the week before. Why I didn’t do it at the same time, I don’t know. Here’s a little tutorial on how I put it together.

Materials:
• a picture frame - remove the glass, but save the cardboard backing
• a fat quarter - or appropriately sized piece of fabric
• cork board (optional - depends on whether or not you want to have the ability to pin things to it or only want to use the ribbon to hold pictures) - I used 12 x 12 panels and pieced them together
• ribbon - I used 1/4” thick ribbon
• stapler

Directions:
1. Attach the cork panels to the card board you removed from the picture frame. The cork panels came with double sided tape so that’s what I used. Be sure to use enough tape or the panels may bow once you insert it into the frame. That’s what happened to mine, but I wasn’t willing to take it apart and I figured it was fine. You will need to piece the cork to fit. Attach the first one. It will be a full panel. Attach the second one. It will run off the side. Turn the card board over after attaching the pieces and use a rotary cutter to trim off the excess.
2. Lay the fat quarter upside down. Place the cork / cardboard combination right side down on the fat quarter. Attach the fat quarter with staples to the back side of the card board.
3. Turn your cork / cardboard and fat quarter over. Measure and cut pieces of ribbon to run diagonally. Attach on the front with staples at the edge where the frame will cover it. These are just to hold it in place. Turn the cork / cardboard over. Attach with staples on the back. Remove the staples on the front.
4. Measure the distance of one side of the card board and divide by how many triangular sections you will have. For mine, I have three triangular sections on each side. So, I measured the distance of one side and divided by three. Now, this isn’t an exact science, so it’s okay if you get a fiddly number. I did.
5. Roughly measure out those spaces and mark with disappearing ink. Really, you’re covering the mark, so you could mark with anything.
6. Repeat for all the sides - measure and mark.
7. Place the ribbon on each corresponding mark, working out from the center. As you place the ribbon, don’t forget to weave it over and under the ribbon it crosses. Attach the ribbon on the front using staples. Again, this is just to keep it in place.
8. Turn the cardboard over and attach the ribbon on the back with staples. Remove the staples on the front.
9. Place in picture frame.
10. Hang it on the wall and add pictures.

Does this count as a sewing FO, even though it didn’t include any sewing? I’ll list it on the side bar there since it’s definitely not knitting.

Happy New Year!

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 09:15:38 -0800

I’m so looking forward to 2010, for obvious reasons . . . we have the opportunity to welcome a new baby into our home in less than three months! 2009 was a year of transitions, work wise, and I’m sure that 2010 will be a year of transitions at home getting used to the new baby.

I don’t generally make resolutions, per se, but I am all about planning and setting goals. Goals are much more attainable than resolutions and they come with a plan.

Goals for 2010:
:: Have a baby - I’d like to have a natural birth with no interventions. I’ve only recently come to that decision and it took a couple months of research to get here. One, I hate needles. I was traumatized as a four-year-old with having blood drawn and had to be held down. Ever since then, I haven’t like needles. Just the concept of having a needle in my spine makes my stomach turn. I know I could do it, if I needed to (i.e.: had to have a c-section), but I’m going to try and do everything I can not go that route. We’ve hired a doula. I’m throughly enjoying the concept of having someone there who knows what there doing and will be there for the entire birth. She’ll come to our house before we go to the hospital and help me labor at home for as long as possible, be with us at the hospital and stay for an hour or two after the birth to help with breast feeding. Jordan was a bit hesitant to have someone else in the room at first, but he’s now totally convinced about the benefits of continuous care and that someone else will be there knowing what they are doing.

:: Do as many things naturally for the child as possible, such as cloth diaper and make our own baby food. We have quite a diaper stash as it is and I’m in the process of making more cloth diapers and soakers. I’ve also been researching how to make baby food and figure that I can start making it when he’s four months old and freeze it. That way we’ll have plenty of it when he’s ready to start eating it at six months.

:: Loose the baby weight - my goal is by June; however, I won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t happen by then. I am planning on breast feeding, which will help and we’ll go for walks everyday, just to get out of the house. The mall is close and although we don’t have money to spend on clothes, it’s a big mall with plenty of walking area!

:: Crafting - I’m not sure what my goals are this year for crafting. I’d like to make some more quilts, finish what’s on my queue or both knitting and sewing, make diapers, and all that good stuff. We’ll see how much time I have for crafting after the baby is here. Until then, it’s about getting ready for him.

FO: Crib, crib skirt, and blanket

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:58:32 -0800

A couple of FOs to share . . .

We were able to pick up and assemble our new crib last night. I love how it looks. Although nothing else in his room is an espresso color, it matches the rest of our house well! The crib skirts first perfectly, except on the sides where the mattress spring is bolted in. I’m tempted to rip those edges and put velcro on them so that I can attach them around the diagonal metal things. We’ll see how it looks after we get a mattress in there. It may not be too noticeable. That’s why the corners look shorter. The crib skirt is made from a pattern in Amy Butler’s Little Stitches. I pieced together the white top from scraps I had. The side fabric is Robert Kaufman Animal Party. Something I didn’t realize about the crib before we bought it is that this is as high as it goes. It doesn’t seem very high for a newborn setting. I know we’re missing the mattress, but still, another six inches is not going to make that much of a difference. Oh well. It’s not like i can’t bend over. And, we won’t need to lower it for a long time.

The knitted blanket is also done. Grafting an i-cord is fiddly and I don’t like the finished product too much. For some reason, I couldn’t get the stitches to line up. The middle stitches that were grafted look great, but one end starts / ends slight off from the other. It’s not too noticeable. I also ran out of yarn for the edge and used some I had on had from a different dye lot, same color. It’s only slightly noticeable, if you look hard in the right light. Details on my Ravelry page.

Liam’s Alphabet Wall

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:37:30 -0800

Once we touched up the paint in the baby’s room, we finally got around to hanging up his alphabet cards. I love, love how they look and brighten the room. They take up almost an entire wall, between the door and the dresser. The blues and greens are so bright and cheery.

Each letter has objects on it that start with that letter. Some are a bit obscure. I had to google “birds that start with ‘i’” in order to figure out what was on the “I” card. And, from an educator’s perspective, I don’t like the image on the “O” card. Really, owl doesn’t start with any sound that “o” makes. But, they are cool to look at and explore. In fact, you can look at them for a long time and keep “finding” new things / images. That’s another reason I really like them. They’re involved enough that you can never “see” it all.

Tiny Newborn Fitted Diaper

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:28:05 -0800

I made a diaper! And, I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Since this was the first diaper I’ve attempted to make, I decided to go with simple. It’s just two layers (I’ll add some soakers) with elastic casings and top-stitched.

We’re planning on using fitteds and snappies, for the most part. I have bought some all-in-twos just to try out as well as some pocket diapers. We’ll see what works best when the baby arrives.

I followed the Darling Diaper Unlimited pattern, which has many different options for diapers. This was the first one I made, so it took about an hour and a half to make. I wanted to go slow and make sure I was doing it right. Now that I have the process down, I can probably make at least one in an hour or less. The process is easy: cut, sew wrong sides together, attach elastic, turn, top-stitch and include casings while topstitching.

I didn’t iron my seams open, the directions didn’t say to and it’s a knit fabric. There are a couple areas where the seams aren’t flat and either the back or front is rolled over a little bit. It’s not a big deal, but I’m wondering if ironing the seams would help. It’s a knit fabric, so I’m not sure if it would.

I was also a bit concerned about sewing with a knit fabric, since I haven’t before, but it was easy. I had no problems with it bunching up or anything.

As for sizing, since Liam isn’t here yet, it’s difficult to know what size to make for him. The tiny newborn goes from 5.5 - 13 lbs and the newborn from 8.5 - 16 lbs. Jordan and I were both around 6-7 lbs at birth, so I’m assuming that we need the tiny newborn for a while. Our plan is to use disposables, until he finishes with the black tar stuff then move onto cloth diapers. Plus, we have some infant prefolds. They seem a bit too big, though. I’m thinking that we may need some newborn prefolds as well as the newborn fitteds. We’ll see.