Totally Random Baby Legs Pattern

What is cuter than a baby wearing a diaper and some baby legwarmers? These knit up quickly and are a good use for leftover yarns. Striped is my favorite, but solid, Fair Isle, argyle, intarsia or even lace inserts would work. Here is the basic recipe; feel free to spice it up as you like it!

Size: 0-6 months (3 inches wide x 9 inches long).
Needles: 5 and 7 circulars or straight (you could also easily knit these in the round and use double points here too--bonus, no seaming at the end!).
Fibre: Blue-green is Blue Skies Alpaca Skinny Dyed Organic in Mallard; cream is Blue Skies Alpaca Skinny Dyed Organic in Leaf; and brown is Aslan Trends Glacier Del Cielo in Espresso. The blue-green and cream are classified by the yarn manufacturer as DK weight; the brown is classified as sport weight. I would use anything you have leftover that is either of these weights with the number of stitches cast on. Of course if using a thicker fibre, you would need less cast on stitches, thinner fibre more.
Gauge: 5 stitches per inch; 8 rows per inch in stockinette.

*How-To:
With size 5 needles, CO 36.
K2, P2 rib for 10 rows.
Change to size 7 needles and K in stockinette until piece measures approximately 8 inches long.
Change back to size 5 needles, work 10 rows of K2, P2 rib.
Bind off in pattern.
Weave in ends and seam using mattress stitch to form a tube.
Make second legwarmer as first.
Find a baby to put them on and take some pictures and send them to all your friends (and to me too!).

*these directions are just the very basic instructions; for random stripes like mine, just use more than one color yarn and change it up as you please. My random stripes were dictated by the amounts of each color of yarn I had. If I were making a stripe of the same size, I would calculate the rows using the length and row gauge (7 inches not including the cuffs, multiplied by 8 rows per inch equals 56 rows; divide by four equals 14 stripes four rows wide; divide by two equals 7 stripes of four rows in two colors, etc etc). I would just plan ahead for whatever pattern or color I wanted to use. Unless I wanted solid, then I would just dive right on in!

This Day

Stood in the light of a big, round full moon at 3:14 AM.
Played outside with a Wee One for hours!


Saw some sprouting bulbs poking up out of the earth.
Felt the sun and wind on our faces.
Knit a bit.
Danced around and sang to this:

C the C (Live) from Colonizing the Cosmos on Vimeo.

Heard, then caught sight of a cheeky robin poking around in the lilacs.
Dreamed of Wee Too.

I don't want to say it aloud, but I'm feeling like it's almost here. Spring that is. I've probably just broken the spell.

But seriously, the SPRING issue of Interweave Knits popped up in the mail today too. I love the spring issues because they normally feature more vegan-friendly fibres; however, this one still seems heavily wool based. Nonetheless, I still found a pattern or two that caught my eye...not that I will knit them anytime soon! I've got some baby leggings on the needles to keep me busy, just a free form experiment using up some tiny bits of yarns from projects' past. Will they fit Wee Too? Will I ever weave in all the ends? All part of the experiment...

Happy Hearts!

A Valentine pictorial...

A "green" bouquet! I made these fabric flowers out of two old shirts and a stolen wedding napkin (don't ask!) that were in my Reuse Me basket of textiles. Plus some sticks from the neighborhood and a hot glue gun. I used the tutorial found HERE. Best part is, they will last and grace our table long into the spring. Sorry the pics are so dark; we are having an overcast, gloomy looking day.

Handmade card using some embroidery floss, card stock and a pen, all of which were just lying about the estate. I traced a piece of heart shaped chocolate, then cut it out on the front part of the card. I then traced that negative space with my pencil to make a heart shape on the inner part. I used 6 strands of floss and did a very rustic looking satin stitch along the outline on the inner part. On the front, I did a rustic back stitch around the opening, leaving the ends long to tie in a bow. Write something cheesy and sappy, and there you have it!


Wee Too's baby booties.



Vegan sugar cookies with strawberry icing. The berries eliminate the need for any food colorings or dyes and make the hearts the sweetest shade of pink.

Vegan Strawberry Icing

4 medium strawberries
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Pulse the berries in a food processor until smooth. Pour into large bowl. Add in the vanilla and two cups of powdered sugar; with electric mixer beat. Add in additional sugar to make a stiff icing. If it gets too thick, you can add a teaspoon of soy milk.

Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day too!

Procrastinator on Fire!

My so-called lazy, stay inside all day Saturday proved to be not so lazy after all. Not only did I make a vegan cake from scratch with two types of frosting and make dinner, I also managed to sew...

...a baby sling! With Wee One, we just used the baby Bjorn or I used the wrap seen here. The wrap is just a piece of jersey knit fabric, which works well, but the tying it in place takes time. Fine for just one wee...but I think things may be a tad bit different this time around. I need something to throw on quickly at a moment's notice before Wee One takes off into the sunset. Four hands would be optimal but so far, I've only got two. Hopefully the sling will come in handy!

I used the tutorial found here; thanks, Sarah! I kind of guessed at the hip to shoulder ratio as my belly is a bit expansive these days. I hope once I have Wee Too, the sling hangs a bit lower, closer to my hip. I followed the tutorial pretty much the same, except I opted to forgo the pacifier holder. I liked how simple it was and how it did not have upholstery foam padding inside like some other designs out there. Here is the link Sarah also provides for tips and ways to carry your wee inside a sling.

It seems I am finally starting to cross things off my massive list before Wee Too arrives. This is where the adrenaline kicks in and a procrastinator thrives; hopefully the extra energy will last a few more weeks!

Here We Go...

...Steelers, here we go!
Pittsburgh's goin' to the Superbowl,
Here we go!

Made a vegan cake to celebrate the day with! GO STEELERS!!!

A Wee Guernsey...

Ta-dah! It fits after reworking the pattern to fit the gauge of my yarn (Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Organic, 100% cotton). This is the second pattern from Fawn Pea I have knit for Wee One and have loved them both--thanks Fawn Pea!!!

Let me just say it is getting more and more difficult to get a decent picture of Wee One, as he is in constant motion. Here is the guernsey at rest...sans Wee One:



Onto the next project!

Clockwork

I am thirsty, hungry and Wee Too is kicking like a champ. I toss and turn, my legs are restless. I sigh and get up to use the bathroom for the second time. Yes, it's 3AM again. And I'm awake. Some nights I'm not up long, other nights I can't get back to sleep and get up for an hour or so. This is one of those.

I've been trying to finish up some projects and cross things off the list before Wee Too gets to Knitsburgh. One of the projects was a new nursing cover. You may remember the nursing cover and nursing wrap I made for Wee One. The nursing cover I used all the time but it seemed a bit skimpy at the sides due to the triangular shape and could use some improvement. The nursing wrap was never really used for nursing in public. Wee One was a babe who liked to pull the nursing covers/wraps/blankets away and unless something was fastened securely around my neck, was a bit risky out there on the streets.




Behold the new nursing cover. I used the tutorial from Diary of a Quilter and pretty much followed it exactly. The only thing I would advise is to check the size of your boning before inserting it. I did not and the top seemed a bit loose. I removed it (before sewing it in, thankfully) and measured it; the woman at the fabric store had been generous and gave me 15" instead of 12" which was either a mistake or nice of her. Either way, it fit much better at 12". It was really an easy project; Wee One refused his nap on the Project Day and I pretty much made it while keeping him occupied (i.e. not playing with the ironing board, iron or sewing machine).



In the background you can see an easel Nature Boy designed and constructed for Wee One. He told me he wanted to leave it in it's natural wood state and have Wee One's paint splashes and errant crayonings as the "finish" and you can see Wee One is complying like a champ.

Wee One's Organic Guernsey is finished now, save for sewing on three buttons. As soon as the buttons are one, I will try and arrange a photo shoot. I'm also excited to see if it fits...

I hope all had a lovely Imbolc/Groundhog's Day. I did here and was reflecting on being a vegan pagan. Imbolc, named for "ewe's milk", is at first glance not so very vegan. Dairy products figure prominently in the Irish and Scottish lore of celebrating and traditional feasting. However, this year I focused on the care and love Bride had for animals, particularly cattle, and this really seemed to help me forge a deeper spiritual connection.

Seems now I am looking for all the signs of spring. We had a strange two days' weather; cold and snow-covered, then warm, rainy and melting, then windy with more snow and cold. The warm, rainy, melty part gives me hope it won't be long now.