The Devils in the (Nursery) Details

For the last two nights Hubs and I have been working on the baby's room.  We had been working on it for awhile, but hadn't completely finished.  All the big cleaning had been done, but there were a few little details that still needed to be completed.  We figured this week was a good time to do it since my baby shower in Maine is tomorrow. 


While Hubs did all the handy and heavy lifting tasks (hanging bookshelves and moving crap to the basement), I worked on finishing the wall hanging banner thingy I had made to go over the baby's crib (which we still don't have...lol).  Awhile ago, way before my hand froze up, I crocheted a heart for each one of the letters in the baby's name.  Recently, I had added the letters of her name to each of the hearts, crocheted up a few butterflies (the baby's favorite, or so I have myself convinced), and sewed them all to a pretty pink ribbon.   When I tried to hang it, things didn't go so well.  The hearts were floppy and I sewed them to the ribbon way too close to the middle.  It looked like a bright pink mess...with butterflies.

I decided what the hearts needed was a nice starch and iron. So last night, that's exactly what I did.  I am in LOVE with spray starch.  Hubs had bought Niagara starch (is there another kind? I don't even know), and I absolutely LOVE the way it smells.  I don't know when I'll ever get a chance to use it again, but it smelled awesome.  Hubs agreed with me that it smelled great, but will probably use it again shortly, since he loves a nicely starched dress shirt.

Once the hearts were nicely starched and ironed I brought the ribbon out and started to assemble.  I had decided this time I was going to hot glue the hearts onto the ribbon.  I thought it would be sturdier..and wouldn't hurt my hand so much.  It seemed like a great idea, until I glued all the letters on backwards.  TWICE!

Hubs had to come and lay the hearts out for me so to make sure that I didn't glue O-L-I-V-I-A backwards (A-I-V-I-L-O) for the third time.  Finally, I got it right.  It really took some finagling with the ribbon, since there was no way that they were coming off on their own.  I had to cut each piece off of the ribbon and re-glue them to a new piece.  Actually, in the back the hearts are glued to white ribbon, cause I ran out of pink.

It's a little fuzzy...but can you see what I did??

Once we got it on the wall I thought it looked adorable, and wasn't so worried about how silly and messed up the back looks.  Hopefully the baby won't want to know why it isn't all hanging on the pretty pink ribbon. What do you think?

With the shelf that Hubs hung. How cute is it that Minnie and Mickey's tails are hanging down?? I died.

Baby Olivia :)

Crochet Baby Wrap Sweater

Last week, I finally finished the crochet wrap sweater I had been working on for the baby.  When I say finally, I mean it.  This sweater was a disaster from the first stitch to the last. 

I started the sweater very enthusiastically using a pattern from the book that I used to make the crochet hearts. 

I thought the hearts were pretty easy.  I whipped up all five of them in no time.  I was able to follow the pattern without issue, even being a very novice crotchetier (my spell-check said this was a word.  I don't think I believe it...but I like it...so I'm using it). The blurb before this pattern even said that it was good for beginners .  Hogwash!  The pattern was super hard to read.  It didn't follow the nice row by row format of all the other crochet patterns I've tried.  I had faith that I could figure it out though, so I kept on.  Plus, my mom (a very avid crotchetier) told me that I could ask her for help when I needed to.  I was sure we could figure out the pattern if we put our heads together.

I think I may have ripped out each section of this wrap at least one time.  The right sleeve I know for sure I ripped out three.  I was nearly done stitching it and ripped it out to the beginning.  THREE TIMES!!  Unfortunately, Mom wasn't really any help with the pattern, since she hadn't seen one written so awkwardly either.  She actually told me that I should give up.  I would NOT give up.  The sweater was annoying me so much I couldn't.  I wasn't going to let a baby wrap sweater from a stupid book that claimed it was EASY get the better of me.  No....I would finish.

So, here I am.  Finally, finished, and vowing NEVER, NEVER, NEVER to make this sweater again.  I think it came out okay, but just knowing that half of the stitches I had to make up on the fly because I couldn't figure out how to get the instructed increases and decreases to work out to the right stitch count  is just too frustrating to bear again. I'm glad I finished, but overall, I'm going to have to call this project a fail.   

Also, I'm really skeptical about the sleeves.  Will my newborn's wrists really be that skinny??   I know newborns are small...but this just seems more doll like than anything else. 

Linking this up to a party or two :) 

Sweet Baby Hoodie

Is there anything sweeter than baby clothes?  Honestly, I don't think so. 

A few weeks ago I crocheted a hoodie for the baby.  I just sewed the buttons on tonight.  It was the first sweater I'd ever crocheted, considering my mom just taught me how last month.  I thought it came out pretty good for a first attempt.

I got the pattern online from Bernat.  On their site the sweater looked like this:

Baby Hoodie Pattern

I used different yarn than suggested.  I had some grey and pink wool at home that I thought would be nice.  The smallest size on the pattern was six month.  I figured by the time my baby was 6 months she would want something in wool.  She's a very sensible baby already :)

I am really pleased with how it turned out. Actually, I think it's adorable.

 

 

My next crochet project is a wrap sweater (in pink of course).  I'm nearly done that too, but it's been much more frustrating.  I'll explain when it's all done.

Insomnia??

I couldn't sleep this morning. I think I have too much on my mind. Plus, once I'm awake I realize how hungry I am , and then it's over.

Instead of laying in bed and trying to fall back asleep I decided to get up, have a bowl of cereal and craft. My poor sewing machine is currently unavailable to me. It's lost in a mess of "transition" clutter. I figures instead of sewing I would try my hand at crochet. I didn't do too bad on my first project so why not.

I found a cute hat one the internet an started plugging away. Three hours later I had the final product. What do you think:




I think it came out pretty good actually :) Now to get off the couch and shower. :)

Crafty Weekend WrapUp

This weekend my sister and my parents came to visit. The three of us girls went shopping while Hubs and my Dad stayed at the apartment to nap and play xbox. Who wants the boys to come shopping anyways right??

We started off the shopping trip with Michaels. I had big crafting intentions for the weekend and needed to get my supplies. My sister just started making her own jewelry and had promised me that she would teach me. She even bought me a set of tools before she came down. I had decided I wanted to make a charm bracelet. With lots of help, I picked out the beads, findings and other stuff that I needed to make my bracelet (and a bit more).

I've been wanting to learn how to make my own jewelry for a really long time. It seems like every time I go to the store and look at the beads I get overwhelmed. I kinda feel the same way when I think about my baby registry..... I just didn't know where to start. I would look for a kit or something to introduce me to beading, but couldn't find anything great in that arena either. But, this time, now that Manda knew what she was talking about, I felt better. Still completely overwhelmed, but at least I had someone to ask questions.

I really enjoyed making my bracelet. Though it took a little while for me to figure out what I was doing. Handy tip though, Manda told me she found a ton of beading how to's on YouTube. I go there sometimes to see how to apply makeup, so I guess I'll be going there for beading tips too.

Here's the final product. I'm wearing it today actually. I really like it...









Second on my list of crafts I wanted to learn over the weekend was crochet. Basically, I just needed to suck my family dry of their crafting knowledge. (oh, and don't worry, I let my dad fix the radiators in our apartment with Hubs so that he didn't feel left out) My sister in law, Brenda, had let me borrow a book of Baby Crochet. Here it is:




There are a TON of super cute baby crochet stuff in this book. My favorite being this garland of crochet hearts.




I know how to knit, but not crochet. My mom knows how to crochet, but not knit. I let her teach me :) Though, learning any sort of hand oriented crafts from my Mom is always kinda tricky cause she's a lefty. I just watched her do the crochet straight on facing her, instead of from the back. I have to say, that I am in love with crochet so far. The hearts are super easy...but I really like how they are coming out.




So far I've finished three. I'm thinking I'm going to do a heart for each letter in the baby's name, and then stitch the letters on with a contrasting thread. Then I can hang it over her bed. What do you think? Good idea?