In the Making

After some internet searching I’ve finally adapted a mitered granny square to get a really nice square ‘unholey’ granny square. Phew. So far so good. And I’ve played with the possibilities of a wall photo studio :)

Today I’m connecting to Our Creative Spaces.

On Motherhood

I am what the older generation would call “old mother” – I was 33 when my son was born. People often think that getting children later in life is better, you are more mature, sick and tired of going around the bars and long for spending evenings at home. Well, sort of. In other words, you are READY. But what no one tells the wish-to-be parents is that from the moment your bundle of joy utters her first cry you will be deprived of the most everyday thing: privacy and time for yourself. Yes, undisturbed nocturnal sleep is also on the list. Ah, sleep… the whole point of my writing this post is my own one-night insomnia. This night of all nights, when my boy is safely tucked in bed by his grandmother. Go to sleep! But it’s TOO QUIET. Even the cat is not making her pointless noises she has perfected over the years. So often, being a SAHM, I long for the moments when my boy will be dispatched to his grandmother (he doesn’t go to the kindergarten, yet) and I can try to squeeze one thousand and one tasks like thorough spring cleaning whatever the season plus basement reorganization in one day. And take a stress-free shower. And read a newspaper. And do things that are far too private to mention that publicly but which every toddler mom will kill for to do alone. And what happens? The moment I kiss him goodbye I miss him, so terribly as if he were miles away. I go to his room to hug his pillow when I make his bed, breathing his sweet little boy scent. When I go out, I feel suddenly so empty-handed without the pram. I almost envy the women who sport one!
These rare times I get for myself are indeed very productive, whatever I choose to do then. But it’s oh so  bittersweet.
Tomorrow I will go downtown, with my handbag hanging on my arm instead of the pram for a change. But I will look forward to Sunday, when I will hear the door lock click and a cheery little voice shout “Hallo!” (his favourite word right now). I will look forward to the day my normal life starts again.

THE DAY

Life is complex, we all heard that before. Life is never black and white, we heard that before, too. There are so many shades in between those black and white, you will loose count. But somehow, such statements are just empty words, unless you are standing face to face with reality, that shows you the rainbow, the one between black and white. And you realize, that not all good is good and not all evil is really evil. It all about where you stand when the brick hits you.

March, 11, 2011. Already the numbers 11 look ominous, don't you think? And look what has happened on that day! So much suffering, pain, sorrow. The world will never forget March, 11, 2011.

 I will never forget this day, either. But I will celebrate. No, not because I'm a cinic, but because this day has become the happiest day of my life. The day when everything fell into place, like pieces of a puzzle (and I have never been good at puzzles, let me tell you). The day when my son was born. The day when he finally came out to meet me, to be taken in my arms, to sleep close to me. The day when I could stroke his head not through the taught skin of my belly, but without any barriers between us. The day when he complained about being disturbed in the warm, dark, cosy, if somewhat smallish space he was accomodating the last almost 9 months and being pulled out into cold, bright light. He was not pleased, we all understood that, and he couldn't wait to tell us about it. But the next day – an angel smile. They say the smile of a newborn is nothing else than a reflex, but I don't care. I will always think this smile was FOR ME. Becase he was happy to be finally here, close to me. 

My heart bleeds for all the people who lost their loved ones and their homes on this day. Their lives has changed completely then. My life changed, too, and some things will never be the same.

But I will celebrate this day as a start of a new life, the day my son was born.

Baby Baking

Recently I've got a new thing to mull over in my head, depriving myself of sleep: what to cook for my 11-month old son, so that he gets all the necessary nutrients, vitaminsm protein (30 g per day), carbs, vegetables, fruit... Don't forget fluids, please! And how on earth do I prepare a big batch of soup to freeze in small containers? I mean, preparation per se is not a problem, it's getting the perfect 30 g protein-100 g vegies - 25 g RAW WEIGHT rice/pasta-ratio for a big pot of soup that keeps me awake at night! I think I even dreamed of it later on... I think I should follow Scarlett O'Hara's example and leave thinking about many things until tomorrow.

But yesterday I did some satisfying baking for my little boy. He loves bread, and even though I give him some store-bought bread occasionally, my motherly conscience whispers in a tiny voice about salt and many other bad-for-babies things, concealed inside. I have already baked bread for him before, but it has to be cut in pieces, which involves sharp knives, better to be avoided when the baby is around (do I sound paranoid enough to you?) Finger Food! popped in my mind. And an idea was born. It's very simple, actually: you just take a regular bread dough (I will not go there now), roll it out thinly, cut out circles and put an apple slice on one half. Fold the circle in half, press the edges and bake.

What you get is not just bread, but bread with concealed vitamins :) Mommy's happy.

The apple thingies turned out really delicious and juicy, they made a wonderful  baby breakfast this morning.

My Creative Space_Going Green

I'm going green. No, not with envy. Just having lots of green recently in my fabric choice. I had a green room as a child myself, and I am still partial to this color in room decor. But what I will never be able to have at home is purple-green combo. It's OK to see it in other people's homes, (though to be honest, sometimes it's tiring, too), but I will never be able to live with it. Well, I've slid off the topic without even starting, as usual.
Back to our sheep: I've noticed there has been lots of various shades of green in my sewing lately, and mostly baby-oriented (sewing, that is, not shades of green). I love to read how other people „whip up“ things. It sounds really so effortless and überquick. I, on the contrary, can not „whip up“ anything, apart a baby bottle (I mean, THAT'S idiot proof – just mix water and formula; the baby is already almost feeding himself). My sewing, even simple, has nothing to do with whipping anything up. It's a tedious process, constantly interrupted by demands of my attention either by my cat or the baby. Usually they put themselves in line (using a figure of speech here) and make kind of chorus where one voice is being joined by the other almost at the very end; you know what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But nonetheless, I still managed to make something, and even stage a small photo shoot while the baby was busy with his gym and the cat was enjoying the quiet time. 
 

  























The blanket is super simple, just sewing two fabrics together (I had cotton and some not-so-attractive-and-dark flannel) and turning the whole thing inside out. I really wanted to have a binding there, as without one it looked really just like that – two pieces of fabric put together. But the shiny satin tape really changed the look! I used zigzag this time, and it does make a difference. Zigzag is forgiving, and you get a much neater binding this way, at least, if you have very little experience with it.
The remains of the fabric became the bibs (we've just moved to Carrotville, so bibs are more than essential), with the pattern from the Purl Bee – wonderful pattern and great instructions! Though I have to confess that my very first bib with that pattern never made it – I simple could not turn it inside out. So the next one got a hole on the side; much easier. I've made already so many of these bibs, this is perhaps the only thing I can almost sew in my sleep. On the back there's terry cloth of some wonderful emerald color. In large amounts is rather difficult to digest, but in small drops in form of bibs it's great! For closing I've used Velcro tape – it's much easier to fasten the bib with a Velcro, even if the baby is not holding his head yet.



And then there was the ‘sausage’ pillow (also seen on the very first picture). Actually, it was born out of necessity. My son just started turning on his stomach, and for reasons for me resting in darkness, he was doing it even in his sleep, waking up frustrated (because he could not hold his head in that position yet, I’m only guessing here), not sleeping himself and waking us up, too. In the end I could barely sleep, as I was busy being scared that he will turn on his face at night and not be able to turn back. Following the recommendation of my Mom, who had only one child but is still full of useful information about child rearing, I first rolled up some baby blanket and put beside him. I could clearly see, how RELAXED he looked while sleeping peacefully, without all this stupid turning. And then the pillow was born. I made it myself, too, using up all the filling I had. It’s very light and soft, so there’s no hazard. But such a pillow can not be washed, so I had to make a cover for it, of course. This IKEA fabric is lovely, and it stands out really when you use it for some larger surfaces. It’s a source of major attraction for the baby, too. He loves watching the shapes. Sometimes the pillow attacks, but normally is soon wrestled into submission. I’m very happy with how it turned out and that it’s used so much!


And now, even though I realize you must be text and picture overloaded already, I can't resist showing you some more greenery, a baby blanket I crocheted some time ago (Ravelled here). The original pattern was for knitting, but it was easy to figure out the blocks, and I decided to crochet it, as I could not stand the idea of having numerous stitches on the needles. And I needed the needles, too, all the rest were already taken. I love the greens there! They just work together so well!

So, have I inspired you to go and dig in your yarn or fabric stash for some greens?

Even more creative spaces you can find here. 

My Creative Space_Baby Sweater on Tiny Needles

Sock yarn and 2,5 needles… (size, that is, in mm). But the colors are oh so lovely! They remind me of watercolors and thunder sky here. I’m enjoying the time when I can still knit something for my son and he WILL wear it. He’s only 6 months old and cannot speak yet. He can not say “I will not wear this!” (oh, thank God!). I guess, when you are that small, the only thing you care about when it comes to clothing is if it’s scratchy or not and how much discomfort it causes you to put it on. Life is simple then, isn’t it?
It’s a basic top-down raglan cardigan, in Regia Merino Twist. Yes, a thicker wool will yield a sweater much faster. But I need something for the coming not too warm and not too cold weather, and sock wool is perfect for that.
Falls are pretty capricious here in Austria, in the mornings it’s rather chilly, you do need gloves or at least fingerless mitts, and in the afternoon you start swearing over all the clothing items that have to be put somewhere, as NOW it’s too warm in your poncho/scarf/cowl/whatever you threw on in the morning. And in the evening… well, just check above about the morning. But beautiful they are too, I have to say. A golden fall, with leaves not turning all wrinkly and ugly yellow over the night and falling off altogether, but slow, with spells of warm weather, and leaves showing all the possible colors – yellow, ruddy, greenish, you name it, you have it. I grew up in a place where summer (if you get any) usually turns into more or less winter very abruptly – cold, humid, windy, rainy – you want some more?. Leaves are falling off altogether exactly there. But here… ahhhh, fall crawls slowly, letting you enjoy and not want to look back to summer. Here are some leaves I photographed last fall – I have never seen anything like this before. And of course, needless to say, such a fall is perfect for a knitter. So many opportunities to wrap yourself up in something hand knitted! I strayed aside in weather nostalgia… sorry! I wish you a lovely (knitting) fall!

September, 6th_Better late than Never

Crafty snippets of my day:
sewing in the ends:

staging a small photo shoot:

 packing:





































Yesterday I finished the baby blanket I’ve been working on. One year later, it is a present for a friend’s baby. I was planning to make one BEFORE she was born. Plan never became reality. I did start a blanket, but I was struck by a rare gauge disease – my squares were getting smaller and smaller. I’ve blogged about the symptoms of this malady here.
But truth be told, I think the knitting gods must have been watching over me, as the idea I’ve chosen later fits so much better! And I have to say, the blanket worked up much faster and (almost) without incidents. It really looks striking, if I say so myself, and the pattern is super easy to memorize. I’m very pleased by how it turned out, and really hope that it will be used a lot! Yarn is a very baby-friendly cotton, machine-washable, and should survive quite some tear.
Pattern: Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket

Raspberries with Milk

Berries with milk is  a favourite of my father’s. I fail to see the appeal here, though I do like both, just separately. But raspberries with milk are also sweet memories to me, memories of those warm summer nights, darkness cooling down the steaming earth, flies and mosquitoes circling around the lamp (isn't it an ultimate attribute of a hot summer?), appetite coming finally after the heat is gone. Taste of childhood, this is what raspberries with milk are to me, even if I don’t eat them that way.
Now that I have my little boy, I want to pass on this feeling to him, wrap him up in summer and warmth and sunshine. The colours remind me so much of raspberries, sometimes slightly crushed and giving their juice to milk, making it pinkish.
I wonder now, what he would say to raspberries – we haven’t started with solids, yet. He’s still a baby, I mean, baby baby, just drinking milk and knowing nothing about all the other tastes in the world. I want him to stay like this, forever, so that I can make him blanket after blanket after blanket to wrap him up in.

But down to (knitting) earth: it’s just a Babette-ish square,  I will simply go on until the size looks like something we could use. It’s loads of fun, though, watching the colour emerge – as the rows are getting longer, the colour changes vary. It’s just like watching your child grow – you miss what you leave behind, but there’s more waiting for you, never letting you get bored or long for the past. Always something to look forward to. Just like watching your children day after day after day...

Instant Booties – Just Add a Sitcom

Yesterday I finished a baby kimono I’d been working on. But it was one of those evenings, when you get several sitcoms one after another. What was I left to do? Cast on for another project, of course! Technically speaking, I’ve been knitting these booties during two days, but in reality, you can finish them in just two episodes of some sitcom. And this including all the finishing.
I modified the pattern slightly: instead of using just a thread to tie them, I put a row of double crochet around the opening and made a single crochet chain. An i-cord would have been even better… Next time I have to try it!
The result: super cute and super easy booties, prior to such an amount of adjustments and modifications, that sky is the limit. Really.
Pattern: Lionbrand Baby Simple Garter Stitch Booties
Yarn: Regia Cotton, Surf Color
Amount: 25 gram(?)
Mommy’s pleasure seeing her baby in these booties: immeasurable
Baby’s opinion on booties: Can’t be expressed yet