Ash wore some of his new nappies today and I tried to get a photo of him modelling them. He is crawling so fast that it is hard to get a good shot of him when he is still. Here are a couple of action shots that I managed to take.
He needs some baby legs now to protect his knees. The carpet is a little harsh on his chubby little knees.
Well I managed to sew 7 nappies on the weekend. They have been waiting around since July to be made up. So it was very satisfying to clear these out of my to do pile. I’m pretty happy with my technique now as well, doing 7 at once makes the process very efficient, as long as they are the same in colour anyway. The last lot I did all had different colour covers which meant a lot of thread changing.
We’ve been a little slack on the cloth nappy front. Ash wears them about one day each week so we aren’t making much of an environmental saving with them. This is about to change now that we have about 3 days worth of cloth nappies, it means we can have half in the wash and the other half in use.
I like the cute patterned polar fleece ones but they are a lot more bulky than the pul ones. I’ve run out of pul lining for the patterned ones as well so I’ll have to think about how many more I want to make. I got a little obsessed with cloth nappies at the end of my pregnancy and found a lot of great patterns and websites with information on making nappies, but the reality is that you really need the baby to check the fit and sizing. Now that Ash is a little bigger these nappies seem to fit a lot better and there are a lot less problems with leaks.
I’m still on my knitting book binge and picked up Weekend knitting by Melanie Falick earlier this week. I really like the idea of some quick projects to plough through before Christmas. Also the possibility of projects that are smallish and therefore not to hot to hold and knit in this 30 degree heat.
This is a great knitting book, it includes activities and recipes as well as stories behind the patterns. This style of writing makes it a book that you can pick up and read for pleasure as well as use for the patterns. It feels like a treat to be able to dip in and sample the short little vignettes and then move onto some good photographs alongside pattern notation.
I can see a checkerboard, legwarmers, lace-edged pillowcases, argyle slippers, flower washcloths, fluffy lace camisole and a felted stash accessories bag in my future.
I’m also very inspired by the finger puppets, I can see some of my fabric stash being coopted into little finger and hand puppets.
The checkerboard has a new technique that I would like to try as well, double knitting. It really pays to read the notes the whole way through, now the pattern makes more sense.
I read so many blogs of mums who craft and I am in awe of how they achieve so much. Where do they find the time? They appear to be reading just as many blogs as I do, they talk about multiple children. Where do they find the time?
I feel exhausted even contemplating the crafty things that I want to do. I just packed away the knitting machine, I really don’t see myself getting the time. I’m seriously thinking of selling off all my beads. I’ve got a 90 litre tub full and they are just too dangerous to have around the little one.
I have material cut out that just needs sewing up into some trousers for me and a pair for Ash. I think of doing it while he is having a nap, but then I don’t want to run the risk of waking him as he is just in the next room.
Does your life feel cluttered? I feel that I have so many things on the go that I need to rationalise the clutter to make any kind of impact on my lifestyle. But then I think about how much I have invested in this clutter and get depressed at the thought of giving it the heave-ho with no recompense.
There is always the thought that if I give it to charity it is doing good for others and the good will make it back around to me. But really has that ever happened? I give stuff to people, help people and I’m always pleasant and I rarely see others returning this sort of behaviour.
I’m hoping the care/craft mix of my life will even out a bit in the next year as Ash gets more independent and we start getting regular sleep patterns. The irregular sleep is really impacting on my day-to-day activities, or lack there of.
Ok bitch and moan over…
Wow, why didn’t I try this earlier. Knitting socks from the toe up using my favourite bamboo circular needles is so easy. I only looked at the instructions once and then just powered ahead. That is pretty amazing for me, usually I have to pour over knitting instructions for ages to make sure I’ve got the technique correct but this time it just flowed all right.
I’m starting on my Christmas knitting, I figure socks for the grans will be good as you always get cold feet in retirement homes/hostels. I’m going to create secret crazy socks. In other words I’m going to use up my left over painted sock yarn for the foot and make a conservative upper to peak out of the shoes. Hopefully they’ll see the humour and enjoy the hand knit gift.
Here is a peak of the first toe-up sock I’ve done.
Okay confession time, after lunch I remembered a plan to make Ashby some cute onesies for summer and pulled a couple of really nice soft Bonds tees from the charity bag. Here are the rescued items.
I’ll have to make some time for them soon.
Maybe tomorrow. Melbourne Cup Day holiday (ACT)
I really don’t like the Melbourne Cup Day holiday and will be glad to see it go next year. I’ve always really enjoyed working it, everyone is in a good mood, they usually have a nice lunch or afternoon tea. Everybody stops work to watch the race and then the rest of the afternoon is usually a write off because you’ve all had a glass of champagne. Those were the good days BC (before child)
Any tips for the race?
I planned for this blog to be about my use and reuse of items within my stash or own collection of clothing. The trouble is that I have run out of time. I go back to work this week :( and have been sorting through my wardrobe to make sure that I have clothes to wear for work. It was good to rediscover all my old friends but it has made me realise what a collector I have become. So I have done a massive cull.
This has been surprisingly easy. A lot no longer fits. There are a lot of maternity clothes that will not be used again. So it is all packed up into stripy bags awaiting dropping off at a charity store.
I’m feeling slightly guilty that I am not going to recycle some of this into clothes for Ashby but I know that he has plenty of clothing already so I don’t need to make more.
So here they are…
proof of my consumerism.
I did cull in January, when we moved house, but obviously not very well. It was very hard to do when I was 8 and a half months pregnant, and unsure what my figure would be like post baby.
Luckily my figure is pretty good (gotta love breastfeeding) and I’ve returned to my pre-baby weight and maintained it for 5 months now. Sorry to brag, but if I get it down in writing then it is all the more reason to stick to it. My maintenance program once I return to work will be riding to work, plus walking with the pram every now and then.
So you may be wondering if I have any clothing left. Yes I do, 2 wardrobes full.
These pictures only show a portion of each as the doors hide the other parts. The leftovers need reorganising and I think that after that I will have to get into the shoes. That will be really hard as I really love my shoe collection, but I can’t see myself wearing any of those stilettos anytime soon. They are not exactly walking with the pram type of shoes.
