Toddles

Lilly is walking for real! yeay! She has been walking on her own all evening and I am very excited. It is so cute because she is so tiny.
She also found her nostril, which is hysterical. She sticks her finger up her nose and just looks intently at my mom, who howls with laughter. She never smiles, just looks. When my mom stops laughing she pulls her finger out of her nose and then sticks it back in to make my mom laugh more. When she saw how funny that was she thought sticking her finger in her eye would be equally funny. It wasn't.

I can't think of a title

Well, let's see, what is the dirt for the day...

Lilly went in for her real 12 month checkup today. She is in a vaccine study for meningitis, which has been interesting. Her doctor recommended it since she was hospitalized for it in October. So far, she has been doing very well on it. She is done with the vaccinations now and they will draw her blood in 30 days to see if she has built up antibodies. I hope she has, I don't like the threat of meningitis hanging over us, such a scary sickness.

They give the vaccine in the arm, instead of the leg, which she did not appreciate, plus the study nurse is not as fast as baby's usual nurses, so it was more painful than usual. Lil does not have ANY fat on her arms, so it was not nice. She was very angry. Fortunately, shots don't bother her too much and she usually only cries for about 30 seconds, then she forgets about it.

I worry constantly about her weight, but her doctor isn't worried. He says that the growth of her head is a good indicator that she is doing well. If it slows down, then he will worry, but so far, she still has an enormous noggin. Sign of intelligence and whatnot. ;) Seriously, though, she is quite advanced for a 1 yr old, I am pleased with that. Well, advanced as far as cognitive development goes. She still doesn't walk well. I had her doctor check on that, because she has an odd gait. I was worried that she might have one leg shorter than the other (I do) or mild hip dysplasia (again, I do) but nope, she just walks like a drunk! She will get better at it. She has quite a few words, which is funny. Her newest are "I did it!" and "Cool" Very funny when she says them, as she grasps the meaning.

Also, apparently, her "selective" understanding is a sign of intelligence. Fabulous.

Let's see...in other news, the housing market still sucks, so the company is not doing as well as I would like. I have debated getting a full time job, but have decided that that is not the right answer. I feel very strongly about staying home with Lil (who'd o' thought) and I already work part time. I didn't think that I would want to stay home with her, but the idea of handing her off to someone else full time is not a happy one for me. I certainly don't judge those who do, I had my wonderful nephew for 3 years while his mama worked and I wish I still had him. He has a nanny now, as I didn't think I could handle him, Lil and his baby brother. If it were just him, I would not have hesitated. I had him in my care from the time he was born and grew very attached to him. He is the sweetest little boy. Sigh. I miss him.

In crafty news, I got an insane amount of raw wool fleece from a friend of my dads. It was free. They are not from wool sheep, and they guy doesn't sell the wool or anything, so the shearing job was not fabulous for spinning and they are filthy, but there is so much of it, that I can pick through the fleeces and pull out the best parts.

Originally, I was going to wash the fleece, then comb or card it, then spin it, but I kept matting up the fleeces pretty good when I would wash them, and only getting a little bit of combable locks, plus, they were so dry that it was hard to draft them. So, I looked up some more info on the web, and I found a website that gave instructions for spinning "in the grease" It is much easier to comb the unwashed fleece, draft and spin it. Of course, you wouldn't want to do this with the excessively dirty bits, but the parts that just have lanolin and VM aren't a big deal. Most of the dirt and VM combs out, then you wash the yarn when it is done.

So, last night, I combed. drafted and spun some yarn. It turned out pretty well. I made it thicker than I wanted and not as even as I would have liked, but not bad. It is a shorter staple than I have heretofor spun with, so not as easy. I also put waaaayyyyy too much twist in the yarn, so it is a little bit cordlike. I will try to include some pics in this post. I am sure the next spinny will be much better, now that I have an idea how this behaves.

So, first pic is the raw, dirty fleece.

Second pic is the combed locks from the raw dirty fleece.

Third pic is the combed locks drafted into roving and

fourth is the spun yarn (dyed blue, obviously. I forgot to take a pic predyed).

Mike is getting me some hand carders for Mothers' Day. I am pretty excited, that should make things go a little faster. He was going to get me a spinning wheel, but we decided to wait, due to tight finances. I will get that later, in the meantime, my spindle works great.

I haven't done much else lately, craftiwise. I have been messing around with the fleece is all.

I am planning this week to get my front room switched over to my spring decor. I am a little late on that, the job cuts into my free time in a big way. I just got some pics printed today of all of us to redo the mantle with, that is my first task. Second will be to make the new chair cover. I need to get crackin'!

Well, that is all for now!

Diaper cover tutorial

Sorry for the lack of pictures, folks. I don't know where they went! I will find them and get them reposted, asap.
Sorry about the photos, all. I will get them reposted as soon as I can!
Okay, here is a tutorial I promised my Rav-friend Hali.

This is for a PUL or other waterproof single layer cover. This particular one in photos is coated nylon taffeta with PUL binding. So, here goes. I hope it works.

We will start with all of the pieces.

We have-the diaper cover, gussets, binding, elastic, velcro.

Step 1-Bind the gussets on the straight edge with PUL strips. You do not need to turn the edges under, as PUL does not fray. I do it all in one step, just wrap the PUL around the edge of the gusset and go. If you can't do this, stitch it to the backside first, then to the front side.

2-Cut 2 4" pieces of elastic. Thread the elastic through the binding and secure both ends.

3-Stitch the loop side of the velcro to the front of the diaper cover about 1" from the top. I use loop fabric from verybaby.com, it does loosen up on the edges a bit, so I zigzag them.

4-Stitch the gussets to the diaper cover in the middle of the leg area, wrong sides together. This will put the seam on the outside of the cover. It will get covered up with binding and will leave the inside nice and smooth for baby.

5-Begin binding the body of the diaper cover. Start at one side of the back, where you want the elastic to begin and bind to the same point on the other side of the back, where you want the elastic to end.

6-Thread a 4 1/2" piece of elastic through the binding, securing both ends.

7-Bind around the tab to the end of the gusset. Leave a small space in the stitching and continue binding the leg opening, ending at the other end of the gusset.

8-Thread a 4 1/2" piece of elastic through the binding on the leg opening from one end of the gusset to the other, using the space in stitching to pull the elastic through to the far end. Secure both ends and close up the space in the stitching, after making sure elastic is completely inside.

9-Continue binding around the front of the cover, repeat the process with the other leg opening and elastic. Finish binding body of cover.

10-Attach velcro to tabs, and you are done!!

My small one

Here is Lilly, swingin' on the tire swing. She is a cutie bug.

Hello Again!

I haven't posted for a good while, things have been quite busy!
I guess I should finish my 100 things. But before I do, here is a shoutout to the only two people who ever leave comments on my blog.
Hi Mary, I miss you and Audrey is darling.
Hi Marietta! Thanks for the comments!

So, here we go

84. Currently, I do not miss being a business owner.
85. This is possibly because DH is and his is going crappers at the mo'
86. I would like to own a Dooney and Bourke bag.
87. I also want some Jimmy Choos.
88. I am an official designer for an existing bridal/eveningwear line.
89. I work best under stress.
90. I need deadlines to get things done.
91. My daughter's room is nicer and bigger than my own.
92. I dye yarn.
93. I recently learned to spin.
94. I am of average height, but people always think I am short.
95. I love the scent of lavender.
96. It bugs me when people don't have opinions.
97. My mom cooks dinner for us 4 nights a week.
98. But I buy the groceries for both households.
99. I love to be glam, but most days, I wear a tshirt and jeans.
100. I am very happy.


Okay, now on to other things.
I knit Lilly the cutest pair of woolly hot pants. Okay, they weren't really meant to be hot pants, I just haven't added the cuff to the bottom yet. They are to go over her diaper in the summer time, because wool breathes and PUL (her diaper covers) don't. I really need to get it in gear and post some pics of the stuff I have made.

Lilly is starting to walk. But she has been starting to walk for about 3 weeks now. She just won't do it. She thinks it is great fun to walk between me and someone else over and over and over again, but she won't walk to get where she wants to go. She is very wobbly and it is hysterical to watch, but I wish she would figure it out for real.
She doesn't eat like she should, big surprise, that may be a contributing factor to her tininess. Haha. The other day she ate strawberries and edamame for lunch. What baby does that? Oh, and she loves smoked sharp cheddar and brie. Little weirdo. She wouldn't eat her apples and cereal yesterday morning, but when I opened the cooler to get the milk delivery, she saw the big chunk of cheese I ordered, took it and immediately started chewing on it, although it was still in the wrapper. So, I opened it and cut of a chunk for her and she ate it. Good think she got over the lactose sensitivitity she had as an infant. Cause she loves her some milk and ice cream, as well.
I love that she is not remotely afraid of her dogs. They are big and sometimes they knock her over and make her mad, but she has no fear of them. She will lay on them, feed them, ride them, let them lick her. She just loves them, gets all excited when DH lets them in the house.
Oh, here is a funny. I have been thinking that maybe she doesn't really understand sometimes when I tell her something, most particularly when I tell her not to do something. Well, I have decided she selectively understands me. If I say "give your doggie loves" she hugs the dog. If I say "don't touch my computer" she gives me this blank stare. Like she has no idea what I am talking about. HA! She knows, she is just stubborn. Or determined, as my mom likes to say. Yes, she is.