Does it count as crafting if you do it all online?

Well, it's creative, right?

So we have this sweet alphabet book made by Auntie Becky and I recently decided to make one of a different variety, because I am addicted to Shutterfly.

I've been having fun coming up with the objects I'll take pictures of August with to represent each letter, and the other day I did our first test shots. This is probably my favorite: F is for Frame...

He was not as pleased. Another preview: Y is for Yarn...

Of course.

Baby room on a budget.

Ok. So I *could* have skipped the bedding set, the new curtains, the new paint, the wall decor, etc etc etc. Really, what does a baby need? A place to sleep (be it a $100 crib or a $500 crib, or a drawer as they did not so long ago), clothes (thank God for hand-me-downs), and food (me).

Well what's the fun in that? The coming together of this room and all the baby prep is quintessentially me - a good balance of frivolous and frugal. Here's how it's looking:


I maintain that my only error was going to Babies R Us with my mom and another woman of equal persuasive skills. Together they whittled away at my resolve with their dastardly logic and I bought the bedding set I had picked out as my favorite. It was $70 off for a floor model set, see.

And what does every crafter do when she's pregnant and facing a deluge of baby products to register for, buy, clean, and organize? She thinks "oh, I can just make that" about every fifth item and then suddenly she's got several yards of fabric and two sewing machines that barely work, plus two gallons of paint and a husband who will be recovering from foot surgery for a couple of months. She may become a little overwhelmed and possibly weepy.

On the other hand, I got the bedding on clearance, the paint with a coupon, the fabric on sale, and the wall art at a discount at my place of employment. All this cost about $275. At the original prices I would have paid about $415, and it would've been a lot more if store-bought curtains and a new rocker were involved. So we might splurge a little on the crib because the one we really, really, ridiculously want is maybe a little expensive. But STILL. I could totally be on Design on a Dime.

It's an it!

To begin, I suppose we should go back to February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-ten. I announced that I was pregnant, but then suspiciously never spoke of it again. Less than a month after that announcement, I no longer had that baby. We lost it at ten weeks. Later in the summer, we lost another baby at just five weeks. All the things you imagine a person thinking and feeling were thought and felt...with one simple reaction overarching: disbelief.

This is what led me to recently comment that "I'm filing 2010 away in the 'to shred' folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand." Last year was filled with the devastation of losing two babies, but it did end with a third that continues to exist and is now at 13 weeks.

It was actually the endocrinologist who gave us the news. I saw him because I suspected I could be pregnant, and I also suspected that I might have a very rare problem called Auto-Immune Progesterone Dermatitis. If I was correct on both accounts, I wanted to find out what to do before the hypothetical baby was in any hypothetical danger. Luckily, I was wrong about the cause of my itchiness, and a man who usually has to tell people they're diabetic got to tell someone they're expecting. He was obviously excited about it, although I admit that our reaction was pretty much, "Oh God. Well, alright."

Being an incredibly anxious and paranoid person, I'm still very much uncomfortable with being too blase about it just because we're past the old "danger zone" of the first trimester. If I've learned one thing in the last year, it's that you can't count on anything in regards to pregnancy.

BUT, as a couple good friends point out, that's not a very peaceful or happy mindset. The stress of the last couple of months has lessened. Now I'm a little less Negatron and a little more Optimist-Prime. We've seen and heard the heartbeat. We saw a bean shape at eight weeks turn into a recognizable human just four weeks later. I've been lucky to have minimal morning sickness. I crave sweetness and vitamin C, which has led to a healthier diet than I've probably ever had (unless you consider the portions...). I've even allowed myself to start thinking of names and looking at crib bedding again.

The next thing to look forward to is, incidentally, February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-eleven. We have the anatomy ultrasound scheduled, where they'll measure all the organs, watch the blood flow through the heart, and look for the sex. Five weeks seems like FOREVER away, but by then, hopefully, the it will be a he or she who's basically all put together and just needs to grow. Fingers crossed.

Red Scarf WIP

This is a project I'm working on so a college student who has aged out of the foster care system will get a care package next Valentine's Day. If you want to do it, your scarf has to be in by December 15th, so get crackin!

Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with the photo, but you can click here.

Sweet, sweet freedom and refinishing a table

Yesterday was the official move-out date for sis and her family. It took the insurance company three and a half months to decide that they did not start their own fire and that the house and everything in it will be rebuilt, replaced, or refurbished.

To be clear, I love my family. But it has been a stressful summer living together. A of all, it's like having any other roommates - you do things differently and it just gets on the nerves. Secondly, nobody had the space they were used to or the freedom to walk around in their underwear (well, the kids did it often). C of three, everybody was all up in everybody else's business because of the proximity, and because there are simply a lot of issues to be dealt with; not the least of which has been hoping the insurance comes through and, meanwhile, jumping through their hoops.

So today the rest of the boxes will be picked up and brought to the new rental townhouse that the insurance is *finally* paying for. And I start my massive cleaning campaign. The real joy of it is that things won't become sticky, smelly, or just dirty within hours of cleaning. My counter will not constantly be a sickening combination of spilled milk, gooey cereal bits, cracker crumbs, and some kind of glue-like substance or another. There will not be handprints on my doors. I will be picking up after myself and the hubs, and no one else. Glorious.

Quasi-related is the clearing out of my grandma's house, which works out nicely for people who have recently lost everything in a fire, as well as for other family members who have inherited a penchant for hoarding. I always feel a little guilty when I go over there because I always come back home with something, like I'm pilfering things out of someone else's home. Because that's pretty much what I'm doing. But grandma doesn't need the stuff. And by adopting some of it, I'm reducing the world's trash and saving money for myself. Right? For example:


It was my mom's job as a girl to keep this table dusted. Now I've taken it home to become a plant stand because I HAVE NO HOUSE PLANTS, which is just ridiculous and unhealthy and I've vowed to change that, and now I don't have to buy a plant stand.

I started sanding it yesterday - by hand - so you can see the difference between the bare wood and the old, scratched, syrupy-looking finish. I have never refinished anything myself, so we'll see how this goes. Frankly, I may be lucky to get past sanding, what with all the nooks and crannies of the legs and the various under-parts that might have to be removed.


So now that my house and time are once again mine, I feel like I owe it to myself to go on a crafting binge and (once again) put the job search off for a spell. My God, I've had a lot of *reasons* to put off getting a job. Coincidence?

WIPs: I've got rainbows coming out my...

Following the same theme as the first bear (Grateful Dead Teddy), Laura's replacement bear is going to be a crazed, drugged-up rainbow fiend.


Here, you see the arms and the legs that lead up to the base of the body (otherwise known as the crotch), as well as the rainbow ganglii that flow from their psychedelic rainbow origins. The body and head will be pink, but the hair will make a reappearance and, if the child insists upon it, the belly rainbow might be back, too.


This the same shrug I made for myself in blue. I measured it for my sister and am doing a seed stitch instead of the stockinette and I'm in love with the color. Cream. Boring. I love it.


And THIS is proof that I will not be bested by a knitting pattern's directions to knit 11 together. The Miragamo bag WILL happen. *she says, although she has only gotten through the top band*

WIPs: knitted bag and pen palm

This awesome bag is called Miragamo and it's a Ravelry pattern by Georgie Kajer. I'm uber excited about it, except that I'll have to KNIT 11 STITCHES TOGETHER. Are you kidding me?? No? Several times? Sheesh.


This is the yarn I'll be using. The pattern calls for 100% hemp, which apparently you can't find in stores. I suppose I could have ordered it online, but I found this green wool while I was on vacation for half-price. Honestly, what I'm more worried about than knitting 11 sts together is sewing up a lining. Sewing + me = strange or unintended results.


And then there's this guy; another pen drawing. Knock on wood...between this and knitting, I'm sure to be blind or riddled with arthritis by the time I'm 40.