Late night update

It's after 11 p.m. here and I have a baby boy inside me who has hiccups, I think. Only they are the kind of hiccups that apparently cause his entire body to flail rhythmically against my bladder. I should be asleep. But feeling like I need to pee every 30 seconds is not conducive to sleep, regardless of how tired I happen to be. So, I sit here. Very awake.

I have been working for a bit on trying to begin crocheting a rag rug. I bought a bunch of sheets from the thrift store today for $1.25 and ripped them into strips. I was inspired to do so after looking for rugs for the bedrooms of the new house and realizing how bloody expensive those things are, even second-hand. I am sure I'll be able to make a couple of decent rug for the girls' room and the nursery for less than $10 each. If my wrist holds out, that is. Right now, my largest hook is a K hook. I think I need at least an M. My hand is cramped from pulling the fabric so hard. On the plus side, though, the rug is nice and tight. On the negative side, I may not be able to use my right hand tomorrow.

I'm doing my crochet while listening to Andrew Peterson. I am so, so, so excited to have found a Christian artist, other than Fernando, whom I absolutely adore!! I love Peterson's voice, his melodies, his harmonies, the way his albums are produced, his lyrics... everything. Love it. I think Counting Stars is my favorite album, but that might be just because I've listened to it most. It's just so good!

I really should be asleep. We had a mostly good day which, once again, had a bit of friction in it today. This happens to us most Thursdays and I think it's because we just don't have enough sleep/ rest/ recovery from the night before. We have a great kids' program at our church on Wednesday nights. Annalivia was involved in it last year and really enjoyed it and Dennis ran the sound for the program. But this year, Dennis is working on the house, so Daniel, Emmeliese and I have been taking Annalivia to the church and then helping with the nursery care. We get home late about 8:30 on Wednesday nights and get in bed by 9:30, usually, but I think it's kicking our rears. I'm considering having us take a break until after Christmas. In fact, I think I've mostly decided that we need to take the break. I hate to leave behind such a good thing, but I know we need to choose the better thing, which is peace between us all at a pretty hectic time. I just need to get up the courage to tell the pastor that I'm leaving him without a nursery attendant.

Tomorrow, we are going to go to the apple orchard, I think, with my niece and pick the last of our fall apples. I've been canning applesauce and apple butter and apple/cherry jelly, but I think I need to get some apples and make some applesauce to just freeze and eat in the next few weeks. My children love homemade applesauce so much; they will eat quarts of it at a time if I let them, which I do since I don't add sugar to it and the fiber in it tends to help their little digestive systems. I'd like to have some available over the next weeks without breaking into the canned stuff until later in the winter.

Anyway, I best go to bed. In just a few minutes, it will be the first day of October, which means 4 weeks until we move into our house, 8 weeks until Thanksgiving, 11ish weeks of pregnancy and 12 weeks until Christmas. Goodness, that's a lot to do.

September remember photos -- Daniel's chunky sweater

I've been crocheting after missing an entire summer of not doing any crochet at all. My first project was a chunky turtleneck sweater for Daniel. He wants to wear it all the time including today when it was 83 degrees out. (And no, I don't have a pattern. I just make it up as I go and I never write stuff down. Sorry.)
Sweet story -- when I snapped this, he wasn't doing any natural smiling (i.e. he was either staring into the camera or saying "CHEEEEEESE!!"). I asked him what his favorite thing is. He looked up and smiled and said, "Obeying..." *click* :)

Celtic cobblestone crocheted cardigan for Cleya

I recently finished the St. Patrick's day dress I was making for Annalivia. I totally improvised the sweater and not following a pattern apparently took its toll in the sizing. Along the way, I realized that it was going to be way too big for a four year old, so it morphed into a sweater for my niece, Cleya.

I was glad to give it to Cleya because, unlike my daughter, she was glad to receive a sweater, even if it was green. But, though the gratitude was nice, my favorite part of giving her the sweater was what happened when I asked her if I could take her picture in it.

This was, literally, her first response. She immediately started posing for the camera.

I appreciated the refreshing change from photographing my own children who generally stand about a foot from each other and look at each other and the camera suspiciously. Sort of like Daniel is doing here.


Cleya, on the other hand, really likes to experiment with different poses. She smiles and hams it up. In fact, it was hard to get her to act naturally.

Very hard.

But those of us who grew up with her mother are hardly surprised that this sweet apple fell not far from the tree. :) Isn't she great?

Itty bitty crochet heart tutorial

Here is a super-easy, super-fast project that is ideal for last-minute Valentines. I'm making a whole bunch of these this afternoon while waiting at the doctor's office. I'm making them out of different shades of leftover yarn to add to barrettes for Annalivia's female preschool classmates. If I get really organized, I'll show you what I'm planning for the little boys tomorrow.

In the meantime -- the Itty Bitty crochet heart. (Modified from this pattern at Skip to My Lou.)

First, make a magic ring.

Then, chain 4.

Then inside of the magic ring make 2 triple crochet, 3 double crochet, chain 1, 1 triple crochet, chain 1, 3 double crochet, 2 triple crochet, chain 3.

Pull the magic ring tight.

Slip stitch to the center of the circle. Pull the thread through and tie off and then push the thread back through to the back of the heart.

There you are! An itty bitty heart, perfect for Valentine cards or adding to your crochet projects. Have fun!

A flurry of crochet

I've been crocheting like mad lately, but keep forgetting to take pictures of things before they leave my possession. I made a dress for my niece's birthday in a size 2T or 3T. It was ice pink with hot pink edging. My niece is a little pink girl, though I think the hot pink reflected more of her aunt's taste than hers.

I also finished another baby gift which I'm excited to post pics of sometime after I give it to the recipient. It turned out exactly like I wanted it to look, which is always exciting.

I made this little winter baby bonnet for Emmeliese one evening. It was completely my own design and one that I may not ever repeat because, while it looks sweet on a naked baby doll, It is not so cute just sitting on a shelf. It will, however, cover her ears and keep her warm, which is what I wanted it to do. I'm going to post a tutorial for the tiny heart in the next day or so. It was almost impossible to find a good heart pattern and I modified one to make a little bitty heart that works up incredibly fast (i.e. less than five minutes) and would be adorable for Valentine's Day. So I'll share the love and post that pattern asap.

I also started working on a cardigan for Emmeliese of my own design. I made a square yolk and then was envisioning some sort of flared bottom and sleeves and matching pants with slightly flared legs. In the process of figuring out how to make it, I learned how to do the star stitch which is such a beautiful stitch, especially when used in the middle of other stitches. I then decided to save the star stitch for another project and am finishing this cardigan with just regular-old slightly boring stitches. But I have in mind exactly what I want to do with the star stitch. So now I am having problems focusing enough to finish the cardigan and pants instead of racing off to experiment with the star stitch. I will force myself to finish the first project. But it will be difficult.

And I have some beautiful self-patterning green yarn that I bought to make something for Annalivia or Daniel for St. Patrick's Day. I was thinking I would make Annalivia a sweater, but I might make Daniel a little vest or something instead. Poor kid has not really been subjected to his mother's crochet projects yet. Wouldn't want to deprive him of fodder for future therapy. :)