Rabbit Rattle

My friend has had her baby and while I haven't given her the presents yet (Mr V and I are holed up with a bad cold), I can share my latest makes with you because she hasn't mastered being online and breastfeeding just yet. First up, a crochet rabbit rattle.



Over-reaction Man (new name for hubby, hereafter known as ORM) took the photos outside for me. I think the one in the tree came out best, but it makes the rattle look deformed, hence sharing both images. (Side note: if only the weather was like that now - it's hideous outside today, storm central.)

The pattern was from Crochet Today May/June '09 by Vicki Howell and should have looked like this:



Mine came out quite differently, as you can see. But as a wise woman
once said: "There's no such thing as the crochet police". So there.

Matryoshka Keyring and a Daft Badge

I made this quick keyring to go with the Matryoshka pouch that I made the other day, which is now lined:



The lining isn't exactly professional, but it's not too bad and doesn't catch on the zip, at least. To make it, I just followed the directions for the pouch, but omitted the zip. Then it was a not quite so simple mater of sewing it to the outside (I used dark thread in the bobbin and light up top so that the stitching didn't show too much).

Since this was a birthday present for my oldest friend (we've known each other since we were babies, she's not that old) and she's about to go on maternity leave, I wanted to make her something baby-related too. So, here's the daft badge that I whipped up:



I used scraps of fabric, some cardboard and a safety pin to make it, along with the lettering stitch on my machine that I've been dying to try out. The lettering is on some bias binding and I've zig-zagged the edge of the middle layer of fabric. It's all stuck together with iron-on hemming tape, although the base fabric (some orange needle cord left over from a dinosaur I made for my nephew) is attached to the cardboard with stitches, as is the safety pin (not shown).

As I was writing the card it suddenly occurred to me that "not long now..." could be misconstrued when sent as part of a birthday gift :)

PS Please excuse photos - had to use the camera phone at night (which is pretty much all the time here in Finland).

Patriotic Baby Booties

These have to be the fastest booties I've made so far. The Hubby announced that his friend had just become an auntie and since he also knows the friend's sister and husband, could I make something for them? The catch? Just two days before the friend came to collect the gift before making the trip to Amsterdam to visit them.

I took a chance and made a start on some booties I've not made before, knowing that this could very well end in boots fit only for the tiniest baby ever (I crochet very tightly). I don't know about you, but even if a pattern works out really well, I always want to try something new when I pick up my hook. I even get bored making the second bootie of a pair. I chose the "victorian aster baby's booties" from 201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Patterns and Ideas, but left out the aster flower adornment and the second row of embellishment around the top. These were for a boy, after all!

I used some white yarn form my stash (Red Heart Dallas) and worked my little (OK, freakishly long) fingers off. I didn't quite make the deadline, so Hubby's friend had to play with VV for 20 minutes while I finished them off (I don't think either of them minded). I added a bue ribbon to make them a bit more boyish. It was then that we noticed I had made very patriotic Finnish booties. And when I quickly wrapped them in some orange tissue I had (in yet another stash), we realised that was a very Dutch colour to choose. Almost as if I had carefully planned it all.

The booties looks a little Wellington-boot like to me, but I think the shape is good for fat baby legs and feet, so they might actually stay on. And they are probably too big right now, which is an achievement in itself.

The crochet crocs are finally on their way

I finally got round to buying the extra buttons and finished off the crochet Crocs. I didn't have a suitable box to wrap them in, so I hacked up a box we already had and wrapped that. I also used some fluffy packing material that came with something we ordered recently (I forget what). So, while I didn't do that great a job with the wrapping, at least it was recycled.



Now if only I could find my other friend's address, I could post the bear booties as well...

My First Beanie

And it turns out that the title is more accurate that it first seems. How so? All will be revealed in good time!

I decided it was about time I tried my hand at a hat and thought I would make one for my brother, who has recently started up his own business doing flat roofs. Not quite sure what that involves, but I think hot black sticky stuff features somewhere along the line.

So, out came my trusty Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Flicking to page 125, I started in earnest on the Boy Beanie by Laura Killoran (check out her own site here - I rather like the look of her Applejack Cap, as it happens).

Merrily I crocheted away, sitting on the sofa drinking tea, as is my custom. And I was pretty pleased with the result. That is until I tried it on. It's like wearing some kind of mediaeval torture device! Luckily there is one small-headed person in my family and it fits him just perfectly - six-month-old VV. And here it is - both mine and his first beanie:



I suspect it was my yarn choice - leftovers from the Rabbit Slippers from the same book, plus some random orange wool - that was the culprit, helped in part by my super-tight stitches. Oh well, it was about time I crocheted something for my son. The hat was a doddle though, so with the right yarn in hand, I'll try again sometime...

Crochet Baby Crocs

Not the animal, but the shoe. I spotted these, or rather the pattern, on Etsy and just had to get it and make some. This is my first attempt, which is why it's in boring old white - I've got a huge bargain ball of it. There's only one in the photos because I had a "doh!" moment in the shop and only bought two buttons, instead of four.



The pattern, available from The Hooker in Me, comes in two sizes, 0-3 months and 3-6 months. The largest size comes out at about 4 and a quarter inches long, when crocheted loosely with a big hook. You might be able to make them bigger than me though, since I crochet really tightly (I now have a really bad joke about skinflint hookers in my mind, but I won't share).

I had hoped to make these for VV, but sady he's got kipper feet like his mother and at six months is way too big for these. Not to worry though, I've got plenty of newborns to make for in the next few months. I think I'll make a pair for each one and add a couple of other gifts too. They only take about an hour each to make, so they're perfect for running up in front of the TV of a cold wintery evening.

Bear Baby Booties

Can't resist a spot of alliteration. Finished these cuties last weekend, for my friend's new baby (as yet unnamed). I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, although I think the bears' faces are a little too cartoony:



They're from Baby Crochet: 20 Hand Crochet Designs for Babies 0-24 Months by Lois Daykin and they're the first project I've done from the book. Instructions were easy to follow, although they lacked the step to sew up the bottom of the booties. Pretty obvious it needed doing though, so no biggie. I used about half a ball of the pink yarn and next to nothing of the beige and white - helpful to know in case you plan to make them yourself. Luckily I have two more female babies to make for, so I'm sure I can think of a use for the pink!

Pimping the Pushchair

We've recently acquired a Maclaren buggy/stroller/pushchair for VV, to make life a little easier when we go away. VV's head slumps to one side when he falls asleep in it, so I fashioned a head rest for him out of some of my stash fabric:



We road tested it yesterday on a day out in Stockholm and it works pretty well. I think it needs a few minor tweaks, namely interfacing to the back and extra ties. I'm now planning some frog "seatbelt buddies" to complete the treatment - hopefully in the next couple of days.

Oh yeah - spot the deliberate mistake. Small prize for the first correct commenter...

Sewing bonanza

At last I've worked out how to keep VV happy so that I can get things done, including (most importantly; hang the housework) crafting. And the secret? It's BBC Radio 2 - Terry Wogan to the rescue. Actually, it's really my terrible singing-along to the rescue. If I sing and pull funny faces while I sew, VV is happy in his bouncer.

The results of this discovery are two waterproof bags for wet nappies and an out-and-about changing mat. I made the bags from poor quality PUL that my mother in law gave me. She bought it to make washable nappies from, but it doesn't wash that well and is a bit too stiff. Perfectly fine for washable bags though, so I made two. One has a Velcro closure (the spotty dog one) and the other has a ribbon tie closure. The latter doesn't work very well, so we'll have to tie the ribbon around it too. Not happy about that, but there you go.

I'll use the Pooh one to hold dirty nappies next week when we visit my Dad and his wife Maria (who knitted the lovely blanket that's also pictured) in Calpe, Spain. We can wash them every day, so we don't have to use evil disposables. We will use them for the journey, but we found some biodegradables for that. Mind you, we are flying, so we're being pretty evil anyway. Next holiday (to the UK) and we're going by boat and train.

I'm particularly pleased with the changing mat, which I made from some wipe-down tablecloth fabric with some old towel sandwiched between. So, we're all set for our trip - back in a week's time!

Things I want to do...

There are so many things I want to do, all rattling around in my head, that I thought it prudent to note them down. Here goes, in no particular order:

1. Catalogue all my books in Library Thing. Totally anal I know, but I love it. Have persuaded myself that there is a point to this wanton time-user - if our books ever get lost, burnt or otherwise destroyed we can work out a sensible insurance claim. Of course, that will require household contents insurance.
2. Get household contents insurance (see #1).
3. Post more often to my blog. See, I'm doing this one already!
4. Finish making the rest of the fleece nappies. They have already been cut out by hubby, so it's not that much work.
5. Make a nappy bag that both of us will use (no flowers, then). Needs to have cunning strap arrangement so that it works with the baby wrap.
   
6. Make a boring wrap for hubby to use. Again, no flowers.
7. Get on with The Tapeworm. Progress thus far has been slow.
8. Declutter. No small task, but I'm getting great tips from Unclutterer. My hubby pointed out that nearly all the clutter is mine and I have to agree. We started today with a new rule - nothing new can come in without something going out. So, we took a vase to the Salvation Army shop before we set off on our Saturday Adventure.
9. Become more ethical. Very large task, but we've already started. We use washable nappies and we've just signed up to an organic veg box scheme. Yep, there is one here in Finland, but it doesn't run in the winter, when nothing grows. We also just bought some biodegradable nappies to use during the journey to and from my Dad's place in Spain at the end of the month. Sadly we're flying, but next time we'll go by train. I've been thinking ethical for a while, but Leo Hickman's Life Stripped Bare: My Year Trying to Live Ethically has just spurred me into action.

That's all I can think of right now, more to follow and hopefully progress reports too...

Saturday adventure wearing the baby

Since VV was born, we've taken to going on a Saturday 'adventure'. Mostly, this has been to the shops, but today we went to the Finnish Museum of Natural History. I've wanted to go there for what seems like forever, but it has been under renovations for almost the entire time I've been visiting and then living here.

The museum was great, although the signage was only in Finnish and Swedish. Mind you, that's not so bad in my opinion - I'm always compelled to read everything out of some perverse sense of duty, so it was nice to be relieved of that. Best thing in the museum by far were the two stuffed moose. I've wanted to see a moose since I came to Finland and this is the nearest I've got to them yet. They are simply enormous and fabulously gangly (I have a fondness for gangly animals, giraffes also being high on my list of favourites).

One of the photos with this post is of me and the moose statue outside the museum. The bulge is not my stomach, but is in fact VV strapped to me with a wrap. I'm enormously pleased with the wrap, which is actually just 4.5 metres of fabric (75cm wide). It's the fourth carrier I've made (not that there is much making, except hemming, which is still to be done) and it's definitely the best. Before that I made three ring slings in progressively lighter weight fabrics. The final version does work well, but I find it makes my shoulder hurt and if VV isn't in quite the right position it's uncomfortable too. Wraps are the way forward.

Since I did extensive research for the baby carriers, let me share my favourite sources with you:

Jan Andrea at home on the web - I used the ring sling instructions from here to make mine. Easy to follow and very neat (in both senses of the word) pleated shoulder.

wearyourbaby.com - great information on all kinds of slings. I'm using the instructions on how to wear wraps from here. Some git seems to have attacked the site in the last day or so, but hopefully the site will be back up soon.

TheBabywearer.com - extensive site, with personal stories, advice on which carrier is best for you and lots more besides.

I totally recommend baby wearing, regardless of the semi-daft moniker. VV sleeps nearly all the time he's attached to me and I plan to try the wraps that you can supposedly breastfeed in while on the move. And I'll make a manly wrap for hubby, so it's not just me lugging the darling 6 kilo lump around.

First Cloth Nappy

After extensive research (OK, random surfing while watching TV), I decided to use the free Ottobre pattern, but with some amendments of my own. The results can be seen in the rather poorly focused picture.

I wanted to use microfleece for the part that touches the baby's bum, because it wicks away the moisture very efficiently and should prevent nappy rash. For the outer I wanted to use something cute and I found this cartoon spider fleece which fits the bill.

On the next nappy I'll:

1. Add an extra flap on outer top layer so that I can hide the elastic on the back.
2. Zig-zag the inner layer at the back before I put the elastic in.
3. Remember to add small pockets that you turn the hook part of the Velcro into when washing (otherwise it ruins the fleece).
4. Print out the pattern more carefully - look pretty large to me.

I've made a pocket or stuffable nappy, so the next step is deciding how to make the 'stuffees' with which to stuff them. My plan is to try and recycle fabrics that I already have - apparently the key is to use 100% cotton, hemp or bamboo. Not much of the latter two in my stash, unsurprisingly, so cotton it is then. Also, since I am not using a waterproof outer layer and don't want to use outer wraps (would make the spider fleece a bit pointless), I need to work out how to make the bottom layer of the stuffees waterpoof to prevent moisture wicking to the outside layer.

PS: Here's my original inspiration >>

First Baby Ring Sling Completed!

At last started (and then finished a few hours later) the baby ring sling. I had bought a special hemming foot for my machine, but found out that it didn't fit. After a short sulk, I came back all the more determined and did the hemming by hand. Dead easy, so easy in fact that it seems a bit pointless to exchange the foot for the right one.

The pleating was pretty tricky, mainly because the material I chose is very thick. Two machine needles later though and it's all fine and dandy. Tried it out with Monkey (the Chihuahua) and an Elmo toy (less wriggly), and H and I have declared it a success.

I'll definitely be making another one in a lighter fabric. And I'll post some pictures tonight.