Drago[knit]fly

This Oliver + S pattern has been sitting and waiting for the greater part of a year now. Upon realizing that Alice was about to grow out of the largest size, I decided I need to finally make her a dress. It helped that my super-awesome husband bought me a serger for Christmas (after years of heavy hints and emailed links) that I was itching to use. For those of you wondering, yes, I begged and pleaded for a serger and let it sit for months before playing around with it. That’s a story for another day. Anyway, I fumbled through my modest fabric stash for something suitable and kept going back to a couple half-yards from Joel Dewberry’s Aviary line. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough yardage. I don’t know what took me so long, but eventually I realized I could mix up the skirt fabrics a la the hippie dresses I made during my younger days. I always overestimate the time it takes to sew clothing, especially with a serger. It took me twice as long to cut the fabric than i...

Unfortunately, the adorable little owl hat I made Alice this past fall fit her for all of fifteen seconds. And because she tears off her hats seconds after I put them on, she only wore the hat for about five seconds. Despite her loathing of headwear, I can’t let her outside in the New England winter without something. So, I found the softest and non-itchiest yarns in my stash and cobbled a little hat together. Voila! Pattern: Kim’s Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (after all these years, this book is still a staple for me) Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Rhodesian, Noro Silk Garden in ___ (leftover from my still unblogged Clapotis) Needles: Size 9 Addis Comments: This has become my go-to toddler hat pattern. It works up quickly on big needles and worsted weight yarn and the pattern offers a myriad of styles to make the hat your own. Amazingly, Alice seems to really love this hat. She'll wear it if it's cold enough and when she won't wear it, she still loves to c...

A couple weeks back (I'm a little behind), we celebrated Alice’s 1st birthday with a “Alice in One-Derland” party. (I obviously had no alternative but to use this theme this year, right?) I never thought I’d be the type of mother who goes overboard and treats their kid’s first birthday party like a wedding, but let’s face it, I’m exactly that mother. I did promise J I wouldn’t go too wild and I think I was successful in keeping that promise. I mean, she only had one outfit change! Well, two if you count when I stripped her down to a onesie after cake. I scaled back. Really, I did. Outfit #1. Obviously Alice had to dress up like Alice! Outfit #2 - The Handmade Outfit I made her crown, t-shirt and tutu. This one I’ll actually create an individual post for, I think. Outfit #3 - The Post-Cake Outfit More important than any decorations or fancy fondant cakes (made from scratch, thankyouverymuch) or a Mexican feast (what? Alice didn’t eat pork carnitas and tacos in Wonderland?) was ...

With Alice’s birthday quickly approaching, I have cakes on the brain. Alice reaps the benefits of a family scattered with two parties – one yesterday here in CT and one next weekend in NJ for my family. The Healthy Cake Make fun of me all you want, but I made Alice her very own special (and healthy!) mini birthday cake. Somehow the ingredient list (carrots, apple juice concentrate, wheat germ, whole wheat flour, etc.) and the notable absence of sugar didn’t set off my panic button that I was flirting with baking disaster. It didn’t fully hit me until I tried a bite of one of the extra mini cakes. And promptly spit it out….then rinsed out my mouth. How could I expect Alice to eat this? It was more of a Metamucil substitute than birthday cake! Unfortunately, I had already started on the grown-up cake – a decadent, fudgy confection laced with coffee – way too rich, caffeinated, and allergen-laden for Alice’s first cake. Plus, I had invested so much time into her cake what with shreddin...

What is this? An early Christmas miracle? I think the last time I posted twice in a week was back in 2006. Let's hope the momentum continues! Okay, let’s go back when back when I started my nearly a year-long hiatus on the blog (before yesterday’s post that is). I had a baby. Like any self-respecting knitter, I made an abundance of baby knits. Most of these knits were created during my two weeks of maternity leave before Alice was born. Some people nest, some people knit. Who’s to judge what’s better? While I’ve been slow to keep up the blog, I’ve been relatively good about maintaining Ravelry. Good thing, because I don’t think I would even remember what I knitted, let alone the little details. I started with a few sweaters, because a baby born in November needs lots of sweaters, right? And when a knitter talks about baby sweaters, they’re really just talking about EZ. With that, I made: A BSJ She grew out of this in like five minutes. But she looked damn cute for those five minute...

This whole owl trend of the past few years is quite convenient for my family. See, my grandma had a bit of an owl obsession. “Obsession” might even be an understatement. Her avocado fridge was cluttered with owl magnets – felt, ceramic, you name it. Owl figurines jockeyed for space on crowded window sills; cross stitch owl cushions adorned her couches. You get the picture. When she passed away in 2003, I could think of no better way to preserve her memory than by snagging one of her countless sets of owl salt and pepper shakers and a pair of owl mugs for my house. I always chalked the owls up to a fondness for a 1970s trend that wouldn’t quit. That was until a couple weekends ago when I shared my theory with my mom, who laughed and informed me that the owl was my grandparents’ college mascot. I guess that makes sense, although I can’t image a day where my house would be decorated with a myriad of royal bulldogs . Even though it’s been awhile since my grandma has gone, she seems to hav...

I don’t know how you all feel, but I’m pretty sick of nursing pads monopolizing key space at the top of my blog. There’s really only one way to remedy that. While the past couple months have produced little (okay, no) blogging around here, I have been crafty in bits and spurts. While I daydream about my sewing machine, it sits idle upstairs in the guest room because I have yet to find a suitable and usable home for it. Instead, I’ve been knitting in spurts when I have time and the motivation. I hit a dead spot in my want to knit after I finished Clapotis (oops, I don't think the blog even knows about Clapotis!) and it seemed to last and last. For awhile, I didn’t even have a project on the needles. And sadly, I didn’t care. I was waiting for that must-knit project to reignite my knitting, but it never materialized. I started a project or two, but nothing grabbed me. The beginnings of a Hemlock Ring Blanket aka the destroyer of my knitting. PS - If you think your circular knitting n...

I'm a little late posting this, but it's been an exhausting couple weeks. Alice was born on November 20 at 8:05am and weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. I'm hoping regular (well, what I consider regular) posting to resume soon.