Spoiled

Why is it that I’ve been spending ALL.MY.TIME sewing for Oliver and none of it sewing for me?!

Yah, probably because it’s SO much faster to sew for him, it takes much less fabric, and it’s SO much cuter!  I mean, imagine me in a construction vehicle shirt!  NOT!

Remember about a year ago when I made him a little kimono shirt out of that adorable Naughty Monkey Japanese fabric?

I found that shirt in the back of his closet and tried it on him.  It still fit, although it was tight in the chest and arms.

So yesterday I made him a new one, this time out of a similar, but slightly different Naught Racoon Japanese fabric:

As with last year, he wouldn’t hold still long enough to get a decent modeling shot.

Then this afternoon I whipped out some ADORABLE (if I do say so myself!) soft-soled slippers ala Robeez using this tutorial (well, I had to size them UP for my Little Bigfoot who’s in a size 8!):

The bottoms are made using some scraps of suede from Hubby (leftover from reupholstering a client’s chair or something):

They were VERY quick and easy.

But NOW I’m going to work on something for myself!

Here Fishy Fishy

We were at a birthday party on Sunday and somehow Oliver left with, well, a gold fish!  Unfortunatley he was a bit too tired to enjoy or even notice him that night.  But here he is when he was finally in a mood to investigate.

(Feel free to ignore the messy counter top in the background; nature shots have to be taken quickly and without a lot of prep work!)

Oliver Houdini

Hubby and I were sitting on the steps in the kitchen talking as Oliver was running between his toys (in the living room next to the sofa) and us.

Neither of us noticed how quiet it got because we were running our yaps, I guess.  Then Hubby disappeared (I was baking birthday cupcakes).

Shortly thereafter Hubby comes into the kitchen with a Little Monster in his arms and states, “He was out on the front porch!”  I wasn’t entirely sure how he did it, given the closed and locked front door.

But the video explains it all!

Note to self: put bars on all windows before he becomes a teenager!

At The Stoplight

Yesterday as Oliver and I were sitting at a stoplight, on our way to Makende’s end-of-the-year school program, I noticed a car next to us with all it’s windows open (mostly because my windows were open and my innards were jiggling from the bass coming from that car!).

I looked over and there were four women in the car, looking over at Oliver (in the backseat in his carseat) and I.

As I made eye contact, one of them said, “Your son is so cute!” and they all oohed and ahhed (rightly so, I might add!).

I leaned out the window and said, “He takes after his Papa,” to which someone replied, “I know that’s right; you’re fine!”

I leaned out the window again and said, “Oh I’m not his papa, I’m his Daddy” and pulled away as the light turned green, leaving them all a bit confused-looking.

Cleo, The Bandana

Remember ages ago (back when I actually had the nerve to install a “meter” to keep track of my knitting progress!  HA!) when I started to knit a Clapotis (I called it Cleo because I was so tired of looking up how to spell Clapotis, and mentally saying Cleopatra)?

Remember how afraid I was at dropping the first stitch?

(Don’t get too excited; there will be no completed Clapotis photos in this blog post.)

I know, it’s been a while, so here’s a refresher shot:

I pulled Cleo out again a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to work diligently to get her finished (so I can get another one on the needles as a gift for a friend we’re going to visit in the South of France).  It was going smashingly.  I finally finished the last repeat (as far as I could tell anyway) for the “middle” and was SO EXCITED to start the decreases for the end of the shawl. See the corner at the upper left end?!  Just a smallish triangle left…

And then I realized I was so excited about finishing the darned thing and so focused on the double decreases, that I.FORGOT.TO.DROP.STITCHES!  Notice the nice, rhythmic pattern to the drop stitches (the parts where the yarn makes ladders diagonally across the scarf)?  Notice how they’re missing from the last 3-4 inches of the shawl?!

I was so annoyed when I saw that, that I put it away for a couple of days.  Mostly because I hadn’t a flipping clue how to fix it, other than ripping back to where the dropped stitches should be.  I hate ripping.  To the point that I wondered if I could make it into a bandana instead.

But then in a moment of clarity, I realized how to fix it.

Unfortunately I didn’t do it DURING the moment of clarity (and actually couldn’t remember what I was thinking, much like when you have a dream and it’s SO clear and makes SO much sense, until you’re actually awake and you wonder what you were thinking) but instead waited until this evening.

And totally flucked it up.  I can’t even take a photo of it because I’m so annoyed with myself.

So if I don’t encounter another moment of clarity, I’ll be ripping back about 12 rows (which could be beyond my skill set because it is knit on the diagonal, meaning there are decreases and increases on the ends and I’m not sure how to deal with those).

Or I may just see how it looks as a bandana.  It would be cute, no?

Happy Birthday Makende!

Today is Makende’s 4th birthday!  I can’t hardly believe how fast she’s growing!  It seems like just yesterday she was toddling along and now she’s going NONSTOP (no really, NONSTOP!).

We are so happy to be such close friends with her parents and feel privileged that she calls both Hubby and I “tonton” (uncle in French).  It’s amazing to watch her as she grows and develops into a funny, sensitive, intelligent, and inquisitive little girl.

I made this dress for her almost two years ago (actually it’s sitting in my “To Mend” pile because a button fell off; needless to say, my garment construction skills have improved dramatically!):

For her birthday this year, I made, well, um, another pink dress (not much creative about me, eh?!).  Can I help it that the kid loves pink and (mostly) refuses to wear anything but dresses?

Yes, it’s really long, but if I can ever get her to slow down long enough to take a recent photo of her, you’ll see that SHE’S long, er, tall.

The fabric is by Amy Butler (I ❤ Amy Butler!) and the pattern is by That Darn Kat.

Hopefully I’ll have a modeled photo soon!

What Oliver Loves

Can you tell that Daddy got a new toy?  It makes it so easy to take and upload video.  And my favorite subject is of course my son!

Yesterday when we were at the park playing with Oliver on the swing enjoying himself immensely, I thought about this theme for a blog post.  So here are some of the things Oliver loves.

First, the video that inspired the theme: Oliver loves the swing!

Although he’s always been attracted by cars, busses, truckes, airplanes, and helicopters, as of today, THIS is his favorite (a gift from Mamie Evelyne).  (Notice I haven’t even got the back wheels on and the kid WILL.NOT surrender his car.  Actually he had a major meltdown when I finally pried his wiggling body out of the car to finish assembling it!

At the top of the games he loves is “Chase” (which ended with a fat lip when he fell, so that part is edited out):

Another game he loves is when I “munch” on him:

And since he has become more stable on his feet, he loves, capital-L, to run!  (Which is sometimes scary because he’s REALLY fast!)

Finally (well, not that it’s the end of what he loves, just that I don’t have video of it (YET!)), since Papa showed him how to do it, he loves to ride his horse:

More Sewing Love

This time we’re keeping it in the family. 

I saw the construction fabric on a sewing forum and about flipped when I saw it.  Actually I thought Oliver might flip for it, given that he loves all vehicles and heavy machinery and has ever since I can remember.  How two gay guys ended up having a capital-B boy is beyond me.  It definitely shoots my sociological training in the theoretical foot, that’s for sure.

Anyway, as soon as I saw this fabric, I ordered some to make Oliver a shirt.  I’ve spent the last two or three weeks putzing around with both of these shirts, obviously spending more time on the first one by adding the striped details.

The car fabric was also a Must Have!

I even had some custom tags made (and learned that I can’t write the size in marker on them because it bleeds!).

Here’s a quick shot I got this morning of Oliver in his Car shirt.

Good thing I got them done when I did; I don’t think they’re going to fit for long!

Sewing Love

Today we celebrated our friend Lulu’s birthday, which gave me an opportunity to set aside a couple of shirts I’m making for Oliver and work on a gift!

I used this FREE pattern and some yummy Amy Butler fabrics (of course!).

The inside, complete with magnetic snaps and two pockets:

We celebrated in a cute little park near her house which gave Oliver the chance to eat sand play on the jungle gym.

Jinxed It!

As I guessed, by speaking out loud about how easily Oliver was adjusting to sleeping in his Big Boy Bed (although it was only one night, which hardly counts for much adjustment time), I totally jinxed it.

I came home from Bunco last night (where I won $5, woot!) to learn that Oliver has realized he’s not “trapped” in his bed.  I’m not sure why, but I think the first couple of days he thought he couldn’t get out of the bed, maybe because we still have the crib bumpers encircling his bed to keep him from rolling off the mattress.  Regardless, the first couple of sleeps he was in his bed waiting for us when we heard him awaken.  Then yesterday morning he was at the door by the time I heard him (we re-installed the monitor in his room) and could get to his room.

Finally, last night, Hubby said he had a heck of a time getting him to sleep.  After he’d laid him down in his bed and went downstairs to eat, he could hear him moving around and singing/babbling via the monitor.  After a bit he walked upstairs, but Oliver heard the creak of the old, wooden stairs and jumped back into bed and was absolutely silent.

He must have figured the coast was clear because after a few moments Hubby heard him get up again and start singing/babbling.

So Hubby opens the door and Oliver is standing at his window with the drapes parted open, staring down at the neighbor’s yard.  Makes total sense given that he goes to bed around 7 and it’s still light outside.

As soon as Hubby opened the door, Oliver dove for his bed and laid back down.

Then this morning, we heard him at, GASP, 6:20 a.m.!!  (I should have been up for work anyway, so it was good, but still!)

Hopefully he’s just excited abot his newfound freedom and independence and will get into a regular routine again.  Although honestly, his room is rather safe, so as long as he’s not hurting himself, he can play, read books, and sing/babble as much as he wants.