Bliss Beyond Naptime

Fully Mobile

The hearts came down and the birdies went up in time for spring! I am hooked on making mobiles! I felt the birdies up while watching the newest Christopher Guest movie and Edie got to fondle her pixie dust into each one as I went along. So many crazy-looking birds around here! It's our first early spring living here and I feel like we've been transported to the middle of a tropical rainforest sometimes.  I had to move this mobile away from the window though because a friendly feathered fellow tried to come over and play with one of them and bonk; into the window. Poor little guy.

And this glass mobile was a creation of a local artist who has a strawbale sanctuary/bed and breakfast close to us. Her yard is her gallery. She has her art weaving in and out of numerous gardens and natural buildings. She's like "I won't be home. Just drop by and help yourself and leave the money under the rock by my door". Okay. She's so lovely. I love how the mirrors dapple light all over the trees and bushes. It's like catching glimpses of tiny pixies dropping by to say a brief hello. The piece is hanging out on our backdeck which hasn't been visited much since the super dump. In the summer we have almost all our meals out there. Listening to the toisty, moisty sounds of rainforest.

Dye Daze

The dye day at the Guild was too much. I had such a blast. I brought with me two skeins to make Edie her Spring Sweater,  silk fabric for two more playsilks, one pink, one green (you know, spring) and some roving. Loved how these turned out. I think I may have to go back to the Guild on Wednesday to borrow the drum carder to marry these two colours together and make Mama some kind of spring hat.

Above the Duo fixin's. Craig's not agreeing that a sweater should have shortsleeves. Defeats the purpose. But, hello? SPRING sweater? Any comments to back up my side of the argument would be welcomed. Not to mention I only have enough of the Psy-reggae yarn for the short-sleeve version.

I have so many projects to tackle! Not complaining, love the feeling actually. We have began with the Grand Experiment again (Craig putting the monkey to be to wean her off the going to sleep nurse) so that's buying me a tiny bit of time at night to at least make and look at a list of all the projects I want to get on and play with. Pretty blissful. Except I started plying last night and I don't have a Lazy Kate (only a Lazy Kathy - ha ha) so the bobbins were scurrying all over the floor, banging into the closet, and at the point of the evening every miniscule uneccessary noise makes every muscle in my being cringe. Time to McGyver myself a shoebox Lazy Kate. Mmmm. McGyver (I do a wicked Marge's sisters impression by the way). The idea's from my new Spin to Knit book. Off to a play date!

Booties Fit for a Fairy

Made some more booties. These ones are intended for a little fairy girl I know who just turned one. Kind of like how my friend Brenda use to describe her manicure jobs; good from far but far from good. Let's just say I took the photo from a flattering angle. One slipper's different from the other but I have  figured out now a technique to keep the pairs consistent.

I had an amazing St Patrick's Day weekend. Saturday morning, Craig and Edie went swimming again town while I hung out with my Threads Guild crew for a dye day. I'll have photos of that adventure to share tomorrow. I went with the intention of spring hues to make Edie her Spring 2007 knitwear collection (I want to make her the short-sleeve Duo anyway) but, again, it's like reggae creeps into my inner ear and I go home with Rasta inspired colours instead. Still very happy and cheery, mahn.

Today we visted where the fairies live; Faerie Meadow. Edie's favourite part of the Horniman Ranch. The photo was taken in November (damn camera batteries dying!) so imagine with 75% of the white stuff gone. I'd photoshop but time on this stoopid computer and napping upstairs is ticking.

We're set to start building May 1st so every minute we get to hang out on our property is like living in a dream sequence. So much fun was had today. Edie's boot got sucked up muck, she got to roll down a hill like a log (in a good way - she loved it) and Mama got to lay down on the spot of her future bedroom for a long time (which also happens to be under the crows interstate freeway in the sky). Batteries - recharged!

Joey 4 Joey

 

We were invited to a first birthday party tomorrow afternoon. The mum, an old friend of ours, asked me to make a page for a cloth book she's making for her son.

His name is Joey so I made a kangaroo with a little baby (I didn't make the baby by the way), because you know little baby kangaroos are referred to as Joeys! Plus, I guess because they're a pretty attachment parenting type of family, he's spent a year being slung around. Really deep symbolism here, ya know.

And Joey can come out...

And then jump right back into his Mama again. I'm just having too much fun with his name. I also felted him a Joey ball with a sad attempt at a star on the other side.

No Davinci Code type message there. Just his name. Don't wear it out!

PMS

Introducing Poppy Marmalade to the world! I was saving that name for Craiglett no. 2 but then her initals would be PMS so should probably try to think of something else. Until then, Poppy it will be until Edie says different.

Check her out in action! Edie's pouting with excitement, really. I tried to follow Edie's hairdo but she insisted that Poppy has "pom poms" (that's what she calls pony tails) so her hair's a little on the crazy side but allows room to grow into whatever it is Edie's boufant settles into.

I made her the little dress with some thrifted flannel while Tangy was napping yesterday. I have one knitted slipper finished and will show you a money-foot shot when that's done. Too cute making doll clothes! Such quick gratification! And I can tell the Munchkin loved the novelty of taking off and trying to put the dress back on. Can't wait to make outfits AND a little house, and bed and who knows what else. Total new crafting frontier here that I'm very stoked about.

And Edie's pretty much in tounge-hanging-out-love already. Phew! Like abating breath to see if a child accepts a new sibling. So, the Waldorf doll just follows in the tradition of Steiner philosophy (founder of Waldorf schooling, philosopher, and biodynamic farming pioneer) of natural materials, respecting our natural phases of development by not intellectualizing children too soon, using simple not too detailed human representation in the doll to leave more to the child's imagination which should be the primary way to learn until at least age seven. I know that's a shoddy summary of Waldorf philosophy but I'm reading more and more about it and am intrigued by the genius and the controversary surrounding it. So much to learn in this lifetime, hey?

I was pretty excited for the opportunity to pour all of my love and intention into this little Poppy. Not to mention, making one I was able to place a heart-shaped rose quartz in her chest for that extra dose of bliss shine. She even has squishy butt cheeks! Ack!

Blood Shot

I'm a little rusty but I use to be able to make a pretty choice "blood" with my fingas all gangsta style. Now, looking at it, it kinda reads "lool" and it's underlined. Hmm. Thank you, Edie's new, magnificent babysitter for kindly, and without judgement, taking this portrait of me for the blog. She rocks.

I was sick this weekend. Nothing nasty, just a cold. What a relief to get the gunk out though. I haven't been sick much since Edie's birth. Kinda like my psyche wouldn't allow it cuz I'm a mum now and have to tend to all the other sickies in the household. But now I'm all better and even had a chance to finish off the third, and possibly last, of the Simplicity 4111 pattern attempt. Not that there's anything wrong with it, just ready for a new challenge.

Speaking of new challenges, also since becoming a mama,  one thing I was totally stoked about was to get my baby a Waldorf doll. I took a class to make one myself before the holidays so I can have the doll ready for Christmas morning but our little class kinda dismantled and so I put the project on the back burner for a while. But, she is clearly ready for a doll and before she forms any serious attachments to one of the dolls that keep stumbling into her life, I gotta giddy up.

At this point, the doll just needs some more hair added on. This, ironically enough, is the longest part (no pun intended there either) of the project.

So, while the Tangerine dreamed, as the saying goes, I pulled out the little Edie-lette and intended to finish her. Seeing as how I was following her slow to grow hair growth, it should have only taken one nap's length, no?  OR... I can indulge with a roll of toilet paper, cup of rooibos, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and, er, Hello?

Perhaps the latter is the real reason my psyche wants to keep me sniffle-free. PS that crazy table cloth was a thrift store score this week. Needed something spring-y even though it's dumping snow again outside!

Arf, Arf

I guess I'm a dog. Thanks Craig for bringing that to my attention. So... here is my first handpainted roving based on the little colour card I made based on my apron. That was such a thrill removing the saran wrap from the bundle of wet wool. Like opening a present. I really like dyeing. I'm really liking so many things right now though it's almost stressing me out. So much to do! I decided I need to seasonalize my obsessions. This summer I will spend my Edie-free time (other than my wifely and Hempress duties of course - mumph) on learning to spin and dye and in the fall and winter pick up the needles again. And sewing machine. And felting projects. Ah, crap.

Anyway, here's a couple of other things I was able to dunk in the workshop:

I was able to make the yellow yarn a Craig-a-licous thing of beauty. Not that there's anything wrong with yellow. Just not something Craig would wear. This still is a bit on the colourful side for him but just perfectly so. Will go with all of his army-green cargo pants (he's a soldier of love). And this:

Finally a semi-room divider. A sheet of worm love to divy up some space in our cozy crib plus some left over for a play silk for Edie. A great workshop indeed!

Pig and Let Dye

First of all, I believe it's safe to say, Happy Chinese New Year! I don't mean to be a boar, but I am. It's my year despite Craig's insistance that it's not because my birthday's in January and so I'm off the pig grid. But, what's with all those Chinese restuarant disposable placemats assuring me my entire life so far that 1971 equals pig which licensed me all these choice ice-breaker jokes such as ... what do you call Kathy taking a shower? Hog wash! nyuk. Surely, they all couldn't legally be so misleading.

Oh, man, I'm being silly tonight. Must be from all the chemicals I was exposed to during my dye course weekend. The above piggy was not knitted by my little pig hooves. It belongs to a friend of mine from the course who brought it because I was blabbing about how I just bought yellow boucle to make knitted duckies for Edie so the last thing I needed was more yellow yarn.  Isn't that yarn awful-ly yellow? We were put into groups that had to decide together on a colour for the immersion bit and I joined in after they came to a consensus of yellow. I pouted for a few minutes but when we got to the handpainting part I got over the hay's for horses (not pigs) ordeal pretty quick.

We picked out a piece of art and made colour cards to guide us. I looked on my lap and based my card on my apron. Of course, once I got dabbing I was on fire and Big Bird turned into:

...Big Bob Marley Bird! This is before I steamed it. It looks gorgeous now I must say and I plan to make Craigy some arm warmers. I'll take a picture of it, the roving and silk sheets I also dyed this weekend in the morning. I'm so please with how everything turned out. Now, it is late and my little monkey (who was born in the year of the Monkey - for sure) needs her Sunday night bath. 

Heart Felt

Much love to you on this day of mushy stuff. I kinda got into Valentine's this year. Not as much as I hoped though - I had big visions of heart-shaped cookies for my yoga students last night - store bought from a pretty clean bakery instead. I had big ambitions too to make everyone I know some kind of handmade gesture of "I'm so glad I know you" but, you know, life happens. So, please consider this post a Valentine's day card to you. Please be mine. Please.

I did manage to whip up some felted soap and, inspired by a gift I received by the ever inspirational Leya, I made some Valentine brooches using felt and fabric scraps.

Much amor to  you today. Spread it around nice and thick, okay?

Blogaversary. Kinda.

Think this is stinkin' cute? Check out the top of the hat.

Awwwww.... a big juicy thank you to Dana. She sent me a surprise package in the mail with a whole whack of treats inside. Inside there was a kind note and a reminder that it's my blogiversary; which I totally forgot that I first started off with a blogger account and my first post was on February 5, 2006. But seeing as how I pretty much forgot about that site, it doesn't quite feel like I've been doing this as for a year already. I'll wait till my typepad account runs out and go with that date (sometime in May I guess?) but I'll celebrate the fact that Dana has been reading me (does that sound weird?) for a year today. Yay, Dana!

So this is what the sweet girl sent my way. Along with the little gnome hat, here I have a much needed journal, lucious teas, starry ribbonery and, not pictured because they were entertaining the munchkin so, gorgeous buttons. I'd go upstairs to get them now to photo but I'm scared I might wake up the princess. Very scant mommy time these days. Not rocking the boat. Not making waves.

On the crafting front, I picked up one of those grimy Winnie the Pooh kid's chairs from the second-hand store and refurbished it with some white faux fur for her royal tushiness.She's so pleased to finally have her very own chair it's borderline sad.

What should we put on the shopping list? How 'bout beans?!