Action Shots

Prepare yourself for cuteness in action!

Allie rocking her cute Little Geranium dress:

Zoe bopping around the house in her new heart print shawl-collar Bimaa:

Zoe in her purple Bimaa and paisley Hosh Pants, which are now toeing the too-small line:

Anna looking sharp in her Izzy top and Fancy Pants Leggings:

 Anna's Thai elephant MC Hammer pants:

Anna in her green and white striped Best Harem Pants:

Crochet bunny for Zoe!

Miss Zoe turned 1 a week ago!  Happy Birthday!

 I made her a crochet bunny that I would hope she could grow with and snuggle along the way :) I found this pattern that Meg had seen as well (and almost made herself!) I used a bigger crochet hook and thicker yarn than the pattern asked for.  It came out waaaay bigger than I expected, but awesome none the less.

Miss Zoe saying hello.

Miss Zoe getting a little too cozy!

Party Hat!

It's almost baby Zoe's 1st birthday (I cannot believe a year has passed that quickly!)... since I can't be there for the party (sniff, sniff), I thought I would send her something hand-made to wear while celebrating (and hopefully shoving cake in her face).

Party hat, y'all!

 

I used this ridiculously easy and quite cute pattern (although I added a few extra rows at the bottom to make it bigger).  I decided to stripe mine to use up random bits of yarn I had left over from other projects (all of it Lily Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn) and to give it some additional personality.

Finally, I topped it with a pom-pom made following this video tutorial.  I didn't trim my pom-pom because I liked the rough, Muppet-esque quality it had.

Lincoln helped, too, trying on the hat (somewhat begrudgingly... can you feel the virtual eye-roll?) at the various stages:

(Zoe, party hat is on the way.  Hopefully it makes it in time!!)

More Bootayz

I made some more booties, this time modifying the pattern somewhat so that they would look like mini-rainboots or mini-Uggs. 

Here are the modifications I made:

- Followed pattern for rows 1-3 in color A
- Switched to color B at the end of row 3
- Followed pattern until row 7
- Rows 8 and 9: double-crochet in each stitch around
- Row 10: Switch to color A and half double crochet in each stitch around
- Skip ties

UPDATE! Crafts Worn by Top Models

Remember this baby dress/toddler top?  It finally made it to the U.S.... and Miss Zoe is already rocking it out for her holiday parties!

Beautiful!

This little Bert and Ernie number also made it to the U.S. and Mr. Andrew wears it like the dapper gent he is.

Adorable.

 Finally, Lincoln tried on the mittens I made this week.  Here are his thoughts on them:

"I will smother you in your sleep, woman."

Baby Booties and Mittens

Zoe wrote to Santa and asked for some handmade booties and mittens... somehow the letter got lost and ended up here with me in Jakarta.

OK, no she didn't.  But her dad did email me, asking for those items on her behalf.  The Real Martha (Zoe's "GrandMartha" and thrice-a-week babysitter) then specified further, insisting that the mittens have some device to ensure that they stay on her little hands and that the booties have something similar to secure them to the baby's "cankles."  Yes, The Real Martha called the baby's chubby ankles "cankles."  She's not the only one who's had this thought about baby ankles, apparently.

Mittnets.

 In any case, I found some simple instructions for tiny baby booties and thumbless baby mittens, both with tie closures.  I whipped them up pretty quickly using Bernat Handicrafter cotton yarn.  The stitch counting was a little wonky on the booties, so I had to figure out where the center of the toe was and devise my own counting/stitch marking method.  In the end it worked out fine!  I just hope they fit Zoe's cankles. 

Boo-tayz.

 Baby Z, expect these booties and mitten soon, but probably not before Christmas, based on my understanding of the Indonesian postal system. 

Kate K's Baby Shower Gifts

First, Martha's second and wonderful attempt at a "Jug Jacket" modeled by the lovely Michael McCarthy! Using a purple, leafy batik and a light green batik to back it up the "Jug Jacket" is a great, stylish cover up for Mommy when baby is hungry! Also with a burp cloth to match.

The second home-made gift was my first attempt at crochet! I used a single and double crochet pattern with Sugar 'n Cream yarn in Hot Pink and In Motion. By the way, Meg was my amazing crochet teacher :)

Baby's First Lobster!!

Zoe pictured here with the Real Martha.

That's pretty much it.

Enjoy.

Quiltin' Corner

Not the best pic, but a completed and gifted baby quilt for one of Jamie's college roomie's third boy. . . it was the hit of the shower and as it was passed around all JL could think was "you better not get food on my quilt!"

Brewin' with babies

My friends Christy and Brendan came over today to brew a couple batches of beer. I have a set of equipment, and I gave them one when they got married, so we had enough room to do 2 batches simultaneously: one red ale and one oatmeal stout, both organic.

Christy and Brendan brought their baby, Lilah (short for Delilah), who is maybe the world's cheeriest and most agreeable baby. We tag-teamed on beer brewing and Lilah watching for like 7 hours, and, as a result, I am soooo exhausted!Lilah exhausted herself playing in the beer kit box and chasing the cats all day.