Home Again

Oh, to be back home. Immersed in laundry and boy smells and the chaos that defines our daily life. It was a whirlwind trip that seemed to stand still at times, moments when I realized I had no obligations to meet. It also held a lot of opportunities for photos, snapped here and there to capture the time I was away.

I loved having the chance to meet my Kayda girl in her home, her sweet and lovely person standing out so strongly, so present.


I was enamored of her ways, her differences and the small and sometimes glaring similarities I noticed, had the luxury of noticing as I followed her around and then, she in turn, followed me. I have never been so flattered as when she would come searching for me when I stepped into my temporary room. That made me feel awesome.


And seeing my amazing sister and her spouse walk this road of parenting, united and supported and so very comfortable, that was a gift. I loved being immersed in my sister as Mother, her ways and thoughts and take on all of it. We had a great time discussing the where and how and whys of what we have gotten ourselves into, precious precious time.


And that was only the first half. My other reason for the trip was to lend a hand to our youngest sister in her booth at the Benbow Arts Festival.


It turned out to be a great decision, my natural marketer came to the fore front and I loved 'selling' my sister to the crowd. Her stuff really did sell itself, all of it was unbelievably tasteful and lovely and useful, but I loved being able to tell them about her, her spontaneous ability to create pretty much anything.


The booth was a haven for many, we sat in the shaded and cool area, her choice of bamboo screening a brilliant one, it let the breeze flow through on a surprisingly hot weekend. I watched people gravitate in, drawn by her taste and color. The pride I feel for her grew as her sales came in, encouraging and growing each hour, each day.


The girl killed it, especially in a year when I thought the buying spirit might be dampened. The great thing was that the fair supported only hand made, only those who took the time to invest them Self into their pieces, so I actually did not mind participating in this expression of consumerism. In fact, I participated wholeheartedly, finding soothing hand balm, and pickled olives and a few other lovely pieces. I left wearing more jewelry than a Gypsy woman and feeling much more womanly for it.


In all, it was a long and hard weekend, none of the rest one associates with vacation really came to be. The trip was book ended by 11 hour drives, thankfully the way home shared among three of us. And thankfully, when we arrived sometime last night, I found both of my beauties, flung across beds in their abandoned sleep, murmuring quiet sleep dreams into my ears as I buried my face into the scent, their sleep dampened hair distinguishing their persons in the dark, Mason's soft curls and Owen's close cut straight silk. I lay between them, grateful for the knowing of their utter importance in my life, their total definition of my person.

And four days away from my man, well, it made so many little things come to light. His capable hands and how I feel when they hold me close. His gentle voice, rising in command easier each day as the boys challenge our choices for them. I think I fell in love with him all over again tonight as we finally put them down together and they asked him for 'more story' (actually Owen said 'more doobie'. Hmmmm, is that how he got them to go to sleep?). He has been telling them the story of the "Princess Bride' nightly, the tale of a farm boy and his Buttercup. His Andre the Giant voice was pretty priceless, as was feeling the boys relax into sleep to his cadence of words. And so home becomes Home again, where my heart is as I wander in my mind and thoughts and burgeoning dreaming.

I have always know it was my center but it never hurts to test the theory, right?

More pictures to come...hooping and other festive bits. And some exciting things in the works. And crafts too. And and and....I better go and get some much needed sleep now. And then more.

Easter :: Enjoyed

I have to say, that was the best Easter I have had in years. Well, it is the first Easter I have had in years. Once my younger brothers grew out of egg hunting, the day became less of a gathering time. It had always been one of my favorite religious holidays. Though I not longer actively practice in the Church I love the idea of a risen Jesus, and the incorporation of the rebirth, such an ancient belief, into our modern day, well, it all made for a good holiday for me.



Now, we are back to Easter due to the boys and it is awesome. Our little Kayda also celebrated her birthday yesterday and we had a gathering of two huge families with bunches of kids and candy and confetti eggs.


All over at my sister's in law's house, so we were totally off the hook for any prep. Now that is a good holiday. There was flying and racing and eating and hugging. And cake.

Mmmmmm, lots of cake.

I knew I wanted to have a little something special for the boys to wear so a few weeks ago I pulled out a languishing project, the little vests I started last summer, and did some finishing.

The great thing about cotton is you can block the dickens out of it to get it to grow a bit to fit your growing boys. I am so glad I remembered them....they came out just as I hoped. Since we are in conservation mode here, I paired it with some khakis and Easter shoes found for a song at the resale shop. We are not a button down and tie family but this had them looking neat and presentable while still feeling comfortable. (And looking pretty darn cute, I must say...pat on own back)


The vests were an improvised pattern, just knit in the round with a row or two of garter stitch in blue, divided for a V neck and finished on the shoulders with a single crochet stitch. The collar is always a little tricky on V necks...I hoped for the best. It barely fit over Mason's head (I tend to bind off a little too tightly), but we got it on. Whew. (I might attempt a pattern if anyone is interested. Interested?)

Speaking of finishing, I did finish my Easter dress, hemmed the sleeves that morning, actually. Finishing is really the bane of my crafting, so hard not to lose steam when little knick-knacky stuff needs to be done. I truly love this dress and I can report that I have never been so comfortable dressed up. I went with a shorter skirt after reading Heather Ross' recommendation regarding hem lines. It hit right at knee cap and with a pair of heels, well, I felt pretty damn good.

Of course, I could not find a picture of me standing up in the dress. Here is me kneeling as I feed the boy more 'nie-nie' (their word for candy).


The pattern is from Weekend Sewing, it was well written and easy to follow and I still cannot believe it turned into something wearable. I guess there is a little bit of leap when it comes to sewing clothes, hoping it will be just right, be as imagined. This has really boosted my confidence in sewing myself clothes and now there are just too many patterns to count, all crowding into my imaginary queue, clamoring to be made.

But first, these went out today.


Invites to a party for a few special little boys who will be ticking off another year gone by. I am so very happy that I did these, especially after shrugging off a party last year. And I think I will pick up a few extra patients in the next weeks to go to the 'order food from Claro's' fund so I can focus on making instead of feeding...I love to cook but the food we had yesterday was spectacular and I need an excuse to eat it again.

Hope if you Easter, it was good and lovely.

F4F :: Faeries in the Garden

There is something about pink. And fluff. And sweetness.

All these things are so not boy. So not what the last few years have been about. To be truthful, so not what my life as a girl has been about.


Oh yes, as a child I dreamed of tutus...imagined floating gracefully en pointe in that special flat wide lovely tutu the principal dancer always wore in her pas de deux.

Then it shifted to floaty longings, for the swirling lengths of tulle, wrapping easily around quickly moving limbs.

Then eventually my tastes moved into Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham and skimming beauty and strong uncovered legs not masked by any fluff.

But we can come full circle and embrace the light and airy and faerie magical because that is what we are allowed to do when we have a gorgeous niece to create for. And I could not be more pleased with the result.

It only lacks the whimsy of a little girl and maybe a pair of wings. Which I can add onto the queue to be given next year when stamping feet will be less likely to trample.

I hesitate to call this my own design, it was inspired by another project. But it altered as I knit, first the bodice in the round with it's lovely chocolately ribbon lacing.

Then the skirt fashioned, layered and sewn. I love hand sewing. So soothing in so many ways.


I want to make more of these and think I will have to seek out a few more little girls to bring into my faerie garden.

And now to cleanse your palette a bit of all the glowing but very very pink...here are a few other blooms running riot in our yard. Ah, Spring. You are so kind in your color.




Thanks for the interlude but now I have to get back to finishing a few much more distinctly boy things


...and a dress that I think is much more womanly than pink..but incorporates a bit of the color just for luck.

Happy Easter time, all. For the first time in a long time, I cannot wait until Sunday. Kids make me giddy.

Dressing Up a Girl

I finished a little something, something that has lingered in various piles, been lost and found, taken out and occasionally admired. The skeins of the original yarn are all lost, all except a little bit of the green. Just the color i needed to finish.

Here is Kayda in Anouk.


I recall the day I first saw the free pattern at Knitty, I was still early to knitting. I was fascinated by the colors, the name, the adorable bebe in the photo. It made me dream of having babies, of a sweet little one with a French name and a bright colored dress. I actually knit the dress years ago, almost right after the pattern was published....that would make it Spring 04...five years ago. Wow.

We all know when I did start down my path to Mama hood it included a lot of blue and no real need for a dress, bright though it may be. But Anouk was still around, unfinished, in need of pockets sewn on.


It was weird, I actually was totally stumped by how to sew the pockets on. I thought about picking up stitches, thought about how to join the two rows of knit stitches. Then I just picked up some matching embroidery thread and straight stitched them on. Not hard at all.

I knew it was for Kayda. And so over the weekend I whipped out the button bands, let Amanda pick out some buttons from the stash and duplicate stitched on a few stems (sans leaves). Completed with minutes to spare before they loaded up to drive north and the boys even had a few minutes to play with the buttons.


I love this dress and highly recommend it to any one looking for an adorable dress for a sweet spunky little girl. It has a very simple construction, easy to put together. I love the suggested yarn, so soft and saturated. My sister loved the colors and declared it her birthday dress. Now that it a huge compliment to this Auntie.

Wait until she gets a load of the real birthday gift. I am loving it already. And I am making it quite big so as she grows into her Year II and faeries become part of her world, the dress will be waiting on her.

A few more faces of Kayda

With Omi


And done...

Shoppe :: Open

Oh, Friday, you mean so much to me. This one is a good one. A few goals accomplished and the end to a very crazy roller-coasting ride of a week.

A few small things pulled me through this week. They are named Fred and Trogdor the Dragon. Say Hi.

These are my new little friends. Little folks that came by and stayed a bit. Designed as always by Jon, my uber talented brother. The biggest kick is in showing him his sketches realized on the little onesies and listening to the boys call them "babies".

Craft is my savior, hope it becomes your gift. To your little one, or a friend with a little one coming. When I make these for my own little ones, I always smile when I dress them in one, remembering the joy of the stitching, seeing them move about in something I made.

Please look and let me know what you think. I would like to entertain any custom requests if possible, these onesies are sized for the wee ones (0-6 months) but I may expand the line to include some of those terrorizing toddlers. As long as they earn it.

Cheers and happy weekending. Ours shall include stacks of buttermilk pancakes, my gorgeous niece Kayda, bbq's and healing families. Loves, A.

Craft Tuesday : Round Up

So, these projects did not occur over this single week, a few have been sitting around, waiting on their blog entry. I had fun with the sewn projects, I am really quite a sloppy sewer and dare not the close up shot yet, but I think I will slowly improve. Knitting comes easy, but for some reason I get a little panicky at the sewing machine. I will have to practice some Zen breathing or something while machine sewing.

So, here is my first apron. Found the pattern vis this magazine

picked up at random during the all too frequent JoAnn trips (funny, it used to be Michael's. Ah, how the times change). I am loving the whole magazine, it has some great bags and other simple projects that do not intimidate. I plan on making all three versions to practice my ruffle and seaming techniques.

This version was the simplest and I have to admit I spent a few weeks reading the pattern and visualizing the 'how to' before I even sat down to cut and sew. I think this helps me to execute things better and it is something I have always done with knitting projects. Though I admit I had a hard time joining the waistband and ties, that required a seam ripper...twice.

This little kimono took no time at all (relatively speaking, of course).

It is from the Mason Dixon book and is destined to travel north once seamed. For my little Kayda Rose who is by far the best dressed baby girl I have ever seen.

And the second incarnation of Le Box Bag with some delicious Heather Ross fabric and another teal zipper.

This one is shorter and squatter and fits a nice ball sock yarn that is slowly creeping into the lace scarf that required more attention than I can give it right now.

I have to say when I write these Tuesday posts (all two of them, woohoo) I am a little in awe that I have something to feature. I honestly do more than craft all day, I work sometimes (except yesterday when I drove all the way out to Timbuktu to be told by a cranky old person that they wanted not my help. That sucked), I take care of the boys and I am trying to keep the house in a state of semi-shambles. But I guess I am just finding those precious moments that bring me a bit of the time that I need to do this stuff.

There was a great post at the HDYDI blog about taking off our 'perfect' mama faces and letting down our guard a bit and showing each other that we are not always the Mama that I know I look at in public and think, "Damn, she looks like she has it all together". In this spirit, I will tell you I am blogging while the boys run willy-nilly, in dirty pajamas with filthy feet and a little crazy from my desire to push them into the one nap thing. So, that means I gotta' go. Because the un-craft world calls.