Crystal Madrilejos

This little one is making me exhausted and I will blame him/her for the lack of posts lately! Every time I sit down to post, my brain turns to mush and I can’t think straight. I figured I should give an update in the baby department since it’s been awhile and some of you might have been wondering.

We had an appointment with our doctor today and everything is going well. We had an ultrasound and are scheduled to have one every week from here on out due to the fact that I have gestational diabetes. I don’t think I mentioned that before. So far it’s been fine and manageable. I have to test my blood and eat less desserts and carbs than I normally would but overall it’s not a problem. The one hitch though is that it could make for a big baby and so the ultrasounds keep track to make sure our cute little baby doesn’t turn into monstrously huge baby.

As of this coming Friday we will have 4 weeks left (unless I go early or late). But the big question is: a boy or a girl? Will it look like me or like Andrew? The ultrasound technician said baby already has lots of hair!

(Those are baby pictures of me and Andrew up there, and yes, I look like a boy.)

–c.

With all the Christmas gifts we’ve been posting, you may have thought we have been neglecting this little baby of homemade goods but don’t worry. We’ve been busy!

I still have the crocheting bug (to be honest, it’s just the easiest craft to do when I’m sitting in bed or away from home without access to my other projects). I really wish I knew how to knit! A couple people have generously offered to help me learn which I’m very thankful for. One of these days…

In the meantime, I made this crocheted dog (similar to the one I made before for my niece Layla) but with different colors.

This one is also not as long, which I think happened because I did my single crochet different on the one I made before. For Layla’s dog, I stitched in only the back loops which makes for a stretchier stitch. I also used different yarn for this one. Layla’s dog was made with Caron Simply Soft, which is 100% Acrylic, but still soft (hence the name). But for the new dog I used Red Heart Classic, which is also 100% Acryclic but pretty stiff and not so soft. However, it does hold it’s shape nicely. I’ve always had an aversion to Red Heart because it’s so synthetic that it actually squeaks when you crochet with it. But I guess it makes for a more durable toy and is super cheap.

-c.

Surprise! Another crocheted toy for the baby!

This one though is not from the same pattern book as the others I’ve made recently. I found the pattern online here. But I only followed the pattern for the body/head part because I didn’t read the whole pattern before I started. I didn’t realize that the legs are knit and not crocheted and I don’t know how to knit! (Though I sorely want to learn.) So for the legs I just winged it and surprisingly they turned out better, in my opinion, than the ones in the original pattern.

How, you ask, do I have all this time to crochet? The answer is: It’s basketball season. The CAVS have been playing every other night it seems and after last season, and in my heightened state of emotions, I can’t seem to take the anxiety. So instead of actually watching the game, I crochet during the game so I don’t get so worked up. It’s been working out quite nicely. I finished two Christmas presents during the last two games!

–c.

This baby is going to have one million crocheted toys before it’s even born! Here are the newest additions: Mushrooms! These are also from the same craft book (Ana Paula Rimoli’s Amiguri Two!) as the Peas in the Pod and the Turtle Mama that I posted about before.

These ones are a little different than the ones in the book though. The pattern called for white felt circles to be sewn onto the mushroom cap, but I didn’t really like the look of it so I just used white yarn to embroider circles onto the cap. I wasn’t so sure about how the circles turned out since they aren’t filled in completely like you’d normally see on a mushroom but I think they are growing on me.

I have plans to make a super-huge one but I’ll have to add that to the end of my list of things. I still have a quilt to get cracking on!

–c.

Here is the second crocheting project for baby that I mentioned a couple posts ago. A turtle mama with some surprises!

There is an opening in the back end of the large turtle, out of which comes all the rest of the pieces. All in all the whole project is eight pieces including, the mama turtle, two babies, four eggs and one cracked egg. I was so ready for it to be done and those babies were hard to make! Small things are always harder to make. I’m surprised I’m not cross-eyed by now.

It’s from the same craft book as the Peas in a Pod (Ana Paula Rimoli’s Amiguri Two!). I’ve already been asked about the eyes and their baby-safeness. They are safety eyes and though I’ve tried my hardest to get them out (never with any success) I would recommend supervising baby when playing with any dolls with hard plastic eyes.

–c.

Another reason why I have a million craft projects going is because I have this tendency to do something so much until I get sick of it and have to do something else. Maybe it’s ADD passed down from my parents. After sitting in front of the sewing machine for so long working on the quilt, after a few squares I already felt burnt out.

Luckily, I had been itching to start crocheting again. 2 projects later and I’m burnt out and back to the quilt, but I got a couple cute things out of this burst of crochet energy. Both patterns were from Ana Paula Rimoli’s Amiguri Two! I got this book at Barnes & Noble on a whim and have been pretty happy with it thus far.

I’m realizing that the majority of craft books that I own are in Japanese, I mean, literally written in Japanese. I’ve been able to figure out the patterns relatively easily but I have to fill in the blanks most of the time. This book is in English and I have to say that was a bit easier on the brain. Though mine didn’t turn out exactly like the ones in the book, they were fun to make nontheless. Here is one of them: Peas in a Pod!

The one in the book only has 3 peas in the pod, but for some reason my pod turned out extra large and I was able to squeeze in 4. Go figure. I know everyone’s crocheting styles and stitches are a little different but I have never really paid attention to how many stitches per inch, etc. This might come back and bite me in the ass when I’m crocheting some type of clothing, but until then I’ll just do what I do.

One thing I have yet to perfect is the invisible decrease (which I’ve never heard mention of in any of the craft books I’ve read). I always wondered why the bottoms of all my spheres were lumpy and just not attractive in general. I finally googled this problem and discovered the invisible decrease which improved the look of my pieces greatly, but they still aren’t as smooth as I would like. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to advise!

I’ll post the other crochet project as soon as I take pictures of it. It’s been so cloudy here I haven’t been able to get any good light!

–c.

As if I didn’t have a million craft projects, add a baby into the mix and my brain is about to explode. Andrew has made me promise to not get carried away and take on too many things because sometimes even the most relaxing things can become stressful when you load them on nice and thick.

It’s been a dream of mine to make a quilt. For years and years, I’ve kicked the idea around in my head but it always seemed like such a daunting task since I’d never made a quilt in my life. Finally, I decided on a pattern that I found in Suzuko Koseki’s Patchwork Style that will be our baby’s first quilt and hopefully one that he or she will keep forever.

I’ve had this book for a few years now, first the Japanese version that I bought online and then more recently the English version that came out this year. At first I debated on whether I needed the English version, but I’m so happy that I bought it. The Japanese version was great for inspiration, but for a first time quilter I had to study the English version for a week before I was sure that I had it right. And not until I actually sat down and started sewing did it really start making sense. Here is my progress so far:

Luckily for me, the pattern doesn’t call for too much precision or for much planning. It’s very “decide as you go” which is nice because it’s less repetitive than I imagine a tradition quilt being. Each square is different. There really isn’t a color scheme and it’s sort of all over the place, but so far I’m happy with it. I just have about 24 more squares to go! Yikes.

I hope this baby like bright colors!

–c.

We’re officially at the halfway mark of the pregnancy. This past Monday was our 20-week appointment/ultrasound and the baby is healthy and happy. We’re not finding out whether it’s boy or a girl, though Andrew and I both have our suspicions. In another 20 weeks we’ll see who’s right. I’ve been feeling the little one move a lot, but Andrew still has yet to feel anything. I suppose he’ll be able to feel something soon because the movements are definitely getting stronger.

–c.

UPDATE: Andrew felt the baby for the first time this morning (10/11/09)! They were the strongest kicks I’ve felt yet!

Life has been busy and full of new things to share. Summer is almost over and fall is creeping up faster than expected (I think living in a valley speeds along the process too). Fall is my favorite time of the year and some days the air smells so much like autumn that I can hardly stand the wait. It seems the waiting and anticipation are half the fun when the end goal is something so amazing.

With that said, Andrew and I have some big news to share. We are expecting a little one at the end of February! We are very excited and very busy with getting our lives in order to welcome a new person into the world. This is our first baby and we are equally happy, nervous, and mystified by the whole thing! I think the shock has finally worn off and we are now in the planning-and-slightly-overwhelmed phase with a “to-do” list that is as ambitious as it is long. I have to say that I prefer it to the sick-as-a-dog-exhausted-beyond-comprehension phase, which has for the most part passed.

I will post again soon with all the things we’ve been working on the past few months!

-c.