returning to my needles

Life has been a exhausting lately.
The demands of work, home life, pregnancy and various other things needing attention, have been adding up.
I'm taking the daily placenta brain meltdowns as I sign that I need to slow down, let some things go.
I've stepped away from the sewing machine for a while, and have been spending my short evenings reclining on the sofa instead, scouring Ravelry and knitting patterns for something that fits with my stash and mood.
I ended up opting for a baby garment- something for the new bub to wear next year when the weather cools down- a Drops garter stitch wrap cardigan (on Ravelry) in some Du Store Alpakka that I was gifted a long time ago.
Scandinavian yarn with a Scandinavian pattern.
I already have a range of knitwear that C wore, so it's not really something the baby will need, but it feels really soothing just to sit and knit, and good that the little one will have something special to be wrapped in one day.

Progressions in drawing

Parenting, in addition to being the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life, leaves me, from time to time, completely spellbound. I can but marvel at the way our son is discovering and engaging with the world around him. Exploring, discovering, and learning.

Aside from my state of wonder at his impeccable sense of humor, which has the power to draw me out of a dismal mood so that I can put on a silly voice to pretend that I am The Count, recently we have been watching, with great interest, as his drawing skills take a huge developmental leap.

His little travel sized drawing board has been a regular companion everywhere from the dining table to car trips and all manner of outings, since we bought it for our Noosa trip back in June.

And in the last month, we've seen his skills progress, the growing dominance of his left hand, carefully constructed grid like patterns emerging, and then experimenting with faces, creatures, and illustrating things he's heard about in stories that his grandparents have read (amusingly often houses. There have been many versions of houses for  Glenda the good witch, and Silky the fairy).

Having drawing materials on hand, readily available at a moment's impulse, is helping this to happen (and something inspired by reading Soule Mamma's book). Aside from the little drawing board, we have a stash of recycled paper that I bring home from work (so he gets to see a lot of drawings of buildings), and boxes of toddler friendly textas, crayons and soft aquarelle and other coloured pencils, which live in the cupboard next to our table. Celebrating his output, we have favorite pieces his works blu-tak'd to the wall in the kitchen and bathroom, but many of them are sitting in a piled on the sideboard. I think I may need to get some picture frames.

Kids clothing- a progress report...

...not a wrap up, because it seems to be the start of a burst of sewing activity. The Kids Sewing Week Challenge officially ended over a week ago, but I'm still at it, with another project cut and ready for sewing, and a list of other things that I want to make to keep me going. I figure at some stage in the next couple of months my creative energy will burn out, and then I'll be time and energy deprived, so I'm trying to make the most of it while I can.

So what have I finished in the last couple of weeks?

A sailor shirt with an Oliver and S pattern. My first time sewing with Oliver and S, and I have to say the patterns are really well written- clear directions with illustrations and good tips for a great finish. Next time I would make this pattern with a stretch cotton (or knit fabric)- it's a close fit pulling it down over his shoulders, so we'll have to make some good use of it right now (which with the advent of some sunny spring weather is perfect). The fabrics have been in the stash for a while- I didn't have enough of the red stripe for the whole shirt, so I used a coordinating chambray that I'd bought at the same time for the back. To tie the design together I sewed the contrasting bottom hem facings on the outside. The sweet little number buttons were from the stash, a gift from a friend a long time ago.


To go with the top, I made the sailor pants. This fabric has a stretch, which it doesn't really need, but it does give a little bit more wearing ease. I'll definitely be making this up again, perhaps without bothering to make the buttons usable, as we don't need to use them to pull the pants on and off. And as an unexpected bonus pattern feature, there isn't anywhere for the sand to hide away when he's playing in the sandpit, so no unexpected piles of sand appear on the floor when he's getting changed or I'm doing the washing!


Continuing in the striped theme, this t-shirt was pressed into use the moment C saw it. I had been toying with the idea of putting some kind of applique on the front, but I haven't had an opportunity and it doesn't seem to be needed. I should make up some more of these for summer. So simple and quick, and so much cheaper than buying kids t-shirts!


And in a break from the striped theme I make another of Nicole Mallalieu's hats for a friend's daughter. She wears pink and purple, which I had none of in the stash, so I picked up this floral while I was enhancing my denim stash (always need some denim in the stash) at Darn Cheap. It was a bit brighter until I pre-washed it with the denim, which of course bled heaps and gave the floral a much deeper, bluer tone. At least it coordinates even better with the denim lining as a result. (Of course, no trip to the fabric shop is complete without an impulse buy- some checked linen that I thought would make C some great long shorts, but he seemed to have other ideas about what it should be used for...)