a month of knitting...

harper's pirate booty pants

skull isle hat from son of stitch and bitch

wonder pants for our friend henry
baby surprise jacket for harper (um, yeah, this is the jacket that i started a looonnnggg time ago! but it is finally finished!)

felted wool bag with tattoo straps
little turtle knits pithy hat
ballband dishcloths

cotton soap saver sacks

little leg warmers for esme'

skully hat for my little brotherand a wool sheepy sack for a friend's new baby!

random, random...

i have been a busy mama this week! there have been several times in the past few days that i have thought about sitting here in my computer chair to blog, but the thought always escapes me as i rush off to my next project or chore. here is a quick update on what is new with me~

i attended a very special birth on Easter Sunday. my good friend and her
family welcomed a new baby boy into the world, peacefully at home. it was
the first birth i have attended since harper was born over 10 months ago. it
was a lovely thing to witness.

i have been knitting like crazy! i am still stash busting and loving it! i have not bought any yarn or knitting related items for 4 weeks now! i am only knitting stash yarn. only 4 more weeks to go... i can totally do this!

harper and esme' and i participated in earth hour last night... well, we kind of participated. it was right in the middle of our bedtime, wind down time. we lasted a good 45 minutes, then the night light and lullabies CD came out!

i dusted off my poor, neglected bicycle yesterday and got it ready to ride. my bike has been parked since i got pregnant with harper. i can't wait to start riding again! i am going to buy a pretty wicker basket for the handle bars first thing tomorrow.

our garden is ready to plant! i already have carrot seeds planted and several seeds started in the house. we are trying rainbow carrots this year. i just hope esme' can leave them in the ground long enough, unlike years past!

this is my latest knitting project, in progress. it is a cute little short sleeved wrap sweater for a little baby girl that a friend of the family is expecting any day now. i might even have enough yarn to knit a little hat... or booties... or both!

wordless wednesday! harper loves banana!

little leg warmers

these adorable little leg warmers are great for Spring! wear them with skirts or over pants. any worsted weight yarn will work for this pattern~ i recommend using something that will wash well. the pair in the photo were knit with alternating stripes of alpine cotton and lion brand organic cotton (i was stash burning!)

material needed:

3.5 ounces/ 100 grams worsted weight yarn

size 7 double pointed needles~ set of 4

elastic thread (any color as it will not be seen)

2 pretty little buttons

tapestry needle

children's sizes 2 (4) (6) (8)

measure your child's leg from just below the knee to just below the ankle bone. this will be the length of your finished leg warmer.

cast on 30 (32) (34) (36) stitches and divide evenly between 3 needles. join and begin knitting in round in 1 x 1 rib pattern until you reach your child's leg measurement. knit the next 3 rows holding the elastic thread with your yarn, continuing the 1 x 1 rib pattern. continue without the elastic thread for another 1.5 inches.

bind off loosely, weave in ends and fold over the last 1.5 inches you knit and sew on buttons.

drawstring version:

work as directed above until you reach your child's leg measurement then bind off loosely. make a single crochet drawstring as long as you would like and thread through your leg warmer approx. 1.5 inches from the top. this is cute tied in the front or on the side!

wordless wednesday! a day on the salmon river!

my little BIG girl!

yesterday was busy-fun for us! not only was it Ain't Patrick's Day (as esme' calls it) which entitled us to enjoy green peeps, green cookies and hot cocoa with green whipped cream (i know, that is A LOT of green dye and sugar for one day!!) but we also registered esme' for kindergarten! i simply cannot believe my little esme' will be off to school next year. where has the time gone?

this is a picture i snapped at niko's spring program last week. we got there a little late and there were no available chairs so esme' sat on the floor behind the kindergarten class. every couple minutes she would scoot a little closer to the group and soon she was right in the middle of them (that is her in the pink shirt on the left) i stood and watched her and got a little teary eyed at how she just seemed to fit right in with these school aged kids. yep, she is ready and there is no stopping her. as for me, i don't know if i will ever really be ready...

just for fun here is a cute little photo of harper. he is standing all the time now, as long as there is something to hold on to.

harper, here is a message from mommy~

G-R-O-W S-L-O-W!!!

happy st. patty's day!

My Leprechaun Name is
Underpants O'Brannigan

cute!

Get your Leprechaun Name at Quizopolis.com

harper and his baby!

linky love!

i know i have mentioned my love for other bloggers before, but i thought i'd go a step further and share the links to some blogs that i have been reading and loving!

now that SPRING is right around the corner i have been spending countless hours day dreaming about my garden this year, and almost as much time hanging out at heavy petal. i didn't plant my garden last year because i was hugely pregnant when it was time for plants to go into the ground, and i knew there was no way i would find the time to get out there each and every day to water and maintain the garden with newborn baby and a toddler in the house. so i instead spent my summer months snuggling and kissing on my fresh new baby, and trying to hang out with the big kids as much as possible, and pretty much just adjusting and recovering. oh, but i never did stop missing fresh tomatoes from the garden...


i also stumbled upon hip mama's place recently. it is a super fun mom blog where you can read reviews, win great prizes and even list your own blog to increase traffic and gain more readers, if you so choose! and if you are a blog junkie like me be sure to check out the mom's blog directory page while you are there!

and i have had a lot of fun reading treehugger, a passionate blog about living green. it was treehugger where i first saw the human cheese video... hi-larious!!

wordless wednesday! happy SPRING is right around the corner!

the whole lot of us!

it isn't often that we get a photo of the whole family! this was taken on the salmon river during our weekend trip to visit grandma and grandpa. i will post more pictures of our trip once i unpack and recover from being in the car with 4 kids for 4 hours each way... it may be a few days!

inspired to party!!

it's party time over at 5 Minutes For Mom! i simply can't pass up a good party, so here i am!

this is my little corner of the web where i write about my life as a home birthing, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing mommy to 4 great kids. i knit a lot, i sew a little and i love showing off my projects!

i have a little online shop called inspired mama creations where i sell organic baby and mama care products as well as hand painted and kettle dyed yarn. i just bought my first drop spindle so i can start spinning my own yarn too! whee!

so, how about a party game? i am always looking for inspiration for new yarn colorways, so please leave a comment with your wonderful idea~ something fun like Bert and Ernie or The Cat in the Hat, and it just might be the newest colorway at inspired mama creations!

there are many great prizes to be won at this blog party, but a few that i am especially excited about are:

~a kleen kanteen sippy cup from non toxic tots

~ a blog makeover from shauna at see my designs

~ "I make milk, what's your super power?" tee shirt from crunchy domestic goddess

and of course a $25 amazon.com gift certificate from welcome to my world of dreams would be great too!

thank you for visiting my little blog, and don't forget to leave a comment so i can come visit you!

wordless wednesday! harper LOVES avocados!

flash my stash...

this is an accountability post of sorts. i have spent the afternoon organizing my yarn stash and was surprised at how much there really is! as i mentioned in a previous post i am currently knitting only stash yarn and making no yarn or knitting related purchases. the truth is i really like my stash. i love digging through piles of wool looking for inspiration for a new project. but, even i can admit that this is excessive. so, here it is in all it's glory~

peace fleece~

undyed wool~ (the undyed peace fleece is in the previous pic!)

misc. yarn~ hmm, i see some malabrigo, noro, lorna's laces, cascade 220...

this tote is about half full.

and totes full of yarn and unfinished projects~ (which are going to be completed during the stash game i am participating in!)

i didn't include photos of my dishcloth cotton or the acrylic blends and novelty yarn, because it is just not as fun to look at!

okay, knitters everywhere, flash your stash! and please leave me a link so i can come see!

pirate booty!

not only are his little pants absolutely adorable, but look, he is standing! usually he stands when he is helped out but yesterday he pulled himself up... there is no stopping him now!

MARCH!! (finally!)

i am so happy that march is finally here! how is it that the shortest month of the year can seem soooo looonngg?! as prompted by stephanie at adventures in babywearing here is what i am really into this month!

The Thing I've Been Working On The Most: knitting! i am participating in a stash game with some knitting friends (and fellow yarn hoarders like myself) so my goal for this month is to not make any knitting related purchases and to knit though as much of my stashed yarn as possible. be prepared for plenty of knitting pics this month! my first project should be completed tonight...

TV Show I Used To Love But Now Hate And Refuse To Ever Watch Again: american idol. it just got really old for me a couple seasons ago. my kids still love it though!

TV Show I Sometimes Hate But Really Like This Year: dr. phil~ i am mildly embarrassed that i have been recording his show!

The CD I Can't Stop Listening To: ben harper's lifeline those who know me know my obsession! you can watch one of his videos (or two or three) here! fight outta you is awesome!

My Favorite Blog Entry This Month: big push for midwives~ part 2 this is a topic that remains so, so important to me.

Blog I Am Always Visiting: this varies for me, as i am a blog hopping fool! let's see, last month i couldn't get enough of crunchy domestic goddess, crunchy peas, and the birth book blog!

What I'm Most Looking Forward To Next Month: SPRING!!! i simply cannot wait! we are also looking forward to taking a tiny roadtrip to visit grandma and grandpa, and i have an appointment here next week!

i would love to read what you are really into this month~ leave a comment so i can come and check out your post!