Just so I don't forget

I'm posting my thankful Thursday post today. I've been really thankful for the little moments in the day when my ds and I can just run and play and be carefree for a while. We've been getting snow off and on for the last week or so (with more to come) and the two of us spent the morning outside on Monday playing. He's at such a fun age right now (he'll be 18 months a couple days after Christmas) Everything is such an adventure and he focuses whole-heartedly on every new experience. I've come to love the fact that the same traits that make him stubborn and mischievous and somewhat "difficult" at times also make him determined and adventurous and outgoing. I feel like during these little moments together I get to see a glimps at who he is going to become.

Winter Wonderland

"Oh the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful, since we've no place to go..."

We had our first real taste of winter weather this weekend. I just love this time of year when you can go to bed at night and everything is drab and tired looking from the long seasons before and then wake up in the morning to a fresh white blanket covering everything. I just love the snow and everything about this time of year.....this is except the endless rain that we get up here in the pacific northwest.

We had a beautiful 2 days of snow only to wake up to rain yesterday morning. If you can believe it ALL the snow is gone (other then a few small piles left behind by the plows) we went for a drive around town yesterday and the flooding has already began and yet it continues to rain and rain. Oh well they are calling for more snow in a couple weekends so there is still hope for a white Christmas here ;) although it's been years since we've had one.

Honestly I can't even remember the last time there was snow on Christmas day. I know this post has really nothing to do with cloth diapering or even parenting at all but I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to share the beauty of this season.

"...Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!"

Just what I was afraid of

I've been eying this print for quite some time but always decided against it for fear that it would be too girly. when I first found SOSdiapers they would sell out immediately and were really hard to acquire. I managed to snag one and it's been our favorite diaper ever since we got it. when I noticed this print up and available I decided to just go for it...maybe I'd luck out and there wouldn't be that much of the pink on mine. I ordered it and then patiently waited and waited (it actually got here quite quickly considering it was a semi-custom mail tends to be slower this time of year.

Well I got home to find a package sitting, waiting for me in the front hall and excitedly ripped it open only to find that the front of the diaper is mainly pic :( I was disappointed because I love this fabric and have been really wanting to get it for a while now. So now I have a dilemma....do I sell it and maybe get something else a little more boyish or do I hang onto it in a hopes that I have a little girl to put it on soon. I think I'm leaning to the latter only because I just really would hate to sell it and we are planning on TTC in Feb/March so I'll be starting a newborn stash soon enough anyways ;) If we don't have a girl next I can always sell it then I guess. I'm still trying to decide....

one thing I've learned

...is that I really do not enjoy dying fabric. I should have known this because I took a fibre arts course in college and I didn't like it then either....sometimes I'm a slow learner. I dyed some stuff a few weeks ago, including a few prefolds. It's not that I didn't like the colours or how they turned out...I can't really explain why I don't like dying stuff I just don't ever wanna do it again haha. Oh well at least I gave it a try and now I know. Funny thing is I'm sure I'll try it again at some point and probably have the same reaction.

I'm Thankful...

I've decided to post every Thursday about something I've been particularly thankful for over the week just as a way to stay grounded and not caught up in an attitude of dissatisfaction. I find it really easy to get caught up in always wanting more then I have or just not being satisfied with where we are in life and I just thought this wound be a great way to remind myself of lucky I really am ;)

We had a chance on the weekend to get down to Vancouver and go to Granville island where there is and awesome children's market and a public market. It was such a beautiful day, we got easy parking (which usually is not the case) and we had a great look around. The leaves were crisp and brightly coloured and the sun was out yet the air was really fresh and cool. It just made me so grateful to live where I do. On any given day you have the potential to head to the beach or into the mountains for a hike or skiing/snowboarding or into the city for great shopping or out into the country to a lake or for a picnic. how can you tell I love the pacific northwest? ;) anyways I just wanted to also share this pic from our day downtown

someone stop me!

I shouldn't be left alone with money to spend =) a friend told me about Baby Hope's Cloth Diapers (thanks Tanya ;)) and I just couldn't pass on the free shipping so I ordered a Baby Beehind Bamboo onesize. YAY! this is a diaper I've bee dying to try so I cannot wait for it to get here. it just shipped today so I have a while but still this is something I'm really looking forward to getting. I got it in the blue if anyone cares ;) once that gets here that's it for me. I have to make the rest of my diapers. I'll have to take some stash pics once everything is here. And can you believe I already can't find one of the snappis I just got *sigh* I swear I need a tracking device for those things.
Well dh had the day of today so we went hunting for fabric...specifically grey chambray for the ringsling I'm making, and it turns out that all the local stores don't carry chambray...at least not the grey color. I'm not impressed. I guess I'll have to look for it online which isn't really an issue as long as it doesn't cost too much in shipping.
That's pretty much it from here other them I'm still working out some kinks with my testers...I'm a little frustrated but I'm gonna just go at it tomorrow and hopefully get it sorted out....otherwise I'm going to plan "B"
Anyways I'll leave you with a babywearing pic from our trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend

a little taste

I got other fabric last night as well but this is just a little sampling of the "pretty" fabrics I picked out. I also have other prints that I've collected into my stash but these were all neatly folded and accessible so I thought I would share =)

MOSHI

HOORAY!!!! it finally arrived! I haven't had much of a chance to really wear it so I don't really have a review yet. but I just wanted to get a pic of it up seeing as how I said I would ;) it's not the greatest but we are planning on going to the pumpkin patch this weekend as long as it it not raining here so I'll have some better pics then.
I also ordered some babylegs today in the scandia print because I just thought they were too cute not to get =) hopefully I won't have to wait as long for them

it's all in the 'Gnome'

I have an awesome book out out of the library right now called nature babies which has lots of fun organinc knitting and craft/toy ideas. Anyways while O was down for his nap yesturday I made him this

He seemed to love it right away and way happily carrying it around =) it's a little smaller then the pattern called for but I didn't realize I was suppose to enlarge it until I was trying to tie the knot hands. Needless to say this gnome is now without hands but I'll have to make some adjustments next time

one of my favourite things

fresh from the dryer

I'm not sure what it is but there is someting about a basket of freshly washed diapers that just makes me smile. I actually really enjoy folding and putting away the diapers. I know I'm not the only on ;) what is it about them?

practice does make perfect

It looks as though I have a black hole in our room that swallows up snappis and other rather useful items. I've given up looking for our snappi. Some day I'll order another one but in the mean time I've been getting alot of pinning practice. the first few times the diaper was hanging of my poor ds. He kept stopping to look at it like "what is going on here?" Well I'm managing to get them alot tighter and I thing I may actuallt prefer pinning our embellished pre-fitteds. The bottom claw never really grabbed the print fabric anyways and I can get a snugger shorter rise with only one pin so it's just as fast, if not faster, then a snappi. anyways just wanted to share our experience ;) Oh and here's a pick of our first pin job for a laugh

latest project

Well this was something I was working on last week but I didn't have the pics uploaded to the computer that I usually blog from. Anyways, I bought a second-hand wool sweater and chopped it up to make a pair of pull-on soakers for my ds. they turned out alright...there are a few things I'll change about the pattern before I'd try them again. Also I need to felt them a bit more because they are too big. her is a pic of O in it for the first time (he was helping his grandma reorganize the cupboard so please excuse the mess ;)

new things for a new season

I'm really caught up in the spirit of fall this past week (my new layout is a tribute to that). I'm already busy planning our weekends and fun things to do with Oliver. I really want to get to the pumpkin patch or apple orchard, maybe get on a hay ride, I also want to get out for a lot of day hikes in the changing leaves and maybe get up to the fish hatchery to see the salmon spawning....I have a feeling this fall is going to fly by just as fast as this summer did. Somewhere in all of this I've got a list of knitting and sewing that I want to fit in, like working on the size range for my diaper pattern (and maybe perfecting the design a bit) and finishing a few knitting projects I've started so that I can start a bunch more. Can a person have to many hobbies? if that's possible then I'm right on the edge I think. I keep telling myself that I'll start painting again soon and that I will get around to finishing all my scrapbooking ;) I think half the fun of hobbies is planning the next project....at least for me it is.

we've also reacently found the wool love here. The Thumbelina Diaper cover that we had so patiently been waiting for finally arrived...and wouldn't you know it it came the first mail day we were gone on holidays. I'm just so glad that it made it safe and sound and that it works so well for us. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you Tanya

well now that the wating for that is over I can start waiting for my Moshi carrier to arrive. I'm super excited for it to arrive. (alot of my fall plans involve the use of this beautiful carrier) I'll have to post pics as soon as I get it. I got the pretty bird print which I am so inlove with. this is my first soft structured carrier and I've been waiting a long time to get one....I've already got a list of others to add to my collection including and Ergo and a Beco (or two ;) ) I think I'm just as passionate about babywearing as I am about cloth diapering, maybe even more. well I suppose I should stop for today. I've got a million things to do, the first being som laundry :)

OK let's give it a whirl!!!

I've started my first soaker!!! HOORAY!! I'm so proud of myself, I even made changes to the pattern like making it a little smaller and using stockinette stitch instead of garter...these are somewhat simple changes but this is my first project to I'm pretty stoked. anyway I'm using a free vintage pattern I found online so it's knitted flat instead of in the round but I was having a hard time finding the right size of circular needles locally and was too impatient to wait so I figure these are my practice and then the next ones I do will be in the round...anyways here is how far I am so far (it's hard to get the time to knit with a busy 1-year-old but hopefully I'll continue to get faster)

(the colour is a much deeper earthier orange then it looks here, it's called Paprika so that gives you an idea)

Busy week

I've been busy last week and over the weekend teaching myself to crochet and then yesturday I taught myself to knit. I'm super stoked to try making shorties or a soaker or something. it was actually fairly easy and I'm totally hooked (no pun intended :)) anyways just wanted to share some pics of my progress this far.

this is my first coffe cozy, crocheted in the round

my second attempt at a cozy, I crocheted this to look like ribbing and added the scallop on the top edge

my knitting so far, I've got knitting and purling down (I think I may find purling slightly easier)

our stash

I finally got everything together to take a stash pic so here's some gratuitous shots of our current stash ;) I'm hoping to most if not all of the larger prefolds I have into prefitteds as I'm not a huge fan of prefolds...I think that's why I keep taking "breaks"....ok anyways on with the pics

our fitteds (top to bottom: cotton fleece fitted made by me, 3 prefitteds made by me, SOSdiaper-one onf my favs, small Sandy's, 3 motherease one-size)

our whole stash (not including covers)

our fitteds :)

fitteds and covers (left to right: back row-motherease, sandy's, cotton fleece fitted mbm; middle row-3 prefitteds mbm, SOSdiaper; front row-white BSWW, froggy print BSWW, white bummis super snap)

all our fitteds & covers in a basket

I've got a beautiful orange and yellow Thumbelina pull-on interlock cover coming still and if wool turns out to be ok for O then I'm dying to try some Luxe yoga shorts and soakers, and then some crankypants and maybe even give knitting a few pairs myself a try. who knew something that covers a bum could be so fun.

our stash a few months ago

so I started back up CDing a few months back after taking a break for quite a while (about 6 months) anyways I thought it would be fun to see where my stash was at and then compare it to my current stash once I get those pics up.

our stash- consisting of about a dozen infant prefold, 3 motherease one-size, and 3 bummis covers all nicely stored in a wicker basket

3 motherease one-size fitteds; they are great now that he is bigger...they didn't really work when hew was 6 lbs ;)

3 bummis covers...i think it's time to branch out

hooray for crochet

I couldn't sleep again last night so I taught myself how to crochet...I already new the basic concept but I totally understand what I'm doing now. Alright so I've only mastered single crochet so far but I;m still pretty proud ;) Here's what I've got so far

single crochet; 100% cotton yarn

dreaming of diapers

ok well this pic is kind of darker then I like but it's the only one I have right now. I drafted up a pattern and sewed up a sample of a fitted the other night. over all I'm pretty pleased with it although I'm still trying to work out the whole trimness vs. absorbency thing but that's just gonna be a matter of trial and error I guess. the edges were just serged on this and I'd love to try one that is turned and top stitched next and possibly with a cotton print but still able to be snappi'd....so many things to play around with, and too many ideas floating around. I've been up at night thinking through diapers the past few nights....man I think I need a coffee just typing about it....Oh I'm also waiting on a beautiful wool Thumbelina pull-on cover from a friend (it's our first experience with wool so I've got my fingers crossed that it works out for us) I'm hoping it'll be here tomorrow as it didn't come again today. :( hopefully I can post pics of our stash once it arrives as well.

A couple more

ok so I caught the prefold fitted bug and made a couple more...I was planning on making some changes to the pattern but jumped right in before I really thought about it....no big deal I'll just have to try again. Anyways they also turned out great! I'm really happy with the prints I chose (another Heather Ross print and a Hawiian print) I just can't get over how trim these are. ok what more can I really say...on with the pics