Baby Pants, Baby Legwarmer, Baby Mitts....Theme?

Hello all!  I'm so so so so happy to have opened my box of inspiration again this week!  My brother Daniel's girlfriend, Allison, has been here visiting and she has inspired me to start knitting again!  I know, you wonder; she hasn't been knitting?  Well, no, I haven't.  I haven't knit, I haven't blogged, I haven't cleaned (much).  I've been otherwise engaged growing the lungs, heart, kidneys, and bones of our new baby!  Yup, I'm pregnant again!  We are overjoyed and Oliver is very excited about the baby in Mommy's belly.

But, as the morning sickness (or afternoon sickness in my case) slowly begins to recede, the knitting needles have found their way out again and I've started knitting baby things.  Baby legwarmers which got me started.  These are all knit super quick with a simple rib at the bottom and top and your basic stockinette all the way up.  Easy and fast!

Then I found a pattern for legwarmers and little fingerless mitts that I just had to have.  You can find that here.  I'm loving making my first ever pair of mitts and enjoying the fact that they are teeny tiny (e.g., they knit up fast!).  Sorry, when it came time to take the pics, the mitt was nowhere to be found.  Hmmm, methinks that pregnancy head strikes again.

And last, but not least, during this unbelievably rainy week of inspiration, I've started knitting wool diaper covers for the new babe.  For those that don't know, when you cloth diaper, one of the ways to keep the stuff from leaking out and getting on you is to use wool covers.  And one of the nicest ways to do that, is to make (or buy) wool pants.  Then you have adorable pants that are doubly functional!  Here's Oliver in some longies I made for him out of upcycled sweaters.

I scoured the internet for longie patterns and finally settled on this one that I found on Ravelry.  I LOVE this pattern!  Short rows and strategic increases make for a nice puffy butt that will fit perfectly over a little cloth diapered hiney!  She also gives lots of options and directions for different cuff styles and a cotton version for those that want the look but don't cloth diaper, or for babies that can't wear wool.  I'm going to raid my stash this morning for some more wool to start a second pair once Miss Allison wakes up.

Happy Fridaying folkses!  Have a great weekend, and if you have a moment, go check out the other artistes at Wisdom Begins in Wonder's Fiber Arts Friday!

Women, Mamas, You Rock!!

Saturday marked an auspicious occasion here in our little corner of the world.  My friends Tracy Beaky and Laura Scappatici hosted the first ever Mamas Make it Happen Day of Inspiration at Twin Ponds Healing Center.  Let me say, it was fabulous!  These two happenin' mamas created a wonderful, inspirational day which we all got to share in and enjoy.  It was amazing!

I got to host my first knitting workshop and had eight lovely women join me to learn to knit, or work on a work in progress.  What fun!  We only had an hour so it was fast!  Can you believe that ALL the newbies were casting on, knitting, purling, and binding off that fast?  They were incredible!  And one of those lovely ladies was knitting for the rest of the day and made a teeny little scarf.  Then she promptly cast on to start a little dishcloth...how completely gratifying for the teacher!  Another participant brought her work that she was stumped on and I helped her fix it...What an honor to be asked for help!  And yet another got so excited when she learned to yarn over that she was almost in tears feeling like she had made an enormous jump in her skill level...Well she did, and it was fabulous to watch it happen!  And to hear them say things like 'wow, this is easy!' and "I did it!"  was just joyous to extremes!  I thank each and every one of those ladies for a wonderful experience.

Speaking of teaching, this was a nice way to remind myself how much I like teaching.  I forget that even though I had difficulty fitting into the school system, that teaching itself was rewarding and fun most of the time.  It was so nice to spend a little time with a whole other piece of myself!

Check out the fabulous mamas of Mamas Make It Happen at their website!