The Handmade Dress

This last week I have been so still. SO STILL. There were days that I didn't even see my kitchen! I mean I didn't MOVE. Yesterday was doctor day, and guess what? NO CHANGE!!!! Holla! Woot woot! My doctor said, and I quote "Alright hippie mama, you  just migh t make it to 37 weeks!" If I could have done a happy dance I would have, but I'm not moving! The kids always ask Claire "Can I get a holla?!" and she says "Holla! Then they ask "Can I get a woot woot!?" and she raises her little hands and says "Woot! Woot!" That's what mama is doing today! I'm just starting to feel so free and the stress of this pregnancy is melting off as we move forward one day at a time. The NICU is becoming a smaller possibility every minute! My doctor had a labor and delivery nurse shadowing him yesterday and as she listened in I said "Ahhh! If I can just get to 36 weeks and 3 days I will be happy. The difference in the babies are like n...

(Ravelry notes HERE )  Look how tiny! EEEEK! Now I need some booties to match! I'll start on that right away! I have a go-to bootie pattern (that is free) that I have worked out to fit a newborn perfectly. This vest was super fast and easy, but not at all boring. I did change the pattern up a bit because when I first cast on it looked more like a preemie pattern to me. With the changes, compared to a newborn t-shirt it looks like it will just fit. The Cascade yarn I used is as soft as butter!! It's kind of sheddy (Yeah, that's my made up word for it) but oh my it's so soft.  This is all of my woolen knitted baby things so far, I hope to add at least two more things to this layette (because that would mean being pregnant for longer!). If it were not for knitting I might have gone crazy by now! But I'm powering through! Knit, knit, knit..... xo, Sam

(Ravelry notes HERE , the pattern is free!) I started on the little vest, oh my it's so tiny! It looks like the start of a hat! I worked on it yesterday in the doctors office as we waited.....it doesn't look like we will be waiting much longer though. My stats as of yesterday were 34 weeks and 4 days, 2 cm dilated, 70% thinned out, baby is locked and loaded, and mama is still contracting. I've found that with the mix of medicines that I've been juggling I can only keep the contractions at 10-15 minutes apart now (most of the time, at night they get a little worse).   My body and this baby are in God's hands, I'm done worrying about it and I can't do more than what I'm doing now. It's nice to finally be able to be at peace with that. So my doctor says that he hopes we can "eek out another week", and I say "Lord, if it's your will, let me make it to 36 weeks!"  My earliest baby came today. I was at this exact stage ...

I finished the hat and I couldn't resist putting this little outfit together for a picture. The quilt was made for baby Caffee by my sweet neighbor. The light outside today is very yellowish-green and it really sets these colors off and makes them pop. It reminds me of the way everything looks just before a storm. I still can't believe we are going to have a little person in these duds soon! Maybe I should recruit some help to pack a hospital bag and get the baby clothes washed up? Or get Ben to bring down the cradle and have the kids pack a bag.... Nah, I'll just knit. It will all work out! I found a super cute vest pattern to start on tonight! The hat is a free pattern from Ravelry, it's very simple, and the only modifications I made was the ribbed brim. You can see my notes HERE . It called for a rolled brim but I wanted baby to get lots of wear out of it. It will be cute in the beginning with the ribbed section folded up. If baby is a girl I will proba...

(You can find my Ravelry notes and the free pattern HERE ) The soaker (diaper cover) turned out so cute! I can't wait to see a newborn tooshie in it! I decided that it would make the sweetest picture ever, so I also started on a matching hat . :) The soaker matches up to my size 1 diaper covers perfectly except for the waist, the waistband is a little big because it doesn't have elastic, so I think I may weave in some elastic thread to make up the difference. I have a feeling that the elastic may help with holding in newborn explosions too. I should have the hat finished today and then I was thinking about maybe a vest? I don't know. I have some really pretty, off-white Cascade wool that would compliment the green nicely. I kinda want a sweater, but I'm not really in the mood for knitting sleeves right now so a vest sounded good, but then maybe I could find a flat sleeve pattern? Know of any?  I couldn't sign off today without saying thank you to all of ...

I left the doctors office yesterday so disappointed, and defeated, and hormone charged.  It's a hard thing to explain really, disappointment. It's not like grief, it's not because something is over or final, it's that it isn't the way you hoped or planned. It's that it isn't the easiest way, but a harder road than you thought you would be taking. Disappointment mixed with bad past experiences can be even worse. I cried on the way home as I remembered sitting next to an incubator with glass between me and my baby. I remembered all of those feelings that I felt when Timothy was taken from me as a baby, and how my arms literally ached to hold him. I remembered how A SONG came on while I was getting a snack in the gift shop one morning after visiting hours and I completely lost it. I stood there, my mind delirious from no sleep, completely worn out emotionally from what had just taken place with Timothy and the week before with Molly (she was diagnosed with ...

We had our first hospital run this weekend. Baby Caffee tried to make an appearance Friday afternoon. By the time we made it to the hospital I was contracting every 4 minutes, after a Brethine shot and another type of pill, they were every 2 minutes. I was scared. At one point my heart rate was in the 140's, I was seeing stars, I had a pounding headache, I was contracting almost constantly, and they couldn't give me anymore labor medicines. They tried one last thing, Demerol & Phenergan to just knock me out. Thank God it worked! They started spacing out and by early morning they had me pretty calm. I need 3 1/2 more weeks to make it to my goal of 37 weeks, it's going to be hard! I'm dilated, thinned out, and I don't have the pump as back up this time. Another thing I run into around this time of pregnancy is that sometimes the risk of the medicines to baby outweigh the benefit in the case that they come early anyhow, so if I go in and I need help, and it doesn...

I started a wool soaker (diaper cover) for the new babe. This is such an adorable pattern, and it's free! It so interesting with the alternating stockinette, seed stitch and ribbed legs. You can see all of the pattern and yarn details HERE . This green yarn is perfect for a boy or girl. I think I my make a wee hat with the left over yarn. Now won't that be an adorable newborn picture? EEEEK!  I added this picture because it just has so many good things in it..... the yarn I bought with my birthday money from my Mom and Dad, my absolute favorite knitting needles, the new birthday pajamas from my mother-in-law, the recliner that I now LIVE in, my sweet baby that will be here soon, and my newest henna design. It's not very often that that many good things are crammed into a picture! Oh, I just can't wait to see this little soaker finished! xo, Sam

Since Molly was up so late doing my belly henna last night, we froze the left over and I did her's tonight. We have discovered that frozen henna works very well. It seems a little thinner for the second application, but for designs like this (where you need to drag and blend) it works even better! It's much faster to be able to make bigger batches and freeze them in smaller batches. The stain looks just as good with the frozen henna too! (I need to add this to our henna recipe post HERE ) Maddie and Tim got henna last night too but I forgot to get pictures before they fell asleep. The doctor was pretty impressed with her work today! She was proud of that. :)  I had to move up to the brethine today at my visit. I am currently juggling three different preterm labor medications (depending on the kind of day I'm having). It stinks but I'm sooooo close! The brethine pump is not an option this time (it has recently been taken off the market! EEK!) so I have NOTHING to fal...

A girl after my own little hippie heart. She did belly henna and painted m toenails for my doctor visit in the morning. I love her. She makes my heart happy. :) xo, Sam PS We have our henna recipe posted  HERE  if you want to mix some up too. :)

I finished it! The ends are woven in, the buttons are on, the Ravelry notes are updated, and the (not so great) pictures have been taken! I miss being able to spend time getting the perfect pictures, but in just a few more weeks I'll not only have all the time I want to stand, stoop, squat, and bend; I'll have a great subject too. :)  This was my second lace project (my first was posted HERE ) and I actually found this project to be much easier than the hat. This has only 1 repeat of a lace pattern which makes it much less confusing for beginners. This project keeps your interest, but isn't hard AT ALL. In fact I found that it was very easy to predict what would probably come next. If you happen to be looking for a first lace project, I would suggest this one first for sure! Just reverse what I did and do the cardi first and the hat next. :) You will feel like you can tackle anything after that!  So in other news, I'm 33 today! And guess what? I...

There was silence for a few minutes while we did school yesterday. It was just a few short minutes while I explained nouns and verbs to a little student. We all know how dangerous toddler silence can be, but we also know how tempting it can be when you need just a second to do something in that quiet space of time. This is what we found when we were done. She had found markers and chocolate! A hot mess from head to toe! When asked who colored on her legs, she blamed everyone in the house but her....mama, dada, sissy, lala, bubba. Silly girl! All I could think was "At least it wasn't my freshly painted walls!" xo, Sam