Monday, April 23, 2007

Midnight Kimono

It's been awhile, but I have been busy. Very busy with lots of crafting. Some of it has been going fast, some slow, and with some I am being endlessly fussy. Patrick is studying Japan in school and needed a Kimono to wear for a play. I didn't think they needed it for a week, but he came home last Thursday and said he needed it for school on Friday. He's an on-the-ball kinda kid, so I trusted that he knew what he was talking about. Fortunately, I had already bought the material and pattern. I was up until midnight finishing the whole outfit, and I think it came out really cute. I wondered the whole time I was doing it what parents who don't sew are going to do for this. I don't have anything at home that I could think of to make a Japanese looking outfit for him. They don't sell this stuff at Target. I guess we'll see.

The thing that kept me motivated until midnight working on this project was that I was doing it for Patrick. I am always making things for the girls, but I realized that I had not made anything meaningful for him since before he was born. When I was pregnant with him I crocheted a few blankets and knit a sweater. I have offered to make him Halloween costumes or a quilt for his bed, but he has always wanted to go with the store bought options. That is totally fine with me. He knows what he wants and if I try to push him too hard for my idea it makes him very uncomfortable. He hates conflict and has a hard time if he thinks he's disappointing me in some way. I was so, so happy that he liked the fabric I had picked out for the kimono and he seemed so excited about all of it. He is just the sweetest kid ever and I feel terrible when he feels upset. I didn't want him to bring something to school that he didn't like just because I made it for him. He was so happy when he woke up in the morning to see it and try it on for some final adjustments. Of course, he was the only one with a costume because, in fact, they didn't need it for another week.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Making a blanket and a baby

I've been reading all these crafty blogs where everybody is crocheting blankets. Granny squares, ripples it all looks like so much fun it made me want to pull out my crochet hooks. I like the shell stitch and I found this beautiful purple variegated yarn that I thought would look great paired with a subtle neutral like white. Well as I got going I really didn't like the purple and white contrast. It was just way too much. I stopped and made it into a cute scarf for Maria. It is just her size.I still had a lot of this beautiful purple yarn to work with so back to the yarn store I went to pick out more yarn that might go better. I also went to my sketch book to come up with a better blanket design than stripes.
I have made it about half way through this purple/green with applique flower concept. It will be very pretty. When done. Wow am I slow at crochet! Is crochet slow? I'm sure it must be me, I am very slow at everything.

So my mind wanders off onto other future craft projects while I'm hooking away. When I heard that a friend just had a baby boy, I seized the opportunity to jump to another project. I grabbed a stack of wool scraps and started cutting. I did not get very far into it when I started to consider how well I really know this friend. I mean I have no idea if she would even appreciate a handmade gift. She might say, "eew! This was made from thrift shop sweaters?" But maybe not. I don't know her very well. I think I am really trying to come up with an excuse to keep it for myself. I think it came out really pretty. I love the colors. I was going to use a pretty light blue baby wale cord for the binding, but by chance I put a little black/sparkly gold next to it and changed my mind. I love it when fluky things like that happen and end up being a great idea. I never would have thought of it on my own.

I need to get back to this crochet project and finish it up fast. I have so many more ideas and so little time before this new baby comes. Honestly though, this baby girl is the project I have put the most amount of energy into over the past 8 months, and more than anything in the world, I can't wait to see how she comes out.