Please Help!

I currently know three great couples waiting on international adoptions from Guatemala to be completed. Two have blogs of their own detailing their own journey. While they have known for some time that adoption from Guatemala was going to be stopped at the end of the year, it was always said that in progress adoptions would be grandfathered in and allowed to be completed. The Guatemalan president is now saying this will no longer be the case leaving over 5000 children in foster care left without out perminant homes- and these loving families without their children. If you could, please take a moment and sign this petition to help my friends bring home their babies.

http://www.petitiononline.com/foafoa1/petition.html

;o)

Baby Knitting

So quietly I started knitting more for the Sprogger. After a blogless friend Lisa mentioned knitting the Baby Kimono pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting for a family member expecting twins I was inspired to make one for our baby. So I came home and found a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport in my stash. One lonely skein that I was inspired to buy around a year ago. The yarn weight was thinner than the worsted recommended in the pattern, but the yardage was right on. I decided to risk running out and cast on that night. In about a week and a half of pretty regular knitting I had yarn leftover, and this lovely finished object...

The pattern was slightly modified to accommodate buttons which are not yet sewn on, but did make the photo shoot. Also in the picture is the little bit of yarn that was left from the skein after the sweater was seemed up. I am happy with the results and I hope to let Sproggy wear it home from the hospital.

While on the garter stitch kick I started the Baby Moderne baby blanket using the Knit Picks yarn I mentioned in my last post. So far blocks 1,2 and 3 are complete and I am nearly half way through block 4.

I would be much further along, if it had not been for two mistakes. The first was when I started the blue block I didn't pick up enough stitches. After 6 or 7 garter ridges (12-14 rows) I noticed this obvious error. It had to be torn out and reknit. The second mistake happened when I picked up the the stitches for the brown section (block 4). I assumed the block was to lie below the blue and white block and it turned out it was supposed to be on the opposite side, where the blue and pink meet. Sigh.... I only had to frog about 18 rows after that mistake.
I am back on track now... hopefully past the errors and discouragement!

Double Squeeeee!!

I came home to a box on my front porch today. Hmmm, I wondered, what ever could that be. Not possibly my Knit Picks order I placed yesterday. I had asked for 3 day shipping so I would have something to knit at this weekends get together with my knitsters... but it had not been 3 days. Just one. Well, imagine my surprise to find it was my recent yarn order! Squeee! I am glad I didn't pay the extra $5 for the two-day delivery option!!

So the box is opened... I am hoping the colors are close to what I was looking for. Swish Superwash in Ballerina pink, Baby Blue, Camel Heather, and Natural*... all chosen online with hopes they would match the fabric in the crib skirt** (and theme of the nursery I suppose). So what do you think?

SQUEEEEE!!! The yarn's destiny is to become the Baby Moderne baby blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. I see casting on in my near future!
*natural not shown in the picture, the hank is 220 yards because it is the undyed Swish and wasn't being pretty.
**I know, no loose bedding in the crib... risk of SIDS, and worst mother award... I still want it to match dangit!

Light

I see the light at the end of the tunnel that is nursery planning. Yes, we got some paint on the walls and hung the ceiling fan but this was not the part of the planning that was causing me stress. The thorn in my side was furniture. Mainly a dresser. We had started our shopping at Babies R Us. While we found a few cribs that we where happy with in our price range we where not thrilled with the quality of the matching dressers. After looking at a few other local furniture stores and only finding white dressers that where too frilly with the carved flowers and ornate moldings I was not sure we could get what I had envisioned.

A few weeks ago, my friend Cara offered me some hope. She had just been to Sheely's in North Lima Ohio (just south of Youngstown)and said their prices where good, they had a friendly staff, and a decent selection of chidrens furniture. Once we heard they where having a one day sale we made plans to make the trip. Everything Cara said about Sheely's I found to be true. And to make our trip even more favorable we left holding the repciet for our new nursery dresser!

That is the picture from the manufacturer's website. It is a Stanley Young American dresser from the Contentment line. Not only did Sheely's have it listed below the MSRP, but they had nearly everything marked as 30% off their list price. So I feel like we got a good deal. It is in stock, so we should expect to have it delivered in around 4-6 weeks or so. Hooray for Sheely's!!

Progress: Nursery

What a busy and productive day. With lots of help from my parents, K and I managed to get through some of the nursery prep that had been put off for so long. We broke into teams and got to work around ten o'clock this morning.

Mom and I focused on sewing the crib skirt. This is my mom using Taylor. She is much better at sewing straight lines than I am, so I let her have that job.

I was the iron-lady, and did some piece pinning as well. I think it was just as important a job. Despite our hard work, we still where not finished by five o'clock when the boys where wrapping up for the day. We likely have another day of work ahead of us before it is complete. Not a big deal considering I have no crib yet to decorate with a skirt.... In any case, here are the three fabrics sewed together (and ironed ever so carefully)

We still need to finish sewing the hem on 3 of the 4 pieces, attach the decorative ribbon on the top and bottom of the blue section, make the box pleats, and finally attach them all together into one big skirty piece of fabric.

So while we where sewing away, K and my dad where busy painting. They where able to get a coat of paint on the ceiling, the crown molding, and the walls. K came down stairs and proclaimed "I sure hope you like blue" and I became worried about the paint. I asked if it looked nice and he muttered "its okay" more concern entered my mind. As soon as I finished what I was working on I headed upstairs. All of the worry was for nothing, I am quite pleased with my color selection. It is exactly the blue I was looking for. Soft girly blue. Bright but not blindingly so.

Like the sewing project, the painting still is not complete. The baseboards and door trim still need to be painted and perhaps a second coat will have to be applied to the walls as well. I will let my dad make that judgement call.
It is really exciting to see my vision begin to come together.

We hit the Jackpot!

K's work continues to be awesome. It is the small stuff like team building laser tag, summer time picnics, cake day, and employee of the month complete with a special parking space. The quality of his coworkers also seems to be quite high. This is best shown with this picture.


What is that? You don't understand how this mess in my basement is relevant to K's coworkers? Well let me tell you about these boxes...

Well, these boxes (and plastic bags) plus one more that is in my living room. K has a coworker with three young daughters. Identical twin two year old girls, and a 4 year old big sister. This guy seemed elated to hear we where having a girl. Each of those boxes is full of baby clothes! Sized between 0-18 months from what I can tell after a quick glance at the labels. Yes, it is also organized by size. Horray for free baby clothes!

If only I had a nursery dresser to put some of this in! While on the nursery topic, the crib skirt sewing should begin this weekend! Check back for photos!