A Frugal Fix

Little Sir it getting bigger and as his body grows so does his will.  He has officially given up sitting in his awesome high chair (scroll to the bottom of that post.)  We have agreed that he can sit on a regular chair either on him bum or on his knees.  Well, he can't really reach yet when sitting on his bottom, so it's usually his knees. . . or I should say, it's sometimes his knees because meal times at our house sound something like this. . .

"Little Sir, on your knees!"
"On your knees!"
"LS, on your knees RIGHT NOW!"
"You are going to fall off that chair and crack open your head- it will hurt- now sit on your knees!"
"LS, if you don't sit on your knees RIGHT NOW you are going to go back into your high chair!"

Monday evening, after a fun day at the part with friend we were having a particularly difficult time.  In complete exasperation I groaned "Little Sir, why can't you JUST. SIT. ON. YOUR. KNEES?"  The funny thing is, he answered.  He told me it hurt to sit on his knees and showed me the scraped up knees he had acquired earlier at the park.  Well, what do you know, I'm a horrible mother sometimes.

So I asked him if he would like a pillow to kneel on and he said "YES!"


I went to the family room and retrieved one of these horrible throw pillows that we have been throwing around our living room for years and years.  I keep meaning to get rid of, but always forget when I'm going to Goodwill because they are still in the living room being used as toys, dog beds, laptop desks, kneeling cushions. . . you get the idea.

Little Sir was thrilled and stayed kneeling the entire rest of the meal.

I had also just received a package in the mail from the Duke's grandmother with some boyish fabric in it that had been in her stash and she was hoping I could use.  It was sitting on my stairs waiting to be put away and there was one piece of fabric that Little Sir just would not leave alone.  He wanted it as a cape, as a blanket, as a tent, he just wanted it!

I had an idea, and tonight while the Duke was eating a late dinner, I sat at my sewing machine and worked out a boyish solution to our meal time mayhem. 


Cute, don't you think?


It's a simple pocket pillow cover with two ties sewn into the back seam.


The ties were even free, some bias tape a woman threw in at a garage sale when I bought a sewing pattern from her! I zigzagged down each side of them in red to for a bit of detail.

I'm so happy with this.  Not only do we have a solution to the kneeling problem, I don't have to look at my ugly and unwanted throw pillows anymore.  Well, at least one of them.  I think there may be another little boy or girl in the near future who will need a seat cushion to kneel on.

I'm sharing this project:

Soxs the Dog

The Duke gave me this adorable book for my birthday a couple of months ago.  I showed you the bear I made for Little Lion and of course, Little Sir had to have a cute toy too!

Meet Soxs the Dog.  He is actually made from a pair of my unwanted socks as well as one of the Duke's partner-less socks. 


His patch, nose, and vest are made of felt.  He doesn't have eyes, as of yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do yet.  Any suggestions? 

Eyeless or not, Little Sir loves his new puppy (and honestly, so do I!)

Little Lion's First Hand Made Toy

"Bear in Waistcoat" from this sweet book that I got from my darling Duke for my birthday (awhile back.)



This is the first time I've ever totally hand sewn something. It was unexpectedly enjoyable. I did make it out of icky craft felt, I didn't have any nice felt on hand, but there will be more of these cute little guys in nicer materials.

Sewing Should Always Be This Fun

It is a good thing that my friend Sonya is one of my very favorite people, because otherwise, I would for sure be keeping this bag for myself! ;)



I didn't want to deal with lining up stripes, so I cute the striped fabric on the bias, I love how it looks.



Of course, I made the coordinating bias tape.



And the other side (it's reversible!) are these super fun daisies and dahlias.

*HEART* I love vintage fabric!

Getting Back to Being Me

Have you missed me? I've kind of missed me. I didn't even know that I liked myself that well. Guess I always just took myself for granted. (he he)

OK- here we go with a real live post.

So Little Sir and I have been doing some fun things the last couple of days- and it has been great. On Saturday he and I went garage sale-ing. I haven't done this for such a long time. I really love it because 1. I get to see the strange things that other people have collected over the years and 2. I get to buy things that I otherwise wouldn't because it the cost is so minimal.

So I don't have a little girl (yet) and I'm not the kind to buy cute little girl's clothes and store them away hoping that I will be able to put them on my adorable child one day- but I do have a particular soft spot for vintage baby clothes. (You may have notices that some of Little Sir's baby pics were in cute vintage things. ) Well, when I come across a box of 30ish year old dresses for a quarter a piece, well, I don't feel bad about buying the one bit! And maybe some of them will even fit my new adorable niece (who now has her own blog BTW- you might check it out - The Cabbage Patch Kid.)

I also found a real Sunkahan (Kumusta mga Pinoy na kaibigan!) The family had been using it as a candle holder. (for shame!) At least they hadn't burned the candles on it. For those of you who don't know what a Sunkahan is- it is a Filipino board game somewhat like Mancala, only more complicated.



Later Little Sir and I went to a near by beach and chose enough small smooth stones to play the game. I am looking forward to whipping the Duke on this board. He still hasn't figured out how I always beat him (it's the Filipino heart beating inside of me.)



Today we had to run some errands, but other than that, stayed home and did some crafting. John Henry loves to "enrich" my crafting experience by a fun little game he has concocted of hiding the next tool or supply that I will need. He is very good at it (it's the gremlin heart in him!)



I got my sewing machine out even!

I started with an easy project our church is doing, sewing small pillows for breast cancer patients to put under their seat belt strap where it hits their breast. East and fulfilling- I got several done while Little Sir was napping.

Then onto the beginning of another craft I have had in my mind for a few days now.



It's a little felt book for Little Sir. This is the cover and next I will begin working on the pages and the felt pieces. I am very excited about it. I hope that it will help keep him happy (and quiet) in church. He was an atomic toddler yesterday!

Last by not least, I am simply loving my new spinning wheel and I greatly enjoying the return of mine and the Duke's tradition of me spinning or knitting in the evening while he reads to me. Could there be anything more relaxing?



Yes, I am defiantly feeling more like myself than I have in a long time. It really does feel wonderful.

Oh, and if you want to see some really adorable photos of Little Sir, head over to the adoption blog. There are some really fun new ones.

Be Honost

Go ahead, raise your hands, who thought I would never actually sew this thing together. *Duchess is raising her hand.* I know, I don't know what has come over me, but I was determined!



I have had an excellent couple of days. I haven't been very sick at all (quick, knock on wood.) I am still tired and a little nauseated, but not anything like what I've been going through the last three months and nothing that I can't "push" through. Although yesterday, I found that pushing a little too hard, as I am wont to do, leads to exhaustion such as I have never known. However, better that than sick.


I called my mom to thank her for the very sweet Mother's Day package she sent me, which, in addition to candy (including Smarties, my favorite, and the giant ones at that!) included

Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave

and and wonderful book by Jane Clayson Johnson

I Am a Mother

I read most of I am a Mother today. It is a charming treatise on the value and importance of Motherhood. There are also several socks I will likely knit from the Interweave book.

Don't I have the best Mom, well she is a queen, after all, what do you expect?

Anyway, she and the Queen Mother (my grandmother) were sewing. Well, actually they were making themselves crazy, but it involved a little sewing and that made me want to sew. The Duke and I are going to NYC later in the summer, and I have determined that the only way I will be comforatable is if I wear skirts the entire time. I have purchased some fabric for new skirts, but I had a skirt that had been languishing unfinished for months, so I decided to finish that before I started a new one.



Isn't it lovely, and I can't even wear it. Oh well.

I also started a new knitting project, or at least swatched for it. I don't know if I will actually cast on for it until the blanket is done. I also have to cast on for the second half of the Marcellina Vest, but that isn't' appealing to me at the moment.


-unblocked, but more true colors


-blocked, but bad light.

It will be a rectangular shawl. I haven't decided on an edging for it yet, and I probably won't until it's well on its way to being finished.

So here's the math:

I want it to be 60 inches long without its boarder. The swatch is 7 inches, and is two repeats of the pattern. So 17 repeats of the pattern gets me 59.5 inches- close enough. There are 20 stitches, plus five to the pattern, so I will need to cast on 345 stitches, that sounds dreadful, doesn't it.

Now I would like it to be about 12 inches without its boarder and one repeat of the pattern is about 3.5 inches tall, so I will need to do 3.5 repeats, which actually works out fine, as the the half way point in the pattern works as a stopping point as well as end.

So, CO 345 sts, repeat pattern 3.5 times. The only question that remains is. . . will I have enough yarn?

So, the swatch is sacrificed, and we find that our swatch, which is 24.5 square inces (7 in width x 3.5 inch height) took 9 yards to knit

The shawl which is 12.25 inches high and 59.5 inches wide, has an area of 728.8 square inches. Let's round that too 729. So if 24.5 sq in takes 9 yards, 729 sq in takes [(729 x 9)/24.5] = 267.8 yds. I have 440 yards, so even if I am off by a bit, I should be fine, and still have plenty for a boarder.

YIPPEE, wasn't that fun?

Oh, and in case you were wondering the yarn is 50/50 Merino/Silk hand painted and purched from Merlin the Cat.

She has lovely stuff at very very reasonable prices. Yarn, fiber, and darling stitch markers. THANKS MERLIN!