Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Newest Project... a little taster


Again, sorry, my bad for being non-existent in the world of blogging. I've been busy building up to my 2 new projects!

Soooo I'll give you a taster of one of them.

"PHB" (I'll tell you very VERY soon what PHB stands for, promise!!).

During a conversation a long time ago (months? perhaps over a year ago?) with a teaching colleague about dressing little ones, we were talking at length about how lovely it is to put something on your baby that you, or someone you know, has made for them.

This colleague and I share the experience of having babies prematurely who then spent time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. When you reach the milestone of them leaving the incubator for a thermacot or open bassinette, you get to raid The Closet - which had me tickled pink! This is the closet where they keep all the clothes you can dress your babes in while they're still "inside". There were oodles of beautifully knitted cardigans, vests, bootees and beanies from crafty and generous ladies all around this fair city... and I will never forget finding the teeniest (mismatched) set of white and lemon knitted goodies to dress my son in. His first outfit (apart from the cotton all-in-one jumpsuit) looked snug and sweet, and represented hours of busy fingers, working needles and wool into sweet little garments for our precious bundles.

A lovely NZ young'uns retail giant whose name sounds kinda like 'Bump'n Catch' makes some beautiful baby garments and clothing for kidlets, and we have both had mixed success with the long-term durability of their clothes despite them generally always looking pretty darn cool when you put them on. There's something about a little boy in little dungarees! I digress. As usual. It's also kinda fun to turn up to coffee meets or check out friends' Facebook photos and say "Oh my (insert gender here) has that (insert garment here) too, isn't it CUTE!!!".

Soooo after this conversation about "Bump'n Catch" and handmade garments/blankets, I kept having a piece of it repeating in my head like those lines of songs that can bug you all day. (Or if you're a singer like me, it'll bug you, your spouse, kids, friends, etc...!!) "A baby in "Bump'n Catch" looks like a miniature kid, but a baby in knitwear looks like a baby."

It got me thinking.

A few weeks later my own fingers started getting busy with needles and yarn. Then a few more weeks later I had a really great idea for a new project. Then I stumbled on a few blogs whilst blog-hopping (geeky I know, but I love a good blog-hop once in a while!) that helped me flesh out a few details for the project. Then a few more weeks later, I had a really good reason to kick-start PHB.

I've been knitting (I'm very slow...), sewing, scouring second-hand sales when I am let loose from the house, and gearing up for PHB. Despite warnings from well-meaning family that it might be too much hard work while the other 'project' is kicking off, I think I'm prepared enough for the start date in the next couple of weeks.

More soon.


(Picture at the top shows the wee guy wearing my first ever attempt at a beanie, which I made whilst holed up in a hospital room before his imminent, early arrival. Very therapeutic job it was. I showed EVERYONE who came to visit me.)