PHB: Days 41 - 50 (15-24 January)

Another digest version... but good news: I've finally gotten A into G and will be pretty much up-to-date after tonight!
So here we go:

15 January: We discovered that much as we love Osteria del Toro (the restaurant), and much as the staff loved us and cooed at the new kid every time they walked past (we really were well looked after!) there really wasn't a space where we could change a wet nappy.  So we had to scoot out to the car to change him, and got this image of him in all his handmade (and Nature Baby) glory!  Cotton beanie knitted by me, bib by imba, knitted vest from the wee guy's NICU hand-me-down, pocket nappy made by me, and the kimono top, shorts and booties from Nature Baby. 

 16 January: Streeetch!!  An organic cotton Pumpkin Patch onesie with the favourite merino vest underneath.

 17 January: It was a hot one!  The wee guy wore lots of pocket nappies made by me for his older brother, and not a lot else.

 18 January: Another hot one.  And a busy one.  By the time we got everyone under 3 processed and into bed for the day I could only get a picture of the moses basket which progressively had more items of worn clothing added to it.  Top and pants from imba, the favourite merino vest (again!), and the little blue booties which I think my mother knitted... but memory fails me.

 19 January: Hangin' out on the couch with his Dad and his big bro, he sported the pocket nappies again, and was swaddled in his goshorty giant muslin wrap most of the day.  (This effing (insert expletive) heartburn/reflux/colic/whatever the hell he has, is just awful.  Babies this little should not be in this much pain, especially when they're on medication for it.  Argh!!!  So he was swaddled and cuddled most of the day.)

 20 January: Another pocket nappy hand-me-down, and another onesie hand-me-down: my sister and her husband gave the wee guy this onesie for Christmas 2008, and I love it.  "i'm little but i know stuff".  Hilarious!

21 January: Another pocket nappy, and in the top of the picture are the chocolate and spotty-cuffed pants that I made him and he still fits, but not for much longer!

22 January: Yeap.  Another swaddle day.  Simply Noise is my favourite website right now!  

23-24 January: The new kid is wearing his darling garter knit cardy (I will be SO sad when he grows out of it!), the fave merino vest, and a patterned pocket nappy which was a 1st birthday present for the wee guy, from my luverly friend Catherine (of imba fame).  Her sister designed the 'one size fits most' pattern that was used for this one and some of my pocket nappy creations, and it can be found on the Cosy Bundles website.

PHB: Days 34 - 40 (January 8-14) - nearly caught up!

 Here's another week's worth of Project Handmade Baby - hopefully by February I will have completely caught up and I can just do daily posts!

8 January: the new kid is wearing a beautiful cream hand-knitted wool cardigan.  I scored this one from the local Plunket Second-Hand Sale for $5, and it's a darling.

9 January: Yep, still wearing the same cardigan.  As I've mentioned before, the new kid isn't a super-spiller like his older brother, so we have the joy of having much less washing, and far fewer changes of outfits!

10 January: A whole outfit from my lovely friend's label imba.  She has a blog here, and an online store here and also sells through other online stores, craft markets and elsewhere.  We met over 2 years ago while both up the duff with our first babies.  Coincidentally both of us had started making bibs when the babies were wee as we both had spiller-babes, and we had also started gifting/selling them.  My goshorty business was more of a hobby (and still is really!) whereas she has dedicated a heap of time to imba and it is now a successful business, allowing her to be a work-at-home Mum.  (Or WAHM as the online community would have it).  This little outfit was a 'Welcome to Our World' gift for the new kid, and if you want one yourself you can buy the bib through her online store, and the softy waffle cotton pants and beautiful thick cotton top (with binding to match the pants, love it!!) can be purchased at stores listed on the left-hand side of her blog.  

10 January: Mum came to spend the day with me and the boys, so I made sure the new kid was sporting a top that she had given him.  A lady she knows suffers from extreme physical limitations, but she still manages to buy darling little clothes, muslin wraps and more, and hand-embroider them.  This dark blue top has three little bumblebees embroidered on it, and I also popped the goshorty cream merino pants on him.

11 January: The little OshKosh playsuit looked rather cute under the hand-knitted cardy from my aunty.  Plus it was a warm day so the lace-style knit was good to keep some air flowin'!

12 January: I am a bit of a Nature Baby junkie when it comes to newborn clothing and stripy stuff for older kidlets...  but peek-a-boo!  There's a singlet knitted for the NICU that the wee guy wore home underneath!  Also hiding in the corner of the bassinette is a bunny, hand knitted by a colleague (and friend) of mine.  It even has its own little scarf!











13&14 January: Some darrrling knitted booties I won from a craft market in a big bag of goodies...  Local hand-knitter supreme Supurlative knitted these babies and I just love them!  They stay on without requiring ties or  buttons and they're thick and luxurious.  Definitely worth a look, and I wish I'd known about her earlier - not just for my kids but also for baby shower gifties!

About PHB

My first bunch of flowers!

The wee guy had a lovely walk outside with his Nanna last week.  When they came back I heard him plod rather excitedly through the hallway to find me, and show me the handful of flowers that had been picked on the journey.  "Daisyyy, Dooover (clover), Dandeyion..." he told me all about them.

I wish I'd been quicker and taken a photo of him clutching them with both hands...

How precious.  My first bunch of flowers from my first baby.

PHB: Days 27 - 33 (January 1-7)... Catchup!

Phew!  I'm nearly there playing catchup with the daily Project Handmade Baby photos.  To save a little time and effort, here's a quick rundown on the week of 1-7 January. 

1 January: Handmade items worn were the previously featured cream merino knit singlet, and the olive merino booties.  They go rather well with the chocolate brown Nature Baby cotton pants that I'm sooo in love with.


2 January: Same as 1 January.  It was a humid day so it was just the singlet, the Real Nappies nappy and the goshorty muslin wrap at naptime.



3 January: Same merino singlet (can you tell I love that wee vest?!), and the previously featured dark brown alpaca slippers, knitted by yours truly.  And the chocolate brown Nature Baby pants of course!


4 January: Before I got the chance to take a picture... the new kid ralphed on the cardy and it had to be put in the wash.  But he wore this darling blue knitted cardy care of my aunty (it was worn often by the wee guy when he was this wee!) with a Bonds singlet and ... um ... I can't remember what else!  (Baby brain anyone?) 


5 January: I have previously mentioned the sideways knitted singlet/vest pattern from the Neonatal Trust 'Knitting for Prems' book... well this was my second but first successful attempt.  Well, sort of.  It was knitted in 2008 for the wee guy and I had no idea how to pick up stitches around neck and arm holes so it was left as a rather rectangular looking vest.  Not like the other merino jobbie that he wears every day...  But hey, it has character right?!  And it does look rather dashing over a wee JK baby onesie.


6 January: A lady my mother knows gave the wee guy this darling handknitted cardigan.  It was a cool summer day so the thicker cardigan was able to be worn before it is grown out of.  Eeek!  Again we have the wee JK onesie, and little white Nurtured by Nature pants which were a Christmas pressie from one of the Nannas.  They are seriously soft and look great with either disposable nappies or cloth bums - plenty of room for clothies!
... and don't you love the muscle pose?  Ex-body-builder-Dad must be proud.


7 January: The wee alpaca slippers are worn again, with a Nature Baby all-in-one suit which reminds us of Toby, the baby boy in the movie Labrynth (all together now: Dance, dance magic dance!!).  I don't know where that suit is at the moment and it's really getting my goat!!


About PHB: click here

Ooh I get by with a little help from my friends

 I have a truly wonderful collection of friends.  I had a dreadful week with both the new kid and me having health issues, and I felt as though I was reaching the end of my rope.  So I sent a simple text message to half a dozen friends asking for thoughts and prayers, and within hours I had texts, phone calls, offers of food and help around the house. I feel so undeserving, but with all the love shared I must've done something good (and why does that have Julie Andrews singing in my head??!!).

Today I had another angel of a girl friend helping out - cuddling the new kid so I could eat/drink/sleep/scratch myself, and at one point she went upstairs to grab a couple of things from the change table and had a sneaky cheeky peek in the goshorty 'Ready to Sell' drawer and came down looking like the cat that stole the cream... but she has custom-ordered some pants and taken the black and white Millie dress that I've never put in my online store for some strange reason...  She was so excited, put it on her daughter straight away and oh she looked darling!

Hooray for friends being customers... but more importantly thank you to all my angels who have helped out this week.  Some of them didn't even know I was struggling, but have blessed us without realising how much.

Love y'all.

PHB: Day 26 (New Year's Eve 2010!!)

The merino singlet, brown cuffed pants and cotton booties were a great choice for a rather warm New Year's Eve party. 

We have a toddler and a newborn.  We partied 'til 8:30pm.  Hard core.

Then came home to a cat who'd been unwell & escaped our clutches.  My husband took him to the vet.  $330 later he had an abscess the size of a golf ball which had to be drained.  Happy New Year!

PHB: Day 25

Today was the day for sporting this darling little sideways knitted woollen cardigan.  I scored it for NZD$5 at a Plunket Second-Hand Sale and figured it was a denim-y colour so would do for a boy or a girl.  'Cause I wear a lot of denim...

Great Mother of the Year moment though - the new kid was wearing it in his capsule and got so hot he started sweating, poor wee thing!

PHB: Day 23 & 24

Little Boots.  The new kid sported these wee slippers I made which I am still so proud of!  Skinny feet and ankles made them hard to keep on, but a pair of socks underneath eased that somewhat.  I just love the feeling of the chocolate brown alpaca blend wool.  Delicious.

PHB: Day 22

Head: cotton natural beanie knitted by me. 
Top: Hey Baby cream merino dome-bottom top.
Pants: cream merino pants sewn by me.
Booties: Dimples by Jane Anne. 
Baby: grown by me.  Sad to say I don't think he appreciated the single colour choices...

PHB: Day 21 (Boxing Day)

Christmas Day in our family alternates - one year it's with my family, the other it'll be with my husband's.  So either Christmas Eve or Boxing Day will be spent with the 'other' family.

We were in for a big treat this year - Christmas Day had been scorching hot for this summer's standards, and Boxing Day was a disappointment, particuarly for my older sister who was planning a family feast at her new macrocarpa table on their new-this-year deck (we're still talking 2010 here).  It was windy.  Like, REALLY windy.

The rest of us didn't mind one bit.  She planned and beautifully executed a 5 course feast for the (pause while I count in my head) eight of us (well there were 9 but only eight of us on solid food).  Their big java table has eight seats and we had eight big appetites!

The new kid had a contrast to Christmas Day's red and white festive ware, and simply wore his darling wee green booties whilst wrapped up in a white cotton wrap over his merino singlet. 

PHB: Day 20 (Christmas Day)

Christmas Day! 

Being the crafty colour nerd I am, I went with the red-white theme and had a cunning plan to get a photo of the new kid all dressed up in his Nature Baby singlet, the merino knit singlet, some cream merino pants I sewed and also put him in to his Christmas stocking.

Seriously.  I was up 'til VERY late Christmas Eve finishing the darn thing off.

But now, no photo of the new kid in his Christmas stocking.  Just a layout of what never was.  Sigh!

PHB: Day 19 (Christmas Eve!)

The new kid had his acting debut on Christmas Eve, at only two and a half weeks old! Bless.

He was the star: Baby Jesus, in my parish's Christmas Eve family mass. A very excited young Joseph held him so carefully and dearly which was so lovely to see! He was wearing a giant swaddling wrap which I sell through Baby Vintage's store in Plimmerton, and it is a Godsend as it's so large and he can't 'Houdini' himself out of it. Plus Jesus was wrapped in swaddle as an infant so it was the perfect costume!

PHB: Day 16, 17 & 18 (21-23 December 2010)

Leading up to Christmas the new kid spent a lot of time in just a onesie, the olive green cardy, and these little merino booties I made for his older brother and they have been well loved!
They stay on really well despite skinny feet and ankles, and suit most of his natural-toned, neutral-themed wardrobe. Sewn from olivey sagey coloured merino, made in New Zealand. Once upon a time they were sold through my felt store but because they are a bit fiddly I admit I haven't made terribly many of them lately!

PHB: Day 15 (20 December 2010)

So close to Christmas, yet still no sign of Summer sun returning. This calls for cardigans!

Mum's cream cardigan, knitted all in garter stitch, made a comeback.

The new kid is also lying on a very favourite blanket we've 'borrowed' from the wee guy - while still pregnant I left my job in such a hurry when I was very ill, so never had a farewell with the kids I taught or their parents... but one mum had been knitting this amazing blanket which the wee guy adores! I always think of her when I look at it, and feel so honoured that so many hours and so much love went into making it. This woman is an inspirational 'earth mother' type, and although I probably won't ever follow her footsteps of veganism or living in a house where you have to scale some serious steps to get up there (internal access garage for me!!) I love her take on life and how to live it.

I haven't gotten around to attempting a blanket for the new kid myself (it's on the growing list of Things To Do).

PHB: Day 13&14 (18-19 December 2010)

The Wellington NICU has a fantastic support network for families, the Neonatal Trust (which also looks after NICU and SCBU families across the country). When the wee guy was in NICU I purchased their knitting book 'Knitting for Prems' which has been around for decades, and has some lovely patterns in it. The community of lovely knitters who donate vests, cardigans, booties and beanies to the unit for sale or use do an amazing job, and many of them use the patterns in the book. I wish I could tell them all how special they are, as it was a real highlight to not only 'graduate' our son to an open air bassinette where he got to wear clothes for the first time, but to dive into boxes of knitted goods and be a little spoilt for choice in selecting garments with so much love put into them.

There is a favourite pattern of mine in the Knitting for Prems book, which was obviously used with the merino vest that the new kid has worn a lot - a sideways knitted singlet. For days 13 & 14 he sported the wee vest which I knitted using an 4-ply wool yarn (I think... memory is hazy!) and never fully completed the vest, but it's now in use with its second wearer. I must have very kind friends and family as nobody's commented on the boxy neckline which is missing a few rows! I hadn't yet learned how to pick up stitches from the edge of a knitted garment, so my argument is that it has personality. Worth a try!

PHB: Day 12 (17 December 2010)

... and again, the olive kimono cardigan. It's still a little, well, roomy, but the shorter and fuller sleeves are a dream for getting him dressed. It's a softie yarn, and nice and cool while feeling very heavy at the same time, so it's perfect for our undecided weather.

PHB: Day 11

The wee cotton beanie I knitted in preparation for the new kid has had plenty of wear. In addition to wearing yesterday's olive cardy again, I teamed it with the natural beanie.

PHB: Day 10 (15 December 2010)

Tired boy!

Back from an eventful shopping trip with Mum and Nanna on a dreary day (Summer kinda came and went in early December) the new kid is snuggled up in an olive green cotton kimono cardigan, knitted by my aunty who has also whipped up (and I really mean whipped up, she's a speed demon with a pair of needles!) some matching booties. Awww.

I found the pattern on Ravelry which is an online community of knitters and crocheters where patterns are shared for free or for sale, and you can track your progress on the projects you've chosen and share pictures as well. This was a free pattern that she said took her some figuring out, but I figured I'd never finish it in time so was very blessed that she takes requests.

PHB: Day 8&9

The new kid got a couple of days' wear out of this little outfit: the merino singlet I purchased via The Nappy Network got some more wear, and also a little pair of green gingham pants I made whilst waiting for baby. And yes they're green... in the hopes that they would've suited either gender!

PHB: Day 7

The merino singlet sure is getting a whole lot of wear! And because unlike the wee guy, the new kid isn't much of a spiller so we're getting a lot of wear out of it.

Also today the new kid is sporting some goshorty pants! The old point-shoot camera is giving up the ghost so the colours aren't terribly reliable, but they are elastic waist cuffed pants made from a gorgeous rich chocolate brown cotton ripstop, and cuffed at the bottom with some lovely jade and chocolate polka dot fabric from a fat quarter I picked up at a local pop-up shop.

Doesn't he just look good enough to eat!?

PHB: Day 6

Day 6 was coming home day.

The new kid decided to make a right mess of his first outfit and I'm not moving as fast as I did before, so no pic of baby in outfit but I did get a shot of the handmade bits before he was born.

All snuggled up in his carseat, poking out from the top and bottom of the muslin was a wool and cotton/bamboo striped knit beanie, and little matched cotton/bamboo blend slippers from the Zoe Mellor book.

The slippers look dead cute on... just wished they would stay on!!

PHB: Day 4&5

After the trauma of having yet another heel-prick test done (my babies are pincushions!!) the new kid looks remarkably calm and so cosy in a merino handknitted vest which I scored for all of about $10 plus postage from someone on The Nappy Network forum.

PHB: Day 3

Day 3 was transfer day: from the big hospital in the city with loads of noisy alarm bells going off at the midwives' station right across from my room... to the maternity unit in the 'burbs where I had a lovely quiet room with a shared courtyard right outside (complete with garden, benches and the occasional leaf-blower keeping it beautiful).

Taking up loads of bedspace is the new kid, still sporting the cotton beanie that I knitted, and the lovely cream garter-stitch cardigan my mother knitted - originally for the wee guy but she's as bad as me (or is it the other way around??) at not finishing crafty projects.

PHB Day 1&2 (6-7 December 2010)

Hmm, bit of a delay in getting the photos up. The New Kid's arrival into the world was a little dramatic and traumatic all round so it has taken a few weeks to get back to a tiny bit of normality.

SO! Here's Project Handmade Baby: Day 1 and Day 2

I had a well stocked bag of knitted and sewn goodies along with the staple onesies and gowns in neutral colours, but made sure I had a good selection. And hooray I managed to start right from Day 1!

The New Kid is sporting a natural cotton beanie which I knitted in a slightly generous premmie size, but it's super stretchy and still fits him (phew!). He's also wearing a darling cream wool cardigan knitted by my mum. I wasn't able to move much in the first couple of days so he did wear the same outfit both days.

And yes, it's another boy! Everyone was so sure it would be a girl... I tried not to listen to inklings so would be surprised either way. And I love him.

Project Handmade Baby!

Yay! Launch time!

I have spent much time and effort getting things ready before the arrival of our second baby who will be the model/guineapig/subject for PHB: Project Handmade Baby.

On the occasional blog-hop I've been inspired by different little things. A design student who challenged herself to only wear clothing and shoes made by her for a year. Mothers who challenge themselves to make new things for their wee ones. Mothers who use their maternity leave time to have creative hobbies as their side project ... oh how I miss Mila's Daydreams!

SO! Here's the deal with PHB. Project Handmade Baby: A fun project with creative outlet for me, and also hopefully a chance to introduce you to some of my dear friends who also ride the geek wave and blog.

The Challenge:
Every day for his/her first year of life, my second child will wear at least one piece of handmade clothing.

The Rules:

• 365 days duration, starting from day of birth
• Photo to be taken of what is worn each day
• Handmade clothing includes handknits, crocheted items and sewn garments
  
• Clothing may be full-cover headwear, underwear (including nappies), tops, bottoms, dresses (if it’s a girl), overalls, footwear
• Clothing may be made by me (bonus points), a family member, a friend, purchased (brand new or second-hand), gifted to us, handed down or on loan (bonus points)
• Clothing from mass-produced origin with embellishment by hand is last resort only (eg. A bonds singlet with hand-embroidery, a onesie with appliqué etc.)
• Items may be worn more than one day in a row – it is a baby after all!

Reasons for PHB:

• Inspiration from a conversation: “A baby in (major baby retail label) looks like a little person, but a baby in knitwear looks like a baby.”
• Save money
• Increase my knitting repertoire and skills
• Have another excuse to have some 'Me Time' at my sewing machine, and use up some of my fabric stash
  
• Support local crafty types who make beautiful handmade goodness

So... that's the first project launched, I'm sure you can all guess what the other project I've been working on for the last few months is!

-

PHB Prep: Little Shoes

When I was younger I learnt how to knit. Just the one way: needle in, wool around, needle through, stitch off. Mum wrote those instructions on a little square of paper for me and I knitted my first peggy square at age 5. Sure, there were holes and added stitches, but boy was I proud!

Two decades later I'd barely done any knitting, but still retained the little square of paper as a memory.

I decided to try my hand at knitting again. I tried to learn to purl. Fail.

I learnt how to cast on, but was doing it wrong so my cast-ons were terribly loopy.

Thanks to the patient minds and clever hands of mum, my aunty and my cousin's wife, I relearnt how to knit, then I learnt how to purl, and started creating a bit more. Scarves were my staple creative diet.

Then motherhood came. Beanies were made, I even managed to make most of a 3-6mo sized cardigan (shock! horror!) which my mother-in-law finished off for me. Gotta love nimble fingers when I'm a verrrry slow knitter...

When I started thinking of PHB I remembered that my sister a) had told me that "anyone can knit booties" and b) owned the most delicious hard-cover spiral-bound book called 50 baby bootees to knit by Zoe Mellor. I'd marked half a dozen pages with little boots, slippers and funny footwear to put in my order for my the wee guy 2 years earlier but as my super-busy sister hadn't quite finished any I thought I might just try my hand at knitting booties. (I know the spelling's different... I like it my way!)

WELL I have since knitted at least half a dozen pairs, gifted two to friends' daughters and put some aside for PHB. Pictured is my favourite pattern - some simple contrast-edged slippers that I've made the most pairs of. I used some alpaca-virgin-blend wool and edged it with 12-ply felted lambswool. They're deliciously soft and are a beautiful deep brown, and although the wool sheds a bit it was sooo lovely to work with.

More soon.