Next Generation?

Recently my 2 year old son has made the cognitive leap from knowing the mommy knits to knowing that when mommy knits she is making things. As a result he has started making request. The most common is mittens but he has also asked for monsters, lions and dinosaurs. Luckily for him his mom does knit monsters — and mittens — but mostly monsters.

He has also started to pretend to knit much more. I keep a small ball of yarn around just for him and a crochet hook. He wraps the yarn around the hook and stabs the ball of yarn. Every time I beam with pride and wonder if I will be able to pass along my craft knowledge or will gender stereotypes get in the way. Or maybe he will not care for crafting at all. In the meantime I enjoy watching him play.

Make Your Own Under The Bed Train “Table”

When 3 people, with lots of hobbies, live in a 1000 square foot house you have to get a little creative with storage. When it became clear to us that our son’s love of trains was not going anywhere we started looking at options. We loved the train tables we saw at the store but knew there was no way we could fit one in our house. We found a few that fit under a twin bed but nothing that fit under a toddler bed. So we made our own. Or rather my husband and I planned together and he made it. The best part: these tables retail for around $200 and we spent lees than $50 on materials.

To make this project we used:
4′x3′ piece of plywood
1 piece of molding
12 12”x12” Cork Tiles (optional but they help keep the track from sliding all around)
8 Furniture Sliders
1 Bottle of Guerrilla Glue
Primer
2 Cans of Spray Paint

And here is how you can make your own:
1. Measure your clearance under the bed. For our toddler bed we had 50” and 30” deep. Because most of the train layouts were at least 32” deep we opted to pull the bed away from the wall a little. If need be cut plywood to dimensions that will fit under your bed. Tip: Most home improvement stores will cut boards them for you.
2. Cut molding to fit the long side and glue to the outside edge of the plywood and allow to dry.
3. Cut molding to fit over the short side and the ends of the the long side of the molding. Glue edges together and allow to dry. Using a hack saw cut ends of the molding to match the profile of the long edge of the molding.
4. Sand and calk edges.
5. Prime and paint.
6. Glue cork tiles on the top cutting tiles down if needed.
7. Flip over and attach furniture sliders evenly across the bottom.

And you are done. Have fun playing with your child and shoving the mess under the bed when you are done.

Happy Easter

• 24 dyed eggs
• 10 practice egg hunts
• 2 silly cousins with toy glasses
• 1 hour drawing with sidewalk chalk
• 150 eggs hidden in grandma’s yard

It was a great Easter.

I Heart Crochet

I just finished a big project for a magazine and a second round of magazine work will start again soon. In the lull I needed to make something silly and fun. And not knit. I love knitting but I had not picked up a hook in months. Hearts are fun. And seasonally appropriate.

Pattern here – yes it is in Japanese but it’s not hard to figure out and if you get stuck there is always Google Translate.

After reading that this week’s iheartfaces challenge was hearts I thought it would be fun to get shots of my son with the crocheted hearts. He just was not into it. But he did think they were fun to throw.

And I made an owl this weekend too. The sun was down when I finished so trust me that it is cute. Here is it’s head getting stuffed.

Evenings

With my son going to bed a little earlier these days I find myself with a little quiet time each evening. It is normally just and hour or so but after months of fussy evenings and cluster feedings a little forced quiet time is more than welcome.

I sit.

I knit.

I’m still.

Life is good.

p.s. I got a new camera and having fun playing with it.

First Knits

About two months ago my husband and I welcomed a new member into the family. One of the first things that needed to be attended to was making sure that the tiny head of our 7 week premature baby was kept warm. Don’t worry, Mom can take care of that.

Learn to like it kid, this will not be your last mommy-knit cap.