the peaceful peacock

I finished up my project for the Gypsy Road team challenge with what, six hours to spare? Nice. Check ‘em out:

It’s a representation of Vesica Piscis, a sacred pagan symbol that possesses much power and energy. It’s also a constellation that appears during the time of Solstice, which makes it a perfect study for the “Celebrate Solstice” challenge. A closer look:

You can see them in The Shop for a full description. They’ve been creating visions of fire dancing in my head all week.

Have a happy new year everyone!!

Whew. Survived another one. Here are just a couple of the little gifties that I whipped up for the holidays:

A fancy-dancy scarflette made of a superfine mohair and silk blend that is lighter than air. I’ll be making up a couple more of these for the shop soon.  This is an original design composed of a lacy Solomon stitch and a shell and picot edging.

A happy accident involving a pair of felted slippers. My attempt was to make a pair of felted moccasins but they ended up being more like lilies, which I totally love. These will definitely be making an appearance in the shop as well.  This is an original design concocted once  I ditched this pattern and started making up my own rules.

And speaking of appearances in the shop, I’m happy to report that there will finally be some new listings this week!! These legwarmers are first up as part of a Winter Solstice Challenge for the Gypsy Road Etsy team. I’m still working out the kinks with the wraparound legwarmers–I’m not entirely happy with the applique stitching on these so they will be discounted 10% when I list them. Nothing structural, just the perfectionist in me.

So now that the Christmas craftiness has passed,

where was I?

Happy New Year everyone!!!

ps–did you notice the common trait of the Christmas gifts?  They’re pink.  It’s a girl!!!

It’s eerily quiet around here after all of the Christmas hub-bub so I’ll sneak in a quick post about one of the most important necessities for baby:  the stroller.

Here is my first pick:

It’s a BOB Revolution Jogging Stroller.  These are best suited for active folks who are going to use their strollers a lot.  If you live in a climate where it snows, the wheels are big enough to tromp through just about anything and my favorite feature is the turn-ey front wheel.  It really does turn on a dime–making it downright easy to perform such feats as open doors by yourself and navigate in large crowds–and you can lock it into place if you’re out getting your butt back into shape on the trail.  They’re solidly built and have some pretty serious warrantees in place for structure and parts.

Think of it as your baby’s first piece of gear.

The only real drawback is that they run about $400.  Ouch.  Worth it?  Yes, especially if you are very active and want your kid to be active from the get-go too.   These also retain their resale value well and are surprisingly easy to find at second-hand sporting equipment stores.  Just make sure it has the swivel wheel.  A stroller is one of your biggest investments so it’s important to choose one that will suit your needs for years to come. 

A worthy opponent:

The InStep Suburban Safari Jogging Stroller.  These run about $120 and offer the same basic features as the BOB.  Lots of storage, swivel wheel, five-point harness, etc.  We have a stroller similar to this one that we found in new condition at a local second hand store.  In comparison, the shocks would be pretty nice and the BOB’s seat is quite a bit bigger so our giant son would probably not be as squished in his winter coat as he is in the InStep stroller.  But the InStep is well made and I feel very confident that it will last through the next kid without an issue.  We probably use our stroller at least five times a week and it’s held up really well, but if I were crazy enough to jog I’d spring for the BOB in a heartbeat.

Not a good contender:

The Dreamer Design Jogging Stroller.  We saw one at a local store and the fabric was so shoddy I wouldn’t trust it to hold an infant, let alone a toddler.  Avoid this stroller for sure.

Happy baby growing!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone–I’ll be back next week!

*Now before you go reporting us to child services, this bottle was empty and I promptly took it away once I stopped laughing and taking pictures.

So Papa J is lucky enough to be one of the folks whose birthday is right before Christmas.  This year I am working on a pair of socks for him (which he knows about) but you know what?

Socks take a REALLY LONG TIME to knit.

In the meantime, I whipped out a little token that I knew he’d appreciate:

It’s a tiny needle felted 1973 VW bus for him to keep on his desk at work.  We’re saving up for the life sized version to keep in our driveway at home.

Happy birthday, honey!

Sharing the necessities of a new baby growin’ mama is a welcome respite from all of the holiday chaos–this week’s edition is like a little break for me. Let’s get to it:

Surrender to the reality of your new underwear needs. Motherhood is a journey of humility and it officially begins here. Don’t worry–it’s only temporary. These are a low rise brief that stay in place–that becomes very important when you can no longer reach all of the places that you could reach before.

I clearly remember opening a package of these underwear in my eighth month, holding each enormous pair up and laughing heartily while the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not terribly fussy about underwear but there’s something that happens when your new undies are three sizes bigger than your old undies. And prepare yourself: it gets worse when you actually try to put them on and find that the little things that you took for granted before have become an exercise in acrobatics.

This might help:

So, so, so good. This book feeds the spiritual hunger that pregnancy brings and I cannot recommend it enough. There is also a pre-natal yoga video and post-partum yoga video that are incredible. I have the good fortune of being friends with a woman who was trained by Gurmukh and that is a beautiful thing. You can find all three of these must-haves here.

At some point after the baby is born, you are going to want to try and help him learn to sleep (around six months of age). We’re not “cry it out” kind of people (and you should never, never let a newborn “cry it out” because they can literally suffocate on their own breath) so you have to get a little crafty. Be sure to ask for one of these if you are having a baby shower:

It’s a Twilight Turtle and I wish we would have gotten one sooner than we did. We also have his little friend Sleep Sheep which is a pretty handy device too. The key to bedtime is routine and setting that up early is the wisest move you can make. I must admit that it’s pretty relaxing to lie there in the dark listening to the little ocean sounds and checking out constellations on the ceiling. A nice way to end the day.

And just one more thing before I go back to scrambling around like a madwoman:

Babies love these simple wooden rattles. It’s one of the first things that they can hold and they just adore the clicky noise that the bead makes. For months. And they play with these more than anything else for a lot longer than you’d think they would. We are of the philosophy that a few high quality toys are better than a lot of crappy ones and this rattle is at the top of the list for a new baby. It’s more expensive for sure but they really, really love them.

And there are moments when you will pay anything to hand your baby something that will keep them occupied for even a few minutes.

Happy baby growing!