Category Archives: Crafting

Baby Sleep Sack

Posted on December 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

This one was a project in the works for a while. Barrett has a sleep sack that she will outgrown pretty soon. We have used it for a very long time, I love it to death, and she’s using a blanket in bed but more often than not she will stand up and then go back down to sleep, or wiggle out from under it, and I worry about her being warm enough. She isn’t yet understanding “I can pull a blanket on me to stay warm”.

I kind of agonized over how to make this. I only have the one sleep sack to use as a pattern, and this one needed to be bigger. I am not good at measuring people to get accurate measurements. My approach was to trace the smaller one on fabric, just a little taller and wider everywhere. The end result was a sleep sack that is long and wide enough, but just a little TOO wide in the shoulders. I had to do some creative gathering in the back to get the shoulder width back to something reasonable.
I adore this fabric and have enough left over that she may get pillow cases or maybe a little dress out of it, too.

Sleep sack lined with minky fabric.

For the record, I used pre-made bias tape on the neckline and arm holes. I had a very long fight with the sewing machine, trying to get the velcro to go on. The minky fabric is not very sewing machine footer friendly. There was a good amount of tangled thread and me exiting the craft room in a huff, trying to get this thing cranked out.

I thought this might be my go-to for shower gifts, until attaching the velcro part came up. Maybe I can find another liner to use around the opening.

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Home Made Soup Season

Posted on October 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last Christmas I was gifted the book The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. I had a newborn baby by my side at the time, and clearly remember thinking, “it will be close to forever when I have time to cook and bake again”, followed almost immediately by a crushing feeling that a little part of me was being suffocated. Cooking and baking are part of my creative vein, and I really must have them as part of my life or I start feeling wilted.

Well, I am still thriving! I definitely figured out how to work that kitchen art back into my new life with baby.

Bryan and I are making efforts to reduce our red meat and poultry intake, for a variety of reasons not pertaining to this post, and this has pushed me to this book more frequently. My favorite part of this book, aside from the no-meat part, is that it uses everyday ingredients that I likely have on hand and are mostly local. It rarely calls for anything citrus, coconutty or other south-of-the-border ingredients.

Lately, I have been favoring soups. They are so perfect for this time of year. Soups are yummy with potatoes and other root veggies, dried beans are easy enough to soak and then cook up with the soup (plus they hold their shape better while the soup simmers), winter greens such as kale are delicious in soups! Wait – it gets better. Soup recipes freeze well and make excellent leftovers. Only thing I have to be careful when planning soup into my week, is to start it by 5:30 or 6:00 so that we aren’t eating at bedtime. Other than that, soup’s on!

Tonight I made a soup with squash in it. I am so happy for winter to be on its way!

Navy bean soup with delicata squash, carrots, potatoes, celery, kale, seasonings, and topped with goat cheese

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In Motion

Posted on October 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

We have moments of fun, cute, frustrated, and everything in between with our little girl. Just the last few weeks we see a little more “grumpy pants” coming out when Barrett has her mind set on something and can’t do it. Sometimes all she wants is what you’re holding but can’t have (coffee? no.), sometimes she wants to climb up but can’t (the dog doesn’t make for a very good step stool), and sometimes she’s just, well, grumpy. We’re loving every minute though. I think it’s from all the cute that she puts out.

I adore this little sailor outfit from Grammy Ripka!

In other baby news, Barrett is into all sorts of movement. She’s been crawling for a while but she is really fast, and starting to get her belly off the ground sometimes which is so entertaining to watch. It’s almost like she is learning to crawl again, her arms are kind of stiff and when she wants to go faster she’ll just drop her belly to the ground and cruise. Another fun trick for her is climbing the stairs. She insists on starting at the bend at the bottom (they have a 90° turn at the bottom), and her little feet have good grip but it’s really not the best approach … but she’s actually getting the hang of this tricky start. This has fast become her favorite pasttime. You can take her back downstairs and soon enough, she’ll be back at the bottom starting all over again.

Barrett's first time meeting geese at Lincoln Park. They were very docile. She so badly wanted to go up and touch them, but I didn't trust her to not poke or pull their feathers. She loved the "honk, honk" they made!

Bryan’s doing a great job with the garden, he’s also exploring West Seattle by bike on the weekends since it’s too dark to bike after I get home from work. We need to get a little helmet for Barrett so that she can ride in the trailer with him. I have been trying to keep busy with crafting on the weekends – plenty of jam in the pantry, I’m working on a quilt for a little baby (who isn’t such a baby now!), and  have a couple applique tees for Barrett in the queue as well.

Bryan's container gardens thrive in this cooler weather.

 

I found a recipe that calls for honey instead of sugar! Big news, people. Big news.

Bryan went on an overnight fishing trip on the Deschutes with good friends Eddie & Joe.

 

 

I love that it's cooler out and we have an excuse to put this cute beanie on little Bear.

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Crafty Nap Times

Posted on September 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have an unending list of things to create. Since I will never have time to actually make everything that’s on that list (unless I quit my day job, which isn’t happening), I always feel like I don’t have enough time to craft. What is neat, is that I have been a little more efficient than I was pre-baby at getting crafty. My secret is this: take advantage of those nap times. When baby goes down, I get down to business.

This year I have made
- a little play quilt
- 20+ jars of jam
- animals and creatures made from wool felt
- beanbags
- colorful party garlands
- a Barrett banner
- washcloths (special made just for cleaning baby’s face)
- two bibs for a friend’s baby shower

I have also gotten back in the swing of cooking and baking more often. Allowing some of the social pressures to roll off my back has been very therapeutic. Stressful at times, because I do miss seeing my friends more often, but one of the biggest struggles for me continues to be finding that balance. By feeding my soul things I need to have such as sewing, cooking, baking, reading, gardening – I cultivate a love inside myself that is big and strong enough to share with others. If I put these things on the back burner, I risk feeling spread thin and running on low energy. Spending time with family and time in my craft zone is a necessity.

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Bryan’s New Hat

Posted on February 16, 2010 | 1 Comment

Two years ago I knit Bryan this hat for snowboarding. It has felt pockets in the ears to slip his Burton headphones into (they’re on the larger size – around 2.5″ across), and an elkhorn button to hold the chin strap in place.

This weekend, I got a lot accomplished. Among my list of satisfying achievements was knitting Bryan a new snowboarding hat. I dragged him with to my new favorite yarn store, the Fiber Gallery up in Greenwood. As a reward for helping me pick out yarn for a baby sweater, I agreed to make him a new beanie for riding. He found two patterns and I helped him find the right weight yarn, so he’s actually getting TWO beanies out of me.

This is the first, and I worked on it most of Sunday. I’m getting faster at knitting! I also have the patience to sit around and knit the same thing in one long sitting (movie + Olympics + no TV). Hopefully, cranking out a couple of quick beanies will prepare me for a sweater from my Vintage Knits book. I am preparing to knit a hoodie that will fit a 12-18 mo-old.

New snowboarding beanie

Showing the neck closure

Knit hat with C6L and k2 ribbing

Showing the cables and alternate ribbing

The button for closing up the neck part is a piece of a dyed nut that I got at Fiber Gallery. I didn’t see what type of nut but I liked the texture around the colored part. The hat is actually knit deep enough that the earflaps came around to close almost on their own. I extended one of them about 1.5″ with a garter stitch, and other than that they are just earflaps stretched!

Showing the beanie's button

Showing the button detail on one of the earflaps

I did alter the pattern. It said to do a two-stitch cable in-between the C6′s and I thought that was too much twisting, so changed it to be just a k2 rib. OH! The first time I got about 3 rows in to the full loop and realized it was WAY too big. This was knit on a size 9 needle, and it called for a total of 120 stitches – it was going to be about 5″ too wide! So I reduced it down to 90 and it fits Bryan just fine. I remembered it being kinda big on the model in the shop, but couldn’t tell just how big it was until I got a few rows in.

Still have to get the felt pockets in the earflaps – that’s a must for Bryan, he’s gotta tune you out while riding (JUST KIDDING!). Really, the guy listens to music all.the.time while riding. So I have to dig out some soft fabric and get those in, and then this beanie’s all set for snowboarding in.

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Babies Everywhere!

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

Bryan likes to group things together to make this phrase: ______, everywhere!

This last weekend, we gathered at Allyson and Kelly’s house for a baby shower in honor of Steph and Casey. A joint shower: the girls would drink champagne, snack on cucumber sandwiches, cheese and chocolates, while the boys went on a pub crawl. It was a very fitting way to mark the approaching addition to their life.

Every baby shower I have been to has some sort of contribution/gift to the expecting mother. For Stephanie, sister-in-law Allyson and her co-hostesses had asked each person attending the shower to submit a photo that would be added to a book for the to-be child. It was such a fun way to share friends and family with a child through storytelling.

Here is ours. We wanted to add more color than just a photo, so here is our rendition of “under the sea with the Ripkas”.

For a baby shower book gift

Under the Sea: a baby shower gift

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Quick & Easy Dishtowels

Posted on December 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

Every year I like to make something for Christmas presents. It gets even better when I can make one thing multiple times and take care of many gifts.

I saw the pattern for these on the PurlBee blog and have been eyeing them for a while. They are such a simple project and having the measurements and instructions laid out made their construction a breeze.

Check out the instructions on the PurlBee. They say it takes two hour for four towels; I found that keeping the iron on while sewing made this possible.

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Canning pears & tomato sauce

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

Two days ago we hit up the West Seattle Farmer’s Market to pick up some of our regulars (pasta, juice, herbs) and also with the goal of buying enough tomatoes and pears for another round of canning. Tomatoes are a hard thing, because you need SO MANY of them to get a good amount of canning content produced. We picked up 11lbs. of hot houses ($$!) and 8 pears.

Upon arriving home from work this eve, I pulled those tomatoes and pears out of the fridge. Tomatoes went in the pot first because you have to boil them down for so long. Tonight they boiled down for nearly 2 hours after I first sent them through the blender for puree-ing. About a month ago I finally found this website that shows how to make tomato sauce without the need for peeling the tomatoes. I don’t have the patience for shocking the skins off tomatoes – sorry.

Pears waiting to be canned

Pears in their salt bath, waiting to be boiled

So I had tomato sauce going on the stove already and I dove next into peeling and quartering the pears. Did you know you can keep pears in a solution of water and salt and they won’t brown? Well, you can, and I found that way more convenient than using ascorbic acid (vitamin C), because who really has powdered vitamin C on hand?

My goal with the pears was to use my new book In Season by Sarah Raven and make “Spiced Preserved Pears” along with a couple jars of regular ol’ canned pears. Both versions were very simple, the tricky part for me was balancing the timing of getting the tomato sauce to finish up and get in the cans at nearly the same time I needed to get the spiced pears and regular pears in their cans. The whole canning process isn’t a frenzy for me, it all comes together at the point before you get the cans filled and into the bath, and tonight was the most tricky. I had all four burners rolling at full boil and had to time pulling them off in order but not over-cooking any pots. Phew!

Canned pears

The finished result

Three hours later I have five quart jars to pull out of the water bath: two tomato sauce, two pears in sugary water, and one jar of spiced pears. So, yeah, the tomato sauce cost me around $18/jar. A little embarrassing and I know if I shopped better I could cut that price in half at least – for now I am content with knowing I can make quite a few spaghetti dinners that didn’t originate in California.

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Anders’ sweater

Posted on June 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

I finished off my first baby sweater last night. I am very pleased with the way it turned out, the sleeves are a good length and my stitches are even – the overall result was as expected. The only things bothering me were the way I put the hood together (it’s not very even) and the front bottom edge keeps curling up. Blocking should take care of that.

It would help to have a timer to help keep track of how long projects like this take me. I started it in April, but didn’t work on it consistently until done. Best guess would be 14 hours from start to finish?

First knit for baby: Anders Hoody

First knit for baby: Anders Hoody

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Things for today

Posted on January 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

Three things I like about today:

1. Bryan comes home.
2. Crisp apples from the Farmer’s Market.
3. My latest Cook’s magazine, which features tasty soups & stews.

Though the last one leaves me really wanting a Le Creuset french cooker. And we don’t have $240 lying around to fund it. Ah, well!

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