Flapper knit hat

Another hat done for Baby Z.  This time it is a flapper hat with a cute bow on the front.  The pattern is from 60 Quick Baby Knits: Blankets, Booties, Sweaters & More in Cascade 220 Superwash (Sixth & Spring) which I received as a gift from some friends of ours along with three balls of Cascade 220 superwash to make it with.  It turned out pretty darn cute except that it's supposed to fit a 6month-12month old and it probably won't fit her until she's about 10.  I have the hardest time with gauge and hats - they always come out way to big.  Either way it's adorable and it's also pleasing to have made one more thing for her.

Before & After: Nursery Construction

This is how the previous owners had the living room set up:

With all of their stuff gone this is what it looked like the day we moved in:

 

And then we added baseboards, took down shelving and put a new coat of paint on the walls and it looked like this:

Now, it looks like this:

Lewie built a small 6'x7' room off the kitchen that will someday be our walk in pantry but for the next few years will act as our daughters nursery.  You can see some of the construction progress here.  We moved our living room to a different area and although it was different at first, I love how it turned out.  The stairwell is more defined now and we took down the track lighting that we couldn't stand - the look, not to mention the waste of energy - and replaced it with a small light at the bottom of the stairs.  We continued the baseboards around the pantry to match with the rest of the house and painted it the same color as the kitchen walls.  On the inside I choose the color Pooh Corner which is a light green and because I cried in Home Depot when I saw it, we added the cutest, smallest fan in the whole world (it measures only 20" across!).

Back wall taken from front wall

Front wall with door taken from back wall

Cute fan!

We were lucky to have a vent in the area of the floor and an outlet so all Lewie had to add was a light switch for the fan.  Now the fun part begins, decorating and nesting!

Nursery Construction

As you may already know we are expecting a little surprise this summer and Lewie has been hard at work building a nursery.  When we moved into this house it only had one bedroom:  ours.  Our house is actually two stories.  The first is at ground level and we call it the basement, which is where my crafting room is, the laundry room and then a huge room that is unfinished.  The second floor is the living floor which consists of a very large room that is an open kitchen, fireplace nook, dinning room and living room.  This big room opens out onto a small deck in the back.  The other room on the second floor is our bedroom/bathroom/closet.  Eventually, the plan is to redo the basement into the bedrooms and make our current bedroom upstairs the living room.  So, in our rush to make a room ready for the baby Lewie built a pantry off the kitchen that is about 6.5x7.5.  So someday when we have the living room, dinning room, and kitchen upstairs we'll have a nice walk-in pantry which will be great for all of our canning supplies which right now are stored in several different places.  In the meantime though it will be the nursery right by our bedroom.  I know that when she's older she'll be like, "You made me sleep in the pantry?!" but it will make for a good story.  I'm so lucky that I married a genuine handyman who can just throw up a room like a professional.  Although I wish I did, I don't know the first thing about construction but for him it's like it comes naturally.  Every weekend the room gets more complete and I get more excited about meeting our daughter.  Here are some photos so far:

The frame work for the nursery

Drywall and installation going up

Mudding the drywall

As an added bonus we decided to take out the faux fireplace that had a propane heater in it and discovered about 8 more feet of usable space behind it - it even has hardwood floor!  We bought a great little wood burner off Craigslist and have decided to build a small corner wood burner area with tiles in the same spot.  So, while we are taking away from the room with the nursery, we gained space on the other side of the room with the fireplace being torn down.  It's important to us to be as off the grid as possible so a wood burner was the way to go - plus we are surround by free fuel, our woods!  Hopefully this will help with the bills this next winter and if the electricity ever goes out as least we can still cook and be warm.  Here is a look at the hidden room behind the fireplace:

Hidden room behind fireplace

Where the painted drywall begins is where there was a wall with a fireplace that closed off that extra 8 feet behind it.  As progress continues on both projects I will post more pictures.

Special Announcement!

I have a special announcement:  we are expecting our first child!  It came as a complete surprise but we are so thrilled.  I'm due in August and just this past week we found out we are having a baby girl.  Lewie has been busy building a nursery from scratch because we only have one bedroom in our house.  It is off the kitchen and our bedroom and will some day (when we move the bedrooms downstairs and redo the basement) become a large pantry.  I'm lucky enough to live in an area where midwifes are available and will be planning a natural birth.  I would like our baby to start life as simple as possible, no drugs and no intervention.  Besides being tired more and wanting to eat more, I feel great and actually in the last couple of weeks I've had a lot of energy.  Here is the ultrasound from our last visit.  She does a neat thing around 4:40 where it looks like she's chewing gum and then she kind of waves her hands.

 
Now that I know that it's a girl I can't wait to start on a few craft projects.  I'm sure I'll be sharing those as I work on them.  Anyway, just thought I'd share the good news!

Blake's Curled Baby Hat

My mom’s good friend just became a grandmother and I thought I would send her daughter and son-n-law a hand knitted baby hat.  After looking online for a baby size knitted hat I decided to combine two patterns that I found and add my own twist to it. 

Directions:

Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA
Color: Washington Denim
Needle: Circular 16 inch Size US 10

• Cast on 34 stitches 
• Join round and knit in round until hat reaches  6-7 inches from beginning, hat will start to curl up - this is okay
• After 6-7 inches of knitting in the round, K2tog one row 
• Knit one row 
• K2tog one row again 
• Knit one row again 
• Thread tail through stitches remaining on needles and pull tight 
• Weave in ends

Hooray!  You now have a cute baby hat!