Journals

I have mentioned several times that I have a slight obsession with journals. I've kept one ever since I was 10. The past few years though, I seem remiss about writing in mine. 

Well, this year, I decided I needed to write more. Not just blog, not just write on my laptop, but actually WRITE... even if nobody reads it, and even if the Peanut is grabbing for the pages and my pen.

Long before it was the 'in thing' to Instagram coffee and food pics, I often took photos of my journal with whatever I happen to be drinking at the time. It helped me keep track of which journals accompanied me on various trips.

This one is from Scotland. I remember because that was the most delightful millionaire's shortbread I'd ever eaten. 

And this is from my favorite little cafe back in my old town in Pennsylvania.

Earlier in the year, I took this photo and posted it on Instagram and said something about New Year, New Journal. I haven't written much in it since, but I've at least scribbled a few things. I'm thinking I need to just make a bit more time during the day to scribble a bit more. 

Oh and that delightful thing atop my coffee? That's a Dutch stroopwaffel. They are delicious cold, but extraordinary when you heat them for a few minutes atop your coffee. YUM.

Books to Read Again (and Again)

I have always been an avid reader. I have my mother to thank for that. I know she read to me when I was little and I remember she always had what seemed to be a War and Peace sized book on the back of the loo. (Now that I think about it though... those brief bathroom breaks were probably her only time to read when we were little!) 

I'm hoping the Peanut reads a lot too. He's on his way to loving books... he gets super excited when I ask him if he wants to read Little Blue Truck. Plus my friends threw me a book baby shower last year, so he is well-stocked for reading material!

I don't have quite as much time as I did before to read for myself, but I still manage to make time in between everything else going on. However, I don't keep a lot of my books because I pass so many of them on to friends or else I donate them to libraries or thrift stores. But there are a few that I have actually purchased multiple copies of because I realized once I gave them away that I wanted to reread them.

I try to read both Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle and Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh at least once a year. I haven't gotten to them yet for 2015, but the year is still young. 

I first read The Hiding Place (by Corrie ten Boom and Elizabeth and John Sherrill) when I lived in England and I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it because I couldn't put it down. I discovered an old copy recently and I found myself just as engrossed in it. I was reading it every spare moment I had. I think it took me a whole two days to finish it this time. 

And finally, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is the perfect coming-of-age story, to be enjoyed at any age. I really need to reread this one soon. 

What are you reading or rereading these days? 

Bah Bah Wooden Sheep Buttons

Once upon a time, the Sailor and I took a short road trip and I realized I could knit in the car while he drove. 

I nearly finished this sweater. 

When we got home, it took forever to finish it because the Peanut was trying to help me. 

Then when I finished it, I still needed buttons. 

Even my giant button stash didn't have five buttons that suited this little cardigan.  

(If you need to clear out your own giant stash, read this post...)

I finally made it to the local knitting store, where I scored these wooden sheep ones. 

I had seen them before when I went to look for buttons for this cardigan, but I liked the black ones more against that green one. 

Then the buttons sat there while the Peanut learned to get into everything. 

Finally, during two separate naps, I managed to get the buttons sewn on. 

Just in time for Spring. 

{Sigh.}

The End. 

Swiftly Wind Your Yarn!

The last time I was in South Africa, my mother-in-law gifted me her old yarn winder. You can see more here (the yarn winder is near the end of the post).

I have used that thing a LOT since then. I'm not sure how I wound so much yarn before I had it, but I've definitely used it a ton. 

With my recent purchase of this yarn in the basket, I decided I finally needed a swift to go with my winder. Sure, I could unwind the yarn from the skein using two chairs, or an extra pair of hands, but frankly that takes too long. In that span of time, the Peanut is already climbing the bookshelf. 

So, for my recent birthday, I decided to get a swift. I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg though. After all, I need both arms to knit. But lo and behold, you can order a fairly cheap one online from Walmart! 

I tested it out this past week, and much to my glee, the Peanut was so busy staring at the yarn going around in circles, he forgot all about the bookshelf. I was able to wind all of those yarns swiftly (I guess that's why they call it a swift??) 

And now my yarn looks even prettier and more organized. Now if I could only find the time to actually knit or crochet something with it. 

 

Happy (Early) Mother's Day

Mother's Day comes early in the United Kingdom. Every year I notice it because I have a slew of British friends wishing each other a Happy Mum's Day. Today is the day, so Happy Mother's Day to my mummy pals across the pond. 

Years ago, when I lived and worked in England, I would buy my own mother a card and send it early. I knew if I waited until May, when Mother's Day is celebrated in the USA, then I wouldn't be able to find a card. I had a momentary panic a few years back when I thought that South Africa celebrated Mother's Day in March as well, and I hadn't called my mother-in-law. They too celebrate in May, thankfully at least for me. 

This past week, my own mom visited the Peanut and me. We ate, we laughed and we watched the Peanut try to stand all on his own. He's a brave and fearless little stinker.

My mom has become quite the traveler since this post. She's visited several times over the past few years, and I realized the other week when I stepped on a plane for the first time in two years that my own mother has flown more than me during that time.  

On the day she left, we reminisced about all of the times she's driven hours and hours to either get me on a plane or pick me up from one. We laughed, because now with the Peanut, I don't even have the energy to drive her two hours to her airport... so I put her on a shuttle. My mom didn't seem to mind, or if she did, she certainly didn't say anything. Moms are good like that. Now that I'm one myself, I'm starting to get a glimpse of all the things you'll do for your kids, even if it means driving hours to the airport, or riding in a shuttle for two hours with a bunch of strangers. (Thanks Mom!)

So, Happy Mother's Day to all of the British mothers... and Happy early Mother's Day to the rest of us!

Pictures are worth 1,000 words...

I kind of liked my photo recap the other week and I decided that since I seem to be blogging less, I should post lots of photos more often. One photo after all, is worth 1,000 words. So it makes sense that a few photos should make up for a lack of blogging on my part, right?

So here's what I've been up to: 

I've been waiting for Spring, and the sunshine finally started streaming through the windows a little more this week. 

The Peanut took his first flight across America a few weeks ago! 

He did great. His mama was pretty exhausted, though.

I started to crochet a blanket, using this pattern.  

(I also wrote about the blanket with the same pattern here.)

I made it into my local yarn store to pick up some buttons for this cardigan.

This gorgeous pile of yarn came home with me from Idaho. (Every time I visit this store, I break my promise to only use my stash and I make a yarn haul.)

These awesome scissors also made it into my bag. Cutting yarn is now even more delightful.

I am very much looking forward to the return of the Sailor in a few weeks. The Peanut is also missing him.

I'm a little excited to be using this cool vintage yarn holder I found at an antique shop a few weeks ago.

The Peanut has gone mobile. My little guy crawls all over the place and is now pulling himself up onto everything he can grab. 

 

And finally, this happened tonight... thanks to the aforementioned mobility of the Peanut. The little guy is into everything.

Welcome to my somewhat chaotic world nowadays! 

Sharing the Gifts

Last night, my friend's eight-year-old daughter made her brother a blanket for his stuffed owl. 

I taught this little munchkin to crochet a few years ago, but as soon as I left town, she promptly forgot. I gave her a quick refresher this week, and now she can't stop crocheting. 

In other news, my friend scrounged up this fleece outfit I sewed for her son a decade ago. 

These fleece suits and hat were my go-to baby gifts before I really learned to knit or crochet. She's passing it back to me for the Peanut, just in time since he's rapidly outgrowing his outdoor outfits. 

Now both the Peanut and the owl will stay warm this winter. And we all get to share the gifts. 

Baby, It's COLD Outside

We moved south for several reasons: one of which was to escape the gloom and frigid temps of the north. Imagine my surprise when I saw the single digits and snowstorm predicted for this week. 

I've said before that I once interviewed a 102-year-old British lady (she went on to live to be 104) and she used to say she didn't mind the weather, as long as she was dressed for it. 

I tend to agree, but I'm still looking forward to warmer temps. In the meantime, I've been using up the leftover yarn from my own warm cardigan. 

(Have no fear, Peanut. Mama is frantically trying to finish another sweater for you before you outgrow it.)

Pattern is from Love Knitting for Baby February/March 2014. There's no photo, but it's a basic baby cardi with ribbing. This one, Little Coffee Bean, is very similar, only with stripes. You can see mine here.

Stay warm everyone and if you're snowbound, I hope you've stocked up on yarn!

The Week in Pics

While perusing my past few posts, I realize I've been excessively wordy and very light on the photos. 

So, here's a little view of my week in pics. 

I kept the plants alive. 

I watched the Peanut grow. 

I crocheted a hat for a friend's little girl. 

I looked up basket patterns to go with this yarn. 

(I feel like I need more baskets to contain the Peanut's stuff...) 

I put the Peanut's stuff into baskets. 

(I'm trying to teach him to put his stuff back after he's done playing with it, but he hasn't gotten the hint yet.)

I read from each of the four books I have going, both traditional and on the nook. 

And sometimes in between, I daydreamed about stories I have yet to write... 

 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Making Way for the Capsule Wardrobe

Lately I've been so, so tired of my clothes. I'm sure it's just a phase, prompted perhaps by the fact that I can't fit into a lot of my stuff at the moment. Forget that I am tired of my clothes... my clothes also look tired. I held up a denim skirt that I must have had for over a decade (thrifted, I'm sure) and the Sailor took one look at it and said: 'That looks OLD. Give it away.'

It reminded me of when I first left Africa. I had a backpack full of tie-dye dresses and wrap skirts and even (shudder) capris. I thought they looked cute and then I returned to London en route back to America and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. 

Oh MY.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for people having their own style. Tie-dye skirts worked for me in the heat of West Africa, but they weren't doing a thing for me anywhere else. Someone else could maybe get away with them in London, but not me.

I knew I needed to do something about my current state of dress, so I started reading about capsule wardrobes. Don't ask me how I stumbled on it... lots of surfing on my iPhone and nook in the wee hours when feeding the little guy. 

Regardless of how I got there, I started looking at all of these images of capsule wardrobes and I thought: why doesn't my closet look this trim? Why do I have so many clothes? (Just Google 'capsule wardrobes' and look under images... you may go nuts, too.) I'm turning 40 this year and I'm now a mother. There were clothes in my wardrobe that were better suited for a college student. And the Sailor was right. I'm hard on my clothes, so a lot of stuff looked tired. 

I already look tired most days. I don't need clothing that validates this.

I grew up bargain hunting. Twenty dollars could buy a shirt at a department store (or half a shirt, depending on where you shopped), or a whole giant bag of clothing at Goodwill. I usually chose the latter. More was more, in my book. 

During my pregnancy I only had a few outfits that served as my maternity 'uniform' if you will. Laundry several times a week and I had a whole wardrobe. I didn't need eight pairs of jeans. One or two well-fitting ones, a few tops and two long cardigans did the trick just fine. 

I've talked about cleaning out closets here, and even though I started the process back in late 2014, I finally got serious about it more recently.

I meticulously went through EVERYTHING in my closet and got rid of the stuff that I didn't like anymore or just didn't feel great in. Even if I had my pre-pregnancy body back right now, there was a lot of stuff that I just kept, well because. It didn't look great, I didn't feel great wearing it, and it mainly sat there staring at me from a hanger, willing me to actually like it. 

I still didn't. 

Sometimes less is far more.

So I offloaded a trunk full of the stuff at a local thrift store (bonus, it's tax deductible). 

I'm not saying to get rid of all of your clothes. And of course my situation is vastly different from someone with an office job. I still have workout wear and goodness knows, enough lounge wear to choke a horse these days since I'm usually covered in something that came out of a baby. But as far as the clothes I wear in public? I don't need much. And that's really freeing. Because nowadays, it takes long enough to get out the door with a baby. I don't need those extra minutes staring at clothes in my closet trying to figure out what to wear. 

I have a ways to go... there are few items I'm on the hunt for (quality over quantity) and some days I feel like I'm still trying to find my style. But I'm getting there. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think there's a load of laundry calling my name.

Matching Cardigans (well, almost)

Last week during our little getaway, I feverishly worked on a cardigan for the Peanut. I tend to get a little car sick when knitting, but since I hardly get any knitting in these days, and I knew this was my chance, I kept telling myself it was all in my head and I persevered. (And thankfully didn't feel sick!) 

I had one gray skein and a bit leftover from my own cardigan I started around this time last year, when I was pregnant. The Peanut never got to wear his Newborn Vertebrae sweater (August babies don't really need cozy cardies...) but lately he's been wearing his Ouma's white sweater nearly ever day to ward off the chill. 

And I know he's going to quickly outgrow that thing. 

So I'm making him a new gray cardigan. It will almost match mine, but not quite.

I'm thinking of keeping it in the car so that the next time we drive two miles up the road, I can get a few rows done. 

Oh and that granny square blanket? My own grandma made that many, many moons ago. I found it in my box of treasures this week and I decided it was useless sitting there under cover. Treasures should be used and loved — especially granny square crochet blankets. Not many kids can say that have something handmade from their great grandma, can they?

Mid-Week Getaway and Tips for Traveling with a Baby

This week, the Sailor whisked the Peanut and I off on a quick two-night getaway in the middle of the week. I love that our often unconventional 'schedule' is so flexible! (Of course it also sometimes means that I neglect the blog... apologies!)

Besides the first few days at the hospital, the Peanut has never slept anywhere overnight except in our apartment, so we decided it was now or never. Besides, I had been a little crabby lately. I blame the hormones and the lack of sleep. Deep down, I think I just wanted to get out of town. I realized last week I hadn't been outside the city since last March when the Sailor and I drove to the beach. March!

I used to collect stamps in my passport. Now I collect dirty diapers for the laundry. However, even though I haven't booked an international flight for a long time, we could at least drive a few hours away to see a new aquarium. 

As a teenager, I wanted to save the whales and become a marine biologist. Nowadays, I'm happy saving money on those cloth diapers. 

Nevertheless, I still love aquariums and sea life. Apparently, the Peanut does too. He's been to two different ones already and those fish usually put him right to sleep. 

We've only had one overnight outing so far with the Peanut, but I'm already storing up tips for the next trip. Maybe they'll work for you, too! 

* Start driving around your little one's nap-time. The Peanut usually nods back off about 9:30, so we set off on our little adventure right around then, and he managed to take an extended nap through most of the drive.

* Bring something for your baby to roll around with on the floor. We have one of those activity mats that someone gave us. The Peanut long outgrew the need to lay there and look up at the stuff dangling from the top, but he loves to look at the animals on the mat. I dismantled that thing months ago, so we just took the mat with us. Chances are, if your child is as mobile as the Peanut, he will end up on the hotel floor at some point, but at least the mat can serve as home base. 

* Remember a few books and toys. The Peanut loves books already, so I brought two small ones with me and we just kept reading those over and over. Other items that made it into the suitcase included Sophie la Giraffe and another teething toy. 

* It is possible to travel with cloth diapers! More on that (and cloth diapers in general) in a later post. 

* Splurge if you can, for a hotel within walking distance of attractions. We decided to forgo being cheap this trip and we decided to just book a nice hotel that was near enough to walk to the sites we wanted to see. This is especially helpful if you want to head back to your hotel for lunch, to nurse, or to change your baby. It also meant we were schlepping less stuff around with us all day. And, we saved on eating food we brought with us. 

* Consider room service if you want a meal out, but don't want to head back out with a bambino. After a full day of site-seeing, we didn't think any of us would last at a restaurant for dinner. Room service wasn't much more than a meal out would have been, and it saved our sanity. 

* Bring along a knitting or crochet project if that's your thing! I finished half a sweater for the Peanut in the car and at the hotel, thanks to the Sailor driving, and me not having to cook or do dishes for two days. 

I'm hoping this was just the first of many fun road trips to come. What tips do you have for traveling with little people? 
 

Wooly Hat Weather

Winter is here and a proper hat is a MUST in these frigid temps. I'm a huge 100% wool fan (pity the person allergic to it...) Wool socks are amazingly warm and a wooly hat is no different. 

Elizabeth Zimmerman, sage knitter of yesteryear, advised that people start clothing their babies in wool from the start so that they'd get used to the scratchiness and wouldn't be bothered by it later in life. I'm not sure if my mama bathed me in wooly goodness from the start, but it's never bothered me.

I've started small and crocheted the Peanut a wool hat. I still had a stash of wool yarn from these slippers — both the blue and grey pairs.

This pattern is super easy, straightforward, versatile and FREE! I love all of this site's designs though, and I know I'll be purchasing that safari helmet pattern for when the Peanut is older. 

The Sailor already thinks the Peanut looks like he's wearing an antique motorcycle helmet in this wooly hat, so I guess I managed to make even the baby look a little vintage-like. I can assure you, he looks cuter in it than the clock. 
 
Stay warm! And make somebody a hat.