In the cast...

Wow, I'm so sorry I've been away for so long. There are lots of bloggers out there who continue to post through tough times -- sometimes sharing pieces of their challenges, and sometimes choosing to focus on other things. I've discovered that I'm not really one of them, for whatever reason. In a way, it doesn't make all that much sense, because plenty of ordinary living (and even making!) happens around here, even in times of stress. But for some reason, I find that I have less to say when I'm under stress. So, there you go.

Anyway, having a child in a spica ("spike-uh") cast has pretty much knocked me on my back! Nothing could really have prepared me. There's the constant itching, the ripping at the cast, the inability to sleep. There's the annoying diapering situation. (Though very validating of my preference for cloth diapers!) There's the whining and immobility of a toddler who'd rather be toddling. There's the feeling of being held hostage at home.

There are good things, too. There are friends who have brought meals, cleaned, and come over just to sit with me. There are friends who have stepped up with rides to swim meets for Elisabeth (at 5:30 in the morning!), and to take James out for some time away. There is a little "roly" (a board with small ball bearing wheels on the bottom, and foam and fabric over the top that my friend Meghan fashioned for us) that Fiona can lay on and scoot around with (until she gets bored after a few minutes....) There is the community that has prayed for us, offered advice, encouragement, and support of all kinds. There are tons of resources out there. There is lots of reading, holding, and talking to our littlest girl.

There's the fact that we only have two weeks left.

I didn't intend for this to become a whole post on its own -- it was meant to be an introduction to a different post about Midsummer Night, and our visit from the fairies. I'll write that one up too and publish it tomorrow! (I promise!)

Until then!

Sometimes

Sometimes things seem so bad that they'll never be good again.

That's when you look for a bright spot in your day ... you open up ... you realize how much support you really have.

To all who have loved and supported and prayed with and for us, in our family, our community, and my extended community of all of you: Thank you. A million times, thank you.

Bad luck Tuesday

We've had quite a day:

(She took a tumble while rough-housing. Yikes.) She's in basically a full-body cast. No walking, no crawling, no (real) sitting, no swimming pool, and no cloth diapers until July 6! It has been so stressful, our little one in pain, all day (or so it seemed) at the doctor.

On top of that, my best lens, which I sent in for repair last November (you might remember?) spontaneously stopped focusing (in either auto or manual) today. Of course, the repair is no longer under warranty.

I can't believe I've been away from this space for as long as I have been. Up until the events of today, I was thinking, "Well, we're just finding our summer rhythm, maneuvering our way through new things," etc. What a shock to our systems today has been!

I do have peonies, and rhubarb cobbler, and our very first swim meet to write about. So, when I've recovered my nerves, I hope to be back here over the next few days to share those things!

Would you like a doll?

Edited: Wow! All spots are full! Thank you so much! If anyone decides not to take their spot afterall, I'll be sure to post something here should a spot become open. I doubt this will be the last time I'll make dolls, so if you didn't get one this time, be patient! Thank you again, I'm so flattered by your kind words and support.

Oh! By the way, I do have one complete doll already available, should anyone be interested in her.

I have had many requests for custom dolls over the years, and when I've accepted commissions, it's usually been a spontaneous decision and I haven't planned well-enough in advance, so I've had a hard time delivering them on a deadline, making it a mad-dash at the end. I've given dollmaking some thought recently, though. I haven't made a doll in quite a while, and I miss it.

So I've decided to take a limited number of commissions this summer.

A realistic number for me is two dolls in each of the months of June, July, and August, so a total of 6 dolls. Please note that if you would like one of my dolls for the holidays this year, try to get a summer one as this will be the only opportunity. I won't be making dolls in the autumn and winter, in order to better focus on my own family during that time.

If you are interested, please email me at uncommongrace (at) comcast (dot) net. We can discuss payment and doll style from there. I'm excited to hear from you, and to be able to make your handmade doll dreams a possibility! I'll fill the spots on a first-come, first-served basis, so please get in touch soon if you're interested. All full! Thank you so much!

(You can see more of my dolls here, although please be aware that each is one-of-a-kind, and I'm not able to precisely duplicate facial expressions, head shape, etc., though as an experienced doll maker, they are quite uniform. Also note that none of their outfits are precisely duplicable, as it depends on the fabrics available to me right now.)

Very Belated

One good thing about being my friend is that I might make you a cool birthday present. However, the downside to that is that you can't really expect it on your birthday. Or maybe for several birthdays.

I made this bag for a friend's birthday in February of 2008. (No, it's not crooked in real life; that's just the tree.) I didn't like the way the interior pockets turned out, so I partially ripped them out and then never finished the bag. It sat for more than two years, and was even transported through our move. This is how I am.

Anyway, I finally reconstructed the pockets and gave the bag to my friend. And she really liked it, despite the wait!

The pattern is the Tiny Happy Shoulder Bag tutorial, which I've made three times. (This was the first one, and the other was a dolly diaper bag for Elisabeth's 6th birthday, which you can see here.) After working on this again last week, I think it's time to make another of these! I really like them.

For this bag, I increased the length of the strap so she could carry it messenger-style, and also the overall size of the bag, so it can accomodate a good sized knitting project as well as some other gear. (My friend ends up having to carry a lot of stuff around with her, as a busy mom and midwife!) I used fusible fleece in this bag, as I did with the first one. I really like the added structure it gives the bag. In hindsight, I wish I had adhered the fleece to the lining fabric and then maybe used a lightweight interfacing on the outer fabric. This would have kept the outer fabric looking just as smooth and structured as it does, but added some stability for the pockets in the lining. However, it still works and looks nice.

I'm sorry that I don't know what this fabric is. I'd already had it in my stash for about a year before I made this bag, which was two years ago. So I don't have any information on that. The button is vintage from my stash and matches the small dots on the fabric perfectly!

I designed the pockets to accomodate a 1-liter Sigg water bottle, a cell phone, and a good-sized wallet. I used the outer fabric and some fold-over elastic. The bottoms of the pockets have gussets. Constructing the pockets, and figuring out how to attach them without causing the lining fabric to pull, was the trickiest part of this project. You can see that the lining is still wrinkled from the way the were attached before. I ended up figuring out a good way, and they are going to work really nicely, I think. There is also a standard flat pocket which can be used for smaller or more light-weight objects.

I may take my time on delivering things, but I'm happy that they are at least well-received!

Interview!

I was interviewed by Sara of HandmadeNews today. You can read the interview here. Thank you Sara for the opportunity!

Something to show

We have finally had two nice days. Sunday and Monday were just beautiful. Sun shining, temperatures rising (what a welcome thing after a week near freezing, with even a little bit of snow!)

We have very little to show for those two beautiful days. No new skirts or jammies or dresses were completed. The longie awaits grafting. The kitchen could use a good cleaning. We're in need of a trip to the market.

But, wait!

We noticed the leaf buds on the trees opening.

And the way some trees are bare and some are pale green.

We played outside and got dirty and had baths.

We appreciated the colors of our supper.

And the light in the kitchen.

We danced at the back door, nursed a sick dog, patched a bike tire, saw a beautiful film (which you should all go watch, right now), ate our dinner on the porch, visited with grandma.

We read together in a big pile while the twilit evening of springtime breathed into mama's bedroom window. We fell asleep to the sound of rain and thunder, and looked forward, our hearts open wide, to the coming days.

I guess we have something to show, afterall.

xoxox 

Blocked!

So, I finally got around to blocking and sewing buttons on my February Lady Sweater last week. You know, the one that I bound off at the end of February?

I took about 6500 pictures of myself in the mirror and this is the only one that is even moderately decent; sorry about that. I guess I'll need an assistant to help me get a better picture at some point.

Anyway, I have a love-hate thing going on with this sweater. I absolutely love the pattern & design. It looks beautiful. I love the color I chose, the little flecks of wine and moss in it really bring out the brown. (It's Peace Fleece in Ancient Fern.) The buttons, which you can't see very well here, are gorgeous sawed branch buttons that I got on Etsy. They are black locust and extraordinarily beautiful.

But it's really too big (even though I knit a size smaller -- with a little bit of negative ease, in fact -- than I thought I would need. I guess I should have gone down two sizes. Hmm.) It is huge and poochy across the back. It really and truly is a bad fit. The sleeves are too long and this accentuates the bell-like quality of a straight sleeve, which I don't like. I should have done 2 or three fewer repeats of the lace on them. (I think I did 19 or 20 repeats on the sleeves.) Also, the Peace Fleece, once blocked, is a lot fuzzier than when knitting up, and I think the fuzzy quality distracts from the lace pattern. I also think the fact that it's kind of a heavier worsted yarn makes it too bulky for this pattern.

I'm disappointed that I spent a lot of time knitting something that I probably won't wear very much, if at all. I knit it in the Peace Fleece hoping it would be a nice warm sweater for me in our colder months but the size is just such a problem.

I actually think I may try to knit this sweater again, believe it or not. I learned a lot while knitting it and I still really love the pattern. I would choose a lighter-weight, smoother yarn, and knit it down another size, with shorter sleeves. I know I could just put this one away and try a different knit for myself. It may be a year or two before I do this pattern again.

But I really would like to have a successful February Lady. So, we'll see.

I do have to say that my lack of success in sizing this has me a little bit nervous about knitting for myself in the future -- determining a size, or doing math to change patterns so they fit better. It's all a little frustrating and nerve-wracking. I told my mom that maybe I'll just stick to knitting for my kids, because by the time you invest the time in knitting something for an adult, it's so frustrating when it doesn't fit.

Anyway, I'm starting to think about autumn knits for my children already (I have to knit those in secret so it takes most of the summer), so it'll be a while yet before I decide what (and whether) to knit for myself again. I have plenty of time to work it out!

Instead

It's been very cold in my part of the world, so I've been needing to hunker down under blankets on the couch and knit, rather than head down to my sewing room in the basement, where it's cool and humid.

So no progress on the Kids' Clothes Week Challenge yesterday, but I have knitted most of a longie for Fiona in the last two days!

The pattern is my favorite Picky Pants, and the yarn is Beaverslide Dry Goods worsted in Mallard Heather. Hoping to complete it before the end of this cold snap! (And still hoping to make some sewing progress later today if I can get warmed up with my wool and my tea.)

(My tea is Earl Grey, always. With a bit of demerara sugar and a small splash of milk -- usually almond milk in my case.)

Kids' Clothes Week Challenge progress

I had a little bit of sewing time today. I completed a quick and easy pair of much-needed pajamas for James, and a skirt for Elisabeth.

The pajamas were made using some flannel that I picked up as a remnant at JoAnn last year. It was probably about 3/4 of a yard; the perfect amount for a pair of pajama pants for a four-year-old. The "pattern" is an old tracing that I did years ago, and I've been adjusting it since then.

I picked up the t-shirt at Target a couple of years ago, thinking that I'd hang onto it to applique once it fit him (I liked the color combination of the yellow and navy). It doesn't coordinate perfectly with the pants, but I had it on hand, which made the project easy to start and complete in one sitting!

The skirt fabric is My Secret Garden (in blue) by Alexander Henry. I really wanted to get this in the pink colorway but that is nowhere to be found anymore. The skirt coordinates with a t-shirt that she got in her Easter basket this year. (It's in the wash right now, so pictures of the two together will have to wait. Also it's only about 34 degrees today, so this was the fastest spring skirt photo shoot on record!)

I made the skirt in the same way that I made this one (almost exactly a year ago -- and wow, looking at those pictures, she has changed a lot in the last year!), but I used a 24" length of fabric so that it would be long enough for her to wear to church and other "nice" occasions.

On my list yet to complete:

*Two dresses for Fiona -- both are already begun

*One pair of pull-on pants for Fiona

*Two more skirts for Elisabeth (and maybe if I'm ambitious, a dress!)

*More pajamas for James and some for Elisabeth (or nightgowns for her)

*Shorts for James

*One or two shirts for James (maybe the Sketchbook Shirt from Oliver + S, or Kai's Shirt from Weekend Sewing)

I'll continue to post my progress this week, and maybe cross things off in this post as I go.

edited: I almost forgot! Did you see tonight's LOST? I almost died, they were really giving a lot of back story! Woohoo! (And *weep* that there are only two episodes left, EVER!)

My Sewing Circle

No progress to report on the Kids' Clothes Week Challenge this morning. Because instead of doing actual sewing, I spent a lot of time last night on ... My Sewing Circle!

It's the thing that we have all wondered about for so long ... a "Ravelry for sewers"! The site is brand new (just a couple months old), and is run by a husband and wife. They are adding to its features and functionality often -- I think it's going to be really great!

(Thanks to Alison for telling me about it.) You should go check it out!

Mother's Day, and a sewing challenge

tulips from our yard -- these were for my kids' grandmothers, but let's pretend they're for you!

Hoping that all you fantastic mamas out there had a fantastic, beautiful day yesterday; that your family loved you even more than usual; that your burden was light, if just for one day.

I'm a very fortunate mama. I was awakened (bright and early, as always on a Sunday morning ... we leave for church by 8:15) with kisses and cards and gifts and a breakfast of bacon and eggs. After a perfect day, including Mexican food and margaritas, new sunglasses, and a nap, we paid visits to the two grandmothers, and I finished the day with some fantasy yarn shopping, tea, and a movie on the couch. Such a sweet, sweet day.

In other "news"....

I'm going to try to participate in Meg's Kids' Clothes Week Challenge this week. I need to get back into the sewing groove, and I've had a few projects sitting around in semi-finished states for a while now. I don't know how well it's going to go because Fiona is in a stage right now where sewing is a challenging activity. She wants to be held all the time, is transitioning out of two naps (making her one nap somewhat all over the place), and gets into anything within reach when awake. Of course, my sewing room is not babyproofed. Anyway, I really want to participate, so I'm going to try, but I'm not going to beat myself up if it doesn't work out.

The challenge begins today. I don't think I'll get to anything until tonight because I have students all afternoon, but I'm hoping to complete a few almost-done projects before moving on to some new things later in the week. Maybe you'll join me?

Thoughts on a Wednesday

Unrelated to this post: Peach blossoms with snow on them, from about 10 days ago. Where I live, "spring" is more like "extended winter".

Big girl and little. Fiona isn't walking yet, but she likes to do "walkies" with her big sister.

Today I'm thinking about my big girl again. Lots has been going on around here for her lately. Big transitions and rites of passage. Last month, she had her birthday and first holy communion, and this month -- it seems that I'm sending off checks right and left. I sort of feel a little complainy about how much it all costs, but I'm also just noticing what big things are going on:

~We mailed off the registration for competitive swim team this summer. At eight, she won't be the youngest child on her team by any means, but we didn't want to start a sport before now. In fact, I really felt that nine would be better (I've had this thought corroborated by so many of the parents of my cello students over the years, too). So this is our family's first foray into the world of competitive anything. We're nervous, but ever so excited about the meets!

~Elisabeth has her own cello now. It is the outgrown cello of one of my students. Elisabeth has been talking about playing cello since the day of her second birthday, and we even very briefly rented her a tiny little cello when she was three. But we realized that playing an instrument at that tender age was really not the right path for our family and the way we do things. So we waited. I thought we'd begin to look for an instrument when she was about 8 or 9, and lo and behold, one of my students sized up into a full-size right before Elisabeth turned 8. So, we now have her old 3/4 cello, and Elisabeth is practicing every day, without being asked (so far!).

~We also signed up for a homeschool enrichment program for next fall. They offer things like art, music, drama, games/PE -- things that can be sometimes harder to coordinate and fit in at home, or without a group of children. We spent some time today choosing which classes to enroll in. It's exciting, and a little scary. Elisabeth will be at her class for a full day once a week in the fall!

~In five weeks, we begin the odyssey of orthodontia. This is the "big" thing that makes me the saddest. Elisabeth has had an underbite all her life, and it hasn't self-corrected as her permanent teeth have come in. We've known for a long time that braces were going to be part of our future with her. But, it's sad to think of my little eight-year-old with a face full of braces. In the long run, it's for the best. But it's reminding me again of how bittersweet this whole growing up thing is.

Birthday party goodness

{Thanks so much for all your sympathy about my photos. We haven't had the chance to try retrieving anything from the memory card yet, but I'm not holding out too much hope. It's a really devastating thing to have happen, but I'm at least glad that it was only 6 months worth of photos and not more.}

Last weekend we celebrated Elisabeth's 8th birthday with a party for her friends.

This was the first time we'd held a birthday party "away from home", so to speak. I took the five girls to a paint-your-own pottery studio. It was a lot of fun! The added bonus was that I didn't have to plan any activities or do any clean up. :)

Afterward, we came back to the house for cupcakes & ice cream, presents, and some outdoor play before the girls' parents came to pick them up. This was really the funnest and most relaxing (from my perspective) party we've hosted. It was great!

homemade goodie bags

This year, because we'd painted pottery which the girls will get to keep, the contents were just the marigolds to plant, and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. Simple, but plenty, I think.

flowers on the table, from our gardens

place setting -- it seems that all we have to drink out of anymore are jars, but they are pretty!

I love to host a fun party, and this one was really successful, which was very gratifying.

Today

Today, my tulips are just about to bloom. Last year's pink tulips came up mostly yellow this year. I've heard that can happen, although I was surprised that it happened after only one year. Oh, well. (As a true lover of pink, I can't help but be a tiny bit disappointed. But you know how I am about tulips. Swoon.)

Today, I'm really depressed. We found out that we lost about 6 months worth of photos (from September 2009 to early March of 2010) to a computer crash. (I've mentioned before that we've had troubles with this computer. We finally -- after waiting for months for my husband and his brother to look at it -- figured out that it was caused by a faulty cable inside the computer.) The photos were on a separate, back-up drive, but it was affected by the crash. All the other photos were double backed-up, but these -- including all the face shots of my children that never make it to the blog, Halloween, Christmas, Fiona's first birthday, my niece's baptism, the originals of my habit posts -- these are all lost. My brother-in-law took the drive to his work, which is a large corporation with a big IT department, and they ran their professional recovery software on it. They weren't able to retrieve anything that we didn't already have. My last hope is to see if we can recover anything off the camera memory card. This is unlikely because I have overwritten it many times, but it's worth a try. I'm especially upset about Christmas, because not a single one of those photos had made it to flickr or anywhere else. At least I have three shots of the morning of Fiona's birthday, though not of her eating cake that evening or opening her presents so cutely. I'm absolutely devastated.

Today, I'm trying to hold it together so I can work on some things for Elisabeth's birthday party this weekend.

Today, I might scrap everything and go over to my sister's house for doughnuts.

Something sacred

This weekend, in addition to her eighth birthday, we celebrated another milestone in Elisabeth's life: her First Holy Communion. It was an exciting, sacred day; one that we had been preparing for in a fairly active way since the beginning of the school year.

I don't really have a lot to say about it here, because it's obviously part of our family's personal religious tradition, other than the fact that it was so moving to see our daughter having grown into a very reverent young lady. Otherwise, I'm mostly sharing it in this space because it was beautiful and a detail of our lives that I don't want to forget.

We had her hair up in rag curls the night before. (Thanks to my friend Meghan for teaching us how earlier in the week! I love you, M!)

Most of the girls wore flowers in their hair.

Our church is so pretty.

The children each made banners, which will remain in the church throughout the Easter season. They were a collaboration between the children and a professional artist in our church, who transferred the children's designs and concepts to fabric and other media, and quilted, appliqued, and put them together beautifully. This one is Elisabeth's. I wish I had more pictures so you could see how amazing they all looked hanging together!

Elisabeth's dress was from Strasburg Children. It was a long search for us, because we wanted something cotton and fairly simple. I found a coupon on Retail Me Not, which was helpful! Her necklace had been a baptism gift eight years ago from her Godmother.

What a joyful thing it is to be welcomed to the Lord's table! We've all been so excited all week.

PS: If a first communion is coming up in your future, we really enjoyed reading the book Today I Made My First Communion by Dianne Ahern. It contains all the information, but it's a storybook format, so it keeps it all interesting, and has a section in the back for recording the details of your child's first communion day.

Eight years old!

Today my oldest child turned eight. Eight! I know it's hard to really comprehend this when you hear someone say it -- it's hard for me to "get" it when other mothers say this about their children -- but she really was just a newborn. I still remember her tiny baby self. And, oh! The delicious toddler that she was! She filled my heart with joy every single day.... Except for the times when I wanted to rip my hair out in frustration, looking at this intense little person who was demanding that I step up and be a better mother, a better person, my best self. She still demands this of me every day. And I'm so grateful for it.

I've already written about my feelings of grief about her growing up. Two years ago, at six, she was still very much in that "early childhood" place. Not so today. Today she is a big girl who can cook, sew a straight seam, and make hilarious sarcastic comments.

My pride and frustration in her both continue to overwhelm me at times. But mostly pride. This girl is beautiful, gracious, reverent, funny, compassionate, determined, thoughtful, innocent, intelligent, and, frankly, the most amazing person I know. Eight years ago, I fell in love with her in a way I never expected. And today, I love her so much more.

Happy, happy day, lovely Elisabeth.

A wee cardi

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I cast on a little cardi for a baby-to-be.

And I finally finished it.

It's for my sister's little girl, who was actually born at the beginning of autumn. I'd hoped to have it completed by her baby shower back in August, and I'd completed all of the body and part of one sleeve, but then I just lost all motivation on it. I can't think of a project that went slower than this one! It was so tedious, all that garter stitch. But I love the finished object and I think that it will still fit my niece. We're expecting something like a foot of snow tonight, so we still have plenty of sweater weather, fortunately.

Details:

Pattern: Garter Stitch Baby Kimono by Joji Locatelli

Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Passion Heather (4 balls)

I knit the 1-3 month size, but with a larger gauge. The final result is about a 3-6 month size. The sleeves are a bit short because I ran out of yarn, but I actually think they're going to be so cute as 3/4-length sleeves. The whole sweater is so lofty and thick, and beautifully stretchy.

I'm just sorry I lost steam and didn't finish it sooner, because it ended up being so cute!

You would tell me, right?

I was all set to be done with my little break today, and share a finished object or two. But instead, I woke up to this, and I have to say -- mamas, we have each other's backs, right? You would tell me if you saw someone stealing my content, wouldn't you? You wouldn't just let it go by, thinking, "Hmm, that seems like something I remember Grace having said," or "I think Grace made that very same project some time back," or, worst of all, "Huh, that looks like one of Grace's kids."

Blog theft is a violation, plain and simple. It's illegal, and it's unjustified. Those of us who choose to share snippets from our lives don't "deserve" to be stolen from. 

Blogging is vulnerable.

Some of what I've shared here, in this space, has been very private. My struggles with postpartum depression, for example. Some of it has been very intimate. The birth of my baby, for example. Some of it has been the best writing I've done in years. As bloggers, we give this to the world for free. Who knows what motivates us to share in this way? It doesn't ultimately matter. What matters is that it can't be taken and used without permission.

I would tell you. And I hope you would do the same for me.

Four years old!

Today we have a four-year-old boy in our house. I can hardly believe it! It seems both much less than four years and yet such a long time since that snowy morning of his birth, just a day after my blessingway.

I've loved getting to know my son, and the person he's becoming, even more this past year as he's developed into such a magical, sweet little kid. He's in the most challenging stage of my three right now, but I'm looking forward to what four will bring. Certainly new challenges, but new delights, just as certainly.

So much love to my big boy this day.