Baby Stuff and Vegetables...

So, here is what I've been working on for the last few days...literally.  I crocheted the first sock up last night and the second one this morning/afternoon!  The pair only took me about 6 hours total to crochet.  I followed a pattern that I got from Ravelry ages ago (I got it to make for Nephew #4 before he was born), but it is originally from Crochet Home & Holiday Magazine, November 2001 (No. 85 Pages 20-21).  I must crochet tighter than the original creator of this pattern though, my socks ended up being only 3 inches from heel to toe and the pattern says they should be 3 1/2 inches!  Either way, I really hope these fit the little man when he's born (I don't expect them to fit for very long)!  I've also been trying to get a pattern for baby Converse to work out...I'm just not getting it to work right...no matter how much I tweak the pattern!  I've already adjusted the crochet hooks as much as I can, smaller hooks won't work with the yarn and I don't think a finer yarn will work right either!  I suppose it's time to drag out the sewing machine and get to work on the reversible baby booties!

I also wonder if something along these lines would be legal to sell on Etsy, assuming of course that I don't claim the pattern as my own...I would be selling my work with the pattern, not the pattern itself (which is available for free online and if you want to take the time and make it yourself, go for it).  I think I could easily sell these for $5 a pair, but don't want to get in trouble over trying to make a few bucks, ya know?  And, if I'm going to try that, why not try to sell a few other things...like sets of homemade cloth wipes.  My sister made me two sets of washcloths for my shower (10 wipes each).  They're really cute (see her photos in the "Guest" post from earlier today)!  I also have a really cute crib sheet pattern (that I adapted from a "pattern" I found online).  So, good idea?  Bad idea?  Too many people already selling stuff like that?  I don't know...I haven't even really looked into it yet, I just had the idea today.

While I didn't get any actual photos of "baby shower" stuff during the shower, I did have fun playing with my camera with Nephew #4 (who is now 7 months old and has 8 teeth!).  This is my favorite one...  He's fascinated with cell phones, so it was an easy way to entertain him while my sister was running around doing "hostess" stuff.

Here is one of the sets I gave as a hostess gift to my sister and cousin (the set I gave my sister is pale pink, peach, and cream/beige).  The doily underneath the coasters also has little hearts in it, I think they turned out great and didn't take very long to put together (each coaster took 45 minutes to an hour and the doily took around 3 hours...so, 9 to 12 hours on coasters and another 6 for the doilies...15 to 18 hours of work here).  That really sounds like a lot of time spent crocheting when I add it up like that!

Plants

I know I haven't really talked much about my plants this summer (a relief for some, maybe?)...don't think that means I don't have any plants going!  My back deck doesn't look very pretty this year though...I just haven't had the energy to really work on it!  My tomatoes are doing well as far as height goes, they're almost shoulder high!  The ones I got from the grocery store still aren't producing anything, but the one Garrick brought home from his co-worker's greenhouse is just loaded with little baby tomatoes!  I think I counted about 25 little tomatoes on it!

For herbs this year, I really only got Pineapple Sage and Lemon Verbena.  My Apple Mint and Chocolate Mint are from last summer, as is the Catnip that I have growing (not doing as well as past years though).  Yesterday the Pineapple Sage (pictured) looked dead from the heat!  After a good, long drink and a cooler night, it has perked back up into the plant you see here...I was so relieved I hadn't killed it!  I love, love, love this herb!

Other Stuff...

It has been such a busy time since we found out we're having a little boy!  We really need to get going on setting up for actually putting a real-life baby in this house!  He still doesn't even have a bedroom!  I realize he doesn't really need a bedroom for a while since he'll be sleeping in our room to start, but we really need somewhere to go with all of his stuff!  I have the hall closet/pantry stuffed with baby stuff...a box in my bedroom full of clothes from a friend, a box in my office from my cousin, 3 boxes of hand m downs from my sister downstairs, and a huge pile next to my sewing cabinet of stuff from the shower!  I am just completely out of places to put baby stuff!  We don't even have the "big" stuff yet...car seat, crib, changing table/dresser, etc...!  Babies are so darned expensive too...I told Garrick the other day that we need to have the crib and stuff ordered no later than our anniversary (July 31).  Since we only have 12 weeks left at this point, we really are running out of time to get it!  We did find a 5-piece set at Burlington Coat Factory (Baby Depot) for just under $300.  The only thing I really don't like about it is the color...it only comes in the Cherry wood finish.  Well, two things, I'm not a fan of the changing table either, but the ones I do like are $160 just for the changing table!  The Graco set we found comes with a convertible crib, toddler rail, changing table, hamper (that fits under the changing table), and a smallish dresser.  The drawers in the store model stuck really bad...but nothing a little light sanding won't fix (I hope)!  It does put a bit of a crimp in my color scheme though...Cherry wood doesn't really "go" with light green and chocolate color scheme!

I also need to get our diapers ordered...we're going to get the 38 diaper set from Giggle Life, it's such a good deal!  I've decided that 3 of the patterns are a bit too "girly" for our little man, so I'll be getting 4 each of the remaining 9 colors (all the solids, minus pink, and the monkeys and safari prints)...I just need to pick which one or two I want to get "extras" of, since I'm getting 38 diapers!  So, what do you think? 

 

Four diapers in Light Blue, Baby Blue, Sea Blue, Green, White, Yellow. and Red...and then five each in the Monkeys and Safari prints?  It's a lot of blue...but that's the color choices I have to choose from...if we ever have a girl, I'll add some "girlier" diapers to the stash!  Maybe I should get a couple in the Dolphin print...just in case it doesn't look as "girly" as it looks in the picture?

In fact, I have a very distant cousin who is also due in October (about 2 weeks behind me)...I saw from postings by her family that she isn't having such a good time with things.  She is expecting twins and went to the hospital yesterday experiencing preterm labor, today she was taken for an emergency C-section!  My thoughts go to her, her husband, and those babies (as well as the rest of her family)!  No news since about 1 this afternoon though, so I don't know how their family is doing.  It really makes me feel like getting the rest of our "baby stuff" is more urgent than it has felt before!