a custom in progress

I'm currently working on a pair of custom mixed longies. The mama sent me over 10 colorways and the challenge is to blend them together so that there aren't any big blocks of one colorway. I sent her progress pictures last night and she loves them! Her reaction is such a relief to me because there are a hundred different ways these longies could turn out, and I hoped my vision matched hers.

Here they are so far:

I'm hoping to have them done by this weekend. 12" inseams here I come!

reverse rice stitch cowl

Here's the back story for my cowl. This past August, something happened that made my husband feel badly for me. I honestly cannot remember what that something was. I'm going to guess he felt badly that I was sleep deprived and overwhelmed as a new mother of 3 because that was how I felt just about every day last summer (and now).

So, my husband came home from work with a beautiful skein of hand dyed alpaca yarn from a local farm. He had stopped at a farmer's market during the day and had bought me a little treat to make me feel better. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe he also brought me home some lobster, and at the time I was too embarrassed by his generosity to tell him that my parents had already taken me out for lobster earlier in the day. But I got over my embarrassment quickly and enjoyed the dinner he brought me.

On to the cowl: I wanted to make sure that I knit the yarn he gave me into something special. I spent some time looking online at different stitch patterns and came across the rice stitch. What I liked about rice stitch is that the right and wrong sides of the fabric are different but equally beautiful. I designed the cowl to be worn with either the right or wrong sides facing out. Either way will work. In all honesty, though, I find myself liking the "wrong" side of the cowl more.

This is one of the first knit items I've ever designed myself, and I'm really happy with the results. The picot edge was a last minute decision as I was binding off and I think it adds another layer of texture to the cowl.

The "wrong" side first:

The rice stitch:

I will post a pattern for the cowl as soon as I get it written up.

"make me something delicious"

My kids are tired. I don't know if it was the long weekend for Thanksgiving and the traveling and visiting with family, or whether it's something else entirely, but my kids looked like they were ready to fall asleep yesterday at 4pm. Neither of them has napped in years, so a nap was out of the question. Today, both girls were up much earlier than usual. So by the time I picked up my preschooler from school today, she was running on empty.

Her: "What are we having for lunch today?"
Me: "Turkey pie."
Her: "I hate turkey pie. That's not delicious."
Me: "OK, you can have peanut butter and jelly."
Her: "Why don't you make delicious meals? I want delicious meals."
Me: "We're going home now."
Her (standing just feet outside of the preschool with other children and parents around): "I'm not going home. You're annoying me."

I'd like to think that I responded in a way that means that she'll never talk to me that way again, but I know I didn't and I know she will. My daughter can be pretty sassy, especially when it comes time to eat. She informed me just last week that the meal I served her was "the most disgusting meal she'd ever had in her whole life" of just 3 and a half years.

So back to her being tired: she took a 3 hour nap today. That's unheard of for her. But now it's almost 10pm and she's still up. I knew that the few hours of quiet I had this afternoon would be paid back this evening.

I think that we've fallen into a pattern where even if I served donuts for dinner--one of her favorite foods that she gets only once every few months--she'd complain that they were disgusting.

So here I sit crocheting donuts for a custom order thinking it would be nice to have a real one right about now.

lots of play food!

A long time customer recently purchased a large set of custom play food for her daughter for Christmas. She requested a few items that I hadn't made before--broccoli, a potato, mushrooms, and cherries--and I was eager to give them a try. I really fell in love with the mushrooms, which I find interesting because I don't particularly like mushrooms. But there's something about their round shape that I like.

She also requested a hamburger. My children have a hamburger that I made them a few Christmases ago, and it's really one of their favorite play foods. I think they like assembling the bun, burger, tomato, lettuce and pickles and presenting it on their little play plates.

Here's the whole order. I hope this little girl loves her Christmas gift!

"goblin" scarf

I love scarves. During the winter I wear one just about every day even inside the house. Something about keeping my neck warm keeps my whole body warm. My daughter has finally found scarf love this year too. I think it's the frosty mornings waiting at the bus stop.

I recently finished knitting a child's scarf. I had three quarters of a skein of "Goblin" left over after finishing a pair of longies. I wanted to experiment with a new stitch pattern, so I cast on for a scarf. What I ended up with was a scarf just over four feet long. The stitch pattern is visually interesting and the colors didn't pool at all. I love hand dyed yarns (Goblin is dyed by Mosaic Moon) and I love when random color patterns result. Because the scarf is knit from Cestari Superfine merino, it's soft and warm.

You can purchase the scarf in my store starting on Thursday here: hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby

latest custom cap

So here in Maine we've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather. Mid-50's to mid-60's in November is such a treat for us. I can almost convince myself that it's still September and not almost Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Speaking of warm weather, here's the latest cotton newsboy cap. It was a custom order. The customer picked out the colorway--sour green apple--and I think it's adorable. I love how the colors pooled...a little but not too much.



This Thursday I'll have another custom spot available for a newsboy cap in my shop. Check it out here: hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby.

a little "Goblin" for a near Halloween stocking

These longies are about four months in the making, but they're finally done and ready for my reopening on Thursday. This medium pair of longies was knit with Mosaic Moon's "Goblin" colorway on Cestari. This colorway is beautiful with deep rich colors.





I have enough yarn left over to make a matching hat and/or mittens. I hope these longies find a good home soon!

You can find them here: http://hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby/

finally reopening

After having my baby earlier this summer, I thought my store would only be closed for a couple of months. Somehow more than four months have gone by. In the past two weeks, however, I've had several people contact me inquiring about customs and whether I'd be reopening.

So I've finally pulled myself together enough to reopen Pumpkin Pie Baby. I'll be offering customs for now, just enough to keep me busy but not overly so. (I'll be completely honest...I love knitting and crocheting, but at this point in my baby's life I'm finding her smile and giggles addicting.) But I'm definitely looking forward to working with my customers again! Check out my reopening on Thursday, October 29th at 2pm.

I'll be emailing my newsletter subscribers a discount code within the next few days. If you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter, please go here: http://hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby/index.php?info=560

Fundraiser for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I can't imagine the pain of losing a child. As a parent myself, I know it's one of my greatest fears. I'm participating in a fundraiser for the organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. To learn more about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, you can visit the agency's website here. They provide an invaluable service to any family who has lost a child.

Many work at home mothers have donated items to the fundraiser. To see the list of items and to bid in an auction or buy a raffle ticket, you can visit the fundraiser here: http://hyenacart.com/NILMDTSFundraiser/



You can bid on these longies starting on Monday, October 5th at noon.

some things for my family

I didn't realize until today that it has been almost 2 months since I've updated my blog. In July, I wrote about the unfinished projects sitting in my project bin. Four out of five of those projects still aren't done! And one I decided to rip out and maybe start over. It's pathetic really.

I have started and finished some projects for my family though. I made both of my girls a newsboy cap in hot pink, like they requested. And they actually wear them which makes me even happier.

I made my daughter a pair of mittens. It's been getting into the 30s and 40s at night, so it's still cold when she leaves for school. She hasn't had a chance to wear them yet because we're all of a sudden going through a warm spell, and I'm not complaining about that. There's still plenty of time for it to get cold.

I am trying to gear up to reopen my store and can hopefully write an update about that soon.

i'm working on...too much

I have a problem. I cannot stay focused on any one thing for longer than a day. I currently have 5 projects going on in my project basket and the problem is that I want to start more. I always like having more than one project going at once, but I'm really losing my ability to concentrate and get anything done.

Here are the longies I started for my daughter with "Flamingoes" dyed by ...a time to dye:

I tried the WoolyWonderpants pattern and I'm magic looping the legs. This is my first time magic looping and I'm not enjoying it at all. I'd love to switch to my 12" Addi Turbo circulars to finish the legs, but the problem is those are tied up with the "Goblin" longies I started a while ago. I can't bring myself to finish the "Goblin" longies and I'm too lazy to switch the needles, so both are currently in limbo until I figure this out!

I also made 2 soakers for my daughter. The first pair was knit with "Esther" and dyed by ...a time to dye, and I knit the Curly Purly soaker pattern. I really like the fit.

The second soaker was knit with "Alice" on lindon merino and dyed by Three Irish Girls. I love this soaker too--the soaker is from the Juliette pattern by Julibeans. Only problem is that I'm incredibly lazy and haven't finished the drawstring or knit an edging onto the leg openings. Hopefully I'll do this before she outgrows the soaker!

I haven't made any more progress on Wisp, I'm working on a cocoon photography prop, and I have a sock that's half done and needs to be finished before the fall. If I can get this sock done by September, it will only have taken me a year and a half to knit a full pair. Thank goodness for store bought socks.

Check out the originator of What I'm Working on Wednesdays at Cute2Carry!

what I'm working on

It's Wednesday again, and here's what I'm working on...

I made some more progress on the "Goblin" longies I had started last week. I'm learning how nearly impossible it is to knit while caring for a newborn!

And here's the start of Wisp for me.

This pattern is fairly straightforward, but I'm finding it challenging for a few reasons. I started knitting this on straight metal needles. The needles were very slippery and my stitches kept sliding off the needles. I kept dropping stitches and having to count, which I hate. I finally switched to bamboo circulars because that's the only other size 8 needle I have. While the bamboo is an improvement because it grips the yarn better than metal, the cord on the circulars keeps getting in my way. Add to this that I can only work on this after 10pm when I'm exhausted, and I'm finding this a challenging knit, but I'm determined to keep at it. I just love how it's turning out already, so that gives me hope.

Finally, I said last week that I wanted to start on longies for my daughter. I've managed to knit the waistband and I'll be starting on the body soon. Here's the yarn. It's "Flamingos" by ...a time to dye. I hope to have more pictures of the pants next week.

Thanks to Tracey of Cute2Carry for creating What I'm Working On Wednesdays!

road to nowhere in particular

My daughters are planners. Every night at dinner time they ask what we're doing tomorrow. This summer my answer has almost always been "I have no idea." Last summer the girls and I lived at the beach and the park. Since the beach is just minutes away, it was easy to go a few times a week. And since the park is within walking distance of our house, we could easily go to the park too. Since having the baby over a month ago, and with the awful weather we had in June and early July, it's been really hard to get out of the house or to have friends over. We've only been to the beach and park once. Needless to say, my older girls get antsy to do something.

So today, with "nothing" to do, we went outside to ride bikes. But to make things more interesting for the girls, I drew a highway on the driveway with chalk. I included pit stops for coffee (Dunkin' Donuts being our favorite), gas, and hopscotch. We also drew houses for our friends and family so that the girls can stop by for a visit. We spent hours outside today and this satisfied the girls' question of "what are we going to do?"!

friday favorites

To encourage myself to blog more, I'm designating Fridays to be a day I write about my favorite things. I'm taking inspiration from Tracey of Cute2Carry with her "What I'm Working On Wednesdays." On Fridays I'll highlight some of my favorite recent purchases, focusing on handmade items available online or local to me in Maine.

I recently purchased a set for my baby girl from Alchemy on Hyena Cart. The set included Alfabette Zoope's signature heartfeet T, as well as recycled wool longies and soft soled shoes from Aliah's Creations. The T-shirt is beautifully dyed and the batiked heartfeet are gorgeous. There is something beautiful and precious about newborn feet, and Lori's design captures those feelings. In addition to the heartfeet, Lori has a number of other original designs that she batiks on T-shirts. You can check out her work here.

The longies and shoes from Aliah's Creations fit my daughter perfectly. Both the longies and shoes are made from a recycled lambswool sweater. The longies feature ribbing at the bottom that can be easily cuffed to shorten the inseam. The shoes are cashmere lined, so my daughter has been wearing them without socks. They stay on her feet and keep her toes warm but not too hot. The shoes are more breathable, in my opinion, than leather soft soled shoes. The shoes feature a precious suede heart on the soles.

You can find both stores at the congo Alchemy on Hyena Cart.

what I'm working on

Tracey of Cute2Carry has started a new feature on her blog called "What I'm Working on Wednesday." Here's my contribution.

In June and July, I promised myself that I'd do lots of knitting for myself and my family, especially my newest baby. The project I'm working on now for the baby is a pair of "Goblin" longies. The yarn was dyed by Mosaic Moon. While I'm absolutely in love with this colorway and how it's knitting up, I'm thinking that this colorway is just a bit too dark for my baby girl. So half way through the project, I've decided that I'll probably list these longies for sale when I reopen my store next month. I may just change my mind, who knows? They are lovely so far.

I'm waiting on some more yarn from a recent co-op for ...a time to dye. I think my next project will be a pair of "Flamingoes" longies for baby girl, and hopefully I can post about those next Wednesday.

I'm also itching to start a project for myself. I have this single skein of Filatura Di Crosa Baby Kid Extra in the most beautiful green.

It's a fingering weight kid mohair. I'd love to try a lace project, and I'm thinking about Wisp from Knitty Summer 2007. With any luck, I'll also have a picture or two of this project by next week.

Make sure you check out Cute2Carry's blog. Thanks for the inspiration!

sweetness

Our third beautiful daughter has arrived! She was born earlier this month.

I've been trying to finish up some knitting for her but am just spending a lot of time snuggling with her instead. I'm really glad that I only knit one newborn soaker for her because she was 9 1/2 lbs. at birth!

last custom before babymoon

I was able to do one more YYMN before closing up shop for my babymoon. Here it is:

The yarn is "Stone" dyed by Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. It's a bulky weight merino that's incredibly soft. I used Blackberry Ridge merino as the trim.

Now I'll be focusing on getting ready for baby, including knitting lots of soakers for this summer. I just got my yarns in from the latest Mosaic Moon co-op so I'll be posting pictures of those soon!

Auction on my last instock item of the spring

I'm preparing to give birth to my third child soon and so I'm looking to clear out my in stock items. I only have one left: the beautiful pair of capris knit in Mosaic Moon's "Blooming" that I wrote about in my last post.

Starting on Wednesday, May 13th, I'm putting these capris up for auction starting at half of their original price. The auction will run until Tuesday, May 19th. Visit the listing here: http://hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby/index.php?c=0&p=89055 and good luck bidding!

"Blooming" capris

I just finished a gorgeous pair of large capris knit with Mosaic Moon's "Blooming" on targhee. I'm in love with these capris and if my daughter were still in diapers, I'd keep them all for myself!

They'll be available in my store on Tuesday, May 5th.

3 day old baby in his longies

About a month ago I made a newborn pair of longies and posted about them here. The baby was born in mid-April and his mother sent me a picture of him wearing the longies, and he's just 3 days old here. What a precious baby!

I had enough of the yarn--"Gaia II" dyed by Mosaic Moon--left over to make a custom pair of shorties for another child. Here are the shorties:

perfect little cotton cap

A few weeks ago my daughter saw a crocheted hat online and wanted one for herself. So I bought the Crazy Easy Newsboy Cap for Kiddies Crochet pattern. It took me just one night to make this cap for my niece Sophia. I love this cap on her, and now I plan to make them for all the little girls we know.

I would have made one for my daughter, who originally asked for the hat, but she's very picky about which color pink I choose for her hat, so we're still looking for the perfect yarn!

soft and tiny newborn longies

I just finished a newborn pair of longies for a long-time customer who is expecting a baby in April. They were knit with "Gaia II" dyed by Mosaic Moon on BFL. BFL is a soft and cuddly wool that takes colors brightly. The colors in Gaia II--blues, greens, tans, and natural cream--are perfect for spring days as we start to see the grass again.

easter egg and carrot winner!

The winner of the easter egg and mini carrot is Kate! She won by signing up for Pumpkin Pie Baby's monthly newsletter. I've sent Kate an email notifying her that she won.

If you'd like to sign up for Pumpkin Pie Baby's newsletter, filled with information about my store, discounts, and more, please visit the sign up page here: http://hyenacart.com/pumpkinpiebaby/index.php?info=560

new fruit and veggie set

This is my most recent custom fruit and veggie set for a little girl who's soon celebrating a birthday. I included a little extra sweet treat for her and hope she likes it!

"Ponderosa" shorties

I just finished up these soft and lovely cargo shorties knit with "Ponderosa" dyed by Yarnnoodles on Cestari Fine Merino. This was a YYMN custom and the mama I knit for picked out the trim color too. I love the combination she came up with.

some Easter eggs

I've been complaining about the weather a lot lately. The snow and cold just won't go away. And even though I know spring is just a couple of weeks away, it feels so much further than that. So here's a little reminder that longer, sunnier, and warmer days are just around the corner:



I just sent these Easter eggs on their way to their new home this week. And the bright pastels motivated me to make a few more eggs, which I'll be stocking in my store next week.

beautiful baby and newest custom

I wrote last week about a recent pair of longies I had completed. Well, the mama received the longies and took this picture of her beautiful daughter wearing them. She's allowed me to share the picture here on my blog...I'm so glad she likes them!



I also completed this pair of shorties last week. The yarn is Eternel Merino dyed in the "Crisp Apple" colorway by Laines Magnifiques. This yarn was soft and cottony--definitely a heavier worsted weight--and the colors were muted but eye-catching. I started doing this ruffle on some capris last year and I really like how they look on this pair of shorties.