With the successful completion of my sock project, I decided I was ready to take on something else knit.  My sister recently decided she wanted to try wool soaker diaper covers with her 3 month old son, and it occurred to me that this might make a good next project.  It’s a piece of clothing stitched in the round, but not nearly as daunting as a sweater might be.  So, I went on a web search for a good free pattern.  I sent a couple of links to my sister for approval, and we wound up choosing this one. You can see my finished product in this picture.

There were points where I worried I may have bitten off more than I could  chew with this project.  I’m fairly certain that the pattern writer did not have quite such a newbie in mind when she wrote her directions.  Fortunately, their are sites like knittinghelp.com with great video tutorials.  This got me through most of the difficult areas I ran into.  I really only hit two snags that I couldn’t figure out how to get around.  The first was in the area of short rows.

Short rows are created when you turn around mid-way through a row of knitting to create some extra height in the middle of a piece.  In this case, it causes the back of the soaker to have a bit more room than the front, which is good for chunky baby bottoms!  It’s a pretty easy technique if you are just knitting a flat piece or in the round, but it’s quite common to wind up with holes on one end of the short row.  I found solutions to this problem for the common situations, but  I was knitting in the round with ribbing.  I have been searching Google for a solution, and all I’ve been able to find are other people complaining of the same problem.  I’m hoping to work it out for future projects.  Here is a photo of this part of the work.  You can see two small holes just to the right of the middle line of the picture.  They are not obvious unless you know to look for them, but I wish they weren’t there!

My other issue will be easily resolved the next time around.  The short rows are supposed to be in the back of the diaper cover.  For the majority of the pattern, there is no distinction between the front and back.  The hip markers are evenly spaced around the piece.  So, when the pattern said to create short rows from one hip marker to the next, I assumed that it meant to start at the first one and go to the second.  This ended up putting them where the front was supposed to be, as the “start of round” should have been the back.  This meant that when it came time to shape the leg openings, I had to snip the yarn and move to the other side, when I should have been able to keep working around from where I was.  In the process, I didn’t get something pulled tightly enough, and I ended up with a pretty big hole smack in the middle of the back of the soaker.  I didn’t get a picture of the hole, but the next picture shows the repaired spot.  Next time I will start my short rows at the second marker and I think this will be avoided!

I’m sure some of you are wondering about wool diaper soakers.  This is not a route Ryan and I intend to take with our baby, but I can see why many people would choose to use them.  You can check out the benefits at Green Mountain Diapers.

Spring has sprung in Denton, TX and you can see the proof all over the ground and feel it in the air.  The weather has been beautiful for most of the last couple of weeks.  (We don’t need to mention the freak snow storm that blew threw last Sunday morning when Ryan and I were out of town at my mother-in-law’s house.  That make the second snow we’ve missed this season.)  On the pretty days, my neighbor, Allison, and I have enjoyed walks around our neighborhood with her dog.  We didn’t have to venture any further than our front yard to see these beautiful Texas Blue Bonnets.  I’ll never consider myself a Texan.  I’m a Carolina girl forever, but I do love the Texas state flower.

When I haven’t been basking in the sunshine, I’ve been working to finish up some craft projects.  This week saw the completion of the giant stack of baby wipes and my first real knitting project.

The wipes are simple squares of flannel that I cut and stitched around using the zig-zag function on my basic sewing machine.  It should have been an easy project, but sewing machines and I do not get along well.  It took me many days of sitting for just a bit at a time to get through my pile of squares.  My machine constantly jams up.  The thread pops out of the bobbin feeder, breaks off from above the needle, or a myriad of other issues that cause me to stop mid seam to set things back up correctly.  I was SO READY to be finished.

Knitting is now one of my new favorite past times.  I learned the basics several years ago and managed to make a scarf that I wore when my husband and I traveled to Russia back in 2005.  I was happy to have that project done and decided I was pretty much done with knitting because it had been so difficult, and even painful.  However, something was tugging at me recently to just try one more time to create socks.  You may have noticed that I never posted a picture of the blue crochet socks from months ago.  That’s because they didn’t shape up right and I finally pulled them out altogether.  Well, today I can show you finished socks at last, but they are KNIT and not crochet!  It turns out that I never really learned my basic stitches correctly, and this project allowed me to figure this out and now knitting is almost as easy as crochet.  I’m looking forward to all the new types of projects this will allow me to do.

And finally, here’s the belly shot for the week.  This was taken Friday, the end of week 21.

Pond Friends stacking toy

My first project was completed a few weeks ago while we were snowed in.  I knew I wanted to crochet something, but I have lots of crafty friends and he is sure to receive plenty of fuzzy yarn blankets to keep him warm, so I opted for a plush toy.  This pattern was available free from the Lion Brand web site.

Frog stand with pond base, dragonfly, ladybug and bumble bee.

I also have a few projects in the works.  My little guy has to have his very own flannel receiving blankets.  I’ll be getting a few of these form family as well, but you can never have too many.  They wash up great after spit up or diaper blow outs and only get softer over time.  Baby Boy Inselmann will get two made by his Mommy.  It was so much fun to be able to pick out prints with MY sweetheart in mind!  I’m currently trimming the froggy print in white and the bugs will be framed with a bright red.

We’re planning to cloth diaper our little bundle, so another project in progress is flannel wipes.  Here’s the stack of white flannel waiting to be trimmed in a zig-zag stitch to prevent unraveling and to add a bit of color.  At the moment, I’ve only had time to trim about a third of this pile.  I had to take a break to rest my back after bending over the sewing machine for two days getting the first few done!  I’ll post final pictures when they are all done, as well as my thoughts on cloth diapering.

And, for those who are curious, here’s a more recent shot of the belly.  This was taken Thursday, so towards the end of week 19.

Here’s a sneak peek of all the craft projects that I have been doing.  Better pictures will have to wait until after Christmas when the gifts have been given!

I’ve also been working on a pair of socks for myself.  I have one down and one to go!

 After cutting up a few shirts and trying to piece them together, I was a little frustrated.  Nothing seemed to lay right and I was ready to give up.  Finally, I decided to keep it simple and start with rectangles.  I cut and stitched and here’s what I came up with.I’m not really happy with the colors, but at least the materials were free!  

On Saturday I went to a ladies’ craft gathering.  I took a crochet project … another bag that I hope to give as a gift.  The hostess is a quilter and has been making these cute quilted coasters.  She’d set up all the materials and the instructions, and I just had to make one.  It turned out so cute that I decided to come home and turn all of my fabric quarters into coasters.  I managed to complete 8 of them before realizing I really did want to see these fabrics become a bag.  

Sunday after church, I came home armed with renewed ambition.  I got online and looked at several Crazy Quilt tutorials.  My biggest problem is that I didn’t have a pattern.  I had to cut, stitch, unstitch, and trim over and again before I finally got a pattern that laid flat.  I lined every panel and the inside of the handle with fusible interfacing for strength.  I had to pin pillow cases together at one point to figure out how to stitch the outside to the lining.  But, all in all, I am pretty happy with the finished product.  

Today I started on a deconstruction project.  

Last weekend we held a yard sale to raise money for the trip to Argentina.  I found myself watching this girl pick up shirts that obviously didn’t fit her, and so I had to ask if she was going to make something.  Turns out she was planning to use the material from the shirts to make wedding decorations.  

When we were cleaning up the leftovers, I decided to pull out a few shirts from the pile myself.  I cut four shirts apart and now have a little pile of material which will become something fun and hopefully wind up in my Etsy shop!

Well, time has passed and it’s getting a bit worn out.  I’ve pondered making one myself for quite some time.  Finally, I have purchased material with the intention of making one or two of these little bags.  Here’s the color scheme.  Perhaps one day soon I will actually begin this project and have something useful.  

I have successfully completed a whopping ONE of the projects I posted last week.  Check out the new stuff on my Etsy page to see the completed Green baby blanket.  I did finish the crocheted bag, but was unhappy with the result, so it’s been pulled out and started again with a smaller crochet hook.

I completed this set  just a few days ago and am just waiting for the right time to take pictures before posting it on my Etsy site just in time for my Showcase on July 23.  The burpie and washcloth were finished a long time ago, but the blanket was holding me back.  I’ve been able to get a lot more done since I got home from visiting the family.

This blanket is to replace the one I just sold from my Etsy site.  I have one side of the square left to stitch, and then it will also be ready to post!

Here’s the status on my plastic bag project.  I’m hoping to turn it in to a shopping bag.  Here you can see the front and back panels, stacked on top of each other, a ball of “plarn” (plastic yarn), and a couple of bags waiting to be turned into plarn.  This project is one that will have to be completed over time, as I keep running out of bags.

Happy Birthday to me from my mother-in-law.  She sent me some money and I bought myself this yarn which I am hoping will turn in to a cute slouch tote bag.  This will be the first time I’ve crocheted anything other than blankets or scarves, and I am pretty excited!!

While in the craft store, I also picked up this sweet trio of soft colors.  I won’t be able to post the final product until some time in late December or early January, as it’s a baby gift.  :)

Now, my biggest problem is deciding which project to work on!  They are all so much fun!

So, if you find yourself with extra bags on your hands, send them my way!!!

On June 5, I celebrated 9 years of teaching high school math.  On June 14,  my husband and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. Ryan graduated from UNT in December of 2007 and has been working full time as a video game programmer since then, so this fall, I will begin my dream job of being a stay at home wife(No kids on the way, yet!) So, the question is, what am I going to do with all my free time?

Remember my Spring Break blog post?   I’ll be doing much of the same stuff I listed  back in March.   I will continue swimming, hopefully upping the frequency.  I am starting a math tutoring business that will get off the ground this week.  During the month of July, I will do a lot of packing since we are planning to move at the end of the summer.  In August, I will travel to Argentina.  In December, I will go to Michigan to witness the birth of my third niece/nephew (don’t know which yet!)  Oh, and I will be helping out with the new BTCL class.  Other than that, only God knows!

I’d like to say more about how God has opened the door for me to go on a short-term mission trip to Argentina. Denton Bible Church has established missionaries in the cities of La Plata and City Bell that are working with local churches and involved in church planting. I, along with seven others, will be in Argentina for 10 days. We’re going to assist those missionaries in establishing and organizing Sunday School for Children ages 2 – 15 in the local churches.  In addition to all we will be doing with the children’s program, I will be staying an additional week to assist one of the long term missionary couples, who are expecting their first baby in July.

(Photo of some Latin American stuff that we showed to kids at the DBC Missions Conference.  Because of my involvement on the Argentina team, I was asked to head up this room.)

Dear readers, please add this mission team to your prayer calendar, especially during the time we will be working alongside the Argentine Christians. Also, If the Lord leads you to join us financially in this mission, please contact me message and I’ll send you more information.

(Here we were telling the kids about Argentina.)

Did I say life is going pretty great?  :)