Mary's Nursery

Showing you Mary's nursery is long overdue (haha, see what I did there?) This room used to be our bedroom, but we decided to move ourselves over to the second bedroom, as this was more baby-friendly. That room has stairs up to a loft (the office) and 2- story ceilings with skylights, and it seemed odd to put a teeny baby in such a big room. (To see what it looked like before, check out this post from 2010.)

The walls are "Gray Cashmere" by Benjamin Moore, color matched to Olympic no-VOC. This color is definitely not gray, it's a light blue. I know, I'm a terrible mother making my daughter sleep in a blue room. I'm sure when she's old enough she's going to request pink and purple glitter walls which will surely offend all of my design sensitivities.

I made the curtains with hidden tabs (I didn't take pictures but this tutorial is very similar.) The fabric is from Premier Prints, which is one of my favorite companies for heavier-weight decor fabric. All of their designs are modern and fairly inexpensive. The zig-zag fabric on the footstool is also from Premier.

I asked mainly for books at my baby shower, and that's what Mary got! She's very advanced for her age but for some reason hasn't learned how to read yet. If she's going to be a child genius and rake in the cash with her multiple sponsorship deals then she better get cracking. She also has a lot of stuffed toys which are little more than glorified drool mops at this stage.

I've had this round mirror for a long time (I think it came from Pier 1). It was originally a brown-ish metallic, but I thought it would stand out much more and fit more into a baby's room if it were bright yellow. I love it and I sort of want to spray paint everything else I own, too.

I framed some fabric in a square ikea frame as cheap art; it's an owl print, which you can't make out in this picture unless you have some kind of mutant super vision. It's cool if you do, I won't judge. The dresser is from Ikea and serves as our changing table. It's a little high up for me, so once Mary gets to be too heavy, I might have to just change her on the floor. It's worked great so far, though! I left the collage of photographs in the same place, because getting it to hang straight was a mathematical feat that needed to be celebrated.

Oh, and the crib is from Walmart. That's right.

I made the branch & bird mobile using a Martha Stewart tutorial. Instead of wrapping wire in floral tape, I found this raffia-wrapped wire at Michaels. I freehanded the flowers instead of using a punch, because when am I going to use a flower punch again? (Probably all the time now that I didn't buy one.)

And here's the baby in question, all grown up at 5 months old.

* This post brought to you by a completely random and never-to-be-repeated 3-hour nap.

On the Needles

During the last 5 months, instead of spending my internet time browsing new knitting patterns and online yarn shops, I've been googling things like "3 month old won't nap." Now that I've realized that everything parenting-related is completely made up and no one really knows what they're talking about, I've gone back to my old ways. My crafting time is now limited to after Mary's bedtime, which is frequently taken up by laundry or staring at the TV because I was up at 3am, but it does exist.

While a lot of knitters love starting new projects and having tons of things on the needles, that's just not my M.O. I don't like things being unfinished; this is probably why I'm the only person in the world who has a maximum of 27 emails in my work inbox at any given time. Here's what I'm currently working on.

Plain 'ol socks in Vesper Sock from Knitterly Things. The colorway is "Bride of Socktober Spooktacular". Maybe I'll get the second sock done in time for this Halloween? The bright colors are not what I usually knit, but there is a distinct lack of neon in my sock drawer.

This is will be a crocheted circular cowl, no pattern, it's just single crochet all the way around. I'm not sure if I'll keep going with it, but I do like the finished stitches. This handspun has already been knit into several different patterns and then un-knit, so I kind of just want to finish something and have it be done.

More socks, in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select. I bought this yarn at Sheep and Wool several years ago, but have been looking for a good pattern that wouldn't be obliterated by the variegated yarn. The pattern is Blueberry Waffle Socks, and I really like the textured pattern. I'll probably knit this again if I have a multi-colored yarn.

Baby Tea Leaves, in Malabrigo Arroyo. Malabrigo is probably my favorite yarn ever: I like the semi-solid colors, it doesn't pool, and it's priced well. I'm knitting the 12-18 month size for Mary for next winter. 12 months, can you believe it? My mind doesn't really understand the concept of a baby who can walk.

More socks! I like knitting socks, OK? (To be specific, apparently I like knitting one sock of a pair.) The yarn is merino/nylon handspun. I started these forever ago but haven't worked on them in a long time because they require a chart. (Yikes, apparently I started these in February 2013. Obviously I am not enthusiastic about this project.)

Once I clear a few of these projects I have the inkling to knit a sweater. A real, adult-sized sweater. The last one I finished was in 2009, five years ago! I did have a Featherweight Cardigan on the needles, but I frogged that one because who knits a sweater out of laceweight? Crazy people, that's who.