thursday highs and lows

Last Thursday it was 70 degrees. Bella and I went for a lovely walk with Lauren and Brady. We did our regular loop, visited the ducks and even stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful morning. The first long walks after the cold of winter are like those big stretches when you wake up in the morning: refreshing and invigorating — an unfolding and uncurling of all the kinks from hibernation. Lauren took this picture of Bella when we stopped to say hello to the ducks. We all were a little high off of the sights and sounds and smells of Spring.

bella on our walk

Later that afternoon, during quiet time, I could hear Bella in her room. It sounded like coughing. At first I didn’t think anything of it. She’s been coughing to get attention since she was a wee little thing. But something didn’t feel right. I decided to check in on her. Ugh! She had thrown up her lunch all over her bedroom, including her bed and blanket (but thankfully not on any of her friends that aren’t machine washable). It’s the first time she’s been that sick since we found out about her milk intolerance when she was an infant. She was stunned. Shocked. She didn’t understand what had just happened.

I cleaned her up. I cleaned her bed and the floor. I was thankful that I knit her blanket out of washable yarn. We settled down, read books in the living room and she took a nap. The rest of the evening wasn’t so good, but she did sleep through the night once we got her to bed. Her spirits were up on Friday even though she didn’t eat much and by Saturday she was back to her old self.

It’s hard explaining being sick to a two-year old. The idea of food coming back up? of running to the bathroom when your tummy rumbles? of only taking little sips of water and avoiding solid food when your tummy is empty? All of those were completely confusing to her. It’s hard to watch your little one feel so low. I’m so grateful that she bounced back so quickly!

coffee sleeve of the month: lucky shamrock

felted wool coffee sleeve

It seems like I can’t stop making felted wool coffee sleeves, so I’ve decided to start a feature cozy of the month!

March is all about St. Patrick’s Day and basketball. I don’t know much about hoops, but I used to be quite the little Irish Dancer. My Girl Scout troop had to learn an ethnic dance and we picked The Walls of Limerick. I remember that we performed on the stage at Golden Ring Mall.* A few of my friends and I stuck with it until high school. We competed, performed at Irish festivals and even walked in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. So in honor of my “Irish” background, this month is all about green!

Two sleeves are available in my etsy store.

*Sadly, Golding Ring Mall has since been leveled and replaced with big box stores.

denim messenger bag for christina

I’ve been wanting to make a bag like this for awhile, but just couldn’t figure out the pattern. I fiddled around with a prototype that didn’t work out too well and then abandoned it for a few months. (OK, a year!)

upcycled denim bag

Then my friend Christina asked me to do something with her Fairy Jeans. I did a lot of sketching and research and actually got a lot of inspiration from diy skirt and maternity jean tutorials.

upcycled denim bag

When we went shopping for her wedding gown, she mentioned that she liked the color combination of dark blue and champagne. She also asked me to incorporate one of her finance’s blue silk ties. I used it for the lining of the flap and lined the rest of the bag with tan cotton.

upcycled denim bag

I’m going to make one more of these bags to make sure I’ve got my pattern down and then I’m going to offer it as a custom bag listing in my etsy shop. More pics of the bag in my sewing gallery.

scrappy sweater scarf

Last year my brother-in-law gave me two sweaters for felting and bag making. He said he hated to give them up. They were in great condition, but their style was too outdated — over-sized and ’80s. I felt bad taking them from him so I suggested altering them instead. It was a simple project; one that might make a knitter cringe and a sewer tremble. (I’m writing up a tutorial so everyone can see how easy it is to update those baggy Benetton sweaters in the back of their closets.)

When I was finished with the alterations, I was left with four long sweater scraps. They were scrappy-looking scraps, especially the Benetton ones, which had serged (!) seams. I decided to turn them into a scarf.

scrappy scarf

I wanted to do something a little unconventional. I sewed around the edges with a 1/4 inch seam allowance to keep the yarn from unraveling. I’m hoping that with use, the edges will fray and give it even more of a scrappy style.

scrappy scarf

I hope Tanuj likes it. It’s a little offbeat, but if there is anyone in my family who would appreciate an offbeat scrappy scarf, it is him. Hopefully he’ll take a follow-up picture for me next season so I can see if the edges turn out as expected.