And so the trouble begins, I have been told...
The pants I made him were a little long.. and look what he does..
Otherwise they do fit quite well.. plenty of room for growth and comfort.
Labels: Alex, pants, sewing
I told you sewing is addictive!
The little man wore them to bed tonight so I don't have any action shots. Maybe tomorrow..
I also made this
sans pattern!
Can you tell I am very proud of myself right now?
The sewing is rather imperfect but not too bad for a beginner. I got a little ahead of myself there and thought I'd round off the corners. Hmm.. Bad move. As you can see, the 4 corners are all curved differently! Next time I do this (which will probably be tomorrow if I have time), I will stick to squared corners. They look neater and at least all four corners will look the same.
Labels: needle roll, pants, sewing
I cut and sewed a pair of pants for Alex last night, and you know what? It fits! Admittedly, it's a little on the long side, but he's a growing boy. It's growth room!
Oh, okay, so maybe it is more than "a little" long, but hey, if he is a tall lean child, he can probably wear these till he goes to school!!
Plenty of room in front..
Plenty of room at the back
He can sit comfortably in them without the back drooping too much..
I think I have a winner!
The pattern I used is the one from Simplicity (look at my previous post) and it is easy and works well. The only change I will make to it is probably adding a little more room to the back so that it doesn't droop at all. I don't think any of these pants account for nappies.
I'd show a photo of Soleil in progress but the camera batteries are being charged. She's coming along well. I am past the lace now and into my first lot of waist decreases. If all goes according to plan, I am sure I will have something new to wear in Malaysia.
Labels: sewing, Soleil
I went to Spotlight on Sunday and walked out with 3 patterns and a whole lot of fabric. In my defence, the fabric was on special for about $3 a metre. I bought enough to make some (more) pants for Alex and maybe a needle roll for me.
I decided to go with the "easy" patterns, so I had two Burda Easy ones and one Simplicity one.
I have this one:
and this:
and this:
That should keep me busy for a while!
I don't know whether you remember the
silk that I spun up oh... ages ago... I decided today that I'll make it into a neat little tank top for myself. I am using the
Soleil pattern from Knitty and so far it's turning out well. I love the subtle changes of colour and the slight sheen that silk always has. My plan is to have it completed by the time we visit Malaysia in February as it will be perfect for the humidity there. Pictures in my next post as there really isn't enough knitted up to be worth looking at yet.
Labels: sewing, Soleil
Yes, I made them... in fact I have made two pairs. The first (the one above) could barely go over Alex's thunder thighs. I enlarged the pattern (rather poorly) and sewed a second pair. That only barely fit.
Sewing is addictive. I want to make more stuff!
Not to worry, though. As the title of this blog suggests.. I knit. I don't think I will ever stop knitting. Perhaps sewing is just a passing fancy.. and perhaps it will hang around for a bit.
Here's evidence that I HAVE been knitting...
These three hats are going out tomorrow to the lady who ordered them for her baby girl. Aside from the mint green one, they are all made to fit a head up to about 50cm around. The green one is slightly smaller. Baby Anabelle's going to have a very warm head!
Labels: hat, sewing
Where has the year gone?
Remember this?
That was last year. This is this year.
Alex turned one yesterday and all of a sudden, with his new hair cut and new found confidence, he seems like a big boy and no longer the wee baby I knew. He now walks holding on to us with only one hand. Before I know it, he will be toddling along on his own. The thought of that brings a little tear to my eye. He's growing so quickly, I can barely keep up. Selfishly, I wish he'd stay a baby for a little longer, but I am also glad that he has grown and developed so well over the past year.
I was going to have a Christmas post, but did not find time... so here it is...
It was Alex's first Christmas, and boy, was he spoilt!
He had a ball wandering around the in-laws' house, even managing to find the stairs and climbing halfway up.
Here he sits amongst his mini mountain of presents
I'd like to say that I had nothing to do with it, but the truth is that I am partially responsible. I thought I would stick to the "only one present" rule, but that didn't really happen. From my parents in-law, he received a Tonka ride-on toy and a whole lot of new clothes. from my sister-in-law and her fiance, he received some musical instruments (which he loves!) and some bath toys. My parents bought him the Magna Doodle toy. Chris' cousin and his wife bought Alex the Mr Potato-head toy and we bought him a shape sorter and some books. So.. is he spoilt or is he spoilt?
We had a relatively simple Christmas eve meal. Everyone helped to put it together.. which is part of the fun of a Hernandez Christmas. This year I made roast pork, which came out quite well, even if I do say so myself.
I received, from my sister-n-law and her fiance, a creme brulee torch. Can you guess what we had for dessert that night?
On Christmas day, we had dinner with the Cooper-Garrett clan. Always a fun event and Alex scored more presents! He was given a Fisher Price Gumball machine which he loves. He pushes down on the handle to make it "sing", and sing it does! It plays one of those crazy tunes that's a cross between a carnival game type melody and a pinball machine type melody. He was also given a knitted cat, which he thinks is fantastic. It lives in his cot and he sleeps with it every night!
What better gift could one give a knitter's son? Especially when he is the son of a knitter who does not like knitting toys. Why? That's a story for another day, I think.
All in all, we had a pleasant break from work over the Christmas week. I did not log in to work for a whole week! That's a first for me. At the end of the 10 or so days of holiday, we had Alex's first birthday. Poor boy was born on the day when everyone goes back to work, so he is destined to always have small birthday celebrations, I think.
We had a small celebration for him with a mountain of cupcakes. I made 52. It was an accident.. really! I was trying out a new smaller cupcake tin and ended up with more cakes than I thought I would. I still have half a mountain downstairs in the kitchen!
Alex loved the candle and it was then that I realised that it's probably the first time that he's seen a flame up close. he doesn't know yet that it burns and that's ouchie!
He loved the cake too, and could not get enough of it!
Since he was so spoilt with toys and clothes for Christmas, we did not buy him too many birthday presents. My parents sent me out to choose a book or two for him. Alex ended up choosing one and I chose the other. No, really, he did choose one book. He threw a tantrum when I put it back on the shelf - a reaction that I got with no other book. He really likes that "Monkey peeps" book. It makes him giggle when the monkey falls out of the tree! Chris and I bought him a new tee shirt and some new pants. He'll be wearing those this weekend when he celebrates his birthday with Chris' family.
So.. what has the past year been like for me?
So much has happened in the span of a year.
In January, Alex was born and Chris bought a new car.
February marked Alex's first Chinese New Year.
In March, Chris' brother and his wife came home for a surprise visit. Doesn't sound like that big a deal unless you know that they live in the UK! What a pleasant surprise!
In April my parents came to visit and spent Easter with us. I also managed to get the only spinning I had done all year done then. We haven't seen my parents since then, though we do chat on Skype quite often. To Alex, they are just faces on the screen.. but that willc hange soon as we're going back to KL for a visit in February!
In May I posted off my ISE4 scarf. It was difficult to part with the scarf as I had grown quite attached to it in the time that I had spent spinning the yarn for it and knitting it.
I turned the big three-oh in June. I feel old now. Just old.. not grown up. I also started knitting things for sale then. Oh, and that was when I handed in my business project for uni. The end of my studies... what a relief!
July saw Alex tasting "real" food for the first time. Up till that point he had only ever had breastmilk, so it was quite a big change for him. He took to it like a duck to water and we haven't looked back since.
August... we fell in love with a house, after many long months of searching, and bought it!
We moved in September and for the first time in about 8 months, Alex slept through the night. Oh, what bliss! I strongly believe that it had a lot to do with him having his own room. Aside from the odd occasion when he is teething or not very well, he has slept through almost every night since.
Not much happened in October aside from a short trip to Canberra to renew my passport. So glad I don't have to do it again for another 5 years.
In November Alex was cruising and we thought he'd be walking pretty soon after that. We were wrong, though as he still continues to walk only with some assistance.
December was haircut month for Alex. He endured it well and now looks more like a boy than a baby.
What is in store for us this year? I wonder...
Labels: Alex, birthday, Christmas, life, new year
