A bunch of random stuff.

So. Cloth Diapers. Totally addictive. Today I am working on selling about $165 worth of Knickernappies with inserts. We just don't reach for them and I am finding that I prefer to use prefolds and covers when we are at home.... and we have our daycare and daddy diapers, so it seems like some of them aren't getting used much and it makes more sense to get rid of those and buy up more of what I prefer.

I have started to grab up a few Wool items like this Curly Purly Soaker to use as covers. Wool shorties/longies/soakers are hand washed and lanolized once a week or every 2 weeks depending on how much wool you have to use. I grabbed two soakers and a pattern from Sheepy Time Knits to make my own, but that means I need to

A: Learn how to knit. Which Anya already tried to teach me, but I got frustrated because I knit everything so tight that the yarn breaks after a few rows.
B: Learn how to knit in the round and buy the damn needles and all that.
C: Purchase expensive wool yarn like the pink lemonade stuff that I covet that's $22 a skein
D: Learn how to follow a pattern which is difficult for me because I hate counting and can't pay attention to anything I am doing because I love to crochet while watching TV and therefore just single crochet the day away and can't figure out how to follow a pattern.

So. Chances of this happening? Slim to none. Does that stop me? Apparently not because I still spent $5.95 on the freaking pattern. Someone said they learned how to knit on You Tube. Hmmm. Interesting. I do know *someone* who makes their own yarn and knows knitting and crochet inside out- but I don't really get along with them well anymore and I can't even imagine asking for their help. Doh! This is another time (they are rare and far between) where I wish I were closer to a city so that I could do cool things like take knitting lessons and take Ardyn to Gymboree and playdates.

So, putting knitting to the back of my mind for just a MOMENT. I have been building up my stash of newborn diapers, since I didn't Cloth Diaper Ardyn until she was in size Smalls. So I have 2 dozen preemie prefolds, which are sooooo cute and tiny! And I have about 5 Thirsties XS Covers, and 6 Newborn Fitteds with Doublers made by a WAHM. I am currently trying to acquire 6 Kissaluv Fitteds in Size 0. Since I know that if we have two kids, I won't be able to work (boo. hiss. NOT!) and will have to stay at home (cost of daycare is already too much, add another and it's not practical. It would cost Money for me to work.) And if I stay at home, prefolds and fitteds with covers make so much more sense financially, and babysitters and dad can easily handle fitteds and covers. I will probably have a few Thirsties AIO's on hand for travel and things like that. And all those fitteds and prefolds give me an excuse to play with wool. So basically I am building not only my newborn diaper stash, but perfecting Ardyn's stash, selling what we don't use so much to make a size Medium Stash for whenever she decides to grow out of smalls and infant prefolds.

Ardyn has been a huge fan of 1:30am lately, that's her nightly waking time, during which she plays for a while, then whines for a while, then screams for a while until I feed her and she gulps down all the breastmilk she can before drifting off to sleep in our bed. She sleeps so much better in the morning hours in my bed than hers. I don't mind cuddling with her, but I still put her to bed in her own bed every single night.... But sometime during the wee hours of the morning she makes it back into mine. Sometimes by the time she is done eating I am just too exhausted to put her back in the crib and deal with her being up every hour or two until 6am, which is what she will do unless she wakes up and sees me next to her. Then she goes right back to sleep. Little stinker. And I could leave her in her crib all night (sometimes she sleeps there all night) But it's much nicer when I get to feed her at 5:30and 7:30am and don't have to get up to go get her all the time. It makes me feel like at least I got more sleep. Especially working full time. That's getting old, let me tell you!

I recently bought 9 new shirts/onesies too, since she is outgrowing the 3-6 month Gerber ones. They run small anyway, most other 3-6 month clothes she still has plenty of time to wear. I ended up getting some nicer ones from Babies R Us that are thicker and made by "SpaSilk." Some of them are regular short sleeved onesies, and some are tank top onesies, which will be great for summer and layering. And then I got some plain t-shirts for wearing with wool soakers and legwarmers around home. I think I will embroider on several of them.... but I will follow a trick I learned from a fellow Flickr friend, and embroider onto felt first, then sew the felt to the onesie. Gives it stability and then I won't have to take the onesie out of commission for the entire embroidering timeframe. SwEEt. It makes me so sad when I see the pictures of her wearing her embroidered "A" Onesie at 2 days old, and the embroidered birdie onesie at 3 days old. Awwww she was so tiny and sweet! Man is she growing or what? And besides the A onesie that was just for her, I am being very careful to mostly make unisex onesies so the next babes can enjoy them as well. I did try the pink drumset onesie, but I got so frustrated with the metallic thread on the cymbals that I never finished it.... Yet! But now she's outgrown it, so I hope we have another girl so that it can be finished and worn.

So now that you're inside my brain, have a nice night. I know I will.

Embroidery

I have the leaves on the tree! I did this tonight... and it's so amazingly relaxing and simple. I love it!

Thread Head

Break time! Today I am in Peoria for session 2 of me Visual Studio.NET Class. It's break time!

Last night I stayed up till 2:30am, winding embroidery floss and catching up on TIVO. How about Lynette- "Speak to my husband again and I will do to your back what I did to your front door." Hell Yeah! About time! We will see how long that works. I watched about 6 episodes of Robot Chicken and also some Drawn Together. I went to Wal-Mart last night and got a few things, nothing serious, just butter, laundry detergent, toothpaste, shaving cream, toilet paper and paper towels... and a few little things for my Pink and Green Swap needing to be sent out November 5th. and some embroidery stuff, a few needles and a value pack of threads, and some plastic winding bobbins and rings. Today during class I wound the last 13 bobbins while watching and listening to my mentored learning instructor. I have found that having something to do with my hands helps me to remain calm and the time passes quickly, and I am such a great multi-tasker that I can watch and learn while also being crafty or productive, kinda like how I watch TV at home while working on stuff. So now all the embroidery floss is wound. It's nice! I decided my first attempt would be flour sack towels, then I changed my mind and decided on 0-3 month onesies. I bought little tagless ones. But then I realized that the underside of the embroidery or thread might be irritating to a baby's skin. Shit. So I decided that I could always embroider the butt.... that way the diaper would be the only thing touching the onesie. I got a shitload of embroidery patterns off the internet last night, I can't wait to start! And now that my floss is all wound up, I am ready to go!

I do have something I want to blog about, but I don't have time now, so maybe at my next break. Check back later!