Rainbows and Pi Day: March Projects In Progress

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Living in Houston has given me new love for March.  In Pennsylvania, I am just too cold to think about anything.  But now that I am warm enough, I find that this month holds plenty of inspiration.

Rainbows and pots of gold.

Pie fights and pie charts for Pi Day.

Lions and lambs.

Flying kites.

Playing Holi with all the colors of spring.

We are gearing up for Nandini's Birthday Party over here.  Her birthday is on March 14, so she is our Pi Day Baby.

I made this 100 numbers of Pi hanging garland for her last year. Ryan's idea that she would absorb all the numbers after we hang it up hasn't really panned out, but I still like it.

And, the year before that I made her this Rainbow Entrelac Blanket.  One of my favorite and most fun knitting projects by far.  The pattern is available here.

This year I am working on pie chart birthday invitations for her.  I used old fashioned eyelets and brads so it really spins! My friend Shery helped me design the insides with all the details.  I ended up switching the picture at the last minute because I found a Cutie Pie shirt at Old Navy, perfect!  I made the Spin Me banners with my Silhouette and put them on with pop dots. 

Now, I am also working on a chalkboard banner for the party.  Do you have any fun March projects coming up?

I have a lot of fun crafts save on my pinterest boards and want to try so many of the projects on there. So much inspiration! 

Up all night.

I was laughing at Up all night yesterday in spite of myself. I loved Will Arnett in Arrested Development and Running Wilde, but as the straight man stay-at-home Dad? Not so much. I will often crack up to myself just thinking about his 2600 dollar suit on AD, but his new show doesn't even make me smile. It finally had a little moment of truth amidst all the saccharine mainstream dialogue when he thought his 8-month old daughter was calling him a jerk. That I can relate to. Oh how I can relate.

Oh yeah, I also made gnocchi tonight because he made it on the show and it was damn good. I usually make it in brown butter, but I was inspired by the marinara he made. Is that weird? Wait, don't tell me.

Dinner may have been the high point of the day. Because it felt like Nandini was calling me a jerk. All. Day. Long. Sigh...

Don't believe me? Ask her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10 reasons why I'm mad at Mommy.

1. She put me on the floor in the morning and made me chase cheerios all over the place.

2. She tried to get me to eat her oatmeal, which no one else in the whole world (!) likes. It was yuck. Almost as bad as beets, almost.

3. She strapped me into my car seat and didn't let me get out the entire time on the way to pick Avi up from school AND on the way home. Is baby torture still legal?

4. She said she was going to get me sweet potatoes (finally!) and then she made while she was heating it and stirring it. She even had the gall to put me down and not hold me while she did this. Heartless.

5. Bought me a rockabye lion, but forces all these photos on it.

6. Made me sit on the floor while she was in the bathroom, instead of holding me. What, is she too good for a diaper like the rest of us?

7. Tried to put me down for a nap when I started rubbing my eyes, sucking my thumb and laying my head down. I don't need to nap! I just stood up in my crib and laid my head on the side of that, ha! You can't trick me.

8. Taunted me with all the fimo Agricola animals, but would not let me put all of them in my mouth. How else am I supposed to learn stuff?

9. She knitted me a entrelac berry hat and tried to make me wear it!  Doesn't she know strawberries can be highly allergenic for little babies?

10. Did not let me help her with the scrapbook or drool all over the pages while we were looking at the album with Avi.  Isn't it MY album?

Beanies Vintage knit baby pixie hats for preemies

I just mailed off the baby hat I knit for KA's  Beanies for Preemies | Giving Back.

The hat was fairly easy to make and she wants to get more people involved so I thought I would share the pattern here.

I modified a knit hat I made for Nandini last May for this project.  I based the size off of some preemie patterns she emailed me about.  It ended up way too small for Nandini to model, but it was the perfect size for my Samantha doll who is just a smidge smaller than Nandini was as a newborn, so I think it will work fine for the NICU babies.

I am not the fastest of knitters but this only took about four hours total. Not sure if that is good time or not.  Anyway..

I used US 7 needles and worsted weight yarn in red and cream.
Starting with white or cream;
Cast on 58 (needs to be in multiples of 4 + 2)
K2 *P2 K2 *repeat
Do this for four rows.
Tie on red, leave a medium tail of white.
Row 1: K4 K2 *P2 K2 *repeat until near end K4. turn.
Row 2: purl the purls and knit the knits ( ie P6, K2, P2, etc here). Turn.
Row 3: repeat row 1. Turn.
Row 4: K6 K2 *P2 K2 *repeat until near end then K6. Turn.
Row 5: purl the purls and knit the knits, turn.
Row 6: repeat row 4, turn.
Ok, you should start to see a pattern emerging in your work by now.
The middle will be ribbed and the edges will have stripes increasing in length by 2 stitches every three rows.  You should be able to glance at your work and figure out what number of stitches you need without following a chart. 
Keep going until you have to K28 on each side and only two stitches in the 2x2 ribbing in the center, finish off that set of three rows then move half your stitches to the other needle.  Cut a long tail.
Use the kitchener stitch to finish. 
{*front needle: knit off 1 purl on 1; back needle: purl off 1 knit on 1 *repeat}
Fold your work in half with the RS facing in (this is up to you, the hat can be reversible).
Cut the tail at the top as long or short as you like depending on how pixie-ish you like it.  You can also leave a really long tail or tie on a pompom at the top (I didn't).

You can use your tails of white in the beginning to tie the hat under baby's chin or attach ribbon at that point as well.

If you cast on 98 stitches instead you can make the 6 month old size I made for Nandini here.  I never did make any under chin tie for her and it seemed to work out fine.

Lately

Nandini...

loves being held by her Mommy, but needs to be in the middle of the action when other kids are playing.  She will very quietly watch and take it all in.  She doesn't make a peep unless someone tries to pull a little toy out of her mouth.  She loves it and laughs when I hold her at Avi's eye level and let her 'chase him' around the house.  She kicks her little legs like she is running and squeals with delight.  It is still a very quiet squeal so you do have to strain a bit to hear it, but the huge grin is unmistakable.  Mwah!

has been showing off her tongue quite frequently.  It's the new raspberry apparently.  If you do this back to her she assumes you want her to grab your tongue.  Not sure what response she is expecting when she does it yet.

adores swinging with my gorgeous, talented, and super sweet babhi.


loves the little bells and whistles on the front of her walker so much that she cries when we stand her up to walk with it and prefers to sit in front of it and play with the front.





Avinash....

however was eager to show off his skills with the walker and proudly grabbed it and pushed it around the living room.

proved in .0000003 seconds that the gyro-bowl is not spill-proof and dumped cheerios all over the ground.  Then wanted to try out ice cream in it.  Worth a shot.  I suddenly realized why the commercial never showed any liquids in that dang bowl....(because it doesn't work) 

warms my heart when he tells Nandini or his cousin Lily that he loves her.  Admissions of love for the neighbors dog notwithstanding, I do believe that he means it.

is making robot faces {There is no more unhappiness. Affirmative. 000001 0000011}

I

have drank almost an entire bottle of nyquil this week.

have been getting a lot of slobbery baby kisses.

have been knitting for the better part of today

Aand, Avi has been helping Mommy with her knitting by tying knots in the string for me.  Thanks Avi!

Aaand, Nandini also snuggled up with the yarn and was literally hugging the skein while I was finishing it up. 

So yes, a lot of love went into this little hat. 
View the details of this project here over on Kayla Aimee's blog.  Beanies for Preemies | Giving Back
My heart hurt a lot a bit while I made and saw the finished project, thinking about two tiny babies we know who are missed.

I just finished up my hat tonight, I modified a vintage baby knit pattern for the project. I will post the pattern and pictures tomorrow.  It doesn't take long or a lot of yarn.  Consider making one if you have the time before Christmas.

Trick or Treat Time!

We love getting dressed up for Halloween and do so all month long.  And by we, I mean I love dressing up my babies until they get big enough to refuse to wear their silly costumes.  Maybe they'll come around again in a year or two.  Hey, I can always hope! 

The one part that Avinash does love is the trick-or-treat of course.  The treats part to be more specific.  The Children's Museum in Houston has a great Halloween set up almost all October long.  We would go trick-or-treating in the afternoons after naptime whenever we got the chance.  Avinash and I snuch out there just the two of us today for the big Halloween party too.  They had a DJ, a pumpkin patch, crafts and really good candy.

Running off to get splashed for good measure.


We went to boo at the zoo twice this year. 

Complete with the Thriller dance done by children in animal costumes.  These kids were amazing.  Avi did NOT want to stay and watch the dance, despite my cajoling, in favor of the playground, but was totally amazed once they started their routine. 

Mommy, look! A'mals dancin'!!

Spiderman and monkey baby visit the zoo.

And, we went to the costume party at Little Gym's once more.

Avi refused to wear a costume, but won a prize somehow anyway!  Posing proudly with his teacher.

Bat girl mastering the balance beam with a little help from big brother (who was also too scared to do it).


We even went to Mickey's Not-so-scary Halloween Party at Disney World

With our fireman and baby mermaid.

But tonight Avinash got to do something really special for the first time: trick or treat door to door the old fashioned way.  He picked out his own costume, his Steeler's jersey (which he regularly refuses to wear on gameday).  Of course he had to go with his friend Nisha, aka, supergirl.

They held hands and shared candy, but still managed to play lots of tricks on their mommas!

The baby elephant and mermaid tagged along for the ride as well...

At the Harry Potter house, complete with Sorcery lessons from Snape.  These people were totally in character the whole time, hilarious. 
Somehow, we managed to hold hand in the streets at all times, avoid any scrapped knees or other major booboos and got home safely with all our loot. 

Now all I have to do is hide it all while he sleeps and think of a good excuse in the morning, ha!

Baby's got a brand new hat..

Isn't she the cutest little pixie baby?

And she clearly needed a handmade hat to complete the effect.

    I actually started knitting this for Nandini this weekend.  And am totally shocked/pleased with myself for being already done with it. (If you are interested you can find the pattern here.)  It's a very good pattern for beginners I think and doesn't require any annoying 'knitting in the round.'  I did get a little tripped up by the phrase 'knit the knits and purl the purls.'  I mean, is it meant to obfuscate on purpose?  That is why the edge looks a little ruffly and is not in the same ribbing pattern.  I decided to leave it like that because I ended up liking the effect.  I have a little bit of finishing to do, but I was too excited not to share.

Nandini mid-sneeze, this may be my favorite picture of the day.  I thought I got a picture of her sneezing with my phone the other day, but the stupid thing froze and I was so crushed I missed the photo - luckily this makes up for it.

Ryan has been requesting pictures of the hat (and the baby of course).   She is so much more alert all the time now, look at those eyes!

Vintage baby photo edits of baby in a vintage baby knit hat.