This post is for catching up

I've been busy with custom orders and holiday crafting, and well, life. Merrick had a terrible week in terms of waking at night, leaving a Zombie-like mommy who didn't felt like blogger at all. But we did some fun stuff last week, and I wanted to share.

We made a batch of salt dough ornaments. My friend happily took pictures saying that I would be on them for once, so here I am (complete with the messy kitchen). I have some more beautiful pictures of others kids but haven't asked their mom if they agreed on having all those little faces on my blog. There were 12 pre-schoolers in my house last Friday. Sweet chaos!

Said photographer friend multitasking. The very next pictures of this series, Elie gets off the breast to say cheese. It is so very precious.

spot the 4th child.

I now have my driving license. New from today. It feels so good!

Yarn Along- Merrick's vest

I hope you knitters out there are proud of me.. I'm a very good way into making Merrick's vest. The back is done and I'm doing the front left side, it's going pretty smoothly. I love being able to stuff it in the diaper bag and take it everywhere I go, or just sit in the play room and while I look after the kids.

As for the book, it was lend to me by a friend who thought it might interest me. Well, it sure does! This tiny book is a true Waldorf toy how-to treasury! I'm following its instructions to make little dollhouse doll. They have a pipe cleaner frame and are wrapped in pure wool, then covered with organic cotton. Papa is about 4" and I'm 3" tall. Yes, those are the right proportions... Papa is 1'6" taller then me! Can't wait to cover little me, little Mariann and little Merrick, and make us little clothing. This will be Mariann's Yule gift, and I'm pretty sure she will be thrilled! Just for fun... Anyone has a little scrap of red fabric with white polka dot? I can't picture mini-me not having one red dress in her closet!

No show and tell

My blog has been pretty much show-and-tell lately. I'm doing a lot of stuff, I have some request from the shop and I've started making holiday gifts.

But sometimes it feels just great to hit the "new post" button and start to write, just because.

I have a crown and a doll to post tomorrow! I would have gone today, but I wait for we have something to get in the city to make the trip worth it. I'm itching to get my license now... My exam is really close, and I hope I pass it, now that I actually have places to go and people to visit. And time off to take, by myself.

I made a pointy hat for Merrick. He hates wearing it. Fortunatly, Mariann loves to model. With attitude.

We went out last week and I realized we were all dressed with something I made. Mariann was wearing her Birthday dress (above) and her Equinox tunic (above), Merrick was wearing his Equinox tunic and Mariann's old mommy-like winter coat (under) and I was wearing a polka dot long sleeve top which I failed to show you yet. But I really did sew something for myself. And I love it!

I really love the idea of getting rid of everything piece of clothing that is massively produce and replace it with handmade goodies, exception allowed to really cool vintage items and Papa's underwear and socks. And the red polka dot dress I've gave birth it. Twice. (and that I'm wearing right now.)

I thought Papa was actually tired of seeing red all the time. I always dress in red, I always dress the babies in red. If I need something new, I pick it it red, if possible. But he apparently doesn't. We're finally renovating our bedroom, the ceiling is insulated and when it was time to pick the paint, I've let him choose...And he choose red. A deep, rich red that I love. And he picked it without any influence from me. And that's awesome because now I have some more excuse of making red things! Even if it's just boring curtains.

And as randomly as I've hit "new post", I'm now hitting "publish post". Thanks!

Merro

I've got the habit of giving the doll I'm working on a nickname. If the doll isn't a custom order, I call her something random (I call the girl above is Adèle), but if I know the name of the kid who'll receive it, I mix my kid's name with his/hers and come for a nickname for the doll. It's silly...But it's how it works in my head!

So this little brown haired, brown eyed guy will soon be the possession of a little man called Matéo. He is a little ober 15½" and is button jointed. The mama didn't want to see it prior sending and then changed her mind, so here it is.

His brown pants once were a sweater, the burgundy long shirt was once a tank top, the boots were ones that I found and lightly dyed with tea, and the vest is a blend of wools, with remnant of Adèle's hair to make the hood.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty proud of myself! It truly was a make it work moment...Very few yarn to work with, and no pattern to start with! But I figured it out, and I love it. Updated Ravelry notes here. There's a lot of imperfection in this... But it's full of love, which fully compensate.

And so I found that I loved knitting...As if I didn't have enough projects going on!

Birthay Crowns close-ups

I've been requested a birthday crown for a little one turning 3, and while taking pictures of it before sending, I realized I still hadn't taken good ones of Merrick's, so here are both:

I carefully chose every details I put in my children crowns. Merrick's is yellow; he was born on a very sunny morning of a hot August day, he's a leo, sign led by the Sun. Oaks leaves are green, summer colored. I choose oak because of it's importance in paganism. My little boy should have the king of trees on his crown, nothing less! The M is blue, just like Merrick's eyes.

Axe and shield to represent the nickname my mom and his "godfather" gave him; Little Viking. His name is of anglo-saxon influence and means Ruler of the Sea or Great Conqueror. Add to that that he's bright blond with pale blue eyes, and always growling.

The spear and wheat is because he was born on Lughnasadh.

On to the custom order. I don't know the little Isabelle Mae that will have it, but her mom requested for pink, flowers and ladybugs. She was born in December, which inspired me to add the white swirls and snowflakes.

I found I loved doing crowns for other kids. I have another one to make, with a Moon and snowflakes.. I'm still drawing the design in my head. The initial will be a G for a change!

Laundry Fairies on a November Day

I think the curse has been lifted. That I was actually able to break the spell and, oh my gods, I am even enjoying November right now.



Being in the dark at 4 pm isn't so heavy now that we decorated all those lanterns, and lit all those candles in the kitchen.

I always have a mug of some hot drink by my side, while I'm knitting, sewing, blogging, etc... Often is 35% creme in hot water with a tablespoon of cocoa. Is there a name for that?

It's also my duty to start the wood fire in the morning. Love the 8 minutes of quietness in the basement by myself (and the spiders).

And I can now plan and start making winter solstice gift without being too much of a freak.



Mariann now understands the concept of cutting along a line. She did all the house by herself, again using lots of glue. She loves glue. With passion.

She now recognize her name, the syllable ma, and Papa taught her to read maman (mommy). There's a lot of motels on our way to the city, and passing by everyone of them she'll say "M like Mariann!!".

We got friends over today. We did some muffins and played and it's always fun to have them in our house. But Mariann skipped her nap, resulting of a horrid mealtime when Papa arrived. Really. She was so upset she felt asleep in my arms right about when the pasta were ready.

She's been pushing our limits lately and I've let Papa instore the "1,2,3...corner" thing. I don't like it one bit, but it works and saved me from going nuts many times. Now whenever she hits her brother or steal a toy from him, I just have to look at her and she goes in the spot on her own. She waits until I say okay, then she goes kissing her brother and saying she's sorry, without me asking. I usually don't leave her there for the whole 3 minutes, just the time Merrick has changed his mind.

When she yells and cries sitting in the corner, we know it's more likely not to calm her down, that she has a spill-over and will need us to ground herself. This might looks like spoiling, but I better like calming her in my arms then leaving her there alone with feelings that are frightening and hard to manage.

Same thing happens to Merrick is we miss the window time where he easily falls asleep. He gets so energetic, but also very grumpy. When this happens, when I try to breastfeed him but he's more interested by the door, Papa comes with us and lay down, sandwiching Merrick, and it really calms him down, and get him asleep in matter of minutes. But this is easily considered spoilage..."Why down you have a crib?? It would be much easier". Well, with did the crib thing with Mariann. It. Was. Not. Easier. And now, we have deep regrets that we did. But we didn't know better, and were told it was the thing to do. Never again.

We're constantly looking at ourselves, at what we do, how we raise our children, constantly asking ourselves if we do it right. I'm getting confident that indeed, we found the right path for us. It was right before our eyes.

My first completed knitting

I had a special request for a special little boy doll. The mama also requested a knitted vest with him. Since she reads my blog and does not want to see him before he arrives home, I've let Victoria model it.

It's the lovely free pattern made by waldorfmama, my ravelry notes are here.

I've added 7 stitches or it would have been too short, but the length of the body was okay. You can see I finally finished Victoria's hairs as well...

I'm really happy with the vest! It's meant to have a hood, and I will knit it soon. I'm also happy I can finally say that I can knit. Really...It was starting to be annoying, people assuming I could knit, me telling no, and them going You!?? You don't know how to knit!??? But you can do anything! Well, I guess now I can, thanks to a book from the SIL (that was all about gather stitch) I got last Yule and a friend who taught me how to purl. And google. Who showed me how to bind off.

So now I have to knit a vest for Victoria. I think it will be red.

Playing Together, Sleeping Together

I love teamwork. Both my babies are now down to nap. Mariann naps so easily when Papa is around... Of course now he's back to work and I will have to deal with her when she wakes up, but I know what will happen, and I will try hard not to loose my tempter and just help her make the transition.

Now that Merrick is walking, they play along so well. There's still some épisode of "NO!!!IT'S MINE!!!" but there's a lot of chasing around, laughing. Mariann shares her most loved items so Merrick can play with her, even if he just chew on the man dolly while she makes the woman make dinner.

Often Merrick will take a little chair and sit, so proud to be doing just that on his own. Then Mariann will serve him tons and tons of coffee, tea, juice, milk and water. All that is the same cup.

But I find myself needing a break, or a least a way to go out. I will have my driving licence, hopefully, at the end of the month, so that will help... But I really need something like, a weekend just with Papa. It would be the first time in 3 years... I don't think I abuse the concept!

What the Candy Fairy brought us

I confess, I did the Candy Fairy gift on the night of Halloween, when Mariann and Merrick got to bed. I first didn't think of making something for Merrick...But it didn't seem fair as he strolled around too.

After leaving her candies for the Candy Fairy, she went to bed, a tad later then she's used to...She was full of sugar. That's what she found in the morning.

I took vintage blocks from her block bins and turned them into a fridge, a stove, a sink and a counter. I also made an autumn gnome! It's the first gnome I make! and two oak leave carpet. The rest we already had it.

And I made this little quick star baby for Merrick to chew on. Oh, and he did chew it.



It was our first visit from the Candy Fairy...I hope she will come back next year!

We celebrated Halloween and Samhain

This is what we left for the Candy fairy.

I don't have pictures of them costumed, But they went as knights and only did some fifteen houses, which gave the candies above. Mariann was thrilled the give them to the fairy and only kept 6 boxes of smarties, and a dorito bag for Papa.

...to be continued...