oh the crafting i do...

the current state of the baby's portion of my bedroom has been in near-constant flux so i have no new pictures of that. and all of the knitting i've done for the baby is mostly still in some state of unfinished-ness. i will be 34 weeks tomorrow and still have not a single thing prepared for my birth kit, nor has true nesting kicked in yet - unless that's what this desire to deep clean, not just spring clean, my house is, but the result is that things are upside down and messy for days on end and i'm not really seeing an end in sight or happy with the results thus far. i'm trying not to be a huge wimp about moving boxes in my craft closet or lifting and sorting things by myself but i really don't know what a safe level of strenuous activity is this late in the game. i know i thought it completely ridiculous when a woman at the produce stand told me i shouldn't lift a ten pound bag of potatoes last time i was pregnant. so, major furniture moving aside, i'm trying to do the best i can, by myself and the feeling can be overwhelming. it seems this needs to be done before i can actually "nest" because i don't want to be focused on junk or clutter when preparing diapers or spending the few last precious weeks with just my toddler who might be in for a shock when his little sibling arrives.

moving along...i've finished a few customs in recent months and did some low-water immersion style dying for myself last week and have results to share.


first is a pair of toddler-sized pants i knit with scraps that a customer sent me. this was so fun and i wondered why i had never knit pants from scraps for my toddler when he was in diapers. the weaving in the ends is a bit much but this next baby is sure to have at least one pair of "scrappy pants" (not my term) in each size.






next, i knit a pair of wide-legged medium sized pants with mosaic moon's "woodland tale in spring" and i loved how these came out so much that i might not have sent them, had the yarn not belonged to the customer. they would have fit the three year old as nifty board shorts - and i have a skein of this color on the way, so i just might knit some for him, afterall.


for the same customer i made a pair of medium shorts with dashing dachs "levi rabbit" - such a lovely colorway! i have two skeins waiting for something...


and here comes the fun stuff! the itty bitty homebirth shirt was my three year old's but after being stored for a while, it acquired those unsightly yellow, mama-milk stains around the neck so i decided some dye was necessary. the larger homebirth shirt was purchased for this baby but had some odd brown spot on it so it, too, needed another round of dye. both came out a little too dark but still look sweet!


again, with the previously stained clothing. no more white clothes for my kids, i swear! not only is white boring, but i like things i don't have to worry about keeping clean. the hanna andersson hat on the left was actually purchased from an ebay seller and arrived dirty. lovely, right? and the shirt on the right...i don't even remember my three year old ever wearing it, but it also had yellow discoloration. so voila! both look better now. much better.



this picture shows a breastfeeding advocacy shirt that will be handed down, as well. and a brand new organic baby gap romper that isn't so organic anymore now that mama dyed it, but oh well...even natural colored cotton may be too light for the little boys in my life!


and finally! some stuff for me to show off (or not) my inner hippie. one of my favorite, softest shirts and two pair of maternity undies dyed up all pretty like.


eventually i will not feel so stressed about the state of affairs in my home. i am getting really hard core and not holding on to anything i won't use soon. like in the next six months. our house is small, we're about to add one more little one to the mix, and i'd like to enjoy what i have rather than dwell on the lack of space or difficulty i have accessing crafting supplies. making the space i do have work for me will be a challenge but hopefully i can meet the challenge with time to spare to feel truly "nested" and share the last few remaining knit projects before a newborn arrives and i feel even more sleep-deprived!