wayfaringwordhack: (Junebug Diggin' Life)
We could go with:  "Ti'Loup's Crocheted Baby Blanket, Five Year's Coming,"  OR "Well-Traveled Yarn," OR "Better Late Than Never"  OR "Ça Tombe à Pic"*

For each of my babies, I made at least one blanket, and I wanted them all to have one I crocheted.  I so loved Farmer Boy's blanket, featured here (hello, old Egyptian apartment!): 

junebug's blanket

that I wanted to reproduce the color-scheme for Ti'Loup.  These two boys were born 26 months apart (and their yarn bought in two different countries), so I was unable to get the exact weights and colors.  I had decided on a ripple pattern for Ti'Loup, but I did not get farther than half of the starting chain while we were in Egypt.   Yes, we did leave that country when Ti'Loup was 14 months old; why do you ask? :P  What, you don't think he was still a baby? ;)

So, international move, settling into a new home, farm life, et al, and the yarn was stuffed away in the craft room after only a few stitches added to the chain.  When, over four years later, we moved again, here to Lebanon, I re-packed all that yarn into our suitcases, justifying its presence because of how nicely it filled the empty spaces, firmly lodging our other belongings, aka necessities.  Oh, and because Ti'Loup was no longer an infant and I knew I needed the blanket to be a bit bigger if it was to be of any use to him, I also added any other yarn that might fit the color scheme and buy me a few extra rows.  Mixed bag of yarn in hand, I set out to find a pattern that would play nice with all the factors I was having to juggle for cohesiveness.  I settled on this rainbow baby blanket sampler.

In true me style, I decided upon arriving here that the Most Pressing Thing To Do was finish the dratted patiently-awaited blanket.  After many hours of crocheting, and a couple more of ripping out over 20 rows and re-doing them because I had inadvertently added stitches, we have a blanket!  It might be missing the pattern's border (yeah, don't have enough yarn to do that), but it is a bona fide usable, cuddle-worthy, cozy-making, memory-building blanket.

Sorry for the fuzziness; I zoomed to take the photo from the landing on the floor above:
  
blanket-overhead.jpg
 
blanket1.jpg


And one with the not-so-little happy owner:

20220123_090330.jpg

_________
* "In the Nick of Time" or "This is Timely" or "It's Opportune", take your translation pick, whichever conveys to you that it is freezing here in Lebanon and a lap blanket is a wonderfully useful thing to have about one's self.  
wayfaringwordhack: (Sprout: my loves)
Both Junebug and Sprout are pleased with their brother, wanting to hold and caress him at every opportunity. They are both really gentle with him.

And snuggled around the cute babyness, you can see the blanket I made. I'll try to get around to taking a photo of it laid flat.

ExpandBaby pics )
I don't know if anyone remembers, but before Sprout was born, we referred to her as "Little Bean." Since "coquille" implies the outer shell to hold something, now that our little one has emerged, I'm going to start calling him Ti'Loup* here, which means "Little Wolf." Just because.

___________
* "Ti" as in petit, pronounced "tee", and the P in loup is silent: tee-lou. If we would have gone with a different first name, we were considering Loup for a middle name.
wayfaringwordhack: (Junebug: Diggin' life)

I guess I can close the link on what to do if birthing one's baby happens unexpectedly at home or in the car. :P

I started having contractions on Thursday afternoon, after a busy couple of hours on my feet. But they were nothing to call the doctor about, coming, as they were, at least 30 min apart and very manageable on the pain level. At two minutes to midnight, a more serious bout of them woke me, keeping me from from dozing off until 6 a.m., after which point they went back to every 30 minutes or so, allowing me to sleep 20 min at a time until 9 a.m.

At a little past 2 p.m., the contractions started coming quicker, if not harder, so my doc suggested going to the hospital to be checked out by the doctor on-call. We arrived at there at 4, with Sprout in tow, leaving Junebug in the care of our housekeeper.

Two hours later, after another swift and hard dilation,* I barely made it into the pool, as my doctor barely made it back from Alexandria to assist in the birth, in time to deliver our son. Sprout was so proud to be part of it and see her new baby brother come into the world.

So Boaz Kaelig** Faure, came to us as befits his name (Boaz = quickness, swiftness; Kaelig = Generous lord). He weighed 3.485 kgs (7.68 lbs) and measured 52cm (20 inches).

I was released from the hospital at midnight and should be in bed, but the adrenline is stll running high. Still, better try to sleep some more. I need it. :P

____________

* Similar to Sprout's arrival in the world, only with much less vomiting.
** Briton/Celtic name prounced "Kay-lig", "lig" rhyming with fig. I wonder, since part of the name is French and Boaz is easy to pronounce, if my mother-in-law will approve. Or will she declare that we gave this baby a "weird name," which is her verdict for her other two grandchildren. :P

wayfaringwordhack: (wayfaring wordhack)
I think I'll have time for just one more project before Coquille is born (we're 37wk3d), so I've chosen to do a summer quilt. A friend is borrowing my sewing machine, but she brought it over yesterday so that I could sew my layers together.

I'm using an old sheet and two pieces of unbleached cotton for it. I have a box of embroidery floss full of floss that I got when I learned to embroidery back when I was 11 or 12.  I think it is time I put it to good use. :P

This quilt is my inspiration (the photo I once saw--and pinned--doesn't go to the homeware site where the quilt was for sale, so I can't link to the proper source).

Anyhow, wanting to use things I had on hand, I have a different and wider color selection, my hope being that I won't run out of any one color, because trying to match skeins I've had for more than 25 years and in another country?  No, thanks.

So this is what I'm working with:


I'm just a couple of inches away from finishing the blanket stitch on the third side. Next will come those runnng stitches. The blanket stitch has been so relaxing to do, and I'm sure the easy monotony of the running stitch will lend itself to the same meditative mood. Just what I need. I'm glad I decided to do this. :D

Snippet

2 May 2016 05:42 pm
wayfaringwordhack: (art: energized)
We were at a family retreat this weekend, and I didn't feel like posting when we got home yesterday.

My project this week was crocheting a lamb for a friend's newborn. I used the same pattern as for Coquille's lamb, but from the below photos, you can see how differently they turned out in terms of size and color and overall personality.* Coquille's lamb is the one with the brown legs and face:

_____________
* For the arms and legs, the difference is easily explainable: I just made them as long as I felt like and didn't have the two to compare.
wayfaringwordhack: (art: guitton - housework)
As planned, I did mostly sewing these past two weeks. I sewed a cover for our kiddy pool.  It is one of those inflatable affairs that is over 2mx1.5m, so the cover had to be almost 3x2m.

I also made a mosquito net for our king-size bed, not an easy task moving all that netting about!  But I'm not finished with the stuff; I have to make a net "room" (3mX2.8mx1.8m) for our yard, otherwise flies and mosquitos make it too miserable to eat outside.  Man, how I wish we had stocked up on some mosquito nets when we lived in Mayotte. They were huge and, even better, CHEAP!  *sigh*

I'm a little over "big projects."

I did sew two newborn hats for Coquille's first day...plus a test-run hat that turned out the perfect size for Junebug's baby dolll. LOL

Next up I have to make a new "diaper" bag and repair the nursing pillow I made for when I had Junebug. I would like to sew something for an Egyptian friend who just gave birth, but I need to find some cute, quality fabric first. Not easy at the best of times and not something I feel like doing while hot, heavily pregnant, and car-less.

On the art front, I made some more color charts, more "targeted" ones, kind of like this. I also sketch cows. I suck at cows. Must sketch some more. Lazy me thinks I should just practice some "cartoony" cows since this book is not about cows. My more studious side thinks I shoud work on getting the real deal right first.

Anyone else want to share their creative endeavors from the past couple of weeks?
wayfaringwordhack: (art - pondering)
So, it wasn't an April Fool's joke that the repair shop would be open on April 1st, but it did not come to pass. Color me Not Surprised. Turns out they are still awaiting their acreditation from Apple, so who knows when they will be open for business. In the meantime, there is no alternative because the Doki shop was transfered here. The wait continues. To make matters more interesting, J's laptop has been on the fritz for at least a year now, and it seems to be getting even more fickle about turning on and staying on.

Healthwise, we are all doing better, even if this infernal cough is still making me miserable. Oh for a good night's sleep of no wheezing lungs and racking coughs.  Someday...

My bruises have greatly faded, and I feel no more aches from the scooter accident. I've started driving it again but not with Sprout. She has gone out with J, though, and yesterday, she declared she is no longer afraid of it.

On the creativity front, I've been making watercolor mixing charts and experimenting in general with my new paints. I don't have the energy for storyboarding work right now, so this sort of play is the perfect way for me to learn about my supplies without the stress of "producing something."


I began my 8th month on Thursday and have started going through baby clothes to see what we have for Coquille. Verdict: Not much in the newborn department. Only found two onesies for that age. But after the first few weeks Coquille won't be wearing much as temperatures soar.

I have other newborn stuff. But where? I thought I knew where we put it after the move but have yet to lay hands on it. Must continue looking. And I have a couple of things I want to sew. Those projects may be the focus for the next snippet.

Coquille

31 Dec 2015 12:05 pm
wayfaringwordhack: (Junebug: Diggin' life)
So before the old year is out, I guess I should tell you our old(ish) news.

We're 19 weeks pregnant and will welcome Baby Three, aka Coquille, into the world in May.

The four Faures will soon be five.

Thanks to Sprout for the tummy art. :D



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