Author: Marie Haigh

I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.

The Versatile Cardboard Box

Marie Haigh2 Comments

We order a lot online from Elly’s diapers to spices to coffee and tea. Thus, we have a never ending supply of boxes. Some are broken down right away and tossed into the recycling bin. Some are saved for future use, such as mailing presents to distant relatives.
But, this past year, I have started to find more uses for the boxes.

They were used to help kill the grass around my garden beds and make nice even pathways.

Once the top flaps are cut off, they have made excellent drawer organizers.

The best use by far as been in organizing my fabric.

Long have I wanted my fabric storage to resemble that of a sewing store with the fabric lined up next to each other and the colors and prints easy to see. This was as close as I’ve accomplished.

This was taken several months ago. Every open spot is taken now and it’s a bit of a mess. So, when I read a blog by The Cottage Home about how she accomplished her store-look-alike-fabric-storage, I was determined to try again. She recommended the sturdy plastic sheets from theFabricOrganizer.com. Only trouble is that they are expensive. The Cottage Home recommended comic board books as an alternative and that’s when I was reminded of my treasure trove of cardboard boxes.

It takes a little more cutting to whittle the box down to the right size, but I like the price: free. Free is good.

What do you use your empty boxes for?

Fun on MPB Day

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Saturday was MPB day. Saturday was also my birthday.

I decided that there was no better way to spend my birthday than hanging out with Peter and people who loved to sew.

Though the day started at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum, I opted to meet up with the group at the Brown Cup due to travel time.

They were just sitting down to lunch when I arrived.

After lunch was finished, the group divided into two. Half of the group went straight to Mood. The other half followed Peter to the budget-friendly fabric stores. I went with the latter group as this was my 1st time in the garment district and I wanted the full experience.

The first store Peter took us in was unlike any other fabric store I had ever been in. Bolts of fabric were leaned up against the walls, leaned up against each other and blocking passage way through some of the aisles. Almost nothing had a price tag. There was no air conditioning. A yard stick in hand was used to measure the fabric rather than a ruler anchored to the cutting table. The owner of the store along with his son were present and remarkably friendly. It was overwhelming and amazing. In the midst of it all, I found a cotton embroidered fabric that I couldn’t leave behind.

Here is Elly looking it over later in the day.

Our next stop was Paron Fabrics. Though they had better organization and even AC, I didn’t fall in love with any fabric. However, Peter pulled this fabric out and remarked about its uniqueness.

During the conversation, it occurred to me how wonderful it would look on a bag. I tried to walk out of the store without it, but I knew I would regret it. So, I blame Peter for this purchase.

Next we made a quick stop in a magazine store where most folks perused the sewing magazines; I flipped through some old Trend magazines on Knitwear.

Then, it was on to Mood. At this point, I was slightly disappointed that I hadn’t found any fabric suitable for Elly. So, I headed to the printed cotton section at Mood. I found nothing close to what I was looking for and yet I found exactly what I wanted.

Apparently, it was designed by some well-known designer. I was told the name at the cutting table by the friendly staff member named George who assisted me. But as I’m not up and up on fashion and designers, I neither recognized the name nor cared enough to write it down. George did tease me for buying designer fabric for a 2-year-old. I just loved the colors and the apple motif.

The tour was to continue on to a park, but I and another lady said goodbye here. I was eager to meet back up with family and spend time with them.

It was a wonderful day!
Thank you, Peter!

For complete photos of MPB day of which most are of Peter, see the link below.

MPB Day 2012


–Marie

Elly’s 5 Tier Skirt

Marie Haigh1 Comment

While watching the Golden Girls, May and Walsh, win their 3rd and final Olympic gold medal, I finished Elly’s skirt.

I love how it turned out.

The best part is the ruffle. It wasn’t in my original drawing. I was inspired to add it after looking through Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge book. I’m so glad I did.

Elly hasn’t been feeling herself due to a mild cold and lack of sleep, so she balked at my request that she pose for pictures while wearing a wool skirt in 90 degree heat.

Still I think she liked the fact that she could twirl in it.

Statistics:
Pattern – my own
Time Frame – 1.5 months
Yarn – Lovely Malabrigo and Claudia Hand painted yarn

So, should I knit Elly another skirt just like this one except in greens and blues or should I knit a skirt for myself in a dark chocolate brown? I can’t decide.

Makings of a Proper Root Cellar

Marie HaighLeave a comment

When I was growing up, I remember our basement having a small room off of the main area. The room was lined with shelves. By the end of summer, those shelves held what looked like thousands of Mason jars. All of the jars held pickles.

I thought it was silly for several reasons.
1. I don’t like pickles.
2. You could buy pickles at the grocery store.
3. We didn’t have a vegetable garden. So, the cucumbers had to be bought and then pickled.
4. It looked like a lot of work, especially when you take into account #2.

And here I am many years later stocking my shelves in the basement with the very same Mason jars.

But, I have a an excuse or two.

I do have a garden.
This has been my best year ever for tomatoes. I can’t possibly eat them all. Although my intention was to freeze all the spaghetti sauce and tomato soup, my freezer is pretty full. Boy, do I regret buying the smaller size now. It seemed like a good idea 5 years ago, but 5 years ago I didn’t have a garden or a reason to stock pike my freezer with ready-made meals.

Thus, my shelves got a good wash down this past weekend. I wasn’t about to put my pretty Mason jars down on dusty shelves. And since it’s only early August, I expect my shelves to be full by the time Fall rolls in.

I suppose the apple never does fall far from the tree.

No More Withholding

Marie HaighLeave a comment

For the past month, Dan and I have talked about and worried about Elly’s bowel movements. She went from a child who excused herself from playtime to go poop in her diaper while rummaging through our bookcases to a child who was scared to go poop and would try with all her might to withhold it.

Her normal pattern was interrupted by a bout of constipation and annals fissures. It was painful. She cried. I cried.

Physically, she was fine in less than 48 hours.

It took a lot longer for Elly to heal emotionally. She was terrified to go poop. She started to withhold her bowel movements. When she could no longer hold it in, she cried.

We tried everything.

Our pediatrician advised us to increase the fiber in her diet. Thankfully, popcorn is high in fiber and is also one of Elly’s favorite snacks. However, getting Elly to eat fruit has always been difficult, since most fruit is squishy. Elly won’t eat squishy food. She just plays with it. So, I increased the amount of smoothies we drank and even added ground flax seed to it. This worked a bit too well. It had me popping Pepto Bismo pills one night.

We also tried talking to Elly. We explained that she should go when she had to go. We promised her that she would feel better if she did go. We told her that everybody had to go, even Santa Claus. This had the biggest impact on her. She seemed to understand this concept and would often tell us that certain people pooped. But, it didn’t translate into her wanting to go poop.

We even had my best friend, who just happens to be a doctor, talk to Elly and draw her a picture of her tummy and her maze (colon).

We also tried reward bags filled with candy, cards and crayons. Though Elly was happy to eat the candy, pigs were going to fly before she was going to go poop just for a few pieces of candy. Despite loving chocolate more, Elly saw no reason to perform for a piece of chocolate either especially when all she had to do was ask Rene, our beloved next door neighbor, for a Hershey kiss. Rene loves to give Elly chocolate.

So what did work?

1. Removal of the iron drops she had been taking because of slightly low iron levels.
2. Minor diet changes.
3. Swimming.  (odd, yes. Elly would withhold for days. I would take her swimming for 2 hours and without fail she would have to go poop.)
4. Patience.
5. Constant reassurance.
6. Breastfeeding. (It sure is nice to still have this trump card in my pocket. It will go away soon as some days she only nurses a handful of times, but until it does it gets used to cure what ails her).

Of course, we still have to tackle the small issue of where Elly goes poop, but right now I’m just so happy that she is going poop.

The Finishing Touches

Marie HaighLeave a comment

The knitting part is complete.

All that is left to be done is to insert the elastic and to tack down the top and bottom hems with a simple running stitch.

It’s remarkable how quickly this skirt knit up. In previous summers, I avoided knitting like the plague. I hated how the wool made me feel hotter in the dog days of summer. But this summer, I’ve enjoyed knitting. Perhaps it’s because I’m just grateful to be able to squeeze in time for my hobby while running after a toddler. Maybe it’s because while chasing after a toddler, I can only devote a few minutes here and there to knitting so my hands don’t have time to get hot from the wool. Maybe it’s because I’m happier. Elly is pretty amazing. It’s hard not to be happy around her.

Still Cutting Fabric

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Staring at the piles of fabric already cut out, it would appear that I could start sewing the pieces together anytime now. Except the truth of the matter is, I’m not even halfway done.

There is much more fabric to be cut, marked and thread-traced.

Here is the polyester lining that will be used to line the skirt portion of the dresses. It needs to be pressed, cut, marked, and thread traced. Then, there is the taffeta and lace to cut, mark and thread trace.

I wish I could hurry up this process up, but I don’t want to make any stupid mistakes. Plus, the Olympics are not helping. I spent all last night knitting in front of the TV watching our girls win the gold in gymnastics.

Home at Last

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Since Wednesday of last week, we’ve attended a wedding, enjoyed 2 days at the Jersey shore and attended a bridal shower.



Although every bit of it was fun, I am glad to be back home.

I plan to do absolutely nothing today.

OK, that is not entirely true. I plan to stay in the neighborhood to facilitate a boatload of cooking. Folks, it’s harvesting time.

The carrots, jalapeno peppers and, most importantly, the tomatoes are in. First up on the menu: tomato sauce. Oh boy, oh boy!

Not Quite Mrs Fix It

Marie HaighLeave a comment

We have the best neighbors.

Not only did my neighbor allow me to borrow a hole saw from his collection of tools, he’s a retired handyman, but he also gave me several pointers on how to drill a hole correctly. He even drew me a diagram!

Armed with this knowledge and a hole saw, I drilled a hole slightly to the right of the original hole. I tried to go above or below like my neighbor suggested, but it was impossible to cover all the old holes and do that. The sawing of the hole went OK. Thankfully, the new doorknob covers most of my errors.

Then, we installed the doorknob.

Oh yes, Elly helped. I had to get a 2nd screwdriver and extra screws for her. She kept stealing the ones I needed for the new doorknob.

Dan came home and after telling me I was crazy to install a doorknob on a day I felt sick, he then ever so gently pointed out my error. Do you see it?

Yeah, the latch is backwards.

Dan had to reinstall the doorknob. Naturally, Elly supervised.

I blame the fever. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

PS. Elly and I are headed to Long Beach Island, NJ for a few days followed by a trip to family followed by a bridal shower. So, we’ll be busy. This blog will lie idle in the meantime. I’ll be back on Tuesday with lots of pictures.

–Marie