“For me”? Asked Elly in amazement
“Yes, for you” I said.
This response elicited a huge grin.
“More candles” begged Elly.
“I blew out the candles. Oh, hooray!” said Elly.
Author: Marie Haigh
I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.
A Year in Pictures
Elly is 2 years old today.
Elly started this year off in babyhood and somewhere along the way she grew up and became a sweet little girl. I’m not sure when exactly it happened.
Thank goodness I took a few hundred pictures.
Shortly after her birthday, we took Elly to Mexico.
She learned to walk and to open sliding glass doors.
We learned to lock sliding glass doors.
A month later and Elly could be found outside in the yard with Mommy helping with the spring cleaning.
At 14 months, she started being able to reach things we didn’t think she would be able to reach for months (hopefully years).
Case in point, she was thrilled to be able to reach her favorite food, Cheerios, and pour them all around her.
Thanks to Jake, she loved to put sticks and rocks in her mouth. See this pretty picture of her?
She has a rock in her mouth.
I would love to report that she has grown out of this stage, but alas no. She still loves the feel of rocks in her mouth. At least she no longer tries to chew on sticks like Jake.
At 15 months old, Elly fell in love with the local playgrounds thanks in part to watching older kids.
The swing remains her favorite part about the playgrounds.
Summer had arrived by the time Elly was 16 months old. After seeing a water table at a friend’s birthday party, we knew we had to get Elly one.
It was great until she learned how to climb on top of it a short month later.
Parties dominated her 17th month.
Get-together at Granny’s house:
July 4th party at home:
When Elly was 1.5 years old, Dan went to Las Vegas with the boys. (No questions were asked upon his return. grin). Granny stayed with us for a few days and we had a great time.
We took Elly to the local Weavers Orchard where she got to feed the animals.
At 19 months old, I introduced Elly to play dough.
I don’t know why I waited so long. It’s still one of her favorite craft activities.
At 20 months old, we hosted our 2nd annual Apple Festival. (We hope to make this a tradition).
(Poor Elly had smacked her head on the marble floors at the local mall a day before).
Days before Halloween, it snowed!
Last year, she thought the snow was too cold. This year, she loved it.
And on Halloween, we dressed Elly up as Stitch though we did not take her trick-or-treating. She was sick.
At 21 months old, Elly was fascinated with Fall clean-up.
Oh, how she loved playing in the leaves!
But perhaps not as much as she loved playing with her Uncle Matt at Thanksgiving!
In December, Elly came with us as we attended a wedding of dear friends in Philadelphia and visited Dan’s sister and brother in New York City.
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| Mike and Arecia’s Wedding |
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| Elly’s 1st trip to NYC |
Then, of course, came Christmas. Elly was 22 months old. Though she wouldn’t sit on Santa’s lap at the mall, she shouted out everytime she saw him. (She still does. Any old man sporting a full white beard is Santa. Fair warning).
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| Christmas 2011 |
In January, Elly (23 months old) overcame her fear of bounce houses.
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Happy Birthday, my Poppet. I love you.
To see all 255 pictures of Elly’s life as a 1-year-old, click on the album below.
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| Elizabeth, Age 1 |
A Scarf for Me
I am allotted only 10 minutes or so a day to knit on the hexagon blanket. So, naturally I cast on a 2nd project because as Dan likes to say “Marie, you have a magical timepiece. You always think there is more time in a day than there really is.”
He’s a realist and terribly practical to boot. How is that any fun?
Want to see how far along I’ve come on my long scarf?
(Can you tell she’s my daughter? A little bit more dexterity in her hands and I’m going to have another knitter in the household).
Well, maybe there is some basis to Dan’s belief.
It is a short row scarf, titled Self-Twist Scarf. I received the pattern at the Pottstown Knit Out. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the exact pattern on Ravelry to share with you. But, this one looks similar.
I am knitting it in Malabrigo’s Worsted Merino verde, a lovely dark green.
Replacing an Attached Cushion
Spurred on by my success of replacing the old seat cushion, I announced to Dan that I was going to replace all the cushions on the wingback chair. Dan thought the only way I could accomplish such a task was to reupholster the chair. I knew I didn’t want to do that. So, I set out to prove him wrong.
I won.
A quick search on the internet found instructions on eHow.
Perhaps reupholstering the chair would have been easier, but if I staple the new fabric on I can kiss goodbye the ability of ever washing it. Light colored fabric coupled with a small child makes washing a necessity.
The hard part will come when I try to shove the new cushion back into the attached fabric of the chair, but I’m a determined gal.
An eagle eye will notice that the muslim cover to the seat cushion has an error. Read more about it here.
My New Knitting Spot
Wouldn’t you like to be knitting here?
(Loved the series by Knitting Dragonflies)
Probably not.
Yet, I’m thrilled to have found a moment in each day where I can knit a few rows. Why I just might finish the hexagon blanket before Elly’s 5th birthday. Don’t hold your breath though.
The Color of Happiness
Turquoise!
The doors are painted.
The drawers are painted.
The hardware is the same. I just cleaned them up.
Next up are the cabinets doors.
A New Chair Cushion
In addition to repainting all the kitchen cabinets a lovely shade of turquoie, I have started to sew a slip cover for this chair.
It came with the house. I didn’t pick that fabric out.
When removing the current cover on the seat cushion, I noticed the horrible yellow staining and massive deterioration. Thus, the first step was to make a new seat cushion.
Of course, Elly helped.
First, I cut out a new cushion from the giant roll of foam I ordered from Joann. (I used a coupon to cut the price way down). Next, we decorated the foam with markers.
Afterwards, I wrapped the foam in two layers of low loft batting and then whip stitched it closed.
The difference is amazing. This might be the most comfortable chair in our house now.
Booty from Pottstown Knit Out
Saturday’s snow storm only managed to delay the start of the Pottstown Knit Out by 2 hours.
I arrived minutes before my class started, giving the organizers a bit of a scare. But, I couldn’t resist taking Elly out in the snow. Once outside, I noticed my 91-year-old neighbor’s walkway had not been shoveled. Refusing to let her do it herself, I took my helpers over to clear her sidewalk and driveway.
I will no longer roll my eyes when Dan informs me he really wants to buy a snow blower. Shoveling snow is hard work! I fully support his decision now.
Back to my story of the Knit Out …. My class went great. All attendees agreed that charts finally made sense. It gave me such a great feeling.
Knowing I barely have time to knit these days, I did not buy any of the gorgeous yarns seen. Instead I bought me a new knitting bag.
Isn’t it wonderful? It’s handmade by Ruth Raisner. Get your Phillies bag here.
Go Phillies!
Degreasing Cabinets
Palmolive, hot water, a scouring pad and a little bit of elbow grease were all I needed to remove years of grease and grime.
If you want to preserve the current paint or finish, then I wouldn’t recommend using the same technique. The scouring pad removed a layer of paint with the unwanted grime, but that just saves me time and effort. I can now skip the sanding step and jump straight to the priming step.
The only challenge lies in how to keep Elly occupied with her washable paints while I paint over all the avocado green. Wish me luck.
1 Down and 5 to Go
At the rate I’m going, it will take me 3 more years to finish the other 5 hexagons. It might even take me longer, since I’ve started suffering motion sickness while driving in the passenger seat and trying to work on needle crafts. The more curves in the road and the more fiddly the project, the more seasick I become. I never had this problem before. The lion’s share of my knitting has been accomplished on road trips. I feel so unproductive now.
To add insult to injury, it took me two tries to seam up the first hexagon yesterday only because I didn’t follow my own tip. I always recommend to other knitters that they use safety pins to hold the knit together while working a mattress stitch. I was in a hurry and just tried to wing it. It didn’t work. I had to rip the seam out and start all over again. The second time I used safety pins.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 