Nesting: Boppy Cover

Today I sucked it up and attempted to make something involving a zipper. It's not perfect, but you won't see the zipper until future baby pukes on this side a few times. Even then, I think the zipper should at least be out of the way of baby annoyance zone. The zipper even works...so far.

It looks like there is lots of loose fabric, but when I tried it out, it seems like that fabric spreads out once the pillow is in use around my big tummy.

Anyway, I loved the fabric, and I'm fairly pleased with how the cover turned out. We'll see how it holds up to actual use.

R2D2 Hat

Rowan is a fan of Star Wars so I decided to make him a Star Wars hat for Christmas. It has six R2D2s around the hat. I found the charts on Ravelry and made up the hat pattern. I think it looks pretty cool. So does Rowan, and that's more important.

Underwater Jeans

Tucker has recently realized that he's not supposed to wear girls' clothes, but it's been hard for him. Boys' pants are jeans or brown, nary a jewel to be seen. So after watching him vacillate between yet another pair of tan cargo pants and embroidered pink flowers and butterflies, I decided to emboider a pair of his jeans. He *loves* these. Of course they now have holes in the knees, but this flashy dresser doesn't mind.

Incidentally, we did come home from the store with one pair of pants: red cordoroys with ruby jewels in each button and metal gromit thing. That's not girls' clothes.

Halloween Costumes

Alternate title: What Was I Thinking?


It all started when Conor picked out a terribly expensive costume from a catalog. "I can make that", I said. So then all three pick out a costume for me to make. And I'm still thinking I have plenty of time.



Conor wanted to be a Star Wars guy. But apparently that franchise doesn't want you to be able to find a pattern specifically for a Star Wars guy. So we had to make a wizardy-knight one work - and an adult sized one at that. It turned out well, although in looking at the picture, it seems huge. Conor thinks it's okay. I will say that it's the first pattern that, when I found a part that I didn't understand at all, I just did it the way that made sense to me. That's a big step for me.


Rowan wanted to be a super hero. I present: Super Rowie. His pattern also included pants, shirt and gauntlets, but I was tired of costumes at this point, so I skipped them. This is actually the costume that will get worn the most. It's also the pattern that, when reading the directions, I thought "That is the stupidest way to make something that I've ever heard". So (after consulting with Mom and both of my aunt Kathys) I made it my way. Again, not following the directions is a big step for me.

And here's the girl who got the short end of the stick. I knew hers would be worn on Halloween and never again, so the only thing I made from the pattern was the gauntlets. Turns out she was thrilled with them, so she doesn't feel slighted in the least. I also made the skirt - one side seam, elastic waist, and zig zag hem. Tough stuff.

So there you have it. My first (and most likely last) attempt at making all three costumes. Next year, maybe one, but that's it!

Crochet

I've been learning how to crochet. At first it made me want to punch and kick and scream, but then I learned broomstick lace. It's pretty cool. Now I have a new scarf that I made that I didn't knit.

Thanks to the success of the scarf I'm moving on to other crochet projects. I'm excited to be able to trim my knitted work in crochet.

what you've all been waiting for

So I'm pretty sure that all of you are dying to for an update on the deodorant experiment. I mean, who isn't curious about my armpits?

[insert photo of my armpit here]

The first one I made just ran out, and I totally love it. It works so much better than Tom's, which is the deodorant I had been using before. I've been trying, especially when I'm pregnant or breastfeeding, to keep antiperspirant, and its aluminum, off my breast tissue and lymph nodes. It seems like the best choice, but I don't particularly enjoy it, because deodorants haven't worked that well for me. (On the other hand, for a while I was wearing one made with coriander, and at certain points during the day, I would think, "Yum, I smell Mexican food...no, Indian food...") And I tend to sweat a lot, for no apparent reason, sometimes.

But this deodorant totally works. I never stink. Never. I wore it all summer long. AND sweating really wasn't a problem. Occasionally my shirt was wet, but not nearly as bad as I though it would be. And sometimes I bike three kids around. I think the baking soda and cornstarch absorb quite a bit. And have I mentioned that my armpits are so soft, and I never get razor burn? It works all day, unlike Tom's, which has a "long-lasting" version that works for 12 hours. I'm not sure what Tom does, but he must get a lot of sleep.

[insert photo of armpit from another view]

The downside is that it built up in a couple of my shirts. This could be because I only wear three shirts all summer long, or because I put too much on, which I do (because I'm mature, at 34, and I know: more is always better). Also, it's kind of a pain to put on, because you have to dig it out with your fingers.

Since I'm making more, I'm trying a slightly altered recipe, using coconut oil instead of shea butter and cocoa butter. This recipe seems a bit crumblier than the last, so I'm thinking of making the old recipe, and putting it in Chris's old deodorant tube.

So now you know. Homemade deodorant is the bomb.



*******
Ok, by request I'm adding the recipes. The comments page kept weirding out on formatting.

Here's the first version, altered a bit, but from Angry Chicken:
3T shea butter
2T cocoa butter
3T baking soda
2T corn starch
1/4 t vitamin e oil
essential oil (you need quite a bit of e.o. to counteract the fact that shea butter smells like Grandpa's townhouse) - I used fir balsam

new version, which I'm not sold on:
2T coconut oil
2T baking soda
2T corn starch
1/8 t vitamin e oil
1/4 t almond oil (which I added because I thought it would be too hard, which it is. I need to re-melt and add more.)
4 drops peppermint essential oil

Either way, mix everything except the essential oil, and melt in a double boiler, microwave, solar oven, whatever. Mix well. Add essential oils and stir again. Pour in container and let cool. Then enjoy how you're sticking it to The (deodorant) Man.

Tucker's Narwal

Tucker and Chris made a narwal last winter, and when I said something about taking pictures of his pants to post on this blog, he really wanted me to add his narwal. He also wanted me to say that only he made it. But I told him I'm not a big fat liar like he is. But he was the idea man behind it, even drawing a schematic diagram.

Here's what Tucker has to say: Daddy and me made this narwal. It's made out of fabric, a plastic sunbutter jar (but you can use peanut butter if you wanna make it), and a plastic tube that's screwed in with a screw and a nut stuck into the plastic tube. Then I used markers to color it.