High Five for Little Monkeys!

This New Year has brought with it my third trimester and therefore a lack of energy. I've only found time for a few crafts but each of which I am stoked to share.

First up, my two and half year old, Silas, has been asking to paint almost daily. As the paintings pile up because the hoarder in me won't toss any of them, I decided I had to do something with them. My favorite so far has been this "Hi" card... or "high five". I have quite a few hands I cut out in preparation for this years birthday cards =]

Next project was inspired not only by the little feet that lovingly kick my organs all day and night, but also by a little 3 month old darling with no shoes for church... we couldn't have that. So I pulled out my old pattens and found I already had this one from Hook Candy.

The pattern is genius, I love the two layers of the footbed creating the stripe around the outside. I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease and found I had to go down a full size on the pattern to get the sizes right. But since I have every color in this yarn (because it's what I make my Owl Hats out of) I plan to make a few more pairs to match certain outfits. Yay for accessorizing little girls!

On to my long awaited trip to CA... I have a few things I really wanted to make for this trip and the 8 1/2 hour flights each way. First, a neat quiet book, but I went the easy route and borrowed a friends instead. Second a felt road or train track mat, which can't find the motivation to even cut the pieces out for some reason. And last, a fabric house, barn, or train shed. Silas would have adored this, but it's still on my To Do list

Photo: UK Lass in US

I did, however, finish what I consider to be the most necessary item for traveling alone with a 40 lb 2 1/2 year old who jets every chance he gets. Since I can't really pick him up and carry him for long periods of time due to my current condition, I refashioned his little backpack into a harness with a removable leash.

I felt like a terrible person even wanting a harness for him, but honestly, I have such a hard time having any adult interaction having to do with standing at a counter because my kid just runs. So, I am just going to overlook to nasty glances I'm going to receive and play it safe.

The strap for his chest took all of 10 minutes to sew together. the best part is the chest strap is tight on the backpack straps, so as you reposition the height or the clip, it stays in place!

The D ring on the bottom I had to sew into place by hand, that took about 45 minutes. It's not easy sewing down through the bottom of a backpack and into two layers of that strap.

The leash is totally removable and stores nicely in the pocket under the monkey's face (not the zipper pouch, there's another one under the flap) Score on that Old Navy clearance find from when Silas was born. Luckily, my guy loves wearing this back pack, but he may think differently about it after this week.

And my on going project: I've been working on this beauty since the week after Christmas. JoAnn's had a big yarn sale, so I picked up some EcoWays yarn because they had all the colors I wanted to use and have been working on this wave blanket for the bun in my oven in my spare time, which is quite a lot.

It works well since I have been told by the doctors twice now to sit with my feet up often (I've been in the hospital twice and the amount of contractions I've been having concerns the Doc a bit, but with a relaxed life style I can really feel a difference.) But hey, I'm 30 weeks now, not much longer till we've got a noob on our hands and NO time for crafts.