Due Date + Maternity shots

Tomorrow is my due date... apparently that means absolutely nothing, but I guess we'll see! Last week Chris and I decided that it was about time that we put a little effort into taking some maternity shots. At 39 weeks pregnant I was hopefully not going to be getting any bigger and if we missed this opportunity I'd regret it. So despite the fact that nobody feels particularly photogenic at 39 weeks pregnant I put in a bit of effort and I'm really glad that I did. We were aiming for a casual look. Just me, hanging out at home, super pregnant and hopefully Chris would manage to find a flattering angle. I'm really happy with the results. I'm also really happy that I managed to casually feature a knit in most of my favourite shots! I've worn a lot of my knit cardigans throughout this pregnancy, but my French Braid definitely earned it's spot as #1 cardigan. I've lived in this thing for the past couple of months!

So, without further ado, here I am; super pregnant, super happy and super excited to meet my baby (due to arrive right on schedule tomorrow right?!)

What to Expect guest blogger

So, this is kinda really cool. Last summer, when I first shared the news of my pregnancy with my family, my sister in law gave me the very popular "What To Expect When You're Expecting" book. Since then it has lived on my bed side table and I've read it cover to cover, often referencing it when I had a pregnancy related question. So, imagine my surprise and delight when I was contacted by the editors of the What To Expect blog about being a featured guest blogger! I of course said yes and then drafted a blog post for the one parenting topic I am a expert on: crafting for babies! You can check it out on the Word Of Mom blog here.

Baby's Room!

The baby's room is ready! We've been working on it on and off for a while now and have just recently put the final touches on our baby's space. I know that lots of people do not think of the nursery as a priority. The baby won't know the difference whether he/she's in a beautifully decorated space or a cardboard box. That rational makes a lot of sense, but not for me! I'll know the difference. I expect to spend a lot of time in this room in the coming months, and I'd like it to be a space that I can enjoy. I've loved every step of planning this room and when I walk into this space now, I love it! It makes me so happy. Having a lovely and organized space will definitely help me relax during late night feedings! Chaos and clutter stress me out, I need a calm and soothing space for me and my baby. 

First, here are the before shots! By the time I got around to taking these shots we had already switched out a hideous ceiling fan for this pretty birch orb, had painted the walls a soft cream and the ceiling aqua blue. We had the crib and had moved an old storage cubby unit from the basement to the nursery (this unit was left over from when I used to use it as part of my TFA show booth display.) I picked up the dresser and the chair (it rocks and swivels!) at a second hand store for peanuts. So, this is what I was working with:

The room is quite small, it's perfect for a nursery, but is definitely not a large space. We had the chair reupholstered in a blue/grey tweedy fabric. I love how it turned out! We purposefully picked a fabric that would work well anywhere, if I eventually move this chair to the living room, it'll look great. We spruced up the shelves by putting on a backboard and painting it the same blue as the ceiling, we finished off the raw edges with iron-on melamine tape and raised it off the floor by attaching 4 teak wooden legs. The legs match the chair legs and the finish on the dresser. 

There is lots of room to grow in this space. All those storage boxes on the bottom shelf of the cubby are empty! The closet has 4 shelves and a hanging rod that are mostly empty and the dresser has a bunch of teeny tiny onesies in the top drawer and not much else! 

We've got art and books! The Noah's Arc needlepoint was made for me by my mother when I was a baby. I remember it hanging on the wall above my bed my entire childhood. Mom passed it down to me for Christmas this year and it's so special. We put baby pictures of me and Chris on the dresser (funnily enough, both adorable baby shots are of us sitting in rocking chairs! Random, but awesome.) so we can play that fun game "who does baby look like?" We've got photos of baby animals and a beautiful baby fox painting made for us by my very talented friend Sara. 

Of course there is my bird mobile and the crib bedding I've hinted at several times! I picked out the multicoloured, polka-dot chevron fabric first and then chose a few other coordinating fabrics to go with it. I love how the bedding came out. Mom and I spent a day making it, it was a lot of work and a lot of math! But it's perfect. 

Now that the room is ready, all that's left to do is sit around and wait for baby to join us! Any day now...

Blue Flower Baby Blanket

Pattern: African Flower Hexagon by Lounette Fourie and Anita Rossouw.
Yarn: TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn, Signature Palette plus Natural.
Ravelry Project Page here.

This baby blanket project has been in the works for about a year. It started off as innocently as they all do. I just wanted to experiment with the African Flower pattern. It's such a pretty crochet motif and I couldn't resist. I made one, I made another, I made a few more, picked a palette, then I was committed. 

I went at it slowly and casually at first and then when it started looking like it had a chance of actually   becoming a baby blanket (which, coincidentally happened around the same time I found out I was expecting) I gave it my full attention and stuck with it until it was finished.  

I am thrilled with the results. It's a smallish sized blanket, perfect for in the stroller or car seat. I had plenty of yarn from 1 Palette, and used an additional skein and a half (maybe) of Natural. For the border I worked one round of single crochet in Lemongrass and then one round of double crochet in Seabreeze (I had extra of these, I don't think that I had enough of any colour left over from my Palette to do a proper border). I really love how those two colourways look together and think that they put the finishing touches on this bright blue blanket. They tie it all together and make it feel light and fresh. I'm already planning another baby knit using Seabreeze and Lemongrass together. 

Though I really do love my Signature Palette, I can't help but think how beautiful this blanket would be in just about any of the TFA Palettes. Sweet and soft in the Pastel Palette, bold and modern in the Rusty Palette with a grey edging... the possibilities are endless. Maybe when I recover from having woven in about 1000 ends I'll start another in an alternate colourway. 

And the good news is: Stella loves it! Hopefully her little brother or sister will too!

Baby Shower

I mentioned on Monday that my mom held the best baby shower ever for me over the weekend. We were spoiled with gifts, hugs and good company. I did my best to snap a few photos of the beautiful set up before everyone arrived, look at all the attention to detail! The food was ample and delicious. The sweets kept me going all afternoon, the touches of blue and yellow, the flowers, the cakes (one edible and one made of diapers!) the family heirlooms that mom pulled out (the basinette with the baby blankets) the knits hanging like valances in the windows, the baby photos of Chris and I scattered around the house. The whole thing was beautiful and amazing. 

Thanks mom! and dad, poor dad got kicked out for the party, but I know that he worked very hard getting the house ready for so much company! 

Baby Blanket Progress

Last week I showed you this photo and said that I had plans to turn it into a baby blanket: 

This week I'm happy to report that my baby blanket it almost finished! Just the end of one last seem to sew up and then some sort of border to figure out and my baby will have one more blanket to add to  the ever growing collection of knits! The pattern will definitely be shared when it's ready. 

And because I'm going to make sure that my baby has a love of whippets like mom and dad do I've bought the sweetest little whippet onesie I've ever seen! I absolutely love this thing. It's been hanging on the wall in my dining room like art for over a week and I have no plans to take it down any time soon. 

Nursery Palette

Because baby can never have too many blankets I've cast on for yet another new project. This time a baby blanket design I'm working on in this bright and cheery colour palette inspired by some of the fabrics used in my nursery scheme. There are 2 new colourways in the photo above... can you spot them? Because I love it so, this Palette will likely be added to the Palette collection soon. Have a great weekend!

Bird Mobile

Chris and I are making good progress on the baby's room. The painting is done, most of the furniture is set up, curtains are being hemmed... it's all coming together and I am pretty giddy about the whole thing. I think that it will be my favourite room in the house when it's complete. 

Remember all these awesome multicoloured birds I made in the fall? Well, they no longer decorate my mantel, they have officially been turned into a mobile and are now hanging above the crib. And let me tell you, it's just the sweetest scene ever!

Mom and I spent an evening making all these birds, then Chris and I spent an afternoon assembling them into a mobile. And guess what, the whole project cost zero dollars and zero cents. That's right! It was completely free. Gotta love that.

The initial plan was to use clear, inconspicuous fishing wire to hang the branches, but after tons of fiddling it became obvious that there was no way that Chris and I were going to figure out how to make that work. The branches kept spinning, the birds were all hanging upside down, we gave up and embraced the less subtle, but equally beautiful look of copper wire. 

We used hot glue to affix the birds to the branches. Getting the birds to sit relatively well perched and balanced was no small feat. Honestly, I don't know how mobile makers do it... Chris and I kept thinking that you must need a degree in physics to get these things to hang straight! In the end, we managed, it's not perfect, but I think that the imperfections add to the sweet, rustic charm of this mobile. 

I love these birds and am really happy with how the project came together. Hopefully baby will love it too. I put my favourite bird on the bottom branch, this is the view the baby will have from the crib. Not too shabby!

The bird pattern is a free download and can be found here. 

TFA - growing, changing, staying the same

A wee sweater in progress, this one is a gift, it's now finished and is super cute! Can you spot the new colourway?

I've been getting a lot of inquiries lately from people who want to know what my plan is. How do I intend to keep TFA afloat, all by myself, while taking care of a newborn? Good question! The answer is quite simple, basically, I'm not all by myself. I've got Chris to do all the dyeing and my mom to help out with everything else. And I can't exclude my dad, he rarely gets a mention on the blog, but he's basically the baby whisperer (not joking, he's really got a golden touch with babies, he loves them and they really love him) so I'll be inviting him over a lot! All of us will be taking time off when the baby is born. I'll still be checking e-mails (though I may take a day or two longer to answer them) and I'm sure I'll pop in with a few blog posts to introduce you all to our newest member of team TFA, but once we've taken a week or so to settle in at home, Chris will be back to work dyeing up yarn for all your orders and mom will be helping me take care of the rest. So for the most part, other than having a new face on the blog to coo over, you really shouldn't notice much of a difference from TFA.  

I feel extremely lucky to have such a strong support system in place. Most new moms are left alone at home a week after the baby is born when their husbands have to go back to work. Maybe their mom will come stay for a week or two to pitch in, but not everyone gets a husband who works from home and a mom who lives 10 minutes away. When Chris goes back to work he'll walk across the backyard and be a quick shout away should I need him. 

Chris and I have always known that we wanted a family. In fact, back in 2008 when I officially started TFA, part of my reason for doing so was because I knew that the late night, long hours of the restaurant business were not what I wanted to be doing long term. Along the way we have always kept our future family in mind when making decisions about the growth and management of TFA. That's why we opted to build a backyard studio rather than rent a space, why we've made the decision to stay small and flexible rather than go big. It has always been our plan that our lives at TFA would be able to pretty seamlessly be integrated with our lives as parents. 

We started scaling back on some of our production earlier this year, just to make this transition more manageable for us, and if you haven't noticed a change yet, you likely won't. We'll be amping up our inventory before the baby comes. Our focus is on our direct to customer retail sales, including our website sales, Etsy shop sales and Club memberships. The website will not shut down, there will hopefully still be a few One Of A Kind Etsy updates and of course the Club will go on as usual. You may find it a little bit harder to find my yarns at your LYS (though lots of my LYS's have been stocking up on inventory, so maybe you'll find it easier than ever!) but everything will still  be available on my website as usual. 

The one thing that I haven't been able to fit in with the new baby this year is the DKC Knitter's Frolic. The baby is due early April, who knows when I'll actually go into labour, and committing to the April 27th Frolic date is just not realistic. I'm sad to miss it, but I think that trying to make it work would just make me crazy and stressed. I plan on being back next year with baby in tow!

I'm feeling extremely creative lately, I've got no less than 5 or 6 patterns in development at the moment, all of which I'm very excited about. We're working on new colours, considering new yarn bases, things at TFA have never been more rewarding! So have no fear, TFA is growing and changing, but from where I'm sitting, it looks like things are just getting better. 

hiccups

Last night the strangest thing happened. I'm usually a very good sleeper (something I'm very grateful for) but last night I woke up at 1:45 am and stayed wide away until 5 am. I have no idea why. My eyes were open and I couldn't seem to close them. Then one thing led to another and my brain started working and the wheels started turning and I just couldn't shut down. I started thinking, worrying, fretting. Not about anything in particular or anything very worrisome. Then I got the best little wake up call, the baby got the hiccups! It was the most adorable thing ever and I just lay there with my hand on my belly for what felt like forever as my little babe bounced up and down to a quick little hiccup rhythm. I can't believe it, there is a real human person in there who gets the hiccups. What a thrill. 

I'm in my third trimester now, I still feel great and have a surprising amount of energy. My belly is getting rounder by the day and I'm loving every second that I spend admiring my ever changing profile in the mirror. My only complaint is that it's going by too fast. A few months ago when we found out we were expecting all I wanted was for these 9 months to rush by as quickly as possible so I could get to the end of the journey and come out the other side with my fresh little miracle. But now that it's actually happening I'm getting anxious about always looking forward and not taking the time to appreciate what's happening right now. Though I am super excited to meet my little boy or girl (and to stop calling my baby "the baby") my aim is to spend these next couple of months living in the moment and appreciating every little hiccup that baby offers me while he/she is still safe in my belly. 

Handspun ideas anyone?

Psst - Tomorrow the price of a Year In Colour Club membership will go up! If you're considering treating yourself to the gift that keeps on giving, now is the time!

I've had a lots of request from people wanting details about my tree skirt, it's my Flowers in the Snow afghan wrapped around the base of the tree! 

This is, more or less, my stash of handspun. I'm extremely in love with just about every skein. So much care and effort goes into every single skein that it becomes very difficult for me to pick a project worthy of my handspun yarns. Baby projects come to mind as a really good use. Typically the yardage I get out of one skein is enough for a baby sweater. Since babies aren't very hard on their clothes there is little risk that the finished knit will get abused or damaged. Baby projects are perfect heirloom knitting for special skeins. I've knit a few baby projects using my handspun already: here, here and here.

These five skeins jump out at me as being particularly baby appropriate. Any recommendations for the perfect baby sweater pattern that would highlight the beauty of handspun? I'm open to a pattern with stripes or colourwork, so I could combine a skein with some of my hand dyed yarn and then have some handspun left over for a hat or something. All ideas are welcome!

Baby bump!

Yesterday afternoon Chris and I took some time to take photo's of my Coolbreeze Hat (previously known as the "Palette Hat") and while we were at it he snapped a few shots of my ever growing baby bump. I thought I'd better share it today, because by next week it probably won't look the same! 

I love finally having a real belly! Up until recently I just looked like I ate a big lunch, but now I can proudly show off a real baby bump. I'm feeling great, my second trimester is being quite kind to me. I have lots of energy and by some miracle I've got the best skin of my life! Most of all, I just feel lucky. I'm feeling little fluttery baby kicks and it's just about the most amazing thing in the world. 

Baby knitting

When I announced that I am expecting a month ago, I got a lot of comments from people saying: "can't wait to see all the baby knits!" and I felt the same way, there is pretty much nothing I like more than an adorable baby knit. But alas... I have only knit one thing for the baby since finding out we had a baby on board (the awesome little sweater in my announcement post). What's holding me back? This:

Here is my pile of baby knits. Things that I've knit as samples, or just because I liked the pattern and wanted to knit it, thinking a recipient would present itself eventually. So you see, I'm pretty well stocked as far as baby knits go! 

Since we've opted to keep the baby's gender a surprise, there are a few gender specific items in these piles that may not get used, like that Clara dress... may not use that much if we have a boy ;) but other than that, most of these little items are pretty gender neutral! Especially since I don't have a problem dressing a baby girl in blue or putting a little baby boy in a sweater with a smidge of pink in it. 

All the sweaters in the photo above are wee, they will probably fit somewhere between 0-6 months. And all the sweaters in the photo below are a tad bigger, for a 6 month old or older. Honestly, who can really tell when it comes to baby sizes anyway... they'll all fit at some point!

Even though I have quite the wardrobe for my baby already, I do plan on adding to it. Baby definitely needs more hats for one thing, and booties! Since our baby is making his/her appearance in April, we will likely not get a lot of sweater for the first 6 months, so I plan on focussing on knits that baby can where over the winter next year. 

As always, things are crazy busy around here, I don't expect to have much free selfish baby knitting time between now and Christmas, but it's quite comforting to know that my baby will still be well dressed even if mom is too busy to spend the next 5 months knitting for him/her!

psst :: my new baby sweater pattern (pictured on the right of the above photo) will be ready soon!

Good morning pretty birds!

I've decided on the colour scheme for our nursery... multicoloured! I love too many colours to narrow it down to any decisive scheme. Plus, I prefer an eclectic mix to anything too matchy-matchy and "decorated". Add to that the fact that we're not finding out the baby's gender until he or she is born and I think that a neutral room with lots of multicoloured accents is just the ticket! The nursery walls are currently painted a nice, soft cream. The ceiling and closet will soon get a coat of sky blue paint. The trim is white and the rest will be a fun layering in of colour.

With the scheme decided (or rather, a lack of scheme decided) I spent Saturday night with my mom working on a colourful mobile for the baby's room. The mobile I chose is the "Bird Mobile" by Spool Sewing. I pinned an image of this mobile ages ago and when I spotted it again this weekend I was dying to make some colourful birds of my own!

The bird sewing pattern is a free download and is actually very simple. Believe it or not, this is not my first time sewing tiny stuffed birds, this pattern is my favorite for sure. The template provided was for a rather large bird, I opted to downsize it to 80% on my printer and made all my birds this smaller size. They are about 5.5" from beak to tail. I used all leftover stash fabrics from previous projects (most are from my colourwheel quilt). I am beyond thrilled with the results. These colourful little birds with their glorious bright bellies make me so happy. 

I have several favourites. As we cut, sewed and stuffed birds it became apparent that the best fabric combinations were the bolder prints paired with smaller accent belly prints. I just love those striped and polka-dot bellies!  

I took a walk in the woods on Saturday and collected a few stray branches to give these birds something to perch on, but I haven't completed the project yet. For now these pretty birds are just lined up on the edge of my mantle for me to enjoy throughout the day. I forgot that they were there and when I got up this morning and walked down the stairs to find this beautiful row of rainbow birds greeting me I couldn't help but smile.  

Thank You!

www.layoutsparks.com via TanisLavallee on Pinterest

I hadn't intended to announce that I'm pregnant and then go silent for almost a week, I just got so overwhelmed by all the beautiful and supportive comments that were rolling in that I couldn't help but want to keep that post at the top of my blog for as long as possible! Thank you one million times to everyone who left a comment, sent an e-mail, messaged me on facebook, ravelry, twitter... Chris and I feel so loved! 

So, things are definitely changing around here, and I couldn't be happier about it. Yesterday we went for a nice long walk, it was a beautiful fall day, and as I was admiring our gorgeous colourful foliage I thought about change. I used to think that I hated change. When I was 10 my family moved and I did not cope well. But now, I think I've come around to embracing change, and even looking forward to it. I look forward to the seasons changing every year, I can't wait to watch my belly change into a giant, baby-filled balloon! Now our family is changing, growing, and with that our family business will naturally change as well, but I'm excited about it. Chris and I have always known that we wanted a family, and as we made decisions about TFA, things like: do we try and go big, or do we stay small? do we rent a studio space, or do we build a small studio in our backyard? we always kept our future family plans in mind. 

So now I think TFA is ready for this awesome new change. I am sure that there will be some growing pains along the way, this summer was a bit of a preview of that. My first trimester was pretty good, but I was exhausted and queasy pretty much all the time, which made work much more of an effort than it usually is. But, we made it through, and now I'm in my second trimester and am feeling much less queasy and a bit more energetic. Chris and I are totally committed to TFA, it's our life! Some things may change (has anyone noticed that we haven't had an Etsy update in months? Yeah, our free experimental dyeing time is nowhere to be found!) but the beauty of TFA is that it's flexible, we can make this work. 

Now here's the big ticket question, the thing that everyone wants to know: So much baby knitting to do! Do we know if we're having a girl or a boy? Are we planning on finding out? 

The answer.... no! After much back and forth Chris and I have decided that we're going to keep the gender of the baby a surprise. I always thought that I would definitely want to know, but then when I found out that we were expecting, I suddenly no longer cared. We hope for a healthy baby and we have no gender preference at all. Lets be honest, this baby will be wearing a lot of blue regardless of wether it's a boy or a girl!  

one tiny FO for one very special WIP!

I've finished knitting both the mama version and the baby version of this lovely sweater and I am very, VERY excited. I love my new sweater, but even more than that I love my mini-me version because it's for my own baby!!!

That's right, team TFA is growing by one member who will be joining us in April. Chris and I are over the moon about our expanding family and I am so thrilled to finally be sharing the news with you all! Honestly, ever since we found out we were expecting I've been looking forward to the day when I could share it with the blog. You guys are always so supportive, and telling you is like telling my big, happy, knitting family!  

I think that this is the first week that you can really see a little baby bump if look you hard enough. I can't wait to watch this baby grow!

This wee little sweater is hands down, without a doubt, the number one thing I've ever knit. I've knit lots of adorable baby sweaters, but this is the first one that I've knit especially for my own little angel. I will cherish it forever. 

Both patterns now available!