Creative AMnesia?

JuliaStitches openly admitted she's recently lost her "crafting mojo".  Apparently I have, too.  Maybe it's a reduction in caffeine?  Or just a crazy 14 month old keeping me on my toes every waking moment?  Despite the lack of posting, there have been a few projects ongoing in my house. 

I've already shown you Blueblanket:

who is still very loved (and in one piece!).  Yay!

 Because I obviously have a complex and don't want son #2 to feel inferior because he doesn't have a Mommy-made blanket (I'll blame it on my MiddleChild syndrome...).  ANYWAY...I decided to pretend I actually knew what I was doing and spent a ridiculous amount of time coming up with my own pattern.  I liked the lines and squares from "blueblanket", but wanted it to be a bit different.  It obviously doesn't have a name yet...you know, since H doesn't really speak much at 14 mos...but I was very pleased with how it turned out:

My only predicament now is that it matches G's bedroom better than H's.  Aghhhh!!!  What to do??!!!

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Let's see....all 3 big boys (my oldest and JuliaStitches' 2) have their own personalized superhero capes:

AND, since we're a terribly cool team, she thought up and I produced.....

MATCHING SUPERHERO BELTS!!

(Unfortunately for photographic purposes, said superhero belts combined with capes make you entirely too fast and unable to stand still for a photo-op.)

{capes and belts can be purchased at: http://www.thecaffeinatedmommy.etsy.com/}

=)

Um...let's see.  I've also made a few more bibs for my etsy site...including some football ones:

I love pictures of happy {and absolutely adorable!!!} customers!!

I'm in the process of coming up with a "Boo-Hoo" boo-boo owl (he has rice in the bottom and once refrigerated, can be used as a cool pack).  He'll be super cute...I'll post pictures when I'm done with him.

And, for the same customer/friend, I've also just completed a bouncy scarf...another item she found on pinterest and asked if I could replicate.  It called for elastic thread - which, honestly I didn't even know existed!!  She doesn't have it yet, but here's to hoping she'll like it.  I think it turned out cute!



So, this post makes it appear that maybe I don't have Creative Amnesia.  Maybe it's just blogging amnesia.  =)

Blue

My eldest son received an adorable, blue crocheted blanket as a gift before he was even born.

For approximately 2 1/2 years, he and this blanket co-existed peacefully in his room, never really taking notice of one another.  Until one day, a love was born.

While he never took any of his "lovies" out of his room (well, rarely), he always had them present while sleeping, and sometime around his 3rd birthday, this included being covered with "Blueblanket".  There was always the bedtime routine...books, prayers, cuddles, etc.  And then comes time for Mommy to leave the room. 

We pull the sheet up.  Then the comforter.  And then, Blueblanket tops it all out.  Usually he'd be out from under everything within a few minutes, but it always had to be done. 

All that to say, Blueblanket went everywhere with us and was washed, on average, probably 2-3 times a week.  And (rather quickly) started to show its age.

At first, there were a few small holes strewn about the blanket.

Most of the time, I could gather the strings and tie a rough knot  to keep it from continuing to unravel.

Every time dear Blueblanket came out of the dryer, he looked a little more rough.

Until one day, I knew something had to be done.



Poor thing was downright pitiful!

I had learned to crochet back in high school, and somewhere in the great abyss of my childhood bedroom closet, there remains an unfinished (and, if memory serves me correctly quite...um...colorful) afghan.  Life happened, I went off to college (where I'm sure it was completely un-cool to crochet) and I forgot how. 

BUT, with help from my cohort, Mrs. JuliaStitches, this old(ish) dog relearned a trick, and picked up the crochet hook once again.  3 weeks later, many "re-dos" and unraveling of squares, and Blueblanket was replaced, with...

well, its name is Blueblanket as well.  But its a new and improved version! 

And I'm pretty damn impressed with myself!!!

I used a different stitch for each color, and I quickly learned what "Check Your Gauge" means.  Just ask JuliaStitches.  There were moments it wasn't pretty.  Like, 3" difference in square size not pretty.  But I love how it turned out.  I love lines.  And squares.

Alas, it may not be perfect, but a certain someone loves his new Blueblanket:

And, yes, these pictures are completely posed, but he really does go to sleep like this every night.  Just without the Smurf in his hand.  That could be painful in the middle of the night.