Oh, Baby......

 

Yesterday morning started like this. 

And thankfully ended like this. I was nervous the whole time even though we've been in the house for 10 days. 

That one little line meant we could take the long drive up to see the newest Grand. 

He was a perfect little gentleman while we oohed and aahed over him and had lunch. 

I finally got to see his nursery all put together. 

SJP has nothing on Daughter when it comes to shoes and it seems she's passing that down. Those are little Ugg boots on the end. 

Bye, bye baby...it took a lot to be able to get to see him safely but it was worth it. He was perfect. 

Framed

 

I got a big box delivered yesterday. 

It was from a company I've used before to get framing material for my stitching. 

I can't recommend them highly enough. I completely goofed up my order and they have an easy way to put everything on hold until you can get in and correct it. The hardest part was getting my stitching centered on the backing board they send. Math is hard. 

Hopefully we will be delivering this to the new parents when we go to visit the new Grand for the first time today. We've done a 10 day isolation, bought official 3M K95 masks and will be taking a covid test before we head out. Life used to be so simple and I don't think we appreciated it nearly enough.

Almost Speechless

 

One of Daughter's students made some gifts for the newest Grand. Just look at that. Look at that hat. That's the work of a young girl. She just graduated from high school. 

She made this too and it gets better......

....on the back she added a cat surrounded by hearts because Daughter is kitty crazy. 

This particular student was always a big part of our production teams. Those are her legs somewhere in the Hungary Caterpillar costume I made for our Reading Rainbow number. It's the only photo I could find of her to show that all that beautiful knitwear was made by a youngster. My baby knitting game is atrocious so I can't even begin to put into words how impressed I am. I didn't even know the kid could knit. 

Olympic Fever

 

Even before the Olympics officially started today I was watching. Knitting in front of a sporting event is something The Mister can relate to so he lets me be. 

I don't have a designated Olympic project. I've got too many fun things in progress. I got the arms on Number 6 underway watching curling and women's hockey yesterday morning.

I also turned the heels on the Lofoten socks.

I'm getting closer to finishing Althea. When the live events aren't on I watch the re-runs and the back stories on the Olympic Channel. 

I also flew through another section on the Holm mitten. 

The Olympics always gives me hope that one day the world will come to its senses and get its stuff together. Imagine.

Bombs Away!

 

My squeaky clean soap corner is not so squeaky clean anymore. Yesterday I made a batch of bath bombs. 

My skin has been dry and itchy this winter so I loaded them up with cocoa and shea butter with a big splash of coconut and grapeseed oil. I used my mooncake presses seeing it was the Lunar New Year. 

I've got quite a collection of these pretty presses and they make a lovely and easy to make bomb. I added a hint of lemon essential oil this time around and they smell heavenly.  It's going to be so hard watching them dry for a few days. 

Unlike some other endeavors I take up in the soap corner, bomb making didn't take up my whole day. I also had time to get a few more rows on the Holm mitten. It really is potato chip knitting. I get grouchy if anyone or anything interrupts me-which is about every few minutes or so around here. 

9 Months Old

 

When I was cleaning out my soap corner I remembered that I had this soap curing on top of a shelf almost out of sight. It has to sit there a year and I didn't want to be tempted.

I was tempted however. It's been 9 months and I think it's time to give this Aleppo soap a try. 

This is the one that looks like mud and smells like compost. 

As awful as that sounds it's one of my favorites. At $35 a bottle, the oil you make it with is a real luxury and I used two bottles for this batch. The long cure is to harden it up. It's made from all soft oils-only olive and laurel berry, so it takes its sweet time. It has no added coloring or fragrance. It's as all natural as you can get. 

 It's been a long time since I've been able to test out a new soap. This is so exciting. 

*And thank you Kathy B for reminding me I can change the font size. My eyesight is terrible these days and not only is this easier to read, it's easier to write.

February!

 

On this first February Tiny Needle Tuesday I'm more interested in putting stuff away than showing off any progress. My stitching stuff has been all over my soap making table for months and now that the latest baby sampler is done I need to reclaim it. 

The problem was finding a place to put all my embroidery things. I used to keep it in the living area but that place is still a mess. I rearranged some things and tucked it all in on the sewing side of the room. I hope I can find it again.

It was hard taking the new scroll frame apart but I don't have anywhere to put it right now. I have a lot of projects that I would love to put on it but it's not the time. 

The soap area got a good scrubbing. I took stock of everything I have and I have plenty of everything to get started again but.......gloves. I used up all my good ones during lockdown wiping and cleaning everything that came into the house. I have some heavy rubber gloves that are good for cleaning but not so good for being able to use your hands with any precision. 

My new fancy kitchen sink got it's first load of really yucky stuff and it was scary. I've been tip toeing around it since we put it in trying to keep in stain and scratch free so this was a real test. I had a lot of oily jars and bottles that needed a good wash and everything survived including the sink which was a big relief. 

I spent a very happy afternoon sorting and organizing all my soap supplies and everything is now where I can get to it. Now I just need the time and inclination to get to work again. Standing outside and mixing lye when it's 20 degrees outside is not my idea of a good time.