More nappies

I rue the day I ever got the cutting bug-because I never caught up with it and now i'm stuck finishing off a pile of stuff I don't want to do because I can't bear to see it sit there. But on the upside, other than a few newborn covers I need to make i'm pretty prepared for two in cloth again!

Every now and again I decide to made an overlocked nappy to see if I like them-I never do. They look so unfinished and I hate the frills sticking out everywhere. This one has an outer of quilters cotton, a body layer of hemp and an inner of microfleece, with a snap-in booster of two layers of bamboo wrapped in microfleece and matching cotton.

This one is a cotton/viscose outer, two bodies of flannelette with a hidden bamboo/needlefelt booster, plus a snap-in booster of two layers of bamboo shaped like the one above. Much better turned!

I have about four more to finish off then the cut pile is gone. And I won't be cutting anything out again without wanting to do it right now! The rest are girly though, i'm still pondering what to actually do with those.

I have reclaimed the mojo

I haven't crocheted anything for ages. I made a half-hearted attempt at a baby blanket when we arrived here but ditched it before i'd finished the first row. I couldn't find anything I actually wanted to make-hating following patterns doesn't help.
I started a pair of pants for #5 the other day though and I think I may stick with them. I had an idea a while back on how to make pants with minimal sewing (because I loathe extensive stitching pieces together). It's acrylic as I simply *don't* handwash so don't really use longies.

And after venturing to the shops to buy the girls more summer clothes the other day and swooning in shock (once they hit size 3 everything seems to double in price-$22 for a cotton dress with three needing at least two dresses each? I think not) I decided making is really the only option. So I bought this awesome Japanese print cotton to go with some brown cotton I already had for a pinny. I think it's Holli's turn to get something-they keep track for me anyway :P

My pity party

I'm really not enjoying this pregnancy. I think that more than anything else makes me determined that this will be my last baby.

First up I copped nine weeks of horrible sickness and exhaustion, to the point where I was barely capable of supervising the kids, let alone doing things like cooking and housework. This was right at the time we were preparing to move as well, so poor D copped all the renos as well as a lot of the housework.

The next part was OK, I started feeling human again at about 14 weeks. My hips started to ache at about 12 weeks and the lurking varicose veins from the last pregnancies all started to swell again. But nothing too bad. People started asking me when I was due, assuming soon, but i'm used to that. I have no decent stomach muscles to hold my belly in firmly.

See what I mean? 26 weeks.

 

It took until about 23 weeks until my hips and pelvis really started playing up. Now at 27 weeks they hurt constantly, I can't sit/stand/walk or do anything for too long. I can't roll myself over in bed without waking up and doing it in a precise sequence. My pelvis hasn't started coming out of alignment yet, but i'm sure that excruciating little treat is only a few weeks away. That will then mean I can't roll myself over or get out of bed at all-welcome to interrupted sleep for D too as he becomes more like my carer than my husband. My stomach muscles have split apart again and I once again have the very freaky looking herniated belly button. No more stretch marks even though I look full term-then again, there's not much skin left for them to cover after the twins. And my feet are starting to puff up and look like pillows again. I feel so attractive.

The decision on where to give birth has also caused some stress-D wants me to go to the hospital although he's happy to support a homebirth, and I don't know what the hell I want. So apart from a visit to a doctor to get an ultrasound referral I haven't had any pregnancy care. Over the last week i've started to think it's really about time I started to see someone.

I feel sorry for the poor boy i'm carrying-all I do is complain about carting him around. I am looking forward to actually having him and holding him though-I can't wait for that bit. What I can't wait for the most is getting fit and healthy again though. I'm still only about 67 kilos so won't have much to worry about on the weight loss side, but i'm more interested in getting strong and able again. I feel like a useless, breathless lump ATM and i'm totally over it. I think after I have him it will be time to boot camp myself-as i'm the laziest person out it will be hard, but if it's not going to be wrecked by having more kids I think i'll have the motivation.

Booby pads

That's what the kids call them anyway :P

After all the nappies I was craving making something simple. I've always used reusable breastpads, just the Tommee Tippee ones you get from the supermarket-I didn't know about the rest then. They're not too bad actually, once my boobs have settled down.
Fairly simple-two pairs of 3 layers of bamboo fleece, and three pairs of two layers. These are mainly for later on, I leak like a tap for the first few weeks and usually resort to a flat nappy under a tight singlet (for home anyway, would be a bit interesting to go out like that!)


I thought of doing them fancy-putting minky or something on them. But I need the absorbency without bulk, so decided just bamboo will do just fine. Not sure how they'll go without any waterproofing but just figure i'll make more and change more often-can't bear the thought of plastic over leaky nipples in a Queensland summer. I'm planning on making some bigger ones too-these ones are only small.

Thankfully, i'm done

These have been my background project for a few weeks now-when I haven't had anything much else to do, or when i've wanted something that doesn't require much brainpower i've continued on. However, I got a bit sick of the stack sitting there and hammered away at them last weekend so I could shove them in the stock box and stop looking at them!

RIP Basic Fitteds! They're up on the site in bulk packs, however I need more stock. D starts work this week so i'll have less time, but some money to buy more fabric will be fantastic!

The g-string

We were at the park the other day and as Shorty was walking away from us D started laughing hysterically. "Look, he looks like he's wearing a g-string!" I had to admit he's right-it's a nappy I made him recently to experiment with making a cotton outer AIO with elastic casing. The combination of the two narrowed the pattern a lot, and Shorty's rather, erm, generous rump (the reason i've never bothered trying Itti Bittis) overflows.



Oh, and it wicks if left on beyond mild dampness. I was pretty sure it would, but you never really know until you try these things. I'll stick with rolled edges methinks.

From the mouths of babes

Lols-Scuse me mummy
Me-Yes?
L-Are sausages made from sausage dogs?
Me(giggling)-Ahh......no. They're not made from sausage dogs matey.
L-What are they made from?
Me-Cows.........mostly.

Ugh, bureaucracy

Well, so much for the market idea. I'll still go, but it's definitely not worth the odd trip. The casual fees are astronomical, there's a novels worth of paperwork to fill out, you need ridiculous amounts of PLI and they don't supply shade or tables. So i'll wait until i'm not pregnant and slowly accumulate all I need by then-unless I hit the jackpot it'll take me weeks to recoup the setup costs.

So many ideas ditched simply because they're bad *sigh*

Scared, very scared.

People who know me will know i'm a hopeless perfectionist. Everything must be done just so. And when it comes to my business my perfectionist tendencies tend to go into overdrive. I had in my head that to start doing the 'serious' markets up here I needed to achieve about 1001 things first, and probably wouldn't go do my first until after the babe is born.

Well. D gave me a talking to tonight. Along the lines of 'you have stock, you know what you're doing, just bloody GO already!' And I had to admit he's right. I'm sure most people won't care that I don't have demos totally organised, or fancy advertising, or that there's still some things that irritate me about the site. Best just to go and wing it, especially after last weeks positive.

Last weeks positive-taking some nappies to show a stallholder at the market i'd been chatting to. She bought two and has requested at least two more. While going over it with her a random person stopped at her stall, saw the nappies and bought one. So three sold and two ordered in under five minutes.

After that, I think I just need to bite the bullet. But i'm still crapping myself-taking stuff you have spent endless hours designing and making is always nerve-wracking. Deep breaths...........argh!