Christmas in July on Etsy

Having worked in retail half of my adult life, I have turned into one of those people that starts shopping for Christmas presents somewhere around the beginning of the school year.  I know, I'm one of those shoppers!  I promise, you can be prepared for the holidays early without busting out the Christmas carols and knit sweaters in July. 

source

 All "Christmas in July" really means is that you can take advantage of some really great sales and start stocking up on Christmas gifts early.  If you do a lot of shopping online, it's always best to order early.  Businesses get backed up, and so does the post office, so Christmas in July is a great way to get rid of the stress of holiday shipping times.

So, for those of you like me that like to get some (or all) of your shopping done with plenty of time, or love shopping online, this sale is for you!

source

 Many Etsy sellers are offering up Christmas in July sales this month.  Some of them have already started, and some will be starting shortly.

CUTEure Creations will be having a sale this week! Starting Sunday, July 10th, everything in my etsy shop will be 20% off for 2 weeks! Make sure you check it out.  I will have my fall line tentatively out for sale (all color options will not be shown but custom orders will be welcome) along with the products you already know and love.  If you are a fan of mine on Facebook you'll be able to see additional offers and ready to ship items throughout the time of the sale.

source

 Make sure you come check it out!

A Blanket for Linus

I recently finished my most in-depth, time consuming crochet project and thought I would share it here for all of you to enjoy.

A month and a half ago I was at a loss as to what to get my friend for a "welcome baby" gift for the imminent arrival of number 2.  I'm a stay-at-home-mom married to a college student. We don't have a lot of disposable income, and since this was her second in less than 3 years, it's not like she needed anything.

Suddenly, the thought came to me that I should make her something special-something he would get a lot of use out of-but what?  At that moment, Addie walked by holding her blankie-her lovey.  Perfect!

So, here it is, a blanket for Linus.  And yes, that's his name.  She did make it too perfect!!

I love this blanket.  I wanted colors that are perfect for a little boy, but something other than just a basic blue and white baby blanket.  I decided to use colors found in nature for this blanket, and I think they look great together.

I used Lion's Brand Wool-Ease yarn in Caramel, Avocado, Fisherman, and Blue Heather.

With these colors, I made 9 granny squares for each color-totaling 36 granny squares.  Since this was a much bigger project than most everything I make, I decided to work on it little by little in between other projects which is why it ended up taking as long as it did.  Every night after I was done making a hat or hair bows, I would make a granny square, or many granny squares depending on the night.

 

Once I was finished making all of the Granny Squares, it was time to sew them all together.  To do this, I just held two Granny Squares together and used a darning needle to sew them together and weaved in each end.  That's a lot of ends!

 

 

Finally, to give the blanket a finished look, I decided to do a shell stitching* around each edge. This helps hide the imperfections such as slightly different squares.  The finished product...

 

...Is the perfect little blankie for a new little boy.

I hope he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to give him his gift yet.  He went back into the hospital before I got to meet him due to a bacterial infection he picked up during birth.  All is well though, according to his mom, he is improving quickly and will be out of there as soon as he finishes his antibiotics!

So, here is a big, giant "Get Well Soon!" for baby Linus, and a big, giant hug for his momma-if she happens to read my blog.

I hope you enjoyed my reading about the process! 

This post has attended the I Made It! Blog Party over at Everything Etsy. Check out the other attendees!

* Shell Stitch: 2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc in same stitch, skip next 2 sts and repeat

I've got the FEVER

Yikes.  I've got to come out and say it! I've caught the fever...the baby fever!

I don't know how it happened, or who I caught it from.  It snuck up very quickly and knocked me off my feet. 

Me-the mom who blogged about the possibility of waiting years for another baby just a few months ago-now has the fever.

Does this mean I actually think I'm ready for another baby? Not so much.  I think I'm just finally to the point of liking babies again.  I'm still not emotionally ready to have one around all the time.  Sadly, I think I had issues with PPD that I didn't even admit to myself until recently.  That first year was rough on me, emotionally, physically, and mentally.  I didn't even know myself how rough it was until I "snapped out of it" as they say.

Hindsight's twenty-twenty. 

Still, until this week, I was no where near even thinking of having another baby.  Then, I looked at pictures.  I looked at them all.  Somehow, looking back on the happy pictures makes the bad memories seem a bit fuzzier.  The picture of her first smile.  The pictures of her playing and laughing with me.  Pictures from this time last year, with sun streaming in through the vertical blinds.  Her bald little head reflecting such bright light. 

So many pictures.  What happened? Why don't I take as many pictures anymore? I seem to have just stopped.  I guess we just got too busy, and with Addie moving around so much, even our Nikon D40 has trouble getting her in focus sometimes.

I've got the fever alright.  Something I didn't think I'd catch for a long time.  Is it here to stay?  We'll see.  For now, I plan to ignore it.  I'll get my snuggles in and that new baby smell from our newest play group addition. 

We agreed to re-assess how we felt each year and go from there.  I still have a few months to decide how I even feel about having another baby.  At least one obstacle is out of the way now.  I can see myself wanting another baby...sometime.  Just not quite yet.