Prepping... the homemade

The preparations continue as we have officially moved into the third trimester of growing a baby!

I hope you're ready for a few more "I've been baby-obsessed for years" confessions.  I've been making a few things for my future kiddo for a long time (or at least stocking up supplies to make things) so these are a few of the homemade items that I've got so far.  I usually follow online tutorials or patterns, so I'll link to as many as possible in case someone out there gets inspired, too!

First off, I recently knitted this pair of teal baby pants.  Hootie pants, actually.  Although you can barely see the owls along the top in this picture, they're there!  and I'm in love with the pattern.  Hopefully these will fit, I never check my gauge so they ended up a bit small.  And the cloth diapers we're going to use (wait, didn't I tell you that??) will add a lot of bulk so we'll see!  I used some cotton yarn thrifted from the St. Vinny's in town, which was my first project with recycled yarn.  I had to use two strands of thrifted yarn held together to get the right amount of yarn, and pulling apart a sweater takes FOR-EV-ER, but it was totally worth it for the mucho bucks I saved.

Next up are the tiny shoes I whipped up awhile ago.  Based on Tom's shoes, only for cheapos like me.  I actually had all the fabric needed for these little guys in my stash, including the textured grippy bottoms.  Yay for saving every little piece!  Go hoarding!  The pattern got me stumped a few times, but by the second shoe, I had the hang of it. 

Next up: the little red dress/smock.  It's actually a reversible smock that I made a few years ago also.  I was super inspired by a dress on a tiny family friend so I searched and searched the internet for a similar dress.  Can't you picture it with a pair of leggings and a long-sleeve shirt underneath???  Or a huge cloth diaper sticking out the bottom??? OH so cute. The back of this smock is a criss-cross (you can see it better in the next picture) and the pattern was a breeze to sew.  This was made before I was confident with buttonholes, so I used snaps instead.  Buttons would be adorable though.  (YIKES. I just looked for the pattern from my "finished projects" board on pinterest and it's gone!  Hopefully it can be found again someday, there were lots of other sizes for bigger girls)

 

Finally, in that first picture, we have the vintage sheet I turned into a crib sheet.  I've been saving vintage sheets for this purpose for awhile now (*sigh) and finally whipped one of these up!  I want to try the fit out on our hand-me-down crib before I make any others, but this pattern was a breeze as well.  And this is definitely the way to go if you want cute sheets but don't want to pay much for them.  I had been dreading the cost of the elastic, but when I went to JoAnn's, I discovered I can make 3 of these sheets for less than $4.  And each vintage sheet I got is a full or queen size, so for $2-$3 per vintage sheet, this is a super thrifty option!  The yellow flowery pattern on the sheet is a bit girly, but I have this super-manly brown polka dotted vintage sheet that I'll make some sheets out of next in the event we have a young fella instead of a young lady.  

 Up next on the tour of "Lindsey has been crazy for years" is this collection of knitted clothing.  The adorable wrap sweater with buttons, the baby bonnet and booties were a gift from the lovely Jamie.  She's a much more talented knitter than I (actually, she was the one who introduced me to using recycled yarn when she visited me in November!) so you know they are well made and have all sorts of fancy stitches that I'm too lazy to try.

The darker blue sweater I knit up a couple months ago when I was stuck on the couch during the depths of my pregnancy-nausea.  And I can't find the pattern for this one either.  Sorry!  The yarn I used is so incredibly stretchy that this sweater will probably fit until our kiddo is 2 years old.  Not a joke.  It's miracle yarn.

 Last, but not least, is this sweater I knit up a few years ago also.  I believe this pattern was my first adventure into sweater-knitting, so I am incredibly proud.  And the purple won't be too bad for a boy or a girl, I think.

So that's it.  Only a few things.  I am currently unraveling a thrifted sweater (super soft and fuzzy angora/wool) to knit a pair of leggings.

How about we revisit that list of to-do's? (Only the most recently completed are in RED.  The other completed items are crossed off)


TO BUY:
-Rug for nursery (still waiting for a 75% off sale at Rugsusa)
-anything that's not a gift off our registry
TO DO:
-read birthing books
-tour the hospital (by the way, I was the only mama there writing things down and asking questions!!! Do these ladies not understand this stuff is IMPORTANT??? or am I just a little too type-A for this?)
-preregister at the hospital
-make sure our insurance will still all work out since Dillon's place of work changed providers (grrrr)
-Take our birthing classes (we still are practicing our hypnobirthing every day!)
-Take our "breastfeeding and newborn" class
-Finish up our registries (since Target's in-store selection was limited and we haven't even started the 2nd one)
-Look into placenta encapsulation (anyone had any experience?  Is it worth it?)
-Attend shower
TO MAKE:
-sheets
-cushion for rocking chair
-footstool
-mobi wrap (don't have to! Thanks, Meghan, for offering to send us one of yours!!!)
-mobile
-portable high chair thinger
-Nursery decor (some sort of sign with a favorite hymn written on it)
HOUSE TO DO:
-Paint nursery
-Finish Railing
-complete flooring (transition strips and heating vent)
-Finish our pantry cabinet (add shelves, paint, and fill with all the crap that's covering my counters and stressing me out)
WANT TO DO:
-mini-babymoon by showing up at a friend's house for the weekend (thanks Ryan and Josie!)
-Ikea Trip
-Knit a onesie
-Make and freeze a bunch of meals

Wish us luck making progress on the transition strips and railing this weekend. Come on, Tax refund!)