Plum Stitches

wip

Despite my relative silence on the knitting front I have been plugging away.  A little Grey sweater sits on a table right now awaiting buttons, which I'm hoping to sew on tonight.  These two pieces are both for Phoebe.  The top one is the Little Sister's Dress - which I couldn't resist making.  Best part (again) is that it's yarn from my stash.

Another stash-buster is the bottom piece.  I was window shopping last week at Bonpoint and saw this adorable, simple little sweater with a shocking price tag.  I thought to myself 'I can make that!' and voila! I found an extra ball of Misti Alpaca in my stash. 

Well, almost 'voila' - didn't have enough yarn, but an additional ball is on order.  I'm using the Garter Stitch Jacket pattern from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits Book.  A  few modifications and I should be able to reproduce the Bonpoint sweater, without the hefty price tag.  Will share the details once I receive the extra ball and it's complete.

visions of green

Vegetables, that is.  I wonder if these Fred and Friends Food Face plates would do the trick?  And why is it that some kids have such an aversion to the color green?  I've noticed Phoebe is starting to avoid all things green.  Sadly, she's growing out of the garbage disposal phase.

I'm always in awe of other kids Chloe's age that gobble down vegetables like candy.  My cousin's daughter is like that - raw broccoli, cauliflower, celery.  You name it she eats it.  

So, I'm thinking these little plates might make a good present for the picky eater in our household.

making necklaces

We've been in lock down for the past week.  Chloe's been really sick - we ended up canceling our Thanksgiving plans and staying home.  Worst part was our afternoon trip to the emergency room on Thanksgiving.  Oh, and we had to cancel her birthday party.  Although oddly enough she hasn't mentioned the party, so maybe she's forgotten (I'm sure that's wishful thinking on my part!)

One bright spot in all of this was our trip to Moomah.  Part adult coffee shop (along with adult classes), part children's creative space, this place is really cool.  It's a bit off the beaten track in Tribeca (almost at the Holland Tunnel entrance), but it's really clever and creative.  They have an assortment of adult and children's classes, open tables for their DIT kits and more.

I loved, what I would call 'Montessori-inspired' kits, although, personally I think they're expensive for what they are.  I'm sure that has to do with rent, city-locale, etc.  Chloe picked the Fabric Jewelry kit, which involved, her gluing fabrics scraps, buttons and other adornments onto a strip of ribbon. I know I have piles of fabric scraps, buttons and ribbons in our guest room, so we may revisit this one at home. 

Oh and they had a turtle handpuppet that visited the tables in the back, can't remember his/her name, but it supplied addtional entertainment!

a birthday!

We celebrated Chloe's birthday, uneventfully yesterday.  No cake, no presents.  The poor little girl has some type of stomach bug and was so not herself.  On the way to the pediatrician I thought I would take her and Phoebe out for lunch.  Little did I know that her not feeling well at the time involved tossing her cookies.  Which, she proceeded to do in the restaurant all over the table.  The little place we went was pretty empty, but still all conversations stopped and everyone turned to look at us.  How embarrassing, both for me and her!  Of course, Phoebe didn't notice a thing and happily continued to eat. 

She's a little perkier today and was able to open a few gifts, so hopefully the worst of it is over.  Luckily, the little party we've planned with her friends (and ours) isn't for a few days - enough time to fully recover!

It's hard to believe she's 4 years old. Oh how the time has flown.  It's also hard to imagine how much she'll grow and change in the coming year, and years for that matter.

One of her gifts was this sweet little Bento Box that I FINALLY found.  I've been on a Bento Box mission and finally found this little one - it's perfect for packing after school snacks.  Not really big enough for a full lunch.

I've been reading about this place, Moomah and it looks really nifty.  It's a cafe, children's art space, of sorts.  They sell DIT kits.  They must be on a press blitz, because I've read about it everywhere.  As soon as Chloe's feeling better we're headed there!

find of the week

I saw this little kit a few weeks ago at AC Moore and bought it.  Good thing I did because I can't seem to find another one anywhere.  It's minature village scene with the 'ingredients' to make it yourself.  Super cute.  Might even be able to get Chloe to help me put it together.  There were a few other kits as well, but I can't seem to locate them anywhere online.  Boohoo.

Also, I'm a sucker for all of the marketing material from Terrain.  I love the Dogwoods on the bag.

terrain

We went on a bit of a field trip earlier in the week.  This place is so cool and inspiring!

The people from Anthropologie bought an established nursery and transformed it with their crafty spin on things. - Terrain at Styer's.  Apparently they were set to do this in several key markets, but then the ecomony tanked and expansion plans were squashed.

It's kind of a weird in-between season right now, so not a lot was out.  Still, I loved it and have so many ideas after the visit.

How sweet are the itty bitty pine cones on top of the pebbles? 

I just love the Magnolia leaves - their color and texture are my latest obsession.

cardboard

Oh, the places you can go with cardboard!  Particularly in your imagination.  Not sure how many people out there got the November Anthropologie catalog, but I'm mildly obsessed with the children's pages.

Which resulted in me salvaging these pizza boxes last weekend (they are clean!)  I have Chloe's birthday party coming up and a big holiday party for kids, so I've been daydreaming of cardboard and what can be created to entertain the under 5 set.  So many possibilities.

Check out the pages online at Anthropologie's Web site here.  The pictures start on page 50.

I'm off to see Bruce Springsteen tonight in the city with a friend and her sister.  You're either a Bruce fan or not so much.  I'm a big fan.  Not necessarily obsessed, but I do know most of the words to his songs, particularly the older ones. 

I saw him a few year's ago at Giants Stadium - so much fun!

find of the week

I can't seem to get enough of all the Tea Collection clothes for little girls (and bigger ones too!)  The best part is they go on sale on Tea's Web site, so you can get pretty good deals if you're patient.  Although, often the sizes are limited. 

I've found the clothes hold up really well and are comfortable for active toddlers and bigger kids.  Plus you can team them up with less expensive basics from Target, etc.

You can see this little number in action on their Web site here.  And you can buy one for your little lady in their sale section, here.

overdrive

We've had a crazy week of non-stop movement, which hopefully will come to and end soon.  It's too much.  I think I need a week of doing nothing.  No commitments to anything, but I doubt I'll get that one until the New Year.

Despite all the non-stop movement, we had a blast, although both were just plain tuckered out.

Zepplin Hall, the beer garden that opened in Jersey City over the summer, had a kids party on Halloween.  So fun to see so many familiar faces from the neighborhood enjoying a beer as the kids raced around in their costumes.  Chloe loved getting her face painted (although I found the lipstick somewhat disturbing.)  Unfortunately just after getting her face painted she had a meltdown and it all ended up streaked.  But it was fun while it lasted.

We spent Sunday recovering from too much party  at another party in Chester at Alstede Farms.  Although the weather was a bit of a bummer, it didn't rain!

Suprisingly, Phoebe didn't mind wearing the lamb costume - I think it was cold enough out that she was nice and toasty in it.

 
 

yum

Before seeing Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, we stopped at Sweet, for a few treats.