Texture {Crochet Beanie for Baby Girls}

I learned how to crochet about ten years ago & for the last ten years have enjoyed making stuff for my family & my Etsy shop. Only, I've been doing the same stitches over and over again. Ten years is a long time to be doing the same boring old thing. So I decided to take my crochet skills to the next level. I found an adorable pattern for a textured baby girl hat at Injenuity and decided to give it a go. It was so easy and fun to create something great with a new little stitch trick! Here are the results:

In Pink! Size 3-6 months. Available to purchase at PetitLambie.etsy.com

And in white with a cute button center flower!

Possibilities Maximus

I have my computer back!! Our computer's name is Max. I have missed Max, oh! how I have missed him. For the past few weeks, I have been working on our netbook named Mini. Mini's name is very descriptive of her screen. Miniature. A mere 7.5 inches I think. Yeah. Mini. Max, however has a comparitively humungous screen and all of the brains I need. He has my shop design, my product pictures, my photoshop and room to store all that stuff. I haven't blogged using Mini because she just doesn't have what it takes. Sad. But Max is back! Glad!!!

Anyhow. Remember how I said that we were going to close on our short sale house purchase within 30 days? And that we had superbly lucked out with the time frame of this house? Well, we haven't been as lucky as we thought we were. Short sales are famous for bank stall tactics. And stall they did. While we still won't have to wait six or nine months to close on our house, it has taken longer than we expected it to. It hasn't been all that bad. It took us a while to get a renter in our condo & to decide that this house is really what is best for us right now. We've been staying with Husband's parents, and we've been able to save more money up than we thought we would be able to. The only real downside is that I had to buy a new set of crochet hooks (mine are burried in storage) and I've had to use Mini for a few weeks. I have Max back (have I mentioned that I am so very glad about that?) so now I can blog and edit pictures and crochet and be happy during this inbetween houses waiting time....that will end December 6th -ish.

I say 6th-ish because we're planning to close on December 6th. But we're also planning on renovating the entire house. Little by little. Except the flooring and the wall colors. We are going to replace all of the floors and paint the entire place before we move in. Yay! actually....YIKES. I might not have all the crochet and blogging time I want. I might be going crazy trying to decide between carpet, wood, or tile and what paint colors in which rooms.

We went to Home Depot tonight to look at some options. Did you know the options are limitless? Have you ever been entirely overwhelmed by possibilities? I just don't know where to start. I thought I knew what I wanted. I saw it on Pottery Barn for the living room, and on HGTV.com for the kitchen. And then I get to Home Depot and get dizzy with a combination of alzheimer's and anxiety. We went from talking getting the countertops refinished with some paint kit thingamajig to considering granite in almost an instant. I thought I had to have wood flooring in the kitchen, but now I might want tile. White cabinets or off white? Black or brown glaze? What is that color in that picture? Why is that stuff too expensive?

One good thing did come of our trip to Home Depot. We got one of those color swatch booklet things that has like a million colors in it. And now when I see a color I like online, I can find something similar and not get distracted by the endless possibilities.

I Will (probably) Survive

Remember how I was going to be away for a while due to Fall Cleaning? I had a momentary spark of ambition to organize my house again and seem to have become lost in the process. Somewhere between emptying closets and deciding what to donate, what to sell, and what to keep we decided to buy a house and move.

We've been on the lookout for a house we would want to live in at a price we would want to pay for a long time. We've been particularly interested in short sales because we weren't in a huge hurry to move. We found a house - and everything has just taken off at lightening speed since then.

For those who don't know, the term "short sale" is misleading. There is nothing fast or speedy about purchasing a home that is worth less than what the bank loaned to purchase it. There are hoops and red tape and offers and counter offers and waiting and bidding. It usually takes 6-9 months and sometimes longer for these sorts of deals to go through.

But not in our case. We made an offer on the house, and the bank approved it about a week and a half later. And they want to close within 30 days. We sure did get lucky!! The difference between this house and other short sales is that this one is owned by the State's housing authority and the price had already been approved by the bank, so we didn't have to execute our mad hoop jumping skills.
I am still busy organizing my house. The task just exploded into being everything in every room, rather than just a cupboard and a few closets. We're organizing everything into boxes. J doesn't seem to appreciate this. He unpacks things as I pack them. He does appreciate the packing peanuts. I don't appreciate him trying to eat them. My house is a disaster - it looks like a whirlwind went through and undid everything. We are ( I am) staying up late each night to be productive with packing. I am also trying to fill some Etsy orders for hats and duvet covers. Plus I took some more family pictures. The moving thing happened when I wasn't ready for it, and it will probably be over before I get my head wrapped around the fact that it is happening. I haven't had enough sleep and my brain is as jumbled up as my house is. Trying to manage a very curious toddler while packing on my own, finding my way through a mountain of ruffles, learning how to dye fabric, editing and critiquing my pictures, thinking about inspections, planning renovations, trying to find renters for our condo, trying to come up with an insane amount of money, worried about getting financing....oy. I am very overwhelmed right now,  but know it will all be over soon and that I just might survive! And when it is all said and done, I'll have a single family dwelling with a private yard and a two car garage and I will get to do all of the fall-ish crafty things I've been desperate to try. By then, maybe all of the supplies for my projects will be on sale. yay!

Mondays are Saturdays

What a weekend!

I did my first family photo shoot.

It was exciting to be able to take pictures for someone else. This family is really a ton of fun to hang out with, so taking pictures for them was a great experience.

We went to the BYU football game. BYU won. In the last few seconds of the game. The fourth quarter was so very exciting. I don't remember having cheer-screamed that much in my entire life. Seriously. My jaw hurt. I'm surprised I didn't wear my voice out. We had SO much fun! Thank you friends who gave us free tickets!! 

My husband spent the weekend fixing cars. Mine has been acting up more than usual lately. It seems that we have problems with it every fall. They are usually minor, but still costly in mechanic fees to repair. This year we were concerned that there was something majorly wrong. Roxy has been running a bit rough. Hubbie ran his little gadget & found out that the 5th cylinder of the engine was misfiring. Yikes! to whatever that means. He was determined to figure the problem out himself, with some advice from a friend. And figure it out he did. He's so smart! He moved the spark plug casing from the 5th cylinder to another one, ran his little tester gadget again, and found that the problem had moved. Ta-dah! He just replaced the casing stuff and voila! it was fixed. It was under $100 to fix, for which we are very grateful!!

Here we are on Monday, and it feels more like a Saturday. I'm still in PJ's as I write this. I always wear PJ's when I have to clean. And since I was busy this weekend...I didn't really clean. No wonder it feels like Saturday!

Fall Stripes

Sometimes I can't sleep. Trying to figure out how to reorganize everything, thinking about where all of these random bits of stuff and junk we have should go, wondering about what would be the best fit keeps my brain buzzing at night. The other night, my mind was playing this mental Tetris game - Olympian style, and I was up all night. So, to take my mind off organizing, I decided to crochet while watching some show I had never heard of on Netflix. This is the creation that came out of my insomnia.

I like it! In my stash o'yarn I had this orange color. I am not usually a big fan of orange. I can handle it in small doses. I think the brown and the ecru really help mute the orange a little bit and make it not overwhelming. I think it looks just right for fall.

Muy Saucy

At the moment, cooking is impossible. My kitchen has been swallowed by the contents of our closet stashes of junk while we slowly sort it out into piles of keep, sell, and donate. For dinner last night, I sent Hubbie to Del Taco to pick up some tasty Amexican cuisine. Our order included 6 taco items. This is how much salsa Del Taco sent him home with.

We counted it up & the grand total is 45 packets. 45!!!! For 6 tacos! That is mucho salsa.

 Thanks for some food storage, Del Taco.

I am working on organizing my house. Again. We just have too much stuff and too little space. So we've pulled everything out of our hiding places to sort through it. We're deciding which stuff to keep, which stuff to sell, and which stuff to throw away.

My house looks like a tornado went through it...and not the cleaning kind! That kind of weather will have to wait to come until this mess has cleared out. My sewing desk is currently burried under two sewing machines, 10 pairs of pants that need to be hemmed, Modge Podge, knitting needles, a sheet, and some other stuff I can't identify. My craft table is somewhere beneath a mountain of boxes, old printers, a sleeping bag and gift wrapping stuff. Even my kitchen table has been consumed! 

I should totally take a picture. You'd be amazed at my mad organizing skills after having seen this mess and the wonderfully organized home it will be.

Where's my camera?

Petit Lambie is Having a Sweet Sale!

I am putting several items in my Etsy shop on sale. Items on sale have been marked down 20%-40%.

Urban Outfitters Inspird Tuxedo Ruffle Baby Duvet - Sale! $65



Nightcap Hat - Sale! $12.00. Buy the set including diaper cover for $20



Newsboy Hat - Sale! $12.00

Remember: I am able, willing, and happy to create a custom order for you. See something you like, but want it in a different color? No problem! Just send me an email to find out how to get a creation made and reserved for you.

All prices are a marked, and do not include shipping and handling charges. Visit my sweet little Etsy for further details.

An Old Desk and Mackinac Island

Have you ever been to the Mackinac Island Grand Hotel? I haven't been there, yet. Mackinac Island is one of several locations on my dream vacation list. I have heard that life on the island is simple and peaceful and that visiting the island is like going back in time. I have seen pictures of Mackinac Island, and the Grand Hotel. It has this wonderfully long and lovely porch.

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And the porch has a painted ceiling. Look at that beautiful greenish blue color. I just love it! That color has inspired me to attempt my first furniture makeover.

I found this little desk through our local classified ads for $10. It is the perfect size for a sewing desk, and it had some drawers for storing sewing stuff. Sweet!

The color? Not so sweet. Ug, in fact. So I went shopping for some paint to give this desk a facelift. Valspar makes a color that matches the porch ceiling of the Mackinac Island Grand Hotel. It is part of the National Trust Historic Paint Colors line and is called Hotel Mackinac Blue (#5007-9). Perfect!

Here is what my desk looks like now.

Ahhhh. Much much better! I love love love it. Replacing the handles made a big difference & really helped bring this peice out of being lost in the 70's and turned it into something contemporary. They were on sale for 99 cents, wohoo! I'm glad I have a ton of this color leftover. I have big plans for giving my entire craft corner a makeover. I have to acquire all of the necessary furnishings first, and do a little bit of rearranging (which means I get to do more furniture facelifts for S&J's room), and then I can get to creating my crafty space. I think my first attempt at refinishing went pretty well. It definately got me hooked and excited to do more!

First Baby Photo Shoot

A friend of mine recently had a baby boy. I make cute little hats for baby boys. And I have a camera. So I asked if she wanted some pictures of her little guy. Of course, she said yes. duh! I was a little nervous about taking pictures for someone else, but only a little. I have tons of practice taking pictures of babies. Well, one baby. My Jaden. And he hasn't been this little for a while. But still, I have a TON of pictures of him. Anyhow, here are my favorites from the photo shoot.

Newsboy Hat With Buttons by Petit Lambie

Newsboy Hat With Buttons by Petit Lambie

I have posted these on some professional photography sites and have been given a thumbs up on them, which is pretty exciting. My friend just loves them, which makes me pretty happy.

TUTU Cute!

For the most part of last week, I was seriously obsessed with making tutus.

Are they not precious? I think these have got to be the most favorite thing I have ever created. EVER.

I made this one for fall babies

And when I say I was obsessed with making them, I mean it. Maybe consumed would be a better description. I just had to figure out how to get an idea to materialize into a reality. I have wanted to make baby tutus for quite some time now. A while ago, I learned to make a no-sew tutu. They are quick to make, easy to customize for specific tastes and occassions, and super popular. But I don't like them. The process of making a no-sew tutu involves cutting over 100 yards of tulle strips, then tying the strips around an elastic waistband. This method creates a very thick waistband and leaves the tulle exposed, which feels bulky and itchy. I suppose it would be fine if an infant were dressed in the tutu over a onesie, but that just wasn't my vision. Besides, it looks messy, and the knots often come undone. I just wasn't satisfied with the no-sew method of making a tutu and wanted to come up with a unique way to make one that was lasting, beautiful, elegant, and comfortable. So I began thinking and experimenting.

I haven't slept much over the last few weeks. My mind kept designing and editing my tutu concept. Once I thought I had it down, I created one, which led to more editing, designing, and insomnia. I finally came up with a method I was happy with and made a couple, just in time to see how they work on a wiggly baby instead of in my head. 

We went to Idaho to visit S & some other family over the weekend. I dressed my niece up in my creations and did a photoshoot. I am happy with the way my Petit Lambie tutus look! 

This one reminds me of a tiny little ballerina.

Lovely little embellishment

Tutus by Petit Lambie are made with 8-10 hand gathered layers of soft tulle hand sewn to a wide satin sash and embellished with a hand sewn rosette. The rosette is a removeable brooch that can be placed anywhere on the tutu, or on a headband for a completly customizable outfit ( this was an after thought, and I didn't get the most desireable elastic for a headband before I headed out of town to visit my little model. Headbands will totally match the tutus from henceforth and forever!)  There are no scratchy edges around the waist, as the band is finished inside and out.

Here are some cute pictures of my niece wearing Petit Lambie Tutus.

I have mad tutu making talent....not so gifted in the photoshop department. Oh well. You get the idea. The headband will match the tulle.

Gave up on the photoshop editing of the headband, lol!

Tiny dancer a la second

Tutus are now available in my Etsy shop!

Petit Lambie has a Facebook Page. Go "like" us! (pretty please)

Lovin Me Some Minky

It was love at first touch, me and minky. I was at a quiltig shop in Orem, looking for inspiration for J's first baby blanket. The moment I laid my fingertips on it I fell for the incredible softness & wished I could just cuddle with it all night long. I could just imagine snuggling a sweet baby in softness and being in love with both my little lamb and the blanket. So I made lots of minky blankets.

I know, 4 is not equivalent to tons and bunches, or even lots. But I have plans to make more. Oh do I ever. And to take better pictures of them. My particular favorites are the pink damask and the dinosaur ones. The prints are flannel and the backs are minky - extra specially cuddly! Another one of the best things about minky blankets is that they are warm and lightweight without being bulky. Perfect for keeping little ones cozy this fall and winter.

The Cutest Little Things

I finally learned how to crochet some cute little booties! These are baby Mary Janes. I think they are adorable with the little button at the end of the strap.

They are also the first pair I ever made. I wanted to document how well this experiment turned out for me. Usually my first attempts are pretty miserable. Like my first attempt at steaming an artichoke. I set the stove on fire. The second time I tried to steam an artichoke, I melted the pot on the stove. I haven't tried that experiment again. But I did make some more booties in a more girly color. Mary Janes are more of a girl shoe. And pink is a more girly color than brown. These came out even better than the first pair.

Love them! I think these little things are possibly the cutest thing I have ever crocheted.  

Family Pictures

I make crocheted photoprops. Sometimes I trade my creations for services. Renee over at LaRee Photography and I made an exchange. Here are some of my crochet creations she's used.

We had her take our family photos this summer. She does a great job with family pictures and she is very reasonably priced. You should go check out her blog! And then have a look at the pictures she did for us. I am happy with the way they turned out.



Sneak Peek

I am currently obsessed with two things. The first is reading waaaaay too many blogs. The second is completing my current project. Here is what my sewing desk looks like at the moment.

Any guesses as to what I'm making?



Baby Burpie Tutorial (Posh Burpies!)

My babies spit up. A lot. Both S & J were born with acid reflux. Each went through several outfits daily. Not to mention burp cloths! We had an entire section of the diaper bag reserved for burpies, and I made sure never to leave the house without a minimum of three!

I've decided that being a mom doesn't mean you have to be frumpy. This means that burp cloths don't have to be drab. This is a tutorial on how you can make fabulous, stylish, functional burpies for your baby.

Here's what you need to make super cute burpies:
Fabulous Fabric
Matching chenille fabric
Basic sewing stuff (self healing cutting mat, large quilting ruler, rotary cutter, matching thread, a sewing maching, some pins, and scissors)

I used Michael Miller's flannel Dandy Damask in Cotton Candy and a Michael Miller flannel dot also in Cotton Candy, and white chenille for the back. I order my chenille from fabric.com. It usually comes in 58" wide yards.

~ You can make these using fat quarters, or you can cut the fronts and backs out of larger amounts of fabric. The bonus of fat quarters? No measuring or cutting! sweet. ~

Here's how you make them:

Cut out a rectangle 14" wide by 20" long of your fabulous fabric & another one the same size out of your chenille.

Here are some cutting diagrams. I drew them in Paint. Since I am not a drawing kind of artist, they are probably way off scale, but they will give you an idea of how you can get the most burpies out of a yard of fabric.

Once you have your fronts and backs cut out, pin the two rectangles right sides together & sew around the edges using a 1/2" seam allowance. Make sure to leave an opening to turn it right side out.

Turn your burpie right side out. Fold up the edges of the hole & sew the opening shut.

Top stitch around the entire burpie 1/4" in from the edge. Top stitch again 1/2" in from the edge. Your two rows of topstitching will be 1/4" apart. Topstitching twice gives the burpie a nice finish and improves the durability.

Voila! You've done it!

Summer Vacation 2011

We spent a week on the road, drive drive driving to pretty amazing places.

We went to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The cliff dwellings are awesome.

We visited Four Corners National Monument while we were in the neighborhood. Spencer and I always spread our arms out front to back when we cross the Utah/Idaho border so we can be in two places at once. Here he is in four places at once.

Hubbie got a little creative with his four corners posing.

Then we were off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you haven't ever been there, go! And spend more than just a couple of hours there. This place is awesome. It is just amazing to me that there could be a place so deep on earth - that doesn't even reach the middle of the earth. It goes down for ever - you can't even see the bottom of it unless you hike down - and it stretches on for as far as you can see. It was kind of a hazy day, so visibility was a little limited. I wish I had been able to stay there longer, until the evening came and the clouds went away. That would have been a better picture.

We went to a cave that someone had purchased and turned into a dance hall, which someone else purchased and turned into a museum. It was more wierd than museum. But, it was a naturally cool escape from the late August heat of the desert.

The last stop before we headed home was Cedar City, UT. There is a Shakespeare Festival there every year. 2011 is the 50th anniversary of the festival. We went to see Midsummer Night's Dream. It was by far the funniest production I have ever seen. I laughed even harder than I do at Comedy Sports Club. Seriously. Until I cried. Good times.

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And finally after all that fun, we headed to our sweet little home.