Ponchos

So for each of my two nieces turning 3 this spring, I made a crocheted poncho from this pattern in size 4. It's supposed to be a replica of the Martha Stewart "Coming Home" poncho that she wore when she came back to house arrest from actual prison. Meh. I just thought it looked like a cute little poncho.

I didn't take pictures of the first one I made, which was a dark navy blue or blue/black. Here is a quick snapshot of the second one in a medium blue.


I've started a third one, this time for sale, in a purple acrylic with silver trim, size 7/8 girls. I will post pictures of that one when it's finished, and it'll go up on Etsy. The pattern is quite repetitive so I can do these while watching TV or a movie. The size 4 can be finished in about two evenings, but the 7/8 is taking a bit longer (because it is a bit longer!) It's a fun little piece of clothing that I hope people will like.

My sister-in-law is a big fan of the ponchos on little kids, because it is better for use with a carseat than a traditional coat. Big coats add so much bulk that the child may not be fully secured by the harness, but with a poncho, the straps go underneath and the poncho can lay over the top. For winter, my niece has a fleece one made by her grandma, but I thought this would be cute as a spring, summer, or early autumn layer.

For my other niece, I am hoping this will be a nice way to transition from using a crocheted blanky to comfort herself at naptime. She is the one I wrote part of this post about. Now that she's a big girl, she is almost (but not quite) ready to let go of her bicky. The lace at the bottom of the poncho would be ideal to weave her little fingers through.

Back (It's all right!)

Wow. Almost two months since my last posts. To be fair, I started a draft in early February, but got side-tracked and never posted it. It seems a bit pointless now - it was basically saying that I was all better (from whatever illness I had at the time) and detailing an awesome trip through Target's clearance section. To quote Mike Birbiglia, "That's not a blog, that's a text message."

Honestly, I just haven't had much new to say. I've been a sort of a depressed funk as tends to happen to me towards the tail end of winter. So I'll just hit the main highlights and you can judge for yourself whether I should have been blogging them:

• I haven't made much progress on the apartment or my office, though I did enlist Dan to help move and reorganize some bookshelves.
• I checked out a local technical school where I intend to apply and get a quick 1-year accounting certificate so I can get a "real" job (well, one where I make actual money on a regular basis.)
  
• I had a terrible infection on my chin that has finally gone away with the help of strong antibiotics.
• One of my nieces turned 3, but celebrated her birthday at Disney World so I didn't get to be there. (Later she, her mom, me, my mom and my other niece all met up at the Mall of America for lunch, which was fun. The girls had a blast on the merry-go-round.)
• Dan and I joined a gym, again. He's been pretty good about going every day after work - me, not so much.
  
• I bought new business cards with my new PO box address, new web address, new graphics, etc.
  
• I got a custom order for a set of coasters from Final Fantasy 7 which was challenging.
  
• I've migrated about half of my current items from my old Etsy shop to my new Etsy shop.
• I made and tested prototypes for a few new projects - crocheted ponchos, crocheted bath poofs, "mug mat" sized coasters, etc.

So yeah. I've been busy but just haven't had a lot to say until these last couple of weeks, in which I've been so busy that I haven't set aside time to think about blogging. I'll most likely write separate entries about those last few items, but I don't want to post them all today and burn myself out again. Baby steps.