Sam's blankies

Back to the business of crafting, at least for gifts!
I have two big-ish projects that I'm working on - as my wrist has healed and Sam is increasingly able to entertain himself for short periods of time, or nap for more than 10 minutes. Unfortunately I haven't gotten pictures of them taken yet, so this little photo blog will have to take their place for now.
I made an afghan for Sam before he was born, and selected two of the afghans I had made previously for sale, to give to him. Here they are:
The one I made special is light green superwash wool:


One of the ones I made before was a small, light summer blankie in a bright blue cotton blend:



And Sam's third homemade blanket is an acrylic granny square, in blue and yellow:

A Whole New World

Once again, I have a long absence from blogging and crafting to explain. This time it will have to be short and sweet, as there is someone short and sweet demanding my attention.
The last few weeks of my pregnancy were filled with crocheting, partly because I was on bed rest for toxemia, and partly because I knew it would be my last chance to get much done for a long time. I finished a couple of bags from this pattern, and got started on a monkey blanket from Stitch and Bitch: The Happy Hooker. I was literally in the middle of making the squares for that blanket when I was told that today was the day, labor would be induced.
Sam was born at the end of May, and my life since then has included very, very little crafting. He was born with webbed fingers on his left hand, a smaller left hand and arm compared to his right side, and a left elbow contracture (it just didn't want to extend all the way.) In August he was diagnosed with Poland Sequence, a rare genetic disorder with no known cause. He doesn't have any other symptoms than what I mentioned above, and there is no mental component to the condition. For now, it just means a lot of occupational therapy to get his elbow working right, and surgery to separate his fingers once he's old enough (at least one year, possibly more.)
Almost all of my time is spent with him, doing the usual mommy things and stretching his elbow and arm. He is an absolute delight, but having a special needs kid means I've had no time even to finish that little monkey blanket. It also means I've postponed my return to school, at least until after his surgery.
I wanted to add a picture here, but it's just not working right. Here is the link.
He is pretty much the most fun thing ever.
So yeah, Sam time and a small injury to my right wrist as a result of a crappy IV have caused me to not craft at all over the last four months, but I do hope to get back to it soon. There are a few projects I'd like to finish up and a few things I'd like to make for Sam and his buddies before Christmas. I'd also like to try to sell off my remaining completed pieces, since without school loans and without unemployment or any other income, I'm not bringing any money in. Dan makes enough to make ends meet, and if he gets a new job he'll probably make more than enough, but I like to have a little spending money that's really "mine". So my Etsy shop will probably reopen soon.

Where I've Been

(Or, Why Auntie Mel Fell Off the Face of the Earth)

So it's January now, just about 6 months since I last posted. I've got a couple of good reasons, which I'll get to in a moment. Not only has my blogging slowed down, but my crafting / Etsy-ing has ground to a halt as well, so I didn't really have anything of that sort to write about.

In August, my unemployment compensation ran out, and therefore I made the decision to go back to school full time, for one year, to finish an associate's degree in accounting. The idea is that I don't want to go back to a secretary office drudgery type job, and being an accountant or bookkeeper would give me some professional credibility in the workplace from here on out. It will also help me run my small business better. While in school, I stopped making new designs except on an as-requested basis, and stopped promoting my Etsy shop as much. I have kept up with Etsy as far as the existing products I have, and they are still for sale, but I haven't dug into any new projects. Over the winter holidays I made a few sales and had to stitch my fingers almost numb to keep up, but everyone got their stuff on time, so I felt I was still doing a good job as a small business owner.

In October, my husband and I found out that we are expecting our first child. Now, this space is not intended to be a baby or pregnancy blog, but that's pretty much central to my existence at this point. My school schedule has been slowed down a bit, because since I'm due in June, I won't be taking as many classes this semester or during the summer as I had originally planned. My transition from just "Auntie Mel" to "Mommy" (and still Auntie Mel) will most certainly be a significant one. A big practical change, related to my crafting life, is that I'm losing my office to the nursery. I also anticipate spending more of my crafting time on personal projects for my baby and the others my friends and family are expecting soon.

What's the upshot? Well, I'm not certain how regularly I'll be posting or crafting for the foreseeable future. I'm spending time on Facebook, and posting my personal stuff there, but Auntie Mel's Gifts is in a holding pattern until further notice. One fun thing is that we just found out that it's going to be a boy, so I've got a huge backlog of boy-appropriate afghans to choose from, I mean, ahem, test.