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.

Surreal...aka blogging from bed

Well, this post is going to have to be short, but sweet. Technology is a wonderful thing, but typing with a stylus takes a long time. At the moment I am using my Nintendo DSi to reach the internet. That's right, the game-boy just turned into an iPhone. It is a neat little gadget, but the Opera browser has its limitations. Overall I'm happy with it, though. It means I can check my e-mail and my Etsy from bed now, rather than going in the other room to use my laptop. I realize, too, that it's been a month between posts, so more will come later, when I'm not typing withthe equivalent of one finger. :)

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.

Sunday night

And my tummy is UNHAPPY. Dan picked up some sort of stomach bug which started on Friday - and I didn't get sick until this morning. He is still sick as a dog, so I don't have very high hopes as far as my own productivity this week goes.

Last week I shared the location of my blog with my Facebook friends, and promptly stopped updating. I have this tendency to fail at things as soon as I put pressure on myself by making a big announcement. Before I met Dan, I would date a dude for a few weeks, decide I might really like him, tell my friends about it, and after that it was basically jinxed. He'd dump me in the next few days. I repeated this cycle at least three times. But, obviously, I fixed that pattern and I'm going to fix this one too. Which brings me to today - blogging while sick.

So. Where was I last week? Here. Nowhere. I just really didn't have anything worthwhile to say - at least that's what I was telling myself. The truth is, I was in a bit of a depressed funk for most of the week. I've been "behind" on housework and my business tasks that need to get done if I'm going to grow. I've been whining forever about my crummy photography skills, and I know of a few "friends of friends" who are photographers, but haven't worked up the courage to ask for their help. My spring cleaning project is stalled for the moment - I cleared out the next area I was going to showcase, but I haven't placed the new pieces of furniture into it yet. I can blame part of that on the fact that Dan was sick and unable to help me, and today I got sick and was unable to do much myself.

The one plus of my little lethargic spell was that I crocheted like a madwoman, finishing one wool blanket set and one cotton blanket. Pictures to be posted when I take them. Don't hold your breath.

Anyhow, I wasn't feeling motivated, and now I am feeling it but can't act on it. Which is a little bit frustrating. What I have managed to do is make a list of daily to-dos, which hopefully will lead to a schedule to get me into a routine where I actually get things done that I need to do.

CPSIA Update

So enforcement has been stayed for a period of one year. The upshot is, testing won't be required now until February 10, 2010. The crappy part is, the law is still on the books the way it stands. Poorly written, devastatingly vague. So, while I'm not going to be going out of business anytime soon, the work to fix the law is still not over. We just have a bit more time to work with. It feels like a relief, but also a hollow victory.