Mommy Guilt Redemption Eludes Me

How do you know when your “mommy guilt” has gotten the best of you? When you knit your son a Christmas stocking, and he tells you to give it to the cat.
Last year, I wrote about how I guiltily “fast-tracked” a Christmas stocking for James by buying some premade felt ornaments and gluing them on a felt stocking I whip-stitched together. This stocking took me a few hours to make, compared to the many, many hours I spent sewing sequins on Ethan’s Christmas stocking. James’s stocking had the same glittery impact as Ethan’s, but deep down, I thought it was a sham.
Then, in October, I saw a pattern for a knitted stocking, and I had to buy it for James. The stocking took a few weeks to knit, compared to the few hours I spent on James’ first stocking. The amount of time I put into this project helped me write off my mommy guilt.
I confidently presented the stocking to James, anticipating his face lit up with joy over my effort. But instead of “Wow!”, I got “Eh.” What’s wrong? “Don’t you want this stocking instead of your old one?” I asked. “No,” he responded. “You should give it to Molly.”
I had gotten it all wrong. James didn’t care how many hours I put into a project, he just wanted a glittery stocking like his big brother’s. I should have left well enough alone.
So, Molly, what do you want for a stocking stuffer?

Make Your Own Baby Leg Warmers

There’s a new baby in my life—my 2-month-old niece, Domenica. I wanted to make her some BabyLegs, which are legs warmers for babies. They cost $12 online, but are super easy to make with knee-high socks you can purchase for one-third the price at Wal-Mart or Target.
This past weekend, I refreshed my memory on how to make BabyLegs by looking over the post I wrote on it a year ago. I realized I added an unnecessary step to make the cuff, so I eliminated those steps in the post. The new, improved post titled, “Cheap Socks Make Great Gifts,” can be found in the right-hand sidebar titled “Tutorials.”
I wanted to take a photo of Domenica in her new BabyLegs this past weekend, but she slept the whole time I saw her. And we all know to never wake up a sleeping baby, even for a blog photo.

A Detour Down Memory Lane

Last weekend I went on scrapbooking retreat at the Holiday Inn in Estes Park. I’m woefully behind in assembling my scrapbooks. In fact, on this retreat, I focused on finishing my now-4-year-old son James’ baby book.
On Sunday afternoon, I regretfully packed up my gigantic scrapbooking bag and hit the road to go back home. I thought I was on highway 36, which takes you back to Denver, but after a few moments of driving I wasn’t so sure. The road went south instead of east. Unfortunately I had to drive quite a few miles on the narrow, winding road before I found a good place to turn around.
The road leveled off and on the left-hand side was a sign for Lily Lake. I pulled into the parking lot before the little alpine lake. Mt Meeker and 14,000-ft. Long’s Peak were reflected in its still waters.
I had been here before. When Terry and I moved back to Colorado in 2004, we tried to make up for lost time in the Chicago flatlands by going up to mountains as much as possible. On one of our weekend outings, we came here to picnic and stroll around the lake. Here’s a photo of me, almost three months pregnant with James, and then-2-year-old Ethan, taking in the gorgeous scenery.
So much in my life has changed since this photo was taken, but this place looks exactly the same.

Granny-Square Hat

The other day I found a scarf crochet pattern I wanted to try. I hadn’t used a crochet needle in at least 10 years, so I pulled out my Illustrated Patchwork Crochet book to reference some of the stitches used in the pattern.
Of course, while I looked through the book, I found another pattern I wanted to try, called the “pull-on hat.” Unlike other patterns I get interested in, this one had potential to be finished two days! All I had to do was crochet five granny squares that are about 5 inches wide, sew four of the squares into a tube, and sew the final square on top of the tube to make a hat.
I had a partial skein of slate-gray bulky wool that seemed perfect for the project, so I gave it a go. In a couple of days I crocheted five granny squares and sewed them together. Then I took the remaining wool and single-crocheted it along the rim of the hat to make a brim.
Overall, I’m really pleased with the hat. I was afraid the top part of the hat wouldn’t meld to my head like a knitted ski hat, but it does. My husband objected to the holes in the hat, due to the granny-square pattern I chose, but I think ventilation is a good thing.

Semi-Homemade Stocking

When I was a junior in college, I spent my Christmas break recovering from surgery. To help pass the time, my mom got me a felt Christmas tree skirt kit. I spent four days cutting out felt teddy bears and sewing them onto the skirt. I also embellished it with embroidery and sequins. It was a labor of love I devoted myself to because I had nothing better to do.
Making that skirt set my standards for Christmas crafts at a delusionally high level. When Ethan was born, I bought a felt Christmas stocking kit that I was going to make for him. It involved embroidery and sewing a multitude of sequins on it in the shape of a snow man. I confidently started on the project, thinking it wouldn’t take more than a month to finish. Uh … no. Actually, it took more than a year to complete because I didn’t factor taking care of a baby into the equation. If it wasn’t for our eight-hour drives from Chicago to Kentucky a few times a year, I would have never finished the stocking.
So then James comes along, and the pressure to make him his own homemade stocking built. I bought a stocking kit in which you cross-stitch a scene onto the stocking cuff. Just making a cuff didn’t seem too hard to do at first, until I realized that I am not good at cross stitch. There was no way I was going to rip out all those stitches and start all over again, so I abandoned the project. Thankfully, James was too young to notice that he had a plain red stocking hung up on the mantle.
This year, though, is different. James is almost 4 years old and takes note of every little thing Ethan has and demands the same for himself. It’s do-or-die stocking time for mommy.
So last week I went to Michael’s craft store searching for a stocking project that looked homemade but could be done in two hours or less. I found some green felt to make a stocking. That’s a great start, but I needed some glitz. Then I found some premade felt figures that you just glue on. Add some glitzy plastic rhinestones—and voila!—a stocking is born.