Crafts, leisure and happiness

I can't believe I stayed away from my blog for so long! Well here I am, back in the new year. With a published article  on Yahoo Associated Content to my name (waving and bowing to applause),  lots of FOs (Finished Objects you pervert) and refreshed after a nice time with family, especially with my little one. His day care was closed for around 10 days and I had the best time with him. I'm proud to say he was a golden boy in terms of his behavior and we had a rollicking time together. We did many little and big things together but that's a whole other post. Here are some of the FOs, I don't have pictures of all of them. A vest for a newborn on the way. It's " Pebble " on Ravelry. Sweaters for Bubba. The one below is a test knit. Will give more details once the designer publishes the pattern. Here's a really bad picture of the finished scarf being blocked. Will upload some pictures of the scarf being modeled. Remember  Tamy's WI...

I have a 2 yr old and only last week did I learn about the Amazon Mom membership program. It is a really cool program and I'm really bummed that I learnt of this only now when I'm about to start toilet training him! Once you sign up for this program you are automatically enrolled into Amazon Prime (free 2 day shipping) for the first 3 months and then for every $25 you spend in the Amazon Baby store you get an additional free month. You also get a whopping 30% discount on diapers if you sign up for Subscribe and Save!  This is another cool program where you can schedule regular deliveries of almost anything, like diapers and wipes etc. And best of all both these programs are free and you can cancel your subscription to Subscribe and Save anytime! Read the FAQs, it just gets better and better. I'd thought that Amazon did not have the best deal in diapers and had avoided buying from there. But with this subscribe and save it is by far the best deal I know of anywhere and no ...

Kimono sweater Originally uploaded by vin E This little sweater was inspired by a pattern I found on the berroco site. Here's the pattern. Made a few modifications to fit Bubba, looks like its going to be too big for him right now. He seems to like it though. When I tried it on him, the first thing he did was spit up on it.

Babette blanket made by Mom Originally uploaded by vin E Babette blanket made by Mom. She made it for my soon to arrive baby. I'm inspired to make one too now. This one is made from yarn bought in Bangalore, India. Looks like some mix of cotton and wool, not sure though. Turned out really soft and warm and huge - 42" X 40" !! Will last my baby a long time! Henceforth this blanket shall be called - "The Ajji Blanket". Click on the pic for more photos on my flickr page.

Yellow pepper beanie finished Originally uploaded by vin E I picked this pattern from knitchicks . I went to Michael's looking for an appropriate red yarn for this. Could not find one that I liked. So here's a Yellow Pepper beanie instead of a strawberry or tomato beanie. I hope it fits my soon to arrive little one. Here's what I used Needles : US size 6 DPNs all the way. Yarn : Swish DK from knitpicks , colors Pale Lemon and Asparagus. Used half of the Pale Lemon 50 gms ball and maybe a quarter of the Asparagus 50 gms ball. Finished size: The circumference is 14".

Today I'm about to start looking for a car seat for the new arrival. And these are the questions I hope are answered during my research How should I choose one? What should I look for? Turns out there are tons of resources online to decide how to choose one. Most of them echo the same ideas. Car seats should be easy to install and use, there should be a 5 point restraint system, should be comfortable, the baby's head should be well supported, they should be washable. I liked the baby center articles on car seats. Here's one of them. There are two kinds of car seats that are suitable for infants - Infant Car Seats and Convertible Car Seats . Baby center has detailed information on each of these as well. I also liked the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA has used a five star rating system to rate ease of use of certain car seats. This has made short listing really easy for me. Check this out. Which ones are safest? There are so ...