Wool Diaper Cover "Soaker"

This post is very long-overdue, as I completed this project back on March 1st.
So now, behold! Ella's first 100% wool diaper cover handknit by Mama with love~


I got the pattern for free off of Ravelry here~!

There are a couple of reasons why it took so long for me to finally put this up.

1) I'd been hoping to catch Ella on video with it on while she walked, to hit two birds with one stone and post about how she can now walk! As of the end of her 9th month, back in January, to be precise. But Daddy is far better about catching things on video than me, so I just settled for a crappy Photobooth shot. Sorry!!

2) I wasn't happy with the finished product at first and had written it off as a failure that wasn't worth blogging about. The leg holes seemed too tight while the waistband ribbing seemed too loose. But after taking Celeste's advice of wetting and then stretching the leg holes around a yogurt container overnight, they fit much better.:)

Since Ella's birth, we've only used cloth diaper covers and plastic diaper covers to keep the wetness from wicking onto her clothes (or us). But not until I finally stumbled across a wool diaper cover in a second hand store in January did I realize "omigod, they can be made of wool too! And knit for that matter!"

I felt so enlightened, but sorta disappointed that I hadn't known about these sooner...
But, oh well! It took a while to pick my wool and pattern and then of course complete the pattern, but it was worth it!
They feel so nice on her and smell much better too -- even after a major pee-pee from Ella, they don't smell bad the way the plastic ones do.

This is diaper cover #1 of what I hope to eventually be 4 total...
Wish me luck! Though I know I have plenty of motivation from Ella too.
Remember: Ella is always watching you!!

Perez-Guerri Recipe for Mayonnaise

I love mayonnaise, don't you? ♡♡♡

And I figured it's about time I feature my favorite family recipe, passed down from my grandmother's side, for homemade mayo!

The ingredients are quite simple and only require the following:


The amounts are as follows:

• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 C vegetable oil

And the steps are even simpler:

1) Put all ingredients into blender except for oil

2) Add 1-2 tbsp of oil and beat

3) Keep beating while adding the rest of oil sloooowly until it firms into a mayo-ish consistency

This really only takes a couple of minutes.
If you use the kind of blender that has a hole in the center of the lid, through which you can pour the oil slowly.

But I use a Magic Bullet, which means I have to turn it off, unscrew, add oil, rescrew, beat again, and repeat. A little timely, but I gotta work with what I got. {:)

But I digress.
When you first start beating the mixture, it will be very liquidy and orangish thanks to the paprika:


After about 1/2 C of the oil has been added, it'll start to get that nice lighter whipped mayo look:


Finally, I dollop the mayo into a jar and ta-dah! All done~


This recipe makes a little over 1/2 pint of mayo.
Mm-mm and enjoy!!

Knitting Goals

I think it'd be a good idea to record here one of my 2010 goals which is to knit at least one thing a month.
Since I learned how to knit back in November, I've luckily fulfilled that goal as you can see below:

November = orange scarf for Daddy
December = pink scarf for Kathy
January = baby leg warmers for Ella, Douzen, and Maia
February = scarf + wrist warmers for Geo

Oh! And they're all gifts for others too! I didn't even realize that. :)
Now, to keep it up and maybe even make more than one thing a month!
I actually have two projects going on right now:

- wool diaper cover (soaker) for Ella
- washcloths for the home & friends

These are different than the usual fare since they involve wool and cloth which I've never knit with before! I love it so far, and can't wait to take advantage of the absorbency that these materials so excel at. ;)

Well! Until then!!

Knitting for Geo~

My little, Georgie, brother is turning 22 next month, so I got a head-start to make him a birthday present!


Presenting the Spanish-themed scarf + wrist warmers!!
We're all 1/2 Spanish thanks to my Castillian madre, and Georgie has exceptional pride in his roots -- as you can see above. ;)

Since he lives in Boston, and it's chilly-bon-billy there, I figured why not let him stay warmer longer? Especially since he'll be leaving for a three-year contract with the Peace Corps to Africa come September!! I doubt he'll get much use of this set of wintery accessories there, but at least he will be warm for the rest of his Boston stay. :)

And since he's turning 22, I made the scarf (a simple garter stitch) 22 stitches across, like I did with Kathy's pink scarf (25 stitches for her 25 years).
And as for the wrist warmers, I made the yellow stripe 7 rows long -- lucky 7!!
I know...pretty corny... ;)

I'd originally planned on knitting him a hat, but for some reason circular needles still evade me!! ;_; Hopefully, I'll get the hang of it eventually...

Well! In the meanwhile, Georgie is happy with his new present and that makes me happy too. :)

I love you, Georgie!! Stay warm there in Boston and we can't wait to see youuuu!!

Crawling progress

It feels like a while since I've made any updates about Ella Rose, so this post is devoted to her!
Yesterday, February 1st, she turned ten months old and she is a very different girl since her six-month birthday post back in October.
Since she first started crawling, back in October, we made it a point to introduce her to the stairs to build some more muscle and to be familiar with how to handle them.
But it wasn't until she was about 9.5 months old that she finally understood how to descend the stairs too!
So here is a bit of footage honoring her ability to go both up and down the fastest/smoothest way she's capable of now. :)

To all her family and friends, enjoy!!



Oh! She's also officially a "wobbler" now, taking steps that transverse as many as 7 or so feet~?
She's got a ways to go, but we're loving her beautiful efforts to mimic Mama and Daddy :)
'Til then!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hi, everyone!
Today I'm going to share the recipe for homemade laundry detergent that I use in our household.
The first time I made a batch was back in October and it did an excellent job cleaning our clothes--even the poopiest diapers Ella threw at us!
So last night I did the second batch--larger than the first--and will share the recipe below:

• 1 1/2 C borax
• 1 1/2 C washing soda
  
• 1 bar soap
• water

1) Gather your materials. These were the brands I used for myself. They were all conveniently located next to each other at the local grocery store. And their prices were as follows:
Fels-Naptha = $1.23
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda = $3.19
20 Mule Team Borax = $4.25
The water you can get out of your kitchen sink. ;)


2) Grate the entire bar of soap into a bowl with a cheese grater. You can use either the big-hole side for curls, or the small-hole side for a finer powder. I like to do this outside as it can kick up tiny, little particulates that I'd rather not having floating around my house. It's the most labor-intensive step of the process, but I like to think of it as building those biceps. ;)

3) Heat up 12 C of water on the stove in a pot, careful not to bring it to a boil. Stir the grated soap into the water, until it's all dissolved. Should end up looking something like this:


4) Being sure to stir the concoction on the stove regularly, fill a 5-gallon bucket with 4 gallons of warm/hot water from the tap. The bucket I got from Habitat for Humanity. It used to hold green paint, but I was able to clean that out pretty well and it only cost me $1. Thanks H4H!!


5) When the soap flakes are pretty much all dissolved in the hot water on the stove, it's time to pour in the borax and washing soda. Stir it all up until you don't feel that scratchy grainy texture of the borax and soda anymore.

6) When it really feels all dissolved, pour the stovetop formula into your 5-gallon bucket. Careful, 'cuz it's gonna fill your bucket almost all the way to the top! And now it's time to--you guessed it--stir!! Be sure to really dip in there deep as the borax-heavy solution will want to sink ASAP. Stir until you feel confident that it's all mixed up in there.


7) Cover the bucket, but not airtight or anything, and let it sit for the next 24-hours. This gives it time to coagulate.

8) After 24 hours, it should have the consistency of very runny jello. Very gelatinous. See?


9) Just stir a little more, to break it all up, and you're done!

For the first few batches, it tends to obviously separate between a solid stratum on top and a liquid stratum below, so I like to dip deep and stir it up to re-mix and really bring it together again.
I keep a 1 C measuring cup sitting on the lid and use that to pour the detergent into the washing machine. For Ella's dirtier diaper loads, I use 2 cups. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but I just like to be careful~ And my machine's handled the detergent very well with no residues or anything, so all in all, it's been a success!
And since the borax and washing soda boxes are 76 oz and 55 oz respectively, it's really only the bar of soap that you have to purchase when the bucket runs out. So $1.23 for this batch of laundry detergent that should last well into Spring. Not too shabby, economically speaking.

I hope some of you guys give this recipe a go and save yourself some money while minimizing the chemicals in your clothes.
Good luck and take care!

Knitted Love!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

With only the last couple of months of 2009 bringing the beginning of knitting into my life, I look forward to many a more knitted thing in 2010. In fact, that's one of my New Year's Resolutions: to make at least one knitted good a month. So that's 12 by the end of the year. A fair enough goal, I think. :)
But first, from December 2009, here are some bi-colored leggings I made for Celeste's little bundle of joy, Maia! What a great model she makes!! And she's wearing a gorgeous knitted bonnet a la her crafty mama as well!:


And being such a sucker for matching clothing pieces, I made an identical pair for Ella too!
But when I unveiled them at the Mama Class...it turned out Celeste had finished her Christmas gift to Ella too and it was in the form of a matching hat with Maia!! What luck!! And a million thank-yous again, Celeste!! ♡


Don't they make a dynamic duo~? :)
And look at all the purple they're wearing!!
I can't wait to carry Ella all around town in her new completely-functional-while-still-adorable hat, and to see more knitted gear on her in the coming year!!
Until later, take care and wish me luck!!