Little Newborn Firefighter Outfit

My senior at work asked me if I could make a little newborn firefighter outfit for her brother's baby. I had some time because the baby wasn't due for another six weeks.

This is the first pattern I have had to buy and I'm pretty bummed. I could not find a cute baby firefighter hat ANYWHERE. I would have been fine with the ruffle cover and booties, but the hat could not be found.

The HFD is for Houston Fire Department. She lives in TX. And it's for a little girl in case you can't tell.

I asked around to see if anyone had any recent trips to San Antonio and if someone could just take the outfit for me. I found a coworker who was willing to take it.

And he forgot it at home.

So I got to mail it. It was delivered the day after the baby was born, who was born weeks early.

Tricky little babies.

She sent me a picture of the little baby.

Crocheted Costumes

I love to sit in front of the TV and crochet.

I've been talking about going to a gym, but who has time when I have projects?

Some past projects:

Baby shower gifts for Nicki

Baby Bunny Photo Prop

Rug out of Sheets

Baby Blankets

My friend Asmahan had a baby recently and she asked if I could make a candy corn costume she saw on pinterest. It was just a cocoon and a hat, not hard at all.

She has the cutest little baby.

The candy corn was a pretty easy project, and I'm glad Asmahan liked it (the sweetie pie got me a gift card to a restaurant, I really appreciated that). 

My second project was just for me. I was so excited to find a free pattern for a mermaid tail. I am crazy about mermaids. They must be gaining popularity because I have found three different free patterns now. I was really excited when I found the third pattern, because it used a special stitch that made it look like scales.

The pattern can be found here. I started the project and sat down to watch some TV. I usually re-watch Friends or the BBC Pride and Prejudice (it's eight hours long) because I am looking at my project the majority of the time and miss parts. I am currently watching Xena. It's incredible cheesy but we used to watch it with my Dad when we were kids, and it's good crochet TV because I don't mind missing parts. It's a lot of fighting scenes where she is flying through the air and kicking butt.

So I sat through three Xena episodes which meant I had spent two hours on this project when I realized....the maker of the pattern was using UK abbreviations. Which are dumb. A DC in UK means single crochet, but in the US it means double crochet. A TR in UK means double crochet, but but in the US it means triple crochet. (Which one makes more sense to you?) So I was making it too big but I didn't figure it out until I had done the entire top band and gotten to the scales.

So I pulled it apart, pouted a bit, and started again.

Then I got to the bottom fins.

Yeah, that's not right at all. The stinker switched to US abbreviations. I thought her DC meant to single crochet, but it really means DC which means it was TOO SMALL. I briefly considered just leaving it, but it looks like a seal. I had to take a little break from the project at this point.

But once it was finished it was GLORIOUS. I love it. I don't even have a baby to put in it but I love it.

I do, however, have friends with babies.

This is Nicki's little Harper. She is the perfect mermaid. Nicki said she was kicking her legs and flapping the fin and it was adorable.

I handed my phone to J and he swiped to look at the other pictures and was surprised to find this picture:

His reaction was very comical. I had to explain that when I texted Nicki to ask if she wouldn't mind putting her little girl in my mermaid tail, Nicki texted me back with this picture. He looks great too.

And I want one of those tails. I wonder if you can swim in it.

HP's Baby Gift

One of my favorite people is my friend and coworker Hilary (or, as I call her, HP). Her hubby is a pilot, and flying kind of "runs in the family," so the theme for the nursery is vintage airplanes; just perfect for  a little boy.

I decided to make her a customized gift. I had to call in the professional help for this one, my Mom.

There's no way I could have done a good job sewing around that. But luckily I knew someone who could.

I give credit where credit is due. I realize this photo is upside down but I am feeling too lazy to do anything about it.

This is the castle that was at the baby shower. It was kind of amazing.

Deni, HP and me. I did not get the memo about wearing a cute dress.

HP texted me this picture and told me that it matches and she loves it. :)