We’ve needed a different baby carrier for a while. The Moby wrap is a pain in the ass to put on/take off in public (I’m OCD about having to drag the ends on the ground) and it is made out of a jersey-knit material, so it stretches as you wear it and then the entire fit is thrown off. The Baby Bjorn is Keith’s favorite baby wearing device, but it is supposedly bad for hip development because of the way it holds the hanging baby from the crotch. Alas.
My solution to this dilemma? The often crafted, never complained about mei tai! I remember seeing mei tais on Craftster years and years ago, and noted that if I ever produced spawn that a mei tai would probably be the baby-carting way to go if I was uninterested in using a stroller.
Now cue this gem: the Scandi baby carrier tutorial. Sweeeeet.
I went through my fabric stash and found many suitable bottom-weight and decorative fabrics perfect for this project. My fabric choices for my first mei tai are these:
The brown and green print is a canvas that I found on clearance at Jo-Ann’s many years ago, and the umbrella fabric is just a quilting cotton, likely from Jo-Ann’s as well. Fantastic!
Fabrics are pressed and ready to go!
The next challenge was the sewing machine. I hadn’t even touched the poor thing in more than a year. Knowing that the last time I cleaned around the bobbin case was too long ago I decided to go in for some maintenance. Good thing I did, because I cleared an entire dust bunny dynasty out from the bottom of the machine. Gross!
Tomorrow I’m going to mock up some pattern pieces from broadcloth and hopefully cut all of my pieces.
Baby carrier freedom, here I come!
I spent probably a good hour looking at various mei tai (Asian-style baby carrier) tutorials online, and finally found two that I would like a fusion of. I believe I already have all the necessary materials on hand and will verify that tomorrow.
If all goes according to plan I should have myself a mei tai by the end of the weekend. I knew all that clearance canvas from Ikea would come in handy some day!
January 9, 2011
Why is it that every single time I look up something I want to buy it always seems to have a high resale value, whereas when I want to sell something it has a sad, low resale value. Sigh.
January 5, 2011
Oh, how I love thee. When we first moved I searched to see where the closest location would be. 22 miles, in Glen Allen. “Hey, that’s not bad!” Much to my dismay there was a cute little, “Coming Soon!” tucked underneath that listing. The closest open location was hours away!
Today I decided to check again and now there are store hours and sales. I know where I’m going this weekend!
December 26, 2010
Since it has been snowing my husband has been going on and on about getting some corn for popping. It quickly became a he-said, she -said debate after Mr. No Single Use Kitchen Item said something about needing a popcorn popper. We always used to pop corn on the stove top, so I didn’t understand his logic. He claimed to not know that it was possible! LOL. Anyway, I found this webpage for stove top popcorn.
We followed the recipe and the popcorn came out delicious. We use Old Bay to flavor our corn.
December 13, 2010
For a while now I’ve been craving sweets. I haven’t resorted to creaming sugar and butter and eating that, but I’ve been close. I’ve done an amazing job ignoring the chocolate chips I have stashed in the baking cupboard, much to my own amazement. Finally I remembered that there was a spare Ghirardelli brownie mix. Awesome! …Except for the part where we’ve been out of eggs and milk for a week.
Not wanting to wake the baby and drag ourselves to the grocery store just to satisfy my cravings, I decided to Google egg substitutes. I vaguely know that applesauce and mayo can be used, but haven’t a clue in what amounts. In my search I found this fun website: The Cook’s Thesaurus. There are replacements and measurement equivalents.
Hurray! There is mayo in the fridge! Cravings can be satisfied after all, and there will be reading material for my evening.
December 7, 2010
I love white rice. The fluffy texture melts in my mouth, and it is made even more perfect only with the addition of furikake.
My favorite variety has seaweed and bonito (fish) flakes in it. Someday I will try some of the other varieties, which vary from sweet egg omelette to miso and many other flavors, but for now I stick with my old standby.
My love affair with white rice has placed great pressure on me to purchase a rice cooker, which I have so far resisted. Again, Keith has a great hatred for single use kitchen items, and though I have made the argument that a rice cooker doubles as a veggie steamer I still know that he would greatly disapprove of such a purchase.
Also I have mentioned my hatred for our electric stove. Well, I am proud to announce that I have mastered cooking rice on the electric stove top. I have the exact measurements needed down and I know exactly how long to cook it for. Yes, this is an achievement worth blogging about. That is how great my love is for white rice.
December 6, 2010
Today we finally went to a new pediatrician for Li’s four month check up. Virginia is a trip; NOBODY washed their hands before handling my baby. IN THE HEIGHT OF COLD/FLU SEASON, NOBODY. Gross. Also, in Illinois that would probably be an impending lawsuit. I am slightly relieved that we won’t be going back, since next month we’ll finally be on Prime and we’ll be going to the base’s health clinic, which hopefully has better sanitary practices.
Tomorrow we’ll go to see Keith. Hopefully I can get glasses at the PX. Otherwise I have at least $500 to spend this week on healthcare and related goods from my Whole Foods flex account. I never thought that would become burdensome…
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