Someone New

Someone tiny and new has joined our family and we'll get to see her for the first time in November, 2013!

It's sinking in that my youngest is over a year old now...

Beautiful baby,
Beautiful girl,
So precious and tiny,
Like a perfect pearl,
A treasure for Heaven,
Worth more than the Earthly,
A blessing is given,
From God to our family,
A beautiful baby,
A precious sweet baby,
A treasure, a soul,
A sweet baby girl.


My sweet youngest baby girl has turned one! In fact, because of the logistics of having a Christmas-vicinity birthday, we just had a party for her on Saturday! She's technically 13 months old now but it's finally sinking in for me I think... my babiest baby is almost a toddler! *bittersweet tears* How can time fly so fast? She is such a joy to all of us! Such a sweet happy baby! I was so blessed to marry my beloved husband, and every time God has multiplied our little family, we have all felt so blessed! Number 4 is no exception!

Crochet Cotton Ripple Dishcloth {Free Pattern}

Here's another dishcloth pattern I designed. I only knew how to do a ripple in double crochet stitch at the time and really wanted to make a ripple dishcloth but not to have all the "holes" double crochet stitch would leave. I didn't want my fingers sticking through the holes touching all the ickies I would be washing. Lol! So I tried and frogged and tried and frogged again until I got just the right size ripples, just the right number of them, and all in single crochet so no giant gaping holes for my fingers to slip through.



This dishcloth takes about and ounce and a half of cotton worsted weight yarn, and a G crochet hook.
CH = chain, SC = single crochet, SK = skip.

COTTON RIPPLE DISHCLOTH pattern by Jessica Mama Mirage (2010):
ROW 1: Ch 45 (multiple of 7 plus 3) loosely, sc in second ch from hook, skip 1, *sc in next 2 ch, (sc, ch 1, sc) in next ch, sc in next 2 ch, sk 2, repeat from * 4 times, sc in next 2 ch, (sc, ch 1, sc) in next ch, sc in next 2 ch, sk 1, sc in last ch, ch 1, turn.
ROW 2: Sc in first sc, sk 1, *sc in next 2 sc, (sc, ch 1, sc) around ch 1, sc in next 2 sc, sk next 2 sc, repeat from * 4 times, sc in next 2 sc, (sc, ch 1, sc) around ch 1, sc in next 2 sc, sk next sc, sc in last sc. Ch 1 & turn (omit on last row, row 25, of cloth).
ROWS 3-25: Repeat row 2 until cloth is square. Tie off.
Weave in tails.

Last time I got 2 comments asking for another pattern. I have a really cute leaf pattern and I am still undecided whether or not to bother typing it out. Unlike this ripple and the previously shared triangle, the leaf dishcloth is kind of complicated! If I get comments from 7 different people on this post before the end of January 2013, I'll share the leaf. If not, I may share it anyway and I may not. Time will tell. ;)
~*Jessica

Crochet Triangle Dishcloth {Free Pattern}

I've been meaning to post some of my crochet patterns for a while but life has been busy! :) Here's one for a triangle dishcloth in crochet. Why triangle, you may wonder? I made one on a whim once to use up a leftover ounce of cotton yarn from some other project, and discovered that a triangle dishcloth fits the shape of my hand perfectly and as such is AMAZING for wiping things down, such as the kitchen table! You know how usually you wind up kind of wrapping the dishcloth around the ends of your fingers and pinching to hold onto it? Well no more hanging onto your cloth with these triangles. As I said they just fit the shape of your hand and make a bowl of cherries out of scrubbing the kids' fingerprinty mashed potato or spaghetti sauce smears off the dining table, even after they've dried on. :)

This pattern takes approximately 1oz of worsted weight cotton yarn per dishcloth, is crochet in continuous round in single crochet, and works best if you have 2 subsequent sizes of hook like E & F or F & G or G & H. I think an F & G work best if your guage and tension are usually spot-on.

If you are using a 2oz ball of yarn such as Peaches & Creme or Creme de la Creme then you can get 2 dishcloths out of it- I would recommend starting a dishcloth at each end and crocheting 1-3 rounds on one cloth, then 1-3 rounds on the other, alternating until you run out of yarn in the middle, so that both cloths are the same size regardless of your personal hook choice or guage. A perfectly matched pair of dishcloths makes for a sweet gift.

This is an easy pattern and is written in a way that beginners will hopefully have little trouble understanding it. RND is round. SL ST is slip stitch. CH is chain. SC is single crochet. You may need to look up the magic ring if you're unsure what this means. Try YouTube for videos. Visuals make everything less confusing, IMPO!

Want to add it to your Ravelry que? http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mirages-easy-triangle-dishcloth

EASY TRIANGLE DISHCLOTH pattern by Jessica Mama Mirage (2010):

ROUND 1: With your smaller hook, do the magic ring (you can look it up on YouTube if you're unsure what this is) and crochet 6 sc into said ring, then cinch it up tight and as you continue on in the following round, crochet over your tail so you won't have to weave it in later. Do not slip stitch, do not chain up, do not turn: this pattern is worked in continuous round.
ROUND 2: Sc in first sc of round 1, (sc, chain 1, sc) in next sc, *sc in next, (sc, ch 1, sc) in next, repeat from * once more, that was round 2. Do not slip st, do not chain up, do not turn. You will continue to work in the round continuously without chaining up or turning for the duration of this pattern.
ROUNDS 3-17: Put a stitch marker or a scrap of contrasting yarn between your last st of rnd 2 and your first st of rnd 3. CHANGE HOOKS! From here on out you will use your larger hook. Sc in top of first sc of round 2. Sc in next also. (Sc, ch 1, sc) into the first chain-1 space of the previous round. * Work 1 sc into each of next 3 stitches. (Sc, ch 1, sc) into next ch 1 space. Repeat from * once more. Sc into last st of round. Move your stitch marker/yarn scrap up to the end of this round and continue on in this manner: work 1 sc into each sc, work (sc, ch 1, sc) into each chain 1 space, move your stitch marker/scrap up with each round. Do this until you have 16 rounds. Round 3 has 3 single crochets in between each (sc, ch 1, sc) corner as described above, round 4 has 5 sc between corners, round 5 has 7 sc between corners... and henceforth you add 2 sc per side per round. So on round 6 you have 9 sc per side, and on round 16 you should have 29 sc per side of your triangle, not including the (sc, ch 1, sc) in each corner. Your final round, round 17, should have 31 sc per side, not including the (sc, ch 1, sc) in each corner.
ENDING: As if you were beginning a round 18, **sc in each of next 3 stitches. Then slip stitch in each of next 3 stitches. Tie off, remove your marker, and hide your last yarn tail.
**NOTE: Depending on how you crochet and the size you'd like your finished product, you may stop on any round before round 17, or keep going for another round or several. Wherever you end, do it as if you were beginning the next round, as detailed above. **
If your finished dishcloth is warped or lumpy looking you can put a damp cloth over it and iron it flat through the damp cloth, then straighten the edges out and leave it to cool and dry someplace with good airflow.
For gifting purposes you may like to roll them like a crescent roll and tie with a scrap of yarn, then unravel the ends of the yarn scrap for a decorative look.

A couple more pics with triangle dishcloths in them:






Did you like this pattern? Want more? Let me know which one you want me to post next! I have written up dishcloth patterns for a ripple and a leaf shape, and have contemplated copying down a pattern for a Sunflower novelty dishcloth I came up with too. :)



~*Jessica*~

Dear friends and family,
It has been a while since I've blogged. Again. I'm so bad at keeping this up, aren't I? What have you all been up to?
My days are full of drool and diapers and endless questions. I wouldn't have it any other way! :) I absolutely adore being a mom. I would be thrilled to have 20 children and 400 grandchildren if such was possible!
My oldest, Chicklet, is in 1st grade and loving it! She's sweet and smart. In her spare time she loves making presents for her siblings and Daddy and I.
My son is finally 4. I say finally because... well... if you've ever had a 3 year old then you know. ;) They warn you about age 2 but trust me, 2 has nothing on 3. Then comes 4 and you finally start seeing fruit from the last 2 years of emotionally agonizing over this child every minute of every day! 4 is a wonderful age. Thank God for age 4! :)
Then comes Weetsie. Her nickname came from calling her "sweetie-weetie" as a baby and then "sweetsie" and finally just "weetsie" and somehow she's now 2 1/4 and Weetsie still sticks. I have been trying to remind myself to start calling her by her real name more often though because the poor child actually thinks her given name is Weet. Hehe... She's mischievous and opinionated and cuddly as can be! Tonight she had a toy alligator and I found this out when I was answering an email and suddenly there's a mouth full of plastic teeth about an inch from my right eyeball, and a tiny voice by my right elbow giggled, "LOOK Mama! Itsa crocodile!" Why yes, dear, I see. How can I not as it's about to poke out my eye with it's plastic chompers? Lol!
And speaking of chompers, dear sweet baby Honeypie is getting 4 at once! But as always she's in good humor and sweet as can be. She's the most relaxed and happy baby I've had. Making up for her siblings giving me fits in their infancy! I will say I've never had a baby sick so much though. None of my others got sick as nurselings.
Sweet Honeypie is loved by everyone and probably a bit spoiled. :) She'll be a year old in a few weeks. I can't believe time has flown so fast!
And it's almost Christmas. Wow! My favorite time of year! I've been crafting away like crazy! How about you?
And now it's time for Honeypie to go to bed and me and the world's most wonderful husband to watch a movie together while I do more of said crafting.
God bless you all with a wonderful December!
~Jessica

New Book Review: Love At Last Sight

Please click HERE to read my review of this book!

Thankfulness

A sweet friend gave me that poem framed for my kids' bedroom wall. I hung it over the rocker where I would read it and rock my sweet babies to sleep. I'm in a very thankful stage of life right now. I have 4 beautiful children, the youngest of whom is 3 months old and just pure joy all the time! I spend late nights rocking her and praising God for the wonderful family He's blessed me with. Some seasons in life make it hard to be content, thankful, hard to praise. Right now, though I have 4 kids 5 and under, 3 of whom are 3 and under, 2 of whom are one and under, I've never been so happy. Somehow this is a season of thankfulness and I'm thankful for that too!

Tips for the Seasonal Clothing Switch!

Seasonal Clothing Switch
-Tips-
At all times, I keep a small box for each child in the back of the closet. We call these their "too-small" boxes. I have 3 kids sharing one very small closet that is less than the size of a shower stall. 3 medium sized diaper boxes fit across the back of the closet. Whenever something doesn't fit right or a random out of season item is found, it goes into the child's designated box. The 3 and 5 year olds know which box is theirs and when they ask me about an item that doesn't fit right, they know which box I am referring to when I send them to the closet to put the offending item in their "too-small" box. I suppose I could even have them all share a single large "too-small box" but I like having things partially sorted for me by gender and relative size when I get around to going through them, and it's easier to line just the back wall of the closet with 3 small boxes than to have a giant box in there taking up the whole floor, so I have a box for each kid.
The kids' room closet has 2 bars. It has the standard bar right under the shelf that most closets have, and then we have purchased a second bar that is about 3 feet long and hangs by hooks from the first bar, putting it at about halfway between the floor and the first bar. The hangable good clothing goes on the top bar where only Mommy can reach it. The hangable play clothes go on the bottom bar and the 5 year old is responsible for keeping her own play clothes hung up when not in use or dirty.
A good idea I was reading about for if you have more than a couple kids of the same gender with no more than a year or 2 between each and the next, is to have one large box per person. When a kid outgrows something, it gets put into the next-younger same-gendered sibling's box, regardless of season. Then when that kid needs something, there is only one box to look in. This would be helpful in keeping storage containers to a minimum and would also help with perspective on how much to keep. If it doesn't all fit then some needs to be gotten rid of, and having one box per child is a good measure of how much is too much. Of course you may want a bigger or smaller box for each child depending on how far apart the child is in age from the next older sibling, as 3 years worth of hand-me-downs are going to take way more space to store than 18 months worth. If you get gifted alot of hand-me-downs from other families then you might want to have all the kids' boxes be the same size for stackability and just have a limit on the number of years worth of clothes you're willing to store. Another reason this idea appeals to me is that I can write each kid's name in permanent marker all over their box. Easy to find and it won't wash off, and when I take their box to do the seasonal switch, I can put anything that's still going to fit them next year right back in the same box. Less boxes all around makes things much easier. If I am feeling picky about sorting by size and season I can always use large plastic bags like trash bags to sort the clothing out by size and season within each kid's box. I have liked my system so far with the newborn through 18 months sizes but after that I have not liked sorting it out so specifically, so I believe I will implement this one box per child method for the girls starting this year.
For shoes... I pretty much keep them with the clothes. Babies and small toddlers won't be wearing the same sized sandals next summer as they did this summer, so when I pack up the too-small summer clothes, I pack the sandals with them. My oldest is only 5 so I have not yet had her wear the same size shoes for longer than a season. I've used grocery bags to wrap the shoes in to keep any shoe dirt from getting on the clothes, but usually I throw them in the washer before putting in storage. Most sneakers actually wash just fine on delicate in the washing machine, if you don't wash them too often. The most important thing I've found about washing shoes is that the leather ones should be firmly stuffed with socks while drying so they don't shrink as they dry, and don't wash on hot as it can dislodge the shoe glue. Light up shoes obviously don't wash well, but if you have to then use the shortest wash cycle and dry them completely before attempting to light them up again. Don't attempt to machine wash girls' dress shoes or any shiny patent leather shoes as the washing machine is likely to scuff and scratch the surfaces. Shoes dry best in a sunny windowsill or outside. Shoes and clothes dryers are not good for each other. Shoes are mega loud going around in a dryer, and the heat from the dryer will melt the glue while the spinning will warp your shoes' toes by curling them upward. If the washer seems to curl your shoe toes too, stuff them with socks to reshape them and dry in a window for a day or two. When the outsides are totally dry, remove the socks so the inside can dry. Always put your fingers deep into the toe of the shoe and feel for any dampness before putting shoes in a closed storage container. You wouldn't want damp shoes to make moldy spots in your box of clothes or shoes.
Swap Day is an all day job so don't plan this on a day when there are other pressing chores or places to go. Try to be as caught up as possible on laundry and keeping the kids' rooms clean in the days leading up to the day of the switch. If you know you'll have more laundry of a certain load on switch day, make sure you leave enough in the hamper to make a full load on switch day morning.
-Swap Day-
Step 1:
Dress everyone in clothes that are STAYING and not going to be switched. Let them be mismatched or wear holey clothes or even their jammies all day, just so long as what they are wearing is something that will not be switched out. You can change them again later after you finish the switch if necessary.
Step 2:
Get completely caught up on all the laundry. No need to put the items which will be switched away in their drawers/closet - just leave them folded in the laundry basket but IN the appropriate room so they get sorted with the appropriate sizes.
Step 3:
Pick one room to start with. I'd pick the room that has the oldest kids going to the youngest, in case some things that are not seasonal that are too small might be passed directly on down rather than putting them in storage.
Clean the room or have the kids do this the day before so that you have floor and bed space for sorting on.
Go into that room with a notebook and pen to make a list of any missing items, and a bag or box for throw-aways and a bag or box for give-aways. Start in the "too-small" box(es), then move on to the laundry basket, and then the closet, and finally the dresser. Take out everything that's trashed, out of season, or too small. Put give-aways and throw-aways into their respective bags or boxes and make piles by size/gender in the middle of the floor of the out of season clothing you are going to save.
I keep things that are still usable but full of holes or stains out to wear as play clothes indoors, pajamas, underlayers, smocks, etc. If it cannot be used for any alternate purpose and is pretty much trashed it gets thrown away.
Step 4:
Go into the attic or garage or wherever you store the out of season clothes and get the boxes containing the sizes, seasons, and genders you are working with and take them into the room you picked.
Take the clothes you are switching to out of the boxes and put them right into the newly cleaned out closet and drawers. If you seem to have extras of something, either make a small box of "spares" to put on a closet shelf, and put the rest back for a future kid or put in the giveaway box, OR if you use the one box per child method then just store the spares in their box and when they need something you can go shopping in their box before you go shopping at the store in case they have a spare. As you go along, make a list of any items you need to purchase or need more of for the kids in that room.
Take your piles from the bed/floor and put them in the appropriate boxes. Take boxes you're totally done with back to the attic/garage or wherever you store them, and ones that you will use in another child's room into that room.
Step 5:
Repeat from step 3 with the next kid's room. Take your list notebook/pen, and your throw away and give away bags/boxes with you when you change rooms. When you are finished with all rooms, put your list in your purse and your give away bag in the car. Throw away the trash and put away your notebook, pen, and laundry basket(s).