Sharing

So far, I've only managed to finish two knits for Baby Boy and they're both toys, Otto and Elefante. Nice in theory, but since he isn't quite old enough to play with them, his older sister has pretty much claimed them as her own. She says that he's just sharing them with her, but since he didn't really have much say in the matter, I wonder about how this will play out when he gets older.

The Spice Rack and the Green Grocer

My newest obsessions.

Obsession #1: My collection of spices now numbers around 45 because I finally found an easy way to get them on the cheap. Monterey Bay Spice Company. They have a minimum order amount and shipping can be high. I've resolved those issues by becoming a mini-spice distributor among my friends and family. Plus, they also carry teas including my new favorite, Rooibus (so nice to have another decaf option!)

Obsession #2: the Green Grocer. This one's for those in the Metro area. They deliver fresh produce to you once a week. You can opt for an organic box or not, either way they try to get as much locally as possible. The best part, though, is the quality. Seriously tasty. Oh, and the fact that they bring it to you... very handy for a mom with a newborn!

Sleep Deprivation Knitting

Two months of being a mother of two. Never more than about two or three hours of consecutive sleep. A two year old who used to be so well behaved and who has now taken to running away in public (oh, and as a result after a couple major scares and our first spanking I had to buy a kid harness.... now I'm that mom with her kid on a leash... something pre-parenthood that I would have definitely looked down on!).

That's a formula for an exhausted mommy who was itching to knit something, but not really thinking through what the finished object would look like. Sigh. Well, at least it's functional!

Two weeks later...

and we're still adjusting.

Still no baby, but Otto is done (Rav link)! There were several evenings when I was working on him and I was in false labor. I kind of liked the idea of working on him while actually in labor. It makes a sweet story anyway to say that I was knitting something for my Baby Boy when he was on his way... so, I think I'll start a second Otto and see if I can get it done before he arrives.

I'm now only one week away from my due date! Throughout my pregnancy so far, I've found that I've been much less aware of being pregnant than I was the first time around. Sometimes I even forgot entirely about being pregnant. With the due date so close now that has all changed.

I can't stop thinking about my Baby Boy on the way. Every time I do even the most mundane chores, I think of him. When I do the laundry, I wonder if this will be the last time I do laundry for just the three of us. When I go to bed, I wonder if this will be the last night I sleep without a newborn beside me. When I start a knitting project, I wonder if I will be able to complete it before Baby Boy arrives.

So, the race is on. Who will get here first? Otto (Rav link) or Baby Boy?

Family "Heirlooms" and That Darn Sewing Bug

In my family growing up, we were raised not to throw anything away that could be useful in the future. My grandmother would cut the front off of cards so that they could be used again. My father held onto clothing that didn't fit him for at least twenty years after it had gone out of use. Generally speaking, I try not to go to the extremes that they did. I have to admit, that I do that card thing, but I do cull out clothing. The hard part, though, is going through the things that have been passed down by these and other family members. I mean, it's been around for thirty years now, how can I presume to be the one to get rid of it? (Although, I did heartlessly sell my grandmother's collectible Shirley Temple doll.) Okay, enough rambling.

The whole family not getting rid of things was one factor that led to the making of this adorable dress. I used this tutorial from craftster on how to convert a button down shirt into a toddler dress (mentioned by both Claudine and Meg on their blogs) and one of my dad's old shirts (this particular one, incidentally, did get some use past that time thirty some odd years ago... I used to wear it all the time in high school). Also, Hannah's recent post on not wasting was a great reminder of this shirt and all the other random pieces of old clothing that I've been holding onto so that I could use the fabric for something else.

Of course, now I'm remembering all the other cute sewing endeavors that I want to make too... like the cloth shoes that Stephanie made...

I guess I needed a reason to post...

and the demise of Magknits was it! I'm sure that everyone has heard by now that Magknits is officially closed. The weird thing for me was that I just happened to check out the Magknits page for the April patterns within hours of it all being taken down. So sad! Anyway, I've made the two patterns I had in Magknits available on Ravelry as free downloads. Halweh from October 2006 and Cloverly from June 2007 are both there safe and sound. It was funny the other day when I was reworking them as pdfs, Little Girl looked at the computer when I had Halweh up and said, "Who is that cute baby?!" It's so funny that she doesn't recognize herself as a baby nor does she think of herself that way anymore!

Anyway, I have been doing some knitting and recently finished one of my most favorite knits of all time (although, I could be biased as it's really one of the only ones that fits me right now). The photos came out really dark, but prove that I can get it on! It's Joie de Vivre (Rav link with details and such) by the super-talented (and chic) Veronique. I will admit that I purchased Sensual Knits just for this pattern and even though it turned out that there are plenty of other beautiful designs in it, it would have been completely worth buying even if there weren't... that's how much I love this sweater!

The color in this one is better, although it's still a bit off. At least the design comes through a little better.

So, as far as the pregnancy goes, I'm now less than three weeks from my due date... which really means that I could meet this Baby Boy any day now or in five weeks! I'm really hoping for the any day now mostly. Especially since I finally got my act together and pulled out all the baby stuff. I really didn't remember that I had so much squirreled away! It's really nice not having to make any huge purchases this time around. I did want to invest in some new cloth diapers, though, since the first time I went with the economical choice of prefolds with prorap covers. After some researching, I decided that bumGenius was the way to go and just today I received my order of 12. They look very promising, but obviously the proof will be in the pooping!

Free Just for You

I decided to take advantage of one of the new features on Ravelry, and make the pattern for Sweetheart Cardigan (sized from 12-24 months to 4T) available as a free pdf download (click here or on the sidebar). It's so cool that they will host your pdfs for you. Enjoy!

My Sweetheart

One of my favorite things about being pregnant this time around is having two family members to share the experience with. Little Girl is really too funny about the whole thing. She regularly wants to feel my belly to find out if the New Baby is kicking. "Feel him?" she asks with her arms reaching for me. She also talks about wanting to see him. Mostly, "Want to see him," "want to play beach ball with him," and "want to share with him." Sometimes, "he need to grow up!" I don't know how things will be after he's born, but for now she seems excited about his impending arrival and we talk a lot about how she will help her mama when he's here.

I feel like I should be doing a lot of knitting for the New Baby, but so far, I'm not for two reasons. First, he'll be born in the spring, so it's hard to figure what kind of knits would be appropriate for a newborn in the summer. Second, who knows how fast he'll grow, so I'm not sure about what size to knit winter items in.

In the meantime, I'm doing a little knitting for Little Girl. I made this cardigan (I'm calling it the Sweetheart Cardigan because she is my sweetheart and also the eyelets are little hearts) with the upcoming transitional weather in mind. More info on Ravelry (really, who wants to type that stuff up more than once?).

Like old friends

You know how there are certain people in your life that you are really close to, but you don't actually talk to very often. Then, when you talk to or see them, you stumble for a moment. You know that you have a million things to talk about.... a million things have happened since you last spoke, yet for some reason you can't think of what to say or where to start. Well, it's been almost three months since my last posting and this blog is beginning to feel like that kind of friend. There has been knitting, there are finished works, and lots going on here on the home front, but I almost don't know where to start.

On knitting:

So, for the knitting, I'll start with a small project that was completed in November and has already seen a lot of use. Of course, it's the insanely popular Koolhaas pattern.

Pattern: Koolhaas (from Holiday IK 2007)
Yarn: DB Baby cashmerino, 1 ball brown and just a bit of pink
Adjustments: I adjusted the pattern by changing the gauge, so that I could provide Little Girl with her winter hat. The yarn is DB Baby Cashmerino and I had to use US 4s to get it to the right gauge, although I will quickly mention that if you would like to try this adjustment for your favorite toddler, I had really loose gauge and Little Girl's head is a bit on the small side, so you might wind up with a baby sized hat.

Oh, and the big plus besides it looking on adorable on her is that it actually matches two of her three winter coats. She's already received a ton of compliments on it and I have to admit that I'm not sad she has learned to say, "Mommy made it." Of course, that has elicited the dreaded "you should make those for money" conversation a few times, but that's okay. Oh, and I almost forgot... I got the yarn on sale, so the total cost for the hat was under $5, which makes it not only cuter than anything I've seen at all the kids stores, but also cheaper (not counting labor).

On the pregnancy:

I'm now just past 20 weeks, so I'm more than halfway done. This pregnancy is by far the hardest thing I've done in my life. The first three months, I was truly brutally sick all day every day and since then I've still had a few spells that were really rough. Some of the sadder phrases picked up by Little Girl include, "Mommy so sick," "Mommy need a vitamin," (vitamin being her word for all medication), and "Mommy throw up." She's also become much better about entertaining herself, though, so it's not all bad.

Now, that that's out of the way, the happy news is that we've had the sonogram and we now know that we're expecting boy! I guess I'm going to have to go through all my baby knitting books and familiarize myself with the cute little boy knits out there!

There's been much more going on, but I'll have to save it for another day.

Quick installment of knitting, baby

So, last I blogged, I proclaimed that the blogging slump was over. That was more than a month ago. Well, about two seconds after I posted, I found out that I was pregnant with baby #2! Then, morning sickness set in with a vengeance. For me, it lasts all day every day. I hate to complain about it because I am ecstatic to be pregnant, but it is so insanely difficult. Especially this time because I still have to take care of Baby Girl too (I really need to think of a new moniker for her). Anyway, as a result, I haven't done any knitting in about the past month or so (sniff sniff).

I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post, but I have to admit that I miss blogging and reading blogs so much! I'm going to try to keep it up, but we'll see. I'm at 9 weeks right now (and we got to see the New One today for the first time!), so I'm guessing that I have anywhere from 3 to 5 more sick weeks left.

Okay, I'm losing steam here, but I have to show off at least one old knitting project that was completed pre-pregnancy. It's Juno from Rowan 40. I'm really happy with how it come out. I modified the neckline a la Coloursknits. The collar was kinda tricky to get attached properly and it rolls a bit. Oh, and I'm so pleased that almost all the knits I've done for myself are cardigans... that means I'll be able to wear them at least for a little while into the pregnancy!

Dude, where's my blog?

I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted. No good reason either. Huh.

Anyway, for as long as my Baby Girl has been alive, she's been a momma's girl. Big time. It only made sense that she was that way. I stay at home with her and all. Recently, though, that's begun to change.

Not so long ago, when I would try to sleep in on Saturdays, Baby Girl wouldn't let me. She would play with her dad for a little while, but would soon enough come looking for me. As of a few weeks ago, though, she has developed a new routine. She wakes up, I go get her and bring her to my bed to snuggle (the Husband is already up... he's an early riser... as opposed to me... I swear it takes a good hour for me to wake up), then she asks, "Where's Dada?"

"On the couch," I reply.

She exclaims, "Dada time!" and leaves me to sleep. Of course, I'm a more than a little relieved that I'm allowed a day to sleep in, but at the same time it's definitely bittersweet.

Then, last weekend, things changed even more in the Husband's favor. I fear my Baby Girl is turning into a true Daddy's girl... she has now found a love that she can only share with him. Football. I'm trying to look at the bright side. Watching games with her present could actually make the sport entertaining for me as well. I do love the way she screams at the players to "throw it" -- the ball -- and laughs when they "falled down!" Plus, it could provide some hardcore knitting time, right?

Anyway, sometime last month or so, I finished this lovely baby sweater.

Pattern: EZ's Surplice Baby Jacket from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2007

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton -- 2 balls of the lavender and the leftovers (if you can call them that!) from a sweater I haven't finished yet.

Comments: I made it with my step-brother's new daughter in mind, but now I'm rethinking it. I used Rowan Wool Cotton, which is handwash only. I don't suppose anyone has had any experience washing this yarn in a machine? If I decide not to send it off, it will work out nicely because it will fit Baby Girl. For buttons, I attached two sets of two buttons (to be like the ones you get with French cuff shirts). It seems like I saw this on someone else's blog, but I can't remember whose.

The nice thing about not blogging for two months? You have tons of FOs to show off! What's coming soon? A finished Juno, a pair of Charades, and okay, maybe not tons of FOs, but a couple is still pretty good.

I'm not a Shawl Person

Really, I'm not. I've never once worn one. I love the way they look, but until a couple weeks ago, I truly thought that there was no way I would make one for myself.

Of course, I was tempted once before. When I was knitting Birch. I had intended (and eventually did) to give Birch to my grandmother who taught me to knit. A couple times, though, as I was knitting I thought, "Well, maybe I should keep it for myself. I didn't tell her or anyone else that I was going to gift it, so what's the harm?" In the end, though, it turned out that I'm allergic to mohair, which occurred to me as a possibility while I was knitting and became undeniable during the blocking. So, I just pretended that nothing had happened. I'm not a shawl person.

Then came Victorian Lace Today... and all the beautiful scarves and shawls other people were making. Well, I thought, I can't justify buying the book, but it wouldn't hurt to just borrow it from the library. So, I did. I flipped through the pages and although many of the pieces are spectacular, I was only tempted by one.

Two weeks later, I now have myself a finished Curved Shawl, worked in silk, so I can't possibly find a reason to give it away. I still don't really consider myself a shawl person... and I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll wear my new shawl like this, ---->

<---- but this is a definite possibility.

Pattern: A Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging from Victorian Lace Today.

Yarn: Alchemy Silk Purse in Teal Tide. About 2.5 skeins.

Adjustments: The patterned called for:

• US 3 needles
• Super fine weight yarn
• 42 4-row repeats

I did:

• US 7 needles
• Fine weight yarn
• 25 4-row repeats

Their final measurements: 21"x62"

My final measurements: 20"x60"

Comments: This was really the perfect project. Fun to knit and a happy outcome too! I loved stretching it out as I went to see those cute circles!

In other knitty bloggy news, the publication of my last pattern in Knitty also helped me to reconnect with an old friend. Hannah and I hadn't talked to each other since college, but when she saw my pattern, she recognized me! What's weird is that neither one of us knitted in college. Small world!

More Knitting for the Baby

Well, I was going to post today about my just finished Curved Shawl (aka A Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging from Victorian Lace Today), but something else came up... my second Knitty-published pattern went live!

Anyway, grow with me is definitely one of my favorite things that I've ever made for Baby Girl. It's already become a staple in her wardrobe and been through the washer and dryer quite a few times. It's nice to have something handmade that I can put on her and not worry too much about stains and such. Plus, she's clearly adorable in it.

Baby Girl, You are Famous

I know it's kind of a silly pattern, but if there's one thing I've learned since becoming a parent, it's that I'm willing to do any number of silly things to amuse my daughter.

7 things and an almost sweater

A while back, Anna over at the Yarn Mansion tagged me for the 7 random things meme, so here goes:

1. I have a minor phobia of making (and to a certain extent answering) phone calls.

2. When I was a kid, this fear was so intense that I would pay my brother to make phone calls for me (this quickly ended when his voice changed).

3. To combat this fear, I worked three summers during college answering phones at a hotel reservations call center.

4. When I worked at the call center, I would talk so fast that people often wouldn't understand what I was saying. My callers would regularly call me "Violet." For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why. Then, I realized that the dialogue I was required to follow had me say, "My name is Laura. What city and state...." If you say "Laura. What," fast enough, it sounds like "Violet."

5. I'm from the South, but I usually don't have a Southern accent.

6. My Southern accent can come out in certain situations, but I can't do it at will. Sometimes I try, but it never works.

7. I've never gotten a speeding ticket or even been pulled over. I don't drive slow. I just always make sure there's someone else going faster than me. (Mom, I know you read this, I really don't drive too fast, I promise.)

I'm pretty sure that I'm the last person in blogland to do this one, so I'll skip the tagging.

Now, back to the knitting. Look! An almost finished sweater! This is #13 from Phildar Printemps 2007.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not supposed to like garter stitch, but the truth is that I do like it. A lot. Not just because it's super-easy either! It can be hard to find the right pattern for it, though. Baby patterns (like the surprise jacket) are obvious choices. Grown-up patterns w/ garter stitch are a little harder to pull off. Sarah's Rorschach definitely works.... and I think this cardigan pulls it off too.

Here's the detail on this sweater that I think makes the garter stitch work:

Those ribbed thingies were knit separately for both the front and the back. I'm not so sure that I executed them beautifully, but I like the effect anyway. On the downside, they did bring the total number of pieces to be seemed to nine (would have be twelve if I hadn't picked up the button and neck bands!). Now I just need to do the pockets and epaulets. Of course, I'm in no hurry to get those done since it's now super hot summer weather...

I knew there was a reason I learned to crochet...

I'm still slowly working on my argyles, but last night I needed a break Especially from Drunken Argyle. Long rows. Size 2 needles. Black yarn. Yeah, I definitely needed a break.

A while back, the lovely Aimee sent me Phildar's Layette No 465 and some Lion bars (oh my gosh, have you ever had a Lion bar? they are only the best candy bars of all time. it's like they took a kit kat and said, 'you know what? we could do so much more with this. caramel, rice crispies, more chocolate.... now that's a candy bar!') in an exchange. I still haven't gotten to knitting anything from it, but there was also a picture of a crochet headband. I don't read French crochet patterns and it looked simple enough, so I just winged it.

I think they came out pretty cute. Definitely a fun way to use up leftovers. So far, I've made about half a dozen. I think they'll be fun gifts for people who would appreciate a handmade gift, but wouldn't appropriately appreciate the amount of time that goes into knitting a sweater (even a baby size sweater... you know people like this too, right?).

Should you be inclined to make one (or a few) yourself, here's the flower pattern I did (beware, i don't remember the last time i looked at a crochet pattern, so i hope i'm using the appropriate abbreviations and lingo):

Ch 7.
Join with a sl st to the first st in your chain, to form a ring.
(Ch 2, dc, tr, dc, sl st) repeat 5 times around.
Weave in one end and use the other to create a bar across the center of the flower to loop the chain tie through.

Perspective

When I was a kid, my dad used to take my brother and me on long hikes through the woods and cow fields near our home. We called it the Cow Hike. What was strange about the Cow Hike was that every single time we went, we would somehow get separated from my father. What was even stranger, though, was that we would often see him behind trees and such. We would call out to him, but somehow he never would hear us. So, we would be forced to find our way home on our own.

When I was a teenager, I was thinking back on the Cow Hike and it hit me. My dad was testing us. He was hiding on purpose to see if we could find our way home without him. I asked him about it, and he confirmed my suspicions. I was so shocked. It seemed so sadistic.

Now, though, when I think about what he did and those long hikes, I find myself laughing and even to a certain extent grateful. The Cow Hike was a great bonding experience for my brother and me. Plus, we really learned our way around those woods and fields.

When I was a kid I used to do a fair amount of knitting. Mostly stuffed animals for friends' kids. The first big project that I made to keep for myself was this afghan. It's all acrylic. Probably mostly Red Heart. Every skein was purchased from W@l-Mart. When, I was working on it, I was so pleased with myself. It was so much fun picking out different patterns and colors for every square.

When I got back into knitting a couple years ago, I looked at this afghan... and I was kind of horrified. The finishing was so bad. There were so many mistakes. It's acrylic....

Now, though, I'm happy again with this afghan. I realize that I learned a lot from making it. Plus, it's completely functional and machine washable.

So, anyway. Thank you to everyone who responded to my post on my mother in law. Your kind words really meant a lot. Oh, and the yarn will soon be in a new home with Sue in Australia!

Now, on to current projects. For some reason, I've got argyle vests on the brain. I'm working on Drunken Argyle for the Husband. Except I plan on making the front and the back the same (obviously like the back pattern). And for Baby Girl, the Argyle Vest from Debbie Bliss' Special Knits.

A few months back, I noticed that this beautiful bamboo yarn was on sale at pureknits. I had no idea what I would use it for, but I'm a huge sucker for a sale, so I bought one skein anyway.

When I was trying to decide what the beautiful bamboo yarn wanted to be, I took a look again at the yarn's description and this line stuck out to me: "its sheen reminds us of silk." Silk.... huh, they make most ties out of silk, don't they? Before I knew it I cast on and plowed through a moss stitch tie for the husband. I was so pleased with myself. And why wouldn't I be... first of all, moss stitch is a huge pain. Second, I hate rows with a small number of stitches... and this thing clearly had miles of those rows. Third, despite my loathing of those two aspects, I was loving knitting this tie because of the yarn and because of the beautiful result.

I added a single crochet border and happily presented it to the Husband, insisting that he try it on immediately. Well, when he tied it on, it stretched by nearly two feet. Oops. Ha ha. Okay. No problem. I took out the border and then ripped back to an appropriate length.

Unfortunately, it's still not working, though, because it turns out that the bamboo is just too limp to function properly as a tie. Which really makes me wonder about some of the patterns I've seen that require bamboo yarn.... like camisoles and socks. Would that really work?

Anyway, I really want to find a way to save this tie. The best idea I can come up with is backing it with fabric to make it sturdier... any other ideas?