Baby Knitwear

Ok, this is cute but would you really pay $35 for this for a 1 year old? No thank you, Gap. Especially when you can knit....which is what I plan to do. I can pretty much just look at it to be able to tell what to do so I think I'll whip this up for her to wear in Fall. I'll post a pic when I'm done to compare...

Multi-Stripe

I have this strange love of using things up...like when you finish the toothpaste or when you have a huge thing of laundry detergent and it's finally gone. I feel that same accomplishment with this sweater...look at all the yarn I'm using up. The thickness of the stripes depends on how much of that color I have left....satisfaction!

The Multi-Stripe

Why am I making yet another sweater for myself and not Miss A? Because I have tons of DK weight non machine washable yarn to use up.

I'm making a multistripe sweater to use it up, and oh is it gratifying to see all of these small scraps of yarn finally being used up. I'm winging the pattern, heavily inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman's designs...just measuring how many stitches per inch and then figuring out your own measurements and casting on that many stitches. Pretty darn easy.

I would show you a picture of the progress by my lovely external flash is out of batteries so I'm sure the harsh light would distort everything. I'll post one today after we take our weekly trip to Target to replinish supplies.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Weekend Wrap Up

Best laid plans....right? We had planned to go to Vermont this weekend to attend M's extended family's late Christmas shin dig. We spent Friday night packing up the entire house to accommodate Miss A's needs, lined up everything by the door. Earlier in the week, we emailed our friends that we would be staying with on Saturday to make sure we were all set. They were planning on making home made chicken pot pie for us and pancakes on Sunday morning before we set out for the get together.

Then, M started talking about how his stomach was bothering him ever since he ate avocado at lunch mistakenly (gives him indigestion/heartburn) and that he was feeling kind of chilly and hot at the same time. We decided to see how he felt in the morning before making any decisions...morning rolled around after a timultuous night (A picked up a bad habit this week of being fully awake and ready to not sleep anymore at about 330am every night since last Monday, it would take us over an hour to get her to go back to bed...very exhausting) and M was not feeling any better and was still having the chills/feverishness. We decided to cancel with our friends who were pretty disappointed but understood. We were going to play it by ear as far as driving up on Sunday just for the family thing but in the end, it wasn't worth it. M still wasn't feeling the greatest and the idea of driving 4.5 hours to spend 3 hours up there, then another 4.5h in the car again seemed like lunacy. If it was back in our pre-parenthood days, maybe but I certainly didn't want to put A through 9 hours in a carseat knowing she's not one of those kids who really cherishes the time in the car.

Instead, we had a quiet weekend at home and I should have really gotten more done than I did. I was rather sloth like but that's ok. We got the house somewhat back in order (and unpacked all of our gear piled neatly by the door from our Friday night packing session), went grocery shopping. I worked on my mittens from Mostly Mittens...I usually test run knitting books from the library first to see if they are worth ordering. Most aren't, but this one is the book that keeps on giving. There are lots of different patterns, but they are all in the style of the 'Komi' people but the color possibilities are endless and they are all done from basically the same template, so once you've got it, you're good to go. I ended up ordering it from Amazon last night, along with a high chair for A! It will sure be nice to not use her bouncy seat anymore.

I talked to day care this morning about bringing some food to day care and we are all set to start bringing it on wednesday. Yesterday, before each bottle feeding, I offered solids till she was sick of them and then offered her a 6 oz bottle. Last night was the first night in a week that she hasn't gotten up for at least an hour so maybe there is something to what my Mom said about her needing more calories during the day...or it's dumb luck. We'll find out tonight I guess, she's not getting any solids at day care today.

Baby Shrug, Donesville!

Knitting baby stuff is great, two days max and you're done and onto the next project. This baby shrug was super easy except for picking up stitches along every imaginable edge. Super annoying, and whenever I pick up stitches I never get the amount the pattern says I should be picking up. Kind of like making cookies, the recipe says I should get 36 and I'm looking if I get 18.

I blocked this sweater which was the first time I had blocked anything, mainly because I just bought a blocking board last week. For years, I was convinced I could make one and keep the $70 in my pocket. Then I became convinced I could not, in fact, make one but then refused to pay for shipping.

I went to a store last week and bought it with birthday money for two years in a row that I never managed to spend.

The sweater turned out nice although even after blocking it tends to billow out over the ribbing for some reason. A wore it yesterday and spit up on it after about ten minutes of wearing it so we're about to see how it holds up being washed.

I, as usual, bought way too much yarn so I'm on to making her the Pom Pom Girl hat.

I'm also finishing up the cowl neck on the Francis Revisted revisited sweater...yes two revisits because this is the second time I'm making this sweater but I've changed up the pattern. I'll post pics when hers doesn't have spit up on it and mine is done and blocked.

Baby Shrug

The bad news: The adorable dress in the previous post might be a smidge too big for A for November's wedding.

The good news: My brother is getting married in January and she's certain to fit in it for that.

I'm making a baby shrug to go over it since it will be cold no matter which wedding she wears it to (picture taken from Ravelry).

I found a yarn that closely matches the bright pink dots from the dress. Should be really cute!

Knitting

We have got A on a quasi-bedtime schedule so she's going to bed between 8-9 which gives M and I some time to just chill. How do I spend that time? Knitting.

I'm knitting a cowl neck sweater that is heavily adapted from a pattern on Ravelry (Francis Revisited). It's a great burnt orange color, I'll post a pic when it's done. And becuase one knitting project is never enough, I am almost knitting a Snowflake Scarf. I'm using some bulky cream colored yarn and double stranding some hand dyed red/pink yarn from my stash that I've been trying to use up. I couldn't use it in the blanket I'm knitting because it's not machine washable which is kind of a necessity for a blanket. In addition to that, I finally sewed up the armpits of a fair isle sweater I made during my pregnancy.

Pics of all to follow.

Mom's Night Off

Last night, I got a night off. M plays in a band and resumed practice on Monday night which meant that I was home with A all day, saw M for dinner, then he had to run off to practice, it was about 14-16 hours of straight baby care. And it was a fussy day for A, let's just say it was a long day. The agreement all along was that I would get a night away since M would continue with band practice.

This week, I chose to use my time on Thursday night. I was trying to come up with places to go and things to do, then I realized I just wanted time to do some things for myself around the house. I chose to do an exercise video (this post baby ring around my stomach isn't going anywhere on it's own, people), knit, and watch the latest episode of Mad Men. I secluded myself up in our bedroom and made it most of the way through the episode before I found her crying too jarring to continue.

Maybe next time I'll actually go somewhere....but it was still nice to have a few hours where I could just chill sans baby.

Knitting Related...

I think I found the perfect project to use up a boat load of my yarn stash. It's the Autumn Haze blanket from Comfort Knitting & Crochet: Afghans.

I really love using the Berroco Comfort yarns...there is some minor pilling after heavy use but it's machine washable and incredibly soft. I made a blanket for my in laws previously with the Comfort Bittersweet and it's holding up great and been through several washes. So I tend to gravitate toward this yarn when I need a worsted weight that will get some heavy duty wear.

I have tons of Bittersweet left over, small amounts of other autumn like colors and then I think I'll pinch hit with a deep plum and a rust orange that are not Comfort but still worsted weight. It will be great to get rid of that yarn!

I aslo like that this pattern doesn't seem overly monotonous, you get to change it up every few rows.

Baby Knits!

Here are some socks I've started for Baby Y...I usually detest making socks because it's just as bad as making sweater sleeves. You just want to get the show on the road and then realize that you have to repeat what you just did. I usually have the problem that I never follow a pattern exactly; I trick myself into thinking that I'll remember what I changed up where but I never do and I never take great notes so that leaves me guessing on arm or sock #2. Baby socks should be more doable, they should knit up nice and quick. I don't have really small needles, the pattern calls for a 1 but I'm knitting them on a 3, she'll have to grow into them. This is the Frankie Striped Socks pattern from Vintage Baby Knits.




This pattern is from a truly vintage baby knits book that my MIL gave me. She knit things for M from it when he was little. I still have to add buttons but I haven't had a chance to run out and get them. I screwed up on one of the arms and made one of the inseams garter stitch while the other is straight, but as we just discussed, I abhor doing sleeves. It is what it is. This also turned out large, I made the smallest size possible but it looks like she'll be waiting a few years before she will wear it.

Weekend of Homework

Well, it wasn't the most exciting of weekends...well I guess in some ways it was. I worked for about 6 hours on Saturday on a paper and presentation that is due on Tuesday. Why is this exciting you might be asking? Because, it's the last true paper that I have to do before being bestowed with my MSN. I do still have to finalize an abstract, make it into a poster, and present the poster but that is the last and final hoop to jump through. That paper has been completed for awhile now. The upside was that it was nice on Saturday, so I did most of it outside on the deck.

Boigie was meowing at the patio door constantly, so I tried again to bring him outside. It sort of worked, he was more calm than last summer when we tried this and he enjoyed laying in the sun but something startled him and he kind of leaped forward and the collar came completely off. While I'm certainly for collars that don't strangle my pets, I am thinking there is limited usability with this one....what good is it if it's just going to unlatch? Luckily, he wasn't skittish of me and I could grab him and toss him back in the house. Unfortunately, his taste for the outdoors couldn't be tamed, now that he had a taste of it he wanted more. For the rest of the weekend, as soon as he heard the door unlock he would come running and want to be back out there. We'll have to think of a better solution....

In home improvement news, we are STILL waiting on the contractor for that quote! I'm thinking it might be time to move on. We are not off to a good start and we haven't even started anything! He cancelled our first appointment as he was supposed to be showing up and M had left work early to meet him. Now it's taken him over 2 weeks to get us the quote when he said it would take 1. If it's taking him this long to just write some words and numbers on paper, how long is it going to take him to nail boards to the floor? Yeesh...

M finished painting the office which is actually what made me realize that we are much further behind than I thought we would be at this point. When we were first looking at colors for the baby's room and the office, I thought his plans of finishing both rooms before the flooring was laid was a pipe dream...and yet here we are. Anyway, the color is lovely. I'm glad M had a penchant for the red instead of boring blue. We decided on the Ben Moore Sante Fe Pottery and it's a soft red/pink/orange color. The room looks nice and fresh with the white trim and the white in between the chair rails where the wall paper used to be. I have pics, I promise I'll upload tonight.

I realize I haven't written much about knitting even though this blog is technically a knitting blog, or started that way and then other parts of life took over. Rest assured, dear reader, I'm 80% done with a sweater for Little Y and I also couldn't resist the Anniversary Sale at Webs so I'm working on a sweater for myself. How could a knitter resist Cascade 200 for about $4 a skein, that's almost halfprice! I'm making a Paton Cabled Yoke sweater, it's one of the first sweaters I ever made but I made it with cheap yarn that didn't breath and the sweater was so warm it was unbearable. I have learned much since then, so it's a take two.

Free Time...

Yeah, I know. This is a major contradiction from my last post, but I'm refreshed and thinking optimistically today. I also feel some guilt for being such a good knitter when other people announce their baby's but I have yet to knit a sweater for my own!

It shouldn't take me very long, so here's what I plan to knit with some stolen moments away from learning how to treat AOM with effusion.

It's a little tiny shrug! I had a bunch of patterns picked out on Ravelry and M picked this out of the bunch (well, honestly he picked a really cute one that was sort of a fair isle but called for steeking which scares me) so I settled on this as the most doable of the bunch.

I'm using some left over sock yarn that I'm doubling, it's kind of a wisteria purply kind of color.

+1

I've had a secret for a long time and now it's time to share......

M and I are expecting our first little Y! I'm officially 13 weeks along and things are going swimmingly besides a few minor annoyances, but nothing that someone with my hardy constitution can't handle!

The official due date is currently July 19 although this can change based on what is seen at the week 18 ultrasound.

I'm sure your next question is what have you knit for tiny Y? Well, I have started on a blanket I found on ravlery. It's a great idea....you get a chance to use up all of your remaining sock yarn and the bonus is that this makes the blanket unisex! I have about 4 different types of multicolor sock yarn, a light purple, a pale yellow, and a maroon tweed. So far so good, I'm actually thinking of making an adult size one for M and I to get rid of my excess worsted weight yarn. I'll post a pic of mine when I get a chance, but this is someone else's pic from raverlry...

S's Seamless Hybrid Sweater

S's completed sweater, shipping to VT today...

Don't worry, I sewed up the pits before shipping :)

Knitting Idears

I like to look at things in the store and think, I could make that. I would love to be able to say 'I could make that and on the cheap' but with any kind of quality yarn this is not the case.

Anyway, here are some things I can and will make in the near future...

Sign of the Times

A local yarn store in Harvard Square has announced it's closing. My first reaction was Oh no! Then I felt guilty because I probably contributed to it. Initially, I went there pretty frequently as a novice knitter. Then I quickly learned that the deals over at WEBS could not be beat, especially with their disount program. I felt ok with this because they are still a local yarn company in the western part of the state.

But I'm still sad that the Harvard Square store is closing...they had a nice, albeit small collection. Again, no one can compete with WEBS. Not only do they have a huge store, but you can also shop their entire warehouse. Their customer service is impeccable, I also really like that they give you a shipping estimate and often times it's not as much as the estimate and you are charged only for what your shipping cost actually is instead of it being a back door way to raise prices which is pretty common.

So in the end, sad that the Harvard Square store is closing and a bit of guilt as I'm realizing that for the past 2 years I've primarily shopped at WEBS. Two thumbs up for WEBS, keep up the good work!

Weekend Recap

Friday-did nothing and got nothing accomplished. Whoop whoop!

Saturday-took a nice road trip to Mason New Hampshire to go to Parker's Maple Barn. As usual, it was a great drive filled with lots of pretty leaves and New Englandy quaintness. Pics to follow. I read an article in the Boston Globe about some foliage destinations and this was mentioned. They have a sugar shack and produce their own maple syrup in the spring. They also have a restaurant and gift shop, they make fresh maple doughnuts too. Of course, after our brunch we were too stuffed to think about having a doughnut. We could have gotten them to go but it seemed like the kind of thing one would want to have fresh....

We got home mid afternoon and were somewhat productive around the house. M washed the front steps with a deck cleaner because he's hoping to seal the steps before it snows. I did a few loads of laundry and did some home work. That night we watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was cuter and more fairy tale like than I thought it would be. Entertaining, but wouldn't call it the best movie of the year or anything.

Sunday-We ran some errands during the day (gym, Target, Lowe's, Home Good's, Hallmark store, packie) and then were invited to a Fake Thanksgiving at some friends of ours who are hosting for the first time this year. We were certainly into being their guinea pigs especially when we were told not to bring anything but wine! The dinner turned our very well and we left with full bellies!

Monday-M worked from home so it was almost like I was home by myself, he was holed up in the office all day. I did more laundry, read a little bit, worked on a few projects that are coming due in a few weeks, watched Dexter and worked on S's sweater. I have now joined the sleeves to the body and finished working the decreases. I'm about to start on the saddle around the shoulders. Won't be long now and S can wear his new forest green sweater in the crisp Vermont Fall! I also managed to make 2 fresh loaves of bread yesterday, the only thing I would change with this recipe is the addition of more salt! I think I have made this recipe before and thought that but neglected to make a note in the cookbook...but this time I did.

Upcoming week:
Class tonight
Test tomorrow night
Mom on Thursday night
Friday-nothing
Saturday-haircut
Sunday-visit to S and A to pick up our meat from the farm

New Baby=More Knitting Projects!

The only thing superior to a friend requesting a sweater, is a friend having a baby! This baby, I assure you, will be heaped with plenty of knitted goods, school work permitting. I made this cardigan for him, albeit he'll swim in it now but this stuff is just too much work to see him wear it twice and outgrow it.

Sweater Request

I think there are few things that my knitter side likes more than being asked to make something for someone. Our friend S was visiting the other weekend and I was talking about how I was trying to make my commute 'worth it' by accomplishing things in the car when it's not my turn to drive. I was listing off numerous knitting projects that I've gotten underway since the commute began and he benignly asked if I was knitting a sweater. Yes, of course I am! A cowl neck in eggplant/burgundy for yours truly, a baby blanket, and a stocking.

Then, he requested a sweater! I let him choose from various designs (he chose the Elizabeth Zimmerman Seamlesss Hybrid--I've made two now, one for M and one for me). Then we talked color, something in an earth tone. I chose a heathered forest green for him, Cascade 220 Superwash (the ability to wash was a must).

The color is more accurate here...

but here you can see the heathering a bit more...

Tonight, I'm checking my guage and plan to cast on!

Knitting Update

Ok, I would like to say again how incredibly difficult it is to load pictures to this site. The loading is fine, it's the arranging I guess. And somehow amidst me trying to unsuccessfully rearrange the pics, I deleted all of my previous text.

The long and the short, I made the below baby blanket for a coworker whose baby shower was today. I also think Debbie Bliss could make easier patterns. Lucky for you, you missed a much longer winded and verbose version of this. The blanket is two sided, colors blocks on one side, stripes on the other and then sewn together. Was a big hit!