Christmas Recap

Where has this month gone? Honestly, I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated the blog. Especially with all that had been going on. Then again much of the knitting I was keeping busy with was for Christmas presents, and some for people who read my blog. So that was all on the hush hush. So I guess I will start there.
Christmas Knitting
There was a scarf for my mom. The Scrunchable Scarf knit in Malabrigo

Leftovers used to make a darling Linen Stitch Scarfette for Miss Linda at daycare... can you believe I didn't get a finished photo of that one? UGH!
I knit a Republic Hat for my sister, and forgot to get a picture of her wearing it. Julie... consider that an assignment! There had been an idea to make a matching scarf but that was canceled.
And then there where the last minute additions. Two Christmas Balls

And Miss Eleni's Christmas Puppy

All of these are in my Ravelry project page for those of you interested in the details.
Favorite Ornaments
Next on my to-blog list was the Favorite Ornaments tag from The Spice Rack. While I have a lot of ornaments that remind me of places we have been, or special moments in our life together these three stand out above and beyond the others. They are hand carved ornaments my grandpa made for family members over the past few Christmases. We have Santa

A blurry Christmas Nisse because some little elf was shaking my tree...

And lastly the Peace Angel

Those are my favorites. I am sure you can understand why. I did take one more picture of my tree that I think makes it a little unique. Our tree is artificial, and a tad too tall for the room. In fact we have to bend down the top branch so that it fits. So there is little room for a big star or angel to grace the top of our tree. So this is our silly tradition.

Christmas Day
EJ thought Santa brought her tennis balls for Christmas. And was very excited about that as you can see.

Eventually she let the dogs have their new toys back and realized how cool her new scooter was.

Look it moves! And there is a bell!

It was a nice relaxing morning, and having a child makes the holiday so much more magical. We hosted the family for dinner and it went over without any problems. We are still trying to integrate our new stuff into the house. Times like this I wonder how much longer we will fit into our current house with all of our 'stuff'.

Coming soon- a post about my current knitting obsession! Have a happy and safe new year!

Good Dog

There are dogs, there are good dogs, and there are really good dogs. Today, the world lost one hell of a good dog. A friend, to anyone she met. A dog with a real soul. The ability to listen, to show she cared all with out saying a single word. Her soft brown eyes said it all. So I would like to take a moment to remember this friend of mine. I am grateful to have opened our house to her a few times over the years. I was able to really get to know Peyote over these stays, and always took pictures to send her mama to let her know she was having fun.

Big dog in a little bed

My stick is bigger than your stick


Please keep Annie in your thoughts, it is hard losing a friend.

Christmas knitting

I have decided this would be the year I took the plunge and knit multiple Christmas gifts. Many of which I am unable to talk about aside from mentioning it is all going very well. Two down, at least two to go. I forget how quick some things knit up after the past few projects of mine were sweaters for me. One of these small projects is for my favorite daycare provider at EJ's daycare.

It is a scarflet knit in Malabrigo. I am following the pattern for the Linen Stitch Scarflet with some modifications. I cast on 26, 4 more stitches than suggested so that I would have a wider garter stitch boarder to prevent curling. I am also slipping the first and last stitch when on the front, and purling these stitches on the back. It makes a nice chain up the side, but if I where to knit it again I would just use garter stitch to the edge. If I have time, I may make a couple more for two of the other primary teachers in EJs room at school. I hope they are a hit! Shopping for them is so hard!! I appreciate them all so much.

Hey look!

Did you see the cool new tool I have over there --->
Go ahead, I will wait while you look.

Julia of Knitterly Things posted about the new Ravelry trick that is unsupported yet available for us to use. So I added the fancy code and have pretty progress bars and pictures that automatically list my active projects that are in Ravelry! Hooray!

Looks like I am doing an awful lot for miss EJ. So unlike me, isn't it?

Issue resolved

I love yarn. Especially natural fibers. Soft smoochy sinful fibers. I hate flawed sweaters. Come Together was not perfect for my body type. Blocking did not perform any miracles with the holes and the bump. However I am still so in love with that yarn. Many thanks to you for your comments, whether they where pro-frog or pro-sweater. It was the support I needed to do what I knew was right all along.

It is a good thing I love that yarn...

Not quite how I imagined it to be

We took our first road trip with EJ this past weekend to visit her godfather-K's BFF- and his wife on the other side of the state. So I had some unusual weekend knitting time on my hands. I took full advantage on the way out and finished the knitting on Come Together. I even got it almost all the way sewn together too. Now here is the bummer. I am not sure I am a fan.

Guess I could have closed the closet door... In anycase here is what I look like in the sweater from afar. The bottom rolls a bit but I expect that to settle down when it gets blocked.

And this is a closer look at the bodice where the decreases are to create that slanty ribbing deal. I have gaps there. Not sure if it will go away with blocking. I also have holes where my increases are under my arms too. Not such a fan of that either.
And finally... The bulge

Because my ribbing is looser than my stockinette stitch... or perhaps because my bust isn't busty enough... or possibly because there are more stitches in the bodice or some odd combination of all of these things I get a terrible bulge of fabric right in the middle of my stomach where the ribbing starts. Had the ribbing pattern started at the bust line it wouldn't be an issue as my boobs would have stretched that out nicely. Even though they are not ample it would have been enough. However I don't see any kind of blocking making this any less of a problem.

So the question is what to do next. The yarn is super yummy. I need to wear it. Thoughts include
~starting from scratch. Something inspired by my class with Jared and do a "design my own sweater" sweater.
~ripping back to the start of the stockinette part, keeping the tunic shaping and make the top in stockinette and a neckline of my choice.
~starting from scratch and knitting another sweater with the yarn, perhaps the Hourglass Sweater or the Tree Jacket

Whatever I decide on it has to be right for the yarn, and right for me. This sweater I don't feel was right for me. I greatly appreciate any insight you wise readers may have for me.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was full of fun for EJ. Parade at school, her first trick or treat and lots of playing in the front yard. Here she is , trying to use the force to get a Reeses cup from its wrapper.

Sadly all attempts failed. The force is not strong with this one. Practice she must.

Too busy knitting

I have been too busy knitting to take pictures, let alone make a blog post. Saturday I joined some friends at the Jared Flood class. Totally awesome. I can't begin to describe how wonderful Jared is, and what a wonderful class he provided us with. I think Anna's summary was perfect. Thanks Jared.

Sunday I met up with a newbie knitter for some coffee, knitting and gossip. Perfect combination if you ask me. And she is a prodigy. I can't believe the things she is churning out already.

Monday I infected another with the knitting bug. And it is a BOY!!! Bwahahaha!

Real quick- Come together is coming together nicely.


The hat experiment is going less smoothly, but I am learning. I think my fair isle is too tight and it is making the top pucker. It is going to be frogged, but I wanted to share a picture anyway.

Mad Hatter

Necessity is the mother of invention. My baby needs a hat. So being the good knitting mother I want to pretend I am, I am going to set aside my sweater (on occasion) and start the girl a hat so that I don't resort to buying one. Of course, I am looking for a pattern which does not exist. But it is a hat. So I will make one up. Or at least steal bits from other patterns and smoosh it all together into a new pattern. The worse case is it doesn't work and I have wasted a few hours experimenting. I am considering something top-down, and like Thorpe (in Ravelry, and somewhat recently on brooklyn tweed) with ear flaps. But I like the fair isle in this hat better than what is in the Thorpe pattern to make it warmer and decorative. Plus, I have never fair-isled. SO it should be fun. Using some leftover Swish Superwash from the great Baby Moderne project of 07.

I owe you all an update on Come Together, it is moving along fast am on the second side already!

Walk this way...

Eleni, 10 days into this walking gig strutting her stuff.

Strike a pose

Deadline accomplished!

I did it! After about 19 months of knitting on and off I finished Thermal. And I did it just before my self imposed deadline of Fall of '08. After all the autumnal equinox is tomorrow, September 22 at 11:44am... that is if I remembered what I heard on this news this morning. In any case. I did it. Buttons don't count right?



Please not the celebratory pose of the sweater. I think it realized how close it was to the frog pile with a few other objects it was rooming with during its hibernation. I am happy I picked it back up again, and I am pleased with the finished item. I just need to find some appropriate buttons, however I am not certain that will keep me from wearing it. Bring on the cool weather. I am ready.

A first time for everything

As a parent, I am always happy to share my daughters "firsts". Announcing the first time she rolled over marking the beginning of her mobility. The first tooth, and the trauma which brought it to the surface. And I am sure there will be many other first that I get excited over. However this particular one I could have done without. Our first trip to Children's Hospital's ER.

It started with a cold on Friday night. But something seemed different. She woke up from her sleep coughing and gasping for breath. I convinced myself that she was just worked up it, especially after K was easily able to settle her down. Saturday she seemed sick, but nothing exceptional. Sunday morning her long lashes where glued to one another with eye gook, and her nose was nearly sealed shut with snot. However even after cleaning her face off, she was still not herself. Plans where canceled for our weekly breakfast trip to Eat'n Park. Lunch plans to K's grandparents where canceled and we called the doctor.

The nurse said because she was wheezing the doctor wanted to see her. So we ran to the doctors expecting that our little cold would be taken care of in an hour or two. Well. Our expectations where wrong. When will I learn? Never expect anything to go the way you plan with little ones! The doctor suggested a trip to the ER would be the best. So there we where. Unprepared and headed to Children's. A diaper bag with only three diapers, wipes and my wallet. No toys. No food (for mommy and daddy). Nothing.

The visit was uneventful. We had friendly and helpful doctors and nurses take care of us. We had some chest x-rays (another first), some treatments, and by the end of our stay a much happier baby.

Lessons learned- Trust your instinct. I knew Friday night it was more than a regular cold. Don't be lazy, pack a well stocked diaper bag. Plastic bottles, foam cups, and hospital tubes are only interesting for so long. Call the grandparents periodically. K's parents knew we where going to the doctors. Nine hours after telling them that, and not hearing from us they where pretty worried. When you are wondering how much longer you have to wait to be sure the treatment was effective, ask. Be sure to mention the hungry dogs you left at home. It was a very effective tactic, and the dogs appreciated us coming home too.

And of course, EJ was happy to share her cold with mommy. Lets just hope daddy stays healthy.

9 month stats

Last Tuesday was EJ's nine month checkup. She is 19lbs 14 oz, and 28.5 inches tall. Both of those are in the 75th percentiles. She is self feeding now and totally rejects being spoon fed. She is cruising around the furniture like a champ, and has even started letting go and standing for a few seconds on her own. She seems to always be on the move! Not like her mother at all...hehehe.
I found the baby kimono I knit for her to come home from the hospital in while cleaning the other day.

Can garter stitch scream?

Gallery Update

It has been a while since we have hosted a gallery event.

However, Miss EJ has done it again. This time working with construction paper, white glue, and gold stars she expresses her views on the country she calls home. I have the honor to present to you "Patriotism on a Stick"

The artist could not make the gallery opening. It was nap time.

So Long!

No, no... not like so long, I am going away. More like holy heck, my arms are SOOOoooooo long!

I ended up adding about 4 inches more sleeve than the pattern suggested! However I am happy with the length and that means I will wear the sweater without pulling at the cuffs all day long wishing I had just spent a little more time making them right. there is a mistake in this sleeve. Can you see it? Yea, I didn't think so. Which is why I didn't fix it. Now I just need to finish the second one... it is about 5 inches long now. Maybe I will duplicate the mistake and that way they will match. hehe.

Between knitting the sleeves I put the collar onto the sweater to mix things up a bit. It does not lie flat when it is laying flat, but does smooth out once it is on and stretches out a bit.


Who knows, I just might finish this sweater before the start of Fall!

Teeth vs Sleep

Guess which won.... yawn. The good news is that the second tooth cut. Perhaps tonight will be better? I never saw a baby with bags under their eyes, that is until today.

More Thermal

I realized I had no pictures of my thermal sweater body that I knit oh so long ago...
Here it is lounging in the lawn

and now on me... sorry about the self portrait. K doesn't get the need for blog photography.

As you can see it is quite fitted due to the ribbing however if I remember correctly my swatch flattened out considerably once it got a bath. So I expect it to fit closely but perhaps less snuggly once it is blocked.

I finished the increases on the first sleeve this morning while EJ napped. I still have a while to go before I can start decreasing for the cap of the sleeve though. Best be getting back to that...and my Olympic game watching before this second nap is over!

Home things

As I mentioned previously, we have established our fourth room upstairs as a guest bedroom. Meaning that we no longer have a "junk room". At one point it seemed like we had three junk rooms. Oh how far we have come in the past 4.5 years of home ownership. We received the full sized bed from my grandparent's house. It fits into the room nicely.

I love that little detail on the headboard. We painted the room a color called Beach House by Shirwin Williams. This picture does not do it justice however. Guess that is what I get for photographing the room while it was very sunny out.

The coverlette is from Bed Bath and Beyond, and is a light blue. We need a couple of more pillows for the bed before it is finished. Plus I only ironed one set of the curtains so far. We are also considering adding room darkening blinds to the room to try to combat the afternoon sun. Oh, and I have to install the ceiling fan too. Probably sometime this weekend. Just a boring white one like in our room, but the room gets so hot it would be silly to not put one in.

Second

I did a little gardening! I decided on this little corner to plant the Irises that RD so generously gave to me when we visited their new home. I really hope that they like it here as well as they liked living next to the carriage house! I gave them some new soil as what was there was lacking in many ways. After I had finished this little project I went to another bed and tried pulling weeds. I startled a little snake who was sunning himself , which in turn startled me. So those weeds are safe for now... and I know to look around for snakes before digging around for weeds!

Thermal, revisited

I cannot belive I can say I have been working on a sweater for over a year and a half. February 10th 2007 I posted to the Thermal knit-along blog that I was anticipating to swatch that weekend. However, somewhere along the way I was distracted and became more interested in something else. Like being pregnant. I was last spotted with my thermal sweater at the Yarn Harlot's book signing with Amy, tiny little Heather and even tiner EJ...we just had found out the week before, and I let Amy in on the secret.

I justified setting the sweater down in favor of a new project because even if I finished the sweater I couldn't wear it that fall because I would be very pregnant at that point. So I started knitting K's sweater. My logic being if I didn't do it before the baby, he would have to wait a LONG time for anything that involved.

With fall just around the corner again, and having my body back to its normal shape again I felt motivated to get back to this project once again.

After quite a bit of knitting I have around half of one sleeve complete! It is slow progress, but I am still pretty motivated to get it finished. I just wish I didn't have such long arms!

Twist Collective

Have you ladies come across this new online knitting magazine? I was linked to it via Mason Dixon Knitting. There are some yummy patterns in their premier issue. I wasn't so sure how I felt about each pattern costing $7. As I can subscribe to a real magazine and get many different patterns for that same price (or less). However one particular sweater struck my fancy enough that I jumped onto Webs and ordered the expensive (for me) yarn for the sweater and ordered the pattern too. Perhaps this is the retail therapy I needed after the Great Washing Machine Debacle. It is official, that Lady is dead. Coming soon- the Come Together Sweater...

(picture from Twist Collective)

Slacker

It has been WAY too long since my last update. I have found that taking and uploading pictures to blog about has been more of a chore. I have things to talk about. Revival of my Thermal sweater and slow progress on its sleeves. A new coat of paint in our "guest room" and a bed worthy of guests. Not to mention plenty of EJ milestones. She is cruising! However as I mentioned... no pictures of any of this. So this is my promise to get my act together and take some pictures. Until then, here is Eleni practicing being gentle with patient Momo's soft little ears. I am sure the sun-coma he is in helps with the patience.

Nursery Rhyme

The old crib was not safe at all, so unsafe infact there was a recall.

So we picked out a second bed, for little eleni to rest her head.

and while she can use it all her life... poor mommy couldn't use that pretty crib skirt in it anymore. (oops, that doesn't rhyme.)

Ladies

Well, after a few weeks of waiting Lady reappeared. At first I thought this was her, and her two babies. The cuteness is overwhelming.

I squeeled when I saw them. Too freaking cute. Then a couple of hours later I saw a movement through the patio door and look who it was...

I think that is Lady. I should knit her some leg warmers or something so I can recgonize her. So while I am pretty confident she didn't just have twins (they where no where to be found) perhaps she was the midwife, or proud aunt who helped deliver those darling fawns.

A less adorable Lady...

Sigh... for those of you who I didn't whine to yet, I dumbly stuck this baby into the front loader washer on "gentle". It felted up a bit. Still fits, but not the way I drempt about. And it got itchier rather than softer. It is soaking in the sink now, and I hope to stretch it out a bit. So lesson learned. Gentle cycles are not gentle enough for Cascade 220!

Amanda Shoes.

I have always wanted to be one of those girls in great shoes. You know the ones. Walking confidently in a pair of heals, making the rest of us wonder where they get shoes that are so cute but comfortable enough to walk in. Having the perfect pair to complete each outfit that was both trendy yet classic at the same time. This is something I had wished would happen to me. As if by magic, overnight. Not a wish worth persuing with actual effort. So I remain a jeans and t-shirt gal. I am ok with that. Over the years I have grown up a bit and my jeans are less frayed and my t-shirts are a bit more mature. My sneakers seem less appropiate outside of actually exercising. So I have come up with a new strategy. To stop wanting to be one of those girls, and taking more time to just be myself. New shoes included.

Privo Maltese. K said they looked like Amanda shoes when I pulled them from the box. That made me happy.

PS I know those girls in heals feet hurt, no matter how happy they look. And it makes me smile inside.

Tagged...

Grumble. The tag is like blogging homework. They even come with directions:

Name five things that you can't live without. It can't be a person, it has to be something material that actually makes your life easier. It can't be something in general, it must be exact. Also, it can't be the obvious like a cell phone or computer.

Annie tagged me, and now that it is Monday and I am back at work I have time to come up with some of my own "5 things I couldn't live without". It is hard reading other lists without having the urge to copy them... but lets see how creative I am this morning.
Five Things I Couldn't Live Without by AJKnits
1. Coffee. I used to swear I would never be a coffee drinker. It was yucky. Then I started drinking it late night at eat'n park with about 3 spoons of sugar and a creamer. Once I started working a real job I would pick up a Latte on occasion at the local coffee shop. Slowly I weaned off of the sugar (8 packs in 16oz!!!) and I am down to just cream in my coffee. My morning is not complete without a cup, especially if EJ doesn't sleep well. So what if I am an addict.
2. Public Transportation. As a reformed driver, I have experienced both sides of commuting. There is nothing like zipping past all of the traffic on the trolley each morning. I can sleep, I can squeeze in some precious knitting time, I can chat with a friend, or just space out. Plus only having to put gas into Fritzie once a month is great with the cost of gas being what it is now. Sure, there are annoying people on cell phones, ignorant people who won't give up their seat for a pregnant lady, and an occasional broken down train. All minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things.
3. Online Shopping. Really, I can find anything I need or want, and have it delivered to my house. With a 36 inch inseam, and a baby this is the best thing ever. I love having packages waiting for me on my front porch.
4. Yarn. It holds so much potential. It gives me a creative outlet. I can boss it around and force it into perfection. It led me to a wonderful group of ladies when I was in need of some friends. What more can a girl ask for?
5. DVR. Seriously? How do people without DVR get by? While I am not like Annie, and record everything I watch or like Amy with the nearly full DVR. Either of those situations make me feel behind on viewing. My DVR is never more than 40% full. I love pausing live TV, rewinding when we miss something, and recording shows we love when we are not home. We would have to be pretty broke to cancel our DVR service!

That is all. I tag... nobody. Unless you want tagged. Then I tag you. Back to work.

Its Magic!

I am working on my February Lady Sweater, and started the sleeve!

Do you see that twisted up circular needle? Well I decided it was time to learn the magic loop method of knitting in the round. My size 8 DPNs where wood, and I was knitting the sweater on my knitpicks options. I was afraid that my guage might be off with the change in needles so I went to knittinghelp.com and was educated. It is a great alternitive, and I am very pleased with this technique for this project.
Am I ready to swear off DPNs for good? Nah, I am a big fan of those pokey sticks. The dazzle the non-knitter. And I like that.

I don't know what the deal is with this yarn but I cannot get the color to show up right. I thought the natural light would help. No such luck.

Also, the previous post of mine was post 100! I can't believe I didn't throw a parade, or party or something to comemorate this moment. So happy 101st post to me! Woot.

Back to my magic looping. Until next time...
aj

Inspiration

It took me a while to get back my knitting drive after having EJ. First finding time to do anything at all was hard, let alone finding time to be creative. Returning to work helped with that, EJ having a regular bedtime is awesome, and the February Lady Sweater really pushed me over the edge. I still have not done any sewing. Nothing yet has inspired me to pull out Taylor. That is until I saw this cute little project via Craftzine. Simple, fun and very useful for me at this point in life. I think it would also make a quick gift for new mothers! Now I just need to find a few fun fabrics!
ETA- I found fabrics! What do you think?

All purchased from Sew,Mama,Sew!. The top four are all part of Lightning Bugs & Other Mysteries collection, and the bottom two are Robert Kaufman fabrics.
Also, I decided the deer should be "Lady". So you win Michelle . Your prize is you get to gloat about winning. If that isn't enough, well that is too bad. I hope she visits again this Saturday so I can tell her she has a name!

Oh, Deer

I took that picture last Saturday. This little doe decided to spend the morning in our yard nestled under the dogwood tree in my "deer resistant" plants. It wasn't until K needed to cut the grass that she decided to head out and find someplace quiter to rest. She was not afraid of us taking the dogs out, but I made sure to keep our distance so that we didn't spook her. The reason I decided to post about her is because she is back again this morning. I think she needs a name. We already have the groundhog family- Gilberta (started out Gilbert until she had babies) and her two kids Gill and Bertie. Then there are the two rabbits, Bernard and Purl. (Yes, I really am THAT crazy. It is hereditary). So much wildlife so close to the city. I used to have to go camping to see deer, and now they are in my backyard.

The third skein

I just added the third skein of yarn to my February Lady Sweater.


I am considering blocking it soon, while on a longer needle to get a better idea of how much further I should knit to get the length I want. Maybe after the knitting get together.

And to answer your question, WIP stands for work in progress!

Gifted

We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. EJ received two darling gifts over the past few weeks, and had an opertunity to wear them together this past Sunday. She even tolerated an extensive photo shoot.
First, RD knit this darling cotton hat and after letting EJ try it on we had a Cinderella moment. It was a perfect fit, and was obviously made for EJ. RD had finishing to do however and we received it in the mail. Such a nice surprise.

The tie is fabric sewn into a strip. What a clever idea!
Then our Favorite Aunt Julie (FAJ, to those who love her) surprised us with this dress on Fathers day

Don't they make a great set? We thought so.