Twins!

Last fall we were surprised with the news that our friends were expecting identical twins! It was such exciting news and I just couldn't wait to pick something to knit for this very knit-worthy couple's growing family. Part of my problem with knitting gifts is I put too much pressure on what to make. So I really procrastinated starting and missed the baby shower deadline. However, I wasn't a complete slacker. The sweet little boys made their way into this world just two days before I finished. Now if only I could get to the post office...

The patters are Argyle Pullover [Rav]from Debbie Bliss Special Knits: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies and Toddlers and a free pattern from Petite Purls called Cirrus [Rav]. I love how one is more preppy and the other is a bit more sporty. The boys are identical and the parents expressed an interest in not dressing them in identical clothes. The yarn in both sweaters is Comfort DK and washed up into a very soft cozy fabric. It can be a bit splitty, but I wanted something soft and easy to care for, as these new parents will certainly have their hands full.
I made some Mods in each pattern. In the Argyle Pullover I excluded the two partial diamonds at each edge of the sweater. I didn't want to fuss with two more strands of yarn and didn't like that the partial diamonds from the front and back wouldn't line up perfectly at the seams. I also used more of a fair isle/intarsia combo on the diamonds, carrying and twisting the white along while I knit the diamonds using intarsia. My tension on the back was a bit snug, but the front was perfect. In Cirrus I didn't include the textured cable pattern and also skipped the tabbed bottom, opting for a continuous garter band. Both sweaters are knit to fit around 9-12 months. Hopefully the boys will fit into them this fall!

One of Three

I may have mentioned I had some baby knitting to do this year. I am terribly behind on it, as I would have much preferred to give them as shower gifts but part of the problem with that is these three babies are all part of the same family. Three baby boys, two mamas, and one due date! The expecting grandparents will be going from zero to three grand-babies in a matter of weeks! The twins will be here first, but decided to knit their gifts second. So for Baby F I knit one of my favorite sweater patterns, the Placket Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I really like the simplicity of this sweater, and the touch of seed stitch. I will add some black buttons before sending it off to the new baby after he arrives!

I used Cascade 220 Superwash in Charcoal and the photo does not reflect the actual shade of the yarn which is much darker than pictured. This is a worsted weight yarn and the pattern called for DK weight. So I just knit a smaller size, and used the length measurements from the larger size that matched up with the size my sweater turned out.

With the leftover yarn and some of the same in black I knit K a new winter hat, which I am proud to say he is actually wearing (thanks to all of this snow!)

The pattern is Jared Flood's Turn a Square. The second one I have knit, and it only took a couple of days to complete. I knit it at a slightly smaller gauge. Six stitches to an inch, because last time I followed gauge and found it to be a bit looser than we prefer.

Crossing Over

Its official, I am a "Designer". For those of you on Ravelry, I have my first pattern download for the Hey Jude baby sweater pattern!

I guess this also launches Eleni's modeling career too.


Special thanks to Anna for all of her encouragement and help along the way!

24

In just 24 short hours I will be escaping reality for a weekend of fun with some close friends. I feel like there is so much to do to prepare, but if I push through it will be worth it in the end. I even think I am excited to grocery shop. That rarely happens.

I have been a busy knitter, but much of what I had been working on was secret. Most recently two baby sweaters. One of which I forgot to photograph. The other I designed, and am working on writing up a pattern to go along with it. It mimics some design features of Jared Flood's Cobblestone sweater.

I have one more baby to knit for this spring, but I think I have time to squeeze in some selfish knitting too. Currently on the needles are a little dress for EJ. (and yes, knitting for EJ is selfish... because I get to show her off) I am knitting a pattern called Little Liza Jane from the most recent Twist Collective. I have about 6 inches of the skirt worked up already. I am surprised at how quickly it has gone, especially considering I spend a lot of time holding it up and admiring how cute it is. This picture was taken around the 3 inch mark

One more project is on my needles, and it is also about 6 inches long. The difference is, I knit this 6 inches in a matter of an hour or two.

This is the first time I have knit with size 19 needles. It is quite a difference, but the instant gratification is pretty wonderful too. The pattern is the Rockefeller Sweater from Big City Knits. I had been wanting to make something from this book since buying it when it hit the book stores, but I had heard things about the yarn estimates being off, and the patterns are vague. I think now I am more confident in my knitting and thanks to Ravelry and others project details I felt comfortable committing to one of these patterns.
There will be a lot of knitting time this weekend. Hopefully I will have a chance to make significant progress on both of these projects!

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.

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?

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.

One Month, 3 lbs, 2 inches

We just got back from eleni's one month checkup. She really is growing out of her clothes, and it isn't my imagination! Since her first peditricians visit she has gained 3 lbs and grown two inches! Her weight is 10lbs 10oz and she is 22.25 inches long! Both are in the 90th percentile. She will be bigger than Bella in no time!

Here she is having some tummy time with help from big brother Mo. A moment before I took the picture she was lifting her head!!

D-Day

December 1st 2007. A day that will forever be special to us, and to our families. This is the day that our little girl entered our lives.

It all started on Friday night. After deciding we had no food to eat, and a limited number of days remaining to eat out we headed out to one of our regular asian eateries and had some sushi for dinner. Dinner was lovely and tasty as always and we headed home for the night. I quickly got into my PJs and settled into my favorite corner of the sofa when I felt... well a little wet. Hmm. While it wasn't a lot, i was pretty sure it was my water breaking. So we called my doctor and she asked we head to the hospital to have the baby monitored and to verify my water did infact break. So after some rushing around to pack a bag and call our parents and put the Doula on alert we where off to the hospital. It was about 9:00pm when we where checked in.

The doctor confirmed my water had broke, and prefered we stayed at the hospital at that point. So we where admitted and left alone to labor naturally until the next morning when I would be given pitocin if we hadn't progressed enough. Once your water breaks it is generally thought that the baby needs to be delivered within 24 hours. The night was long and there was little sleep going on, however we didn't get enough accomplished to go without the pitocin. At 6am the pitocin drip started.

I was still trying to have this baby without any unnecessary drugs though, so we labored on all morning as planned. My contractions became stronger and longer as the time passed by but I wasn't progressing as much as I had hoped I was. At 1:00 I decided I needed a plan. If I was almost fully dilated in another hour I would press on drug free. But if by 2:00 we still anticipated a significant period of laboring before we could push I would have an epidural. This hour timeline I established for myself ended up being the hardest hour in my entire labor. We suspected she was not in the prefered anterior position. Meaning I was having "back labor". It was wicked. Had it not been for my fabulously wonderful husband and our super doula I would have packed my bags and given up. Just stop the labor now, I decided I am not having this baby. My hour was up. My doctor showed up and we where only 7cm, meaning there where another 3 to go and I was at my breaking point.
I asked for the epidural. The relief was nearly immediate. I was able to rest for the next 2 (or was it 3) hours. We even slept. I would have to conserve my energy for pushing. The next time I was checked the baby had decended to the +2 station and it was time to prepare for the pushing.
The pushing was intense. I think it lasted around 2 hours. I had my own personal cheering section and it was great help in keeping my focus and energy directed to delivery. It was a lot of work, and in the end the doctor needed to use suction to help the baby and her big noggin out of my body.
So much of the rest is a blur. Our little 8lb 4oz bundle of joy made her way into our world.

It wasn't long that she was put into her daddy's arms for the first time while we delivered the placenta and I was stitched up from my small tear.

We decided on the name Eleni Jean, and our hearts have forever been changed by this little wonder. Every day that passes the birth experience memory becomes less vivid. The memory of the pain fades as new memories of our daughter are created.

Overall we spent 24 hours in labor. Kevin and I went about 41 hours without sleep aside from a few cat naps. I had gone 27 hours without food. I threw up three times. Pushed for two hours. Had I heard these statistics before it all started I would have been scared. I would have wanted to avoid this entire situation. However, after having been through this past weekend I must say it was worth every discomfort.

Bend the Rules Valance

Last week I was a busy little sewer, and have not yet taken any time to share with you my project. Sadly I was too caught up in the activity to take any in progress photos. It was an experiment and I was just interested in getting to the end result to pause for picture taking.

After being inspired by the Scalloped Baby blanket that Cara made for sproggy I decided I would use the same pattern concept for the nursery window valance. The pattern can be found in Bend the Rules Sewing. I adjusted the size to fit across the window, and left the top straight. Also, I applied a simple pocket to the back for the curtain rod to slide through.



Close up


I added two stripes of the ribbon left over from the crib skirt to break up the pattern some. Never mind the short tab of ribbon hanging below the finished edge. There are plans for that.


So my question for you is..... Do I need long curtains under the valance? Like some pink shears? Just something to make it look more finished? Every time I walk in the room I feel like maybe it is missing something. Advice is greatly appreciated!


Here is the most recent belly picture I have right now... for one particular reader :o) My belly is the bottom of the two. The top belly belongs to a friend Lisa. She is due anytime now, if she hasn't already had her little man!


Have a happy weekend everyone!

Crib Skirt- Finished!!

This past weekend we bought a crib, and got it set up in the nursery. It was so exciting seeing this empty blue room turn into a nursery with the addition of one piece of furniture. This was all the motivation I needed to get to finishing up the crib skirt sewing project that had been on hold for a few weeks. There wasn't much left to do, just a few hours worth of work and I am just so pleased with how it looks. I could sit and stare at it all afternoon. So please allow me to overload you with pictures... you can click on these to see larger versions if you want.
Full view of the crib-

Close up

A view from above, with the scalloped blankie from Cara-

Close up with the rail lowered-


Now, of course you must imagine a mattress resting above the skirt with a pink sheet to get the full effect. Plus as sproggy gets bigger the mattress platform will be lowered and more of the skirt will be visible below the side rail.

Light

I see the light at the end of the tunnel that is nursery planning. Yes, we got some paint on the walls and hung the ceiling fan but this was not the part of the planning that was causing me stress. The thorn in my side was furniture. Mainly a dresser. We had started our shopping at Babies R Us. While we found a few cribs that we where happy with in our price range we where not thrilled with the quality of the matching dressers. After looking at a few other local furniture stores and only finding white dressers that where too frilly with the carved flowers and ornate moldings I was not sure we could get what I had envisioned.

A few weeks ago, my friend Cara offered me some hope. She had just been to Sheely's in North Lima Ohio (just south of Youngstown)and said their prices where good, they had a friendly staff, and a decent selection of chidrens furniture. Once we heard they where having a one day sale we made plans to make the trip. Everything Cara said about Sheely's I found to be true. And to make our trip even more favorable we left holding the repciet for our new nursery dresser!

That is the picture from the manufacturer's website. It is a Stanley Young American dresser from the Contentment line. Not only did Sheely's have it listed below the MSRP, but they had nearly everything marked as 30% off their list price. So I feel like we got a good deal. It is in stock, so we should expect to have it delivered in around 4-6 weeks or so. Hooray for Sheely's!!

Progress: Nursery

What a busy and productive day. With lots of help from my parents, K and I managed to get through some of the nursery prep that had been put off for so long. We broke into teams and got to work around ten o'clock this morning.

Mom and I focused on sewing the crib skirt. This is my mom using Taylor. She is much better at sewing straight lines than I am, so I let her have that job.

I was the iron-lady, and did some piece pinning as well. I think it was just as important a job. Despite our hard work, we still where not finished by five o'clock when the boys where wrapping up for the day. We likely have another day of work ahead of us before it is complete. Not a big deal considering I have no crib yet to decorate with a skirt.... In any case, here are the three fabrics sewed together (and ironed ever so carefully)

We still need to finish sewing the hem on 3 of the 4 pieces, attach the decorative ribbon on the top and bottom of the blue section, make the box pleats, and finally attach them all together into one big skirty piece of fabric.

So while we where sewing away, K and my dad where busy painting. They where able to get a coat of paint on the ceiling, the crown molding, and the walls. K came down stairs and proclaimed "I sure hope you like blue" and I became worried about the paint. I asked if it looked nice and he muttered "its okay" more concern entered my mind. As soon as I finished what I was working on I headed upstairs. All of the worry was for nothing, I am quite pleased with my color selection. It is exactly the blue I was looking for. Soft girly blue. Bright but not blindingly so.

Like the sewing project, the painting still is not complete. The baseboards and door trim still need to be painted and perhaps a second coat will have to be applied to the walls as well. I will let my dad make that judgement call.
It is really exciting to see my vision begin to come together.

We hit the Jackpot!

K's work continues to be awesome. It is the small stuff like team building laser tag, summer time picnics, cake day, and employee of the month complete with a special parking space. The quality of his coworkers also seems to be quite high. This is best shown with this picture.


What is that? You don't understand how this mess in my basement is relevant to K's coworkers? Well let me tell you about these boxes...

Well, these boxes (and plastic bags) plus one more that is in my living room. K has a coworker with three young daughters. Identical twin two year old girls, and a 4 year old big sister. This guy seemed elated to hear we where having a girl. Each of those boxes is full of baby clothes! Sized between 0-18 months from what I can tell after a quick glance at the labels. Yes, it is also organized by size. Horray for free baby clothes!

If only I had a nursery dresser to put some of this in! While on the nursery topic, the crib skirt sewing should begin this weekend! Check back for photos!

Introducing Taylor!

My sewing machine arrived! Yea! His name is Taylor. I have been asked how I know he is a boy, and I just thought it was obvious. It is a Brother brand machine.

I am anxious to give him a try, but am not ready to start my crib skirt project just yet. I do have a well used quilt I received as a high school graduation gift 10 years ago that could use some serious mending. Especially considering it is my favorite couch blanket!

While I was busy with opening up Taylors shipping box, Mo decided to play with his favorite new toy...

Yes... that is our $1.99 Ikea toilet brush. You should see him prance around with it in his mouth. I have tried spraying it with bitter apple with hopes of it would deter him, but my stubborn little man wasn't even slowed down.

And finially some adorable knitting to finish off the post...Saarje's Bootees knit with Dale of Norway Baby UII. Still need to add buttons, but they are basically done.

My weekend in photos...

My mother and I went fabric shopping. I cannot find the crib skirt of my dreams anywhere, and figure sewing one would be much easier than continuing the hunt. Here is what we found...

It will be put together like this, with that ribbon acting as a transition between the fabrics.

There is a pattern we are following, basically a straight skirt, with two box pleats on the long side of the crib, and one pleat on the short side.

We also stopped at Ikea and got a new piece of furniture for our bedroom.

I put that together myself. I love a good puzzle.

K wearing his Avast sweater so I could measure for a zipper-

I need to get one that is 28 inches long. I also picked up some grosgrain ribbon to back the zipper with to add a little flair ala grumperina.

The pups loving each other.

It didn't last long. Some jealousy later in the weekend over some bones caused some major issues between them. Bella hid one while Mo was chewing the other. Then Bella stole the second one off of Mo and tried to find it a hiding spot too. I was on the phone with my boss and didn't notice we where down to one bone and two dogs. Bad ratio. So Mo tried to get his bone back and Bella freaked. Spooked Mo and he has been hiding in his crate much of the night. He isn't hurt. Still sad. Bad Bella!

And lastly, please ignore the bags under my eyes, the bad hair day and my favorite pants... a 21 week 2 day belly shot.

Hi sproggy!

Sugar and Spice...

and everything nice. That is what little girls are made of.

Early this morning K and I headed to the hospital to have the "Big" ultrasound done. We had the first appointment of the day with hopes that K could make it to work without using any more time off. Sproggy had different ideas and proved to be as stubborn as her mother. After a trip to the restroom with hopes to get her moved into a better position, and a second ultrasound tech, we where able to get all of the measurements the doctors needed to make sure she was healthy and growing. We also where lucky to find out that our little Sproggy is a girl (if you didn't pick up on that yet).


That random appendage above her head in the second photo is her leg. Sproggy is one flexible gal! She had held onto it through much of the ultrasound.