Knitting In The North

Vanilla Days

The last four weeks have been more than a little crazy, with not as much sleep as I would like, and not as much knitting, either!  Still, this week it feels like everything is finally coming together: nursing is FINALLY starting to work properly, Stuart is staying up until midnight to give Liam a bottle, so I can get more than 2 hours sleep in one chunk, the kids are finished school - so no more driving them back and forth for two hours a day, our basement is empty - so we have the whole house to ourselves PLUS the kids have a big playroom PLUS I get my very own "studio", I'm starting to feel a little less hormonal, and the family doesn't have to be afraid of me crying when someone looks at me funny. :0)  Life, eh?

Now, the Vanilla  Days of summer can begin - quiet, no crazy schedule, peaceful snuggly moments with Liam, and actual knitting getting done!  I'm working on a Lace Ribbon scarf as a gift for my midwife, and have just passed the halfway mark.  Hooray!  She's moving away at the end of the summer, and I feel now like I'll actually have it finished in time.  Pictures to follow, if I can ever find the camera!

Here You Go!

I know many of you have been looking for pictures of the new arrival, and here they are!  An amazingly talented girlfriend of mine took these shots when Liam was 5 days old.  As you can see, he's a pretty alert little guy, and has a fair bit of "wake time" during the day.  (A little bit of that "wake time" during the night, but not too much.  We're doing okay, although I'm a tad on the sleepy side.)

Here is his lovely little hand.  So sweet, I just want to kiss them all day.

His feet are so beautiful, and I love this shot of them in his dad's big, rough hands.

Here's the big, rough dad himself, not looking so tough when holding his last born.

And the pushover mama.  I'm breaking every single baby rule I ever made in the past with this one, but he's so good tempered I can't imagine it will do him any harm.  I feel so amazingly blessed, it's such an incredible experience, giving birth and sharing your world with a new life.  Everything went very smoothly - my labour/delivery was about 2 1/2 hours altogether, although we got to the hospital only about half an hour before I delivered him.  When I tell people about the birth, it sounds really fast and crazy and stressful, but really I felt such a peace through the whole thing.  It's wonderful to me how provision was just there for everything just as it was needed, and I felt so taken care of and supported. 

Now, I just need to catch up on some sleep!

Introducing...

Liam Samuel Trevor

The newest member of our family!

Details to follow...

Summer Socks

Even with the detour for baby knitting, I managed to finish my little ankle socks yesterday.  I am quite pleased with these, and have plans to knit another pair out of a ball of Regia Cotton I have from my stash.  As I was knitting, I wasn't sure I liked the TOFUtsies yarn that much, but it grew on me, and now I'm looking forward to finding some more (but not until next year, of course!). 

Particulars:

Yarn: TOFUtsies, not sure of the colourway.  I weighed the ball once I was done, and I have 59g left, so I could easily knit two pairs of these from one 100g ball.  Which is good, because I'm pretty sure that when my mom sees these, she's going to want a pair herself.

Needles: 2.5mm Brittany DPN.  These needles are 5" long, and I am in love with them.  This is the perfect length for me and sock knitting, so much so that I'm thinking of cutting down some of my longer ones.

Pattern: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Vanilla sock pattern.  I knit four rounds of 1x1 ribbing, 3 rounds of plain stocking stitch, and then went to the heel flap.  For me, this makes a perfect fit.

Baby, Oh, Baby!

But not my baby!  No Liam yet, for those of you checking regularly for an update.  Don't hold your breath, I figure we have at least a week to go. :0)  Although I did ask him this morning if he would please stop growing until he makes his big break for it - there is officially no more room at the inn!

This morning, I was honored to be included in a joint baby shower at my ladies' Bible Study.  I am the third (or fourth?) in our group this year to be having a new little member of the family, and so they rolled us all into one big party!  I must say, I was embarrassed to be so.... blessed.  The ladies all really spoiled Liam (& me), and it brought tears to my eyes more than once.  However, the whole shebang was planned at a bit of short notice, which left me scrambling to knit up shower gifts for both babies this past week. 

The first baby to arrive, now about 4 months old, received this:

This is the Vine Lace Baby Hat, from Knitting Daily, and I knitted it with a stray ball of Sirdar Snuggly Tiny Tots.  It was really a lot of fun knitting something lacy and girly, and I hope many people around me give birth to beautiful little daughters, so that I can knit for them.

The other little guy was born about three weeks ago.  I went with something a little more simple for him:

The Baby Booties from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, as well as the Beanie Hat:

I knit these out of GGH Bali, which you know I love so well, and I'm hoping they'll be big enough to fit him come fall, when it gets a little chillier.  His mom paid me the ultimate compliment of being excited to receive a homemade gift - she said he only has one other thing, simple blanket that she made, and asked if I could perhaps teach her some further knitting skills.  That made me feel really great! 

Peeps

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but Sarah at All Fingers and Thumbs (sorry, still no linking capability, sigh) tagged me for this one, Peeps I Want to Know More About.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?

Ten years ago I was a mom to baby Katie, working part-time in a daycare, because it allowed me to work without having to be away from her.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

1. Appointment with midwife
2. Weekly shopping
3. Meet friend to take some belly photographs
4. Take kids to the park
5. Watch Jon & Kate plus 8 & Rome, while knitting baby shower gift.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Right now, I'm really into a good fruit salad, even better with a scoop of sherbert.  Usually, it's anything chocolate, but at the moment the only chocolate I'm really loving is milk chocolate M&Ms.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Live debt-free, probably buy us a home out of town, give lots of money away, travel.

5) Places I have lived:

Winkler, MB; Saskatoon, SK; spent some time traveling around with my family in an old school bus turned into a camper; Steinbach, MB; Piney, MB; Brandon, MB; Chetwynd, BC; Prince George, BC.  Yikes, eh?  I think our move to Chetwynd, the year I turned 16, was my family's 16th move.

6) Jobs I have had

Chamber-maid, store clerk, baker's helper, real estate assistant, administrative assistant, office manager, branch manager, bank teller, daycare provider.  I'm sure I'm missing a few, but you get the idea.

7) Peeps I want to know more about:

You!  I'm sorry, you all know I'm the anti-tagger.  But if you'd like to answer, I'd love to read about it!

Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

We had an amazing realization last night when we tucked Brian into bed - we were putting down our 5 year old, but would be waking up with a 6 year old!  My amazing, clever, sweet, thoughtful, strong-willed son turns six today - I can not believe the years have gone by so quickly!  He is really the son I always dreamed of having, and is totally the little apple from his dad's tree.  It's incredible watching him grow, and seeing how much like his father he is, it's almost like getting a glimpse into Stuart's young life.

Brian's been hoping against hope that Liam would arrive today - but I think that's one birthday wish I won't be able to grant.  However, the rest of the day is his, and it makes me smile when I hear what he's chosen: going to a few garage sales, art class, lunch together, quiet time (so Gwenyth can nap) while he plays the Wii, a pizza night (specifically from Dominoes?) for dinner, and presents.  What a sweetie.  His party is tomorrow, and I completely copped out and booked it at a local kids' play place, so all I have to do is show up with the cake, sit and watch the wild ones run, and pick everything up at the door on the way home!  He doesn't seem to mind at all (in fact, I think he's taken by the mainstream-ness of this choice).

For those of you enjoying a long weekend, relax and have fun!  For the rest of us, relax and have fun, too!

Gentle Arts

I was in an agony of impatience all weekend - the library called Friday evening to say my copy of The Gentle Art of Domesticity was finally in and processed and ready to be picked up.  (Please forgive the lack of links - Typepad has very rudely changed everything on me, without asking my permission, and I will have to take some time to figure out how to add links.)  However, they were closed because it was a holiday long weekend here in Canada, and I had to wait!  That's just mean.

This morning, off we went to pick it up, as well as a book called Cheesemaking Made Easy, by Ricki Carroll (after reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, I've become obsessed with the idea of making cheese.  It's probably just a nesting thing, but we'll see.)  I hadn't really thought of baking at home as an art, more of a necessity for all the hungry little mouths in my house, and a craving dampener for the large pregnant woman.  I like the idea, though, of gentle arts.  It brings to mind a sense of peace and pleasure in the process of all the things that we used to do because we had to, and now do because we choose to.  Like baking brownies for an after-school treat, with the help of a Very. Busy. Two-Year-Old.  And like knitting socks.

I finished the first ankle sock during our afternoon quiet time, and have cast on for sock #2.  I know that this should be fairly obvious, but I was overcome with delight today by the realization that ankle socks knit up super fast, since they're half the size of a regular sock.  Plus, I can get two pairs of socks out of one 100g ball of yarn!  Thrilling stuff, I tell you.  Or else, I need to get out more.

Soft & Snuggly

In all the preparations for Liam's arrival, I've been feeling the need for soft and snuggly things.  I knit this blanket and hat pattern for a friend's baby last fall, and have looked forward to it for myself ever since.  Thinking about Liam, what he will be like, and  feel like, and smell like, is taking over more and more of my thought space these days.  I was sitting folding laundry the other day, which included a couple of newborn sleepers to put away.  Stuart walked in on me rocking gently, holding the sleeper up against my shoulder, my hand supporting his tiny, imaginary bum.  Pathetic, I know.  But I can't help myself.  At least this latest finished knit will give me an excuse to hold something else soft and sweet while I wait.

Particulars:

Pattern - Baby Blanket and Hat, from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, by Louisa Harding

Yarn - Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, in Sky Blue.  2 hanks for the blanket, less than half of a hank for the hat.

Needles - 4.5mm and 5.0mm bamboo straights

Notes - I knit this with no modifications, and the finished blanket size is about 21" by 28".  The hat is about 15" in diameter, which I'm hoping will fit more than a week or two!  The last time I knit this hat, I don't think it fit the recipient at all!  (Although the recipient was a 10lb baby, which I'm really hoping will not be the case here!)  As I've said before, I love Blue Sky cotton - it's so amazingly soft, and really nice to work with, which is not always easily said about cotton yarn.  It feels fluffy under my fingers, almost as if you're knitting with a raw cotton boll, which I love.  Pills are pretty much inevitable, but as far as I'm concerned, the softness makes up for it.

I woke up this morning obsessed with the idea of knitting myself a pair of ankle socks, and cast on with a ball of blue, turquoise and yellow TOFUtsies as soon as I had a chance to sit down.  I'm off to my local SnB this afternoon, so hopefully I'll make great progress, and have another lovely thing to show you soon!   

A Wonder

Wow, has the last week ever gone by in a whirl!  I hope all you mothers out there had a beautiful Mother's Day, and that you were all treated as well as I was.  My family spoiled me with attention, presents and good food.  What more could you ask for?  Unfortunately, we haven't had very nice weather here, and today is the first chance I've gotten to have Stuart take some pictures of my finished One Skein Wonder.

 

Particulars:

Pattern: One Skein Wonder, by Stephanie Japel

Yarn: Pingouin Benares, a DK Cotton yarn from my stash, 2 balls

Needles: 3.75mm and 5.0mm Denise interchangeables

Notes:  I didn't make any modifications to this pattern, but I did have a heck of a time trying to figure out what size to knit.  I held the DK yarn double stranded throughout, to get the suggested aran gauge, and ended up knitting for the 16" back size.  It's a little snug, but fits okay, and I'm hoping either the cotton will "grow" a bit over time, or I will "shrink" a bit after Liam arrives.  I had 4 balls of this yarn when I started, and imagined that I would use most of it.  Now I have to figure out something to do with the last two!  I've always loved this pattern, it's really versatile for summer wear, as well as being cute and easy to knit.  What's not to like?

Now, for those of you who have asked so nicely, here's a gigantic belly shot - only four weeks to go!