Knitting In The North

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!

Returning to Earth

Sometimes, with knitting, the timing of things just comes together so perfectly, you know it's meant to be.  I finished the Returning to Earth socks tonight, just in time to send them home with my sister after Sunday dinner.  She just graduated from university, and starts a full-time job as a Social Worker tomorrow morning.  She's a little nervous, and I told her I hoped that these socks would help keep her grounded on her first day.

Particulars:

Pattern - Garter Rib Socks, from Sensational Knitted Socks

Yarn - Returning to Earth, hand-dyed by the amazingly talented Ruth

Needles - Brittany birch DPNs, 2.5mm

Notes - I knit these socks over 56 stitches, using a very basic pattern.  I didn't want anything to compete with the wonderful colours in the yarn, and I am happy with the way they turned out.  Not only do I love them, but my sister loves them,  and that makes me feel great.  I've always loved the Garter Rib pattern, and still plan to knit myself a pair one of these days.  For now, I'm quite content with my place in the knitting universe. 

A New List

Now that I'm only knitting from stash (don't laugh - I can totally do it!), I figured it would be a good time to look through my Ravelry queue.  It's about 5 pages long, and at the rate I'm knitting, I'll be a grandmother before I work my way through all of that!  Here are some of my priorities, in no real order:

• Folded Cowl Tee - I just mentioned this one, and although I really, really love it, I don't see myself working on it before the end of summer.  Still, it's cute, and I may fall so in love with the yarn that I have to cast on, I've heard amazing things about how soft the Craft yarn is.

• Polka Purl Dots - I have a real weakness for wrap tops, and fell in love with this as soon as I saw it.   Also, I've been longing to knit something designed by Veronik Avery - I've heard that she's a totally amazing designer, and I want to see what her amazing designs can do for me!  I still need to purchase the pattern for this, but I think this will be one of the first post-pregnancy things I knit myself.  I have yarn set aside for it, Estelle Young Touch DK, in red.  Yes, tarty red, just for me!  See:

• Baby Blanket and Hat - from the book Natural Knits for Babies and Moms.  I love this blanket, and I love Blue Sky Cotton yarn!  I really should get my skates on with this one, the hat is definitely a newborn size, and the blanket will be great through the summer.  I don't have a picture to show you, but I have 3 skeins of this soft, wonderful to knit yarn in a light, sky blue.

• Juliet - I am planning on using the Rowan Soft Tweed I bought a while back, and this one is for me, too!  Yay, me!  It used to be really, really hard to knit for myself.  I always felt selfish, and yet most of this list is for me, me, me!

• Drops 103-1 - although this didn't get knit for this past winter, and wouldn't have fit even if it did, I really would like it for the next time snow settles into our little valley.  I have tucked away some Jaeger Natural Fleece in Bordeaux, all ready to get started.  One of these days.

So, that's only 5.  Plus the 4 things I have on the needles now.  Plus any socks I feel the need to knit for the rest of the year.  Should be enough to keep me busy, right?

No Pictures, Just Resolutions

I have lots of stuff going on, but I've been fighting a cold all week, and have no pictures to show you.  If I had sat down last night to share it all with you, it would be an official Wednesday Night Bullet Post, but I guess this is just picture-less potpourri.

• I've been doing lots of organizing of my stash!  I picked up a couple of those under-the-bed storage containers, and spent several hours this week photographing, entering into Ravelry, and packing away all the various yarn that has been hanging around my bedroom.  Even I didn't realize that I had quite so much yarn.  Yikes.  And it's not even all in my Ravelry page yet, so if you look at my stash, realize that's just the tip of the iceberg.

• On top of all this yarn storage, I succumbed to a sale at Webs this week!  I was really taken by the preview of IK Summer 2008, especially the Folded Cowl Tee, which is just a tee, but somehow captured my fancy.  It seemed meant to be that Webs had the Vicki Howell Craft yarn on sale, and the pattern called for it, and I was thinking about ordering anyway....

• With the realization of how much yarn I really do have in my stash, plus the 3 garments worth currently winging it's way from Webs to here (you know how it is, if you're ordering anyway, it would be just silly not to get a little of this, and a little of that...).  Anyway.  I am making a semi-official declaration here - I AM NOT GOING TO BUY ANY MORE YARN THIS YEAR.  Please, don't tell me about the amazing sales I'm missing, or the de-stashing other people are doing at cut-rate bargain prices.  This is going to be tough, but I think it will be good for me.  The obvious exceptions are things like needing a bit more to finish a project, etc.  Plus, I'm going to be a bit busy with the new baby and all that good stuff, so I just need to find healthy ways of dealing with my stress and exhaustion that don't include online ordering of yarn.

• Even though I've been sick and grumpy, knitting still has been happening.  Sock #2 of the Returning to Earth socks is about halfway there, and I'm almost finished a One Skein Wonder I cast on in great hope that warm weather was about to appear.  (It wasn't.)  Plus, I have the super-secret gift for my mum, and the never ending hoodie on the needles, too.  I'm very happy to say, that out of 4 current projects, 3 of them are from stash yarn.  Pretty good, eh?  Now, we just have to keep it up until the end of the year!