Just Sit Back & Knit

We've Gone Elsewhere

visit Barbara's new blog, luckypennymake, where she talks about life as a sewing, knitting mama to a sweet one year old girl.

visit Sara's (aka Fletchersmama) new blog,
Random Visit,
where she talks about her life as a knitting, sewing and otherwise crafty mom to a five-year old boy and a newborn baby girl.

Three Months Old...No, Wait...Four Months Old

Our sweet girl is three months old. I feel busier now than I did six weeks ago, strange though it may seem. I guess it is partly because I am now able to get out more with Junah and so my expectations for what I can accomplish have grown. Things don't always get done, though. There is always laundry, especially since we're using cloth diapers. Sometimes I manage to get the dishes done, but while I'm making dinner, so the dishes pile right up again. My husband does as much as he can while working six days a week. He is still the cleaner of the bathroom for which I am very grateful. And the fact that I am still home with my daughter means so much to me, and it is a gift that he is giving to our family.

We were just talking tonight, after I managed to get our over-tired girl to sleep by nursing her in the sling, about how glad we are that I didn't have to go back to work six weeks ago. It seems to me impossible that anyone can do it, at least with a first baby. I feel like we are still trying to get our feet under us, and can't imagine both of us coming home from work, after a long day, and trying to get everything done and still care for our child. Who is just so sweet...

I have managed to squeeze in some knitting time,
which is good, because I went a little overboard
with my knitting acquisitions last month.

Several great books and some Knitpicks needles

Several balls of Peaches 'n Creme, that I just had to order after
getting Mason Dixon Knitting from the library. I really
want to get some Euroflax linen yarn now, too, but that is a bit
more than $1.50 a ball.)

Cascade 220 Superwash for socks (The brownish color
was for my father-in-law's Cinco de Mayo birthday). I vow to
never again make socks that are handwash only. Too much work (for the sock washer).

Lots and lots of luscious Malabrigo in one of the new, true
solids, Chestnut. I'm finally going to make that hourglass
sweater for myself.

And, since I understand that Malabrigo is something of
the poor woman's Manos, I've got to try the real thing.
Three skeins to make a winter sweater for Junah.

This is my haul from Jimmy Bean's Wool. Four skeins
of Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in Sand for a simple
cardigan for Junah. I've knit up all the pieces, it took less
than two skeins, but have yet to sew it up. I started but need
to redo what I've got done because it just doesn't look good.
Hopefully I'll finish it before she grows out of it. And I've been
longing to make the denim pants from Last Minute Knitted
Gifts since I first purchased the book (before I was even
pregnant) and finally have the yarn. It's Rowan Denim in the
color called Nashville. I also ordered the one skein of Lorna's
Laces Shepherd Sock shown in Cranberry. The other two
skeins I already had in my stash. I'm thinking of the chevron
scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

And I love extra goodies. These are the little treats
I received with my Jimmy Bean's Wool order. Candies
and a color card for the Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton.
Nice, thanks Jimmy Bean's.

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So, all of those purchases and here it is, a month later, my daughter is now sixteen weeks old, and what have I done? Still not sewn up the cardigan, worked a few rounds on the pants, and let pretty much everything else languish while I increased another stash. My fabric stash, that is. I've been sewing. And loving it. My little diningroom, or a third of it, to be more accurate, has been transformed into a sewing room. My sewing machine is sharing space on our diningroom table with our microwave and I've moved our telephone stand to make room for my ironing board. It's a tiny little space for sewing, but it works.

I've purchased diaper flannel, birdseye and PUL to make cloth diapers and covers; linen and cotton for skirts for me and outfits for Junah, and a nearly unmentionable amount of accessories to make sewing faster, easier and more fun. The accessories category includes the book Sew What? Skirts. I love wearing skirts, especially during the summer when it gets so hot here. Shorts are okay but I increasingly feel like it is hard to find flattering shorts, especially if I expect them to cover my bum (I accidentally purchased a pair of shorts at Target that have "lowest rise" emblazoned on the inside of the waistband, and let me tell you, it is a good thing that shirt hems have dropped recently...).

So, skirts. Love the book. I've made two skirts from it and it is so easy! The first skirt I made was an elastic waist A-Line that was a little roomier than I like. I tend to over compensate, I think. But better than too small. The second skirt has become my all time favorite skirt in the world. I've worn it three or four times in the week since I finished it. Actually, the first time I wore it I hadn't even finished the hem but was so in love with it that I wore it anyway (although I didn't leave my house). I used to have a love-hate relationship with the color red. My mother loved it and I hated it. A lot of my clothes were red. I remember a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt I got for Christmas one year...all red. Hated. And what has happened since? Well I was inexplicably drawn to the bolt of red linen (a linen rayon blend actually) at the fabric store. I just had to have some. And now, my favorite skirt? Red. All red.

And, I have to say, I don't think the pictures do this skirt justice. For this skirt I eschewed the bulky elastic waistband for the slightly harder (but still easier than I originally thought) zippered, faced waist. Love. Oh, love. Love so much I took apart my first skirt and put in a zipper and facing. And I have plans for more...

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But first I need to finish a dress I'm making for this sweet girl...Talk about love.

Four Week Long Post Eight Weeks Overdue

I've been meaning to write this post for sometime, however, I'm still not very proficient at one-handed typing, and I generally only have one hand free when I'm in front of the computer. But, I'm going to try.

I'm pretty happy with the fact that I managed to start and complete five projects in the eleven weeks* since my daughter was born. Yes, two of those were washcloths, but hey, they count any way. And two were pairs of socks, which, if I counted per sock, ups my total to seven. But the project I'm most proud of is Junah's Easter top.

In late March I posted about wanting to recreate this outfit for Junah. I'm not so good at the sewing thing, but fortunately, my sister Jesse excels at it.

While I was at the fabric store buying the pattern for the pants, I spied some beautiful fabric that I thought would be perfect. However, since I was still messed up on postpartum hormones, I didn't buy the fabric but just wrote down what it was, thinking I would send Jesse in to get it and confirm that it was as perfect as I believed it to be. Mistake. She loved the fabric, and was able to see a skirt the fabric store has made out of it as a model, but there was none left. None of our local fabric stores had it in stock. I ended up ordering it from The Heart of Dixie in Alabama. Along with some coordinating fabric, for the heck of it, and some Elvis fabric, because my Nana loves Elvis and I'm hoping to make her a tote bag for her birthday (in July). She might get a kick out of it. Or she'll think it's too silly. We'll see.

For the top, the knitted part of the outfit, I purchased three balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a beautiful light green color. I was able to get the book for the top, Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners through my library. The pattern is actually for a "Dress with Eyelets" calling for Wool Cotton (which has the same gauge as the Baby Cashmerino). Since I wanted the dress to look like a long shirt instead of pants I decided to shorten it. Knowing that math would be involved in that, and still being loopy from the hormones, I delayed casting on because I was worried about trying to figure out how to shorten it and convert it to an in the round pattern. Eventually I just went for it, figuring that where the pattern said "knit until piece measures so-many-inches" I would just reduce the called for number of inches. Not the best way, since the dress is knit from the bottom up I should have, I realized later, cast on a fewer number of stitches and done fewer decreases on the skirt portion. Oh well, another lesson learned.

It seemed like a couple weeks went by and, despite my best efforts, the dress didn't get any bigger. A round here, a round there, made no difference. I didn't think I would finish. About a week and a half before Easter I decided I really needed to get going and spent a lot of time knitting while my daughter napped on my lap. Things went well, and more quickly, as the number of stitches decreased as I reached the eyelet row and neared the armholes.

I worked the back first, and noticed, and corrected for, the yarnover for the buttonhole seemed one stitch too close to the edge. Instead of binding off at the shoulders I held the stitches on stitch holders to be grafted with the front stitches later. The front was a bit trickier since each shoulder strap had decreases on the armhole side and neckhole side and I was trying to get it to match the back which I had fudged a little in order that the entire shirt be the length I wanted. But, I persisted, and early in the Easter week, kitchenered the shoulder stitches. I then wove in all the ends--there were a lot since each side of the neckhole, on both the front and the back, is worked by itself. Once I had done all the nasty end weaving in work I picked up stitches for, and knit, the edging for the neck band. Feeling ever so accomplished, I held up the piece, complete except for the armhole edging, and smiled. And stopped smiling. The neckhole had about a six inch circumference for my daughter's fourteen and a haf inch head (at birth) to fit through.

In a panic I ripped back the neck edging and cursed my stupid efficiency. No way I was going to unpick all those woven in ends. In a brief moment of wisdom I put the thing away and went to bed. Tomorrow is a brighter day and all that.
The next morning I got out my sewing shears and hacked into the top after picking up a row of stitches on a US #1 DPN. Have I ever mentioned how useful I find my #1 double points? I use them often, mostly for picking up stitches after I've had to rip back, or for casting on for a toe up sock. They're great for these things. I think the fact that they're bamboo is crucial, since my metal pair would just slide right out. I usually keep at least two of the needles in my little knitting tools bag, along with my tiny scizzors, stitch holders and markers, tape measure, etc.
Anyway. I did a little math and some quick measurements on Junah, and figured out that if I left out the decreases on the armholes and just did the neckhole decreases, adding a few decreases to end up with the required number of stitches, the darn thing had a chance of going over her head. And you know, it worked. Just barely. I did have to gingerly ease the top over her ears.

A handpainted wooden button that cost me five dollars (since it came in a pack of ten or so buttons, but I just had to have it) and a purple ribbon, along with the super-cute pants super-busy Aunt Jesse stayed up late the night before Easter making, completed the ensemble. And I, of course, forgot to get good pictures of her in the outfit the day of, and so I dressed her up in it again a week (or three, I can't remember) later.

I did get this picture, however, of our sleeping girl starting out on her first Easter egg hunt, in her daddy's arms. In our family all of the kids line up inside after the (hundreds) of eggs are hidden and the youngest goes first.

And since Nana loves to see pictures of all the great-grands together on Easter, Junah was literally taken from my breast after cries of "Junah! Junah!" (think "Encore! Encore!") made me laugh and give her up for this photo. Of course, she needed a little help, hence Aunt Maddie, not a great-grand, just a grand, is in the photo too.

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As I finally finish this post I hear my daughter, who is fifteen weeks old today, waking up.

Inspiration for this outfit came from SouleMama, a blog I discovered around the time Junah was born. It is wonderful and maybe a large part of the reason my diningroom has turned into a sewing room recently.

On The Subject of Socks

                                                                     
This is my very favorite pair of socks.  I did not even know I had a favorite pair until I thought I had lost these!  Jim bought them for me 3 or 4 years ago for Christmas.  They are made by Dansko for wearing with their clogs.  They fit perfectly, which most likely means they are made of absolutely NO natural fibers.  So, one of my favorite things about these socks, besides the snug-but-not -too-tight fit, or the color - brown, is the height.  They are just right.  I have problems with varicose veins and they can be quite painful.  Tight socks make it worse and are just plain  uncomfortable.  So here we are, the perfect socks.  Which you can not buy anymore.  Isn't that just the way.

Now, I don't imagine even for a minute that I can replicate these, I won't even try.  For awhile anyway.  I have, however started my first pair of socks:
                                                                     

THREE DAYS LATER.....

I finished one sock!  I can not, however, show it to you in it's complete state.  My digital camera has gone on the fritz.  Here it is almost finished:

       The yarn:  Socks That Rock

The pattern:  from Sally Melville's Book 2: The Purl Stitch

The needles:  US Size 2, Lantern Moon - very nice, also a gift from Kathy!

Here is the hole you get at the corner between the heel and the instep, for which Sally recommends leaving a tail at that point to close it up.  I did.  Thank you Sally!

                                                               

So......  I am hooked.  I can see I will become obsessed with sock yarn, sock patterns, sock needles.  Maybe feet in general.  I was so nervous to start one.  I had heard horror stories about turning the heel.  And not that it was so simple, but doable, even enjoyable.  I would not put one down in the middle of the turn - that could be a nightmare.  Socks are satisfying!  So quick, so cute, so easy to carry along, and, well, so useful to have.

I have promised my loving husband I will not start the other sock until I finish his Birthday Slippers, and so, back to the grind!

 

 

It's My Life...

"If you get me a girl pit bull, I will just be PISSED OUT!"
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Kissing Nana's neck.
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"I've got a little monkey in my pocket."
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A ring bearer in Uncle Jeff's wedding.
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"My dad and me just got separated at the tattoo show, he got lost."

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Fixing brakes with dad.

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"Mom, is today a daddy day?  Mom days are stupid."
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Dad soothing a wee one with his wee pinky.
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"I have a great idea for our journals Mom!  Let's give each other memories."
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Hiking near Nana's house.
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I gave notice at my job.  I realized working there was draining all the energy I want to put into the things that are important to me:

Homeschooling Fletcher
Feeding my family healthy, home-cooked meals
Exercising
Helping Jim maintain his health
Having another baby
Keeping a comfortably clean and orderly home
Making time for the creative things I love to do: knit, sew, paint, garden

I have about 3-1/2 more weeks to go at The Porch, then I plan to focus on creating a schedule so that I can fit all the important things into my life and do work for my dad from home!  I am in love with the possibility of making my life exactly what I want it to be.  I am lucky, so lucky to be married to Jim, who wants the same things I do and supports me in working towards those things.  Life really is good.

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My Secret Knitting Project!!!!!:

Any Ideas????

Sweet Man Socks

There are several posts I keep meaning to write, including one I've actually started about Junah's Easter outfit, but in honor of my sweet husband (who said to me just a few hours ago, "I don't see enough yarn around here. Need to get more yarn!") and in keeping, somewhat, with Sara's most recent post, I'm going to post here about Jason. And his socks.

My favorite wedding picture (oh, it's so hard to pick) is actually a pair of pictures (that, strangely, I don't have framed) taken while we were dancing:

Big smiles and lots of laughter. That's what we had then and have even more of now.

And I love this one, too. Jason's dad took it right after the ceremony.

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Jason turned thirty-one last week. We've now known each other, been friends with each other, (except for a a few gaps when we weren't speaking to each other, of course) for more than half our lives.

Last year I made Jason a pair of socks (my first ever pair of knitted socks) out of Cascade Fixation, at a horrendously small gauge, that took me forever to finish. This year I wanted to be sure that I had his present ready for his birthday. So I spent the week and a half before his birthday working on a new pair of socks (and cursing the size of his foot!) whenever I had the chance. Hard to do when most of my day is taken up with nursing (I can knit and nurse, sometimes) and changing diapers and playing with a beautiful babe. And I had high hopes of completing a matching pair for Junah.

This sock pattern is what I'll call my basic sock pattern, even though I haven't made it very many times. But I've only strayed from it twice. It is loosely based on the Knitting Fiend's Sockulator II (toe-up pattern) since that is the pattern I made Jason's first pair from. Ease isn't included in it so I usually just use it for the length of foot and foot circumference, but of a size smaller than I'm actually making. I've abandoned the backward loop method of casting on (mostly because I can never find the last loop when knitting down the second side of the needle, if you know what I mean) in favor of the figure-8 cast on as demonstrated at Hello Yarn. I cast-on using US #1 size dpns to make the figure-8 loops then switched to the US #3 needles I used to make the sock. In this way I avoid having to tighten the loops on the second needle and am assured a tight, nearly invisible cast on row. Since I'm lazy and was trying to save time I decided to do all of the increases using a kfb instead of the invisible lifted increases the Sockulator uses. And I knew before I even started that I would have an uneven looking toe as a result but I told myself that Jason wouldn't care, would never even notice in fact, and it would all be fine.

Right. The right side of the toe looked fine, but the left looked poopy. Bumpy and uneven and yucky and...I just couldn't live with it. I had to start all over. My problem was that I had been working the kfb on the second stitch and the second to last stitch on each side of the sock. The fix, which looks fine and maybe even neat, was to work the kfb on the second stitch and the third to the last stitch on each side of the foot.

Things went fine. For awhile. Then I realized that I was knitting an even bigger sock than required.

So I ripped back again until I only had fifty-two stitches instead of sixty.

Which was nice because fifty-two stitches is a lot faster to knit than sixty. If I was mathy I might figure out how many stitches I saved myself over two socks...

20" of sock x 10 rows per inch x 60 stitches x 2 socks = 24000 stitches
20" of sock x 10 rows per inch x 52 stitches x 2 socks = 20800 stitches
24,000 stitches - 20,800 stitches = 3200 stitches

Okay, so I'm a little mathy. Here's a little more. I timed myself (when I was trying to decide late that Friday afternoon if i had any hope of finishing the socks before Jason got home from work) and one round took me two minutes (at the speed I was knitting in 2x1 ribbing -- holding a sleeping babe and watching Heroes online) which means I saved myself...

[52 stitches / (2 minutes x 60 seconds)] x 3200 stitches = 1386.666 seconds or 23 minutes

Which I lost tonight doing useless math.

And I nearly finished (finished but for the finishing) the socks before giving them to my Raiders loving husband. The ends were woven two days later. And he loves them.

Oh, and for the record:

Mission Falls 1824 Wool in Raven (about three balls) and Charcoal (one ball) on 3.25mm Addi Turbo Circulars using the magic loop method.

What a Wonderful World

My favorite song.  At dinner last night Fletch and I discusses our "favorite's"  My song was What a Wonderful World.  Jim picked it out for our first dance at our wedding - only dance as it turned out!  My SIL Briana had a mat made for a 11x16" frame made with part of the lyrics from the song made for us for our wedding and it holds one of my favorite wedding pics in it:

For those of you saying, "wait a minute!  the song actually goes: "I THINK to myself, what a wonderful world."!"  I know that, so does Briana, but she said she had the frame shop redo the calligraphy so many times, she finally just went with it.  It remains one of my most cherished wedding gifts.

Fletch and I have been sick, which seems to be a theme whenever I get around to blogging.  This is a picture of one tired and sick boy sitting up sleeping on the couch.  Too cute.

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Easter brought something interesting this year:
the easter bunny worked very hard on these little felt gnomes and their very own felted basket to go along with this great book the easter bunny had when she was little bunny.  All of this was placed lovingly and with anticipation of much joy by receiving child into said child's basket.  To which the child replied, "Oh Crud."
The easter bunny was not quite crushed.  She does admit they are sort of creepy with, "no heads or bodies" (this is the reason that little ungrateful child gave for not liking the wee felt folks. 

He is a bit more interested in the book, though the easter bunny forgot all about the really scary trolls who torture the gnomes in a most gruesome fashion towards the back of the book.  She realizes that as soon as the little boy finds these pages he will probably denounce the book as even more creepy that the felt gnomes!

This particular easter bunny feels confident, though, that as this little boys grows more interested in life and bodies and all that comes with exploration he will find this book a fascinating read:

as she did while perusing all the pages like these!

This is what came in his basket that he loves and plays with constantly.

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On to knitting matters:

this is the sock yarn Kathy gave me when she came to visit this past weekend which I am determined to turn into a pair or socks for myself.

Here is the yarn I bought for a new sweater for Fletch - he picked the colors as you can see, light green and dark green.  I am trying figure out from various patterns I have and a particular blogger's (pickin' and throwin')  work how to make childHood - from Knitty as a pullover with a front pocket and a hood.  Any thoughts, barb, would be appreciated!
       the red yarn is a skein Kathy bought for me at the new and wonderful LYS we found - out of this I think I will make a shawl or wrap.  Also showcased in this stunningly set up picture is the much needed ball winder I got for my birthday with a Knit Picks gift certificate from Kathy.

Som time ago (I think at least two years) I bought the blossom yarn you see on the right for  the purse from Simply Noro.   I never made it.  I did make a hat and start a scarf but didn't love it and took it all apart.  This Christmas Kathy gave me the blossom you see on the left, she remebered I wanted to make the purse, but forgot I had the yarn.  So I have started the purse but am not convinced I will carry it.  I am thinking about make a wrap or lap blanket for myself out of all this lovely yarn.  HMMMMMM......

Jim's January Birthday Slippers, lonely and waiting for me:

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And just to show off, we take a picture of Fletch in a tree each Easter.  Here are the last three (the first two I don't have on my computer).:

   

Weak or Right?

This sweet, sweet girl, our superstar (onesie courtesy of Aunt Jesse), has been pretty fussy for just over two weeks now. Not all day, mostly at night (and into the early hours of the morning). She cries as though she's in pain, is only soothed (and only sometimes) by being in a vertical position and patted firmly on the back while being walked around or by being allowed to suck on my (or my husband's) pinky finger. When she is fitty (as I tend to call it) or upset (as I prefer to call it but forget to use) she refuses to nurse (the worst being the night she finished nursing at 9 PM and barely nursed again until 5 AM-sh) although I can sometimes trick her by quickly slipping my pinky out of her mouth and replacing it with one of my nipples. She seems most upset before and during peeing or pooping. Sometimes she'll be red-faced screaming, then pee (we often have a diaper spread out underneath her, rather than actually putting it on her since she doesn't seem to like being wet) and completely relax and even coo.

It's hard for me to see her in pain and be unable to fix it for her, however, it's harder on my husband. I'm used to babies and feel confident that this will end, yes, we may all suffer for three or four months, but it will end and none of us will have lasting damage from it. Sometimes I believe that the important thing is that we are here for her, that we are constantly attempting to sooth her, because at least she'll not feel abandoned. But my husband isn't used to babies, and he has to go to work every day (six days a week) which means he must sleep, but in a house the size of ours (930 square feet) it's very hard to get away from the sound of a screaming baby, not to mention hard to leave your wife and screaming baby so that you can sleep. And then it's hard on me to feel alone and responsible for so much (her pain, my inability to successfully sooth her, his exhaustion and inability to sleep).

And so we've been trying things I never thought I would try. First came the vibrating baby bouncer complete with music and moving parts:

Which she likes when she's already happy, but hates when she's already upset. We bought that at Target a couple of nights ago, along with an easy-swaddle blanket because we doubted our own swaddling abilities. Turns out that a jersey knit fabric (complete with velcro) is a lot easier for this girl to get out of than a flannel receiving blanket.

And today I sent my husband to the store for Hyland's Colic Tablets, and don't even mind that he also came home with Gripe Water. Junah didn't fuss a huge amount last night (we were able to go to bed at 1:30 AM which is good) but had an unusually fitty morning. I've started (as of this morning) a strict elimination diet I plan on continuing until I can talk to a lactation consultant next week.

But. The lowest point for me, so far, was last night, at nearly 11 PM, when we went to Long's and purchased these:

And let me tell you, I thought I would never, ever even consider a pacifier. I have my own multitude of reasons, and don't expect other people to share them, and fully recognize that for some people pacifiers work, I just never thought I would want to try one. And I didn't want to. But I also did. Jason has no problem with pacifiers, and had brought the idea up a few times, but was deferring to me. Despite the fact that he's been late to work a few times and lost a ton of sleep. And you know what? That is pretty damn generous of him. She's his daugher too and he should be allowed to try new things with her in this sort of situation. But he wasn't even pressuring me to change my mind, he just asked me why I don't want to use pacifiers and left it at that. I was the one who brought them up last night. And I cried about it before we went to the store, (and a little bit in the car while Junah and I waited for him to buy them) and before I put the first rubber nipple into her mouth and after she spit each one out in succession and while I carried her around on my shoulder and patted her back and was glad they didn't work and sad about that at the same time.

Because I want to be a good parent. I want to be consistent with Junah and any other children we have. I don't want to change my mind about things and make her unable to depend upon me because she never knows what I'll do/say/feel/want next. But I also want to be flexible. I don't want to be so set in my ways and firm in my beliefs that I overlook what might work for her. I guess all I can hope for is that we find the right balance. For us.

It's A Beautiful Morning

It's overcast this morning and the ground is wet from the little bit of (muchneededthisglobalwarmingisgoingtogetus) rain we got sometime between midnight, when I went to bed, and seven-thirty when I got out of bed. Yes. Understand that a lot of nursing and a few diaper changes took place during that stretch, however, besides a quick trip to the dryer for a clean diaper, and another to the sink for a warmy-wet, I was in bed that entire time. Amazing.

As soon as I can bring myself to move my sleeping daughter off of my lap I'll refill my coffee, grab my #3 Addi Turbo circulars and a ball of the beautiful green baby cashmerino I got last week at my first post-pregnancy trip to the yarn store, and cast-on for my daughter's Easter outfit. With my sister Jesse's help (she is good with the sewing machine, as opposed to me, I own one and use it sometimes) I am going to try to recreate this outfit.

One Month

Wow. My one month old daughter is next to me on the couch, sleeping, although it sounds as though she might be waking up soon. Yup, there go the eyes, wide open. I wasn't going to begin a post because I thought she would just wake up the minute I started typing...

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Ahh, that was a very brief period of wakefulness...just long enough for a poop and a little "nursies" (gotta replace what comes out I guess). She fell asleep on my shoulder while I was burping her. This girl needs to be burped or else she spits up...sometimes an hour later, but it happens.

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Since today is March 19, and four weeks to the day since her birth, my daughter happens to be both four weeks old and one month old on the same day, if you see what I mean. She celebrated the big milestone by staying up until six this morning. And I celebrated by sleeping past noon, something I haven't done in years. Here she is in all her month old glory:

Check out the wool soakers...notice anything different? Yes, those are the second pair of wool soakers I made, only now they have short legs added. What they say about breastmilk poop is true...

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Have you noticed also that I am all about poop and use ellipses way too frequently?

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And, since this is a knitting blog, I'll post some knitting related content. I haven't taken pictures of knitting in a while, but here are some pictures I took over a month ago.

The pieces of the matinee sweater that is still yet to be seamed up. Not to worry though, I am off the hook as far as needing it to be finished my this coming weekend, as my sister, who is making the other sweater (our cousin is having twin girls) isn't going to have her's finished by this weekend either. So, we'll gift them later.

Fortunately, I made the wise decision to kitchener front pieces to the back piece, rather than bind off everything and seam them. That leaves me needing to sew up the side seams, attach the arms and sew up their seams. Uggh, all that seaming freaks me out.

February eighteenth was my brother-in-law's birthday, and I gave him a pair of slippers, however, I forgot to take post felting pics, so here is an in progress one.

On the same day I finally gave my sister-in-law her belated birthday present, a different type of slipper. I designed these myself, and took (somewhat) meticulous notes so I can write up an official pattern. Which I will do, hopefully, one day. I actually made two different pairs of slippers, the first pair was a protoype knit with Noro yarn (Jess, I want those back, by the way). The prototype looks more like an ankle sock with low ribbing. The pair for my sister-in-law has criss-cross straps and was made with one skein of Patons' SWS in Geranium.

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I started this post at 7 PM and it is now midnight. My sweet daughter fell asleep on my lap twenty minutes ago and I think I can now sneak into bed with her and (hopefullyknockonwood) get a few (pleasetwoorthree) hours of sleep before she wakes up to nurse.

Best Birthday Ever

On Tuesday I turned 31. No biggie - it's one of those numbers that doesn't seem to mean too much. 
Despite this,  my birthday was wonderful. 

On Tuesdays I usually open the coffee shop I work at, which means being down there by 5:30 - that is A.M. 
A huge accomplishment for me every week.

So, I took my birthday off.  We still got up a bit early so we could head into SLO with Jim and have breakfast with  him before he had to be at work.   We went to one of my favorite places, Big Sky. 
Then Fletch and I headed over to Barnes and Noble to get him a new reptile/amphibian book and pick out something for Kennedy.

Then we headed over to Kennedy's house in Los Osos for a very nice long visit. 

Are you wondering who Kennedy is?  Fletcher's newest cousin!  She was born on March 5th and Fletch, Jim and I had the privilege of being at the hospital during the birth.  Thanks Mom (Amber) and Dad (Jim's brother Jeff).

                Kennedy Eva Yost                      

       Fletch checking out his cousin

                    Happy at home 

                  

                      Happy with Mom

         Hangin' with her big cousin                              

   
    Sadly, the only pic I got with Dad

NEXT, FLETCH AND I HEADED TO MONTANA DE ORO BEACH FOR A PICNIC AND PLAY:

                He played in the water,

       chased those pesky gulls,

          did a bit of rock climbing,

        and a bit more rock climbing.

Then, I asked for a picture of the two of us.
First he refused, I begged, and finally he
agreed:

I wasn't happy with the picture.   
As youcan see I cut half my head off. 
So, beingthe annoying mother I am, I
begged a bitmore for just ONE more,
PLEASE!!
He reluctantly said ok:

And still I was not happy.  I wanted
us BOTH smiling and happy.  I began
to beg again.  He consented:

Finally!  I was more than happy!  So I
asked if I could give him a thank-you
kiss, and miracle of all miracles, he gave
me one. 
At this point I really pushed my luck. 
I now wanted a picture of us kissing.
He said, "no, no, no."
He was done and did not want to me
to ask anymore. 
I stopped begging and started sulking.
And so, he agreed. And I snapped the
shot.
As soon as I did, I knew the bill
of his hat was in the way. 

Just as I was
about to ask/beg/demand for ONE
more picture, I took a look at what I had:

        And it is my very favorite!

Then we headed back to Atascadero, and made a quick stop off for a Junah fix! 
Then on to my Mom's house for dinner with:
Mom
Harvest
Nana
MaryLee
Nate
Dylan, Briana, Paxton, Roy and Andy
Seth, Amber, Luke, Bay, and Bella
And, to top it off, Jim got off just in time to come eat with us, a perfect end to a perfect day.

To Do List

1. Seam, wash and block the matinee coat before next weekend
2. Call Courtney
3. Call Katie
4. Do the laundry
5. Wash the dishes
6. Figure out what to eat now that I've cut out wheat
7. Change the sheets
8. Mail scarf to my Aunt Michele
9. Return extra playmat to Amazon
10. Order Aristocrats wool soakers
11. Finish thank you cards
12. Put away clean laundry
13. Go grocery shopping for things that I can eat
14. Remember to do my kegels and sit-ups
15. Take more walks
16. Find and keep reading East of Eden
17. Trim my toe and finger nails
18. Finish the last of the gifts for my midwife's assistants
19. Finish writing the account of Junah's birth in her baby book
20. Finish writing down all of my thoughts/feelings about the birth
21. Watch the birth video with Sara
22. Get rid of all wheat-containing food items that Jason won't eat
23. Continue to be the sole food source for an entire human being

Introducing...

Junah Rae

born at home on February 19, 2007 at 11:39 AM weighing 9 pounds and measuring 21 inches*

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My husband and I have, of course, fallen completely in love with her and can't help but wonder at our good fortune. We are so blessed.

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On Tuesday, at two weeks and one day, she weighed 9 lbs 10 ounces and, fully stretched, measured 22 3/4 inches long.

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*she wasn't quite stretched out all of the way, so we're guessing she was actually a little longer

Sick of Being Sick

My title says it all.  Fletch has been sick since the night of the 11th and I have been sick since this past Tuesday.  We both have head colds - the kind that comes with complementary fever and aches.  As a result we have mostly stayed indoors.  Too much t.v.  On the other hand I have had some good knitting time.

Thanks, Barb for posting so many pictures!  I am going to contribute some today also:
this is the hat and mitten set I made for Fletch for his birthday.  I used Barb's book: The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.  I really enjoyed making these, I used Peace Fleece and love, love, love the colors.  I made the thumbs a bit short and wish I had used another hat pattern.  This one really should have some type of bobble on top to make it work.  Fletch did not want that.  I also tried to add ear flaps but did not get it figured out before I had to wrap them up.  So I told Fletch after he opened them that I was going to redo the top and add ear flaps.  He said no.  So much for that idea.  He loves them just the way they are, but won't wear them because they are too itchy!!!!  If my little prince allows it I may line them.

 
I really really love the calorimetry  Barb made from Knitty and so used up some Noro stash (bits and pieces from three different skeins or different colors) to make one my niece as a late birthday presents.  Rowan turned fifteen on December 24th and is one of the very coolest teenagers I know.  She lives in Humboldt with my big sis Devon, dad Kelly, and little brother (10) Jasper - who I have not sent a gift for his last birthday in May!- That will come soon.  Rowan has great thick hair that is a different color each time I see her - I think this will look stunning on her:

this is Rowan from our camping trip this summer modeling fake glasses to show us EXACTLY what her mother looked likeas a teenager, hair and all.
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So, I started this post some time ago and now would like to finish it!

We are feeling much better.  Jim is in Reno, Nevada for two weeks for work and we miss him like crazy.  I just hope he's having fun and relaxing, he needs that.

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Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

That last attempt did not get too far, so here goes again:

I cut my pinky finger on our meat slicer at work this a.m. - not too bad, but it needed to be bandaged and is now severely hampering my typing.  As a consequence this post will be mostly pictures!

Some time back Jim hooked our record player and receiver up to the computer so we can play our records through it and some day get the hardware to copy them to CD.  I thought the whole setup was not working at the moment, but flipped the power switch and wahlah!  Music!  I love records, they sound so beautiful.  I just finished Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, moved on to Stevie Wonder's You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and am now listening to Roberta Flack - the whole album.
Fletch and his buddy Forrest are playing outside in the first bit of sun we've seen today.

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They just came inside for lunch and I have moved on to John Prine - in my opinion one of the top ten best singer/songwriters. Please don't ask for the other nine - I have not made a list - I just know he's up there.  I'll have to ponder that list.

Here is Rowan in her Calorimety and Jasper in his tie - he loves to wear ties.  When I gave it to him, this is what he said (I'm not making this up), "A tie?! Oh, wow this is so awsome.  That is the best present!"

And the hat I made my mom for Christmas

She loves it, and I am working on one with a wider brim for my Nana in red.    I made mom's out of Peace Fleece, it is so soft and holds shape well.  This is the same pattern I used for my brown hat some time ago:

Another of my favorites: Van Morrison is singing about When That Evening Sun Goes Down.

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Johnny Cash, I Walk the Line from San Quientin - his voice gives me chills. This is my other creative passion, painting on fabric: My Humpback Whale Pie Plate

These are paintings to be made into fabric books for babies/toddlers

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We've moved on to Willie Nelson singing Always on My Mind - enough said.
I must peel myself away from the computer. 

Update & 11 Days!

I've gotten a lot done since my last post...but there is still a lot more to go.

The ballet-style slippers for my sister-in-law have not been touched. Same with the wool soaker that just needs a few buttons. And the single sock is still single.

I've finished the gifts for my midwife and other birth attendants.

I almost finished the first fingerless glove (hand/wrist warmers from last minute knitted gifts) before I decided to switch to a different yarn. I changed from the Noro Cash Iroha (called for in the women's version of the pattern) to the less expensive Araucania Nature Wool Worsted that looks like the Koigu used in the men's version of the pattern. I like the look of the men's version better -- the rib pattern looks better than the offset-rib pattern in the women's version.

this is the third time I've used the calorimetry from the most recent knitty. This one is for Kristie, our childbirth educator and our midwife's student midwife. She'll be attending the birth, too (fingers-crossed that she's not working at her other job when I have the baby).

And two facecloths for Donna, our midwife's assistant:

And last weekend I made these, my sixth pair of slippers. And this pair is for me! I love them.

And since I've been meaning to post this picture...a circle of slippers. The first five pairs for very happy (and warm footed) family members.

I've managed some work on the matinee coat from Debbie Bliss's Simply Baby for my cousin.

and the baby's blanket is finished except for some ends that still need to be woven in. Once I've done that I'll wash it and it'll be ready to welcome the baby.

Finally, the list of things to do before the baby comes has shrunk...a little.

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My due date is just eleven days away...wow! The baby has dropped in the last week or so. My husband thinks I'll have the baby tomorrow but my guess is that I'll go late and deliver on the tenth or eleventh.

My long list of things to do or buy or knit or sew is full of things that aren't critical. Yesterday morning I woke up at five AM (after not going to sleep until after midnight) and couldn't fall back asleep because I kept thinking of all the things I had to do. I got out of bed and finished up some of the more important things. Today I completed work on one time consuming sewing project that I really wanted to get done before the baby. I made nearly thirty "warmy-wet" wipes (flannel reusable baby wipes) and four receiving blankets for the birth. The blankets were made from one cut-up king size flannel sheet while the warmy-wets were made from old flannel pillowcases and some flannel from my scrap basket.

Today I finished a big knitting project that I can't yet reveal here...I don't want the recipient to see it here before I gift her with it.

Tomorrow I hope to shorten some curtain panels I bought at K-mart to cover the small windows in each of our bedrooms. That and putting elastic in a pair of drawstring pj pants of my husband's will complete my sewing projects.

Next week I have to work on my neice's computer and continue with my knitting projects in a prioritized order: sister-in-law's slippers, brother-in-law's slippers and the matinee coat. And wait for the baby who hopefully won't come between Monday and Friday (my mom is going out of town).

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and for fun...crazy pregnant ladies