El

On of the most embarrassing aspects of my bogging hiatus was not posting the birth of my second child. I had lots of reasons at the time, but still. You blog a baby.

A very newborn Elliot J. R. C. Yes, he has two middle names, like his brother and his father.

Elliot was born on his due date, June 21. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy that he was born on Midsummer. As a side note, Tamara won my due date contest. Must get yarn for her.

I’ve said for a while that Emerson is my heart. I think most mothers feel like their hearts have been taken out of their chests, and placed in their children. I love Em with everything I have in me. But, Elliot. What about him? Elliot is my soul. He was a big surprise, a crying-in-the-shower kind of surprise, but he’s the soul in me I thought had died.  Look at his face and tell me you can’t see it.

My sweet Elliot, 9 months, in hand-me-down longies

I was surprised with Elliot at how very different two children of the same parents can be, especially from birth. Em was a big, solid baby. Never more than 50th to 70th percentile, but just a solid core.  Elliot, on the other hand, is a tiny thing.  At his nine month appointment a few weeks ago I literally danced when he reached the 12th percentile. He’s just a long skinny thing.  And when I say long, I mean long.  Em wore these longies to Rhinebeck ’08, at 15 months old.

Although the length is spot-on, the waists was drastically too big. El “helped” me crochet a chain for a drawstring.

I thought I blogged about these when I knit them for Em, but I can’t seem to find a post. Here’s Em in them at around 15 months:

Blurry again, this time due to a hyper-moving toddler. I dont' think I got a single focused shot for six months

And here they are on El at NINE months. At seven months he was taller than Em was at 12.

Hard to see, but they reach to a hair's breath of the same length as they did on Em.

So, there you have him. My smallest man, both in and out of handknits. Never fear, you’ll see him again soon, I’m sure, as the poor child needs a blanket from mama.

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Greenleaf

Would you like to see what I’ve been knitting?

leaf detail

Pattern: Greenleaf

Size knit: Newborn.  Ish.  I made it a smidge bigger so an August baby could wear it in the winter.

Yarn: Don’t throw things at me, please. I was working and leaving for South Carolina and needed yarn fast.  I bought ::blush:: Vanna’s Choice something or other.  From Wal-Mart.  I know. For the record, it is surprisingly soft for acrylic. Just sayin’.

Needles: size 7 / 4.5mm

Started: February 7

Finished: February 19

Modifications: I knit a a bit past the recommended 5″ as the receiving baby will be 4ish months old during winter. Or possibly because I was at SnB with no tape measure.

Knit it again? Most likely, it was a super-easy knit.

Notes: This is seriously a 1-2 day knit. Had I not left it home when I went off to SC I would have finished it the day after I started. I highly recommend it as a last-minute shower gift or a crap-I-have-nothing-to-bring-to-the-hospital gift. Worsted + 7s/4.5mms + baby hat = fastfastfast

Greenleaf baby hat

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Where I make it up to you with pictures

Um, hi.  Been a while, huh?

I’ve tried to compose a post for at least two weeks (after several promises to other bloggers to do so) and I keep coming up flat.  There really are no words for the last, oh, four months.  I do have pictures, though.  Will that work?

Rhinebeck was awesome, of course.  I immediately lost my son and husband upon entering Saturday and was was *forced* to spend the next five hours with Sarah and Sarah.  It was just awful, really.  (Ok, it was fabulous.  Seriously, these girls are fun).  There was lots of running into old friends and acquaintences and meeting new ones.  I met up with the Mr. C and Em at 5pm, which was perfect.  And I took no pictures at all on Saturday.

Sunday, however, was a nice family day.  Em likes sheep:

Baaaaaaa!

Oh, geez, I didn’t realize that was so blurry.  He was very busy poking that sheep in the rear and saying “baaaa!” to stay still long enough for a photo.  How about alpacas?

Paca!

He was pretty thrilled.

Fall was a time of big change for me.  I started working on the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from SnB Nation, my first large project since I knit the .  Really, it IS fairly easy.  It just gave me the trouble of my life.  First, I didn’t swatch.  I know.  Thankfully, I was only a few rows in when it was pointed out to me at my Stitch N Bitch that it was way too huge on me to consider continuing on.  Yep, I substituted yarn and didn’t even swatch.  (I am thinking that the bulk of my problems with this sweater were user error.)  So, I ripped out, cast on for the smallest size (which I am not), and knit on.

Then, I had trouble with the charts.  The real problem? When I photocopied the pattern on my way out the door to a later SnB I cut of the part of the chart that indicated the stitches to repeat.  At some point I was forced to throw it back into my bag and wish I’d ordered a wine with dinner.

Then, later, I ran out of yarn.  Yep.   I was using some Maine wool that was gifted to me after it had spent years in a tub in a basement.  There was *no* way to get more.  I dug through everything I could, thinking I must have some.  I found two skeins and was ecstatic…until discovering that the natural-colored wool I was using had waaaay too many black fibers to match.  As in, a man on a galloping horse would stop and stare.  Insert a period of agony and…I found ONE more ball.  It was perfect and I knit on.  After much holding of breath that ball made it all the way to the neck band, but would go no further.  Much agonizing questioning of anyone who would listen, I decided to knit the neck and button bands in another color.  I finished this about a week ago (just 3 months into it?!), after weaving in a hellish 66 ends.  In pictures:

Front:

Colors and buttons picked by Mr. C. I'm color-challenged. Oh, and the striped DO line up, I was just trying to play keep-away with a toddler.

And the back, on me:

Back view. It looks like I need to re-block the neck, the top motif wasn't so pulled before blocking

Currently on the needles is a picot-edge ankle sock in STR light-weight for Lisa.  No pictures yet, but they are coming soon.  I’ve also been knitting play food for a nephew:

What you see is 2 slices of pumpernickel and three cookies.  Added since then are several slices of corned beef.  Yum.  Em keep trying to eat the cookies (incidentally, made from the non-matching yarn from the FEFI cardi) and is sorely disappointed they taste like sheep.  The patterns for both of these are adapted from those found here.  If anyone is interested in my modifications, just let me know and I’ll either post or email them.

The next part of the program: Gifts

I’ve been very lucky recently to have received two awesome hand-knit gifts recently.  My birthday present from Lisa:

I have no idea what the pattern’s name is or what the yarn is.  I do know the yarn is alpaca and is both amazingly light and incredibly warm.  I wore them out the first day I had them, a cold night with 25 mph gusts of wind.  It was mid-December and I was hiking to a store from the deep-parking lot, and it wasn’t until I was nearly at the door did I realize I was feeling a breeze on my fingers.  Not a *cold* breeze, mind you, just a little bit of air let in.  I love these with all my might.

Another, extremely thoughtful gift given to me by Knitter Bunny:

Detail of shoulder. I just love how the raglan looks on this.

And a larger view:

Look kinda small to you?  Yeah, that’s the next part of the program here.  Oh, the neck is unfinished due to the customs of my husband’s family.  Confused? Read on.

The biggest shock of my life came on Oct 5.    Let’s say that I was more than surprised.  Can you guess?  If you’ve been reading this blog for a few years you can think of the only thing that has led me to abandon the blog for more than a few weeks at a time.  Give up?  Try this:

Yup, that's a baby. Scrawny legs and feet at the bottom and head bending down at the top. The dark spot on the head isn't an eye, it's just shadow; the nose is a white spot. Baby is looking down.

There’s a baby in there.  I am still shocked some days.

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No help

I took the sage advice on reblocking the Liesl from the comments of my last post.  And?  I think it worked!  As I fussed over the blocking I realized it really was short if blocked it wide.  Gee, surprised?  I can’t have it long and not pointy, I suppose.  The minute it was dry I tried it on and…it wasn’t bad.  That is no help to you, though, as both camera cords are MIA and both memory cards, too. I put them somewhere safe when I cleaned up recently, but where?

IF I get my act together today, I will iron the sun dress she’s to be worn with and wear them to SnB.  Shave my legs, too, I guess.  So, you know, maybe.

Which reminds me:  This Saturday is my Knit- and Spin-In! If you didn’t get an email from me and want to come, just leave a comment here.  I think I got everybody, but I am not totally confident in my memory.  Also, if you’re a lurker and live in CT, leave a comment, too, ‘k?  Feel free to bring a friend(s), there’s plenty of room and plenty of food 😉

Would you like to see another FO?  This is kinda cheating, as I finished it a few weeks ago.  What’s a post without pictures, right?

I imagine you must get tired of seeing me knit yet another pair of shrorties/longies from the Sheepy Pants pattern.  It is odd, this is one of the very few patterns I care to knit more than once.  I guess because it is so easy to do?

Here’s a shot of the yarn, which is no help because I have no idea what it is

yarn of the unknown variety

Whatever it was, I loved it.  It was nice and squishy and I was able to go up a needle size, thus making them a slightly quicker knit.  I know I bought it in Texas last October, when I was visiting an old friend.  The yarn label was black, too.  Yeah, big help. That’s what happens when you have a child that eats yarn.

Unlike some I’ve been knitting, this pair was for Em.  I’ve tried for some action shots, but as blurry as they are they are no help:

Em in motion

I can’t seem to take any picture of him where he’s not a little blur.  I tried a front shot here:

only slightly better

I didn’t actually mean to make them a board short length, I just forget that my child has a long torso and short little legs. Just like his mama. On days like today, where the temp is a sunny 65*F (18*C), I’m happy to have him in warm little shorts.

To forewarn you, I do have another pair on the needles.  They are knit from yarn I dyed–supposedly a mistake but turned out great–and are newborn sized.  And *very* not for me, thankyouverymuch.  Then, no more of this pattern for a while, I promise.

I’m going to knit something for me again.  Either the medium length Liesl (on Flickr here), using the burgundy Valley Yarns I just bought, or the Fairly Easy Fair Isle (link to a shot of the book here).  I have the yarn for both, though the yarn for the FEFI needs to be washed first.  It was given to me ages ago and has a strong sheepy odor.  Either way, I promise it won’t be baby pants.

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Distraction

I have a post sitting in my drafts, nearly written except for the parts that require real thought. I am kinda short on that right now, as I’ve just started my last class for my Master’s(!!), I have just taken a wee part-time job I am unsure about, and Em has decided he likes to walk more often than not. Eep!

Until I have some spare thoughts to share, I will offer up pictures. Pictures placate, right?

I am immensely pleased by this:

I do love zucchini, especially grilled.

I am also tickled to death by this: (embedding is just not working for me. Follow the link for a 20 second video)

Though also a little scared.

I have knitting nearly done and some fab spinning action to show. I’ll be back soon enough for that!

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One

Geez, when I asked if I’d get kicked out of blogland I wasn’t expecting almost no one to comment! Its ok, I’ll be fine *sniff*

Moving on…No knitting/spinning/dyeing today, I’m afraid. Why? The last few weeks have been all about one thing:

Em turned one last week.

I can’t believe it, either.

There was one thing to be done before his party. Not cleaning, not unpacking (still), not preparing food. Nope. Em needed his first hair cut.

At the salon:

See how long that hair was?

Unsure about the process:

Cute, no?

We had his birthday party the following week, which just happened to be World Wide Knit In Public Day. One of our guests was Catie and her family. Catie celebrated both events here:

And of course, this could hardly be a birthday party post without some cake:

Finally, a comparison.

My newly born son, last year:

And my newly one year-old boy:

Mama loves you, little one.

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To wash that bitter taste away

I think something pretty is in order, for no other reason to combat yesterday’s vent. So, how about a few FO pictures?

Side view:

The side view shows off the short rows in the bum, for accommodating a fluffy diaper.

Details:

Pattern: Sheepy Pants

Yarn: just about 220 yards of my hand dyed self-striping yarn

Start: April 13th

Finish: April 17th

Modifications and details:
*I did just three sets of short rows. I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn, and figured we could get by with 3. For most of our diapers I can, but some of the bulkier ones it’s a bit of a stretch.
* I was planning on just making shorts, but kept going to see how close I could get to pants. I really liked the thicker stripes on the legs, my real motivation for keeping going
* I did both legs at the same time from opposite ends of the ball. For the record (as if I didn’t know this) this means stripes are backwards on one side. Duh.

Measurements: 17″ rise, 7″ inseam

And finally, just for fun, a picture of my silly boy trying not to laugh:

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Repurposing

I am not sure if blogged about these way back in Em’s newborn days. Have you seen these?

From the looks of the scrawny legs, Em was still very much a newborn here, maybe a few weeks old? Anyway, Kelli gifted me these three pairs of socks before he was born. Each pair was a different size so that he could be in hand knit socks for more than just a week (as baby feet grow quickly). We retired the last pair when he was a few months old, and I thought they were each packed away.

Today, one of the mamas on one of my parenting boards mentioned that she knit a sock for her husband’s inhaler, so he wouldn’t keep losing it’s cap. I thought this was so clever! Em now has two inhalers, one of which needs to travel with us in the diaper bag. I have already lost it’s cap, as the inhaler plugs into an infant chamber and stays that way most of the time. As easy as that is around the house, it doesn’t work as well in the diaper bag. Enter a pair of outgrown socks and I have a pair of inhaler cozies! I think maybe 48 stitches and a 2×2 rib in a matching self-patterning yarn and I have a fully cozied breathing system.

My plan to cover the world in handknits continues apace.

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Future blogger

I had a large post in mind today regarding some things that I’ve been up to the last week. Unfortunately, I have a sick baby on my hands and I won’t be on the computer enough to compose much of a post. The poor little guy is the kind of sick where all he wants to do is curl up on my chest and cuddle. Since he’s usually too busy for such things, I’m enjoying every moment of his mama-neediness (but not the sickness, so much), before he turns into a teenager and wants nothing to do with me.

I’ll leave you with some thing I caught him doing last week:

Like mother, like son.

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Fetching X 2

Double the Fetchings today. First up is a young man wearing a quite fetching hat:

I can’t claim knitterly ownership of the hat, I am afraid. That distinction goes to Lisa, who responded generously and quickly when I mentioned to her that the boy was growing out of his hats. I know she told me what yarn it was , but I have forgotten. I just know that his head is both warm and cute, and he doesn’t rip it off and cram it into his mouth.

Fetching #2

I am actually quite embarrassed by this. I was going to have a whole series devoted to knitting embarrassments–you know, those things you have or haven’t knit that you wish everyone didn’t know about? I might just do it someday, but until then I will just come clean about these:

Hmm. That has to be the worst photo I’ve ever seen. See this post for a better shot, ok? It is surprisingly hard to photograph your hands in general, and while wearing the boy in a wrap it is nearly impossible.

The embarrassment of these Fetchings is that they were nearly done in October of 2006. 2006. I took them to Rhinebeck with me to finish and abandoned them just a bind off and thumb gusset away from being done. For 14 months they languished at the bottom of the basket because I apparently couldn’t face the end. Embarrassing, isn’t it?

Thanks to the magic that is Ravelry I noticed that I had a shocking number of projects about 90% done. (In fact, that is what led me to stop adding projects.) I am no psychologist, but I must seriously have an issue with endings.

Thankfully, last week was a convergence of means and opportunity. It finally occurred to Mr. Cygknit that perhaps I might need a break from the boy on occasion, and hadn’t I wanted to go to a local Stitch N Bitch? They were done that very night. Amen.

To end on a cute note, 2X the fetchings

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