Project ADD

I was going to try and hold out for finished objects, but the blog needs some happiness gosh darn it, so here's some baby stuff to look at...

This yarn...


Has become this swatch...


This is one of my favorite lace patterns - Falling Leaves from Knitty. It's knit with some kettle-dyed fingering weight merino on my 3mm Addis and (stop the presses) the swatch has actually been washed and blocked!. I'm hoping to turn it into a garter yoke cardigan like EZ's February Baby Sweater. My first attempt was way too big (which is why I went through the extra trouble to wash and block). Once I get some time to crunch numbers, I'll cast on again.


This is my un-vented EZ February Baby Sweater from The Knitters Almanac knit with Trekking XXL in the Orange/Teal colorway on US Size 4 (3.5mm) needles. I used a different lace pattern that the one in the book since the colors would be lost in the original. Once this is done, I'll be doing a full write-up with my alterations from the original and cross-posting on Zimmermania.


This will most likely become another EZ February Sweater, but I'm going to tweak it a bit so it's a little bigger than the first.

The Koigu BSJ

After I weave in the 5 million ends, I have to do the sleeve extensions and add the collar. I can't get enough of looking at this, the colors are so happy and the yarn is so squishy. Definitely worth the almost $35 I paid for the Koigu. Yes, you read that correctly - I spent $35 for yarn for a baby sweater that is not machine washable. Gifts of woolwash would be greatly appreciated.

Diapers!


This fabric is slated to become the start of my cloth diaper stash. I'll be using Rita’s Rump Pocket pattern. Don't you just love the monkeys?

Mini Crafts Update

Believe it or not, I actually have done some knitting in the past month. Here are a few teasers for some of the projects I'm working on.

Koigu BSJ

Sorry folks, a picture of the yarn will have to do for now. The jacket itself is about 90% finished, I just have to finish the blouson sleeves, put on a collar, and weave-in the 5 million ends.

Felting Experiment
I love Noni bag patterns and one of these days I'm going to actually buy some of them. I wanted to make a messenger bag for Michael, especially since I'm knitting so much for the bean, and thought back to a Noni pattern I saw at one of the LYS that I thought was so cool - the Lattice Bag. I had several skeins of Lambs Pride so I decided to wing it. Here are the preliminary results:

Right side (before felting)


after felting


Wrong side (before felting)


after felting


It's just a simple honey comb cable pattern with the cables done in a different color and stranded. I figured stranding would work fine since doing it in intarsia would be a study in frustration. I'm about 2/3 finished on the actual bag, so once I get it done I'll be posting lots of pics and quick and dirty directions.

Other things on the needles (alas no pics).

Cardigan for Merry

This sort of petered out, but I will be picking up on it again soon. I have about 4" done, so I'm about at the half-way point on the body of the sweater before I have to add in the arms.

EZ's Baby Sweater

I'm working up the baby sweater from EZ's Knitter's Almanac in Trekking XXL in the Orange/Teal colorway. I made up my own lace pattern to use rather than the one suggested in the book since way the color moves in this yarn would be lost. I have about 3 more inches to go in the body of the sweater and then I have to do the arms, so it will probably be another week or so before its finished since it's competing with so many other things.

For the near future...

Knitty Keen

I have not had the energy or the time to put much into the shop, but once Michael starts school in September I hope to change that. I have several very cool patterns that will be for sale as well as a nice selection of hand knits and notions that will be going up. I'm hoping to get up some hand painted sock yarns in October.

Essene Market Fall Crafts Festival

With a bit of luck, I'll be participating again this year. I plan on having a better selection of hand knits for sale as well as patterns and the odd hank of yarn.

Soakers and Diapers

I am itching to start the Bean's stash. I'm hoping to get some suede cloth and some flannel in the next week so I can start making diapers. Once my other knitting projects settle a bit I'll start casting on for some soakers and covers.

FO - Garment of White

This is the finished Garment of White for Baby F's Christening tomorrow. I am more than pleased at how it turned out.

The completed front...


Detail of the stitches...


It was sewn by couching #3 perle cotton on linen. The cross is an original design. I haven't done any crewel embroidery since I was a member of my local SCA needlework guild (actually did get my competency in couching, blackwork, and general embroidery) at least 6 years ago. The tension of the linen loosened a bit as I went along, so there is some slight puckering because I didn't take the time to tighten things up again (something that tends to fall by the wayside when you are feverishly sewing at 2 in the morning). I designed the stitching as I went along so you would get this wonderful, subtle effect of the changing directions. The next piece I do in this fashion will most likely be done with 4 strands of embroidery floss in split-stitch rather than the couching with more planning on the design instead of making it up as I go along. From a needlework guild perspective, I would definitely classify it as journeyman-level work - my technique is sound, but there are too many small mistakes for it to be master work. I think I'm going to plan on doing some more SCA-style needlework as a diversion from knitting. I don't have any plans to actually play in the near future, but once the bean is a bit older, I'm hoping that I can make the time to get involved in my local group again.

The thing I am most unhappy about the finished piece is the sloppiness of the sewing. My only excuse is that I was cutting this out and feeling it through my machine at seven this morning after having been up all night. The fact that the side seams are remotely straight is a miracle. I know S thinks its wonderful (and it truly is), I just wish I had been more organized that I could have really spent the time making sure all of the seams were knife-straight and doing the hem-stitching that was part of the original design.

I think I could have picked a better time...

Processing your c-section and dealing with the prospect of another one is not something one should work on when there is embroidery to do. It looks like I'll be up to at least 3am if not later finishing this.

At least it will be practice for Harry Potter.

Now this is what I'm talking about!

I woke up exhausted this morning. Michael was a dream letting me doze on the sofa while Noggin raised him for an hour or two. We then went up stairs and laid on my bed and listened to the radio for an hour or so. After a small mad dash about the house, we managed to get on the road for his teacher conference by twelve thirty. Once I got acclimated to the humidity and the temperature, it really wasn't that bad and the walk to his school was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. We left school and walked up to John's library to hang out for a few, then it was back into the stroller for a nap and then home.

Mood-wise, I felt great today. Once I was able to shake off that exhausted feeling, I felt pretty good physically as well. I probably did just over three miles worth of walking today and while I was tired when I got home, I definitely did not over-do it even with the heat and humidity which is a great feeling. After talking with Michael's teachers, we are definitely going to work on raising our expectations for him. It's really hard for me to do since have age-appropriate expectations back when he was first diagnosed caused so much stress for everyone. We are going to be working on cleaning up and helping mommy during the day, both of which are things I know he's capable of doing. His behavior has also improved a great deal - he's a lot less stimmy during the day and more focused. I also feel so much more in balance with him too and have been snapping a lot less. I'm looking forward to a lot more mornings spent laying in bed and listening to the radio.

Last but not least, the embroidery on the garment of white for S's baby is going great. It's been many years since I've done any crewel work and I forgot just how much I enjoy it. I think I'll be doing some more of that and probably a few temari balls too for good measure - it would be nice to have some stuff for myself rather than everything being given away for presents.

Lazy post

Sorry folks, you may have read this elsewhere, but I'm too fried to come up with something different...

Had a pretty hectic morning - 3 year old, tired husband, and OB wiating room do not a good mix make. I am definitely going to have to make other arrangements - it's really unfair to keen Michael contained in his stroller for that long and then I start getting *looks* which just add to the stress. Instead of having that lovely moment of seeing the hearbeat, I was having a slight argument with the OB about my EDD and John was trying to placate Michael. I'm very happy that the bean seems to be here to stay, but it definitely wasn't the family-bonding moment I was hoping for.

On a different note - I'm definitely heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Michael, but I weigh about 10lbs less that I thought I did (3lbs less then the last time I was weighed on a good scale) so that's some happy news. I have made the resolution to not hide this time because of my size, it was a huge step for me to post a bare-skin belly pic both here. I really want to enjoy my body and the changes this pregnancy.

In crafting news, I have to start doing the embroidery (couching/laid work) for S's son's christening this weekend and I have a few miscellaneous knitting projects to finish up for him as well. We are also planning a trip to the aquarium on Wednesday - I am sure Michael will have a ball.

I aten't dead

This has just been a week - lots of procrastinating and many ups and downs. Most days were spent putting off the two and a half mile walk to go to Walmart (I know - I hate it too) and AC Moore. Michael is just getting over the croup for which I'm sure I have the screwy weather to thank for. He also fell down the steps on Friday, once again putting the kibosh of the aforementioned walk. No lasting damage (thank God) and the carpet burn on his face is almost gone.

On Thursday I decided to go up to the fabric district to get some fabric for a quilt swap I'm participating in (and again avoid going to Walmart). I didn't get to cutting it up to mail on Thursday or Friday because of other life events, so I laid it out on the table on Saturday morning. It's stained and I am so pissed! Since returning it involves a hour and a half of my life, I'm just sucking it up. My mom picked up another four yards of fabric at Joanns for me on Sunday and my sister dropped it off for me. When this is done, I'll be cutting both up and mailing them this afternoon - I'm hoping that the marks on the first fabric will come out in the wash and if they don't they can be worked around. I think this will be my last swap for a while outside of the magic yarn ball swaps - it's too hard for me to get places that sell this stuff and those that I can get to are ones that are not stroller friendly. The fabric shop I went to in the fabric district was the only one I could even fit the stroller into and I wasn't able to watch the guy cutting it so that's why I missed the damage though I am still angry that they sold it to me in that state.

I have a full plate of knitting in front of me that has to be knocked out this week but shouldn't be all to hard to get done. The only thing that will potentially interfere with the knitting in my (drum roll please) new Nintendo DS and Pokemon Diamond game. My gem of a husband gave me his super-secret money last week so I could buy it. Mother's Day was very nice and relaxing. Lastly, I can't go into details, but any good vibes you can send my way so I can pass them onto my friend would be greatly appreciated.

Fabric needs to be cut and Pokemon need to be caught...

What I stayed up all last night doing...

and considering it's now 2am, I'm risking doing the same again.

I made Michael a weighted-vest. In children who have sensory issues, weighted clothing can help them focus and decrease some of their sensory imput. As always, I thought this would be a quick project. It was, but considering I had to make the pattern from scratch and didn't start that process until almost 11pm, I was up until 3:30 finishing it. The only reason I got to bed at 3:30 is because Michael woke up at 3 and I had to be quick, calling up stairs to him every five minutes or so to say I'd be done soon.

Here's my handiwork:



It's not very high on the list of priorities, but I will be posting a PDF with the pattern for at least a toddler/young child-sized vest. Michael's OT was very impressed with it and kept telling me that I could make a lot of money selling them but you know I really don't want too - this crap is damned expensive and I am not out to make a dime off of another parent who is trying to get their child a piece of needed equipment. Heck, if I could afford it I would have bought the thing - spending four hours sewing medical equipment no matter how well it turned out is not my idea of a fantastic evening.

Ranting aside, he did fantastically well with it Tuesday morning at story time - he just looked like the kid who had trouble sitting down rather than the kid who spends most of the story time hopping and or running around the room. We are ging to have OT at storytime again next week, so we'll see if we can repeat it.