STILL working on the longies!

Joining in the Yarn Along today!

As you can see, I'm still working on the Osprey longies.  It has been slow going because the baby is sleeping so restlessly these days... but they have also been a huge learning experience for me.  I've made a bunch of mistakes, probably because I work on them late at night when I'm tired, and I've learned how to fix so many of them!

I've learned how to rip out rows without dropping stitches, and I've learned how to pick up stitches that I accidentally dropped a row before, and I've learned how to begin a new ball of yarn mid-project, among other things.

I'm very happy with how these are coming out and can't wait to finish!  I only have one leg to go so I know that I'll be finished in a few days.  I didn't do a gauge so they're coming out a little big but I'm hopeful that it won't be too bad and that the baby will still be able to wear them this fall and winter.

I'm reading Buddha in the Attic.  I picked it up spur of the moment the other day and I'm very happy I did.  It's a really quick read (I only have a chapter to go) and its fascinating to think of how hard life must have been for the "picture brides" from Japan a century ago.  It's a little depressing, too.  Still, well worth the read!



Yarn Along

(Belatedly) joining Ginny Jonny (ha!) for the Yarn Along.

I'm still working on my Osprey pants for the baby.  The body went quickly but I've had a couple setbacks with the legs.  They're going nicely now but I'm not a fan of double pointeds, at least not yet.  They're so awkward to hold.

The knitting would be going faster if the baby was sleeping better.  He has been very restless this week so it's kind of 'knit a row, nurse baby, knit a row, nurse baby.'

Still, I'm hopeful that I'll finish them by next week.

I'm currently reading the patchwork chapters of this beautiful copy of The Sewing Encyclopedia that my mother lent me. I'm starting my very first patchwork quilt and I'd like it to be finished by this winter. So far the book has been very helpful... though it's a bit overwhelming. The 'encyclopedia' part is right. It has everything!

How about what I'm watching, too? I don't have cable hooked up yet so I usually pop a DVD in and play it on low to keep me entertained while I knit. The volume has to stay pretty low because the baby is sleeping only a few feet away but it still makes good background noise.

So these days I alternate between watching NCIS Season 3 (I love that show! It's by far the classiest crime drama on television.) and watching Jane Austen movies (Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion.) The weird thing is that I can switch between them in a single night.

My mood changes easily, apparently.



Fluffy Mail

I had several packages waiting for me when I got home from our trip. I really love getting packages in the mail!

The first was three extra workhorse fitteds since I'm planning to transition Deacon into fitteds and wool whenever possible - especially overnight. He's already in size large and I really love the fit. The elastic is so gentle! I'm thinking of destashing my prefolds (he is outgrowing them and its getting difficult to put them on the wigglier he gets) and getting some more workhorses. I can alternate quite happily between those and the Swaddlebees Simplex and then my entire stash will be nice, simple 100% cotton dipes with a good fit on my chunkster.

I also had a package waiting from Quince & Co!

A brown paper package, so of course I had to start singing 'My Favorite Things' from The Sound of Music. Now, I don't know much about yarn, but I'm just in love with the Osprey. Its so cushy and soft and the color 'marsh' is a perfect deep green that will look very handsome on the baby.

I'm a little disappointed in the Lark, however. It sounded like it would be good at showing off the cabling of the Milo vest I'm planning, which is why I bought it, but the texture is only so-so, I think.  My mother says its a good yarn and she knows more about this sort of thing. Also, the color is nothing like what was pictured! The color is 'honey' so one would expect it to he somewhat honey-like, yes? Some sort of orange, tan, or amber? Thats what was pictured. Instead, I got olive green. Straightforward olive green. I don't know about you but I've never seen honey that color! Still, I think the color may make a nice vest in the end. Here's hoping!

My last package wasn't actually mailed. My sister is lucky enough to live a couple blocks from Mountain Rose Herbs so I picked up an order of herbal tea and some herbs to make my own diaper balm (calendula, comfrey, chamomile.) I'm modifying recipes I've seen a couple different places, going mostly off Ginny's recipe for bottom salve on Small Things.

So I packed the herbs in a mason jar and set it in the sun to steep for a couple weeks. I've noticed this is almost the same recipe used in my brother in law's Three Sevens tattoo balm - minus St Johns Wort and Chickweed. So it must be quite versatile. I can't wait to finish it!

I also got a copy of The Amish Kitchen Cookbook from my sister. It has some good simple hearty recipes.  I'm excited to try them out.

Finished Soaker

I finished washing and lanolizing the baby's first wool soaker the other day and I'm in love with them.  He wears them over his GMD workhorse fitted diapers and between the two of them it seems so comfortable and breathable.  The elastic on the workhorses is so gentle.  I'm so pleased with how the soaker came out and I can't wait to knit up some more.  One is not enough to get us through the day every day.

We have been going to the park in the mornings when its cool to let my sister swing (her favorite pastime.)  So I took some pictures of the baby modeling his new soaker.

He seems happy in it, doesn't he?

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along today.

We were on vacation last week so I didn't work on a project per se, I just knitted a quick I-cord for the baby's wool soaker and also knit up another square for the patchwork blanket I'm (slowly) working on.

A couple days ago, however, I began my new project... a pair of longies out of the new Osprey yarn I just received.  I really like this yarn!  I love the color (marsh) and I love the texture and the fact that it never splits.  This is my first time knitting on circular needles and so far I love them.  They're so much easier and the project is going so quickly!  I hope to get them finished by next week... that is, if I don't get distracted by the pair of bamboo shorties I want to make.  Or the other five things.

I'm still finishing up The Wet Nurse's Tale so today I took a picture of a book I'm not so much reading as glancing at now and then when I walk by.  My mother gave it to me and once in a while a quote from it catches me and makes me think.

Impromptu Vacation

Where to start?

 My father took my younger sister on a camping trip over the weekend, so Deacon and I used the opportunity to visit my sister in Eugene. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we stayed a whole week.  I really liked that city and wish I could still live there.

There was something so comforting about going back to the house where the baby was born. I've always loved my sister's house, even though with two kids and a work-at-home business it can be a little chaotic. But there is something reassuring about it. My sister is so even-keeled, her children are sweet and precocious and so dear to my heart. Plus, the smell of her house always reminds me of my aunt's house when we were children - a smell I can't really put my finger on - a kids soap, fresh air, sunscreen and popsicle type smell. I loved visiting my aunt so it brings back good memories.

Deacon and I slept in my niece's princess bed which worked remarkably well considering how small it was. He woke a bit more through the night than usual but not bad. Every morning when we went downstairs my nephew was already up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and we got to spend a little time together just the three of us before the rest of the house woke up. Deacon adores his cousins. He loves watching them. I can tell he's learning so much.

I admired my niece's curly bob so much that I asked my brother-in-law to cut mine just like it! All I was doing was keeping my hair in a bun anyway. It turned out so well I think I may make him my official stylist!

By the end of the week both the baby and I were tired so it was good to go home... but even though the peace and quiet and routine of home are nice, it seems a bit lonely after all the life and noise of the other house. And it really makes me want a yard - just a little place to sit and look at something green. My tiny balcony garden doesn't quite cut it.

All in all I'd say the week did me good. I came home with a fresh perspective and a bit more of a plan on how to get this little family where I want it to be.

making paper stars with my niece and nephew

going for a walk

taking the kids to the park

daisies

Deacon's cousins swinging

my new hair, kinda blurry (my niece took the photo)

i jusy love this photo

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The past day has been such a comedy of errors. It's hilarious to me how a day can be chugging along peacefully, then take a wrong turn and be completely derailed.

It started yesterday afternoon after my mother came by to show me how to increase a stitch by knitting the front and back. We had been talking about enjoying the simple things. The baby was playing happily so, when she left, I decided to bake a cake. I had all the ingredients for a spice cake (I thought.)

Halfway through the recipe I realized I was missing some key ingredients. (Baking powder, for one. Did it grow legs and walk away?) so I loaded the baby and my sister into the car and ran to the store. By the time I got back, I was a hot sweaty mess, the baby was crying, I was tripping over toys, I realized I was still missing one ingredient, the spaghetti was overcooked and the kitchen a mess. The cake turned out bland and I didn't have the ingredients to make a frosting (of course) so I threw cream cheese, half and half, brown sugar, vanilla, and butter in the blender. Thankfully, it didn't turn out half bad.

Now, while I was dealing with all this, what I wasn't doing is putting the baby down for his four thirty nap. Eventually, he demanded it... at six o'clock. He woke up close to seven. (His bedtime is usually seven thirty.) So my little guy was wide eyed and bushy tailed until a little after nine.

By that point, I was so tired I only got a few rows of knitting done before going to bed myself.

Tomorrow is a new day, I told myself.

Ah ha! Fool!

The baby woke up extra early this morning. Then I proceeded to spill a bowl of oatmeal beneath the burners on the stove. Before I had even had a sip of coffee, the baby had somehow managed to worm his way off his naked-time sheet and poop on the carpet. Every time I tried to oh-so-carefully extract him, he would flail and roll until the only way to get him clean was to give him a bath. Then scrub the carpet. (Came out beautifully with some Tide and a wet rag.) We were also having behavior issues with my sister this morning. I managed to shovel some oatmeal in my mouth before the baby started crying for his nap... all of this before nine a.m.

So I went to bed with the baby.

When he wakes up, I think the only sensible thing to do is take a vacation day from life today. We'll go to the park and play and eat fast food for dinner. The clothes will remain unfolded, the floors unswept, a million things undone. The world is trying to tell me, through a series of unfortunate events, that we need a break today... and also to never try to bake a spur of the moment cake at four p.m. ever again.

I wonder what it is about being a mother that makes us feel like we need to have everything perfect every day? What inner compulsion causes us to try to be domestic superwomen? It must be some internal drive to control the environment surrounding our children, to give them a 100% perfect world tailor made just for them. It's totally impossible. So I'm going to try to wrap my head around that right now and save myself a lot of aggravation in the long run.

Now, time to restart my day.