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After three and a half days, I think his fever has finally broken, poor baby. He’s snoring in my lap right now. I’ve never had a kid be this sick for this long. Your heart just goes out to them…

My lovely baby sling? Full of puke. I’ve actually discovered the only down side to the baby sling in four years of using one. When your baby goes into full on exorcist-style puking while in the sling, you’re pretty much out of luck. You’re not getting that baby out in time. Prepare for a good drenching.

Thanks for all the sweet comments!!

Poor Knittybaby is sick. He was so tired when I got home from work, I thought he was just worn out from the weekend back at my in-law’s farm. But since I’ve put him to bed tonight he’s been awake about every fifteen minutes. I’ve been lying with him as he sleeps, reading “The Knitting Circle” and sneaking away for a couple minutes here and there to get a few things done until he wakes up again. The last time I went in to get him back to sleep he was running a fever. He goes right back to sleep as soon as I snuggle up next to him.

I’ll get to the contest when he is feeling better. Thanks again for all the lovely birthday wishes!!!

The Good Postman came today, with packages! First he made up for the package that the Not-So-Good Postman messed up. My last SP9 package!

Look at all these beauties! A candle, notebook, and more of that lovely soap she sent before (I LOVE handmade soap). There were chocolates, but I had to hide them as Little Man was having a fit because I only would give him two. So they are now “up-high” as we like to call it. Do you see the beautiful handknit washrag? And of course, the yarn! 1450 yards of lace weight merino. I think I’m in heaven. Now, what shawl should I knit with it?

Thank you so much Jennifer for being such a great pal! I’ve loved everything!

So what else did he bring?

My Spunky Club yarn for March:

Pretty, isnt’ it? Very Easter-ish, I think. It reminds me of dying eggs. The yellows and greens are actually brighter than the picture, almost a neon, but they look great with the softer blues. I think they’ll make great socks for the boys.

I also received a little treat for myself: Lotta Jansdotter’s “Simple Sewing.” Just beautiful. You can’t beat a book with 24 patterns in it!

But I don’t just have patterns to show off, I have been knitting:

The Project Spectrum soaker is nearly finished.

This yarn, from Sandy’s Palette, is a great example of how a yarn can look even better when knit up. I liked it on the skein, but love it as a sock.

The Skeptic Socks on Cherry Tree Hill Yarn. You’ll notice some deviation from my usual here. I’m trying toe-up again, and I’m trying it on two circulars. The toe-ups are because apparently the Skeptic likes his socks as high as possible. After being together for over 13 years, I have just learned that he wishes all his socks would come up to his knees. I find this hilarious for some reason. But with just one skein, that’s not going to happen. How far can I even go? Shoudl I start looking for a second skein. He’s only a 10 and 1/2.

I’m not so sure about the circulars either. I’m finding that with my tendency to knit tight on socks I have trouble sliding the yarn back over the join each time, which slows me down. Ideas?

Okay, that’s a lot for one post. I’m off to add another arm to a little bear.

P.S. Don’t forget to get your contest entry in!

And now what you’ve all been waiting for, the contest!

We’ve got a month of birthdays here to celebrate. Knittybaby turns one tomorrow. I’ve got a birthday the following week. Then comes Little Man, and the Skeptic finishes it all up on April 15th. So the contest will run from now until midnight, April 15th.

What do you need to do? Pretty simple. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your most memorable birthday ever. Whether it was fun, silly, sad, crazy, exciting, whatever. As long as it was one to remember. What if every single birthday you’ve ever had has just been dull and you really can’t remember anything other than turning a year older? Well, then just wish us all a happy birthday and we’ll call that an entry too!

Of course, there will be prizes. Three of them actually. I’ll give away two handmade needle rolls, either a regular double point needle roll or a mini sock needle roll, your choice. I’ll also give away two skeins of yarn. I’m hoping to get to Gale Woods this weekend to pick some up, as I’d like the yarn to be something local.

So that’s it. Get your entries in and have fun!

Speaking of birthdays, here is the status of Knittybaby’s amigurumi.

I ran out of the blue yarn last night. So I’m cramming tonight: two ears, two arms, two legs and the back of a head. I’m a little concerned, as I will feel like a total loser mom if his first birthday present isn’t done in time.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the new blog. I was glad to see some comments about the header. I love that picture and was trying to find a way to make it work. Any suggestions?  I’d like to get some more color on the blog yet and maybe tweak the header a little bit.

I asked the Skeptic what he thought last night. His reply: “Nice, but it’s a little beige. What happened to all the color?”

Gotta work on that.

I’ve barely gotten anything done this week. I had my first “Down and Dirty Pattern Drafting” class at the Textile Center and managed to make myself a basic skirt pattern. Next week we make a bodice and the final week we do fittings and tweak the patterns. The teacher is great and it’s nice to have a whole three hours of worktime. The only bummer is that there is no actual sewing done in the class, that’s all homework. I really have no idea how to sew from a pattern. I’ve been making up my own stuff and just measuring. But I’ve gotten a couple of good basic books so I think I’ll be okay.

I was supposed to get together to spin last night with a friend, but Little Man changed those plans. He’s been really into cooking with me lately and is a pretty good helper, although he really wants to get to work at the stove, which has been my big no-no. Well, despite my many, many warnings of “that will burn your skin right off, don’t touch!!!” he decided to see for himself. He had his back to the sink and was working at the counter. I brought over a pot of boiled root veggies to drain, and before I could say “look out” he turns around and sticks his hand under the water as I’m pouring it out – on purpose!! I thought for sure we’d be off to the ER. The Skeptic got him under cold water and I consulted my trusty Dr. Sears while listening to my poor boy scream like I’ve never heard him. After sufficient monitoring we decided he didn’t need to go in. Amazingly he’s got nothing more than first degree burns. We gave him Tylenol and ran out for burn cream and this morning he was just about good as new, looking like his hand got a sunburn. Needless to say, no spinning was done last night! I’m hoping at least now he’s learned to believe Mommy, but oh, did my poor boy cry.

The donations for the Greyhound Pets of America-Minnesota craft fair have been arriving, and I need to get mine finished up tonight. I’m way behind as I totally forgot it’s the end of the semester and I have grades to do, all 300 students! I’m mostly done so I’m off to finish my scarves. Once I’m done and I’ve got everything ready to get picked up I’ll take pictures and get thanks out to the donators.

Then, maybe I’ll actually get my mittens done.

The last few days have been a huge blur and although I had pretty much planned this whole post out in my head while putting Knittybaby to sleep, I’ve completly forgot how it logically seemed to go together. I’ve had one of those evenings where Little Man was asleep by 7 and Knittybaby was asleep on my lap by 7:15. I thought I was home free, but as I was carrying him to bed he totally re-perked. This kid goes from sound asleep to wide awake in seconds. I spent the next two hours trying to get him back to sleep and finally gave him to the Skeptic at nine. At that point I had to break my “no housework after 9pm” rule and mop the floor (because the Skeptic doesn’t know how to clean up a serious mayo spill) and make more laundry detergent (yup, you read that right. I’ll tell you how to make it another day) and then get Knittybaby back to sleep once more. So now it’s 10:30 and I’m going to try to make sense of all these random thoughts.

First, thank you so much for all your de-lurking comments! I was happy to get to know who more of you are and read your blogs or just drop you an e-mail. I was also floored by the number of comments I’ve gotten on the needle roll. I did make up the pattern myself, thanks! I’m not organized enough to write up a complete tutorial right now, but basically I used Wonder-Under to fuse the two fabrics together, folded it up, sewed the slots and added a flap. I plan to make one more my for SP9’s last package (better get moving) another for just sock needles and another for my circulars. I’m also thinking about maybe putting a few up for swaps, maybe for hand dyed yarn or something like that. I really enjoyed making it and have so much lovely fabric to use up. We’ll see where the time is.

We’re already starting to need Spring to come. Little Man is not a “stay home all day” type of guy. I’ve been trying to keep him busy with pre-school, playgroup and playdates, but it still isn’t enough. This boy needs to get out to parks and long walks and bike rides to burn off some of his never ending energy. He’ll do the backyard for about 30 minutes but gets cold and wants to come in. We did have our first playdate with the Heathen Housewife and her crew last Thursday. I had a great time chatting with her; she’s a lovely person and I think Little Man and her three year old daughter had a pretty good time, with the exception of the “He’s smashing me!” episode and the time that Little Man decided to be a dinosaur. Oh, and his most major meltdown I’ve witnessed in months when it was time to go. But the Housewife was swell and helped us all get out of the door without me having a meltdown myself.

So how are we dealing with this cabin fever? Aside from getting out a lot, I’ve decided that organized messes are way better than “I think I’ll sneak up to mom’s closet” messes so we’ve been keeping busy:

Painting a cardboard container. You can get these at JoAnn’s for about $2.oo. Paint it and call it a “treasure box to keep things away from little brothers.”Entertainment time: 45 minutes.

Goop: 16 oz cornstarch + 1.5 cups water + food coloring. I was seriously short on cornstarch so I just gave him a bunch of extra flour and let him mix it all up. Entertainment time: 1 whole hour!!! (Do this before you need to wash your floor).

Little Man’s snack of choice while I’m putting Knittybaby down for a nap:

Yes, I need to hide things better. That was a giant size chocolate bar. And God knows how much sugar he ate.

So I was thinking, seeing how much I like swaps and seeing how many other moms are getting cabin fever with their kids right now, wouldn’t it be fun to do a knitters’ cabin fever swap? Yarn for mom and a craft activity for the kids? Hmmmmm, not saying I’ll commit just yet but it could be fun.

5:30 am will be here before I know it. Good night!

So apparently it’s De-Lurking Week, and I’ve been excited to see so many readers commenting this week who haven’t commented before. It’s been so nice to visit your blogs and know who more of you are. I absolutely love this little knitting/crafting community we’ve got going here. I was thinking the other day that if it wasn’t for bloggers, I would most likely still be knitting garter stitch hats and scarves. Instead, I’ve branched out into areas of knitting I never thought possible when I first began knitting: socks, cables, sweaters, colorwork, teeny-tiny needles, lace, my gosh, even spinning and now sewing! I used to think all of these things were “too hard” and I would need to knit for 20 years before I tried it. But here you all are, showing off your work, explaining how you do it and suddenly I feel like I can do it too. And you know what? I’ve found I can.

I hope that my little blog does the same for you. I love all the comments that you leave, every single one of you. Thanks to all my regulars; it’s nice to have your ideas, encouragement and a good laugh. So if you’ve been too shy, or just trying to keep up with reading the many blogs you subscribe too (I know how that is) just take a second to say “hi!” in the comments. I’ll be glad to be able to visit your blog and be able to says “thanks!” Remember, I’ve got two comments sections right now. If you’d like an e-mail from me be sure to comment in Haloscan. (I promise to fix that. I’ve got BIG blog plans coming soon.)

Oh, and I promise to de-lurk a little more this week as well. And Mom? This means you too!

Now I know why people love sewing.

It’s a little crooked. The thread’s a little blobby in some places.

Under three hours and this puppy was done. And I didn’t even know what I was doing.

I’ll still always be Knittymama first, but dang if that wasn’t a fast project!