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Your stories are so entertaining that we should keep the contest going for one more week! We’ve had some really great entries so far and I have to say I’m not feeling quite so silly about my Anouk. You guys are great! (Doesn’t she just look entertained? I know, she looks like she wants to bite someone but it was the best shot I could get. She’s really quite the sweetheart)

So for those of you who are just returning from the cabin, the beach, just getting caught up, or visiting for the first time, you’ve got until next Friday now to tell me your biggest knitting goof up, and the alpaca could be yours!! (Not a real alpaca, of course, just yarn, but hey, how many entries do you think I would get if I was giving away a REAL alpaca? I would shatter the blogosphere for sure.)

Anyway, do tell and have a great, and hopefully cool, weekend!

Remember, this lovely alpaca can be yours by sharing your biggest knitting goof up! Okay, I know my Anouk story is a tough one to beat. There aren’t many of us who have, well, um… completely misread the instructions and only knit half a dress. But, we’ve all had troubles with guage, chosen the wrong yarn, miscounted, or just misread the instructions. Leave your story in the comments line and you could be doing some lace knitting before the end of the month!

I’m hoping that the slow amount of entries so far is not a sign that I am, by far, the worst knitter in the blogosphere and all my readers are state-fair-winning knitters who pre-read their pattern five times with a highlighter. (Are you?)

I was reading Curlypurly last week when we Little Man and I found Curious George going for a ride. Of course, we had to try it ourselves…

I have to say this is pure genious! To be able to entertain your three-year-old and wind yarn is a truly great thing. I got four skeins wound and would have done more, except Knittybaby woke up. Little Man thought it was wonderful and since we seem to have an unending supply of small stuffed animals, I can pull this game out anytime.

Wow!!! I have won two, yes two contests this week! This blows me away as I am one of those people who never wins contests, raffles, or anything of the type. So I give a big “Thank you!” to both Whit at About Time and Jennifer of Interval Crafting.

This makes me even more excited to hear your stories about your biggest, head-smacking knitting mistake for my contest. (I can’t think of a good name for it. Suggestions?) Feel free to spread the word. The more the merrier! Remember, you’ve got until this Friday to play.

Attention residents of Minneapolis: The Fourth of July is over. Please put away your firecrackers and bottlerockets. I was very patient when you started up in early June, but you are starting to make me a wee bit batty, which makes it hard for me to concentrate when I am trying to explain things, like why ripping a five foot hole in Mommy’s only set of really NICE sheets is not okay, and no, I can’t just put a patch on it.

Okay, on to the business. Here’s the swatch(blocked! I’m such a good girl with this one) for Knittybaby’s heart blankie. I’m going for 6 inch squares, and it’s not quite there. Also, I can’t decide whether to do two or four ridges of garter at the top and bottom. My plan, since I hate to seam, is to just go from square to square without casting off. I should end up with just six strips to sew together. So what do you think? Two ridges? Four ridges? I’m leaning towards four.

Now, time for the contest! This is my thank you for all the lovely and supporting comments you have left here in regards to Knittybaby’s heart condition. If you’re new, go ahead and play too! Because this is also for me to have a little fun, and to celebrate the fact that despite Knittybaby’s upcoming surgery, he is growing, strong and happy, and in the end I have faith that this is all going to come out okay! I really liked Chris‘ comment, that it’s not grim, just real. I thought about how true that is. When I think about how my life has gone, so far I’ve been a pretty lucky girl and aside from the usual ups and downs, we’ve never encountered a challenge like this. Real? Definitely! But I’ve decided not to let it feel grim because I know my family will make it through all of this just fine, and a little tougher for it.

So what is your challenge? To share your absolute silliest, most head-smacking knitting mistake ever. I want you to try to top my Anouk story:

For those of you familiar with this pattern, it is supposed to be a pinafore. Obviously, mine didn’t end up that way. I knit this one in a panic on the way to Detroit for my niece’s baptism. I cast on and everything seemed to be fine until I got to the neckline. All of a sudden the instructions made no sense and didn’t match what I was doing. The front seemed too small, the straps too short, and nothing matched up. Since I was in the car, I had no resources and just improvised. I ended up with this Anouk apron. I decided there must be MAJOR pattern errors and gave it to my niece as is. (Babies like aprons right? Although my SIL may have been a little confused by it. In hindsight, it’s pretty funny looking.)

When we got home I was determind to figure out what was wrong. The pattern turned out to be fine. The problem? There were no schematics, and I had envisioned a one piece that wrapped around the back, so when I first started out I didn’t read too carefully. I completely skimmed over the cast on for “front” and “back” and just took it as “front and back” as in all one piece. You would think I would have figured this out when the instructions got screwy, but nope, I just kept on knitting. Once I got home and had time away from it, I sat and read the pattern again. As I read, it completely dawned on me. It’s in TWO pieces. Front and back. Of course. I have since smacked myself in the head a million times over this one because it is so incredibly obvious, but I’m also a lot better at reading my pattern instructions since then!

Your prize? Since there is so much lace knitting going on, and my current level of attention to knitting (maybe 5 minutes aat a time 🙂 just does not work with lace, I’m passing on the lace knitting to you! Two skeins of Misti Alpaca lace weight in a gorgeous plum color. Perfect for a first lace project! You have until next Friday, July 14th to tell me your biggest “I can’t believe I did that” knitting story. The one who can best top (or at least some close to) my Anouk mistake gets the yarn, simple as that! If it’s a tough call, I’ll call in some other judging help.

The winner will be announced by Monday, July 17th. Be sure to leave your story in the comments line or any later posts, I’ll get to them all. I look forward to a few good laughs! Feel free to invite other knitters to come over to play!
Arthur says, “You know you want to fess up!”

Why is it that whenever I am nursing Knittybaby and he is just about asleep that Little Man has to get into something? Tonight it was the plunger in the toilet, and the thing is I know it’s his plan to try to get me out of the rocking chair. The question is always, how bad of a mess will it be? Do I risk it, get Knittybaby to sleep and then go check? Or do I give in and see what he’s up to and then start all over again with Knittybaby?

“Mom, I plugged up the toilet!”

(Oh jeeze, with what?) “That’s a job for a grown-up…please wait and I’ll be right there.”

“No, I want to do it!”

I hear splashing sounds, flushing, and the rolling of toilet paper. Knittybaby’s eyes have been closed for about 30 seconds, this could get bad…what’s the worst case scenario? I ponder, and the answer comes as suddenly I hear thumping sounds and see a wet plunger is now being waved about my head from the staircase. I plop Knittybaby in the swing in hope that he will magically fall asleep, retrieve plunger, wipe floor, discuss rules of plunger use, and thank God that the toilet was not plugged and had actually been flushed before he decided to plunge. And now Knittybaby is wide awake.

Which is why I don’t have my baby blanket swatch to show off to you tonight. Sigh. But I do have a picture of the lovely crocheted baby blanket that a dear family friend gave us last week. I have known her since I was Little Man’s age, and though I rarely see her and her family anymore she has still given me a blanket for both my boys. I love that it has orange in it!

Finally, things have been a little grim around this blog with Knittybaby’s bad news, so I’ve decided it’s time for a little fun. Contest coming soon!!!

(Sorry for the poor lighting lately. I’ve got to work on that!)

More thanks for all the kind words, you guys are great! I’ve been coping better the last few days and trying not to dwell on it. I am excited about the blanket. Just the planning of it alone has been helpful. It makes me feel like I can do something for him when everything else is really outside of my control. Plus it will be something special for him when he’s older. In the meantime I’ll keep you posted on how he’s doing. (Brendaskt, would you mind e-mailing with me about the U of M hospital? I’d love to hear more. knittymama at yahoo dot com)

Now, onto the goodies! SP8 sent me a wonderful package today!!

Little Man helped me open it. Inside we found some Mango Moon recycled silk yarn, which I’ve always wanted to try! The colors are so beautiful in it and I can’t wait to see how it knits up. We also found some adorable socks for Knittybaby (trying on picture to come later as he was asleep when we opened it), a dark chocolate bar, chocolate wafers (love these!) and some candies. Then we found something very cool, a baby bonsai tree to grow! Little Man and I got started on that right away and the seeds are germinating as we speak.
Thank you so much SP8!!! You totally made my day! 🙂

Moving on, we have a baby bib from Mason-Dixon knitting in a blue varigated and red Sugar and Cream yarn (already well used)

An in-progress bib in Knitpicks cotton (trust me, this kid needs a lot of bibs!!)

And, it’s starting to look like a sweater!!!!

Edited to add: Does anyone see the painful error on that front half?? In my coffee-clear head this morning I just realized (after knitting two more inches) I forgot a set of decreases under the arm. This is the second time I”ve had to do some MAJOR ripping on this sweater, grrrrr!

Hubby’s comment: “Don’t you check that stuff? “

Ummmm, yeah, all the time.

Wow! Thank you so much for all the kind notes. Reading them over the week has made me feel so much better…it is so nice to know that you guys are thinking of us as we go through all of this.

I’ve been reading a lot about congenital heart defects this past week and have been learning a lot. Some of it good, in that Knittybaby’s defect could have been a lot worse compared to some of them out there, and I am thankful for that. But some of it is scary, as I’ve read stories of children where it was thought it would be one simple surgery, but they found other defects as well. I’m trying not tot think of those stories too much! A lot of it is just overwhelming, as I realize this will follow him his entire life, even with a successful surgery. Plus there is the waiting. Will he have surgery in three months? Six months? Who knows…

I’m planning a blanket for him. Blue squares, in different shades, about three by three. Some of the squares will have hearts on them. I’m going out this week to try and decide on the yarn. Now I think I’m down to Thaki Cotton Classic, Mission Falls 1824 cotton, and the big splurge, Manos cotton.

My coffee is calling me. Thank you again, your words mean A LOT! 🙂

Sorry for going without a post for so long. This has been a very upsetting week for us. When our Knittybaby was born, he had a heart murmur, which is quite common in newborns. By his two month check up, it was still there so our GP ordered an echocardiogram to check it out. I honestly thought it was just double checking, and it would be fine. However, it is not. Turns out our litle guy has a congenital heart defect called Coarctation of the Aorta. What this means is that his aorta is pinched, which results in a difference in blood pressure in the upper and lower body. Luckily, his is not as severe as many babies as he has no physical symptoms other than the murmur and blood pressure (many babies with very severe versions of this have emergency surgery just days old). However, he will be needing heart surgery sometime before his first birthday. If the aorta is repaired, his prognosis is good although he will need to be under the care of a cardiologist for the rest of his life. If not repaired it will most likely result in heart failure in his 40’s or 50’s and carries a lot of risk throughout his life, so the surgery is very important.

To make things even worse, this may mess up my plans to stay home with the boys. I had planned on not returning to the classroom this fall. We were going to buy private insurance as Hubby works for a very small business and has no benefits, but with this condition it may not be possible. It’s so hard to realize that even with the surgery this will be something he will carry with him his whole life, that as perfect as he seems he has something very wrong…..

Sorry to have such a bummer of a post, but it really helps to talk and write about it. Funny how people cope with things. What have I been doing? Planning what kind of special blanket I will knit for him for the surgery and hospital stay. Something with hearts…it makes me cry just thinking about it but it’s so important to me that he has it when the time for surgery comes.

Hubby takes Little Man up for bedtime, and it’s just me, Knittybaby, a CD and my messy living room. Funny thing is, it’s amazing how just listening to some good music (Garden State tonight) while you rock and nurse a little baby makes the messy, toy covered living room not so bad…Before Knittybaby was born this would have been my knitting time. Little knitting this week, not even enough to photograph, but that’s okay. As little as they seem, my boys will be grown before I know it and I wil miss these hectic, crazy but amazing times.

What a crazy day it was too! Little Man managed to cover his body and the couch in glue stick, plug up the sink with toilet paper, and decorate the kitchen with an entire box of baking soda. Phew! It still amazes me how fast a kid can make a mess while you change a diaper or a load of laundry.

I broke my rule of “no new knitting books because I’m saving money” last night and picked up Wendy Knits. It’s a cute read. I’m halfway through and am thinking that the felted kitty bed is a must, but not for awhile as I still have to tackle THE LIST:

1. Finish the Heirloom shawl for Knittybaby (yeah, I know it was my Olympic project. Now I’m shooting for the baptism)
2. Mason-Dixon bibs for Knittybaby (aka Spit-up Boy). These are a necessity!
3. Soaker shorts for gee, guess who? Am I knitting for anyone else?
4. Yes: Little Man…I have yarn to start a sweater for him so it may actually be done by fall.
5. I really want to start my Mag Knits tee, which I bought yarn for a year ago!
6. Not to mention the other million items sitting around the house to finish up.

All this on an average of ten rows a day. Like the Harlot says, one row at a time, right? 🙂

Some of you might remember that my BIL gave us a slick recycled IBM Thinkpad last Thanksgiving. This means our computer is now easily accessible downstairs, and much faster than my crabby, early edition iMac. I’ve been keeping it next to the rocker, so I can either listen to Podcasts or catch up on Blogs/e-mails while Knittybaby nurses (and nurses, and nurses, boy he’s been a hungry guy lately!:-) The problem? I can’t stop adding new blogs to read and I’m wondering if I’m getting to the point of TOO MANY BLOGS. Yet I keep running across blogs of so many great knitters: creative, amazing knitters, funny knitters, mom knitters, dyeing knitters, designing knitters, teaching knitters, local knitters….I could go on. Plus there are the podcasts. I’m on information overload, and I actually have the time to read listen to them all.

I love Bloglines for the fact that I don’t waste time popping into blogs that are fun but not always updated that frequently. However, it’s also so easy to subscribe to them. I had 102 new posts today!!! (Granted, I didn’t read any yesterday and that counts the podcasts. Have you noticed all the knitting podcasts? That alone is overwhelming!)

How many blogs do you read on a regular basis?Am I over the edge, or barely started?

I’ve been trying to post my actual bloglines for you all, but I keep getting this weird message. I’ll keep trying…