Sleepy

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…
Sleepy

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!!

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And the winners are….

 Thanks so much for Knittybaby’s get well wishes! He’s no better or worse. Still has a fever of about 102F and is fine as long as he’s on someone’s lap or sleeping next to him. So tonight we’re back to non-stop nursing in the rocker with the laptop on the end table. Thank goodness I’m an excellent one-handed typer!

I finished the Knitting Circle last night. Really, a wonderful, wonderful book. There’s a little bit of the “eclectic group of knitters bonded through knitting!” stuff that appears in many of the knitting fiction books out there, but the writing rises above it and there is no cheesiness whatsoever. Can I just recommend you not read it when your kid is coming down with some unknown feverish bug? This is a serious tear-jerker as it is. I have never bawled so many times while reading a book. But it was worth it. Now go hug your kids.
Okay, on to our winners! The first two receive needle cases, the third yarn.
And the random number gererator says:
1 Set of 3 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 63Unsorted

Set #1: 51, 37, 42

Comment #51 was left by Tiphanie!!!  You win a needle roll….

Comment #37 was left by Anne! Another needle roll….

Comment #42 was left by Tammy!! You’ve got some Gale Woods yarn coming….

E-mail me at knittymama AT yahoo DOT com with your snail mail, three favorite colors, and if you won a needle case, what style you’d like (regular double points, mini sock needle roll, hmmm….I bet I could even make one for circs). I’ll get to the sewing this weekend and get all packages sent out in a week.
Congrats to the winners! And thanks to everyone who entered. I’ve enjoyed getting to know some new blogs and reading all of your birthday stories.

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Contest Delay…

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!!!

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Mark Your Calendars!!

Many of you have been eagerly awaiting the second round of the Knitters’ Coffee Swap. I’m happy to announce that it will open for sign-ups on April 16th. You can find all the info here.

Our birthday extravaganza contest is coming to an end this weekend on the Skeptic’s birthday. Be sure to get your entry in by this Sunday the 15th. I’ll pick three winners randomly on the 16th and prizes will be sent out later in the week. If you win a needle roll, you’ll get to pick your favorite colors and I’ll sew it up for you.

I promised a finished object and here it is, Knittybaby’s latest soaker, in Project Spectrum colors for February/March:
Soaker

Pattern: free soaker pattern from Curlypurly.

Yarn: Little Turtle Knits handpainted.

Needles: size 8

Guage: Knittybaby is asleep in his soaker as we speak, so needless to say I’m not checking. We’ll just say it matched the pattern’s requirements.

Notes: I love this pattern! No elastic or ties to mess with. Fits snugly and not too bulky. If you’ve read the Harlot’s latest book you’ll notice she sadly calls soakers an endangered species of knitting. So I’m trying to share a little soaker/cloth diaper love here. In my little bubble here in Minneapolis most of my friends cloth diaper and many of them use soakers, but I forget that a lot of people are not that familiar with it. I could write forever about it, but I’m tired so I’ll give you a link to here and here if you want to learn more.

Okay…I will say just one quick thing. We originally decided to cloth diaper for environmental and financial reasons; we just couldn’t see wasting all that money and producing all the garbage. We thought it would be a hassel and something that we’d begrudgingly do because we should, but….I can actually say now that we love our cloth diapers. They are really the easiest loads of laundry to do and they really do seem more comfortable for the boys. Plus, they are so, so cute. I really encourage people to give it a try!

Lastly, the excitement of the day: Knittybaby is walking! I absolutely love those first shaky, hesitant steps and the pride on his face when he realizes what he is doing.

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Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

My beautiful, sweet little boy turned four yesterday….four!!! I can barely believe this. This little person, who four years ago was just this tiny little baby in our arms has grown into a sweet, spirited, amazing little boy who delights in everything he sees and does. We are so blessed to have him as our son; everyday he says or does something that completely fills us with joy.

Of course, there was cake:

Cake

It’s supposed to be a monkey. A cake decorator I’m not, but it tasted really good. No cake from a box here folks. We’re talking from scratch with buttercream frosting. Little Man was quite thrilled despite the goofy monkey.

There were gifts:
Sir Little Man


Little Man received a full-fledged knight’s costume. The helment and shield were purchased at Peapods. The tunic and soft sword were made by the Skeptic and myself:
Knight’s costume
I wish I had thought to put together a tutorial on this, especially for the sword. We decided to make a soft sword as he is not quite ready for a wooden one. The Skeptic took some hard foam and cut it, glued it, and reinforced the handle with a bit of wood. I sewed four pieces of fabric to slide over the blade and handle. We sewed it all together in the middle of the handle with a patch, then tied twine over the patched area. It turned out great and no one can get hurt if he gets a bit too wild with it! The tunic just goes over his head and ties around the back. I copied the applique from a cape that he has.
The whole birthday was wonderful, with friends and family helping us celebrate. Happy birthday, my dear little boy!!

Today we celebrated Easter. There were beautiful flowers courtesy of my brother and his girlfriend:

Flowers

The Easter bunny hid eggs in all sorts of places:

Hidden Egg

Knittybaby was too sleepy to help (he’d been working hard all weekend trying to walk back and forth between relatives), but Little Man managed to find all twelve with the help of his uncle:

Eggs

My brother’s girlfriend gave me the lovliest birthday present. She made them herself, aren’t they gorgeous? I just love them:

Earrings

And my Grandmother had her first spinning lesson:

Spinning lesson

It was an absolutely perfect weekend.

This makes three birthdays down, one to go! You’ve still got one week to get your contest entry in!

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The Harlot in the Cities

The Harlot finally had the chance to get some knitterly love in the Twin Cities on Wednesday night, and I got to have a fun night out.

The event was over in St. Paul and was hosted by The Yarnery, who did an excellent job. There were well over 400 knitters there.

Harlot speaking

I went with Mama Grouch, Catherine, and Gwenyth and also ran into April, who I hadn’t seen since a spinning class a couple of years ago. We all sat down in a sea of knitters and then proceeded to laugh ourselves crazy for the next hour. She spoke a lot about the stereotypes of knitting and said one thing that really spoke to me, about how in the last hundred years our society has changed how we value our time and handmade goods. To paraphrase, she said that a hundred years ago(and through most of human existance) it was considered a waste of time and money to buy something you could make. Now, thanks to our overly commercial society, it’s considered a waste of time to make something you can buy. I wish I had more time to write about this…maybe another day when I’m not trying to squeeze in a blog posting.

Afterwards we stood in line and had to chance to chat with Chris and Christy and I got a cute shot of them both:Bloggers!
I also had the chance to meet Renee and got to chat with Shelly as well. All in all it was a very festive line! I waved at Jess but missed the chance to chat with her, bummer!

While standing in line April and I realized we had both brought our soakers, an “endangered species of knitting” as Stephanie calls them in her book. Stephanie was excited to see them, and we both got a great picture with her, her sock, and our soakers:

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Yup, that’s my completed raglan and Knittybaby’s completed soaker. More on those another day, I swear! Little Man just said, “Hey mom, there’s the Yarn Harlot! Make her bigger!”)

After that five of us headed over to the Bonfire Grill. We were dissapointed that there weren’t more knitters there, but apparently they were having communication problems and told other knitters there wasn’t anyone there, or something weird like that. Anyway, we had an awesome time:dsc02766.jpg

See that giant beer? Apparently I don’t know my ounces very well. I wanted a pint.

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Beer with sock for proportion.

I’m guessing it was a pint and a half, which is a lot for me nowdays. But I said what the heck and enjoyed almost the whole thing. Which might be the reason I was talking a mile a minute to Chris and Christy when I ran into them again while getting ready to leave. I promise I don’t usually yammer quite that much, although we did have a great chat about getting the local bloggers together sometime soon.

Little Man is requesting my presence, gotta run. Have a great weekend!

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Pictures

Thanks for everyone’s sweet comments. Hope I didn’t sound like a whiner. I did get to relax and we have had some better days, although the boys are still being a challenge. The weather is one of the biggest problems. Little Man just needs to get outside, and the weather is not cooperating. We had snow today of all things….cruel, cruel, cruel!

Knittybaby’s bear doesn’t care. He has arms, legs and ears now, so nothing else can get him in a bad mood:
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Pattern: Bedfellows Bear, from “Stitch and Bitch Crochet.”

Guage: no idea

Yarn: Wool of the Andes, Lamb’s Pride Bulky, Cascade’s super bulky stuff (the name escapes me now).

Notes: my first crochet project, ever! I’m quite proud, despite the excessively long legs and arms. He’s still cute and Knittybaby digs him.

Next: My birthday gift from the Skeptic and the boys. Carders!!!

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I’m so thrilled about these. I need to put them together yet and then I’ll get back to that crazy mixed bag of colors I’ve got to spin up.

SP10 came through with an awesome birthday package!

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These were just half the packages. Everything was so cute and wrapped so nicely with little notes. Once I opened it all up, I had this:
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Chocolate, coffee, candy, one of my favorite yarns, and a notebook. Can I be more lucky? (Notice the little hand reaching for that bunny?) The coffee is so good, and perfect for a rainy, dreary week like this has been. And of course chocolate is always a great pick-me-up.

Thank you to my SP10!!! You really added some smiles to our house that day!

Next up, Little Man’s birthday. There’s a reason I’m still up this hour of the night! I’ve got until Saturday to get this done.
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Hope to see all of you locals at the Harlot tomorrow!

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Frazzled

I turned 33 yesterday.

This in itself is a good thing, as so far my thirties have turned out to be my best years ever. But the week itself has been lacking, and while there have been lovely moments, to say I’m feeling frazzled would be a bit of an understatement.

The Skeptic has had to work so much that he’s pretty much been MIA since last Friday. Both boys have seemed to hit major developmental milestones that has made this week one of my “top ten toughest weeks ever” in raising children.

Little Man just seems to be in some sort of crazy “I’m turning four” thing which has resulted in one disaster after another, usualy prefaced with “Wanna see what I did?” I won’t get into details, but one of the worst ones involved two cans of cocoa and my couch.

Knittybaby has hit that ever so tough stage where he has realized that he wants to do things, like climb the stairs or get a bag of tortilla chips off the counter, but he can’t. This happens about every ten minutes, and he expresses his angst in the only way he can: high pitched screaming while hanging onto my leg.
You can’t blame either kid. Growing up is tough, and luckily I’ve had enough pleasant moments to get me through the week: a swell SP10 package, a lovely birthday gift from The Skeptic and the boys, a night out with my friends, playgroup. It’s probably the only reason I’m not hiding in the closet right now. So I know you’ll all forgive me when I don’t have pictures or a full report yet. My pizza’s just about done and then I’m going upstairs for movie night and maybe a little knitting if I can hack it. The Skeptic has the weekend off, and I’ll be back with lots of goodies for you all to see!

Oh, and I’m thrilled with all the contest entries so far! I’m trying to get back to everyone and visit the blogs that are new to me. Thanks to everyone who has already entered. If you haven’t, you’ve got until the 15th!

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The Good Postman

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!

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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? dsc02697.JPG

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:dsc02705.JPG

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:dsc02690.JPG

The Project Spectrum soaker is nearly finished.

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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.

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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!

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Happy Birthday Knittybaby!!!

One year ago today, our lovely Knittybaby made his appearance.

I had spent the day in rehearsals at Orchestra Hall and was beat. The Skeptic was at a gig that night and I came home exhuasted, stuck with getting an overactive Little Man fed and to bed on my own. After a few days of false alarms I was sure Knittybaby wasn’t going to do me a favor by showing up a week before his due date. So, I plowed through the evening, kind of feeling like I ate too many enchiladas but nothing else.

Around 9pm I called the Skeptic: “So I’m not really having contractions but I feel weird. Just so you know to hurry up after the show, just in case.” Then I went to sleep.

Around 10pm I called our doula: “So I’m not really having contractions but I feel weird.”

“Take a nap and call me later,” she said. So I did.

Around midnight the Skeptic came home. “I’m having some contractions. Maybe I am really in labor, do you think? ”

We called our doula. “Sounds like it. Have a snack and get some sleep, she said. Give me a call when you think you need me.”

So we did. An hour and a half later I woke up: “Hey, contractions! Big contractions! Two minutes apart! Let’s go!!”

So my brother came over, we told our doula to meet us at the hospital and off we went. We got there, registered, got into our room and before I knew it my water broke and it was time to push. Sixteen minutes later, there he was, another beautiful boy, another easy labor, another natural, gentle birth. What a blessing. (For those of you keeping track while you’re reading, yes, it was less than four hours from when I decided I was probably in labor to the time he was born. I am a lucky, lucky girl.)
So a year later, we celebrate.

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Knittybaby enjoys his first cake at his party on Sunday.

Little Man decided that instead of the card he was going to make his brother, he would feed him a pile of hot chocolate mix for his birthday instead.
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Knittybaby thinks eating hot chocolate is a great idea. Knittymama, who was busy online doing preschool registration at the time, wasn’t so sure.

Knittybaby did receive his gift. He found it to be very exciting, despite the fact that it is missing it’s ears, arms and legs. I gave up at midnight last night when I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I reminded myself that as wonderful as handmade gifts are to give, occasionally reality sets in and you have three nights of cuddling a sick baby rather than crocheting a bear. I know Knittybaby would much prefer the cuddling and since he’s just turning one, won’t be too concerned with a “bear in progress.”

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Knittybaby thinks his bear is cool, and was thrilled to hear that the bear will be magically growing ears, arms and legs while he sleeps. Not many bears can do that.

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