Today's Post is Brought to You by the Number 2

I've got a lot going on right now and most of it is irking me so let's get straight down to business because if I get off topic, well, let's just say War & Peace might start looking like a novella. So not a lot of chit chat, just the bare bones of a post.

The theme for the day is things that come in pairs...

First up, Socks!
Try to ignore the bin of awful acrylic craft yarn in the background. It's left over from my pre-knitting days when I "crafted" and didn't care (or know) about 100% merino and such. It was hard enough to get the picture while bending over and hanging upside down, I decided not to retake the photo to edit out my past yarn indiscretions...

These are my finished Toe Up Socks from Shibui Knits. I used Shuibui Sock in Orchid and I used a variety of Lantern Moon Sox Stix (#2 for the main body of the sock, #1 for around the ankles, and # 3 for around the calf). I shortened the leg length because I usually wear short socks and I don't really like having stuff around the middle of my leg. If I had to do it again I would use #1 needles for everywhere but the calf because they are bit looser than I would like. Overall I am very pleased... I admit I was a bit worried at first since these are 100% merino wool and I have a wool sensitivity but I am happy to report that Sock is so soft that I have worn them for whole days with nary a twitch or itch!

And next, Mittens!

Baby mittens - which means they are automatically cute (the Second Law of Babydynamics). I made these using a free pattern I found on Ravelry (surprise) "Baby Mittens" designed by Kaitlyn Wong. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a light blue, #202 I think but the ball band is upstairs and I'm lazy. I knit these on my fabulous Addi Laces, US #3. The pattern was really clear and well written but if you are looking to make mittens for a really small baby you might want to use something else, these are a bit big on Matt now (almost eight months!) and also fit just fine on Gwen (two). My gauge was a little larger than called for but not that much. I tried two new techniques in this project: two strands held together and magic loop. Neither was difficult but I found magic loop to be pretty fiddly with such a small item. The two strands makes for a nice tight fabric that keeps Matt's little mitts warm and toasty.

So a pair of finished objects! I was going to show you my Lace Edge Cardigan (Debbie Bliss, Simply Baby)- I've finished the body and moved onto the sleeves (another pair) but I think I will save that for next time.

I'll leave you with my favorite pair because Grandma reads the blog and we like to keep Grandma happy, even if she just lurks and never comments...

Matt being Matt, which in my book equals adorable but I'm biased.

And Gwen, checking out the spring Interweave Knits. Of her own accord. Can you stand it? We'll have her hooked on fiber before she knows what hit her.

Knitting galore on Martha!

If you are a Martha Stewart fan, you might want to set your DVR for next Monday, 2/25, which is "Homemade Knitwear Day" featuring an audience of knitters and a knitting inspired show lineup.

She Still Knits!

Hey, check it out, I'm posting twice within eight days- that must be some kind of new land-blog speed record... or something.

I feel so out of practice, I'm not sure I even have any command of grammar anymore... in fact, I was trying to multi-task and watch Barefoot Contessa while I typed this up but I'm having a really hard time concentrating so I had to put BC on hold. Sorry Ina!

On Sunday I went to a baby shower given for my good friend from dance, Jen, and I gave her this:

It's the Geordie Stripe Yoke Jacket from my favorite knitting book (everyone say it with me now) Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Periwinkle (2 skeins) and Pickle (1 skein) and Crystal Palace Bamboo Straights (5's and 6's). I adore the buttons... I got them at Acorn Street Yarn.

Love how this sweater turned out, I'll definitely be making another one at some point. It was not difficult at all but was not boring to knit. It took me forever but only because I did not work on it for a couple months at all and then once I had the knitting done it sat around for another month before I seamed it.

I was thrilled when she opened it and the whole party ground to a halt for several minutes with everyone ohhhhhing and ahhhhhhing over it and asking me to make one for them- it is so gratifying when a handmade gift is appreciated :)

I also had a little crafty fit the day before the shower in which I produced this:

A diaper cake! I have seen them before at showers and what-not and I had some newborn diapers lying around so I made a quick run out for some blue tulle and brown ribbon (Jen's theme colors). The cakes I've seen before featured diapers that were rolled up individually and then taped together but that struck me as being difficult to take apart so I experimented... not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself.

So that's it for now, I have a couple more things to share so you might be seeing me a bit more regularly... and for those of you who might worry that my copy of Natural Knits might get lonely now that the Geordie is done- never fear! I already have another project on the needles... It's almost like a Julie and Julia thing for me with this book- I just feel this compunction to make (almost) everything in it.... too bad "Katie & Louisa" doesn't have a better ring to it...

**note: Blogger's spell check seems to have already gone to bed for the night so I apologize for any spelling errors! I tried to proof but, well, it is past my bedtime**

The Knitting is Coming, The Knitting is Coming

As is the, um, posting... I just remembered how to hit these little buttons with my fingers in order to form these really cool things called words and paragraphs.



But for your effort to come here and read this I give you this:



An adorable just-turned seven month old in the Cutest outfit ever courtesy of Grandma and get this, the overalls are completely reversible!!! Turn 'em inside out and you have adorable plaid overalls with a truck. I love a good two-for-one...

It's fourth down, she'll have to punt...

Um, so that was me with regards to my handmade Christmas gifts. It just didn't work out this year, but I was in serious denial until the 20th or so of December, madly knitting while a tiny voice in the back of my head whispered that there wasn't enough time. Oh, sorry. That was actually my husband in his loud voice telling me to give up and get some sleep already!

And so, I did. I gave up. It was hard. I'm not ashamed to say that there were tears. You know how it is, with visions of perfect knitted gifts in just the right color, yarn, pattern all amazingly wrapped in your handmade, hand painted/stamped whatever paper with exquisite handmade card attached. While I never wrote about it here (because that would, you know, require me to actually write) I had in my head taken a "semi-handmade" Christmas pledge... not to be confused with anything related to Sandra Lee- how does she have a show on Food Network? I'm sorry but those tablescapes? Sometimes less is more. And have you ever noticed how the decor in her kitchen changes almost every show to match the theme? I once caught about five minutes of a lemon themed show, I swear the whole kitchen looked like a lemon meringue had exploded. She scares me and the food? yikes. I don't ever intend to watch her show but sometimes I'll be flipping through the channels and I get sucked in - I think it is the train wreck factor - what is she going to do next?

Um. Where was I? (but I do feel better, getting that off my chest)

I wanted to make as many presents as possible this year. I really had a bee up my butt about it. It is really tough for me to not be perfect when it comes to things like this. But, in the end, my sanity, what little I have left, was more important (thank you amazon! while you may be the total opposite of the handmade Christmas pledge you do come through for those of us with a last minute present crisis... ).

At least now I am, for the moment, ahead of the game for next year's Christmas gift knitting. I'd say I was ahead for birthday knitting but my family (with the exception of my daughter and my father) has inconveniently decided to be born in the warmer months when a wool whatever just wouldn't go over too well.

And in some totally unrelated, technology-makes-no-sense news, my card reader has decided to function again, just out of the blue. I didn't change anything, it just worked when my husband gave it a go. Unfortunately I don't have any current knitting pics in the photos I'm uploading to flickr but I'll try to get some in the next couple days and give you a year-end wrap up of my works in progress (too many). In the meantime, here is a little cuteness from "backstage" at my brother-in-law's wedding back in October (man, I have a lot of catching up to do), Gwen was the flower girl:

Grrrrrr....

OK, so I'm feeling just a teensy bit frustrated.

As stated before, my computer won't recognize it's internal card reader so no pictures.

I tried an external card reader (we have one lying around- and I know it is functional because it works with my husband's laptop). No good. Still no pictures.

Per my last post, I tried sending pics from my phone and guess what? My phone is in on the conspiracy. I attempted to email photos directly to my Flickr account- never showed up. Tested sending them to my personal email account- nope, nothing. Tried multi-media messaging them to my husband's phone so he could then upload them- uh-uh. Now, I have a Blackjack so it should be perfectly capable of any or all of these functions... in fact, I have in the past successfully sent pictures to my husband. But now? Now that I need to use the photo functionality? Um, no.

So as a last ditch effort I gave my memory card to my husband to upload. Hmmm, you say, why not do that in the first place, seems perfectly reasonable. Patience, my friends, all will be revealed. Gave the Hubster the card so he could upload to his laptop and then transfer them to our network hard-drive so I could access them. Watched him plug the card into the reader and begin the process. Happily tripped back down the stairs to draft some posts related to the pictures confident that I would soon have pictures to share. Soon. A couple hours later I checked the hard-drive location where we keep the pictures- nothing new. No big deal, he was working and probably got distracted. So apparently he has been distracted for 14 days!!!!! I keep nagging and he keeps saying, I haven't had a chance. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DRAG AND DROP AND FREAKING FOLDER FROM ONE LOCATION TO ANOTHER???!!!!!! THE PICS ARE ALREADY UPLOADED TO HIS LAPTOP!

ahem. sorry. Just really aggravated. I even tried doing it myself, as I am, after all, perfectly self-sufficient, but I can't figure out where the original file is on his laptop.

And so I am just so exasperated by the whole thing that I want nothing to do with blogging... but at the same time I miss it. Did I mention "grrrrrrrrrrr..."?

Obviously I am supposed to have a picture-free blog and I just failed to get the memo. *sigh*

biting the proverbial bullet

Alright. Enough. This no blogging thing just sucks. I'll be doing something and think to myself, "Hey, I should take a picture and blog about this." Then I remember that I cannot upload pictures to my laptop and then it just seems like too much work to take a picture, give the camera to the Hubster, hope that he uploads them to our network hard drive sometime this century, and then, once that is done, hope that I remember what it was I wanted to write about at the time I took the picture. *sigh*

So, no more. I'm just going to post sans photos. Sorry if it is boring. I am going to figure out how to send pictures directly from my phone to my Flickr account as soon as I catch up on the work for my math class. The photo quality will suck but I'm no photography wizard anyway and you know the thing about beggars and choosing... A photo on the blog is worth two in the Canon. Or something.

Anyway.

It is time to pay off the cupcake contest. Yup. FINALLY. Bet you thought I forgot ;)

And the winner, picked via my very own, written by me, random number generating program, is....

Jessica! (love the Laila sock btw)

Send me your snail mail address (email or pm on ravelry) and I'll tee-pee your house send you a little box of cupcake goodies! Also, let me know: snowmen or polar bears & penguins.

Okay, enough procrastinating while trying to avoid homework. Back to Conic Sections. Oh, yeah, the fun never ends. You know you envy me.

Mouths of Babes

So I hosted a dinner here at Chez Sheep last night and my guests consumed a fair quantity of beer and wine. When my daughter came down for breakfast this morning she looked at the bottles lined up in the counter waiting to be recycled. Pointing to all the bottles, she chirped, "Mommy juice!!" Hmmmmm.... maybe we should have taken a different approach a couple weeks ago when we were explaining why she couldn't have the wine I was drinking?

IK Winter

The Interweave Knits Winter Preview is up!

I think I see a Henley Perfected in my future... ohhhhhh... and a Logan River Wrap.... and...

I'll just stop looking right now otherwise I'll never get back to my homework.

But one last thing: the Tilting Cable Socks....

... and the El Sol Pullover...

....stopping, really...

at least until it shows up on the shelves next Tuesday :)

Um, I feel like a slacker...

Holy cow! Did you guys see this? Have a baby, ten months later, win the NYC Marathon! I thought I was doing well because I go walk around Greenlake at least once a week.

So not only am I behind in the fitness department but I am waaaaaaayyyyy behind the eight ball in almost every aspect of my life. Yikes. Too much to do, not enough hours. You guys know the drill.

I have a zillion posts to do here but I can't get my pictures uploaded (my laptop won't recognize an external element- I've tried several combinations but it is being rather stubborn- I'll have to wait until the Hubster is back and I can commandeer his laptop... I thought I had the solution which is why I let him leave town without uploading the photos first).

I also need to announce the winner of my cupcake inspired contest but I am in the middle of writing a random number generating program for my programming class (fairly easy to do, I just need to find the time to sit down and finish it- see Paragraph 2 above) and I'd like to use it to pick my contest winner as a way of testing my program... so look for the winner to be announced later this week.

So yeah, someday there may be knitting content, and some more cupcake reviews, and some recipe reviews and my thoughts on learning to sew. See how much you have to look forward to? Really, I'm just putting it all off until the Writer's Guild goes on strike and there is nothing to watch on tv... then you will be dying to read whatever I write here from sheer rerun tv induced boredom.

Until later then, I need to go study the absolutely fascinating concepts involved with logarithmic properties. Positively scintillating.

Halftime

Taking a quick break from watching our Seahawks to remind you that today is the last day to send e-cupcakes at Cupcakes for a Cause. Remember, if you send me one (glides4fun AT yahoo DOT com) I'll enter you in a drawing for some cupcake-ity goodness.

OK, second half kick-off, gotta run...

Pushing Daisies!

Are any of you watching Pushing Daisies? Because if you are not, you should. Not only is it well written, clever, cute without being too saccharine, quirky and fun to watch there is KNITTING involved!!

That's right. One of the four main characters, the tough-talking-all-business-I'm-just-in-it-for-the-money PI, Emerson Cod, knits to relieve stress. In last week's episode, which I just watched courtesy of my DVR, they showed him knitting cables in his office which was replete with knit desk accessories: file holders, pencil cup, etc. He also knits a vest and 2 "gun cozies" during the episode. The knitting content isn't accurate per se but it is fun to see it included. Not often that you see a non-stereotypical person knitting in a tv show (one wonders how C.H.O.K.E. could allow this to happen!) No idea if the knitting will continue to show up or if this was a single episode quirk of a character's personality feature...

Even if they never mention it again I got a giggle out of the gun cozies and the show is well worth your time regardless of knitting content.

Cupcakes for a Cause

Those of you who have read this blog for a while know I love a good cupcake so imagine how delighted I was to learn about Cupcakes for a Cause earlier today. This is a week-long (October 15-21) national campaign that has participating bakeries donating profits from cupcake sales to Cancercare for Kids.

I was on this like buttercream on chocolate cake. Unfortunately, despite the plethora of cupcake stores and bakeries here in Seattle there is not a single participating shop in the entire state of Washington. Shame on you. Someone should have stepped up to the, um, plate. Our neighbors to the south do have a bakery taking part: Saint Cupcake in Portland. If you live down there stop by, have a little something sweet ans support a good cause.

All is not lost for us in Seattle (and elsewhere) however! You can create and send e-cupcakes to you friends and for every e-cupcake sent, the sponsors of Cupcakes for a Cause will donate $1.oo!!!!

In fact, I will enter everyone who sends me (glides4funATyahooDOTcom) an e-cupcake by the of the campaign (10/21) in a drawing for a fun, cupcake related prize! And I will also send you a cupake in return, thus doubling the donation.

So head on over to Cupcakes for a Cause and pipe yourself some virtual icing, it's a sweet thing that won't add to your waistline!

The Problem with Please

So it's another picture free post. Sorry. My laptop doesn't want to play nicely with my memory card. I'm working on it... LOTS of pictures and picture-related posts eager to show themselves on this here blog.

And now, on to the topic at hand: The Problem with Please

What's that you say?

How can something as polite as please cause a problem?

I know. It seems ridiculous. If anything, our society needs to be more polite and less demanding. More please, less gimmee.

Unless you have a cute little toddler under the age of two in your house. Then please can be a problem.

And it is all my fault.

I taught her that please is the "magic word."

When she wants something, I prompt, "What do you say?"

Which is all well and good until there is something she wants that I don't want her to have or do and I say "No."

Then she looks up at me with those big blue eyes, the faint traces of her dimples showing as she lisps out, "Peeeeeeaaaaaasssseeee."

"No," I say.

"Pease. Pease. Pease."

"No, Pooh Bear"

"pease?"

*sigh* What's a mommy to do?

Math is Hard.

I'm back. Literally and figuratively.

The family spent last week in Rochester, NY celebrating the nuptials of my brother-in-law. I'd love to tell you that the ceremony was beautiful but I honestly don't know what the ceremony was like. Gwen, who was the flower girl, had a meltdown as soon as she walked down the aisle. Note to future brides: don't schedule the ceremony at your flower girl's nap time- no good can come from it. I whisked her out of the church with what I hope was a minimum of fuss. Predictably, Matt followed us out in the arms of Hubby's cousin less than five minutes later. So I was in the back room of the church trying to keep Gwen calm and while feeding Matt- Hubby was unavailable as he was a groomsman. Fun for Mommy. Luckily there was a two hour break between the ceremony and dinner so we were able to head back to my father-in-law's house and sneak in a nap for the very grouchy Pooh Bear. Unfortunately, that meant we missed the cocktail hour and I really could have used one after the child wrestling during the ceremony. *sigh* The reception was lovely and Gwen was much happier. She was quite the little dancing queen- bopping around on the dance floor with anyone and everyone until we dragged her off at ten o'clock that night!! I have pictures but they aren't uploaded yet so look for them at a later date.

I'll have a knitting update for you guys soonish... I'm not going to promise any time lines as I am up to my eyeballs in homework! This fall I decided it was time to finally make a real effort to finish my degree so I am taking a couple classes at a local community college. One of the classes is Pre-calculus which I took eons ago as a junior in high school. I need several quarters of calculus for my degree and even though I took calculus in high school and college I decided to back track a bit to limit the brain strain. Good thing because I remember nothing! Well, not nothing but not enough... I'll stare at a problem and thinking that I need to do some step in order to get to the next part of the problem only I have merely the vaguest recollection of what that thing is... It is slowly starting to come back but at the moment it is taking a lot of time but the little flashes of insight when I remember something (oh right. factoring. that's what I need to do...) are pretty gratifying. I occasionally even feel smart. Scary.

So that's my story for now. Posting will no doubt be sporadic as I try to figure out how to fit everything into my day (starting to do math at ten each night is not the best idea in the world- you'd be amazed at how many dumb mistakes you can make- if I forget to carry an exponent or negative sign down through a problem one more time I'm going to go crazy). I also have a couple of projects that I have been trying to get to for a couple months that I need to get going on... Way too much stuff. Way too little time. Never ends does it?

Follow the yellow brick road...

OK. So I already live in the Emerald City and technically I will be leaving Seattle to go to a suburb but I really feel like I am off to see the Wizard...

Hmmmmmm... Maybe the Pied Piper would be a better analogy?

At any rate, this evening I am going to see Her.

The Harlot.

She of the books that have made me snarf my grande, non-fat, decaf, not too hot, two Splenda latte (why yes, I do live in Seattle) on several occasions when I was taken unawares by a particularly funny turn of phrase. Really, by the time I read the fourth book you would think I knew better. Put down the coffee when reading Harlotry.

So excited. I was decimated earlier this summer when I was too preggers to travel to Portland or Vancouver to see her.

Hmmmm? What's that? Melodramatic? Me? I don't think so though Hubby is prone to mumbling about drama queens and martyrdom sometimes... But, I think he must just have a secret soap opera fetish.

And the last time she was in the Seattle area I don't think I had started knitting yet. For sure I had not yet discovered the knitting blogosphere.

I know. Can you imagine? A time before knitting blogs. Boggles the mind.

So this evening I will tuck Matthew into his carseat and pick up Jen & her little one and the two of us will bravely make our way to Third Place Books with a newborn and a toddler in tow (Hubby will be watching Gwen).

Hope to see you there!

Click... Click... Click...

I knit FOUR WHOLE ROWS tonight!

It's the little things people.

And speaking of little things, check out these booties:

Yup, this is the orange pair of the Angora Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts I wrote about the other day. I wish I could tell you about the yarn but Gwen made off with the ball band and several thorough searches of all possible resting places has yet to produce any evidence that it ever even existed. I can tell you that it is orange (mistress of the obvious) and that it is a wool/bamboo blend of some sort. DK weight. It was okay to work with, not something I would choose again which is unfortunate because I don't know what it is and with my luck some day I'll see it online and purchase a bag of it for something not realizing what it is. Oh, and the ball band was black. I'm sure that really narrows it down for you. I worked the booties on the next needle size up from what the pattern calls for and used a heavier weight yarn in order to get a larger size that might fit the weed for more than a day or two.

One thing you can't see in the above photo:

Uh huh. That would be me not paying attention when doing my three needle bind off. I was too lazy to pick it out and decided it was a design element.

I wanted Matthew to model the booties but as you see
he is sleeping. And Katie's First Law of Parenting? Never wake a sleeping baby. This, by the way is very closely related to Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In my experience, the reaction to breaking the 1st LOP is never pretty.

No picture of the second larger Simple Hat #1 from Itty Bitty Hats. As I mentioned in the other post, it looks just like the original only bigger so there is no point in photographing it without a cute little one wearing it. I have a limited (though valued) audience, no sense in boring you to death. Frankly, both hats look just like the one in the actual book (I used the same yarn and colorway for the smaller version) so I could have saved us all some time and eyestrain and directed you to check out the book's photo.

So those are my finished objects. But wait, there's more...

You know, I was reminded of the old Ginsu knife commercials earlier today while slicing a tomato... remember how the demonstrator would cut through a tin can and then a tomato? I think the 80's had much better ridiculous tv-only-product commercials. I mean, does the guy with the beard who pitches Oxy Clean really measure up to the Ginsu guy? I think not. And let's not forget the Clapper. That was a gold standard bad commercial.

Sorry. Tangent. Where was I? Right. Works in progress. Alright then without further ado...

My newest cast-on is the Border Wrap from Rowan Classic Nature. The yarn is the called for RYC Bamboo Soft in Beaver. Love the look and feel of the yarn. Hate that it is so damn splitty. Like knitting with DMC embroidery floss. Argh. The finished product better be worth it...

Here's a better picture of the color: I haven't done much yet as you can see... Well, in reality I have actually done at least twice this much, maybe even three times as much, because I cast-on, knit the garter border and then started the patterned section only to discover I had an error and my pattern didn't line up properly. I ripped and reknit the rows a couple times but couldn't make it work. I counted repeatedly and still couldn't figure it out. Frogged the whole thing and started over. There is still something funky (there is a missing stitch according to the way the pattern reads) but I can't figure out what it is (I have the required 121 stitches and I have worked the chart as it is written) so on the left hand side of my wrap the first row of the pattern touches the garter border instead of having a "blank" knit stitch there. Again, design element.

Next we have a pair of socks.

And I can say pair because I have managed to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome. This is the project I knit four rows on tonight. I know. Now that you see the project you're not nearly so impressed. Four rows on the border wrap would be something. Four increase rows near the cast-on edge of a toe up sock? Not so much.

The pattern is a ribbed toe up sock from Shibui Knits and the yarn is Shibui Sock in Orchid.

These socks are for me (gasp, knitting for myself?) and I cannot wait to finsih the second one!

My last WIP is the Geordie Striped Yoke Jacket from... guess where? Natural Knits for Babies & Moms. I know you guys think this is the only book I own... I really do have others, really.

Here's the back:

And the two front pieces:

Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Yup. They are two different lengths. Now one is not finished but that isn't the problem, I have them lined up at a common point, the beginning of the neck shaping.

How on earth did this happen? For those of you who don't know me "in person" and haven't seen me knit, I am a compulsive row counter. I own at least ten row counters. I count rows even if the pattern indicated to knit until a certain length and no counting is required! Serious OCD stuff here. How did I manage to get four rows off? Because I counted (duh) the rows as soon as I saw the mistake when I put the pieces side by side tonight and I am fours rows off. Unbelievable. I know the row counter said 34 when I switched to the striped pattern. Argh. Apparently even the compulsive turning or clicking of a row counter cannot save you from the inattention to detail occurring from the acquisition of young human. Stupid, lying, cheating row counter. I'll never click you again.

Who am I kidding. Of course I will. I'm probably physically incapable of knitting without it.

"You remember Katie? She as that knitter who forswore row counters and could never make a decent purl again..."

Oh well. There's nothing for it but to rip back and click again.

Alanis Moment

So right now I am sitting on my couch (a baby free minute- hooray!), eating more than a couple Carr's Ginger Lemon Creams (my new favorite cookie - yum!), and - wait for it - watching the first episode of this season's The Biggest Loser.

Oh yeah. Cue music:

And isn't it...

One reason you should really think before getting that tattoo..

...because someday you might be a thirty-something soccer mom type complete with the "new mom bob"** wheeling your newborn around a local lake in your de rigeur Phil & Ted stroller in your perfectly matched workout outfit and that barbed wire bicep tat might just look really odd and some innocent person walking past you might just choke on her iced green tea as she does a quick double take...

**you know what I'm talking about- the seemingly vast majority of pregnant women/new moms are hit with the urge to chop off all their hair, heck, I just cut mine... but it is NOT the new mom bob... shoulder length with razored edges thank you very much.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

(Insert standardized statement re: how long it has been since last post, how I've been so busy, where has time gone?, "bad blogger" guilt, blah, blah, blah... you know the drill)

Y'all didn't want to read all that crap anyway and I don't want to type it :)

So. What do you want to know about more? The little kiddo or the knitting?

Aw... that is so sweet, putting my baby ahead of the knitting... though you may simply surmise that there is not much knitting going on- not far from the truth- or you may REALLY want to see the knitting but you're sparing my feelings. For those of you not at all interested in seeing my little guy [heartless meanies ;) ] scroll down- I promise there is knitting.

Either way, allow me to present the obligatory baby photos:

Cute kid but how about that fabulous blanket he's lying on? Yes folks, that is the Albatross!

Does he look like he's appreciating the softness of his organic cotton hand knit blanket? Hmmmm...

Hooray! Mom's done making me model her knitting projects...

All joking aside, it is hard to believe Matthew is already two months old.

Yes. His name is Matthew... I just can't come up with a good nickname for him for the blog so I'll just use his name. And my daughter shall cease to be called Pooh Bear and will be referred to as Gwen from now on (she's a Gwendolyn... Pooh Bear arose from our calling her Gwennie and singing the Winnie the Pooh song to her as a wee baby: Gwennie the Pooh, Gwennie the Pooh, silly willy nilly little girl... yup. we were clearly sleep deprived!)

Anyway, Matthew is growing like a weed- Hubby and I are already placing bets on when Matthew will pass Gwen in terms of height and weight. At two months he already weighs what she weighed at six. Crazy. In his defense she is small for her age but still!

He is adorable and I love him like crazy even if I am counting the days until he sleeps through the night, I can wean him from breastfeeding, etc. It is so much harder to breast feed a second child- you just don't have the "free" time you had with the first to do nothing but sit on the couch and nurse- Gwen always chooses to do something potentially dangerous and/or extremely messy just as I have settled into nursing Matthew. *sigh* Hubby thinks I won't nurse Matt as long as I nursed Gwen because of the time/attention contraints. (I nursed Gwen at least part-time until she was eleven months old- then the double drain of being pregnant and nursing was just too my fo the ol' bod) I explained to him that mommy guilt requires me to nurse Matthew at least as long as I nursed Gwen.

And now Mommy guilt is making me share these:

Diva in training?

But Mom, I need the car to escape my paparazzi!

Helping?

Onward to the knitting!

I am knitting but progress is veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy slow. You just don't get much accomplished at a 2 row per day pace. I have a few things on the needles but I'll get to those in a day or two, right now I want to reveal the finished objects that have languished in my photo file, just waiting to be seen.

And yes, they are baby knits: two pairs of booties and two hats.

These are the Angora Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Obviously not in angora. I made these using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Baby Blue (#202). Here they are in action:

Unfortunately, this blue pair is now too small for not-so-little Matthew. So I made another, slightly larger pair but no picutres yet so someday you might see those. Maybe. I actually like the second pair better because the toes are not quite so square looking. This problem wouldn't show up so badly if you used the called for fuzzy angora but I can't quite justify a non-washable yarn for a baby knit so I guess I have to deal with the square toe, don't I?

Next up, Simple Hat #1 from Itty Bitty Hats.

This was knit from Rowan Hand Knit Cotton in Linen. As you can see, Matthew's not terribly itty bitty head has already outgrown this hat. Not a problem though. I actually knit this hat twice. The original one was bigger- too big for a newborn, so I knit the second one. I'll try to get a picture of the larger version. It really won't be very exciting or different. I knit it in a different yarn (DB Baby Cashmerino) but the same basic tan color.

Big sister Gwen thinks the hat is hers...

And then I have another project from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms which I have decided is my favorite knitting book (at least for now)- I've knit five projects from it so far (I think, maybe I missed one), I have one more on the needles, and I have the yarn to make three more- I'm obsessed, it seems. But I digress...

The Beanie Hat and Boy's Booties! Knit from Louisa Harding's Nautical Cotton which I really liked. The braided quality of the yarn gives the finished knits a nubby texture that adds to the visual interest of the piece. The colors are Chocolate and Sand. Love 'em! So cute. If I had more knitting time I'd make several more pairs in different color combinations but alas, minimal knitting time at present so I'm moving on to other things.

This hat and the booties were my hospital knitting projects. I finished the hat while in labor (about half of the hat)- my doctors and nurses thought I was nuts. I figured it was the last free time I would have for a while. Besides, I had an epidural... I was just waiting to get to the magic 10 cm mark. The booties I knit while recovering. Since I had a c-section I was there for a couple days.

You know, I really need to get Matthew to model more of his knits... I got so used to photographing things sans baby before he was born I didn't even think about taking a picture of him in the hat and booties. Duh.

Oh, that reminds me. Remember the bonnet I knit for Gwen that she refused to wear? Now that it is summer and really too warm for a wool blend hat? On her head, every time she sees it. If it is in her line of sight? Much pointing and "Ha! Ha! Ha!" (she has issues with final consonants- what do you want from a nineteen month old?). I'll have to snap a picture sometime... it requires stealth right now. If she sees you with the camera she comes running over and points at it, wanting to play with it. Consequently I have many pictures of her index finger or thumb. It's a cute thumb, but still...