Introducing...

Ailish Grace

Hello, Knitbloggers! Am I not adorable?

Born May 17th at 11:50 am and weighing 7 lb 8 oz and 20.5" long.

Ailish (the "Ai" is pronounced like the a in acorn and "lish" like in delicious) is the Celtic form of Elizabeth which means God's promise. She's our little miracle baby and overcame quite a lot on her journey here!

We're all doing well. It was a 3.5 hour labor and we both recovered quickly. Bryan has taken 2 weeks of from work to help, which has been a wonderful gift for all of us. Owen is taking his newfound status of big brother incredibly well! He's very gentle with his little sister and loves to help pat her back and gives her lots of kisses on the cheek. As of yet there haven't been any jealousy issues but Bryan and I have been careful to make sure that Owen gets lots of extra love and attention right now. I'm sure that soon Owen will tire of the new houseguest and make his opinion known, but for now we're enjoying this time.

We spend a lot of time like this.

Not surprisingly, there hasn't been much knitting going on. I started a hat for Ailish at 3:00am on the 17th and finished it shortly before we left the hospital on the 19th. I also started some Trekking socks and after 9 days of knitting I'm very happy to say that I have almost 4 inches done on the first cuff.

Sweet baby girl has just woken up and is calling for me. Perhaps with the next update you might even get a picture of knitting!

Hospital time!

We're off!!!

Silly, Brianne!

Remember in my last post that I said I was only about 4" from being done with the sleeves? I was so wrong. I was 4" from being done with the increases on the sleeves, but still had sleeve cap shaping to do. It's not all that terrible, but 4" of increasing one stitch on each side, every other row on size 5 needles means that I've been doing a lot of adding stitches when I'd rather be decreasing.

Last night I finished the increases and now (finally!) today I get to start the sleeve cap shaping. With any luck I'll be blocking the pieces tonight and can do seaming tomorrow as well as picking up the five hojillion stitches around the front.

Yesterday was really exciting and a little scary! Bryan and I had an OB appointment and found out that I'm already dilated to 2cm. I kind of stared at the doctor for a minute in shock. When we got out to the car Bryan looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh, we're actually having a baby."

The doctor is pretty darn sure that I'll deliver baby girl before the weekend. It's a race against the clock, people!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

This was my Mother's Day gift to myself. I finished the Manos Cotton Stria wrap on Saturday and it was washed and blocked and ready to wear on Sunday morning. That beautiful thing that you see with it is my new shawl pin from Designs by Romi. I ordered this on Monday afternoon and it was in my mailbox on Friday afternoon. Impressive, because she lives in CA and even with shipping Priority Mail it takes a few days. It came in a lovely box for storage and a handwritten card that thanked me for the order. This pin is the Figure 8 Sterling Pin. I may need more of these.

Pattern: I'm not even going to claim using a pattern because I changed everything about what was written on the paper. I won't, however, say that the pattern was my own. It's 12" wide and 62" long.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria, color 225, 5 skeins
Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 6 US
Date Started: April 18, 2007
Date Finished: May 12, 2007

Now here is something really odd. I only have one project on the needles right now. The UnGranny Smith Cardigan. And I don't really know that I have the urge to cast on anything new. In reality, I'm only about 4 inches away from both sleeves being done and once I have all the pieces blocked and the fronts and back seamed together it's just a matter of doing the edging on the front and then it's done.

This baby is due May 30th. Think I can have the cardigan done by the time the baby is born?

Really?

It has been said before. Just because you can knit something does not mean that you should.

Case in point: the knitted bow tie

Anyone else have any prime examples to share?

5th time's the charm!

I finally had success with the baby socks. The first time that I cast on for them I put 42 stitches on the needles. How many stitches did I end up with on the final pair? 28 stitches.
These are so cute and just about the fastest things to make. Ever.

Pattern: Mine
Yarn: an itty bit of leftover STR mediumweight in Watermelon Tourmaline, as gifted by Sarah
Needles: Size 1 US metal dpns

I took these pictures last night so you'll have to forgive the color because it really looks nothing like this.

And another finished sock project for you...
Pattern: Slip Stitch Rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Memories: Smores, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 2 US metal dpns
Date Started: April 21, 2007
Date Finished: May 3, 2007

I like the way that the slip stitch breaks up the ribbing on the cuff. I'm not sure about the yarn, though, because I've only worn these socks twice and I'm already seeing noticeable felting on the sole of the sock. Has anyone else seen that or am I just really hard on hand knitted socks?

A work in progress...
This is the Manos Cotton Stria that I bought on sale at Simply Fibers, which is being made up into a very simple stockinette wrap with a 4 stitch garter edging. This is the project that sits next to the bed and I work on it for a few minutes every night. It's my winding down project and with miles of stockinette you can see why.

I'm into my fourth skein of yarn and have one more to go. The "pattern" that I'm using, and I use that term loosely, says to use 2 buttons to keep it closed. I originally liked that idea but over the course of working on this decided that it most certainly does not want to have buttons. Nope. It wants a shawl pin.

And so I've ordered one. (It's the one on the top right.) Normally I wouldn't order something like this for just one project but then I got to thinking about the UnGranny Smith cardigan and how I can use the shawl pin on that. That led me to remember my Hopeful wrap that I keep at work for when the decide that it needs to be 47 degrees in the office... I'll be bringing that home this week and the shawl pin would work perfectly on that, too. So I'm seeing several wonderful uses for this shawl pin. Now if only I hadn't seen the sweater sticks.

RIP

I've spent most of the past couple of nights starting projects only to RIP them out after an hour or two. May they Rest In Peace.

The focus of my attention has been baby socks. Surely this little girl needs to have some hand knitted socks, especially from her Momma who always has socks on the needles. We had a yarn swap on Friday night and Sarah gave me some leftover Socks That Rock in the Watermelon Tourmaline colorway that is perfect for this!

Perhaps I should learn from my experiences here and therefore make my life so much easier, but I'm determined that I don't need a pattern for this. I've made over a dozen pairs of socks and the basic pattern is rooted deeply in my mind. I can wing it, right? Apparently not, because I've now made 4 first socks to the point of being able to kitchener the toe only to realize that the sock I've created could almost fit my 3 year old.

Part of my issue is that I've forgotten just how big... erhm, small... little baby feet are. I could try to judge it based on what I'm feeling from all this movement going on in me, but I'm pretty sure that that's not accurate since she doesn't have feet the size of her Dad's.

Baby Bolero

Pattern: Baby Bolero from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino 2, size 3-6 months
Yarn: Baby Cashmerino, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 3 and 4 US straights and Size 3 US 40" circular
Started: Saturday, April 21
Finished: Wednesday, April 25
Modifications: The instructions say to seam together all of the pieces before blocking, which never makes sense to me. So I ignored that and blocked everything before seaming which makes me happy. I changed the garter edging from the way the pattern is written. The way they have you doing it is to basically knit a garter strip that is 5 or 6 stitches wide and attach it to the front edges as you go. There was no edging at the back of the piece which I thought looked rather shoddy considering how the bottom of the back is shaped. So rather than do it their way I used a circular needle and picked up stitches around the whole thing and then joined it and worked in the round for 6 rounds. This gives a nice finishing edge to it and I don't have to worry about the back rolling up. Also, I opted not to give the neckline a shawl collar.

I still have 1 skein of this yarn left over and I'm considering making a little skirt or something like that to go with it. You know, a girl needs a cute ensemble when she's going out on the town.

I am weak

So you know that yarn moratorium thing? Yeah, I already broke it. I only feel the slightest bit of remorse.

Yesterday was slooooooow at work because our FTP site was down, therefore we weren't able to receive orders from customers. We'd let people know about it in advance so there wasn't anyone calling frantically trying to figure out why their order wasn't sending. The lab manager was letting people in production go early and came up to tell customer service that one of us could go as well. Being that my supervisor and the lead cs rep were working on software stuff and my other coworker said she could use the money, I sacrificed of myself and left at 1:30.

I called Bryan to give him the joyous news and told him that I was going to pick up Owen from daycare and that we were going to go to the park. He reminded me that they had just started nap and that he wouldn't be up until 3:00, so maybe I could go to the yarn store to hang out and buy something. (This is why I married Bryan!) No, no buying yarn because I'm not buying yarn until August 1st.

Then I got to Simply Fibers. Maddie and I talked while I worked on the cotton stria wrap. It was quiet and cool in the store. Then I spotted it. The Jeanne yarn that I had used to make the baby bell bottoms... Carol had gotten in more colors! And, there was an adorable pattern for a swing top (it's the second one from the left) that would just look too cute with the pants. That's when I caved.

Last night was a good knitting night for me! I have a bit of startitis right now, (perhaps because we're finally prepared for the baby?), and I wound up some Sock Memories in S'mores that I've had since last summer and started knitting. This morning I finished the gusset decreases on the first sock. Not too shabby! Then I swatched for the Baby Bolero with the correct needle sizes and made gauge! Right now I'm almost done with the back of the bolero. Cute little baby jackets sure don't take long to make progress on!

Tomorrow after church we're driving to Bolivar to pick up a Wii that Bryan scored off of Craigslist. He's so stinking excited that it feels like Christmas. Me? I'm excited to have some time to knit in the car.

Happy

There are some days that you just know are going to be difficult. Maybe there's a task on that day that you know is going to take all of your energy, or a person you'll have to work with that you've never really gotten along with. No matter what it is that you're up against you know that it's going to take everything you have to make it through the day with your dignity and poise left intact.

Today was my day and it had been circled in red on my desk calendar at work for the past two and a half weeks. Getting ready for work this morning I did everything I could to prep myself.

Favorite and most comfortable maternity pants? Check.
Calming perfume? Check.
iPod ready to play upbeat music? Check.
Fun book to read at lunch so as to mentally escape? Check.

And the secret weapon... the socks. Yes, the socks that I finished over the weekend. I didn't even block them so that I could make sure that they were ready to wear on Monday morning.

Happy socks with other things that make me happy... my family.
That's Bryan and my youngest brother, Isaac, taken 4 years ago.

Ah, the socks.

And now for something completely different

On Thursday I purchased the needles I would need to successfully swatch the Baby Bolero. They're still in their packages. I was so excited about starting the bolero but my focus was not long maintained. I'm sure those needles will come out sometime this week, but I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you.

No, I've been trying to faithfully work on the UnGranny Smith cardigan while I'm at home and the Sockotta socks while at work. The sleeves haven't changed much, they're just a few inches longer so I won't bore you with pictures! The socks, which I haven't taken any pictures of, are close to being done. I'll finish them up this weekend and get them on my feet for a photo shoot!

This morning, though, I was tempted by something else. While poking around Michael's a little while back I found an adorable birth announcement kit that I thought would be perfect for Owen. (Yes, I'm a little behind. You should see his scrapbook.) It's got bold blues and reds which is how his room is decorated. I started working on the first block of it a couple of weeks ago while I was at home after the car accident and then put it down. This morning I got some more of it finished and it will probably be put away again for a little longer.

I like being able to pick up other crafts now and then. Cross stitch is perfect for that kind of thing, I think. There's no wondering "Where did I leave off?" or "How does this stitch pattern go?" Although, I must say that I could never see myself doing a cross stitch in the car like I do with knitting.

And speaking of cars, we have purchased a vehicle to replace my poor Sorento that was totaled. My grandmother decided that with only about 10 years of driving left in her that she wanted a luxury car and wouldn't you know that she went and bought herself a fully loaded 2007 Lexus RX yesterday. We've purchased her 1999 Dodge Durango from her (with low mileage also fully loaded!) and she gave us the keys and car yesterday on her way home from the dealership. Owen and I sat in the backseat of the Durango for a few minutes and Owen said, "Nice car! My Rocket?" I think he'll tolerate the change well.

The State Of The Needles

I thought it high time that I give a current assessment of all of my current projects that are on the needles. Every once in a while a girl needs to take a look at where she is. This is my time.

I start with the Ungranny Smith cardigan from Knitty's Spring 2006 issue. I started this project in November (?) and here is where I am. Sleeves. Oh, you sleeves which frustrate me with your constant increases, how I wish that you were finished!

Then again, if I were finished with the sleeves I'd just be faced with picking up a million and a half stitches with size 3 US needles for the ribbing around the front and collar. You know, if I really put my mind to it I could have this cardi finished in about 3 weeks. That's really not going to happen, though.

Next, I bring you the Baby Bell Bottoms from The Blue Blog's Alison. As soon as I saw the pattern I knew that I had to make some for baby. This is a picture from Thursday night's knitting session with Tammy at Panera. One almost finished blue pair of pants and a just started cream pair.
And a picture from about 22 minutes ago....
Done! With elastic waistband sewn in and everything!

Pattern: Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel
Needles: Size 6 US Denise Circs
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn's Jeannee in color 10 (blue) and 7 (cream)
Date Started: March 31, 2007
Date Finished: April 8, 2007 (for both pairs)
Modifications: None
Notes: I think that next time I'd be interested in working both legs at once using the Magic Loop method so that there was no seaming of the legs involved.

Also finished this week were Mom's most coveted brown socks that I don't have any pictures of! How on earth did I just spend an entire weekend with her and not get any pictures of her with the new socks?! I'll see if she can help me out with that problem.

Pattern: Garter Basketweave from Sensational Knitted Socks
Needles: Size 1 US dpns
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Chocolate from KPixie.com
Date Started: February 17, 2007
Date Finished: April 1, 2007
Modifications: None
Notes: None

I have another pair of socks on the needles currently. I thought that I'd work on a simple sock but wanted to mix things up a bit so I'm using the Magic Loop method on these. Nothing fancy, just a 2x2 ribbed cuff with stockinette in the leg and foot. I'm using some Sockotta that Mom bought for me last January while she was visiting my sister in San Diego and the bright colors make me think of Spring. The first sock is done and I have about 3" done on the leg of the second sock.

Today I started a gauge swatch for the Baby Bolero in Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby. There's nothing like doing a gauge swatch in the completely wrong size needles to make you wonder if it's a bad omen for the whole project. Nevertheless, I'll be trying to get gauge again and should have much better results this time.

Both Tammy and Sarah have decided to not buy any yarn this Summer and after digging through my stash on Saturday morning I think I could certainly join them on this journey without feeling any ill effects for a while. I forget just how much great yarn I have at my disposal. Yes, I may have to get creative with some of it (what does one do with an individual skein of bulky, hand-dyed yarn?) but I see it as a challenge. So, therefore, I'm pledging that I will not purchase any yarn until after August 1, 2007. That's 4 months and I think that I can do it!!!

Quick Knits

With an adult sized cardigan on the needles for myself, sometimes I feel drawn towards working on something where I'll see results just a little quicker. After all, I'm on the sleeves of the cardigan right now and since I'm working on both sleeves at once they're seeming to take even longer to get through! A girl can't be faulted for wanting a little instant gratification now and then.


Meet instant gratification...Pattern: Made With Love Layette Sweater by Emma Crew
Yarn: Cascade 220 Tweed, 1 skein
Needles: Size 8 Denise circulars
Date Started: March 23, 2007
Date Finished: March 24, 2007
Modifications: None. Instructions are given for the seed stitch hearts and I chose to only put one on the sweater. Looking back, it would be so precious to have one on the top back, too.

I absolutely LOVED making this sweater! It was so quick to knit and I loved the construction of it. The pattern was well written and very easy to follow, even for someone who had never done a sweater from the top down. I will absolutely be making more of these in the small and large size.


I thought I'd take a quick picture of what I was wearing today! That's the cardigan I knit last year from Creative Knitting. I was excited to put on something handmade that looked cute and not in a maternity way. I got a lot of compliments on it while I was out and no one could believe that I had made it!

We're at 32 weeks pregnant this week. Yikes! Not long till this baby girl comes, especially if she's 3 weeks early like Owen was.

That's why I bought these...
Did anyone see the latest post at The Blue Blog? Allison knit the cutest pants for Baby L and put the pattern up on her website. I'm thinking that baby girl needs some baby bell bottoms, too!

Simply Fibers is in the middle of their big annual sale and the knitterly girls and I met there last night to get in on the fiber action. The Cascade 220 is destined for the next sweater I have planned for myself, the Neck Down Shaped Cardigan (#241) from Knitting Pure And Simple. I won't be doing the tie for the front but think that a clasp will do beautifully.

I really enjoyed working with Manos Cotton Stria when I made the kimono type sweater for the baby and when I saw this color I fell in love. I'll be making a simple wrap for the summer based on a pattern that I got at Simply Fibers a while back.

I have quite a lot of knitting on my plate!

What goes around comes around

Within the past 2 months I've found myself lodged firmly in a small knitting group that I love dearly. Sarah, Tammy, Meredith and new recruit, Kate, are wonderful women and I've enjoyed getting to know them better and being able to spend time with people who are as obsessed with knitting as I am. What I didn't expect is just how much we would influence each other.

At the Knit In at Simply Fibers that last Friday of February I was handed a skein of linen yarn by Tammy and Sarah who told me that we were going to make the linen handtowels from Mason Dixon Knitting and I bought the yarn without even owning that book or knowing what the towels were going to look like. Tammy saw the lace rib socks that I was working on and loved the yarn, so I sent her the link to the Etsy store for Fearless Fibers and pointed out that she still carried that same colorway and 45 minutes later I got an email back saying that she had bought the yarn and some stitchmarkers, too! On Saturday morning I showed off the log cabin blanket to Tammy and Sarah and later that afternoon I got a call from Sarah asking more about it because she hadn't stopped thinking about it all day.

When I first learned to knit almost 2 years ago I was settled that no one was going to influence my knitting. After all, how many people did I know that actually knitted? No one, really, so I was going to be the lone reed and my knitting was going to be my own.

Slowly, other knitters have found me and I've found them (or created them, in the case of my Mom) and the inspiration that those knitters have given me has been wonderful. It doesn't lessen the creative process or finished product just because someone else I know has done this before me or even if we work on it side by side. It is still my knitting as much as it is their knitting. In fact, I'd say that I've become a better knitter because of my fellow knitterly girls.

(By the way, I bought the Mason Dixon Knitting book on Saturday on our yarn store road trip and I'm loving it! It's nice to finally know what my linen handtowel is going to look like!!!)

Before I end, I have another finished project! Bryan's fabulous boss is expecting a baby girl just two weeks before I am and Bryan asked me to knit something for her, specifically a sweater. Bryan's boss is incredible but I was a little hesitant considering how many things I have planned for our own baby. Then I gave in and agreed and this was born!

Pattern: Baby Caftan, Creative Knitting March 2006
Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft in Plum Wine, 1 skein
Needles: Size 7 and 8 US circulars and dpns
Date began: March 17, 2007
Date finished: March 22, 2007
Modifications: I changed the neckline just a tad since I was afraid that it was going to be too small and I'm glad that I did. Also, rather than doing the seams from the wrist up and then seaming them onto the sweater I picked up the armhole stitches and worked them from the shoulder down. No seaming! I love this method of doing sleeves, I'm telling you!

Now that this project is done I've cast on for a sweater for our baby. I decided on this sweater which I'm using a skein of Cascade 220 Tweed in 601, a beautiful green. The 6 - 12 month size only needs one skein of yarn and I happened to have just one skein of this yarn that I bought on clearance at Simply Fibers for $4.00! It's a neck down construction which is brand new to me so I'm making myself trust the pattern and just do it without overthinking it.

Satisfaction

I've had a very satisfying week in a lot of ways. One main thing for me has been that it seems that everything has been balanced. Work has been very busy due to pending software upgrades that we're currently testing for glitches, but I've had several chances to spend time with friends and unwind. Even my knitting has been focused and intense but balanced by the joy of finishing a project and being able to share it with people who can really appreciate it.

On Tuesday I mentioned that I was unabashedly obsessed with the log cabin blanket. Wednesday night found me racing towards the finish line and on Thursday morning at 12:30am I went to bed exhausted, but with a blanket that was set out to block. At my Thursday night knitting date with Tammy and Kate at Panera I was so very tired but so very pleased with myself.

The log cabin blanket made it's debut on Saturday when I was able to show it off to Sarah and Tammy. And it was good.

Project: Log Cabin Blanket
Yarn: Peace Fleece, 6 skeins
Needles: Size 10.5 US, Denise circs
Date started: February 14, 2007
Date finished: March 15, 2007

I enjoy working with Peace Fleece. The colors are wonderful and though the yarn may be a bit rough to work with, once the wool hits the water it blooms beautifully and softens every time it's washed. Plus, a cloth diapering friend of mine claims that it can be washed in cold water on a gentle cycle and dried on low heat without felting. I haven't tried this out myself but she swears by Peace Fleece and uses it to make all of her daughter's soakers.

Sarah, Tammy and I went on a yarn store road trip on Saturday to the far far away town of Rogersville to go to a new yarn shop that opened up this winter. (Rogersville may only be 30 minutes from Springfield but I haven't traveled in what feels like forever and so a 30 minute drive north is an exotic destination to me!) We piled in Tammy's car with our knitting bags and hopes and dreams to go see this new place.

Sarah instantly found her pot of gold, er, basket of gold?
That, my friends, is a basket overflowing with Tess sock yarn. Both Sarah and Tammy were elbow deep in it right away.
We all found a lot of really wonderful things and walked away with a bag of goodies. The store is so cute and we spent a lot of time wandering around and fingering everything! I will most certainly be going again and taking Mom with me. Sarah has volunteered to make the journey with us, in part to see Mom's reaction to the store. (My Mom is so stinking cute and has a tendency to gush her excitement about everything. I must admit that it is a bit contagious!)

Next time... "What goes around comes around: This time you may be the enabler, but it's bound to come back and bite you on the tush."

The winds of change

Maybe it's just that I got a fresh batch of pregnancy hormones or something, but I've been really fickle lately. One minute nothing sounds good to eat and even the thought of putting something in my mouth makes the bile rise in my throat. The next minute I spot a Subway and oh my gosh I can't get a veggie laden sub into my mouth fast enough. It's like that with almost everything. Knitting included.

Last week I couldn't put down UnGranny Smith. We were joined at the hip, BFF, running on the beach with our hair blowing gently in the wind. I was going to marry this project and we were going to run away together to the south of France to live happily ever after.

Tonight I must admit that I've cheated on my love. In fact, I've cheated more than once and it's been darn pleasurable. The vow that I took to work on UnGranny Smith for one hour every night has been broken and I don't regret it even a little bit. Chastise with me if you must, but I've found my pleasure elsewhere, in the ply of another yarn.

I saw the Log Cabin blanket sitting dejected and forlorn in the basket and thought, "I'll just work on you for a little bit today". It starts out innocently enough. Just one stripe, that's all. Sure, just one stripe but then the next thing you know it's 2 hours later and you're still swearing that you'll only finish the stripe that you're on and then you'll put down the blanket. *sigh*

Right now I'm indulging myself and have put the cardigan back in it's bag and the Log Cabin blanket is in a place of honor... spread out on the love seat. I've only got one more stripe left and then it's time to work a border around the blanket. Our love affair will be short, but I shall enjoy every moment that we have together.

What's the theme?

At the last knit in at Simply Fibers, Lana asked me if I had a theme for baby's room? I think that my answer was a little surprising to her and the others. My theme? Avoidance.

There's really not a whole lot that we have for this baby! When we moved from San Diego, CA to Springfield, MO we figured out that it would be more expensive to haul Owen's baby stuff halfway across the country than buy new stuff when we needed it again, so his crib and highchair and all manner of baby paraphernalia was donated to some less fortunate families. Now that we're at the point of needing it again we're not exactly filling the house to the rafters with baby purchases. In fact, other than a few outfits and blankets... and the small stash of yarn that I mean to make stuff for her with... we really don't have anything!

This has carried over a bit to the baby knitting. The log cabin blanket currently stands at 23" square and I haven't picked it up in over a week. I have no other baby projects on the needles and though I know what I could be making since the patterns with their yarn are right there waiting for me... I really don't have much of an urge to start any little tiny things.

Why? Because I've fallen madly in love with UnGranny Smith again. The right front measures 13" and I'm almost excited about casting on for sleeves! (Hurry! Take my temperature!!!) The yarn is fantastic to work with and the color makes me smile whenever I look at it. I look forward to working on it every night and reward myself with knitting time for doing certain tasks. (Spent 2 hours organizing the home office with a 3 year old running around vying for attention? That's worth an hour of uninterrupted knitting time while the child watches Little Einsteins.)

As of tomorrow we're only 12 weeks from the due date, and if baby is anything like her older brother she'll be almost 3 weeks early. Oh, the baby knits will come. I'll feel the undeniable urge soon enough just like tonight I felt the undeniable urge to clean the kitchen junk drawer. In the meantime, I'm enjoying myself!

How Hand Knitted Socks Saved My Life

Maybe that's a little sensationalist, but it's my blog and I get to make the titles.

The ongoing saga of the car accident continues! I won't bore you with all the details, but the gist of it is that it turns out that I can expect to have somewhat on-going health issues stemming from the injury to my right leg. The doctor thinks that I may get feeling back in the numb areas in about 6 months, but it's all just a big guess since nerves regenerate themselves on their own schedule. I can expect the swelling to be a problem for the next several months as well.

All of this convinces me that hand knitted socks are the only way to go for a while. (Well, that and one day spent in store bought socks left me in agony and with a very angry looking foot.) If I'm going to be wearing hand knitted socks every day I'm either going to be washing the ones I have a lot or I'm going to have to get busy knitting myself some new socks! Thankfully, I have enough sock yarn that I won't have to worry about needing to buy the yarn for them. (See? The stash is so useful!)

UnGranny Smith is moving along nicely. I did finish the left front late on Monday night and I've decided to work on this for an hour every night. The right front is almost 6" in length and I'm finally starting to feel excited about this project again! Seeing progress is always motivating!

More tea?

Today I felt very motivated to work on the UnGranny Smith sweater. I sat down and told myself, "Brianne, today you're going to finish the left front and cast on for the right front!" I figured that I was right at the point where I'd be starting shaping for the neckline and armholes. So I sat down with Friends Season 10 in the dvd player and a cup of hot tea at my side and took a look at where I was on the left front.

Imagine my annoyance at realizing that 3" back I had done the waist shaping incorrectly. I tried to drop down and maneuver my way out of it, but there was no hope! I poured myself another cup of tea, inwardly wishing that it was something a little stronger, and ripped back 3" on the left front.

I have had a few successes to share, though! Owen's sweater is done, washed, blocked and tried on. It fits wonderfully and I think that my hopes that it will fit him for the next winter too aren't in vain.
Owen's sweater:
Pattern: Generated from www.knittingfool.com
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, Size 11 US
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky - 1 skein Heather Charcoal, 2 skeins Ink Blue (from the stash!)
Knitted in 2 1/2 days

I've never worked with Lamb's Pride Bulky before and it was an experience. If you've never worked with it before, here are a few things you should know. 1.) This will shed all over you, your couch, your floor and whoever might be sitting within a 3 mile radius of you. 2.) This will take 10 washings to get a clear rinse, including 2 overnight soaks just to be safe. 3.) You will need to brush this sweater with a sweater stone before you let your loved one wear it for the first time and if you really love them you'll brush it out a second time even though you don't think it needs it because you will come up with more stray fibers than you thought possible.


There are two of these socks, but photographing my own feet at this time would require more stretching and acrobatics than I'm willing to do right now. So believe me when I tell you that the second sock looks exactly the same. I've had this yarn in my stash for almost a year and I really didn't want to wind it from the skein because it was just too pretty! I've opened my sock yarn bin and fondled the hank often but always chose something else to work with because if I used the yarn then I wouldn't have it anymore. Then one day I was in a funk and needed something truly wonderful to brighten my day and I decided that some beautiful sock yarn was exactly what I needed and these socks were born!

Pattern: Lacey rib cuff
Needles: size 1 dpn
Yarn: Fearless Fibers in Desert Flower - Superwash

I kept these socks in my purse and would work on them when the phones got slow at work, or while waiting in the car for the drive through teller at the bank. I tried to work on them when I was in the hospital but could only get about 3 rounds done before I had to put them down because I was even more drugged up in the hospital than I have been at home! I started the second sock on Wednesday afternoon and was wearing them all day on Sunday.

The Fearless Fibers yarn is amazing. I love the colors and the yarn is sturdy but so very soft! I have one more skein in blues and greens in my stash and I know I'll be ordering more.

Finished Stuff

Well, I'm not back at work yet. I've developed an infection in my right leg that's being treated by high dose antibiotics and my back is still a bit "wonky" (to use the correct medical terminology). So it looks like I'll be back to work later next week if I get my OB's permission at next week's appointment.

We went to retrieve our personal possessions from the car on Tuesday and it was a bit unnerving to see the car. I'm glad that I did, though, as it kind of gave me closure. We took lots of pictures for our own records and noted problems that even our untrained eyes could see. (Bent frame, 3 jammed doors that are not able to open, and severe rear end damage to name a few.) While it was painful to see the car, it was necessary because I had to get my UnGranny Smith sweater from the back seat!

In happier news, on Monday I started Owen's sweater again and finished it up last night! It's a drop sleeve sweater knitted in the round from the bottom up. Can I just say that I love the knitting in the round sweaters! The sleeves were worked by picking up stitches around the armholes and I love the way they turned out. Owen doesn't like having things high up around his neck so I changed the neckline to a boatneck and it seems to work much better for us that way.

Here's an in-progress picture from Monday afternoon. (Hello, belly!) The sweater is currently drying after much washing. It was my first time using Lamb's Pride and is it normal that it took 8 soakings and rinses before I got a clear rinse?

So right now my current works in progress are the Log Cabin blanket which measures at 16" square, my Fearless Fiber socks that I just started the second sock this morning and the UnGranny Smith sweater that I have the back done on and am about halfway done with the left front. There's a knit in at Simply Fibers tomorrow and I have no idea what project I'll be bringing with me. Bryan's boss is having a baby girl about 2 weeks before I'm due and he asked me to make a little something for her, so maybe I'll bring a new project with me to the knit in!