Oh my goodness

Two weird yarn-related items:

#1 The Bizarre Case of the Exploding Knitting Needle Old news, but who ever said I was on top of current events?

#2 Crocheted Mythbusters I can think of no better reason than this to pick up my crochet hook again. :D

And look, I've made it past the heel of my first Charade!

I may yet finish this pair of socks this year.

Hot fun in the Summertime

We've had some August fun in the sprinkler. Last summer Rose wasn't so sure that standing in the spraying water and getting wet was a great idea, but now she loves it.

She and I had a great time acting silly in the sprinkler. We ran around and jumped over it and had lots of fun until I landed on it after a jump. I wasn't hurt, but I cracked the base of the sprinkler. Whoops! At least it still works.

Then I had to wrap her up like a little baby ('cause she is still my baby!).

In the last couple of weeks, Jamie has really become a baby, rather than a newborn. He's started smiling, and he's gotten very interested in the world around him.

He just gets cuter every day. Sleeping is slowly getting better -- his longest stretch of sleep is at night, around 5 or 6 hours, and it's pretty easy to get him to go back down after a late night nursing session. So Andy and I are finally starting to feel more human. In the daytime he's still not so much with the sleeping alone thing, but I'm not worrying about that yet. We'll get the nighttime going well, then worry about the day.

So the blog is two years old! It's funny -- at the beginning, I thought it would be great for keeping track of progress and projects. Now I use Ravelry for more of that and I'm finding that blogging is becoming more and more about journaling and making friends. There was a point I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep it up, but I miss it when I don't get to do it, and I'm always thinking, "That would be great for the blog." I'm glad I'm here.

So, the first picture I ever posted:

Rose riding the train at Greenfield Village.

Here she is, just this past month, drawing Red the Fire Engine. My, how time flies.

A post about nothing much

Okay, first of all, I realize I did not spell the plural of "scarf" properly in the title of the last post. I feel I must apologize to my fourth grade teacher and offer a correction: "Two Scarves." Sorry. :P

But the big news is that Andy has been back at work for two days and I haven't completely lost my mind trying to wrangle both children through nursing and meal times and playing and crying and (scariest of all) putting each down for naps by myself, especially when little Jamie still hasn't quite gotten the hang of falling asleep on his own.

All is well right now -- each is actually asleep in their own place, and I hardly know what to do with myself. I'm not sure how long Jamie will make it, but I'm trying to just enjoy this alone time while it lasts.

I've had about eleven brilliant ideas for blog posts over the last week. An idea will pop into my head, and I'll tell myself to blog about it, then forget it as soon as I get near the computer. Isn't sleep deprivation wonderful? I guess I could jot myself notes, but that would mean I'd need a hand free, and that hasn't happened much lately. :)

So I'm praying Jamie's new trend of actually sleeping in his crib for more than 12 minutes at a time continues. Right now I'm going to stop talking and start knitting!

Two scarfs

My dear Andrew has taken both of our children to his parents' house and given me a morning off. I spent it paying bills and writing thank you cards while listening to loud music. I know there were about a billion more fun things I could have done, but I really feel better for having taken care of those tasks. Now I'm making my monthy blog post. I don't want my posts to be this far apart, but I'm afraid that for the time being, it's just got to be that way.

Here is the Chevron Scarf again, now halfway complete. I love Jo's yarn, love the feel, love the colors, love everything about it. And the pattern is so easy that I can work a row or two here and there and put it down when Jamie fusses or Rose wants to play.

I was thinking about the first scarf I knit, which, stereotypically, was my first project. The yarn was a skein of jewel-toned acrylic. Just one skein. I knitted it up in seed stitch on needles that were probably two sizes too small for the yarn (they were all I had), so I ended up with this very dense, cardboard-like, too short scarf. I gave it to my mother, who praised me sincerely then proceeded to never wear it. Not that I blame her; she probably couldn't make it bend around her neck! Fortunately or not, I have no photo of that poor project.

What a far cry this beautiful, wooly, soft, drapey scarf is from that first one! I'm not giving it to Mom, though, this one's for me!

Jamie's booties

When Jo mailed me the yarn I had bought from her Etsy shop, she also included some surprises: a sweet card of congratulations on Jamie's arrival, a coloring book and markers for Rose, and these adorable baby booties! I know this is not the greatest photo, but you can see them better here.

I'm typing this one-handed because someone just won't settle down unless he's in his mama's arms. :) So it's another brief post, but I couldn't go another day without showing Jo how the booties look on his little bitty feet!

Briefly

I'm stealing a few moments for a family and knitting update. Sleep has been much more valuable to me than computer and knitting time lately, but I've managed to get in a few stitches and a little browsing here and there. I need the escape and reminder of "normal" life.


This is one of my two current projects:

The Chevron Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, knitted up in a beautiful yarn I bought from my friend Jo at her Etsy shop. The colors are blending so subtly and gorgeously together. I'm also knitting the Charade socks, but it's a slow go. I'm only halfway down the leg of the first sock and I've been working on it for more than a month now. Usually I'm done with an entire pair in a month. Of course, I've had other stuff going on, haven't I?

My dear Andrew and our son. As the days go by, Jamie looks more and more like his Daddy. Andy says "poor thing" every time I say that, but I think Andy's pretty cute, so of course I think Jamie's a living doll.

An early arrival

Our family would like to welcome Jamie. He was due the 13th of July, but born last Monday, June 30 at 8:30 am.
He weighed 6 lbs, 1 oz, and measured 18 1/2 inches.
We are glad he's here, even though we weren't quite ready.

More soon.