crocheted hoodie... and more UFO's finished

I have completed more things.. of course there are always more to be completed because even though I try, I still have startitis. Anyway. I have completed two more baby sweaters (both crocheted - here is one - no photos of #2 yet)
and a car seat blanket that I made months ago finally has a home. I swear... I make something not gender neutral and then store it waiting for the first girl baby to be born... and all boys are born. Then, I have a girl that needs a gift, Zoe Abigail, and I send it off to it's new home... and more girls are born. From now on I am going to make gender neutral ONLY!!!

In other news... the guernsey that was going to be a gift... the one I posted about that I frogged twice, anyway, I am now making that for Erin... it should fit her this fall. I have started a new sweater for the baby that was originally intended for. They had a girl. Not that the other wasn't gender neutral, it was... I just wasn't seeing it as a good gift for them. I know... Another started item... so, just so it's on paper, because the bars to the right aren't telling the full story... here it what is started and currently being worked on:

Mom's Crocheted Afghan
Firestone Knit Cardigan
Erin's new Knit Guernsey sweater (more pics will be posted soon)
knit sock for me (car project - will be done in the year 3000!)
Crocheted Graph Afghan (can't be worked on until Erin is older or not around)
Crocheted cap for me

and what I want to start
Knit hat for me
Knit hat for Erin
Knit cardigan for me
Crocheted holiday gifts (can't say more here)

BUT I will not start or cast on anything else until some more of the UFO's are done.

i know it happens to everyone...

i love the yarn (colors 38 - navy and 40 - a variegated lime, gray and smoke). i love the pattern. i hate the yarn worked up in the pattern. i have now frogged this thing twice... the first time because i was having trouble with the seed stitch. the second time because, well, it just wasn't showing me the love...
so, it hit the frog pond... rip it, rip it, rip it... the part that didn't work for me was the seed stitch and yoke all being navy and then not integrating the variegated until the body of the sweater... initially i had 4 skeins of navy and 2 variegated, but I picked up 2 more variegated and now have equal of each...

and will follow the pattern in terms of shaping, but will be doing it all in stockinette and will stripe it. It looks great so far... and I am excited about it, which is very important.

lots of pictures of finished objects...

This is Erin's sweater under construction, with one sleeve done. It's my first attempt at a cable and it's just a simple twist. I am not sure I really like how the two colors are coming together. The pattern had a much more complicated cable, but since this is my first sweater not out of completely bulky yarn, and with shaping, I decided to forgo that element.
It took me a really long time to do the one sleeve, and since I don't love it, I am not putting the cable in the second sleeve. This sweater must be done. I really wanted her to be able to wear it for the kiddush we sponsored for her birthday. By not doing the second sleeve cable, that was a reality.

Here it is all completed. The edge was flat after blocking, but I forgot to take pictures then. I took them after she wore it, so the blocking is gone... now I will wash it and we'll see how it looks. I hope she will wear it more than once. I learned a lot making this. Including why you knit 2 rows of one skein then 2 rows from another skein when you are using hand dyed or kettle dyed yarn... you can totally see where the color shifts. Oh well. Lesson learned. Glad I learned it on a baby sweater! I love the way it came out overall. Now I need to learn how to cable for real so I can make the myriads of projects I see with cables... and I already have a teacher lined up to teach me! Orthofunky from ravelry lives nearby and she is going to teach me!

this was a little cap done with extra yarn... it was an exercise in using DPNs. I really enjoyed it, although I should have cast on a few more stitches as it just barely fit the baby it was made for. NEXT TIME! I am learning a lot about knitting!
Lastly, here we have the blanket I made for my cousin Lisa's son Noah. I had hoped to have it done before he was born, but didn't happen. I will be sending it off in the mail this week. It is made of 100% cotton as they live in Savannah and I wanted something not too hot. Also, it has a little tab that goes over the buckle of either a car seat or stroller so it won't fall on the ground. I hope they like it.

Now, back to finishing up a few other UFO's and trying not to start too many new things until I am caught up!

i know... i know...

it's been awhile... but, really, i've been busy! First off... Erin is now 1 Year old!!!!!! I can't even begin to believe it. CAN NOT. WILL NOT... okay, it's true. she's one. and, as a birthday present to her parents, she slept from 9pm until 7am. CRAZY! but, I digress. Really, it's been a bit crazed here... okay, more than a bit. The time between Purim and Passover almost always tends to be. First there is the cleaning, then there is the shopping, and then there is the cooking... and in between all that there is the regular everyday.

In addition, I did a hat sale for a friend of mine up in CT. I stayed at my mom's house. It's a good thing I did. We were going to spend the day after the sale doing fun things, then the next day I was going to drive home. BUT... I spent the night after the sale up and puking... I spent the next day lying on the kitchen floor with Erin playing nearby and my mom taking care of the two of us. It was awful. Luckily I felt okay enough to drive back the following day, but, sadly, I infected my mom's boyfriend with my icky germs and so he was sick. My mom escaped the germs, which is good seeing as she has had enough sickness for forever.

Passover was really nice in the end, although I have to say I don't even remember it all, it's almost like I sleepwalked through it. My mother-in-law did a ton of cooking which cut back on what I had to cook, but I still had to clean my kitchen and kasher everything, and then we did the sederim at our house so that Erin could go to sleep at her regular time... except she decided she wanted to be at part of the seder and so each night she woke up and ended up being present for some of it.

Then, this past week I did a project for a client. Let's just say that time management and Erin's sleep skills (or lack thereof) made it difficult. It seems, though, that the client is happy in the end and that is really important as well.

I have knitting content here... will edit later to add photos... I completed Erin's sweater.... YEP... all that is left is sewing on three little decorative flowers and it's done. As a matter of fact, I am going right now to do that. Then it will be totally done.. Which is good as I really wanted her to be able to wear it next weekend at her birthday party with the family. Now it seems as if that is a reality. HAPPY DANCE!!!!!!!!

oh - and one last thing... if you need a last minute mother's day present... let me know... we got in all sorts of photographic jewelry and while our business website isn't up and running, I can send you an image and we can talk details...

whirlwind...

the last two weeks have been busy! Erin hasn't been sleeping through the night this past week... and I am tired. She is drooling a ton - we think more teeth are on the way. My DH has a to do list for me. And, on it he had listed Purim Baking... about a month ago. I laughed... but should not have. Clearly he knew better than me. In my spare moments I should have baked and thrown in the freezer, and yet... I laughed. Last week was a marathon, and I feel like our shaloch manot were shvach. Three batches of chocolate biscotti and one large batch of hamentaschen later and I will not laugh ever again and the one month warning mark for Purim. I usually have three or four different baked goods... this year... just two.

And, as I look back on these two weeks I am amazed that I got even that much done. Of course, in addition to baking we had dentist appointments, La Leche League, my mother's group, and tax return stuff to take care of, you know, the everyday things. And, last Saturday as I was locking the back door my key just kept on spinning, and spinning and spinning... the lock broke... AGAIN! (of course the first two times were within weeks of the installation and it has now been two years) but it was still a little frustrating. Friday morning, as I was coordinating putting the shaloch manot delivery list in order and getting Erin and myself ready for the day, and get myself to megillah reading while coordinating w/ my FIL to watch the baby, the locksmith came to repair the lock. He mentioned that the lock hadn't been installed 100% correctly - the plate was too tight for a smooth rotation... probably why it broke before. He fixed it. It shouldn't break again. I hope!

And, on the project front, I have now finished one sleeve to Erin's sweater... and while I was excited to try a "mini-cable" which is really just a twist, I am not doing it on the second sleeve. Not only did it take me a long time to get the sleeve done, I don't love the way it came out. I will post a photo later. I just think the color (navy) and texture of the yarn make it invisible and I don't really like where the color changed from the olive to the navy. Maybe there is a better way to make that change. Dunno. The second sleeve will be solid. It should hopefully be done soon.

As a matter of fact... I am going to go knit a few rows.

musings on motherhood...

so, why is it that the cute one always seems to be able to sense when I need to get something done and therefore needs me more? or, if we need to get someplace that is when she needs to be fed. NOW. or, if I have things I'd like to do after she goes to sleep it becomes the night that it takes her over an hour to fall asleep... of course , if she weren't so darned cute the rest of the time... it wouldn't matter.

Melanie strikes again...

I just got in the mail an addition to my hot cocoa swap box and wanted to share the beautiful stitch markers I got. They are iridescent and way cool! Also in the photo is the cute little snowman that was left out of the original pictures - he had already taken up residence on my kitchen window sill!