Work In Progress

This Moment

  {this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

   

A winner

Sorry I fell off the map - we've been sick with some lingering, horrible chest cold. All of us.  Sigh.

So, it takes a bit to figure out a way to get a baby to choose only on name... :)

Third commenter from the original post - Kate! :) I can't wait to see what you make!  A large lace shawl? Doubled for a shawlette? Infinity cowl, lots of fingerless mitts? :)

I'm 10 months old today!

I've been trying to get a good picture all day but I keep missing his smiles and he moves too fast!

 

Finally got a chance to grab a picture.

 

I can't believe it's been 10 months already.  Sometimes the days (and nights) drag but when he does something new (like pushing chairs across the room) I wonder where that helpless baby is that we brought home from the hospital 10 months ago.

 

I love him with all my heart!

This Moment 2-28-14

Joining SouleMama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you want to join, leave your moment in the comments.  

This Moment

{this moment}

Joining SouleMama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you want to join, leave your moment in the comments. 

Ball! (FO)

I finally got inspired to make something new for Wiggle.

A ball!

I'd kind of hoped it would help with teething but I think it might be a little hard to manipulate right now. I do think it's better for an older baby who is starting to roll things around.

And what did Wiggle think of his new ball?

"Here is a new ball Wiggle!" 

"What is this thing Mama is handing me?" 

"I'm not sure what it is, but it's not as cool as my blue elephant! I'll just lay it down here." 

Oh well, hopefully better luck next time! 

Don't forget about my 4th blogiversary! I added another prize tonight. 

Project details:
Pattern: Braided Ball
Yarn: Lily 'n Cream - 95 yards; SWR Cool Cotton - 86 yards
Modifications: I ran out of SWR so four rows of one band are knit with Lily 'n Cream. I just moved the band around until those rows were hidden. I did 18 stitches x 68 rows x 6 bands
Yardage total 2013: 3588

Yarn Along 10-23-13

I had an epiphany and finally figured out that Ginny provides the HTML for the logo! Success!

Anyway, joining Ginny this week. 

A knitted toy for Wiggle is 2/3 done.  This is a snapshot of my gratuitous technique work... I'm about to kitchener the loop closed.

And, because I can't stand it anymore... a deliberately-blurry copy of my super-secret reading.  I really, really hope to be able to tell you more soon! 

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway! I'm hoping to have a picture of another prize up tomorrow. And more to come! 

Wiggle is 21 weeks old!  So amazing to look at my boy and think that 21 short weeks ago, he was this tiny... 

Letdown Shawl (FO)

So, sweet Rue sent this lovely yarn as a little something for Mama when she sent Wiggle his sweater.

You wouldn't think that I'd have time for lace knitting these days, but now that I'm back at work, I'm pumping 3-4 times a day. So, instead of staring at the wall in the 4x4 closet that's been turned into a nursing mothers room, I'm knitting.

30-40 minutes a day, five days a week and, just under two months later, voila! a shawl! 

I pushed for a final repeat and came up just short. 

But, since Rue knew me so well, she sent me green and I knew I had a giant cone of green lace weight that I bought my first year of knitting. It's two ply and machine spun, but close enough that for one row and a bind off, it wasn't noticeable.

It took awhile to get FO shots since I was unwilling to pose inside, in the evening with pajamas. This weekend Partner and I snuck out during a nap. 

I cast on fewer stitches since the pattern is for more yardage than I had. I'm quite happy that this ended up measuring 15 x 56, so a perfect shawl! 

If you look in the picture above, you can see the tops of each leaf.  The pattern calls for purl stitches between leaves but another Raveler subbed-in knit stitches and I liked the idea. As a result, the back of the shawl is nearly as beautiful as the front! 

Thank you Rue! 

 

Project details:
Pattern: Woodland Shawl
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace, Verdes colorway; a little bit of unknown green - 503 yards
Modifications: In between leafs (vertically) I did not do the purl stitches so the stems flow into each other instead of being separated. Also, I only cast on 67 stitches instead of 89 because I had one skein of yarn and still wanted a wrap.
Yardage total 2013: 3407

 

And it's playoff time here in the U.S. for baseball.  My lifelong team is in the playoffs. I'm convinced that they've waited until I gave up my season tickets after ELEVEN YEARS to win this year.  My friend who's been a fan even longer sent Wiggle a onesie so he can cheer too! 

Yarn Along 8-30-13

<Imagine the cool yarn along logo here... I couldn't get it to work...>

Joining Ginny on the yarn along.  

Reading is super secret this week, though hopefully I can say more soon.

That wonderful skein of yarn that Rue sent?  It's becoming the Woodland Shawl or - as I like to call it - the Letdown Shawl. 

I am pumping 3-4 times a day at work.  Given the alternatives of staring at a wall, thumbing through gossip mags or realizing I had about 45 minutes to knit each day, you can see what I chose. As you might imagine, it's often the only knitting I do in a day.

This project is also part of Andi's KAL/CAL... we'll see if I can knit a shawl in two months only working on it at work or if there will be some additional knitting at home. Come join us... there are yarn prizes! 

And guess who turned 3 months old yesterday?  Mister Adorable! I've decided he is the most beautiful baby I know.  You may chat among yourselves about who should be in second... :) 

Handknit Gifts

I'm a little remiss to thank people for the other handknit gifts which have arrived. 

Okay, a lot remiss since I started this in early August....

From the lovely Kate, gifts for Mom AND baby.  My first solo outing after Wiggle was born put this gift to use! Thanks Kate! 

She even included dishclothes for the new house.  Goodness knows, I need them (this is embarassing!)

So pretty and thoughtful!

 My wonderful friend Kat, knit this wonderful Oakland Athletic's sweater.  

And then, if cute baseball buttons (not made in China!) weren't enough... she interrupted A. J. Griffin's ice cream sundae and he happily posed with the sweater!!!! For the record, they are going all the way this year, now that I don't have season tickets... 

And finally, the sweet Rue, sent this amazing package... a sweater for Bug and yarn for Mama that may already be on the needles.... Thank you for this beautiful cabled sweater Rue - I know I don't have the patience for it!...

and you are right Rue - the chocolate is fantastic! 

But I know you really want to see all these gifts in action....  Melissa's shrug... 

Kate's super soft hat... 

Lily's hand-drawn onsie... 

Thank you! You guys are wonderful!!!!