BSJ the second

First off, I wanted to say I've been enjoying the craft along hosted by frontier dreams, and at the flckr group KCCO flkr It is nice to see what everyone is up to, and is good encouragement to both make progress and post. And it's nice to have comments! Especially when most of my week seems to be spent trying to get one kid or the other to sleep.

Progress has been slow this week. Inspiration and thoughts plentiful. I've been trying to go to sleep with the kids or as close to it as I can manage what with having to have the kitchen in some form of order before bed (I can't sleep if my kitchen is below some self-determined low standard of clean), so I have lost the usual hour or so to knit in bed and unwind. Also spring seems to have arrived a little early, and I have been playing outside and having picnics ( and realizing if I want to put a garden in this year, I'd better get a move on it!) But I still got through the decreases.

The yarn is knitpicks Swish DK. The pattern Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, available in many different formats from schoolhouse press. I have it in newsletter form from the reprints available in "The Opinionated Knitter" which is a very lovely book. I'm using size 5 needles and a little tighter than 5 st/ inch, though I haven't checked the gauge (it's a little tighter then the last sweater which was 5st/inch). It should fit the baby in progress when it is about 9 months, during it's first winter, or at least that is the hope. I like the swish DK for shower gifts to non knitters because it is soft, and is superwash (yet still wool) so it can be thrown in the washer (but never the dryer, oh no, never the dryer). I don't feel it wears the best of yarns, probably due to the superwashyness, so I also caution about over washing items (only if dirty,not every time it is worn, it's on outer garment), which might sound really suspect to first time, non-knitting parents. It is funny how a generation or two ago people would have just known those things, but now a lot of young people grow up ruining their wool sweaters. I was one of them until I started knitting!

The early bed time does give me time to think. I've sketch a design for a sweater for pizza. It is a fireman coat inspired sweater as per his request. Perhaps not the color scheme I was hoping to work with,but I have a sketch. Hopefully, I can share my thoughts in a week or two after I have a chance to swatch.

The aforementioned color scheme (black, yellow, and grey):

Have a good week, and we'll see what happens!

Pants!

What is that famous Elizabeth Zimmerman quote "Knit on through all crisis?" Well we are in the middle of the typical baby sleep crisis and I suppose I will craft on with perseverance. You know, to ground me, make me feel like if nothing else is working at least I'm making something.

First up, I made my first pair of pants ever. They are the Quick Change Trouser from Anna Maria Horner's book "Handmade Beginnings". It is an awesome and easy and adorable pattern, the first non rectangle I've attempted in a long, long time.

I think I will be making more of these in the future.I made them in the 12 month size. Yogurt is very long, and this gives us a little room for growth. I cut the elastic to about 19 inches, and sewed it shut at about 18. The fabric is a red cotton I bought at Christmas two years ago, and the green Flannel print which reminds me of frog eggs, both from Joanne's. So cute and so functional. Now I need to go fabric shopping for more.

Sewing is so different from knitting. It requires longer blocks of time and more involved set up. One of the things that has hampered me of late is no set place. I am now firmly set up in the back corner of the living room. It is nice and sunny and works. I even got away with sewing at night even though this room is directly under the baby's.

I also decided to cast-on for another baby surprise jacket. This one is for a cousin's baby who is having a shower in a month. It is the thing I go to when a have a few minutes. Knitting is awesome that way. It can just lie around and wait for you. Especially when the pattern is garter stitch with relatively consistent decreases and increase, and forgiving when it comes to stitch count.

As I've alluded we are having a time getting Yogurt on a sleep schedule. He has been waking up every hour after 12:00. Straight on til morning. If we are lucky he will sleep two hours straight. This has us, well me, very out of wack. But we will persevere and see if we can teach this kid how to get himself back to sleep on his own. It is hard though. I can be extremely prone to angry flares when I am tired like this, and I find myself yelling at Pizza more then I would like. This is my biggest work in progress, trying not to get so angry, but it is hard when you are tired. Persevere and knit on, indeed.

As always crafting on Tuesdays with others:

Frontier Dreams

Baby love

Happy Valetines Day! I have to admit to having mixed feelings about Valetine's day, and our celebration of it is very low-key. We baked heart shaped sugar cookies yesterday, and flour ended up all over. Pizza likes to play and dig in the flour with the measuring cups, and I generally let him. And then he wanted to "clean" the dishes which really means he wants to play in soapy water. He was having fun, and the mess wasn't so awful. You can't expect your kitchen to stay clean if you back with a four year-old,but I fully understand why my mom never made sugar cookies with us!

There has been a whole lot of baby love going around, what with all of my younger cousin having babies this spring. So another pebble vest was finished, and for my own my very first baby suprise jacket.

First the completed pebble in knitpicks swish DK. It took 1 50 gram ball, but it was very, very close at the end. I finished it with orange buttons, and Yogurt modelled for me. I'm hoping it will still be useful although the baby is a late spring baby, so non winter months, not sure if it will be.It is cute, and an expression of crafty love. I also sewed together a ribbon/tag blanket like a made for Yogurt, but I didn't take a picture.

Second, the EZ Baby Suprise Jacket for Yogurt in sheperd's wool. The yarn is greener than it looks in these pictures. I was suprised at how quick this knit up. It took me about two weeks, and I'm a slow knitter. I messed up the stitch count at the end, so it isn't picture perfect like it should be, but you have to know what it's suppose to look like to tell, and it is still very functional.

This leaves me with nothing on the needles. I am at a pause considering what to do next. There are more baby showers coming, and existing babies who did not get something yet. And Pizza wants me to knit him a sweater..... Meanwhile I trying to make some baby pants for Paul on the sewing machine. The first real non square item I've tried to make in a long time. We shall see....

Scribble-Scrabble and Mega baby blankets

Pizza (who is 4) is not fond of drawing. I attribute this to a perfectionistic streak in his personality. He did not walk until he was darn sure he wouldn't fall. Same with potty training. He does not like to draw because he can't make it look like he wants it to look, and no amount of cajoling from me is going to change that. But since "All" kids draw ( look it up), I try to build up his confidence and work with him.

So we go to a princess birthday party this weekend for one of his classmates, and they have a craft table, and for the boys there are littlewooden pirate ships with tiny markers to color. Because there wasn't much for Pizza to do while the little girls got make-up (yeah, don't even get me started on that!), I encouraged him to work on his. He does this:

Another mother observing this says to him. "Why don't you color that? That's only scribble." To which Pizza most apolegetically replies " I only know how to scribble-scrabble. I can't color." and immediately loses all interest in what he is doing. Needless to saw I felt awful for the little man, and shot the women a dirty look, and told him his work what fine, but to no avail.

Arghhh.... It has prompted me to re-examine what to do with Pizza. He needs confidence in his ability. I'm pretty sure this is not a fine motor issue, because he is quite good with other things that involve his hands and fingers. He can do buttons and zippers, and plays with lego, and is good a tracing letters with his fingers. But right now I'm scared to make him draw, so I decided another type of craft which will work with fine motor, rather then drawing per se would be good for him. Something he can display and feel good about. So we are working with a sign for his bedroom door. I drew his name while he watched, and applied glue, and I let him set to work with the beans. He even did a pattern! He came up with that idea all on his own. We got through S last night, and we will work on it for small amounts of time until he finishes. Then I will have him practice tracing his letters, and maybe try to coax him into fingerpaitning his name. If he does that maybe, maybe I will ask him to write his name with a crayon.....

On my crafty end I set up my sewing spot( why can't I ever remeber how to thread the bobbin on my machine!), and managed to sew a mega swaddling, baby blanket for Yogurt, who is quite long for his age. It's a bit overkill, but it has to do with making me feel like I'm doing something to address the sleeping issue, and less to do with the actual reality that it won't make a bit of difference.

I made progress on the BSJ, but I don't like the way the increases are looking, and haven't decided whether to rip out that section and try for the third time or just live with it. First I tried M1, but I didn't like it. Then I tried a bar increase, and that's better, but I think there must be another way to increase in garter stitch.

Hope you creating is going well, and sorry about the tangent on my son's craft. That women's careless comment has really been on my mind.

frontier dreams

in this moment

holding him and listening to his breathe softly rise and fall veins visible on his eyelids. I can't help but marvel at how fast he grows. and then he stirs, the moments gone.