tidbits

Whilst dishcloth knitting continues, and Sunrise Circle seaming stalls (who wants to seam when you can knit) here's some bits and pieces to keep you entertained:

• My friend and felllow S'n'B'er Amelia has finally started a blog. Do drop by and wish her a warm welcome to blog land
• Some sleek and funky Free Patterns available from Vogue Knitting's 25th Aniversary Issue
• Scott agrees that Cobblestone is a lovely sweater. I may have to knit it for him after I've finished my Hourglass and my Sunrise Circle Jacket. More pics at the Interweave Knits preview.
• Have you seen the lovely cloth baby shoes popping up around the place (eg here and here)? I'll have to try making some myself- cloth pattern here, and leather pattern here (both via Be*mused)
• I bought some new boots on the weekend. They're breathing new life into my wardrobe and making me really happy. Knee high black leather, with a low-ish moulded rubber sole, and only half price. Perfect with calf length A-line wool skirts for wintery afternoon walks with Baby C.

on and off the needles

Looking back over the week, I'm amazed, pleased and excited that between feeds, sleeps and other life essentials, I've been able to find time some time to knit. As a result, the last 30 rows or so of my Sunrise Circle Jacket are done, and all that remains to finish it off is the seaming, hemming, blocking and the all important buttoning (buttons already procured from Buttonmania, but not yet photographed). Stay tuned for a finished adult knit soon...

An adult garment is really long overdue for the blog. There's so many small knitted items and baby wear featuring here this year. Witness the (beautiful) growing stack of Baby C's handknits (and this isn't all of it).

I'm delighted with some of the beautiful things fellow bloggers and friends have given him- gorgeous green kimono with matching booties from Carson, a classic red sweater from Sundara, and a cute boy-ish vest from Sooz, all feature in this pile, along with a number of vests with matching hats, mittens and booties made by his other grandma (the knitter and quilter, not the crocheter). Really wonderful. I wish I could stop him from growing so that he can wear them more often. He's almost already grown out of the socks I made (I've found some patterns for larger baby socks here, here and here), and I haven't even lost one yet (they do stay on).

At least his current stack of knitwear leaves me free to cast on something other than baby clothes. I'm finally (spurred on by the fact I've put a hole in the one I received from Suse) casting on some cotton dishcloths. Simple, small knitting projects. I'm going to work my way through various patterns from the Monthly Dishcloths Yahoo group.

(Heirloom 8 ply Cotton, and 4mm Brittany Birch needles)

Maybe after a few dishcloths I'll be able to muster up the energy to finish off my Hourglass sweater. And then cast on a new sweater for me.. Oohhh, there's a thought...

vessel wednesday

Today's vessel offering is another wedding gift- a lovely nested set of Nigella Lawson mixing bowls. Such simple, elegant forms. They make baking a pleasure, and are pressed into regular use as serving bowls too.

They helped me satisfy an urgent desire to bake some cookies this afternoon, during a break from the day's babywearing activities. I opted for some easy Vanilla Cookies, with slivered almonds added for extra texture and flavour. I got the recipe from Nichola a while back, to help deplete my Vanilla Essence stash (still have a way to go to get through it..). I managed to measure, mix and bake them (freezing one half of the mix for future cookie cravings) in the space of an hour. I amazed myself I must say- it's surprising what you can do when you have a little window of time and can stay focused one thing.

mission accomplished

It's so satisfying when a creative project goes according to plan.

When you feel inspired about it and the inspiration carries through all the way to the final finishing touches; When the materials and pattern are just right for each other; When the pattern that you drafted actually fits together; When the tricky bits seem not so tricky after all; When you feel more satisfied with the finished product than you thought you might; But most importantly when you and the other person you made it for love using it, and use it regularly and successfully.

And believe me, the sling is getting regular use.



(More action shots here)

Feet

They fit.
Just.
But only for the briefest little while.
He's growing fast.

Baby Kimono

With much thanks to a couple of wonderful test knitters, and gratitude to Baby C for sleeping more reasonably today, I've finally finished tidying up the pattern for the baby kimono. You can download the pattern in .pdf format here (oopsie- I've fixed the link up now..) or in the Free Patterns in the sidebar. Hope you have fun with it- let me know if you have any comments or queries!

Baby C has been wearing handknits as he gets out and about (a bit of fresh air is good for all of us, even if it is only 12 degrees C).

That much

From one needle to the other.

That's how much I knitted whilst in labor.

I haven't knitted any further on it since, but now that we've reached the two week mark, have developed some settling skills, and convinced Baby C that his cot really is a place worth sleeping in (well, some of the time anyway), I'm hoping to be able to pick up the needles again and maybe even wear my Sunrise Circle Jacket before the end of this cold winter we're having.

Huge thanks to you all for all the congratulations and good wishes- I hope you understand if I don't manage to respond to all my emails for the next little while...

You'd be right if you've been thinking...

...that the blogging absence was due to Baby C's arrival.



The Vital Statistics:
Sex: Male
Weight: 3876g (8 pounds 8 ounces for any imperialists)
Height: 51cm
Looks: Gorgeous! (although I admit we could be slightly biased..). He seems to have his dad's ears, nose and chin, whilst his feet and hands are perfect little mini replicas of mine.



Labor:12 hours from first contraction to last push, no drugs- I used a TENS machine and it was fantastic. I spent the first 8 hours sitting on a pile of towels on the sofa (just in case), watching a back to back stream of Star Trek episodes (please don't hold it against me), and knitting. (I kid you not.. I had to put it down every 4 or 5 minutes to hit the booster button on the TENS machine. I'll have to photograph the progress for you- I finished about half the back of my Sunrise Circle Jacket). To a certain extent I feel like I'm exaggerating what I did when I tell people I did it drug free- there is no way I could have done it without the TENS, or the fantastic support I had from my husband, obstetrician and the midwife, and I am in total and complete awe of the few friends I have who have done it without drugs or TENS.

Life since: Turned completely upside down, as you would expect. Baby C doesn't seem that keen on settling down for sleep, unless he's held and rocked, so the sling has already come in for a good workout, and it's doing the job very nicely (he's slinged up in my lap as I type). But I can see that blogging and crafting will be taking a back seat for a while, until we get a grip on things...