Groan . . . she's getting so big!

Here she is last week:
And here she is this week:


Who authorised this? Who said she could grow so darned quickly??

Of course I would be beside myself if she wasn't growing, and it is a bit of a point of pride that she's growing so fast -- but it's really going too fast!

In sweater news, I realised that mom's birthday is in 4.5 weeks. Well, roughly. So if I can knit a piece of sweater a week, and seam it in the remaining days, I'll be golden. I picked it up again today and set to it . . . only to suffer a set-back that wouldn't have been an issue at all if I hadn't shelved the sweater in favour of more attractive (Read: tiny) projects. I forgot there was errata. I became entagled in this lack of remembering. I now need to pull back 6 rows. Or ladder down. In any case. It just makes it more of a chore. If it weren't for a deadline, I'm not sure this sweater would even happen.
There are things in my queue that I'm just aching to cast on, but I have told myself that I may not until the sweater is done. And then, being a super procrastinator extraordinaire, I find other crafts to dabble in. Darned if I haven't started yet another quilt for Sweet Pea - yeah, cause she needs more blankets, right? Sadly, I think she does. This one will be uber cute.
Digging through my abandoned stuff box, I found 3 more quilts in various stages of almost done, 2 not even started yet, 2 cross stitch stockings, 2 dolls that need making up, 3 dresses . . . you get the idea, right? I wish I had never opened the box. In theory it could all be done quickly and simply enough - but I lack the drive to finish it all. The drive, and the time. Because frankly, I'd rather be knitting.

Lamby love!

Sweet Pea in her lamb towel.

I wanted to show you pics of Sweet Pea snuggling with her daddy - but I don't have his consent to share those photos. Too bad, they're pretty charming.

Yesterday I finished the raspberry Pea Pod. It's all seamed and lovely. It just needs buttons, and I'm not rushing it. I'll find the right ones for it in time, I'm sure. Sweet Pea won't fit it for quite a while yet anyway.

Now I really have to settle in to work on mom's birthday sweater. The back is completed. Half of one front is completed. You'd think it wouldn't be such an issue to finish it, but I'm seriously dragging my butt. Partly because I hate working from patterns in books. What a pain!
I am really looking forward to having it finished and presented, so I can get it off my needles, off my couch, and just be done with it! I'm hoping mom will like it, but I'm waffling on whether she will or not - and that makes the knitting harder.

Knitting for . . someone else??

I recently learned that a certain online acquaintance of mine was expecting. I won't say who - she said she's not sharing the news freely.

So I knit her upcoming offspring some booties.


See the problem? Two left booties. So I made a third bootie. It was a right one. Phew. Then I put buttons on both sides just in case the right bootie goes missing. That way it's not so obvious that the little one is wearing two left booties.

FYI - the colour is true in the second photo.

Lacey baby booties.

Ravelry Link. And they aren't actually lacey. There are some problems with the pattern, but use your head and you'll get there. Oh, and keep count properly and you won't get 2 left shoes.

But then I got ambushed by another pattern. The Inca-dincadoo Cardigan.

Ravelry Link. Very cute. I had intended to make it for Sweet Pea prior to her arrival, but I forgot. Now, she wouldn't fit it. So I made it for my anonymous pal instead. True, it may be a pain in the ass - I made it from Lamb's Pride which will felt like a son of a bitch . . but perhaps she'd like it felted! I resisted the strong desire to felt it myself just in case . . . you never know what someone else's preference will be. Maybe she'll WANT to handwash it. Maybe she hates felted items! Maybe she loves garter stitch beyond reason. Maybe it's off-white and a little spit up will hardly show anyway. ;)

Both projects were started and finished within just a few hours of knitting time. Hard to complain about that, eh? And both were stash-diving excercises as well. All around win, I think.


Anywho, it's all packaged, sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for the next cash infusion to arrive before I send it off. Hope she likes it!

I can haz controversy?

Sweet Pea has been made famous lately. She is the featured model of the Modified Drops Eyelet Baby Cardi on Ravelry, due to a great photo of her in her Strawberry Sunset sweater. She is featured on the February Lady Sweater pattern page as well, albeit in utero. Today, however, she was rocketed into Ravelry stardom (infamy??) with a thread in the forums.

Turns out my cute little project page on her development from conception to birth is a source of controversy. Some people are being downright hateful about it, some people are really positive about it . . . all in all, I feel between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, she is NOT a knitting project, and therefore doesn't belong in my notebook. On the other hand, it took me 40 long weeks to make her, she is the most beautiful, wonderous, amazing thing I've ever made, and I want everyone to see her. I love the comments, the congratulations, the excitement that surrounds her. And I love seeing the pics of my belly expanding. The pics were not saved to the PC, and they are no longer accesible via flickr - if I delete the project, that record is gone.

I dont' know what to do. I recieved notification from Ravelry admin that the project has been noted as not in the spirit of Rav, they hinted that it should be removed, but also said it didn't have to be.

I feel like I've done something wrong. I never should have read the thread - now I feel unwelcome and shunned . . . and I know that's just silly. No one will remember who posted the project of their pregnancy, and it's not like there aren't others who did it (I was first though), but I feel like I'm being accused of wrecking Ravelry. And that sucks!

We're going to Kentucky, We're going to the fair . . .

Except it wasn't Kentucky, and there was no Senorita with roses in her hair. It was better than that. It was the KW KNITTER'S FAIR!

Much improved from last year. There was space to move, and it wasn't ridiculously hot from all the people packed into a tiny space. Loved. It.

JennyP and I started bright and early. I picked her up, and we were first in line at 8:45 am. Doors weren't until 9:30. Why did we queue up so early? This is why:


Mom found us in the line, and joined us for a brief while. She got an awesome deal on some alpaca/angora, and I'm terribly jealous . . . but hey, she got lucky. Good on her! I will be honest, with all that yarn and goodness, it's hard to remember to take photos. But I did make a valiant effort.

This is what it looked like inside:


Well, that, and this:


It's where dreams are dreamed, and things like this get them started:


Yummy! I bought some of that . . . see?

It will be a sweater for Sweet Pea, as it is superwash, and delightfully soft and squishy.

Here's the whole haul from yesterday.


Mostly Sweet Pea sweaters (don't even start. I like knitting for her!) but also a new spindle, some roving, and some awesome buttons.

Let's break it down.
We started with spinning supplies. Since my spinning session with JennyP a while back, I've been enjoying spinning very much. I did this on Wednesday:

It has since been completely spun, and plied, and I'm super impressed with the results. My spindle, however, is mighty tiny - so I picked this stuff up yesterday:


Much bigger spindle, and a wee niddy noddy. Lovely! Now I can spin with more zest and fervor!

I got roving to go along with it:

Merino Bamboo blend. Should be interesting.

And then we got into the yarns. I got this on a whim, because the colours are so much fun!



And I got this delicious stuff for a third Pea Pod - this time in a much larger size!


It is absolutely divine.

But perhaps the coolest thing I picked up yesterday is right here:


Buttons! Yeah, I know . . . whoop-i-dee-doo, right? They're cool, I promise! They're MOOSE ANTLER BUTTONS! When the moose shed their antlers, this guy gets them and makes buttons out of them. I think they're incredible! They'll go on my chocolate jacket, which has been waiting and waiting for some really special (BIG) buttons.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

She's back in action! Last night around 11, Sweet Pea shot me a smile. And then she continued smiling for about an hour. I feel better.

Today I started the day like this:And ended it like this:
I just got tired of peeling my baby out of my tresses. And unwrapping strands of hair from her fingers. And taking it out of her diapers??

I liked my hair long. I liked the way it looked and that it was easy to care for . . . but I think I'll like it short too. I've had short hair before - a pixie cut, that was rather alot of maintenance. This one won't need to be cut every four weeks, or look like hell. It won't need styling wax, and shattering product, and 15 minutes of blow drying with a styling brush to look right. Also, I think it makes my face look a little perkier. So, that's cool, right?

I know you didn't come to see me. Here's the main attraction, in her Bumbo chair, contemplating life.

Oh Lordy

Well, it's done. Poor little thing, she HOWLED at the first prick. She howled through the second prick.

Per Lisa's suggested reading, I put her to the breast just as soon as I could afterward. She calmed considerably in moments, but she's still not very happy. The nurse said to expect a fussy, unhappy girl for the next 24 hours. Happily, she's sleeping right now. I'm not about to wake her up.

It's so silly. I feel like such a terrible person, like I betrayed her trust by letting someone cause her pain. I know it's necessary. I'd rather have her cry for a few minutes at a shot than have her stricken with some preventable disease like polio . . . but still. She cried. She cried because of 2 needles that I authorized. I feel terrible. But I'll get over it.

eek.

Today is Wednesday. That means tomorrow is Thursday and Sweet Pea's first round of immunizations. I'm really not looking forward to it. In fact, to say I'm dreading it would not be a stretch at all. Poor little girl, she's up for a rough week. Last night was the first meeting of the KW Knitter's Guild - she was so over-stimulated after being loved on by so many people she couldn't get herself settled and to sleep until 1:45 am. Tomorrow she'll get shots. Saturday she's coming to the KW Knitter's Fair in the morning (and early afternoon), and then we're off to Mr. Wonderful's birthday party with his friends in his hometown for the evening. Sunday is her cousin's baptism. She'll be so wound up by Monday . . . poor thing. She's going to need a sensory deprivation chamber or something!

In the meantime though . . .
Some photos to share!Best self-portrait ever!

Gettin' awful big!!
This is what I see when Sweet Pea nurses. How's that for angelic and peaceful?

50%

Now to cast on for #2!

Baby love.

I love when she falls asleep while nursing.
She naps in my arms.
Then she turns her head, and uses my breast as a pillow.

Indescribable.
Priceless.
Precious.
Fleeting.

You could call me productive. It wouldn't be a stretch.

Today is rainy and gray and generally . . . well, crap. Unless you're me!

What I got done today:

• I weeded the back gardens. Not completely, but I got a fair bit done between rain showers.
  
• I spun the remainder of some alpaca roving I got in Rhinebeck last year.
  
• I plied the spinning.
• I bathed my daughter.
  
• I cleared out, de-cluttered and re-organized 4 kitchen cupboards.
  
• I emptied the dishwasher.
  
• I knit 1,800 stitches of a new project.

All this, and it's just 4:15 here.

Let me show you some proof:


Spinning! Half done yesterday with JennyP, half done today. It's my first efforts, and I have to say I feel pretty good about it. There are spots that are way underspun, but there are also spots that look like real yarn!

And here are 1,800 stitches of new project.

How is this possible you ask? How can the mom of a 2 month old be so productive??


Need I say more?

Ominous silence

. . . what can I say, aside from sorry? There has been very little to blog about here this week.

I've been busy planning my adventure to the KW Knitters Fair for next weekend! It's a little slice of heaven, right here at home.

Sweet Pea is testing my patience with a clingy, whiny phase that I truly hope is over soon. I want my happy little self-assured girl back! And since I know you only visit for baby pics:

Here she is in her sheepy PJ's . . . awwww!!! She has other sheepy PJ's too. They're just as cute. Courtesy of JennyP. She knows what I like.