What I knit 2013

This is not a complete list of everything I made in 2013, just the ones that made the blog.


Vanilla Latte Socks

Zebra Shawl

Matchy Matchy Socks

Elizabeth Cardigan

Bubbly Socks

Playful Citrus

Walpole Cardigan

Just A Whisper Scarf

Creature Comforts Cardigan

Division Cardigan

Honey Badger Socks

Panda Hat

Pom Pom Scarf

Six pairs of bunny slippers

Darling Emma Cardigan

Hermione's Everyday Socks

Pomme De Pin Cardigan

Baby Overalls

Dream Stripes

Dream Stripes

Korrigan

The World's Cutest Baby

Giving The People What They Want

 Once upon a time two people fell in love...

And then this happened!

"You gotta be careful when you've got good love cause them angels will just keep on multiplying"

Best Christmas Present Ever!

I shall call her Squishy...

And she shall be mine, and she shall be my squishy!

Everybody loves Squishy.

And they all lived Happily Ever After!

And cause I've got more cute pictures...

It may or may not have taken me four days to write this post.  Man, I'm tired.

Post Christmas Report

Just in case you were wondering...

Bird got her Weasley Sweater for Christmas (the buttons were sewn on and everything!).  It looks super cute on her and she does indeed love her pink hooded sweater.  Maybe someday I will even get the chance to take pictures of her in it.

The baby got her outfit for Christmas.  Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll grow into it before sweater weather is over.  I swear I knit the "newborn" size.

Pork Chop still needs the ends woven in on her sweater.

Meaty still needs the ends woven in on his sweater, and the buttons sew on.

Sweet Pea still needs me to knit her sweater.

Round the clock pumping is more challenging than I imagined.  And it is really cutting into my knitting time!

Last night I got up at 1 am with the baby.  I took her downstairs.  Made her bottle.  Fed her some of her bottle.  Stopped to let her poop.  Changed her diaper.  Fed her the rest of her bottle.  She pooped again.   Changed another diaper.  Convinced her to go back to sleep.  Put her in her swing.  Got out my breast pump.  Pumped for a half hour.  Cleaned my pump.  Sterilized my pump parts since I think we are getting thrush.  Went upstairs to go back to bed.

It was 2:45 when my head finally hit the pillow.

I got up again with the baby at 3:30 to do it all over again.

I am a sleepy sheepy.

No wonder I don't have time or brain power to blog.  I'll just post a picture of the baby.  That's all anyone is here for anyways.  Nobody reads the words anymore.  Just give the people what they want.  Show off the baby!

That should tide people over for a few days right?

Post cards from the Trenches

You can all breathe easy.  The World's Cutest Baby is still super cute.  I love how round and full her tummy is in the picture.  She's so content she's even smiling in her sleep.  I loves her so much!

This may be our fifth baby, but this is the first time The Greatest has ever taken Paternity Leave.  Words can not express how much I love having him home.  And he is having the best time bonding with his baby.  As I type this he is playing music for his baby (she LOVES music) and dancing with her.  I love watching him be a good Daddy to his children.  He is The Greatest.  He is loving the bottle feeding.  (Man, there is a lot of loving going on in our house)  He even takes one of the middle of the night feedings so I can get more than two hours sleep in a row.  Unfortunately he doesn't tell me before hand that he is going to take that feeding he just quietly takes the baby and feeds her.  I then wake up in a panic, thinking I've missed her feeding, and I try to feed her a second time.  I think he needs to leave me a note on the counter when he feeds her.

And of course I have the obligatory Daddy/Baby sleeping on the couch photo.

I promised this was a photo for my private use only, not something for the blog.  So nobody tell him it is here ok?

The only downside to him being home is he has taken up baking.

So much baking.

At first it was his seven layer cookies.  They are heaven in a bar cookie.  Fortunately for me the kids ate most of them while I was at the NICU with The World's Cutest Baby (tm).

Then it was turtles.

He made ten dozen.  That is not a typo.  He made ten dozen.  One hundred and twenty yummy yummy turtles.  I eat at least two every time I get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby.

This is not good for my hips.

Or my thighs.

Today he made cookies.

Plain Sugar Cookies.

And Peppermint Sugar Cookies.

And another batch of Seven Layer Cookies.

This is not good for my butt.

I have a good friend who told me not to worry.  She assured me that this is why they have New Year's Resolutions.

She's not wrong.

In crafting news, my hands didn't stay still for long.  I had to bust out my crochet hooks for a custom order.

I also have a Knit Picks project to start/finish.  And I haven't even cast on for Sweet Pea's Weasley Sweater.

I need to figure out how to knit while I pump.

This Counts Right?

On Hold

Finding time to blog with a newborn is hard.  I think when Sweet Pea was a baby I would just post pictures of her being cute and call it close enough to count as a real blog post.  And I must admit, the World's Cutest Baby is awfully cute!

Our newest addition seemed to realize that all my friend's children were swallowing pennies and requiring surgery, or taking life flight helicopter rides that cost more than I will ever make in my lifetime.  I guess she didn't want me to be the only one without expensive medical bills at Christmas.  So we spent last weekend in the NICU.

Poor baby girl had a dangerous combination of high bilirubin levels and dehydration.

(my Oompa-Loompa baby on Friday afternoon)

It was a long stressful weekend.  We nursed, and nursed, and nursed.  She laid in a baby tanning bed (with the world's cutest goggles, if only I'd had my camera).  They pushed iv fluids.  She made little progress.  We finally determined that while she has the muscle tone, and co-ordination to nurse, she lacks the stamina to nurse long enough to gain all the nutrients she needs.  When we switched from breastfeeding to giving her bottles of expressed milk she improved overnight.  She gained so much weight they weighed her twice to be sure she gained that much overnight.

(my chubby baby on Sunday night)

So now we feed a bottle of expressed milk every three hours.  Midnight feedings not only include feeding a bottle, but also pumping milk for a half hour (Mooooo) and then cleaning my pump and getting things ready for the next round.  I get done in time to sleep for two hours and then get up and do it all over again.  Sleeping in two hour increments makes me a sleepy zombie.

There is no crafting.

I've even carefully picked up all my tiny tiny triangles, and tiny squares and put them back into The Abyss.  I fear they would get dirty and lost laying out waiting for me to gain enough brain power to be trusted to run a sewing machine without accidentally sewing myself to the quilt.

My needles are still.  My projects can wait.

I've got a tiny baby to snuggle.

Losing Has Never Been So Much Fun!

Well, I was racing with the baby to see if I could get her quilt done before she made her big arrival into the world.

I lost.

I woke up Sunday morning around five with very intense back pain.  I laid in bed reading my kindle and realized my back pain wasn't constant.  It would come and go.  I convinced myself that since there wasn't a pattern to my pain (the coming and going would be five minutes apart, then nine, then three, then five) it could not possibly be labor.

I was in denial just a little bit.

At seven I broke down and called The Greatest (who was just getting off work from a 13 hour night shift) and told him I thought I was in labor.

He raced home to find me drifting around the house.  I needed to pack a hospital bag for me.  I needed to pack a hospital bag for the baby.  I needed to choose what the baby was going to wear home from the hospital.  I needed to get dressed but maybe I needed a shower.  I NEEDED to make the bed (don't ask me to explain that one, I can't).  But I couldn't focus on one task long enough to complete it.  The bed was half made.  The bags were half packed.  I was still in my bathrobe trying to find something clean to wear.

The Greatest is such a good husband.  Between contractions he gently guided me through my crazy, making sure the bags were packed,  outfits chosen, I was dressed, and even the bed got made.

Off to the hospital we went.  (37 weeks, 2 days pregnant, in labor ready to go to the hospital)

Hospitals are, well, they're hospitals.  So check in took entirely too long.  Waiting to move from intake to labor and delivery took entirely too long.  Getting my epidural took ENTIRELY too long.  Did they not realize I was in labor?

Contractions people!  I was having contractions!

Of course things didn't really get fun until after I got my epidural.

I'm not new to this baby delivering gig.  I've had four babies.  With each child I got my epidural and then my labor stopped progressing.  They would give me pitocin, and in an hour I'd have a baby.  It is a system that works.  It is a calm, easy pain free delivery.  I'm all about supporting people who want to have a natural child birth, or a water birth or a home birth.  If that is the birthing experience you need then by all means you should go for it.  I just happen to want a hospital birth with an epidural.

We talked about this with the nurse, and the on call OB and it was decided to just go ahead and give me pitocin in tandem with my epidural, no need to wait to make sure the epidural actually slowed down my labor.  After all, there was no reason to think my body would react any differently than it had in the past.  The ob suggested I even get pitocin while waiting for the epidural.  The nurse and I decided that was going just a bit too far.  Pitocin can make contractions even harder and more painful that they are (which is pretty darn painful).  No need to do that until I was numb and pain free.

Finally in went the epidural.  I had a  blissful twenty minutes of pain free labor.  Then I started feeling that pesky back pain.  And then there was some lower abdominal cramping.  And then OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS GOING ON IT HURTS SO BAD!

My epidural failed.  But the pitocin didn't.  My contractions were coming hard, one on top of the next.  I was at a ten and needed to push.

What happened next happened fast, and it was not my finest hour.  I remember begging them to help me, to take the pain away.  I remember someone telling me to breath and wanting to punch them.  I was breathing.  It wasn't helping.  I think they grabbed a random OB out of the hallway to catch the baby.  I don't even know where The Greatest was during all this.  He was there, but I don't remember seeing him.  I know when the baby crowned I lost my mind and there was screaming involved.  So much screaming.  Screaming at the top of my lungs.

I was that woman in the delivery ward.

Like I said, not my finest hour.

Had this happened with my first child I would not have had any other children.

But my sweet baby is here safe and sound.  That is all that matters.

Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen having her hearing tested?

We are all head over heels in love with her.

As we should be.

Welcome to the world my little baby!

I Really Don't Listen

In today's crafting, I made a huge dent in turning my tiny tiny triangles into tiny squares.

Two thirds down.  One third to go!

Then of course I have to turn my tiny squares into big quilting squares.  And then the big quilting squares will need sewn into a quilt top (times two).  And then the quilt top will need made into a quilt sandwich (times two).  And then the quilt sandwich will need quilted (times two).  Then the quilted quilt will need bound (times two). 

And then I'll be done!

There is absolutely no chance I will have this done before She-who-has-not-been-named will make her big arrival.

None.

But I try.

I am not without help in this hopeless endeavor.

Sweet Pea loves "helping" me make her quilt.  Not that I would exactly call her contributions "helping" but I do enjoy her company, so it is all good.

I was showing her all the tools and talking to her about what I was doing and why.  I told her to be very careful with the rotary cutter because it was sharp and could cut her.

Then I sliced off my fingernail.

On the same finger that I gave a second degree burn with hot glue yesterday.

Then I sliced off a second fingernail.

And on a third finger I skipped the nail and just cut the flesh instead.

I'd like to blame my clutsy crafting on the pregnancy, but no, that's just par for the course for me.

I am my own worst enemy.

On the knitting front I've moved onto the bottom section of my Hitofude.

This is the part where I should try on the sweater to check the fit.  It is looking pretty big.  But as we've established, I like to live on the crazy side of life.  Instead I just knit away.  

Ignorance is bliss.

I Should Listen To My Own Advice

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day.

As planned, we started the day off with pie, and hot chocolate.

I think this needs to be a new Thanksgiving Tradition.  I am happy to report all three pies were delicious.  Yay Me and my mad pie filling skillz!

The children had their beloved veggie tray

complete with sparkling cider.  The rest of the food didn't even matter.  Which is good.  Because I forgot to make rolls.  And we couldn't find the vegetable peeler anywhere, so we decided not to bother with mashed potatoes.  The rest of the meal was basically ham.  We had ham, a veggie tray, and pie.

Lots and lots of pie.

It was a good day.

Despite all my best intentions I didn't get to go shopping for potential yarn today.  My shopping partner's son came down sick yesterday.  He wasn't doing much better today.  So no shopping for her.  Which turned into no shopping for me.

Suck monkey.

Instead Pork Chop and I sat down with this mess.

And we made some new flower clips for their hair.

And Christmas Bows.

And Pork Chop made a very special bow to wear with her favorite Jack Skellington T-shirt.

And then we took all our favorite baby outfits...

And made matching bows.

Cause I'm going to be THAT Mom.

I've come to peace with it.

I did manage to burn a patch of skin off my arm with a glue gun.  And I have a second degree burn on the tip of my finger from accidentally touching the hot glue.  Pork Chop actually listened to me when I told her to be careful, hot glue is hot.  She managed to escape our crafting adventure unscathed.  So all in all not a bad day.

I'm now going to sit down with my Hitofude, and knit myself some bliss.

I have decided what disastrous turn my blissful knit will take.  I'm pretty sure it will have something to do with the sweater not fitting.  It is looking a little large, and I'm expecting it to grow a bit with blocking.  I'm too scared to actually do something like check my gauge to see if adjustments need made.  That would be the smart thing to do.

We all know I tend to shy away from the smart thing.

No, I'd rather knit and cross my fingers and hope for the best.

I've come to peace with this too.

Close Enough to Home made

I FINALLY did it!

No I didn't sew together a bunch of triangles into tiny tiny squares.

It wasn't that productive a day.

No, today's accomplishment was all about pie.

Long time readers will remember that Meaty LOVES pumpkin pie.  He lives for it.  All he wants, with every fiber of his soul, is an entire pumpkin pie to eat all by himself.  That is the missing experience that would make his life complete.

And for the past couple of years I have wussed out and bought his pumpkin pie at Wal-Mart.

Which is gross.  So very gross.

He doesn't seem to mind.

I do.

But not this year.

This year I was going to actually make my little man a pie.  No excuses.  I faced the day with grand plans to FINALLY conquer my nemesis - Pie Crust.  Full Disclosure - It is my hatred of and inability to make pie crust that causes me to resort to Wal-Mart pies year after year.  I had a "no fail" family recipe from a friend that I know to be delicious when she makes it.  I had high hopes.  While I wasn't expecting the same tasty results my friend created, I was expecting something passable.  Gotta keep my goals realistic.

A constant ache in my lower back was enough to make me quickly abandon my pie crust plans.  I'm not ready to have this baby yet.  I have plans to go shopping for potential yarn on Black Friday.  Anything stressful felt like it might push me over the edge from gearing up for labor to actual labor.  And make no mistake about it, my body is gearing up for labor.    Nope, all things considered, standing in my kitchen stressing over pie crust did not feel like a reasonable thing to do.

So I sent The Greatest to Wal-Mart.

For ready made pie crust.

It is close enough.

Close enough counts.

So now I have a mostly home made pumpkin pie just waiting for Meaty.

Ok, it isn't very pretty, but the filling batter was dang tasty if I do say so myself.  Meaty ate the left overs with a spoon.  His Thanksgiving will be complete, even if I am making him share his pie.

There is also an apple pie for The Greatest.

And a pecan pie for me.

I've already decided that we should just start the day off with pie and hot chocolate for breakfast tomorrow.  Why wait until after the ham to have pie?  And yeah, we're having ham for Thanksgiving this year.  I'm just not up for stuffing a turkey right now.  And since The Greatest is working the holiday he won't be around to make the turkey for me.  As depressing as it is, he is better at turkey than I am anyways.  So ham it is for Thanksgiving.  I'm going to buy a cheap turkey on Friday and have it for Christmas dinner when The Greatest will be around to cook.

It's a solid plan.

Speaking of Christmas

My house is looking especially Christmas-y.  It is my happy place.

In knitting news, because I sometimes pretend this is a knitting blog, my Hitofude grows.

I love this pattern.  I love the way this pattern is playing with this yarn.  I'm so delighted and so in love with this knit that it is sure to take a disastrous turn for the worse at one point or another.  Until it does I sit and knit my beautiful stress free knit, as not to over exert myself and throw myself into labor.

It's a solid plan.

A Little Bit of Everything

The triangles...

they taunt me.

All those little triangles that need sewn into squares.  Then they need "squared up" with a ruler and a rotary cutter to ensure they are exactly 3.5 inches.

Which is entirely too small.

I keep asking myself why I didn't pick a pattern that was all squares.  Preferably 12 inch squares.

I would be done by now.

But no.  I like to make things complicated.  And if anyone is truly paying attention you'll notice that this is the fabric that I purchased in 2010 to make matching quilts for Bird and Sweet Pea.  The two twin size quilts which, despite my lofty dreams and grand intentions, were obviously never finished.  So now I'm trying to make a twin size and a crib size quilt.

Should be easier right?

After all, crib size is WAY smaller than twin size.  I should be able to whip these out in no time.

But the triangles.

The tiny tiny triangles.

I'm starting to hate triangles.

On the knitting front  we have two sleeves!

And a hood!  Nothing left to do but finishing work.  So of course, it has gone to join the other Weasley Sweaters in The Abyss.  Christmas is still a month away.  Theoretically it is plenty of time to finish the sweaters, but I'm sure I will be found Christmas Eve sobbing with exhaustion while I frantically weave in all those ends.  

I like to live on the crazy side of life.

I'm having trouble deciding on a yarn/pattern for Sweet Pea's Weasley Sweater.   I loved the hoodie pattern I used for Bird's Sweater.  I'm considering making one for Sweet Pea.  But I don't have any yarn on hand that would work.  I have big plans to go out on Black Friday looking for new sweaters to cannibalize for yarn.  I had so much fun last year, I'm so looking forward to doing it again.  I'm hoping to find something I can use for her sweater then.

In the mean time I've cast on a little something for myself.

Who says I can't have a Weasley Sweater?  

I know it doesn't look like much, but that blurry fledgling knit is hoping to be a Hitofude Cardigan when it grows up.

In total randomness

My bedroom tree makes me very happy.  I think it is the most beautiful tree I've ever seen!  The Greatest truly missed his calling by not becoming a Professional Christmas Decorator.  I'm so lucky I get to sit around gestating and he magically makes Christmas appear!  

Speaking of gestating, I'm 36.5 weeks.  I am in the home stretch.  She-who-has-not-been-named is making motions like she is ready to come out, but I've had a stern talk with her about how she needs to stay put a few more weeks.  She is supposed to be a Christmas Baby not a Thanksgiving Baby.  Plus, I've got big shopping plans for Black Friday.  Plus ALL THOSE TRIANGLES.

Yeah, she needs to stay put for a few more weeks.