Afghan in Progress

Quite possibly my favorite thing in our little living room is this painting, called Spring Leaves by Teri Jonas. I love the colors and the feeling of calm that it evokes every time I look at it. We got it shortly after I read the book, Tuck Everlasting, and it reminds me of the forest clearing described in the book.In fact, I love the colors so much that I was inspired to crochet a cozy wool afghan for our living room picking up on the colors in the painting. The afghan is a simple granny square pattern that I simply kept making bigger and bigger (instead of making a bunch of little squares and later sewing them together). I have a very bad habit of starting these large projects and then not finishing them, but the changing colors help keep my interest while the mindlessness of the pattern allows me to work on it little chunks of time and when there are other lots distractions. I was on quite a roll too, almost two-thirds finished and rather proud of myself, before I realized that I underestimated how much yarn I would need. So this project is currently on hold because the yarn I need is now on back order. Actually, a benefit of this pattern is that we can use it right now, it is just a little on the small side. (Isaac, as you can see, had his own ideas about how the afghan should be displayed for pictures.)
With the afghan project on hold, I have been working on a few quick little projects, including a vest for Isaac using a robin's egg blue color that I had gotten for the afghan and then decided didn't quite work with the color scheme. This was my first time using this particular pattern by Georgie Hallam (details on ravelry). Like her other patterns, it is well written with lots of room for personalization. I added a little orange elephant color work just for fun, but I like how it ended up matching Isaac's amber teething necklace so well.

So there, now that I have shared the afghan project with all of blogland, I will be less likely to set it aside and never finish it. Right?

Toddling

In honor of the fact Isaac is officially toddling, I thought he deserved some new mama-made pants. Some time ago, I came across the free pattern for these adorable and appropriately named 'On The Go-veralls' and immediately added it to my knitting queue. I waited to start them until after he began walking, figuring he would be less likely to wear through the knees at that point. Knitting details and modifications are on ravelry.

The legs came out a little long, but are easily cuffed, allowing some growing room. I really think I might need to make another pair of these cute, cute pants!

And I promise, as soon as we figure out how to transfer video to our new computer, I will post an equally cute and adorable clip of Isaac taking his very first steps :)

Warmth

While the days are getting shorter and colder, I have been thinking a lot more about warmth. We are reading several articles in our Waldorf playgroup about the importance about protecting babies and young children from the elements and keeping them warm so that more of their vital energies can be utilized for growth and development, and not heating their little bodies. One of the articles we are reading can be found here. More about dressing babies specifically can be found here, as well as in the longer article here. While I knew about this some time ago, and make an effort to dress the boys appropriately when we are outside, I feel that this in an area where I sometimes slack-off when we are insde. I am noticing however, as it gets colder, that even my fingers and toes are cold when we are in the house. If I need another layer and a pair of wool socks to keep warm, surely the boys would feel more comfortable in more layers as well.

Naturally, when I think about warmth, I think about wool sweaters, vests, hats, and slippers. And when I think of those things, I think about knitting. Thus, for every degree the temperature drops, my knitting "to-do" list grows longer. First off, Noah was in need of a new hat. I searched and searched for a pattern for a hat that would keep his forehead, neck, and ears warm. I ended up combining a few patterns to come up with this hat/scarf combo (shall I call it a scat?) knit in super soft Malabrigo wool (Ravelry notes here). It seems to be doing the trick and I love the golden color.

I am finishing up a pair of mittens to match, and also want to make each of the boys more vests for layering over their cotton shirts. So much to knit, and so little time. Actually, the past few days, I have been able to sneak in a few minutes of knitting here and there while Isaac is awake. He has learned to inch-worm his way across the floor, which has led to him being able to play independently for short periods, scooting around to get the toys he wants without needing to be constantly entertained by me. (That is, when Noah isn't snatching the toy away just as Isaac gets to it...but we are working on that.) Of course, he is also now able to creep across the floor to wherever I happen to be and demand to be picked up by yanking on my pants or biting my feet. Those blue eyes, when combined with the desperate mama-mama-ma of a teething baby are nearly impossible to resist. And when the fussing gets really bad, we bundle up and head to the park for some swing therapy.

Because who can't help but smile when they swing? Go and and try it the next time you are feeling blue. Another plus is that the cold, fresh air makes baby oh-so-sleepy when we head back inside. And while they nap, I knit...

~Jen

Falling Leaves

It is fall, and the beginning of a new journey for Noah and I. Yesterday was our first day in the Apple Blossom Playgroup at our local Waldorf school. While our home lives have been inspired by Waldorf philosophy from the day he was born, yesterday was the first time we had a chance to spend time with other families with similar lifestyles. It was a lovely morning beginning with the mamas working on a simple craft while the children played, followed by a shared snack and tea, circle time with fall-themed songs and finger-plays, and ending with free play outside in the garden. Isaac came along, of course, and sat contentedly on my lap through the crafting. He then tried to pull my place mat and tea onto the floor during snack time, and sat in the middle of the circle during our circle time as we "ring-around-the-rosied" around him. Did you know that you can do finger-plays with ones hand while holding a nursing baby with the other? Noah, who will play independently for hours at a time at home, was very shy and stayed close by my side through most of the morning. I am hoping that in the coming weeks he will become more comfortable as he plays and explores in the new environment.

To celebrate fall and this new beginning, I thought Noah deserved some special slippers to wear during our weekly playgroup. This pattern caught my eye some time ago. It has an unusual construction for a slipper, which are first knit as a long strip with two side flaps. It took quite a bit of planning to figure out where the different squares would end up on the final slippers so that I could make an actual left and right, and not just an identical pair. Thankfully, many people have made these before me and shared their helpful notes on Ravelry. After knitting the strips, they are then sewn together in an origami-ish way. At that point, the slippers were big enough to fit my size 10 feet. However, after 3 cycles in the washing machine, they felted beautifully and fit Noah with a little room for growth. This pattern is great for using up bits and pieces of yarn. I made Noah's using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, leftover from his knitted fruit and vegetables. The reds, yellow and orange are reminders of the changing colors of the leaves that will soon be falling from the trees. Welcome, Fall!
~Jen

A Sheep Festival

Another belated post here...
I have this dream of someday having some sheep of my own, so that I might raise, shear, spin, and knit a hat or sweater from my own homegrown wool. Until then, I take every opportunity to live vicariously through the folks that are already doing just that. So last Sunday we packed up the boys and went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. This festival, just an hour drive away, was too good to pass up. Now, I expected to see lots of sheep, spinning, milking, herding, and shearing demonstrations, and maybe even some farm equipment...

What I didn't expect was two HUGE buildings filled from wall to wall with vendors selling yarn, roving, spinning wheels, and every other possible piece of knitting paraphernalia you could imagine. I know. What was I thinking?! A wool festival without wool for sale? Silly me! It was like icing on my sheep cake! My jaw dropped and my eyes just about popped out of my head when we stepped into that first building. The best part was that almost everything was from local sheep farmers and mills. This rainbow of yarn comes from a town just miles down the road from us.

There was so much to choose from, it was overwhelming. After meandering through the various vendors a couple times, the boys and Curtis trailing behind me, I ended up getting 4 skeins from family owned Hidden Valley Farm and Woolen Mill in East Central Wisconsin. They have some really beautiful colorways. These skeins are going to become some new woolens for Noah. A big thanks to the boys for being troopers during the outing and to Curtis for going to a Sheep Festival on the same day as the Packer's first game of the season!

~Jen

Buttons, Buttons, Everywhere!

This is my belated "Work in Progress" post from Wednesday, since I worked the past few days and have not had time to post it. It has been a very busy Labor Day week with over 120 babies being born so far this month! At home, the boys have been a bit under the weather this past week, which meant more snuggle time. Poor feverish Isaac actually fell asleep on my shoulder while I was rocking him. In the middle of the day. Without being swaddled. AND he stayed asleep when I laid him down. That has never happened in his entire little life!

Last weekend, before the sickness settled upon the house, I got the buttons sewn on Isaac's red jacket. The beautiful wooden buttons are from an Etsy store and came all the way from Lithuania. This jacket is still a work in progress, because I want to line it for extra warmth. The knitting is done though and it may get some wear before I take the next step and sew the lining in. Isaac's matching pilot cap is happy, snuggly, and cute...just like him.This past week I also put the finishing touches on a little cabled owl vest for Isaac. The pattern is called Milo, and it is a simple little pattern that comes in many sizes. I have plans to make more of these for both the boys. The rust colored yarn is Harrisville Highland wool that I had from way before Noah was born, and it was once a pair of longies. It is a bit coarse, and much better suited as a vest to be worn over another shirt. The little owl eyes are buttons from my Grandma's button stash. While doing all these button applications, I gave Noah the button container to play with. These buttons have provided many hours of play this week as he sorts them, dumps them, and 'cooks' with them in his kitchen. It is a wonderful activity for during Isaac's nap time, when I often have a hard time keeping his exuberant play a little more quiet. We just have to be extra careful when Isaac s awake and make sure all buttons are out of his reach. the sink is missing from Noah's kitchen because he pulls it out to use as a mixing bowl for his button cake.I think Grandma would be proud that her carefully saved buttons are getting put to use in so many ways.

~Jen

WIP Wednesday

This is my first work in progress post in a long time. Part the reason is that my Tea Leaves cardigan is still in progress, and really, who wants to see the same project over and over again? The main reason though is that I had not been spending much time knitting as of late. There seems to be three categories to which my time is allotted: "The Things I Need To Do", "The Things I Should Do", and "The Things I Want To Do." Obviously, taking care of the boys and the basic tasks required to keep our house livable fit into the first category. Many things that fall off the bottom of that list land on the "Should Do" list; things like bathing (I know, this should be a need, but most days it is not) and yard work. That leaves knitting and sewing way down on the "Want To Do" list. I have found though, that by leaving the things I want to do for last, they never, ever get done. And at the end of the day, I feel a whole lot better about myself and my day if I am able to do just an hour of those things that I was considering optional. So I found myself thinking that I should re-prioritize and really try to spend just a little part of each day working on something from the "Want To Do" list. Who cares if I don't bathe anyway? Isaac and Noah don't seem to mind. A happy Mama is much more important than a Mama that smells good, right?

However, I had grown a bit bored with the Tea Leaves cardigan and was in need of a project to get me motivated to knit again. A package came from my sister at just the right time to help pull me out of my knitting funk. A fellow knitter, she sent me two skeins of super soft Malabrigo yarn, possibly in response to an email I sent her with this attached (only fellow knitters and Twilight readers will really get a kick out of it). Also in the package was a mostly completed light-weight jacket for Isaac. Ironically, the pattern, called Duck Soup, has been on my own knitting "To Do" list for quite a while. All I had to do was seam up the hood, block it, and add a toggle closure. Ta da! Nearly instant knitting satisfaction!
Chunky Isaac really fills it out, but will hopefully get a little wear out of it in the coming months. Since I finished up the jacket, I have been making an effort over the last week or so to fit knitting back into my daily rhythm. I sneak it in during those precious minutes when both the boys are napping, or after they go to bed at night. After much searching for the perfect pattern to use for a winter jacket for Isaac, I decided to use the Duck Soup pattern with a few modifications. The first time I saw this pattern, my intention was to use it to knit an oversize jacket and then felt it. Instead, I am going to make it to size and then line it with fabric. That is the plan anyway. I have never done a combination knitting and sewing project before and I really hope it turns out.The jacket is knit seamlessly (except for the top of the hood) from the top down with raglan sleeves. I should have done a provisional cast-on so that I could have seamlessly sewn up the top of the hood when it is finished, but the yarn wasn't cooperating. It is Brown Sheep's Lanaloft, a single ply, 100 % wool yarn in a color called Roasted Pepper. Overall, it is working pretty well, but it is loosely spun in parts and a bit splitty. There is also a lot of plant debris in it. The sheep must have had a good roll in the grass and weeds before it was shorn.

I don't have a lot of experience in knitting garments, and it makes me nervous when I need to make changes to a pattern. Choosing a size is complicated by the fact that Isaac is not even 6 months old and already wearing 12 month clothing. I am using the 4/5 yr pattern to accommodate my smaller gauge and hoping that it comes out to be about 18 month size. Instead of a garter stitch border, I am doing seed stitch. I am also going to use buttons instead of toggles. A good couple of hours were wasted just trying to figure out my buttonhole placement and technique. I added a few stitches to the front panels to create an over-lapping button band. I am still searching for the perfect fabric to line it with.

To top it all off, I am going to make him a new hat with this beautiful yarn from Crystal Palace called Mochi Plus.Here's hoping my new rhythm sticks and I make some good progress on this in the coming week.

~Jen

WIP Wednesday

This week I took a break from my three (or four?) other projects to make something special for a friend and coworker's beautiful baby girl. Baby Wren made an early and rather eventful arrival a week and a half ago. Thankfully, she and her mama are doing well and she is growing fabulously. I had been waiting to get started on this project until I knew whether she was a girl or a boy. Yeah! A girl to knit for! I bought this yarn (Paton's Wool in Woodrose Heather) the week before Isaac's birth thinking that just maybe I would need to be knitting something in my favorite girly color, a nice dusty rose. However, Isaac says rose is not his color, so hopefully Wren will like it. The pattern is the Child's Placket Neck Sweater, from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I made this sweater once before in the days before Noah was born, so I knew it was an easy knit, though I plan on adding a little something extra to make it special. Since she is a summer baby (and it has been in the high 80's around here...in WI...in May!) I chose to make it a 1-2 year size so that it will hopefully get more wear. Thank you to Wren for giving me a chance to get some girly knitting done!

~Jen

A Knitted Farm Playmat: Part 1

It was back to work for me this week. (Gosh, those newborns look and feel so small after hefting around my chunk!) That means back to daycare for the boys. Even though they are only there for 3.5 hours, twice a week, it is really hard to leave them. Especially poor Isaac, who will not nap while there. Our kiddos are not the kind of kids that can nap in a bright room with music or talking or other children about. Nope, they require a dark room, white noise, and a tummy sleeping position (a big no-no, I know. But when your baby has reflux, you will do anything to help them sleep). Poor Isaac is an overstimulated mess by the time Curtis picks him up. But, I digress...

Due to working Tuesday and Wednesday, this is my belated 'Work in Progress' post. I have this habit of starting multiple, rather large projects at once. I like to have a few different things going so I can choose to work on whatever project I am in the mood for at that particular moment. I currently have the Tea Leaves Cardigan, socks, and a shawl in progress. Add to that my current project and I will be busy for a long, long time.

The first time I saw a knitted farmyard playmat, I knew I wanted to make one. For those of you who have never seen one, it is a mat or rug that has different fields and gardens laid out for children to play on with toy animals, tractors and such. I got the book, The Knitted Farmyard, but it just looked too overwhelming and actually involved very little knitting and lots of embroidery. Then I saw the knitted and felted version in Living Crafts magazine, but I didn't really care for how the separate 'blocks' were all square-ish. I wanted the more realistic look of the Knitted Farmyard version.

After some thought, I decided to go with the Knitted Farmyard version, but designed my own pattern. I thought if I was going to do this, I might as well do it on a large scale. I drew my pattern on 3' x 5' piece of paper, then laid a 3' x 5' rug canvas (from Joann's) over the top and traced my pattern onto the canvas with a black marker, leaving a 2 inch border all the way around for finishing. After gathering up all my green and brown wool, I got started with the embroidery using 3 strands of worsted yarn in tent stitch.
Oh my. This is going to take forever! BUT... I really, really, like how it looks so far. The fields are latch-hooked, another thing I have never done before.
This is not the difficult project I thought it would be. The only intimidating part is how long it is going to take. But it is actually nice, mindless stitching, and the various textures and colors keep it interesting. I told Curtis that he could work on it too, if he wanted. He declined.

Well, I will never finish anything if I use my precious baby napping time blogging. Maybe Isaac will sleep all day to make up for not sleeping the previous two days? Probably not...
~Jen

WIP Wednesday

I am all about knitting for myself lately, it seems. After a couple years of knitting for Noah and then the coming baby (who was too big to fit into anything I spent hours and hours knitting for him), I am finally adding some pieces to my own closet. I will (hopefully) not be changing sizes as quickly as they are, so the bigger investment in time to finish these projects seems like a decent trade-off.

That brings me to my current work in progress, the Tea Leaves Cardigan. Yup, another sweater for me. The Shalom was actually the first garment I have ever knit for myself, and this will be number two! Because I am a knitter for goodness sakes! I shouldn't be wearing the old hooded sweatshirts with the broken zippers and holes worn through the elbows that I have had since before I even learned to knit! I chose Knit Picks, Wool of the Andes, a 100% Peruvian Highland wool for this project mostly because it was the only natural fiber yarn I could find in this pretty light gray color. I believe it is called Dove Heather.

As I said in the previous post, this project will keep me busy for a while. That's really alright since I don't expect to be needing a sweater soon, as the weather is finally warming up. Speaking of..it is time to get outside and plant some onion sets before the little one wakes up from his nap!

~Jen

Shalom!

The Shalom Cardigan is finally done! I finished the knitting this past weekend, and then blocked it. It took several days to dry, but yesterday it was ready to get the buttons sewn on. They are from a button collection I inherited from my Grandma. I remember playing with and sorting these big green buttons when I was a little girl. At first, I was not entirely sure if they were a good fit for this sweater, but now that they are sewn on I think they look pretty nice. Maybe they are growing on me? Plus, there is something sentimental about using buttons that are probably older than I am rather than just going to the local craft store and picking out new ones.

After the Shalom was completed, I needed a quick little instant-gratification project. I knit up this stretchy headband in just a couple hours (one nap-time!). It is a narrower version of the Calorimetry pattern, and perfect for keeping those fly-away hairs out of my face when it is breezy (or shall I say windy) outside...which it often is around here. The headband also features a funky orange button from Grandma's stash!

There you go! Finally some completed projects! Tomorrow I will share my new knitting project...one that I am sure will keep me busy for a good long time.

~Jen

Works in Progress

In crafty areas of Blogland, Wednesday is a day for bloggers to share their current work in progress (WIP). In an effort to post here more, and to provide some incentive for me to actually finish some of my projects, I am going to start sharing some of my current WIPs. While I have several projects going right now, the rate of progress is slow due to the fact that my crafting time is pretty sparse. I do, however, have lots of time to plan future projects as I type and search Ravelry one-handed while nursing and holding a sleeping baby. I will try to post something new every week, but if all else fails, I will post the same project again and again until it is finished!

This past week I have been working on a cardigan for myself. The yarn is Knit Picks Cadena, a bulky wool and alpaca blend. It was originally for another sweater that was nearly finished (as in, all but one arm sewn on) before I realized that with this bulky yarn, the final sweater weighed, oh...about 5 pounds! So, I ripped it out and have been working on a Shalom Cardigan, which I have already ripped out once because I decided to add a few more buttons and stitches than the pattern calls for. Now I am about halfway done with the yoke...again.


The other project, which I just started yesterday, is for Noah for Easter though I don't know if I will finish it on time. I will keep the final project a secret until it is completed, but here is a sneak peak.

Oh, it is such a beautiful day outside, I am not sure how much knitting will get done. Maybe the Easter Bunny will come finish my projects for me? Happy creating, everyone!

~Jen