Finished: Sunshine Sunnyside

Lookie here! Another baby sweater that I can finally show you! The baby that this was made for was actually born in June and I was really hoping to gift this to the mommy when I was in Vancouver for my friend's wedding. Sadly, that never happened cause I couldn't get the finishings done in time to block and dry the sweater before I had to leave to catch the ferry. Ugh. Why couldn't weaving in ends be more enjoyable to me? I had grand plans of showing my dear friend Erin what was coming to her and her sweet little Penny, go home and finish the sweater, and then mailing it to them pronto. I did say they were grand plans, not a plan that actually happened. The sweater was shown to Erin, but then brought back home to Victoria and promptly placed on the "to-be finished" pile. Dangerous! I should've known better, cause that sweater sat there forever. Then Erin and Penny arrived in Victoria a few days ago (Erin's husband is here to film) and so I busted my butt to get the sweater finished.

Can I just say what a moron I am? Babies grow at an alarming rate. What if the sweater no longer fit the wee kidlet?? Well, I lucked out and the sweater fits her now and she looks so absolutely adorable in it! Sadly, I forgot that I even owned a camera and didn't take any photos of her in it, but little Penny will be able to wear her new sweater for at least a week before she's too big for it. Lesson learned. Don't wait to gift a baby item!!!

This project will count towards my 12 in 2011. Yay, happy dance! The pattern, which was designed by Canadian yarn dyer, Tanis Lavalée (of Tanis Fiber Arts fame!!) is Sunnyside Baby Sweater and is a free pattern that you can download from Ravelry. The yarn is a yummy MCN blend (merino, cashmere, nylon) from Sunshine Yarns. I had received it from a grab bag sale that I had purchased last year. It's an absolutely gorgeous skein of yarn but I had no idea what I was going to make with it. Sometimes yarn screams at you, begging to be knit with. This skein called to me for months. When I heard the happy news that Erin was expecting, I knew immediately what that skein was destined to become.

I had such sweet and quick success with the Maile pattern that I thought this pattern would be the same. While both patterns are easy, I found that the Sunnyside took me way too long to knit up. Yes, I did do a larger size for the Sunnyside (6-12 months) but I didn't think the knitting time would be that different. In hindsight I think it's because Maile is knit bottom up and Sunnyside is top down, and to me bottom up feels so much faster. That, and the picot hems are a little on the time-consuming side.

I had only run into 3 problems whilst knitting this sweet sweater up. My problems had absolutely nothing to do with the pattern, which I thought was well written, but had to do with knitter errror. I had cast on for the project at one of the knit nights and was knitting extremely tight. By the time I got home that night I decided that I didn't like the fabric I was getting so I ripped and re-started. Luckily I was only on the neckband, so no major time was lost. My second error was my knitting over enthusiasm. I had knit at least an inch past the stitch count needed to start separating the sleeves from the body and had to tink back. My third problem was a weird one. I don't know if I was really tired or what but my stitch count wasn't the same as stated in the pattern, and it drove me crazy trying to figure out where I went wrong. But then after knitting for a bit my count matched up again. So weird. I didn't see anyone else mention a typo or anything in their notes, so maybe it was just me not being able to count? Probably. I wouldn't be surprised.

My row gauge was quite off too. I didn't do a gauge swatch for this project...or for any of the baby projects, since I figured that all babies are different and the sweater will fit at least one of them. Right? And when I do actually knit a swatch I don't really pay attention to row gauge, unless it's absolutely vital. I guess this pattern is one of them. I had knit the first sleeve and had 2 more decreases to do when I realized that I was already way past the five inch mark. I had to rip back, do the math, and sort out my decreases.

This was my first time doing a picot hem. I think it's absolutely beautiful and really makes the sweater look a touch more girly. When I first started the picot hem I was pretty nervous about the sewing part. If you don't know me by now, you should know that I avoid hand sewing in my hand knits as much as possible. This type of hand sewing is no exception. I freaked out when I was finished too because I thought I had stretched out all the hems too much while sewing cause they all had this weird flippy action happening and in some parts started to ruffle (and it shouldn't ruffle). After a good block and some time to sit, the hems all relaxed a bit and now they look "normal". I think in the end I did a good job and I'm pretty pleased overall with the hems. And would you just look at those buttons?? They make me squee with glee! Too cute to boot!!

I definitely recommend this pattern and love the fact that Tanis has given two options to make the sweater look either more girly or more masculine (garter stitch hems and beautiful cables rather than lace). I totally want to make the boy-ish version and suspect that the knitting would go by much faster than its feminine counterpart due to the simple (and no sew!) garter stitch hems. I just have to wait for someone to announce that they're having a baby!

Sunnyside Sweater Details:

Pattern: Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallée

Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Luxury Sock

Colour: Mother Earth

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Wood Interchangeable in 3.5mm (US 4)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Sunshine Sunnyside

Finished: Munchkin's Thorpe

Yesterday I mentioned that I had knit the Munchkin a hat a little over a week ago. Here's proof that I did just that. I tried really hard to get a photo of him wearing it, but alas the kiddo broke my heart and has been refusing to wear it. sniff, sniff... Brett, bless his heart, is insisting that the refusal is due to the fact that it's just not that cold outside to warrant wearing a hat as warm as this one is. It still breaks my heart. My only solace has been that the Munchkin has become a bit picky and vocal about what he will and will not wear lately...right down to which pajamas he'll go to bed in! Toddlers...what can I say?

Anyhoo, this hat wasn't really on the knitting agenda. Yes, I was planning on making the Munchkin a few hats, but those patterns were already picked out. This hat came to be after I discovered another bin in a closet labeled "crafts". I saw a bunch of yarn in there that I had forgotten about and this was one of them (sorry, I know nothing of this yarn and don't even know if it's still available in Victoria. My Ravelry search shows that this yarn hasn't been stashed or used that much). I had purchased this yarn back in 2008 when I had first moved to Victoria and wasn't serious about knitting. I had bought the yarn in hopes of making a cabled clutch of sorts. Yeah, back then I knew nothing about yarn, gauge, needles...nothing. I thought you just bought the yarn you liked, used the needle size that was given on the label, and it should look exactly like the pattern in the end. Man, I was so beyond clueless! I've come a long way since then!!

Now, I don't consider myself a yarn snob as I do have copious amounts of Cascade 220, Knit Picks, and Patons Classic Wool in my stash but I have become a fiber snob. I prefer natural fibers and while I'm not against acrylics per se, I am quite picky about the kind and amount of it, since there are some pretty nice wool/acrylic blends out there. This yarn, well, this one is somewhat in the middle for me. It's nice and light for a bulky weight but the mix of wool, acrylic, and alpaca makes it very splitty. Yet when I saw it in the bin I knew that it was going to become a hat for the kidlet. And here you have it.

I had cast on at a Friday knit night and finished the hat the next morning. I was quite surprised that I had only used a little over half of the ball. I was kinda hoping that this project would be a stash buster. I used leftover Spud & Chloë Sweater that I had used for Baby Sophisicated Stripes for the trim and braids, which I think makes the hat look polished and gives it some interest.

I didn't swatch for this project, instead I went for my gut feeling and went with a needle size that I thought would give me the fabric I wanted and hoped that it would all work out in the end. I had started out with the idea of knitting the medium size, thought I had knitted the increases for the medium, but when it came time to do the bind offs and separate the ear flaps from the front and back, turns out I had the numbers for the small. So I just went with it. Glad I did. While the hat fits the Munchkin, it's a tad too big at the crown. Can I call it a design feature and say that it's a smidge big so that there's room for the Munchkin's head to grow in to? Let's do that.

So there really isn't much to say about this project. It's a super quick and easy knit, but I guess hats are like that? The pattern was easy to follow, but I'll admit I was a little confused at first as to whom the hat was suppose to fit - a child or an adult? I had to peruse the project pages on Ravelry to see how the fit faired for those who knit the pattern for their toddlers. But other than that I had no issues with the pattern. I did have issues with my needles though. I thought I could Magic Loop the entire hat but found that it was taking me longer to knit that way. I don't have that many 16" circular needles, especially not in a 5.5mm (US 9) so I dug out my Denise Interchangeable set. Knitting in the round was definitely easier and much faster.

Now if only getting this hat onto the Munchkin was easy.

Hat Details:

Pattern: Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Filtes King Van Dyck & leftover Spud & Chloe Sweater

Colour: Teal with brown trim

Needles: Denise Interchangeable in 5.5mm (US 9)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Munchkin's Thorpe

Finished: Baby Sophisticated Stripes

Yes, I finally get to share with you yet another baby sweater that I had knitted up back in May! Yippee!! Friends of ours welcomed their new arrival a few weeks ago and over the Thanksgiving weekend I was able to finally gift them this sweet little number in person while I cooed over their handsome little man.

I had quickly cast on this adorable cardigan the second I finished the Pebbles Maile sweater. I was on such a baby knitting roll, how could I not? This project doesn't count towards my 12 in 2011 goal cause I had bought the yarn specifically for this project and therefore isn't stash yarn. After hearing just how many babies would soon be entering our group of friends Brett and I had made our predictions as to who was going to have a boy and who was going to have (another!) girl (we made the same predictions...and were right!). Realizing that I didn't have much in the ways of boy-friendly colours in worsted weight yarn, I simply just had to go buy some. That's a valid excuse for buying more yarn, right?

This tiny number knits up lightning quick, but then again it's not often that I knit with worsted weight yarns. This was my first time knitting with a Spud & Chloë yarn and I was quite surprised as to how soft and silky it is. My hands had only hurt slightly from time to time, I think it's from the high cotton fiber content in the yarn (it's 45% organic cotton, 55% merino wool), and only when I went on long stretches of knitting...like when I did the sleeves all in one sitting.

I absolutely love the shawl collar. It makes me giggle thinking about how a tiny wee baby wearing this should also be holding a wee little pipe that blows out bubbles. Yes, silly indeed! Seriously though, I've been digging the shawl collars as of late and am thinking I need to knit another project that has one. I think it's the magic of how the collar forms in the knitting of the short-rows that makes me so happy. I'm a huge fan of short-rows and seriously love it when a pattern utilizes them.

My only flaws with this project is trying to figure out how many rows to make the stripes. I basically did what I thought looked nice...then I got to the garter stitch hem. I didn't want to immediately switch to the colour that I wanted the collar and button bands to be, or it would make the last stripe too skinny and (to me) look off (which would bug the crap out of me). How anal about this stuff am I? Let's just say I had to put this project down for a whole day so that I could think it over. Crazy, I know. In the end I just started the garter hem using the colour of the last stripe before switching to the contrast colour. I don't think you can notice too much?

The other flaw is the striping on the sleeves. The sleeve hem colour doesn't match the body hem. So glad that I'm not the one wearing this, or anyone in my household for that matter, cause this little hiccup bugs me to no end. I'm pretty sure no one else notices this but the perfectionist in me. I'm getting better though, I'm not as nit-picky as I used to be (when I used to work as a technical designer...oooh, was I ever nit-picky!!) and I think knitting has really helped me with that.

Anyhoo, back to the cardigan. It took me forever to find buttons for this. Everything I saw was either not the right shade of chocolate brown, not the right size, or not the right material. I finally buckled down and chose these, which I think suits the cardigan just perfectly. I got them on sale too, half price. So you better believe that I stocked up! I definitely plan on knitting this pattern a few more times, it won't be my go-to baby pattern like the Maile pattern is, but definitely one I'll turn to when I need something a little more boyish. Speaking of which, I just found out that one of Brett's friends is having a baby in December. He thinks it's going to be a boy. I guess I'll be knitting this pattern sooner than later!

Little Old Man Cardigan Details:

Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down

Yarn: Spud & Chloë Sweater

Colours: 7507 - Moonlight (blue) and 7503 - Root Beer (brown)

Needle: Knit Picks Harmony Wood Interchangeable in 5.0mm (US 8)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Baby Sophisticated Stripes

Finished: Pebbles Maile

Yay! I can finally show you another one of the baby sweaters that I had made back in May! Even though this sweet little number has yet to make its way to its tiny recipient, I have it on good authority that the Mommy of the little one is quite the busy lady and won't be reading this blog any time soon. Not to mention that I just couldn't wait to share it!

Like I said, I had this knitted up back in May but didn't bother to block or find/sew on the buttons yet. I wasn't even sure who would be receiving this. The sweet little angel who will be getting this arrived a little earlier than planned and so I had to bust my butt to get this completely finito.

Normally I'm a fan of wooden buttons on baby items but this time around I couldn't find any that I liked, and the ones that I did were either too big or too pricey. I seriously cannot justify spending over $10 for buttons for a baby item. Can you? So I settled for some generic plastic buttons that I found at my local big box sewing store. You can't really tell in some of the photos, but I think they go pretty well with the colours of the yarn.

The yarn, in case you're wondering, is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight. I've only used this yarn once before, and that was on my Jaywalker socks. I had really liked working with this yarn while knitting those socks, and now after knitting this project I'm seriously in love. I love everything about it, how soft it is, how squishy it is, how it gives amazing stitch definition, and how it just glides along your needles. I could go on and on (and on!) about how much I love this yarn but I'll spare you. If you haven't tried STR yet, you should definitely get your hands on some! I've now gone into STR hoarding mode and have been trolling the swap threads and destashes on Ravelry hoping to nab skeins whenever they pop up. I'm thinking I should sell some of my stash so that I can make an order with BMFA before my Rockin' Sock membership ends in December...Oooohh...ok, I digress. Back to the baby sweater, shall we?

I'm counting this project towards my 12 in 2011 goal, even though I have already knit this pattern before. I figured that since the pattern was a freebie and the yarn that I traded away in exchange for this one was stash yarn, it should count as a viable project!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might notice that this project looks familiar. Like I said, I've knit this pattern before - the Blue Maile Baby Sweater, which was gifted to my friend Natalie and her beautiful little boy. I had knitted this sweater while knitting the Blue Maile version and still took only a few days to whip up. My stitch counts were off on the Blue Maile and so I had started this project in hopes of finding out where I had gone wrong (I had misplaced a stitch marker when I joined the sleeves). On the Blue Maile I had knit the sleeves flat, thinking they are so small that seaming them up wouldn't be a hassle. Well, I decided to try knitting the sleeves on this version in Magic Loop, whipped up both sleeves in a matter of half a day which promptly made me rip the flat sleeves and re-knit them in the round. Who am I kidding? Why make life harder for myself and attempt to seam something so tiny when it can be done in one piece?

After attaching the sleeves to the body I basically treated the whole thing as if I was working in the round and Magic Looped the rest. I had to use my 60" cable (the 40" was in use) but I think it worked even better cause I had way more room and ease when it came to the sleeves. It definitely made for less stress (and a smaller hole) in the armpit area, that's for sure.

This was definitely a satisfying knit, and so quick and easy. I definitely plan on knitting more of these when more baby announcements are made. I think it's safe to say that this is now my go-to pattern when it comes to baby gift knitting. I've already set aside a few skeins of yarn for when the next baby arrives!

Sweater Details:

Pattern: Maile Sweater by Nikki Van De Car

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock

Colour: Pebbles

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Wood Interchangeable in 3.5mm (US 4)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Pebbles Maile

WIP: Duck Soup

Two weeks or so ago I realized something. The Munchkin is the son of a knitter, and yet he has no knitted items in his wardrobe. Not even a simple hat. I'm deeply ashamed of this. I love my son. I really do. But I heard a saying that you can tell a baby/child is well loved when he/she is swathed in knitted garments. The last and only time I had ever knit for the Munchkin was when I made him a skull and crossbones sweater for his first birthday. He outgrew that sweater well over a year ago.

Then, as I was going over my 101 in 1001 list a few days ago I saw that one of my goals was to knit the Munchkin a sweater. So I am. This here is Duck Soup by Annypurls of Jujube & Lolo. It's an almost seamless sweater jacket that's knit back and forth on a circular from the hood down. The best part? This pattern is designed to grow with the child. Oh yeah. It starts out as a roomy 3/4 length jacket that turns into a tailored cardigan. How sweet is that?

I'm knitting this out of bulky weight yarn and so the knitting on this has been fairly quick. I was hoping this would be a quick weekend knit, but last weekend turned into such a busy one that I didn't have time to knit much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this done by the time this weekend is over. I think this is do-able since I only have the sleeves and the fun trimmings to knit up.

I just hope that the Munchkin does end up wearing this. I tried to get him to try it on a few days ago and he flat out refused. I have to admit, that kinda broke my heart a little. Brett tried to soothe my ego by claiming that it was too hot out and the Munchkin didn't want to put on a thick wool sweater. Hmm...that's definitely a possibility. I wouldn't put it past the li'l guy on that one.

I'm still going to brace myself the next time I try to get him to put it on.

Finished: Blue Maile Baby Sweater

Yay! I can finally show you the very first baby sweater that I had knit for one of the babies that will soon be born in the coming months. I've never knit a baby item before and wasn't quite sure what to expect, other than for it to be a somewhat faster knit. For the record, WOW! What an utterly satisfying knit!! Not only can it take just a mere few days to knit up, but in the end you have an entire cardigan done. Yes, yes, I know...it's for a baby and therefore is a wee little garment. But still. It's satisfying cause you've knit up a garment in a few days! How awesome does that feel?? Yeah, mighty awesome. And you know what makes this pure awesome sauce?? This project counts towards my 12 in 2011 goal cause the pattern was free and I've had this yarn in the stash since last summer. Ooohhh yeahh!!

I did run into a few problems though. The pattern wasn't originally written specifically for other knitters to peruse. The designer (the talented Nikki Van De Car, who's blog you can check out here) had wanted something special for her little bundle of joy and so designed this sweater with not only love, but with a background story to it. She had such a fantastic response to the design when she was done that she was generous enough to share it with the rest of the knitting world via her blog. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with her pattern, but you definitely do need previous knowledge of how to knit up a seamless cardigan from the bottom up. And if you want a different size from what is given (there's only one size) then you need to figure that one out yourself. The pattern isn't broken down as to what section is what, other than the sleeves, and no stitch counts are given. If you do have sweater knitting experience then this pattern will be easy peasy.

My problem wasn't with the pattern, but more like I didn't bother to count my stitches after joining the sleeves and starting the yoke. I know, I know...what a rookie mistake! But get this, I was almost ready to start the neck band before I realized that my stitch counts were off! Way off. I should've known quite a few rows back that they were off but I was totally in knitter's denial and just wanted to get the project done. When the realization finally hit me I was really hoping that I could just fudge it all, but on a garment so tiny I could tell that fudging it would be completely noticeable. Darn. This was reinforced by my friend Jennifer, who bluntly (and lovingly) told me that fudging was not an option here. Double darn.

So I ripped back to where I joined the sleeves and discovered that the yarn I used doesn't like to be ripped. This was my first time knitting with Araucania and I have to say that really like how define and clean the stitches look, and how it's not splitty at all. The yarn itself is a bit on the thinner side and I did find that it’s quite a “sticky” yarn and doesn’t like to be ripped back without taking bits of fiber with it. I got fed up with the yarn and decided to start a new Maile with a different yarn to see where I could have gone wrong, just in case I needed to keep knitting and ripping and I wanted a smoother yarn to do that with.

With the second Maile sweater I discovered that had I counted my stitches in the first place after I had joined the sleeves to the body, then I would have known that I was only off by 2 stitches at one of the sleeves!! I don’t know if it was knitter error of me putting a stitch marker in the wrong spot or if the pattern is wrong in telling you were to put it, but I got it wrong twice by following the pattern to a T.

Anyhoo, I had originally knit the sleeves flat, thinking that they are so small that sewing them up wouldn't be that much of a hassle. Yeah, who was I trying to kid?? I hate sewing up knitted pieces!! So why was I trying to convince myself that this was any different?? Call me crazy but I decided to re-do the sleeves and work them Magic Loop styles in the round. Oh yeah...sooo much nicer, quicker, AND would be less irritating for a baby to have a seam there. Knowing my luck, it would’ve been a bulky seam at that!

Once I got the sleeves done and everything was back on track, the rest of the knitting went by quick as lightning. I can't say that for the blocking process though, cause that took me forever to do! Don't know why since it's such a small sweater and doesn't require any pinning. Oh yeah. I forgot. I'm lazy.

I really hope that Natalie likes this little number and that her wee one can get lots of wear out it!

Baby Sweater Details:

Pattern: Maile Sweater by Nikki Van De Car

Yarn: Araucania Ranco Multy

Colour: #494 (blue and brown variegated)

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Wood Interchangeable in 3.5mm (US 4)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Blue Maile

Back at 'Er

Hello Blog Friends, I'm back! After what felt like forever away, it feels good to finally be home! I swear, every time I go visit my hometown I feel like time is going backwards. At one point in my life I had appreciated that feeling, but when you're dealing with a toddler going through his terrible twos...yeah...time couldn't go by any faster!!

I wish I could say that this trip was heavenly and pure perfection, but I can't even call it a vacation. Yes, it was that bad! I'm thinking I need a vacation from being on that vacation! To make a long story short: the drive to the Kootenays would have been ok had the Munchkin not gotten car sick and puked all over himself, and then proceeded to refuse to get out of the pool of puke that had accumulated in his car seat. My cousin ended up just removing the seat from the car with the Munchkin still sitting in it! Not even the downpour of rain made him get out of his seat! Once he finally got up it was another fiasco trying to get him out of his puke covered clothes. I'm not even joking when I say half an hour and a meltdown later he finally agreed to step out of those stinky clothes...only to spend another half hour naked (except for his diaper) standing in the middle of the sidewalk that led up to the cafe that we had stopped off at to clean up the puke. The whole vomit catastrophe should've been a hint as to what was to come...

The rest of the week was spent with each day containing at least 4-5 tantrums and meltdowns, non-stop whining and crying, several blatant anti-social moments, and refusing to eat at every meal. The Munchkin kept an eagle-eye watch on me and knew the second I had left the room. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without him freaking out! And don't even get me started about diaper chances and bath time...let's just say that in the 8 days that we were away the Munchkin took one and a half baths. If it weren't for the fact that he has such bad eczema I would have said "screw the bath!" but with the muggy weather, sweating, outdoor elements, sunscreen and lotion buildup, and all the fall to the ground protests this kid was one big ball of gross.

I am by no means a perfect mom, and I do not try to portray a perfect life. So let me tell you that during the half bath attempt ended up in an autistic-like tantrum that left the Munchkin crying for at least half an hour afterwards, my cousin taking him off my hands to try to console him, and me crying in the bedroom cause I was beyond frustrated. There were several moments during the trip where I felt like bursting into tears and the Munchkin would freak out cause he didn't even want me to look him. My only saving grace this entire trip (and the one thing that prevented me from going ballistic) was when my cousin offered to look after the Munchkin while I go have a day to myself. I jumped on the opportunity since my cousin is the only person the Munchkin trusts and will turn to if I "disappear". All previous attempts at family members trying to take the kidlet off my hands ended up with him balling his eyes out for literally hours in which no one can touch him, which would then make said family member call me up to get my butt back home. So I thoroughly enjoyed the alone time that I had. I walked into town, went into every store that looked interesting to me, shopped for yarn, and enjoyed a coffee with a chocolate cookie while I sat and knit at a corner cafe. It was soooo relaxing and blissful!

I'm quite sad though, cause the Munchkin returned to his usual giggling, goofy, crazy self the day before we left. I feel like no one got to see the person that he really is. No one got to see any of his cute dancing, his sweet gestures, or his funny jokester side. Instead, my family only saw the angsty, anti-social cry-baby side. This was all amplified even more since my cousin's daughter, who is a week younger than the Munchkin, was always around and comparisons were inevitably being made constantly. The two kidlets were definitely night and day and maybe I'm just being incredibly sensitive but I swear there was some obvious favouritism happening. I mean, who wouldn't want the happier, giggling, talking toddler around? Mind you, she was also a bully and was quite mean when adults weren't looking (which is why the Munchkin didn't like having her around) and she did her freak outs and tantrums when no one was around. Again, maybe I'm being sensitive, but I know a lot of the Munchkin's frustrations came from having his cousin take whatever she wanted (even if it was from his hands!) and had everything handed to her, and was forced to share his things with her...and then when it came time for him wanting to play with something of hers everyone jumped on him about how it wasn't his toy. That last part irked me and as much as I want my son to learn how to fend for himself, I definitely snarled back about the unfairness of everyone making the Munchkin share when the other toddler didn't have to.

Anyways, if anyone is still reading this (cause seriously, how often do I talk about kids on this here crafting blog?) I'm sorry for carrying on. Venting done. Just had to get it all off my chest. Now it's time to move on and start working on the several loads of laundry that has to be done, finding room for all the new stuff that was brought back, airing out/cleaning and then storing all the luggage (since some still has puke on it!), and most importantly - getting back into the normal routine of daily life.

I took some photos (when I remembered that I had the camera with me, that is) but a lot of them still need to be uploaded to the computer, so that'll have to wait for another day, another post. In the meantime, I'm going to make some coffee and try to enjoy the few minutes of quiet that I have before my boys (as in Brett and the Munchkin) wake up!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far...what have y'all been up to?

PURPLE Success!

My knit-in for the Make Your Mark Purple Crying Cap Campaign on Sunday, October 24th was a success! Thank you so much for those who volunteered their time and knitted up a hat or two (or three in some cases, right Jennifer?) for a very good cause. I was seriously banking on only having maybe 3 or 4 people show up, so imagine my surprise when there was seven of us knitting away on these sweet little baby hats!!

I hope the others had as much fun as I did. Yes, the seats could've been a little more comfy considering that some of us had sat and knitted for 6 hours straight. But other than that, it felt like a regular knit night except we were all knitting away with purple yarn, making a difference. At the end of it all, as I was packing up those dear li'l hats to send off to BC Children's Hospital, I had counted 30 hats!! The above photo only shows 29 (for those who are counting!), I had a last minute addition an hour before I taped up the box.

I'll also be applying for the Make Your Mark grant on behalf of our efforts and am really hoping that $400 will be making its way to Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC. So a huge, huge, HUGE thank you to Jennifer, Wendy, Nancy, Megan, Carolyn, Michelle, and Kanista! Thank you so much ladies for everything!!

A PURPLE Pause

Despite blogging about all my WIPs currently on the needles, I have decided to put all knitting projects on hold for the rest of the month. I will only allow myself to knit a few rows on a project as a way to reward myself.

Why such a harsh decision? I'm doing it all for charity, baby. I have decided to knit nothing but purple baby hats for the rest of the month for the PURPLE Crying Cap Campaign! For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, well, the Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC and PERIOD of Purple Crying are on a mission to collect as many PURPLE newborn caps by November 5th. These little caps will be given to babies born across the province of BC the week of November 15th, which just also happens to be Canada's National Child Day(!), in hopes to raise awareness for this life-saving project.

Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC hopes to promote crucial parenting skills, infant/parent bonding, and help new parents understand that it's typical for every baby to go through an early infancy stage of non-stop crying that is quite often misunderstood. PSBSBC hopes to educate and help new parents about this normal infancy period, how to cope with the frustrations that can accompany it, and to understand that crying is a key trigger to shaking. So to help spread the word there's been a province-wide shout out to all knitters asking if they can help out for this GREAT cause.

I have to admit that I knew nothing about Shaken Baby Syndrome, or just how common it is until I got pregnant and gave birth to the Munchkin. For a while there I was seriously (and still am) horrified to read in the newspaper or to hear on the news how a baby had died because it was shaken to death. Or how a child has been left severely mentally handicapped due to being shaken so hard to an inch of his/her life. It makes me utterly sick and want to cry to even think about it.

To go even further with this, I have discovered that through my work I can help raise money for a possible grant by participating and using the time I've spent knitting up these sweet little gifts towards a program called Make Your Mark. For every hour I've spent volunteering, Starbucks will donate $10!! I can take this even further by rounding up friends and family, so say if there were 5 of us knitting hats for 5 hours Starbucks will donate $150 to PSBSBC!! I'm hoping to recruit a few people, but so far I've had no such luck. I'm going to dedicate Sunday October 24th to knitting up baby hats, and using those hours for the grant. If anyone out there is interested in joining me, please don't hesitate to email me! Unfortunately, you must be there in person with me for your time to count. Sorry, those are Starbucks' rules.

In the meantime, I'm still planning on knitting as many hats as I can. I went and bought a ton of yarn and am determined to use it all up for this cause. So far I've got 7 hats done with an 8th already on the needles. Ok, I've spent too much time blogging. Must go knit PURPLE caps!!

Quiet

It's been quiet 'round these parts. Both in life and on the crafting front. Aside from beer knitting Monday night (which was a butt load of fun, thanks again Mary for organizing it!), I haven't been doing much knitting. There was even a day where I didn't knit at all! How crazy is that? Not that there's a shortage of projects either. It's WIP city here. There's piles of knitting and sewing projects in my crafting closet that are begging to be worked on. If only I can get to them. A huge reason why nothing has been going on: Brett and I have been dealing with the "Terrible Twos". Yep. Weeks before the Munchkin even turned two he's been throwing tantrum after tantrum over the smallest things and some times over absolutely nothing at all! He's also going through a phase where he doesn't want to eat or sleep, and is definitely testing out the boundaries. Ah, life with a toddler.

The little knitting that I did do went towards the Simple & SweetGeorgia Pullover. Yes, that's right, I dug this project out from under the pile of other knitting WIPs and decided to give it some proper attention. I have been procrastinating on having to do any hand sewing, and that's why it got pushed to the bottom of the pile. I finally sucked it up and spent an hour doing all the sewing up it needed to progress any further. I'm getting excited about this pullover again, now that I only have the neck and armhole ribbing to do before I can call this one finito. I've managed to pick up the million stitches for the neck, and now it's onto the 7 inches of ribbing. Yeah...that's going to take a while!

I also managed to squeeze in an hour of sewing time last week. Nothing overly exciting but I did succeed in whipping up another project bag. It's similar to the pink project bag that I had sewn up a while ago, but in black.

Unfortunately I didn't have it too long in my possession. It has now moved on to a better life in the hands of Natalie!

I have a bunch more bags cut out (I like having all my knitting projects in their own bags), so stay tuned for those. I'm planning on not knitting for a few days so that I can give my hands and wrists a break (they've been a bit sore lately...eep!), so I've brought out my domestic sewing machine in hopes of doing some sewing in living room. I just hope that this li'l guy can handle the work load. It's a really old and basic Kenmore that's probably eons older than me. I know that it's at least 30 years old. It used to belong to my mom, who has never sewn a stitch in her life. To this day she has no idea where it came from. I'm hoping to give it a whirl tonight and see just how loud it is and if anyone (ie. the miserable troll that lives downstairs) complains about it. I have a gut feeling that this poor machine won't be able to handle anything more than the simple task of sewing a thin cotton fabric to another thin cotton fabric. Oh well, guess we'll just have to wait and see!

'Til then, hope everyone's been having a tantrum-free week thus far!

Two

I can't believe it. Where has the time gone??

Two years years ago today my darling Love was born. It might not feel like it all the time, but he has enriched our lives on a daily basis. It's been a pure joy and a pleasure to be your Mommy, Munchkin. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my Love! Mommy and Daddy love you very, very, very much! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Getting in Some Last Minute Summer Fun

Labour Day weekend is almost over and its taking summer with it. The Okanagan is usually super sunny and hot, but the last few days have been dreary, windy, and cold! We've lucked out that it would only rain in the middle of the night, saving us from the lack of rain gear that we didn't think we needed to pack. I took the above photo on my iPhone of the Munchkin getting in some play time at the nearby park. That day was the last day that could truly be called summer. It was seriously hot with nary a cloud in the sky. Absolutely perfect summer time weather.

In the meantime, our trip is also winding down and Brett and I are scrambling to fit in last minute visits with friends. I'm sad to report that I haven't done as much knitting as I thought I would do (the Munchkin demands that I watch him play with his toy golf set/spin in circles with a banana in his hand/points at the fish in the pond and to be his gofer and retrieve the ball/shoe/club/toy when he throws it down the stairs. I had also bought along with me my cutting mat, rotary cutter, a stack of fabric and notions in hopes of doing some sewing. Yeah...I haven't even taken the cutting mat out of the trunk of the car cause I've been either falling asleep when the little one does or sitting outside under the stars enjoying the green lush grass between my toes (compared to Victoria's dead, yellowing straw that used to be grass). I'm really hoping that when we get back to the island that there is some sun left, and maybe a few more nice days.

Oh summer, please don't leave us already!!

Puddles

Yesterday was the first rainy day that we've had in months. I find it a bit funny that all the weather reports were actually right (for once!), since I found it odd that it would be so dreary for one day. But sure enough, it was nice on Friday and it's nice today so it's a distant memory that for one day it was gross. Of course, that gross day just had to happen on the day that Brett's annual driving instructors/examiners golf tournament was suppose to take place. That's right, I said suppose to. The tournament was canceled! Poor guy was looking forward to this event all summer. I felt so bad for him that when he came home in the afternoon all dejected I suggested that maybe he should take the opportunity to go hit some balls anyways at the driving range. It wasn't the same, but at least he got to use his clubs!

I don't hate the rain, but yesterday's wet weather really threw me off. It seriously felt like mid-October and had kinda put me in a weird funk. It was definitely a good day to stay inside, watch DVDs, knit, and drink tea all day. And that's what I was planning to do, except my son had an agenda of his own. The kidlet really, really, really wanted to go outside and since Brett was so happy that he got to at least go to the driving range, he volunteered to go outside with the Munchkin while I sat and knit. So the Munchkin got all decked out in his rain gear and had quite the hay day running and stomping through puddles. Brett managed to take some great photos and even a video before the Munchkin fell flat on his butt in the biggest puddle, soaking himself straight to the bone! Needless to say, that was when both Father and Son had to come inside and call it a day...or so you would think. After the Munchkin's nap he was very adamant about going outside...again! Being the trooper that he is, Brett got him all dressed up again and headed outside for some more puddle fun. I guess they had too much fun cause they were both fast asleep by 8:30pm!!

I guess not all rainy days are dreary and bad. Even Brett agrees.

Mommy Moments

I've been battling with the nastiest cold known to mankind for the past week and a bit. I just started to feel somewhat better yesterday! I'm just glad that neither Brett or the Munchkin caught it. Last thing I need is for this evil sickness to recycle itself over and over in my household!

In the meantime I've been putting off all things crafty to the hour before my bedtime, and been busy doing my Mommy duties and have been (successfully!) trying to put the Munchkin down for both naps and bedtime without having to stay in the room/holding him for hours/lying down with him. Yes, I know, all bad habits that Brett and I have developed with our son. But we're trying to break out of it and so far it's been a week and has been going pretty darn well! But now that I've said that tonight might go all wrong for us at bedtime! Brett has had a slightly harder time than me with putting the Munchkin to bed. I normally give a ton of hugs and kisses while carrying the wee one to bed before firmly claiming it's bed/nap time, putting the Munchkin into bed, and shutting the door. Yes, there are tears but I wait 5 minutes before going in for the reassuring, but the crying never goes on long enough for me to have to go in, my baby is fast asleep! Yet Brett will usually have to go in 4-5 times before the Munchkin falls asleep. Poor Brett.

I've also been trying to wean the Munchkin off of the extra nursings. My goal is to continue breastfeeding him 'til he's at least 2 years old, but would now prefer to have to nurse him when he wakes up and before he goes to bed. Lately the little one has been shunning all solid foods (except for Digestive cookies) in favor of the breast, much to my dismay. So for the past few days I've been rubbing lemons over my nipples in hopes of getting rid of the extra and unnecessary feeds. It worked like a charm for the first day, but now my son is showing his utterly stubborn side and will wince/gag/suffer through the few seconds of the lemony tart grossness in order to get his boob! I'm a little hesitant about putting vinegar on my nipples, but if I want these excessive feeds to stop, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go that route.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I've been a bad blogger!

I know, I know...I haven't been doing anything on the blogging front. And I'm sorry for that! The past few weeks I haven't really been feeling so great. I've been feeling quite exhausted and burnt out, and to top it all off my newly developed allergies have kicked it into high gear. Definitely not fun times! I haven't been able to have a moment to myself, if I'm not chasing after the Munchkin or doing housework, then I'm at work. If I'm not doing any of those things then I'm most likely passed out in bed from sheer exhaustion. Ugh. I think the main cause of my fatigue is due to my little one. He's currently teething (again!) and has 5 more teeth cutting through. This time, it's the incisors and molars, all of which are really wrecking havoc on his gums and making them and his cheeks swell triple their original size. Amidst all this teething business, the Munchkin's energy level has skyrocketed, making him into a little hellion! Since the energy spike and the day that we let him walk around the block without his stroller, he's been refusing to go into his stroller - which makes for taking him anywhere utterly difficult and tantrum filled. Again, definitely not fun times!! He has had a few (super cute) quite moments...like the one in the photo above. He's rediscovered his old baby chair while Brett was rummaging through the wee one's closet (looking for the parts to turn the crib into a toddler bed) and has dragged it to the door of his balcony, where he likes to sit, stare out the window, and watch the birds that flock around the tree outside. I've been enjoying those moments!

Anyways, because of my lethargic state all my crafty endeavors have been put on the back burner in favor of sleep. I have been doing some knitting here and there, even managing to finish the infinity scarf that I blogged about in the last post. Other than that though, not much else has been done. I'm hoping that with that extra hour of daylight (yay time change!) and with spring around the corner that I'll be able to get around to my other crafts. But we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm really hoping that this lethargic phase of mine will disappear...and soon!

My boys

I just had to share this...a couple of nights ago Brett decided to read bedtime stories and have quiet time before the kidlet's bedtime in our bed. I don't know how many stories were read or what they did exactly during the quiet time, all I know was that I had (finally) looked up from my knitting to realize that Brett hadn't made it downstairs yet and all was quiet in the house. I don't even know how many hours had passed until this realization (ahhh...to get lost in knitting). When I finally checked up on my boys, I found this:

I couldn't resist, it was too cute to not take a photo! And yes, my son fell asleep holding onto a tube of toddler toothpaste. Lately my Munchkin has been obsessed with his tube of toothpaste...well, anything that's in tube form if truth be told. While most kids are seen in their strollers clutching a favorite toy, my son is clutching a tube of toothpaste. Definitely marches to the beat of his own drum... And while on the topic of toys, the Munchkin has some realy nice ones courtesy of his 2 grandmas, but who needs toys when there are stairs in the house that need to be climbed...over and over and over??! When we let him, the wee one has quite the hey day climbing up the stairs as fast and as many times as he can. Oh yes, my son is a special one.

I gave in...

...and I bought the Spud & Chloe Hooter Hat pattern. I've been wanting this pattern and been wanting to make this hat ever since it came out on the Spud & Chloe website. There have been numerous times when I came thisclose to purchasing the pattern online, since none of the shops here carry the Spud & Chloe line. Then last month a gal from my knitting group made a post on my group's website that one of the LYS here was now carrying the line! I went immediately to ogle the patterns and molest the yarn. I don't know how many times I went to ogle and molest, but I'm sure the employees must have thought I was some weird pervert.

A friend convinced encouraged me to just buy the pattern since I've been thinking about it for months and months, and if I didn't I would end up completely bonkers by being so consumed from the thoughts of the pattern. She had a point. So I bought it. I feel better now, but a little guilty for spending money on a single pattern. So in order to "get my money's worth" I'm determined to make every baby and toddler I know this hat...after I make my munchkin one, of course.

To make me feel better and to prevent me from suffering buyers remorse, the same encouraging friend surprised me by buying me the other Spud & Chloe pattern that I've been wanting but couldn't justify buying. That pattern would be the Sidecar Jacket. How nice of her! But who knows when I'll be able to get around to knitting that one up. I have a feeling it's not going to be happening anytime this year.

I also had my eye on another pattern, The Uptown Downtown sweater jacket. But after looking at it, I decided I had purely liked the looks and style of the garment but would most likely not wear it. Yay! One less thing to add to my list of things to knit!

Now, time to hunt down some yarn that I can use to make the Hooter Hat...

Finished: Pirate Birthday Bunting

After a busy weekend things are slowly going back to normal around here. The house is very slowly getting cleaned up (who knew a birthday party and having family staying here could muster up so much laundry and garbage??) and the munchkin is finally settling back into his old routine.

Anyways, I had completely forgotten to post about this, but for some reason I am obsessed with getting the munchkin all things pirate and skull and crossbones related items. So it was only natch that I make his first birthday a pirate themed party. Brett and I decorated the house with white, red, and gold streamers, plain black and white balloons, random helium-filled metallic balloons that had a pirate-y skull printed on both sides, and served appetizers on plates that looked like treasure maps. Even the happy birthday sign was made with black and white card stock, using a pirate-like font to spell out happy birthday. If that wasn't enough, I had quickly sewn up a few buntings to put around the house (yes, can you say overkill??).

I already had the right fabric in my stash so I didn't even have to go hunting for fabric that would fit the bill. I've never made a bunting before, but it looks pretty darn easy and didn't think it was something that you really would need a pattern or directions for. So I winged it and I think it turned out great.

I used a piece of card stock to draw up an 8" x 9" triangle template and had cut out the fabric using my trusty rotary cutter. I made more work for myself by making the bunting reversible rather having just a single layer of fabric with no backing. So on one side of the bunting it's all the different prints that I used, and the other side is strictly the skull and crossbones print, which I forgot to take photos of. To make it somewhat easy on myself, I just sewed the fabrics wrong sides together instead of the whole right-sides-together-then-turn-it-right-side-out deal. I wanted to give the edges a more so-called ragged look to them, so I had bought a pinking blade for my rotary cutter to trim the edges. Let's just say, I'm in complete and total love with the pinking blade!! Best invention ever! It had definitely made this little project go by much faster. I probably would have been sitting in my kitchen for at least an hour trimming all those triangle edges with my chunky old pinking shears that are in dire need of a good sharpening. With the pinking blade, it took me less than 10 minutes to clean up those edges! Pure love!

Anyhoo, once the triangle pieces were ready, I used pre-packaged extra wide, double folded bias tape in black to sew the bunting together. Easy peasy. And they were such a hit!

To add even more pirate-y goodness, I even made cupcakes (instead of having a regular old birthday cake) in the pirate colors:

The munchkin himself got his very own oversized cupcake to enjoy! Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of it cause I was still decorating the cupcakes as the guests were arriving and was in such a hurry to get everything done that I had completely forgot that I even owned a camera at that time. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be using the giant cupcake pan (which I had bought specifically for the wee one's big day) again real soon, as I'm determined to master it...for future reference, of course!

One.

My little munchkin turned one on Friday. One. A year has passed since he was born. I've been a mommy for a year. Man, did that year go by ever so fast!! To me it feels like he was just born. I can't believe how much he has changed within that year.

As much as I look forward to watching him grow, I have to admit that I miss my little baby. Well, he'll always be my little baby, but I miss the days when he was just a tiny little helpless newborn...when his cries sounded like a little sheep, when he would root and reach for me with his eyes closed, when his little lips used to form the cutest little "o", when he fit perfectly cuddled up in my arms, when his breath smelled so sweet (it still smells sweet, but not that perfect baby sweet), and when he used to fall asleep curled up on my chest...

My sweet little boy, now a year old. I'm not a fan of posting up photos of him as the idea of having his photos flying around the internet for anyone to take kinda freaks me out, but this time I just have to bite the bullet, not be so over protective and added a few.

I'm a proud momma. My little man. At one:

- he's not walking yet but stands a lot and for longer periods of time and is walking along furniture like there's no tomorrow
- has the cutest smile. Ever. Snd when he's really happy that smile is so wide open that it makes me happy regardless of what my mood had been previously
- loves bananas and Cheerios and simply cannot get enough of water
- doesn't care for milk in a bottle or sippy cup, actually he never really drank from a bottle period
- never used a pacifier after we left the hospital, no matter how much we tried to get him to do so
- still breastfeeds and absolutely loves it. I have to admit, I love it too
- has a temper. Oh yeah, does he ever. This should make for some fun and interesting tantrums over the next few years...heh..heh...great...
- loves going for rides in the truck
- has unpredictable naps, but I can be guaranteed at least one a day...but for how long, that's up in the air
- is a huge Momma's boy
- has such a cute laugh that whenever he does laugh, my heart melts
- loves bath time, but loves splashing around in the water even more
- still has no teeth
- gets excited when he hears his Daddy's truck pull up in front of the house and knows Daddy is home
- loves books
- loves to make farting noises on my arms or stomach and thinks it's the funniest thing ever
- becomes quite the ham whenever he sees a camera
- loves the outdoors, especially if he sees dogs or birds
- loves to be around other kids and get really excited when he sees another kid and tries to "talk" to them
- is quite the fan of music