beautiful things

Blocks

2009-09-01T23:20:43-04:00

I don't get too much time to knit these days. I'll be back though.
Here's an iPhone photo I took today in the meantime...

Weaving in ends for Vivian

2009-07-25T22:18:13-04:00

I've been working very slowly on the hood for Vivian and finally
finished it a week or two ago. Now I'm weaving in ends! And still
polarizing everything in sight!

Beautiful day in the park

2009-07-25T19:27:14-04:00

And yes, I am polarizing everything in sight! Am using ShakeItPhoto
on my new iPhone!

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T16:56:13-04:00

Yes, I'm still here, still mothering and STILL KNITTING!!! The baby
is great, doing really well, and we're by the lake for the 4th. In
fact, he is napping right now which means I get to sit on the terrace
and work on Elijah. Everyone else is down by the lake and we'll rejoin
them when he wakes up.

And guess what? IT ISN'T RAINING!!! It's a beautiful day actually,
yippee!

Happy July 4th America!

It's starting to look like a cardigan!

2009-05-21T20:40:58-04:00

Knitting the second sleeve of Vivian was not the most exciting thing ever, having knitted the first one of course, but now I have joined the sleeves and body and am working on the yoke decreases... very exciting!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T13:48:04-04:00

Today is Mother's Day and I couldn't be happier. It's a gorgeous day and we are in Baltimore - my husband has a conference and we are tagging along. I'm sitting outside right now by the harbor typing this on my iPhone while the baby sleeps and hubby is in a seminar. We had a lovely breakfast and lunch together, the three of us, and he'll meet us here for an early dinner. Like I said, I couldn't be happier.

Motherhood is amazing. It's been three months and yes, it is challenging and tiring an stressful and repetitive and frustrating but, and maybe my memory is already blurring things into a rosy haze, but it has never felt hard. I know it is hard for some so I am endlessly grateful that it hasn't felt hard for us yet, also knowing that could change at any time as well. But it hasn't felt hard, mostly because we have a great baby who is easy to take care of, but also because I have a great husband, abundant family support, super supportive and helpful friends, both parents and non-parents, the means to buy the things we need and the extras that make things easier, the luxury of being able to take extra time off, a fantastic, kid-friendly, stroller accessible neighborhood, a wonderful group of other new mom's that I've been lucky enough to meet... the list is endless. I understand the "it takes a village" cliché a lot better now.

Mothers are amazing (fathers are too, but they get their own day). When I look around at the new moms I've been meeting I think how each one is struggling and triumphing in their own ways, all to give the best to their little bundle of joy. Most of us had mothers who did the same.

So Happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere, past, present and future, and to all those who mother and who make mothering possible.

Beautiful neighborhood blossoms

2009-04-30T17:32:00-04:00

tracing

Vivian resolved

2009-04-07T10:03:42-04:00

Well, resolved for now. I ended up going with a lazy version of option 2, that's to say I ripped out the second skein and reknit with a different skein that looked lighter and like a better match. I did not rip out any of the first skein to alternate the new second skein in, which was kind of stupid as it wouldn't have been that much more work to do so, but it worked out pretty well. Here we have "before" and after":

I think you can still see a little bit of a line, but not more than you might see in the middle of a skein, so I am trying not to obsess about it! I will definitely alternate rows to transition to all the rest of the skeins but I don't want to alternate throughout the whole thing (although I may change my mind on that, I don't know).

Of course, now I'm worried that I overestimated the stretchiness of this thing and it's going to be too tight, but I'm trying not to obsess about that either.

Onward I go!

Vivian dilemma

2009-04-04T08:08:54-04:00

So, I have come to a bit of a... pause on Vivian. I started the second skein and it is darker than the first. As you can see, I went for about 10 rows in denial before confronting the situation, and I'm just not sure what to do.

I know it is common with hand-dyed yarns for there to be variation, but the skeins looked so well matched I completely forgot about the usual recommendation to alternate rows with different skeins.

Do I:

1) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit by alternating rows and do I alternate every 2 rows or every other row (the latter would require more attention as I'd be working from the WS for some RS rows and vice versa). But won't it just look stripy?

2) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit with another lighter skein, also alternating rows (I still can't see a difference between skeins but if you compare strands of yarn at the start of each ball, there is a slight difference)

3) Leave as is but start alternating the other lighter skein in now and hope it will all generally blend in once you have the context and scale of the whole piece

On the one hand, ripping out is really annoying, especially with my precious little available knitting time. It would be even more annoying if I ripped out and it didn't look any better or, heaven forbid, even looked worse.

On the other hand, it would be really annoying if I didn't rip out and continued to be bothered by what to me is a fairly obvious transition.

I knew writing this out would help me decide though, because looking over my options spelled out, I'm thinking of going with option 2. Option 1 doesn't really make sense. It looks like I have possibly two slightly lighter skeins, the first of which I have already used, so it makes sense to put those two together and then gradually blend in the darker skeins.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated though! I'm probably going to mull this over a little longer.

Vivian is progressing!

2009-03-31T20:13:28-04:00

One of the hardest things to give up with the baby has been knitting time... but I've been squeezing some in anyway. Vivian is coming along nicely - I finished the first of seven skeins earlier today in the park (good thing I spent precious sleep time in the middle of the night winding the other skeins!)

I'm loving how the MadTosh Worsted is knitting up - lovely and fluffy and soft! The pattern is as great as everyone says too, and easier than it looks, at least so far.