What I did on my...the opposite of summer vacation.

So, there's a lovely lady here at work who is fit-to-burst with baby boy. I'm 99% sure that no one here knows I blog, so I'm comfortable saying that this is what I made her:



This incredibly oversaturated photo was taken in the wee hours of the morning, after I realized that I really ought to weave in the ends before giving this as a gift. Two strands of Baby Ull held together. Really, both ends of each ball. But still! I'm super impressive. And do you want to know why?

I made up the pattern. Out of my very own head.

I was going to get Lucy to pose, but it was seriously past her bedtime, and I didn't want to wake her up if I could help it.

However, since I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, and then realized that our secret super surprise for the lady at work isn't until TOMORROW (sigh) I'll get another chance tomorrow.

I want one of these for Lu now, maybe in pink and green? Am I totally weird? You can tell me if I am...But be gentle.

And, because I know you're all busy bodies and want to see:

Actual knitting accomplished!

Lucy and I had the most wonderful weekend. After two weeks of teething hell, she was a calm, cheerful, happy baby. I got to spend my weekend knitting and ready and playing with a happy baby, instead of frantically trying to calm a teething tornado. Ah, bliss.

What, pictures? Why would you think that?

Okay, actually, there are a few, but you have to go here to look at them. Let me know if it works. They should be visible to the public now; that means you. There are adorable videos there now. Hooray. :)

No, really, I did take pictures actually. Although we can all note that this morning, my grasp of the Queen's English, she is-a not so good. Bear with me, please. No sleep + much coffee = weird me.



This little sweater is from an Ann Norling leaflet, and it's knit from Berocco Love It! Colors. I have completely accidentally fixed the one issue that I had with the shop sample I fell in love with -- the colors didn't match on the two fronts at the shop, and for some reason it really bugged me. Normally, I like that. Well, I don't know what I did differently, but the colors on these two fronts line up in an almost eerily perfect way.

There has been progress since this picture; the knitting was finished, the edging was knit. I need to seam and add buttons.



This is the newest pattern from Blue Moon Fiber Art's Socks That Rock Sock Club. I've been in the club since the beginning, and I love it. It's funny, on the Rav board, there's been a lot of hubbub this year about every single colorway, with some people hating it, and other people saying that they're stupid. Maybe this has been throughout the history of the club and I just didn't notice, I don't know. It seems like people have gotten a bit more intense this time, expressing frustration at the "pastel" nature of the colorway (it doesn't read that way to me, but I'm commonly acknowledged to be strange), and at it's multi-colored-ness. Why you would sign up for a sock club with a company like BMFA and not want multi yarns is beyond me...it's what Tina's amazing at, so it's kind of like ... it's like wanting to be a fan of David Ortiz because of his fielding. You can do it, I guess, but it doesn't make much sense.

Anyway.

There has also been progress on these since Sunday. Sock #1 is finished, sock #2 should hit the heel turn on the way home. Excited!



I finished the last pair of BMFA socks before starting the new ones. Go me!

On the needles (frantically knitting), a hat for a work-baby-shower tomorrow. I was going to do a plain hat with a very masculine pompom, but then the blue Baby ULL and the yellow Baby ULL were right next to each other, and they said let us play! and then I did. At least I had the sense to double them up so that I'm not knitting fingering weight hats for people I only just met. Don't get me wrong, this lady is very cool or I wouldn't bother at all...but I did only just meet her.

Add to that the part where I'm kind of reinventing fair isle patterns from memory, because I can...

Yeah, I'd better get back to work. And by work, I mean knitting. :)

Inner Strength

It's the only reason I'm awake today.

The second tooth on the bottom front FINALLY cut through yesterday, meaning that my baby finally got some damn sleep. Thank GOD. I'm sorry for the excessive use of capitals, but TRULY. Still, as Robb and I try to keep the stress of life from translating through to our relationship, I got very little sleep last night, and what I got didn't feel very restful; I think I'm going to go to bed when Lucy does tonight, especially since Robb won't get home until near 11pm.

Last night, I was up late knitting a sweater, watching Gilmore Girls, and scrubbing a pan of burned-on spaghetti sauce. Fascinating evening. I'm kinda entertained by this sweater (no, I didn't take pictures, why would you ask me such a silly question??), designed by Ann Norling, and knit by little ole me out of Love It Colors; I loved the sample knit up in the shop, but it kind of bugged me that the color repeats were out of sync. I don't know why, as I'm not normally a matchy-matchy girl. Which, incidentally, completely stressed out my bridesmaids on Saturday. It was hysterically fun; I never thought I'd have to get all Bridezilla to convince them to get the dresses they actually wanted.

Anyway, I don't know what I did differently, but my sweater is a perfect line-for-line match on both fronts. It's lovely.

Of course, to pay me back, I'm getting the wrong gauge with the Lamb's Pride on the adorable skater-top. I think this sweater is going to need to be redesigned to fit. Sigh. It's cute enough to be worth it.

All in all, I'm a tired camper, but a happy camper. Life is feeling a little more bearable this week; money woes aren't gone, but they feel manageable. I can draw the obvious conclusion as to why this is, if you want to draw it too, that's fine, but do me a favor and don't say it yet, because it feels too new, too fresh to be bandied about without sounding like some sort of revivalist convert. I'm too New England for that.

More to come when I've slept. Hoorah!

200th post! ZOMG.

I didn't even think of it, until I went to blogger and realized I had previously written 199 posts.

Oh. Gee. Look at that.

Of course, that doesn't take into account my old blog on Livejournal, but no one read that anyway, so never you mind your wonderful head about it.

Anyway.

Hi! It's my 200th post, apparently. I wish I had pictures. Maybe I'll add some later, when I get home.

This was a fun and crazy weekend; B flew in from DC so that she and Melissa and I could all go bridesmaid dress shopping. The girls found great dresses that are similar enough that it won't look weird, and different enough that both of them look really beautiful. I'm also pleased to report that the world did not explode with my two best friends in the same room, which is fantastic, as I was a little...concerned.

Of course, Lucy had to put the final seal of approval on the dresses, which she did with happy gurgles. The sight of Mama in a veil and tiara apparently was too much, though, and the poor munchkin was reduced to tears and howls. I hope she was just hungry. :)

Before that, though, B and I had gone out for breakfast, and then to Kaleidoscope. I had mourned, in my current financial state, the inability to re-wardrobe my daughter for fall, and she's grown out of almost all of her handmade sweaters. B took on the challenge. We got alpaca-silk from Blue Sky Alpacas, Love It in one of their long-repeat colors, some Pure Merino Nuance, some Lamb's Pride Worsted, some Tili Thomas beaded for a new version of last year's awesome blue hat. The baby will continue to be well dressed. Very exciting.

Sunday morning, Lucy and I went to church with Grandpa Frank so we could hear him sing. I wasn't sure how well she'd do -- she's not exactly in a sitting still phase, and with her second tooth cutting through right next to the first one, her mood has been slightly less sunny, though I think only the most trained observer would notice, given her propensity for smiling at strangers -- but I was actually very impressed. I think she definitely enjoyed the first parts of the worship, the music and the call-and-response, but the message was too much for her. I listened to some of it from the back of the sanctuary, where I could rock her and walk her to keep her calm, but when even that wore through her patience, I took her down to the nursery, where she could bobble and talk, and I could still hear the message.

There was more I was going to say, but then the phones went nuts, and now I've forgotten. The downside of blogging from work.

Much love to you and yours.

Public Service Announcement

The baby is teething.

The fact that all of us have survived the last three days is mainly due to the development of Infant Tylenol.

Before I had a baby, I said there was nothing worse than mothers who drugged their children so that the kids would sleep and poor little mommy could get some time on her own.

Shows what I know.

It is, in fact, a self-defense technique. Because if you strangle the child, who is crying (truly through no fault of their own, but when they're making that sound I swear you don't know that) and crying and crying and wearing doesn't help and nursing doesn't help and thumb sucking doesn't help (because as soon as she drifts off enough to be careful, her thumb bumps the sore spot, and then the screaming starts again), if you strangle the child, you'll be sent to jail, and no one wants that.

Note: I'm trying to be funny. If it's not coming off that way, please blame extreme exhaustion. One sharp little corner of the tooth in question has already poked through -- any chance that means there's an end in sight? And I've already tried washclothes and cold teethers, she will have nothing to do with them.

In which there is practically no knitting.

Because what I've (mostly) been knitting is plain socks, and I just don't think you're going to care so much. Plain, DK weight socks. Yawn. I got really excitable and kept the ribbing going all the way down the leg -- but only the back of the leg. Yeah, see? Not exciting.

But look at this:



And this one:



That little yellow blur? That's a summer squash. It now has a buddy, and a likely looking bud on its other side.

And can you believe it?



There are already two baby chili peppers on the plants, and the bells and the chilis are COVERED in buds.

Norma, if I ever meet you in person, I'm going to hug you.

Someone want to tell me what I need to do with the chilis throughout the summer so that I can make hot pepper jelly in the fall?

Snatching a moment.

Sneaking in to say hello during a 5 minute break.

Training proceeds, no worries. I will very much enjoy the new tasks, and I'm excited for them.

Last night was rough, for some reason; Lucy went to bed with no-muss-no-fuss, and I turned in a couple hours later. It was all very fuzzy in my brain, as I was VERY tired from teflon-brain induced by too-much-learning-about-pharmacy-programs.

I woke up a few hours after I'd gone to bed; some part of my brain thought Lu might be hungry, but she was sound asleep and totally at peace. And it occurred to me that she didn't need me nearby to sleep. I was proud/sad/lonely all at once. I expect that feeling will occur often as the days pass and my little girl grows.

College is practically right around the corner.

Much love to you all.