On Borrowed time

That's what I am on at the moment.

J has decided that he only needs one nap a day (though most of us don't quite agree) so I get far far less done these days. He's faster than ever and his Go-Go-Gadet-Baby-Arms reach higher and higher. I tried explaining to my Mom the other day that I love the candy bowl she sent me, but I have no where to put it. Not, I'm not sure where to put it. Seriously no physical surface to put it on. Everything out of his reach is covered with stuff we want out of his reach. Things slowly move higher and higher in our house and we're running out of higher places to put things. And it doesn't help that I'm short anyway.

Very little knitting has been happening and even less sewing. I started another pumpkin hat for J and what should have taken a day or two is taking weeks. I've been sick for going on two months now but I think I'm seeing the end of that.

It snowed the other day. Snow. Before Halloween. NOT COOL. Kris, I love you, but that's not a good thing. It has been so cold here we haven't been playing outside much. I'm hoping it warms up some the next few weeks so that he can experience the joy of running through and jumping into the leaves. He loves leave. Every time he walks outside he grabs a big oak leaf or two and just walks around with it. They are scattered all over my house and car.

Lots on the work front and the pictures will be going up soon.

Well enough for my break. Back to the grind while he naps.

Next project?

Now that I'm done with the socks I'm trying to pick my next project. I always get stuck at this point.

I may start J's sweater. For this I picked Windsor Tyrolean by Design by Louise. I might wait another month or so to see if a growth spurt hits. He's in a weird place size wise. I've got the main color (the green I just used for the socks) and think I have some stuff in stash for the contrast colors.

I've narrowed down my shawl project to one of these three.
Shetland Triangle
Seraphim Shawl
irtfa'a faroese lace shawl

I like the back panel on the third one. I think I need to spend an afternoon with the yarn and some Jasmine tea to make my decision.

As far as sewing I've only come as far as cutting everything out.

Not much else to say at the moment.

The spirits are not amused

So being a mom has opened a whole new world for me. I am aware of a whole different plane of existence. I am now very aware of which bathrooms have baby changing stations. I shop new aisles at the grocery store and spend a lot more time at kid stores.

In the last several trips to Toys R Us I've noticed a new and disturbing trend. By now most of you know my motto is No Pink Without Skulls. It seems that companies are taking this trend of pink for girls to a whole new level. Almost every toy has a pink "girl" version. Even Tinker Toys. Yes , pink TINKER TOYS!!!! (because girls wouldn't want to build anything unless it was pink) This has even bled over in to the realm of board games. Pink Scrabble and pink Life but what really got me was this:



Seriously? Pink Ouija. Somehow I don't think the spirit world is going to be too keen on this.

Random stuff

This summer hasn't progressed exactly as I had hoped.
Frequent rain and thunder storms thwarted many outdoor plans. Weeds have once again infiltrated and overrun my planting beds. June 26th a tornado went through my town as I was driving to get my son from daycare. It was small and short as tornadoes go, but here in Connecticut we aren't very used to them. We were incredibly lucky. We lost leaves and branches and power for about 24 hours. The hail did a lovely number on my hostas and the rhododendron is several feet shorter. Others were not so lucky. Six houses had to be condemned, one of which was bisected by a tree. Many old and large trees did not survive. Some look like snapped toothpicks, many others toppled, their roots giving away with the wet ground and high winds. Amazingly no one was hurt. I was in the car during the brunt of the storm and was completely terrified. My son, who I was desperately trying to get to, fared much better. While the other kids at daycare were crying during the storm, he was in the jolly jumper bouncing and laughing away. Did I mention he shows signs of being an adrenaline junky?

The Opera job that we do every spring turned out to be a much longer project, cutting into my summer free time. Once that was on the truck, we then took a road trip to visit family. I've learned much on the road with a 10 1/2 month old. I've also gained a new skill...the car seat diaper change which is done while the child is still strapped in and the car still in motion. (note: this only works on pee diapers. Do not attempt on poopy diapers!)

One of the highlights of the summer has been the Green Day concert. I cannot gush enough about this. It is up there with last years NIN concert in the best I've ever seen. The Bravery opened and then Green Day played for THREE HOURS!!!! At one point Billie Joe (*sigh*) pulled a girl out of the audience and had her play guitar on Jesus of Suburbia on his own guitar. I was hoarse and deaf and very, very happy at the end of it all. The concert was a much needed release. It reminded me why I used to go clubbing. There are no good clubs here and now I've got a very active little boy who keeps me rather busy. The whole night just added fuel to the fire of my fan-girl crush on Billie Joe Armstrong. I'm insanely jealous of my friend Lisa who is the head scenic on the theatrical version of American Idiot. If I were only closer...

I have managed to get a bit of knitting done in the midst of work, home improvement projects, and running after my little dude. I finished 3 socks on the road trip; a second sock for my husband and a pair for my physical therapist.



The blue ones are for my husband, who wanted some more warm socks for work. The green ones look much, MUCH better in person. I'm having a hard time photographing them and getting the real color. I'll keep trying. The blue ones are Patons Classic Merino and the green are Cascade 220.



I also made a shower gift for a friend of mine. This picture doesn't include the blue ribbon over the elastic but you get the idea. What I love best about this, besides being a very fast, easy knit, is that the yarn is called Seduce. I find that absolutely perfect for a bridal garter. The pattern is

Courtney's Bit of Blue by Susan Valent. The yarn, Seduce by Berroco.

I've been attempting to do some sewing as well. I'm not making much progress. I'm working on seat covers for shopping carts and restaurant high chairs for the little dude. I've only gotten as far as washing the fabric and cutting it out. Isn't this the best flame fabric you've ever seen though?

I plan on incorporating this into his room with the dragon theme. I think it works as dragon fire.

I want to offer a moment of silence for John Hughes................
His death came as a shock and brought about much discussion and reminiscing. The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science and Sixteen Candles are among some of my favorite movies and all bring back fond memories of my youth. Ferris Bueller is responsible for my crush on Matthew Broderick.

Most of my time not working is spent babyproofing and chasing the little dude. I should have forseen things with all the movement in utero, but I still wasn't expecting to have a 10 month old who walks. And shortly after his first solo steps he discovered he much prefers to run. Now at 11 months he's increased in speed and experimenting with climbing. The cats, much to their dismay, are of incredible interest. But perhaps they will finally lose some weight. J is a ball of curiosity and laughs. He took great delight in my ball winder, working it quite adeptly. We'll have needles in those hands soon enough.

A dainty dish to set before the King

So I thought I would share a few of the things that have kept me from blogging.

On of the biggest has been J's foray into solid foods. It sounds simple enough but I swear I did less research in the whole of college. There is so much to know about what foods they can have at what age, reactions to look for. We make our own baby food for the most part (except peas. I HATE peas and they are a pain to make so we get that jarred) We are attempting to keep him organic as possible so that has meant some extra hunting for just the right foods. Luckily we have a fabulous local organic farm that does online ordering. They email me a food list, I reply with what I want and then Friday evening I go pick it up. Urban Oaks...check it out. I think more neighborhoods need something like this. A fabulous plan for those empty lots.

This site: Wholesome Baby Food
and this book: Super Baby Food
have been my bibles as well. This is where I've been getting the bulk of my information on what to feed him when, and how to make it. I freeze the food in ice cube trays and thaw them as I need them. It's very convenient and I know what's going into his little body. And so far he's liked everything (though the last few days he's been rejecting the green beans). He's just starting to get the hang of finger foods. We have to give him one Cheerio at at time because it takes great concentration to pick one up. Otherwise they are all over the floor.

I also spend a fair amount of time on the American Pregnancy Association forums. These ladies helped me through my infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy and motherhood. They've been a big help with my early struggles in breastfeeding. I'm not one of those psycho breastfeeding Nazis and I'm not going to lecture here. I will say that it has been one of the most difficult but most rewarding things I have ever done. J has been breastfed from the start and I can proudly say he's never had formula. (not that there's anything wrong with formula feeding. It just is important to me to avoid it if I can. And so far, we have). Here's a few sites that I found immensely helpful in this particular journey:
La Leche League International
Breastfeeding Online
Drug safety during breastfeeding


And now what you've been waiting for with this post...cute messy baby pics.

Holy Crap...a new post!

I figured I'd say it first.

A lot has happened since my last post. Shortly after posting we went through a 3 week run of illness. J had croup and a few cranky days after his 6 month check up vaccines. Then he developed a double ear infection paired with pink eye. My little guy was sweet enough to pass along the pink eye to me, and then I got strep throat. My husband just escaped the strep. It was a yucky horrible time for all. Oh and J cut his first two teeth at the same time.

From there I had to deal with more theatrical fiascos...anywho. Life happened. No posts.

Here I am. With some fiber related content.

Last Saturday was the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool festival. It was a lovely day with my knitting ladies and my little one. Da (as we now call my husband) had to work so the little guy went to his second S&W. (the first was the Connecticut S&W...not much to write about. Didn't buy a thing) Amy brought her little girl who is a few weeks younger than J. They got along swimmingly. He kept trying to hold her hand during lunch, it was the cutest. I have pictures of the day but they are on an actual film camera, which means I need to take them to be developed.

I do have pictures of the yarn I bought...which I believe is the first yarn I've bought in nearly a year. (holy crap indeed). We went to Webs after the festival and I scored some skeins of Cascade 220 for a great price due to the anniversary sale. These are going to be thank you socks for my physical therapist. I also bought the pattern for the Blue Sky Alpaca Audrey Coat. I hemmed and hawed on the pattern but the girls talked me into it. I adore this pattern and hope that I'll actually get enough knitting time in to make it...some

My big score at the actual S&W was some Super Sock from Ball and Skein. I really love their colorways. This one is called Bramble Berry. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is rich and subtle and luminescent. It is destined to be a shawl for me. I have it narrowed down to about eight different choices:
Sagittaria Shawl by Vilma Vuori
Seraphim Shawl by Miriam L. Felton
irtfa'a faroese lace shawl by Anne Hanson
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark
Spring Things by Susan Lawrence
Pangea Shawl by Sarah-Hope Parmeter
Midsummer Shawl by Renee Leverington
The Clovers by Sylvia Cannizzaro

Any opinions??

OK, that's enough for now.I'm hoping it won't be several months before I post again. Oh and here's some more cuteness...

And the answer is....

Alfred Hitchcock it is!





The resemblance tends only to be there when he's sleeping. At least it is a celebrity I admire. Hitchcock is one of my all time favorite directors. For those of you who don't see it, here is a comparison.









No knitting yet. This evening will be dedicated to packing up and baby-proofing thhe living room. Someone figured out today that he can roll to places, even if he can't crawl yet.

celebrity look alike

So you know how some babies can look like celebrities. Well, J does at times. For example:

This is J sleeping:


Who do you think he looks like? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

No rest for Mom

It has been very crazy here. Work has near imploded due to a putz of a designer, and our household was recently struck with the stomach flu. My love has been working lots of long hours (too bad he's salary) which means I'm on my own with the little dude. That leaves no time for knitting and even less for blogging. So to distract you from my blogging neglect I will blind you with sheer cuteness.

This is important, people!

I'm not one for pushing issues but this is very important.

Due to all the lead laden products coming in from China, especially childrens' toys, our government decided to react. And in typical form it is wide sweeping, over the top, legislation that will kill small business. I'm all for safer products (I won't get on my soapbox about toxic chemicals in everything around us) but to not consider all the small homegrown businesses, especially in this economy, is highly irresponsible. So please click the link and help save the creative people on Etsy and elsewhere.

Learn more here and download a letter to send to your legislators.