Baby Blanket - Project #3

Here's the baby blanket which I knitted for Baby Q.  I completed knitting it on Saturday, started stitching in the end pieces on Sunday night, and finished stitching in the ends Tuesday in the hospital after her surprise entry on Monday.  Here is a picture!

It's About Time

Back in February I ordered what was to be my Easter Dress, I loved it immediately.  I only had one problem:  the dress had cap sleeves and I hate my arms!  So for a while I contemplated what to do and eventually decided that some pretty yarn I had stashed away for some random future project now had a new purpose - I was gonna knit myself a cardigan to wear with the dress.  I only had one problem, at the time when I decided this I was already working on a project and I have a strict policy of not starting a new project until I finish the one that's currently in progress.

By the time I finished the other project, it was March 24th, exactly one month before Easter.  I was kind of in a panic because I wasn't sure if I could knit an entire cardigan in a month's time, but I decided to give it a shot.  I made incredible time, until I made one HUGE, time consuming blunder.  I had finished the back, left side, right side and one sleeve of the cardigan.  I began the second sleeve and then I realized my error, I had misread the instructions and knitted almost the entire first sleeve (aside from the edging) wrong and I knew my only option was to pull it out and start again.  I was extremely frustrated with myself, I had wasted 4 nights knitting a sleeve WRONG and what annoyed me even more was that my perfectionist self didn't catch my mistake until I was knitting the second sleeve.  So I finished the sleeve I was working on and then set out to pull all of the stitches out of the incorrect sleeve and start it over again.  Up until this point I was pretty confident that I would make my deadline but even this setback didn't completely deter me because at this point I still had two weeks before Easter.

Re-knitting the sleeve took longer than it had taken the first time, I believe it took me an extra night and at this point I realized that I needed to start doing some knitting during the day whenever I could sneak it in.  Well I don't have a lot of time during the day to sneak in knitting, I mostly knit at night after Y and B are in bed.  But I made it past the sleeve and still had about one week left to finish it.  It took me one night to sew all the pieces together and then I only had to knit the edging that goes around the the entire outside of the cardigan.  I knew just from looking at the pattern that it would be intense and boy was I right!  It wasn't until the day before Easter that I realized there was no way I would finish it on time.  I had rushed my way through the edging and realized that I had made too many mistakes to be satisfied with it and so the night before Easter, I pulled the entire week's worth of work out and started again. 

I was very disappointed on Easter and even though everyone thought the dress was gorgeous, I wasn't satisfied with it.  But I kept plugging away at the edging at night and found once again that I needed to pull all the stitches out and start again.  I did it with so much frustration that I even contemplated changing the border completely and doing something much more simple but I stuck it out and last night, the day before Mother's Day, I finished the cardigan.  And today, I was finally able to wear the dress and think to myself, "yes, it is gorgeous!"

Anyway, here's some pictures.  I failed to take any close up pictures of my own cardigan that would show the detail so I went to the website and used someone else's picture.  But I will include a photo of me wearing the dress and the cardigan but I beg you to ignore my swollen legs and feet!

Another Project Complete

So it's been quite some time since I have posted any of my knitting projects, mostly because they were all similar to ones I had done in the past and none of them were for me.  This one is different!  It is actually the first project that I have knitted with the intention of keeping.  That's right, it's the first thing that I've ever knitted for ME!!!  And well, I LOVE it!!!  Here are a few pictures!

Q's Birthday Gift

I mentioned a while back that I was going to knit two boleros for my mother-in-law; one for Mother's Day and another for her birthday (which is Thursday).  Well about a week ago I finished the second of the two but have been slow about posting pictures just because I've been a little lazy about posting and slightly preoccupied with packing boxes.  This one was definitely much more challenging than the first and I faced a few minor setbacks with it but I think all of the mistakes I made are well hidden and barely (if at all) noticeable.  Here's the finished product!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Q (AKA NANA B)!

Just in time...

The pool here in our apartment complex opens tomorrow, so I guess I finished her swimsuit coverup just in time! When I originially started it, I was using only the torquoise and the purple to make the stripes then I ended up stopping this in order to start making Q's bolero for Mother's Day. I ended up with an entire unused skein of which yarn so I decided to start the coverup over from the beginning and incorporate some white in there. Once I got a few rows done, I was so happy that I had started over because adding the white yarn really brightened it up quite a bit. It fits her a little long for now (at her knees) but I'm hoping that means she will be able to use it next summer as well. I think it's adorable and I'm actually contemplating letting her wear it as a dress sometimes as well! Anyway, here are some pictures.

Mother's Day

I am so very grateful to be a mother! I'm also grateful that we have a day to celebrate mothers and reflect on their invaluable influence on our life. Even though I only have one, beloved biological mom I have been blessed in my life to be mothered by many. I have so many amazing women in my life who have and continue to encourage me through their words, and more importantly their actions. I never imagined that I would enjoy, so thoroughly, being a mother or that I would find it to be so rewarding. More so than any career I could have pursued. The hugs and kisses I receive daily are worth more than any monetary amount I could ever receive. And no matter how frustrated I get because I cook something and she won't eat, and then I cook something else and she won't eat that either (you can see the pattern here) I marvel at her each night I get to put her to bed, and as I sneak in her room and watch her sleep that is when I realized how truly blessed that I am to have her AND to have the ability to be with her during the day and see her face light up each time she discovers something new or says a new word or sings a new song. I have the most PERFECT job in the world, I'm a mommy!!!

This Mother's Day was spend in Canada and it was a nice, relaxing mini vacation for me. All I really did was knit and relax. As for gifts I got an iPod dock alarm clock which was expected (I picked it out myself, haha) and a few pairs of earrings which were very unexpected (I LOVE my husband)! My mom recently purchased a gym membership so we gave her some workout clothes and a nifty water bottle so that she can remain hydrated. And for my mother-in-law, well she got what she requested. About 3 weeks ago she asked me if I could knit her "one of those short jackets that everyone wears these days" (those were her words). She was referring to a bolero or shrug as they are more popularly called, but I, being a novice knitter, told her that I couldn't do it because I had never knitted an actual garment before. But I must admit that I do love a challenge so I started looking at patterns and decided that I would make it after all. I am also in the process of knitting her a second one which will be her birthday present. I was slightly stressed about finishing it on time because the only time I have to knit is after we put Y to bed, so I spent many late nights knitting and I still wasn't able to finish it until 11:35pm, 25 minutes before Mother's Day ended! But alas it was done and I am really amazed by it, I still look at the pictures and am in awe of what I did and how fast I did it. I mentioned that it took me about 2½ weeks (give or take) to knit it but that was only working on it for 3-4 hours each night and some nights I didn't work on it at all. I estimate that it took me around 49-50 hours to complete which is pretty amazing considering the lace pattern on the sleeves and the stupid rib border. But anyway, here are the pictures!

On Monday we went and had lunch with one of B's really good friends that he grew up with who has returned to live in the area. Once we returned I put Y down for a nap and left to go out with Q (B's mom) to pick out a corsage for B's brother's prom date on Saturday. We took the long route home, making a few stops on the way and while we were in one store we found some sidewalk chalk. The previous day when Q had taken Y out for a walk Y walked up to a little girl who was playing with sidewalk chalk, picked up 2 pieces and began to walk away as if they belonged to her. And so, the idea of buying Y some sidewalk chalk was born. Here are some pictures of us having fun on the ground. You can see my portrait of their cat (of which I am not a fan) and Q's portrait of herself an P (B's dad). You can also see that Y did more drawing on her own face than she did on the ground...Enjoy!

Baby Blanket

About 2 weeks ago I finally finished the baby blanket that I was working on for a friend, I think it turned out beautifully and I am so very excited for them to use it with their little one. I thought I'd post a picture here for anyone who hasn't already seen it on Facebook. Now that I have completed the blanket I have started knitting some more dishcloths. My Grandma saw the ones I knit for my mom and wanted a few. Once I am done with those I plan on knitting another baby blanket for one of my college roommates who is due sometime in July. I debated knitting her one identical to this one but I think I'll pick out a different one for her...just to keep things a little different.

Part 1 of 4...

I mentioned previously that my next knitting project would be a set of matching mittens and scarves for Y and myself. Well I have finished the mittens that are for me. Since these aren't going to be used until next winter anyway, I have decided that it is okay if I take a little break and come back to finish the other parts later. The reason I'm taking an intermission? Well because a really good friend of mine is having his first baby which is due in May and I really needed to get started on the baby blanket that I'm knitting for the little munchkin. I'm really excited about this blanket and how well it is turning out thus far. I'll post pictures when it's done but for now I'll leave you with a picture of the mittens I knitted. And yes, I did the opposite colors intentionally!

Diaper Keeper

When I posted about my last knitting project I mentioned that I would be making a diaper keeper as my next project. Well I finished that 3 weeks ago and have since started working on my next project which is kind of a 2-in-1 project - I'm making Y and myself a matching set of mittens and scarves (for next winter). Well I'm finally posting a picture of my completed diaper keeper, which I really enjoy! It keeps my purse uncluttered with diapers and wipes, not to mention I just really am pleased with how it turned out. So here goes...

No, this one isn't the one I made, it is instead the one that gave me the idea to make one of my own - only knitted! The main difference (aside from the obvious knit vs. fabric) is that I closed my version with a zipper because as most people know, yarn and Velcro do NOT go well together!

Here comes my creation...

...this is the fabric I used to line the inside of the diaper keeper, it's bright, vivid and I really just liked it in general...

...and this it a picture of it and everything that it holds.

It is great for those quick trips out when I don't need to carry an entire diaper bag worth of supplies.

Knitting

Lately I have really felt like I've been neglecting my blog and the only excuse I have is to say that I really, really, really, really enjoy knitting!!! It is my new found way to just relax and unwind. After Y is down for bed I just sit and knit while B watches TV or looks for houses on the internet. After B goes to bed I knit some more while listening to my iPod. So far I have made a lot of dish clothes for my mom and mother-in-law (I'll include a picture below). The first project I'm working on for me is a diaper keeper. If you haven't heard of this it's just a small pouch for your purse which holds a travel sized wipe case and a couple diapers. If you click the link above you can see some pictures of them. Well I knew I wanted one but decided I wanted to knit mine instead of making/buying one that is sewn. I found an awesome website called Knit Picks which has an amazing selection of yarn in the brightest, most vivid colors you will ever find! I ordered a bunch of yarn and started knitting away at my diaper keeper. I am ¾ of the way done with the knitting part then I'll just have to stitch it up, find a fabric that I wanna use as a lining and add a zipper. When it's done I'll be sure to post a picture of it...I'm really excited about it!!! After that is done I'm gonna try to learn to knit mittens. I'm thinking that I'll make Y and myself a matching mitten and scarf set! I'm beginning to scare myself with how excited I get about my knitting projects. I told my college roommate that I taught myself to knit and she got a HUGE kick out of it...I told you it's a shocker for anyone who has known me for a long time.

I have done a few sets of these in what is obviously my favorite color combinations - black, white and gray. I have even gotten so good at it that if I don't have too much else to do (good luck with that) I can complete one within 24 hours!