birthday pinwheel

I started on my daughter's pinwheel blanket over a month ago. June 29th to be exact.
I am only 25 percent into it.
I want to make it big enough for her because she's three, but I fear there aren't big enough circular needles to do so with, so off to ebay I go....
I have to have it finished by her birthday which is at the end of this month. And even though I want to work on my Mosey's I've started, and start another Clapotis, and a shrug for my daughter, and a flirty skirty for me...... I must put those aside and finish this one project.
I used to be a one at a time kinda knitter, but I don't know what happened. Maybe it was Ravelry and the unlimited access to all these wonderful patterns that I just cannot resist! Maybe it's the stir crazy stay at home mom in me, maybe it's the need to finish fifty projects by the end of this year... who knows.
All I know is, if I would've waited on the Evangelines, the Pinwheel Baby Hat, the Mug Cozy, the mittens, the bolero, the Clapotis, the Calorimetry, the Christmas Eve Mitts, the three cabled hats, and all three bookmarks, then maybe I would have this darn blanket at least seventy five percent through....
Or maybe I'd be exactly where I am now and just plain bored with it.

All i know is I've knitted fourteen things and can't seem to get half way through this, and this has a deadline.
If I finished the diaper bag that I don't foresee myself using, have even contemplated giving it to my daughter for her dolls, then I can finish the beautiful pinwheel blanket that is taking me forever.
I cannot wait to show it off when it is done. The colors are so vibrant and eye popping, and the striping is lovely.
I just hope that when I do finish it, it will be big enough for her to enjoy for at least two full years:)
And after that one, it's off to one for my son....

The cycle continues. There will always be one massive project in the background, I suppose.

Purple Mystery Yarn

Funny story.

Yesterday I was going stir crazy from being in the house for almost two weeks with a new baby and just wanted to get some sunshine. If I didn't get out of the house I was going to go mad!!
So, I put on the Baby Bjorn, put my daughter's shoes on, leashed the dog, and said, "let's go!"
We walked around our usual way, and I wasn't sure if I needed to go home yet, or if it was okay for me to take the route that would mark a full mile.
I opted to go the mile.

One point five blocks into the mile I come across a random skein of purple yarn on the sidewalk. Just lying there. No other's, no label, no needles. Just yarn.


It's like it just fell from heaven and was like, Here you go! One more for your overloaded stash!

I'm going to make something for my daughter with it since she carried it the rest of the way home;)

My husband says "see, all you need to do is go for a walk if you want new yarn."
haha, right.

slowly finding my groove

I'm going to start with the brightest news.
My son, Guntram Christian Anderlik was born Wednesday morning August 6, 2008 at 10:33 am. He was 6lbs, 19.5 inches long. head full of black hair, no problems nursing, bundle of joy!!


the really great thing about it is that my almost three year old daughter has adapted very well. She loves him sooo much and isn't jealous or regressing.
I thought judging by this picture she would...

That's her in her little brother's clothes before he was born... that's a 0-3 mo. sleeper:)

but here she is afterwards...

They seem to get along well with each other.
She says things like, "oh, sweet baby brother" and asks for me to help her express milk from her chest when she sees me pump.... "mommy, help me please" while grabbing her nonexistent chest:)
She will run from room to room looking for her brother while going "uh-oh, baby gone" until she finds him.

Since I've had him, I haven't hardly knit. I've done about four rounds of a pinwheel blanket and one cable pattern repeat on the evangelines.

I have found myself bluesy. I don't know why and it's not fun to talk about because I sound like a poor pathetic girl with low self esteem who's always fishing for compliments and attention. It's hard to explain.

I can't wait to get into a groove with my new life. A scheduled day... I can't wait until I can go on walks again. It's hard to find time to shower, I can barely walk around the house unless I'm medicated. It's depressing.

And women who just gave birth should never ever pick up a mirror, especially in the bathroom. That would bring Chuck Norris to tears:(

I don't know what normal is anymore, so my perception of normal is far fetched. I can't say "I just want to be normal" because I haven't been with two kids before... so I have to find a new normal for myself. Something comfortable to me.

I wish I could find a way to tell my husband that I want more attention without sounding clingy or needy. It's not like i can make love to him or anything at the moment.

I just can't wait to feel healed enough to get out of the house. I'm ripped so bad I can't even drive. And I'm going stir crazy lately. My husband is working doubles, and when he's home he watches tv and just wants to relax because he works so hard, so it's hard to say "watch the kids while I take a shower" or "baby, pay attention to me"

I just want to curl up into a ball until I feel right again....

The Neverending Project.....

I have been working on this diaper bag for three weeks now. I haven't worked that long on anything since I first started knitting!!

There were a lot of firsts on it. There was the twisted stitch, the double strand, things I had never done before.

at first I got discouraged because my gauge was extremely too tight, but after the fiftieth row, I started on a flow.

Then there was the precipice of seaming, which involved three pockets, and two straps that extend all the way to the bottom of the bag..... very tiring. I was going to do it through a movie, but ended up doing it through two movies, an episode of Monk, and about two hours of silence on the couch, and finally, I was through!!

Twenty four hours of seaming!!

I am not that pleased with it. I am because it took me soooooo long, it was made by me, and I love the colors, but I wish I would've put more thought into the pattern.

It was a pattern free on label. Carons Simply Soft Brites Diaper Bag. I followed the pattern to a T, except for the extra side pocket I made, because, well, what's a diaper bag with only one side pocket??

I would've made the side wider, i.e. knit 8 before the slip to create side gusset, and made the bottom wider, i.e. knit two inches then binding off instead of the one inch it called for.

I should've thought about these things before just jumping into it and saying "well it looks pretty usable in the picture."

Now I have two side pockets that are only good for sticking thermometers in, because you can't get your hand to the bottom of the pocket to pull out a binky, and they are clearly too small for a bottle.

Hopefully after I wash and block it it will loosen up! It doesn't call for that, but I don't really like the way the bag leans to one side, due to the whole thick twisted stitch, I'm guessing? Like I said, never done twisted stitch before, but none of my other projects lean, so I'm assuming.

I think it will make a splendid bag for toys and extra clothes. I love it, and even though I would do things differently next time, I have to take this time with a grain of salt because there will never be a next time!!! That bag took up so much time!

I guess it's a good thing, though. It's out of the way now!!

I am now currently into a pinwheel blanket. I just started it, and can't wait to get it on circs. It was crazy starting out, but I am grooving on it now. I am not working on it that steadily being that I was finishing the freaking bag, but now that's out of the way!!

I am also working on the third bookmark for my three nieces, so they are almost finished. I am just really ready to have these things out of the way!!

I love knitting............ even when it's not so fun!

On the road to Contentment.

My double pointed needle problem has been solved for the moment.

I now hold in my stash twelve brand new pairs of double pointed needles ranging from sizes 1 to 10 1/2. Seven inches long five needles per pair and bamboo.

This is the first time I've ever knit with bamboo. Now I want to go replace my needles with bamboo needles, they're so smooth!

Now all I have to work on is my circular set. I want the harmony wood set. If my husband will ever give in and just let me order it.

I did a few quick projects that only took a day or so to do a piece, finished off some gifts to my nephews, still have two more nephews to knit hats for.

I found a quick, simple cabled hat pattern that are quick knits for my nephews, so I know all their heads will be cozy this winter. It was a great thing to start on, and really really easy! Now I want to try my needles at something a little more pattern studying. Or maybe just make some fingerless cabled gloves on my new double pointed needles so I can practice with that, and working cables with it... a new challenge for me! (keep in mind, I haven't been knitting that long.)

I know I said I was tired of time consuming projects, but I've now found myself full fledged in a diaper bag. Twisted stitch (new to me) double stranded (new to me) picking up stitches (new to me) so it should be fun. So far, the first side of the bag took me a long time because my gauge was soooooo tight, but I've fixed that. Got that finished, got two side pockets finished (even though it calls for one.., I felt a diaper bag would look naked with only one side pocket.) I'm working on the other end, then the front pocket, then the straps, then I'll pick up all those stitches and knit borders. Hopefully I'll have it all done by August!! jk.

After that I want to make a pinwheel blanket for my daughter. I've already bought the yarn for it and tested out a couple of color variations with color pencils, I think I've found the one I want.

I just can't wait to get this diaper bag knitted. Between that and the pinwheel blanket I think I may have enough time to knit a hat and a sleeper bag before he's here. I hope!

Oodles of needles

It seems I've run into a slight problem.

My stash just isn't big enough anymore.

My husband can't fathom how one person can have twenty pairs of straight needles and ten circulars, one set of dp's and not have anything to knit with!
Fifty balls of yarn, and nothing to knit with!

It's every girl's delima.... thirty pairs of jeans, fifty sweaters, one hundred pairs of shoes, and nothing to wear.

I am coming across this same problem recently. I'm in search for the most perfect cabled hat. I have never cabled a thing in my life, have new cable needles, thought I'd give it a go.... and the most perfect patterns just aren't at my access right now:(
I also want a quick knit that won't take more than a day or so being that my last two were blankets that seemed to take forever.
So I found the cutest cabled wrist warmer patters, (I know, off subject from the hat, but could later knit hat that matched) and it calls for double pointed needles that I don't have.
I have a very poor needle collection. I wish I had every needle in every size, straight, circular, double pointed, all inches, you get it! And access to any yarn store at all hours of the night with all patterns at my fingertips, just waiting for me to make them!
Oh well, until then, I'm still in search of the perfect fill me up quick knit fun and easy floppy cabled with the needles I do have on hand. The yarn, however, I believe I have a big enough variety to not yearn there. That's just pure selfishness:)

coasting coasters....

I knitted coasters today. I was happy with how they turned out, and the pattern turned out to be easier than I had expected. I got to try out a few stitches I had never done before. I learned how to increase using k1inc1, where you knit into the front and the back of the same stitch. It seemed confusing at first, then once I figured out what was happening it was difficult until I figured out that I could release the tension and give myself a little more slack. I'm just glad I have fingernails, I couldn't imagine doing it without them!
I also learned the bind off using three needles. I enjoyed not having to seem anything up at the end. I hate seeming. But I didn't enjoy the whole having to swap the stitches around on needles before positioning them into proper places. If anyone has any suggestions on an easier way to do that, please let me know!! That was tedious! The first two coasters it was hell, but as I got the hang of it, the only tedious part became swapping the stitches around on needles, the knitting the two at once was fairly easy.

About six months ago I knitted a fairly good sized swatch to try out a new pattern I had seen. I haven't been knitting that long so there's a lot that is still new with me. I have used it on my end table for my wrought iron coasters to sit on and to gather the moisture that falls off the coasters. I used the same yarn for my coasters I knitted, so it's a nice little thing I have going on.
I was pleased with everything. I really love the colors in this yarn. I knitted an entire bag with this yarn. The color change becomes hypnotic. I really wish it were another material, though, instead of just worsted weight but I like it just the same.
I still have a whole skein to use up!! I'm thinking of making dish cloths or a pinwheel blanket with the rest... not sure yet.