Tag Archives: baby

Knitting and Miracles

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My daughter wanted a pair of leg warmer for Christmas. Finding a pattern was easy. Finding yarn was easy. And when the sticks and string combined, magic was happening at my fingertips. At least until I realized that I had mis-read the pattern and hadn’t started the decreases early enough and the top of the leg fit me! (She is just a bit smaller than I am!)

So, I photographed them (because I liked the way the pattern was looking – and so did she!), frogged them and started again. The second time’s a charm, in this case.

With filter – Kate’s leg warmers

The pattern is Drops Designs leg warmers/yoga socks. For any of you who’ve knitted these patterns, they are not always easy to read. And this pattern is no exception. It’s important to read the pattern through a couple of times and knit mindfully. I “should” know better but raced into the pattern and realized that I had mis-read it too late! Anyway, iteration 2 went more smoothly and I have finished the first one! Yay!

Getting to the foot means that you’re almost half way done!

The yarn that my daughter chose is lovely colors and it’s wonderful to knit with … Madeline Tosh Sport in two colorways (I’ve posted about these before here). The colors are warm tones and the yarn has a wonderfully soft hand. Anyway – the first is done and the second is on the needles. This one will be copied from the first one – and will hopefully knit up more quickly that the first one (and I hope it’s only knit once!)

Meanwhile, we’ve had a couple of great miracles in the family. My younger brother and his wife welcomed a new little girl to the family on December 8. She’s beautiful. Perfect. A blessing.

Faye

I can hardly wait to kiss her and hold her. Her mom and papa are doing well and they’re bonding as a family. Faye joins four fur siblings. Guess I’ll be heading to California with my pups in the New Year!

With Papa! Happy Birthday!

Gone knitting!

We’re Growing! It’s a … ?

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In late December I will become an aunt again. My younger brother (my nearly-Irish-twin brother, sixteen months my junior brother) and his wife are having a baby! Their first.

The last time one of my brothers’ had a new baby, it was my youngest brother who has not quite hit the big 5-0 yet … and his youngest is into the double digits!

My brother and sister-in-law have waited a long time for this baby (relative to their chronological ages) and it’s going to be a great occasion when he/she is born.

So what does that mean for our family?

Joy! Growth. Gratitude. A reminder of what is really important!

While we have had our relationship ups and downs, we’re all “older” enough that we realize how lucky we are to have each other. We all have friends who have lost family members. We have all lost our parents. We cherish every minute together and we make time to be together. As you may remember, we’ve added a new brother and sister and their respective families into the fold in early 2009 and we’re still reveling in that new addition. We’ve added two great-nephews, too. And now, again, we’re growing!

Family means the world to me. In a perfect world (at least in MY perfect world), we’d all live within a short walk of each other. But the world is far from perfect and we’re spread all over the map (U.S. map, anyway!) California, Louisiana, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Florida … none particularly close to the other but today we’re closer than ever. Because I’ve not been working for someone else, I’ve been privileged to travel to each of my brothers’ homes and to my children’s’ homes, too, in the last year. Last summer all the brothers and their wives and some of the kids and one of my kids and their dogs all took part in the Messalonskee “Camp Smedley” R&R week. 13 people, 8 dogs. And we hardly ever left the campus!

This new baby will join aunts, uncles, cousins, fur-family, grandparents … a couple of generations of family who love him or her already. Just because his/her parents love each other and because we all love them. That’s what family is about, isn’t it? Loving each other as we are and holding each other up when we’re down. Leaning on each other. Accepting, sharing, laughing, making time to be together.

Gone knitting!

 

Lost & Found

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I lost my 40″ circular needle wire (with some points on it) and was having difficulty knitting the booties that I wanted to start. wanting to make I’m not sure I’ve ever made booties before and wasn’t sure how the process went … consequently, my super long cord was essential to the project. I searched my entire Atelier to no avail. But yesterday after my Michael’s knitting demo, I searched for a third time and voila! I found the needle! An Easter miracle the day before Easter?

I got the first bootie cast on and finished now. It’s cute. I’ve used a pattern that I found on Ravelry but I’ve changed it up a bit – as a knitter has a tendency to do. So, one little bootie is finished. Three to go! (And I have to make a couple of pompoms for the matching hats, too.)

Haven’t moved much on the first of three (or more) baby blankets but those aren’t “due” until summer. And I have all the days of driving north … it’s almost time again!

It’s a beautiful day here in Florida. Great Easter egg-hunt weather and I’m sure kids all over are having a joyous day. I have such fond memories of the egg hunts at our house when the kids were little (and not so little) and one failed hunt when I decided to fill the kids’ baskets and hide the baskets. That never happened again (though the baskets were a success!)

Gone knitting!

Free Knitting Pattern (and a little lesson)

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You may (or may not) know that I had my French daughter, her husband and baby boy here for a visit. We’d not seen each other for more than ten years and it was a wonderful reunion. I am continually amazed by how you can reconnect with people with whom you’ve lost touch over the years and, if they’re also willing, can start over where you left off!

It was as if no time had passed. (Well, except for the fact that she found a husband and has a baby!) We laughed and cried, ate, talked, shopped … a trip to TJ Maxx, Walmart and Wendy’s were some highlights. At Wendy’s N taught “la boulette” to dip his fries in ketchup! To watch a really cute short video, click here: bouletteatw

Happy Boulette bathes in the kitchen sink!

When it came time to put them on the airplane, the tears were just like those shed in years past. I’d “forgotten” how much I love “my kids” and how much it hurts to say “good bye”. But at the same time, how wonderful is it that I have this little family that isn’t really mine but feels like it!? And I know we’ll be together again (hopefully, soon!)

Bet you thought that I’d forgotten the free knitting pattern, didn’t you?

Nope! Here it is! This is perhaps an ugly blanket because I had to use yarn that I had here and it was very last minute when I realized that a warm blanket was going to be needed – badly needed!

“La Boulette” Blanket (an Original Queen Bee Knits design)

Needles: size 15 circular needle (or larger or smaller to fit your yarn)

Yarn: Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand 4 skeins, knitted with yarn doubled throughout. (Note: this is a very simple blanket, knitted on the bias. It will make a square blanket and could be knit with ANY yarn and needles appropriate to the yarn weight. Just knit as in the pattern directions until it’s the width that you want and then start the decreases! Easy!)

Blanket Directions:

Cast on 4 sts.
K2, YO, K to end
Turn and K2, YO, K to end of row
Repeat these two rows (which are actually identical) until the blanket is the width that you want.

Middle

K2, YO, K2tog, K to end of row
Turn
Repeat the last row three times more (total of four rows)

now it’s decrease time!

K2, YO, K2tog, knit to 4 sts before end of row, K2tog, K2
Turn
Repeat the last row until there are 4 sts on the needles (decreasing one stitch in each row)
Cast off 4 sts
Weave in all ends

And here’s the little lesson …

How do you count rows when you’re knitting all rows (otherwise known as stockinette stitch)?

Counting Rows for Stockinette Stitch

Each “pair” of bumps, one looks like it arches up like the letter “u” and the other arches down, is a row. In this photo, there are five bump pairs which means that you’ve knitted ten rows … hunh? you say? Yes, you’ve knitted ten rows because there is a corresponding bump on the back of the fabric, too. For each row you see on one side of the fabric, there is a bump on the other side of the fabric when you knit “back”. See what I mean?

Try knitting a few rows. Yup, take out your needles and a single strand of yarn (the sample above is a double strand of yarn). Cast on about 20 stitches and knit across them. Then knit back again. Now … look at what you have. You’ve knitted two rows and there are two “pairs of bumps” one on the right side and one on the wrong side.

If you don’t get it, comment on this post and I’ll illustrate further!

But for now, I’ve gone knitting!