Knitting Sandwich

Tubey or not Tubey... that is the question

After a few false starts I am almost finished with Tubey.  (Why must I always relearn that swatches are oh so important?)  But thanks to two business trips this month and lots of in-flight knitting time I am nearly finished (again!).

Why nearly?  Why not just do the last three pesky tasks to finish up?  Partly because the sweater it a little snug in the belly area. 

But I prefer to blame this awesome book that just arrived in the mail.

And I blame this pretty impulse purchase I bought before I even saw the book.

What do you think?  Should I just suck it up and finish tubey or dive in to the new loveliness?

-Lindsey

the longest 8 inches...

i am a mere 8" from finishing the second sleeve on lily's birthday sweater (pattern: tiny dancer - rav link). 

to say my motivation is waning would be putting it mildly.  i keep finding excuses to work on other, more quickly finishable, projects.  i honestly do have a cousin getting married in april, and he and his new wife really will need a stack of dishcloths to start their new life together!

clockwise from the top we've got: tie the knot (rav link), a harmonic mosaic (rav link) and a waffle cloth (rav link).

i *will* finish lil's sweater though... i just need to power through those last few inches.  but let me tell you, i'm already looking at sleeveless tunic patterns for next year!

-melissa

flowers, flowers, and more flowers!

this is the current state of my back yard:

i'm pretty sure it's related *somehow* to the fact that when i started crocheting "just a couple" flowers to decorate my latest sleep sack for bundles of joy i couldn't bring myself to stop.

i just kept making flowers until i ran out of yarn... it seemed the thing to do.

-melissa

ps - here is the pattern information for anyone who's interested: snug as a bug sleep sack by robyn devine (rav link) and easy peasy crochet flowers by penny peberdy (rav link).

ahoy matey!

i had to take a break from lily's birthday sweater (i have only one sleeve left and her kind understanding that the new finish deadline is by the end of the month) to make a gift for my nephew isaac, who also shares lily and my birthday!

isaac turned two this year and is currently obsessed with all things pirate.  enter the crochet pirate hat (rav link) sweetly modeled by my little niece hattie, who was visiting this weekend with her family.

-melissa

paternity leave

Georg is home this month on paternity leave which is wonderful for a whole truckload of reasons.  One of my favorites is that I finally am getting a chance to sneak in a bit of knitting here and there.  After two months away from the needles, I was getting a bit antsy.  I also managed to log a whole host of ideas for projects I wanted to be working on or things I needed to quick get done before Mateo grows out of them.

Exibit A: a pair of pepita overalls that still need legs. (which I'd better finish before Mateo outgrows them)

Exibit B: a very clever seaweed which buttons onto my coat so that I can keep Mateo warm whilst wearing him in one of my wraps/carriers. (which I need to finish before the weather gets warmer)

Then there's the little vest I insisted on starting despite the fact that the pattern is in Norweigan.  And though Google translator is pretty darn cool, you still end up getting sentences like this:

"Forts all up in forskudt ribmønster over the other m, to ærmegabskanter measures 8 (8) 9 (10) cm."

And there's also a nice order of yarn which has just arrived for some vests I have in mind (which Mateo and lama were kind enough to help me unpack)

 

But, what am I doing instead of working on all of these things I should be working on?

Hexagons! 

In all fairness, this blanket was technically started as Mateo's baby blanket, and meant as my Olympic project last summer so it's high time it gets finished.  And the fact that the World Alpine skiing/bobsled/biathlon/skating competitions have been on for the past two weeks seems like a sign that the hexagons need to be worked on while watching. 

Plus they are just a fun way to spend paternity leave.

 

Are there any projects that keep drawing you in despite the fact that you should be working on others?  Or any projects you conveniently keep finding excuses not to work on?

 

-cmvs

 

 

hello (handknit) world.

I couldn't be more proud to introduce our sweet little Mateo George, who arrived right on his due date of 12-12-12.

His arrival was actually quite abrupt and scary, with his first eight days spent in the ICU.  But thankfully our little fighter has shown every day how strong he is and how quickly he learns to grow and thrive.  He clearly has someone looking out for him, which makes it all the more special that from the time we brought him home from the hospital, he has been snuggled in his precious rainbow blankie.

What a lucky boy to join a world full of scrumptious handknits.  Like this adorable children of the forest hat from Melissa, and sweater from great-grandma,

Here he's enjoying his yummy hand-spun vertebrae from Melissa and his gorgeous quilt from Lindsey.

A snuggly little owlie sleepsack,

More knits from his Portuguese great-grandma,

 

And a scrumptious alpaca tummy warmer.

It's hard to believe that he is already two months old today! 

Sorry about the picture-happy posting but it's hard to resist. We couldn't be more proud or more in love with our sweet little boy!  (and awfully thankful that he's happy about handknits!)

Sending big smiles to you all!

-cmvs

 

 

plugging away

i'm plugging away on lily's tiny dancer jr (rav link) sweater.  the sleeve construction is really clever (short row sleeve caps) but when i'm working it with the three yarns to make the stripes it gets really tangley and messy and slows me down!

add the fact that lily (very sweetly i may add) asked if her sweater would be ready by the 14th for her class valentine's day party and i'm starting to sweat finishing this sweater on time...

but i *did* finish something... school pick up line waiting added to the fact that lily has ymca basketball games every saturday morning has given me lots of dishcloth knitting time!

here's a very scrappy double fleck dishcloth (rav link)!  i love knitting dishcloths!

-melissa

squares of joy - february edition

my february square for my square a month project for bundles of joy is finished:

i'm giving the attic24 join-as-you-go method a try, so it's already connected to last month's square.

i'm not convinced that i like the finished look when one joins in this fashion, but there is no denying the lure of "join as you go" for ease of finishing... so i'm going to stick with it and see it the look grows on me.

-melissa

a little of this and that...

here's a random smattering of lovely things from my weekend:

a sunday morning three-way video skype sandwich meetup!  turns out there's no better way to start your day.

i reached a point where lily could actually try on her birthday sweater and (big sigh of relief) it will fit!  there was considerable worry as i just cast on for this project without checking my gauge... and when i did check (maybe 8-10" into the body) my gauge was off.  eep!  luckily i had cast on for one size too big, so it all worked out in the end!  (but i think it helps that my daughter is skinny as a bean pole.)

i noticed the other day that (gasp of horror) a lot of my dishcloths have holes in them and are falling apart.  we certainly can't have that!  so i immediately reinstated the "knit dishcloths while you wait for lily" policy and now have this lovely playful plaid (rav link) cloth to show for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my niece received her owl hat!  all signs point to: "she likes it!"

-melissa

A winter treat

We have had an unseasonably warm winter this year, even for Texas.  So I was looking forward to experiencing some real winter when I asked to go to Wisconsin in January.  But I also knew I was going to freeze.  

The warmest cowl in the world saved me.  The pattern is Cabled Cowl by Linda Voss Plummer.  The yarn is some warm fabulousness my mother gave me years ago who's tag I lost.   She picked out the button too.

It was the perfect thing to wear for a few gorgeous snowy days.

-Lindsey