new year, old FOs (and ufos)

Hello 2009! I hope everyone had a safe, fun celebration to ring in the new year. Me? I followed my normal schedule of feeding the baby at 11:00, and collapsing into bed immediately thereafter. I did wake up briefly just in time to see Dick Clark smooching all over his wife. Eeeeehhhh.

So let's start the new year with some old knits! Jeez, when was the last time I even had anything stitching-related here on the blog? Other than AJ's elfin pants for Christmas, I don't think there's been a single project shown here since I gave birth. Yikes!

First up, hat, mitten(s) and scarf made for Daughter, to match her red and navy winter coat. The hat is my own pattern, nothing sophisticated, just a basic hat with spiral decreases at the crown. For the mitten(s) I used worsted weight wool (Lion Wool and Patons) and Ann Budd's pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. You'll notice there is only one mitten shown here. Yeah, the other one is in the house somewhere. If any of you have seen it, please do let me know. And the scarf was knit in mistake rib, using Patons Classic Merino in red, entirely at 3:00 in the morning. I have to wake up and feed AJ, as I've mentioned before, so to keep myself awake as I run his milk in one ounce every 5 minutes or so, I have to knit something really simple. It has to be a fairly large gauge, and I have to be able to execute the pattern in near-darkness. Thus this simple scarf!


Next up is this wee sweater I knitted while waiting for AJ to be released from the hospital. It's my very favorite old standby, the Knitting Pure and Simple neckdown raglan cardigan, size 6 months, knit in Patons Classic Merino (natural mix). US size 7 and 8 needles. I modify this pattern a lot by changing up the rib to other things, my favorite being moss stitch. I think it looks a lot classier. I have made this pattern countless times, and will make many more as my son grows. I was shocked to find that this and one other I've knit fit him now! I think of him as being so tiny, but he is growing!


In my quest to use up some stash and leftovers, I made these Little Turtle Knits longies using the yarn remaining from the sweater above, as well as some mystery wool in an olive color and some red I dyed a long time ago (Lion Fisherman Wool, I believe). Pretty good pattern...I'm glad I bought it and would recommend it. These were knit entirely in stolen moments - just before bed while feeding the baby, or when both kids napped (rare).


And this, sadly, is a UFO that I don't think I'll be able to finish in time for it to fit my rapidly growing boy. It's a 6-month size sweater and though it looks like it will be generous when finished, I just don't have the time or concentration to follow a chart and get it done quickly. Plus it is sportweight yarn, and I think I'm going to be more of a worsted weight gal for the near future. It's just faster. Anyway, I believe this is the last thing I worked on before AJ was born. I really do like the pattern...perhaps I'll put it away and finish it up for someone else's baby.


I have a pair of socks going for Daughter, but the photo I took was so lousy I skipped it. And I started a cabled sweater for her months and months ago...but I can't find it! I know it is here somewhere, misplaced in the melee of moving all our crap around to sell our house.

As for '09...well, my goals are really modest. I do so love to knit and sew, but my time is just not my own right now. I intend to finish up one more pair of longies (in progress now), finish the socks for Daughter, finish her cabled sweater if I can find it, and make myself a Central Park Hoodie (and in doing so, officially become the very last knitter in the universe to make this pattern).

Other things will crop up, I'm sure, like more mittens for Daughter (she brought me a skein of red yarn last night so I could "sew some more mittens"), and perhaps some adult socks, which I have not knit in one solid year. But really, just finishing those things I listed will make me happy and I will feel I've accomplished something besides feeding the baby and changing countless diapers. I think it's terribly vital for moms to find something they love to do and do it, just for sanity's sake. That's why I sometimes skip folding the laundry and just knit a few rows while the kids are sleeping. I know that one day in the not-too-distant-future I will have nothing to do but knit and sew, and I do want to enjoy my children while they are wee, but I don't want to give up my hobby in the meantime. It means too much to me; my hands crave it, my mind needs it.

So, welcome 2009! May it be a productive year for all of us.