Life With A Knitter

To make this monster I tried the magic loop knitting technique for the first time. When I told Mr. M about my intrepid feat he said... "All knitting is magic loop to me. You go *makes motion with hands* and POOF there's a sweater." Which reminds me, the other day he picked up the mail for me, and one of my fiber club packages came. He knew what it was, so he held it up and told me "I got your hair ball." He's a keeper :)

5 Months

These little hands are busy!

Her hair is growing in golden brown.

She has her mama's eyebrows.

She LOVES to chew on things.

She blows spit bubbles (ewwwww...)

Her hair is just long enough in the back to make a curl that sticks up from her cowlick.

She can roll onto her side if she wants to, but shows no further inclination to try turning over (except for the night before last when she flipped off the sleeping pad... thankfully only 3 inches down to the floor)

Baths aren't so bad after all. Especially if you can splash Daddy.

Speaking of which... she loves it when Daddy is home. She watches him so carefully and smiles :)

That's More Like It...

Via SnorgTees

The corned beef is cooking away. Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Etsy Review: woodenbuttons

I love to troll the web for goodies (ahem) and I thought I would share some of the lovely Etsy shops I've come across lately. Today I'm happy to write about woodenbuttons, an Estonian business that crafts charming buttons out of European woods.

What to Love:

• amazing woods... apple tree, rowan tree, Siberian pea shrub. Some of these have grain like I've never seen before.
• buttons in range of sizes (0.8 to 2.2 in), including some of the largest on Etsy!
• reasonable prices.
• buttons are sold in sets... so you have enough coordinating buttons for a project.
• what you see is what you get. I love listings where the pictures aren't just representative.
• each is one of a kind, slightly irregular in color and shape. Gives a natural, simple feel.
• smooth edges.
• a variety of shapes... toggle, round, triangular.
• pre-oiled and ready to use.
• friendly service (I convo-ed, Valdur got right back to me)

What to know:

• This is a relatively new shop (as of this writing 12 sales, 100% positive feedback).
• It may take 2-3 weeks for your buttons to arrive in North America.
• I have made one purchase from this shop. I have no other connection with it ;)

4 Months

big, toothless smiles

a full body wiggle of joy

crying to communicate displeasure

much, much less screaming (as long as mommy avoids soy, wheat, dairy, garlic, onions & peppers... etc. etc.)

finally able to operate those hands

can such on the thumb, rather than the whole hand

trying to crawl, but moving backwards

rolling from front to back, sometimes

loves singing, silly faces, silly noises

desperately wants to chew on everything... and sometimes finds it easies to fall forward on a toy with an open mouth rather than grab at it

has slept 5 hours in a row (at least once)

doesn't need to be walked every night

wants to play, wants to watch, wants to go with you everywhere

still has most of that hair

How Fast They Grow

Finished the Bee's new sweater last night. 300 yds of sportweight yarn, 5 miss-matched vintage glass buttons. Shown here with her first sweater (in sock weight yarn) for scale. Both are from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket pattern. I was sloppy about gauge, so I'll be needing to make another one soon. This one fits her perfectly right now, which we all know means it won't last long.



This pattern really is genius. The best part is that there is almost no sewing up at the end, which means this sweater is mostly knitting - not fiddling around. And after knitting it 4 times, it's finally sinking in how it works. I can see were I am, so I don't have to worry that a slipped post it note will result in being stalled for a week while I try to figure everything out again.

I wish the Bee had one of these for every day of the week. Wonder if my knitting stamina could hold out long enough to make that wish come true...

Back from the Dead Again

I love TV shows where death is not an obstacle to a character's return... anything from the old fashioned "I jumped out of the train before the bomb went off" to "I'm dead but you can talk to me anyway because the rules of time don't apply to you any more" to something truly excellent like "I'm a copy stuck in a robot's body" or "this part of me lives in your mind due to our shared consciousness." (Care to name those sources sci-fi buffs?)

I'm living a new life over here... life with a baby, but perhaps it won't be an obstacle to my return.

One thing I should mention is that Mr. M and I have decided to limit how much we put out there about baby Bee. For now, if you want to see pictures of her, the best ways will be facebook or flickr (you'll have to be a friend on flickr because baby content will be protected). So drop me a line if you want in on that. We want to share her with our friends and family far away, but we also want more privacy than the world wide web affords. I know other people who have followed a different path quite happily, but this is right for us right now.

For a while, this choice has had me stumped. My brain is 95% baby, 4% work and 1% crafts. So I felt like I didn't know what to say here if I couldn't just post 100 pictures a day of the cutest baby ever the Bee, but I do want to keep this space, and I guess we will have to see what it sort of blog it becomes.

I have been knitting a bit while the Bee nurses, so right now I have about 70% of a BSJ out of this lovely Hello Yarn Fat Sock, colorway "Valentine."



The Bee just outgrew her first mama made sweater (at about 3.5 months & 14lbs), so the rush is on to make another one!