well, the christening was yesterday and i'm so glad that's over and done with. you know, some babies are totally resilient. they can handle all situations, anything that you might throw at them. not the peanut. she needs her two naps per day and early bedtime or else she's very very unhappy... like hysterical unhappy. i really don't think that we'll be able to do much with her until after she's a year old. i just can't take the heartache of her crying for hours on end.
getting her hair wet
so the funny thing was that we were in the church and peanut was doing really great. she was quiet and happy even when the deacon would lay his hands on her head. she didn't even cry when we poured water on her! but then the deacon put the oil on her head and she lost it. cried and cried and didn't stop for the rest of the ceremony. in fact, didn't stop until i had brought her out to the car and fed her.
cute but very upset
she looked great in her christening gown. i had to take it off of her right after the ceremony though. it was big to begin with. i definitely misjudged her size. in the beginning of the day, it would have fit a one year old. by the end of the day, it would have fit a five year old!
i know that i really ought to make a better effort at updating here more often. the days just slip past me though! this week was especially grueling. there was a point where i didn't shower for more than 36 hours. gross. we came to the conclusion that the peanut is just not ready for legumes. tofu did not sit well with her last week and then green beans caused her to cry for two hours on friday night. oh well. let's hope she grows out of it.
tummy time in the park
in recent milestones, her bottom two teeth have poked through the gums (they are so sharp!) but she won't let me see them or take a picture. she's also been babbling quite a lot. of course, i have video (she gets a little quiet for about 15 seconds but i tell you that it's worth it to watch it all the way through.)
i'm also making really great progress on the christening gown. jody was just talking about getting her knitting groove back and boy do i know what that's like! i want to knit on this gown 24 hours a day. since it's my own design, every time i finish off a piece of it, i sit and admire it or pick apart it's failings (which thankfully are few.) i've refused to rip it at all so any faults are entirely mine. there's just no time for ripping around here. it's push through or give up.
almost done
i've actually made a lot more progress on it since this picture was taken. i've finished one sleeve and immediately started working on the other. i love the lace details on it. classy and yet understated.
bottom lace
you may recognize this gown a little as i've based some of the design off of the elizabeth zimmerman february baby sweater. i adjusted for my gauge for the yoke and the lace is the same gull stitch but everything else is my own (a shot of the yoke and skirt increases). i've put a small amount of the same lace on the sleeve as well. it's very cute. the nut is going to look very fetching in it. i have three small silver ladybug buttons that i bought at brooklyn general for the yoke. i can't wait to sew them on!
this time of year i get really into all the new fall/winter designs that out and about. lots of good ideas in the new winter IK and some new internet designs as well! ysolda's been at the top of my list lately. between her hats and the cute little elijah elephant i've added plenty of her patterns to my ravelry queue. as i mentioned in my last post i have some new DB pure cashmere that i bought at 50% off at webs.
pure cashmere.. yum.
i'm thinking that i'll make ysolda's gretel with it and then some fingerless gloves to match. i love this color i bought. it's grey with the slightest hint of green. it'll go with most of my winter coats. ETA: i'm just realizing looking at this photo that the ball band was amended with "45yds". i could have sworn i saw it listed as 50 somewhere. crap. that's 50 less yards that i have to work with! by the way, still on sale at webs. in case you're wondering.
i'm also going to cast on for flair with my artfibers ming once i'm done with the christening gown. then i have to think about what i'm going to knit next for the nut. i want to get her in as many handknits as possible before she can voice her opinion about whether she likes them or not!
all of this knitting makes me feel so good. more like i'm back to my old self. now if only i could stop myself from baking! my latest obsessions in the kitchen have been muffins and bread. i'm dying to try that no-knead bread that everyone was so hot for last year. we finally have a french oven that i can use but i'm waiting on a stainless steel knob for the top of it instead of the plastic one it came with. the plastic one can't go in as hot an oven as needed for the bread. mmmmm, bread man.
now you don't. bu-bye charade sock! it was nice knowing you.
taking a page from laura's book, i decided that these charade socks were just not going to work out. this has nothing to do with the pattern (the pattern actually rocks hardcore) but with my execution. man-sized socks on 2.5mm needles would take me FOREVER to knit and the 72 stitches that i cast on were just not enough. i had KP try them on last weekend and they were tight and damned if i'm going to rip and re-cast on more than 72 stitches. looking back on my progress it took me months to get where i am (or was before i ripped). so my plan is to find thicker sock yarn that i can knit on US4 needles and make faster man-sized socks. any suggestions? i have nothing in the stash except for this that might fit the bill.
so socktoberfest has started and i thought, hey, now that i don't have the charade socks maybe i should gather up my sock yarn leftovers and make baby socks for the peanut! i have quite a few leftovers...
a little leftovers can go a long way
and i think that i can whip them up during october. i really want to try and do it seeing as i failed so miserably at project spectrum. at least i've been mainly knitting from my stash! what little i've knit..
except for this.. (you knew there was an "except" coming, right?) but it does lie within the rules. we're getting the nut baptized in late november and i thought it might be nice to make her a christening gown. one that i can dye when said christening is done and turn into a sweater for the winter and a keepsake for all time. i bought some filatura di crosa 501 on elann.com for a steal and have been knitting this up.
me, a model?
hard to tell in this photo (the peanut is not a good model.. she cries whenever i put this on her!) but it's a top-down raglan-type sweater dress. i got the basic idea from the february sweater and the rest i'm making up as i go along. don't ask for a pattern. i have no idea what i'm doing.
and in regards to my miters, they are just sitting on my couch. i'm enjoying the fairly mindless stockinette of the christening gown while watching "heroes" on DVD. oh god, i'm in love with that show! it's a nice cross between "LOST" and "the 4400". i'm glad i'll have something to watch this fall since none of my shows are coming back till 2008. i was smart enough (amazingly) to start recording this season on the DVR while watching last season on DVD. i should be done by the next week, methinks.
oh, and i'm thinking about starting a project for myself once i get through the majority of this christening gown. i'm thinking flair in artfibers ming. mmmmm, can't wait!
yes mommy!
the peanut approves!
p.s. i'm making adjustments to the full text feed RSS. admittedly, it's changes that i've wanted to do for a while and i'm just now getting around to it. i put comments in the RSS feed about a year ago as an experiment and i think that my experiment is now complete. if i were answering more questions in the comments, it would be a "value-add" as we call it in the business, but it's not. i generally write people back via email or amend the entry if there were more questions to be answered. so, as of today, the comments have been pulled from the full text feed. it will only update when the entry has been updated. i will still occasionally break up a long entry and make you click-through for the full entry but otherwise, you'll get it all! i'm sure this will come as a great relief to many of you ;) no need to thank me.
